Chapter 408: Grey Sea

Ding Huan sat on the iron wok; the wok's speed had not even been brought out to one-tenth.

The truth was that Ding Huan did not dare push the wok's speed to its maximum.

Even at this speed, his divine sense was watching every moment, worried that one careless slip would get him caught in a spatial dislocation.

Three months later, Ding Huan set his mind at ease.

In these few months, the wok had encountered spatial dislocations seventeen times and spatial blade-gleams thirty-one times.

Without exception, all of them were avoided; only once was it grazed by a spatial blade-gleam.

Just as Ding Huan had anticipated, when the spatial blade-gleam struck the wok, it was merely a clear ring with not the slightest effect.

Besides that, the wok had also passed by the marsh tides twice.

Over these few months, Ding Huan's divine sense had condensed and grown another notch; his cultivation had not increased, but his array dao level had risen another tier.

"If we weren't riding the wok, this three-month journey might have taken us thirty years," Wen Zhixi could not help sighing.

This Boundless Void Marsh was truly too vast and boundless; even if it were only a single marsh, they might not necessarily be able to cross it.

Ding Huan nodded, though he believed thirty years would not be enough either.

Don't look at the wok's current speed being only one-tenth unleashed; that one-tenth speed would absolutely be faster than a top-grade lower-grade immortal artifact.

So even if they had thirty years, they still could not finish this three-month road—at least fifty years and up.

"Brother Ding, if we walk out of the Boundless Void Marsh, where do you want to go?" Wen Zhixi saw that Ding Huan was not cultivating, so she too did not cultivate, and stayed by his side.

She now had a clear goal—unfortunately it was the Chiyunu Sect; one only needed to see the name to know this was a female immortal-cultivation sect.

Otherwise, if she could join the same immortal sect as Brother Ding, that would not be bad.

Ding Huan smiled: "I have a dream, which is to follow in the footsteps of my forebears; no matter where I am, I work hard for this dream."

Wen Zhixi did not understand Ding Huan's words and said casually: "I think everyone has this dream—to cultivate the Dao for longevity, to freely be master of oneself."

Ding Huan did not explain; his dream was to seek the traces and whereabouts of the Huaxia immortals and gods.

To seek why the Nine Heavens collapsed, why the Huaxia immortals and gods left the universe they inhabited, and to seek the secret of Earth's reincarnation,.

Longevity came last.

Ding Huan gradually increased the wok's speed; another two months passed, and his divine sense swept up a boundless grey.

Was that the end?

……

At the same time.

Fu Shuangping, whose face was pale as paper, stopped; she sensed the call of her ancestor.

If this had been half a year ago, she would have excitedly sped up to reach her ancestor's side; now she did not know whether she should go over.

She had lost the most important thing her ancestor had asked her to bring—that golden dao fruit.

After a long while, she still changed direction and carefully walked toward the direction of her ancestor's call.

Half a day later, Fu Shuangping stopped before an ordinary little mound.

Standing outside this mound and looking at it, this little mound looked just like a grave. Such little mounds were everywhere in the water marsh.

Standing before this mound, Fu Shuangping's legs were trembling.

After a long while, she cut open her own brow, a drop of fresh blood fell onto the mound, and then she took out a jade talisman and activated it.

The mound slowly split open, revealing a doorway that only one person could enter.

Fu Shuangping gritted her teeth and walked into this doorway.

The mound closed again, and Fu Shuangping saw an altar; on the altar was only a single human-shaped grey bamboo root.

"Not bad, that a person of my Fu family could still make it here is indeed not bad." That grey bamboo root actually emitted an aged, hoarse voice.

Fu Shuangping hurriedly knelt to the ground: "Fu Shuangping pays respects to the ancestor."

She knew this was the location of the ancestor's avatar. She even knew that this grey bamboo root was a supreme treasure—a Soul-Condensing Bamboo Root.

"Very well, since you've met me, don't call me ancestor; you may call me Ancestor Xing. Now, hand over the Law Dao Fruit." The bamboo root spoke again.

Fu Shuangping said in fear and unease: "Yes, Ancestor Xing. The unfilial granddaughter encountered a cultivator named Ding Huan in the water marsh; his strength was greater than mine, he forcibly chopped off my arm and snatched the Law Dao Fruit…"

Seeing that Ancestor Xing had not paid any attention to her severed arm, Fu Shuangping knew this tribulation would be hard to escape.

"What?" A roar of fury nearly burst Fu Shuangping's eardrums, and immediately a massive hand-print slammed over.

Fu Shuangping was like a withered lotus, sent flying by this hand-print, crashing into the stone wall, falling down, continuously spewing fresh blood.

"I spent such great effort, gave you so many resources, and you can't even handle this small matter—what use are you?"

The furious voice nearly tore this space apart, showing how violent the emotion had become.

"Ancestor Xing above, it is Shuangping's lack of ability; that person's cultivation was too strong, his strength had even reached the Great Yi Immortal realm.

The unfilial granddaughter deserves death, only hoping that before death I may sketch this person's appearance for Ancestor Xing, so that if Ancestor Xing can leave here in the future, he may avenge his granddaughter…"

Fu Shuangping's words carried extreme unease and fury; she truly had thought of death.

