Chapter 409: Stepping Out of the Grey Sea

Ding Huan calculated repeatedly, and every time the result was the same—once he entered the Grey Sea, everything went blank.

If the Grey Sea couldn't be entered, did that mean they had to stop between the Grey Sea and the marsh?

As for going back, Ding Huan had never even considered it.

Where would going back get him? Back into the swamp, or back to the wasteland? Wherever he went, it wasn't where he needed to be.

Stopping between the Grey Sea and the marsh gave Ding Huan a constant sense of dread—this wasn't a place to linger.

After entering this Myriad Void Swamp, there was only one path forward.

And that was to keep pressing on.

The edge of the Grey Sea and the marsh intertwined; however far the marsh stretched, the Grey Sea should be just as wide.

Even where the marsh came to an end, the Grey Sea kept extending.

Trying to walk along the edge of the marsh was absolutely out of the question.

His iron wok was an ancient supreme treasure—if he could fully refine all one hundred and eight layers of restrictions, perhaps he could cross the Grey Sea.

If he wanted to cross the Grey Sea now and leave the Myriad Void Swamp, he had to find another way.

Wait, that wasn't right. All this time he'd been calculating what would happen after entering the Grey Sea.

There was no fixed route for this kind of entry—entering the Grey Sea from any spot still counted as entering.

Why not choose a route with specific characteristics to enter the Grey Sea?

Thinking of this, Ding Huan began planning a route. He divided the ten-li-wide stretch of coast before him into ten routes, then started calculating from one to ten.

Choosing the first route to enter—blank.

Choosing the second route to enter the Grey Sea—blank.

……

When Ding Huan kept choosing routes until the sixth, it was suddenly no longer blank; in his mind's eye the sea surface appeared, surrounded on all sides by sea.

This meant he had already entered the Grey Sea, and was safely able to sense the surroundings of the Grey Sea.

Then the seventh route turned out to be a safe route as well.

Ding Huan wasn't entirely convinced, so he ran the calculation through again.

To Ding Huan's exasperation, on the second calculation the safe routes were no longer the sixth and seventh, but the second and third.

The third calculation, the fourth calculation……

Ding Huan patiently ran the Grand Divination Art over and over again.

Because when Ding Huan calculated, he had to work out every detail, even extending to very distant positions, it was extremely draining on his essence, qi, and spirit, leaving his divine sense somewhat fatigued.

Ding Huan wasn't discouraged—he believed he had found a way to cross the Grey Sea.

Within a ten-li range in the Grey Sea, there was bound to be a safe route. These safe routes were constantly shifting, and each was about two li wide.

As long as he calculated fast enough, he could accurately find the safe routes, then steer the iron wok in.

He didn't need to calculate every tiny detail as carefully as he was doing now—just roughly knowing where was safe would do.

This method was more dangerous than steering the iron wok through the marsh, but now he and Wen Zhixi had no other path.

After recovering once more, Ding Huan stepped out of his closed-door protective array.

The place where they had stopped was making him increasingly uneasy.

Wen Zhixi looked at Ding Huan and said in as soothing a voice as she could manage, "Brother Ding, why don't we cultivate here for a while first? Once our strength grows a bit more, entering the Grey Sea might go better."

Ding Huan shook his head. "We can't cultivate here. I have a premonition that we can't stay in this place too long—lingering here isn't safe. We leave now. Get on quickly."

Ding Huan stepped onto the iron wok first.

Wen Zhixi hurriedly followed Ding Huan onto the iron wok. Without hesitation, Ding Huan steered the iron wok and plunged swiftly into the Grey Sea.

Seeing Ding Huan charge into the Grey Sea like that, Wen Zhixi's heart gave a jolt, and her face turned slightly pale.

The thought of having to fly over this vast, boundless sea next—and never being able to come back up if she fell—filled her with unease.

But when she turned to look back, her face went even paler.

Where they had just been resting, wave after wave of swamp tides were sweeping past.

Only now did she finally understand where the swamp tides came from—they came from the Grey Sea.

She looked at Ding Huan, about to say something, but saw his expression grave, as if he were calculating something.

When she saw the iron wok constantly shifting direction as it advanced over the Grey Sea, she understood—Ding Huan was calculating the safe route.

She had no idea how Ding Huan managed it; all she could do now was place every hope she had on him.

The moment he entered the Grey Sea, Ding Huan knew things were more complicated than he'd imagined. His iron wok couldn't go too fast—if it did, he simply wouldn't have time to calculate the safe route.

But the iron wok couldn't go too slow either—if it did, the safe routes he'd previously calculated would become unsafe.

So at this moment his divine sense was running at a frantic pace; if he hadn't had the Sea of Consciousness Great Dao Universe, he would have collapsed long ago.

This kind of workload was beyond what an ordinary person could bear—it required not only a tough and powerful divine sense, but also abundant immortal essence.

Ding Huan knew that for the next few months, or even years, he probably wouldn't be able to rest his divine sense.

That definitely wouldn't work—he had to strengthen his divine sense and give it a chance to recover.

He could only calculate the safe routes on the Grey Sea while simultaneously running the Grand Universe Art to cultivate.

Moreover, this time his cultivation had to lean toward deepening his divine sense—as long as his divine sense held, he could stay safe for now.

His divine sense finally had some chance to recover, but clearly it still wasn't enough.

A month passed. Although Ding Huan's calculation of safe routes had become faster and simpler, his divine sense was struggling to hold on.

Too bad there was no place to cultivate here—otherwise, he only needed to rest for a while and he could keep going.

