Chapter 140: How to Hide a Drop of Water?

Channeling the shamanic method passed down by Li Qianbei, Feng Xue gathered his thoughts and infused strands of votive power into the water-drop-shaped jade pendant on his chest.

Everyone possesses votive power, but to harness it, one must use a medium—and that medium is a spirit entity, whether a phantom god, ghost immortal, malevolent spirit, or demon immortal, all are acceptable.

Yet the medium Feng Xue currently uses bears a specific name—

Zhuqi.

It is akin to the nuo masks used by shamans, a ritual artifact that carries the power of phantom gods.

According to Li Qianbei, such artifacts were originally ritual vessels used in ancient shamanic rites to store divine power bestowed by deities, but with the passage of time, the Central Plains gradually transitioned from the primitive belief of "humans serving gods" to the new era belief of "human-deity exchange."

As the secrets of phantom gods were gradually uncovered, some progressive shamans began shaping, cultivating, and raising phantom gods according to their own needs, and Zhuqi became the tool for "using divine authority through human means"—crude as it sounds, it meant turning a portion of a deity into a wetware device that outputs divine arts upon energy input.

The jade pendant on Feng Xue's chest sealed a portion of Ma Wu's avatar's authority over 【Healing】; as votive power flowed in, a force radiating a soft, pearl-like luster surged forth.

Compared to magical energy, this force was gentler and more controllable—even Feng Xue's mediocre divine soul could precisely guide it along his blood vessels toward his limbs and extremities.

Since Feng Xue himself supplied the votive power, 【Healing】's effect was not as immediate as 【Curing】; recovery was slow, but it was gentle, and with the soothing, tingling warmth, Feng Xue clearly felt his wounds being smoothed over.

"Sala, check my current physical condition!"

Hearing Feng Xue's call, Sala, who had been lying on the deck to prevent her host from killing himself, perked her ears, glanced at Feng Xue, froze for several seconds, then—as if already accustomed—gave her standard response:

"Over forty muscle strains across your body, but slightly improved from before—likely due to that healing divine power on you. At this rate, you'll be fully recovered by tomorrow morning… roughly fifteen hours from now."

"That's fine." Feng Xue nodded. For a sourceless Zhuqi requiring personal votive power, this result was already decent.

Seeing Feng Xue's demeanor, Sala wanted to tell him that for ordinary people in this world, such minor injuries would heal nearly completely with just a good night's sleep—no divine power needed.

But as she calculated whether saying so would make Feng Xue angry, his wristwatch suddenly lit up; in the projection, Xiao Lingdang held up a compass and chirped happily:

"Master, you said compass is done! With this, we can precisely avoid the Moon Goddess's faith zones!"

"Avoid? Who said we're avoiding? Didn't we download the nautical chart from the Seeker Forum? Mark the islands near us where the Moon Goddess's faith is present."

Before Xiao Lingdang could answer, Sala's fur bristled—but before she could object, Feina rushed forward at a speed that made the air before Feng Xue feel thickened, her face alight with excitement:

"Yes! Yes!"

"What's 'yes' for?! We just offended the Moon Goddess! Who said she'd kill us if her true form came down?!" Sala glared with dog-like eyes, her expression clear: "Explain yourself, or I'll break your legs to stop you from throwing your life away."

Feng Xue, genuinely worried that sincere "I'm doing this for your own good" could still violate a deity's "judging intent, not action" covenant, immediately explained:

"Based on analysis of Ma Wu's 'testimony,' the local deities of the Cradle Archipelago likely share similar attitudes toward outsiders. Rather than travel to a completely unknown island and deal with a stranger deity, it's better to find one we already understand. With Ma Wu's residual avatar and the Moon God Stone, I'm confident we can pass ourselves off as Ma Wu's followers. You can use the same disguise technique you used on Feina to mask me too—so long as Ma Wu doesn't personally inspect us, the risk of exposure is minimal."

"Why not disguise as Ma Wu's followers and go to another deity's territory? According to you, the deities of the Cradle Archipelago… at least in the Titan Archipelago region… should have some mutual understanding, right?" Sala seemed to have caught a flaw in Feng Xue's logic, but Feng Xue only sighed and shook his head:

"Think of it this way: two companies. Are you less likely to be detected if you wear Company A's uniform and blend into Company A, or if you go to Company B pretending to be a temporary transfer from Company A? Deities aren't blind to their followers—they're just too lazy to check each one individually. If a place has many of their followers, one more or less doesn't matter. But if a place has only one follower, who knows if the deity might suddenly decide to glance over?"

"..." Sala's understanding of deities was limited to surface-level data in her database; after Feng Xue's explanation, she couldn't judge its truth. Seeing her host's eager expression, she sighed:

"If you think it's fine, then fine."

Whether by design or coincidence, the moment Sala finished speaking, Xiao Lingdang reappeared—this time holding a virtual nautical chart. Though unfamiliar, Feng Xue recognized it as the Titan Archipelago map.

Compared to the chart Sala had previously provided, this one showed not only the dozen or so closely clustered "large islands" of the Titan Archipelago, but also numerous scattered small islands, with many surrounding sea areas marked "abandoned," "destroyed," or "no discovery"—likely traces left by past Seekers who explored this region.

Now, several crescent-shaped labels had been added to the map. As Feng Xue examined them one by one, Xiao Lingdang pointed to a small triangle in the northwest corner:

"We're here now. These islands are calculated from the compass's fluctuations—beyond this, error increases sharply."

"Which one is closest to us?"

Feng Xue scanned the map but did not immediately judge, for his geographical knowledge told him that a spherical planet's map, when rendered flat, produced many visually distorted distortions.

For example, Greenland on the map appeared enormous—almost as large as Africa—yet in reality, it was far smaller than Australia.

Xiao Lingdang didn't know what Feng Xue was thinking, nor did she care. Upon hearing his question, she immediately drew several lines:

"The nearest publicly known island is Banmaid Island at the northernmost tip of the Titan Archipelago, roughly 170 kilometers away—three hours at full speed. It's the closest commercial island between the Cradle and Jade Archipelagos. Additionally, Seeker Association records note three nearby islands, but all remain at tribal civilization levels; even with disguise, infiltration would be extremely difficult."

"Then head there…" Feng Xue was about to gesture for full speed ahead when a sharp pain shot through his shoulder—he immediately said: "But don't go too fast. Best to arrive after I've fully recovered."

(End of Chapter)