Chapter 80

It was noon, and the sunlight was intense.

Xu Qing walked on the street, telling himself in his heart that when he could help in the future, he should help Zhang San to repay the favor of refining the boat. As for Zhou Qingpeng's Ghost Desire Horseshoe Crab, he could also help out when appropriate to repay that.

Although he hadn't seen what the magic boat looked like after refining, Xu Qing felt that the spirit stones Zhang San consumed for the refining must have far exceeded two hundred.

After keeping this matter in his heart, Xu Qing also observed the crowds and the surrounding environment. Walking along the way, he didn't see anything different from usual.

It seemed... the merman youth's death hadn't caused any ripples in the main city, and the same was true for the Capture Demon Department. Of course, it was also possible that not many people knew about it yet.

While pondering, Xu Qing walked toward the Sea Records Hall in the city.

The Sea Records Hall is a place every disciple must visit before their first time going to sea.

Because the Sea Records Hall stores extremely precious data—a comprehensive record gathered from the various strange and bizarre things countless Seven Blood Child disciples have experienced at sea over the years, as well as information on countless sea beasts.

The value is astonishing.

Therefore, it cannot be copied. If you want to view it, you can only pay a fee and go in person to read it.

Besides this, if a disciple encounters strange things or new sea beasts while at sea, they can report them to the Sea Records Hall. If verified after review, they will be given a generous reward. The more precious the information, the richer the reward tends to be.

However, unless there is conclusive evidence, if it is only one-sided information, because it is impossible to judge the truth, the review time is often very long—hundreds of years is not impossible. This prevents people from making things up to try to claim rewards.

And this unverified information is not listed in the Sea Records Hall.

Everything recorded in the Sea Records Hall is true and has been verified multiple times.

Therefore, Xu Qing read very carefully. He knew that any piece of information here could potentially save his life at a critical moment.

As for the direction of his voyage, Xu Qing had also determined it.

The sea chart he found in the merman youth's storage bag was very comprehensive and detailed. After studying it, Xu Qing decided that the final goal of this voyage would be an island marked on the chart.

This island is behind an archipelago called Xishan, where reefs are pervasive and it is very dangerous. Because it is the place where nearby sea lizards shed their skin, it is called Sea Lizard Island.

Sea lizards themselves are fierce and rare, belonging to gregarious creatures. Most are in the deep sea and only go to sea when shedding their skin. Moreover, the shed skin must be obtained in a very short time to have value; after a little longer, the spiritual essence dissipates, and it becomes worthless.

Therefore, it is extremely difficult for outsiders to obtain it.

Furthermore, because its level of protection far exceeds similar materials, it belongs to the high rank among magic boat materials, which cannot be compared to mid-rank and low-rank ones. Xu Qing had once seen it in a shop on the Sixth Peak; just the skin of a Qi Condensation Layer Three sea lizard sold for thirty spirit stones per sheet.

And as the sea lizard's own cultivation increases, this price also skyrockets. A Qi Condensation Layer Five sea lizard skin has already reached one hundred and fifty spirit stones, and Xu Qing had even seen a Qi Condensation Layer Eight sea lizard skin, the price of which reached five or six hundred spirit stones.

Such astonishing value makes this Sea Lizard Island attract fierce alien cultivators from the Forbidden Sea all year round to come and rob it, making it extremely dangerous.

Therefore, without a certain level of strength, going to this place is a nine-out-of-ten chance of death.

Xu Qing's goal was this Sea Lizard Island.

At this moment, as he read the sea records, time slowly passed. Without realizing it, it was already dusk. Xu Qing finally committed the thick sea records entirely to memory, closed his eyes to recall them, and turned to leave.

"Everything is prepared, just waiting for the magic boat." Walking on the street at dusk, Xu Qing looked toward the sea. The sound of waves reached his ears, and anticipation appeared in his eyes.

Finally, as dusk faded and the bright moon rose, Xu Qing arrived at the Transportation Department.

At this moment, the handymen who had been busy here all day were leaving in groups. When Xu Qing walked over from the side, he saw Zhang San squatting on the cargo from afar, smoking his pipe.

Under the dim light, Zhang San's figure was somewhat blurry, but the exhaustion on his face was revealed by the alternating light and dark of the pipe's glow in his hand, which Xu Qing saw in his eyes.

Xu Qing felt a bit bad in his heart. Just as he was about to walk closer, his gaze swept across the surrounding handyman disciples who had become restrained due to his appearance, and he saw a familiar, thin, small figure.

That figure was a girl, none other than Li Zimei, who had entered the sect in the same batch as him. She also saw Xu Qing, and although she was also restrained, a smile still appeared on her face.

Under the moonlight, this smile was very sincere.

Xu Qing gave an encouraging smile. After seeing her off, he walked to Zhang San's side.

"You know her?" Zhang San asked curiously.

"I know her. Her name is Li Zimei. She entered the sect in the same batch as me, and her personality is very strong." Xu Qing looked at Li Zimei's back and said softly.

Zhang San nodded upon hearing this.

"A good little girl. Since you know her, I'll take care of her more when I have the chance."

"Thank you." Xu Qing looked at Zhang San and said solemnly.

"Small matter. Let's go, I'll take you to see your magic boat." As Zhang San spoke, a gleam appeared in his eyes. He jumped off the cargo pile and took Xu Qing to the back. The place they went to this time was another large warehouse.

As they walked in, a huge boat, carrying an astonishing momentum, came into Xu Qing's view, causing his footsteps to pause involuntarily.

Although he had prepared himself mentally, knowing that his boat would look very different this time, Xu Qing was still shocked by the magic boat before his eyes.