But even if she died, she had to make Ancestor Xing kill Ding Huan in the future.

After saying this, she did not wait for the Fu family ancestor to speak, and proactively sketched out Ding Huan's appearance.

"Where is that Ding Huan now?" The grey bamboo root finally calmed some of its fury and asked in an icy tone.

Fu Shuangping immediately said: "He has also come to the water marsh; with him is a woman, whose cultivation should be in the mid-to-late Mysterious Immortal stage."

"How much longer before they can reach this side?" The grey bamboo root asked slowly.

Fu Shuangping hesitated for a moment: "I used every urgent-escape talisman I had; their travel certainly isn't as fast as mine. I estimate within one month they will definitely appear nearby."

"Very well, take this; as long as you lure them here, I'll spare you once." The grey bamboo root dropped a bamboo leaf.

Fu Shuangping took the bamboo leaf, somewhat puzzled, yet she did not dare ask.

Sure enough, the grey bamboo root continued: "This is a Spirit-Seeking Leaf; as long as those two appear within a hundred thousand li, you can sense their aura.

Even if they exceed this range, you can still sense them faintly."

"Yes, Grandson knows. As long as they dare to come, Grandson will definitely lure that Ding Huan here." Fu Shuangping retreated cautiously.

Having obtained the Old Ancestor's inheritance for such a long time, she still knew a bit of Ancestor Xing's temperament. Having her lure the person over was a ruse.

As long as she took the bamboo leaf out, once Ding Huan came over, Ancestor Xing would definitely know, and Ancestor Xing would come out on his own to capture the person.

Presumably Ancestor Xing could leave that altar for a short period of time.

Fu Shuangping sighed; pity she did not dare to flee.

Her inheritance was left behind by the Old Ancestor. As long as she dared to flee, it would still be the word "death," and an even more miserable death at that.

……

Fu Shuangping was still waiting in the water marsh for Ding Huan and Wen Zhixi.

Yet Ding Huan and Wen Zhixi had long since passed through the water marsh; at this moment they were walking out from the iron wok.

The two stood at the edge of the water marsh, both staring in shock at the scene before them.

This was a vast sea. Their divine sense had no idea where this sea extended to, nor how large its area was.

Waves crashed against the shore one after another, their momentum seemingly even more fierce than that of the marsh tide.

The reason for their shock was that the seawater before them was not blue, but gray.

Even more bizarre was that no matter how big the waves were, once they reached the edge of the water marsh, they would vanish without a trace.

Between the gray sea and the water marsh there was no coastline; if one had to call it a coastline, it would be the edge of the water marsh.

"My divine sense can only penetrate three meters below this seawater before being blocked." Wen Zhixi looked at Ding Huan; there was a hint of fear in her eyes.

If one said that the boundless water marsh, because its edge could not be seen, still held the hope of crossing.

But upon seeing this boundless gray sea, she had a premonition that as long as one entered this sea, one would undoubtedly die.

It was a feeling of smallness in the face of vast boundlessness, so small that one seemed not to exist at all.

Ding Huan's divine sense could also only penetrate a few hundred meters down. He did not answer Wen Zhixi's words; this stretch of sea gave him the same sense of being insurmountable.

With a sweep of his hand, Ding Huan brought up a ball of seawater, but before it even reached him, it vanished completely.

"Brother Ding, the route map says that upon reaching this gray sea, one needs to use materials from the gray sea's edge to refine a boat, and by boat one can cross the gray sea…" Wen Zhixi herself hardly believed what she was saying.

She vaguely felt this method was a bit far-fetched, but since the earlier parts of the route map had all been useful, logically it wouldn't include a far-fetched method.

Ding Huan sneered: "This route map is far-fetched."

"But the earlier parts were all correct." Wen Zhixi knew Ding Huan's thoughts were the same as hers, yet she still couldn't help but say a word.

Ding Huan said: "The earlier parts are correct, but the method of traversing this gray sea is far-fetched."

"Why?" Wen Zhixi asked in confusion.

She had a premonition that this method of traversal was somewhat strange, yet she could not articulate the reason.

Ding Huan explained:

"Because that person never intended to leave behind a route map that would truly let someone cross the Myriad Void Marsh. If I'm not mistaken, the person who left the route map is very likely in the water marsh.

If we hadn't flown over in the iron wok, then ten times out of ten we would have been discovered by this person and intercepted."

"Then shall we borrow the iron wok to cross the sea?" Wen Zhixi knew Ding Huan's iron wok was extraordinary; if they sat in the iron wok to cross the sea, it might really succeed.

Ding Huan pulled out a few materials, casually refined a wooden boat, and then tossed the wooden boat into the sea.

The next moment, the wooden boat slowly sank, then disappeared from the sea surface.

Wen Zhixi stared blankly at this stretch of gray sea; a sea with no buoyancy at all — this was truly her first time seeing one.

"Let's rest here for a bit, and talk about it once we think of a way." Ding Huan began to set up a protective array.

This gray sea was too bizarre; he had divined several times, and each time it was a blank.

A blank might mean he couldn't divine it, or there could be another possibility — that he no longer had a future.