Sensing that Ding Huan's face was flushed and cold sweat was beading on his forehead, Wen Zhixi knew things weren't looking good.

She quickly pulled out several hundred thousand immortal crystals and set up a gathering-immortal array around Ding Huan. Although these immortal crystals had mottled dao rhythms, they were better than nothing.

Sure enough, the moment those immortal crystals landed around Ding Huan, they dissolved into streams of immortal spiritual energy that wrapped around him.

Ding Huan breathed a sigh of relief; he had even planned to cut off a section of immortal spiritual vein, but he just couldn't spare the energy to do it.

Wen Zhixi taking out so many immortal crystals was simply a timely help for him.

Although these immortal crystals had a pile of mottled Dao rhymes, it didn't make much difference to him.

His Grand Cosmos Art could strip away these mottled Dao rhymes and absorb the pure immortal spiritual energy.

Absorbing a large amount of immortal spiritual energy could not only strengthen his immortal essence, but also allow his divine sense to increase and recover.

Seeing that Ding Huan's aura had become much steadier after she took out the immortal crystals, Wen Zhixi secretly cursed herself for being slow to react.

In the blink of an eye, the second month of entering the Ash Sea had also passed.

That day, Wen Zhixi saw an island. The island was shrouded in wisps of mist, and seemed to be covered in lush green plants inside.

She really wanted to suggest that Ding Huan go to the island to rest, but Ding Huan seemed fully concentrated on calculating the correct route, so she held back and didn't speak.

In fact, even if she spoke, Ding Huan wouldn't go over.

For the Iron Pot to enter the island, it would have to deviate from its current position.

And the route the Iron Pot was currently traveling was entirely a safe route that Ding Huan had calculated; once they deviated, wouldn't that be seeking death?

One only had to look at the Bog Tide to know how terrifying it was to take the wrong route—they would absolutely be torn apart by the spatial dislocation above the Ash Sea.

Wen Zhixi didn't dare to cultivate; she could only help Ding Huan add immortal crystals at any time.

As long as the immortal crystals ran out, she would immediately add more for Ding Huan.

The third month, the fourth month...

Wen Zhixi's immortal crystals were all used up, but the Ash Sea was still boundless.

Without the support of immortal crystals, Ding Huan once again began to fall back on his old reserves.

A year later, seeing red blood mist rising from the top of Ding Huan's head, Wen Zhixi couldn't help wanting to tell Ding Huan that if he had to, he should stop calculating and let Ding Huan enter her Nine Lun Seal.

But could her Nine Lun Seal definitely block the terrifying Ash Sea?

"Big Brother Ding..." Wen Zhixi finally couldn't help calling out; if this continued, she was sure Ding Huan would burn himself out completely.

But before she could speak, she saw Ding Huan spurt out streams of blood arrows, and immediately the speed of the Reincarnation Pot increased sharply.

She didn't dare say anything more.

Two days later, Ding Huan's body was swaying, looking as if he could collapse at any moment.

Wen Zhixi decided that whether or not her Nine Lun Seal could block the devouring of the Ash Sea, she would still bring Ding Huan into the Nine Lun Seal.

Just at this moment, she saw Ding Huan collapse onto the Iron Pot.

Wen Zhixi immediately stepped forward to help Ding Huan up...

This isn't right, Wen Zhixi suddenly turned her head; behind her was a stretch of hazy mist.

A wall of mist with no visible end stretched across the sea surface; divine sense simply couldn't penetrate it.

Yet the Iron Pot was flying freely on the sea surface; her divine sense stretched out again, and the sea was still a boundless sea.

But the seawater was deep blue, and her divine sense was no longer obstructed.

Sensing the surrounding world's immortal spiritual energy, there was not a trace of mottled Dao rhyme.

Have they walked out of the Ash Sea?

Wen Zhixi said excitedly in a murmur: "We've walked out of the Ash Sea, Big Brother Ding."

Ding Huan opened his eyes; he naturally knew they had walked out of the Ash Sea.

He had long calculated that the Iron Pot would land on a normal sea surface; the sea they were on now was connected to the Ash Sea.

As long as one entered that mist, that was the Ash Sea.

"Yes, we've finally walked out of the Ash Sea." Ding Huan took out a drop of Hundred Million Year Sea Marrow and swallowed it, slightly recovering some of his aura.

His divine sense swept and detected people approaching from afar.

Ding Huan immediately sacrificed an ordinary flying spirit treasure, and he and Wen Zhixi entered the flying spirit treasure while putting away the Iron Pot.

Soon a flying Dao treasure appeared in Ding Huan and Wen Zhixi's line of sight; it was a flying boat, a lower-grade immortal weapon, with four cultivators on it.

"How were your harvests?" The cultivators on the flying boat saw Ding Huan and Wen Zhixi and called out from afar.

Then they noticed the top-grade spirit treasure flying ship that Ding Huan and Wen Zhixi were riding, and there was some sympathy in the eyes of the cultivators on the flying boat.

Coming to this place without even a single lower-grade immortal weapon meant they were quite poor.

This was a place where one risked one's life; no matter how poor, one still had to buy a lower-grade flying immortal weapon.

Hearing these words, Ding Huan knew these people had come to look for a certain kind of thing.

He sighed somewhat helplessly: "Bad luck, no harvest; we're preparing to head back."

A female cultivator on the opposite flying boat said: "You have too few people; catching Ash Sea Crystals requires at least three people or more to be easy; with just the two of you, getting Ash Sea Crystals will be somewhat difficult."