The giant crocodile head at the bow had been changed; it was no longer slender but much flatter, yet it had a black single horn hidden within the giant beast's forehead, which seemed capable of piercing through everything once it popped out.

This change made the original ostentatious intent restrained, added heaviness, and also hid ferocity.

The changes to the hull were even greater. It was no longer a willow-leaf shape over twenty zhang long, but had reduced in length and increased in width. Viewed as a whole, it was like a rhombus, resembling a giant turtle shell.

Every plank on it was covered with scales and engraved with dense array patterns.

On both sides, there were four additional giant wheel-legs, which seemed capable of extending and retracting, allowing it to move on land, and they also hid sharp spikes.

At the same time, the cabin had changed significantly, becoming like a small two-story building. This kind of stacking saved space, allowing the extra room to be engraved with layers of arrays emitting spiritual energy fluctuations.

Besides this, what attracted the most attention was the giant knife-shaped sail on this magic boat.

There were eight in total, four in the front row, standing symmetrically and slanted to the left and right, and four in the back row at the same angle of inclination. Viewed from afar, they looked like wings, and also like sharp blades.

As for the bottom of the boat, there was a huge groove, which seemed capable of accommodating a sea beast.

The entire magic boat looked like a giant beast inside this warehouse, its momentum heavy and full of deterrence.

"This..." Xu Qing was somewhat distracted. The magnitude of the magic boat's changes caused his mind to buzz slightly at this moment.

Seeing Xu Qing's state, Zhang San's exhausted face revealed pride and arrogance as he spoke calmly.

"Your previous magic boat was refined too poorly, so this time I gave it a major overhaul. The main modifications were to the hull structure, side structure, deck structure, bulkhead structure, bow and stern structure, and the superstructure, etc."

"I replaced the keel for you, so the stability will be better. The structural adjustments can allow the strength and rigidity to reach the limit. In addition, I've also reserved space for you to upgrade."

Zhang San leaped and jumped directly onto the magic boat.

"Inside the black horn at the bow, I added the bone marrow of a Devouring Beast. Piercing it into a sea beast's body can devour the other party's spiritual energy and store it in the array on the hull planks."

"And these four legs—each one contains three thousand six hundred sharp fragments. When you encounter danger, you can detach them according to your needs and shoot them out to explode."

"I didn't touch the Spirit Gathering Array, but I enlarged the groove for you, allowing you to add fifty spirit stones at once. If you encounter extreme situations, this magic boat can be disassembled, throwing away the excess parts and turning into a fish boat, which can increase speed by at least double."

"And these sails." Zhang San raised his hand to point at the sails, his expression arrogant.

"This is my original creation. Watch closely." As Zhang San spoke, he took out a spirit stone, placed it into the array under his feet, and stomped. Immediately, the array operated, and the eight knife-like sails gathered together, unexpectedly forming a protective shell.

Looking at it, the magic boat at this moment was like a giant alligator turtle, both offensive and defensive.

"Added to the boat's own protection, under dual protection, this boat can be made sturdier. Once opened, it can also act as sharp blades, forming considerable lethality."

"The groove at the bottom of the boat can better fix it onto a Forbidden Sea Long Jing, allowing you to control the Long Jing to fly and lift the magic boat under special circumstances, enabling it to take off for a short time."

"Xu Qing, this is a true Level 7 boat. How about it? Are you satisfied?" Zhang San jumped off the magic boat, stood before Xu Qing with his hands behind his back, lifted his chin, and spoke calmly.

Xu Qing's heart was surging with great waves. After a long while, he took a deep breath, stepped back a few paces, cupped his fists toward Zhang San, and bowed deeply.

"Many thanks, Senior Brother Zhang. This boat... I am very satisfied!"

"Later, when this magic boat of yours advances to a magic ship, I'll help you design it again based on your power source. A magic ship—that is the true sharp weapon!"

Zhang San spoke calmly with the air of an expert. Xu Qing's attitude made him feel very comfortable, but the exhaustion that surged up still made him unable to help but yawn.

Seeing this, Xu Qing respectfully took his leave, took out the spirit stones and placed them aside, put away the magic boat, and left the Transportation Department.

Not until he had left did Zhang San sigh with a listless expression.

"I've made a loss. I couldn't help myself for a moment and actually refined it so well... This time I've lost big."

"I hope this kid can have prospects in the future..." Zhang San suppressed his heartache, picked up the spirit stones, shook his head, and left the warehouse. Before leaving, he remembered Xu Qing's fellow disciple, so he took out his voice transmission jade slip and made arrangements.

"Since I've already invested, I might as well invest a bit more. No choice, I'm locked in."

Amidst Zhang San's lamentations, Xu Qing returned to Port 79. He released his magic boat at the berth. Following the boom of the water surface, he looked at the heavy giant before him, his heart surging. He leaped and stepped onto it, studying it carefully.

The time of one night slowly passed.

This night, Xu Qing studied his magic boat thoroughly, inside and out, and was immensely impressed by Zhang San's refining. Until the morning sun rose and the sunlight spilled down, Xu Qing took a deep breath, stood at the bow, looked at the sun in the distance, and his eyes slowly narrowed.

After a long while, he raised his right hand and formed hand seals.

"Set sail!"

Immediately, the magic boat roared. Following the churning of the surrounding seawater, his Level 7 magic boat slowly moved from the berth, turned its bow, and under the attention of other disciples with magic boats nearby, sailed toward the direction of the harbor gate.

Like a giant beast out of its cage, the momentum was magnificent.

And the handsome youth standing on the deck had his long hair dancing in the sea breeze. His figure was as straight as a pine, his gray Daoist robe fluttering, reflecting the morning glow in the sky, causing the sunlight to pass through his hair and refract into dazzling colors on him.