Chapter 152: Ambush

A journey of over three thousand kilometers, even with the Da Yun Hao at full speed, would take one or two days; considering engine load, it took three full days, finally approaching the target waters by the afternoon of the third day.

As they drew nearer, vessels occasionally appeared in view—some exchanged radar signals from afar to confirm mutual non-aggression, while others, like small shrimp, waited until they could be seen with the naked eye before signaling with flags.

This allowed Feng Xue to truly grasp the vast technological disparity in this world.

At this point, Feng Xue had swapped his clothes for the lightweight exoskeleton previously seized, but his own physique was still far inferior to Terra superhumans, clearly limiting the exoskeleton's output; according to Sara's rating, it could at best bring Feng Xue's impact resistance up to the threshold of "excellent" grade, and for combat assistance, it merely improved movement precision (Note ①).

But Feng Xue had nothing to say about it—after all, as the Transform Into Method took effect, his body would only grow stronger, the only issue being that he needed to stockpile more food.

Since he already entertained the idea of lucking out, he had to consider potential resource scarcity after leaving this world; he was far from the realm of consuming gold and jade, and the nanounits were nearly his best cultivation sustenance—after leaving this world, it would be hard to find such fine ingredients again. These past few days, besides helping Xiao Lingdang upload more clothing templates into the exoskeleton, he had been stockpiling food.

Speaking of which, one must marvel at the Da Yun Hao's facilities—though it had not a single military-grade item (now it had mounted a cannon), it possessed every necessary equipment: trawls, food processing units, and more. Fresh fish were caught and processed into matchbox-sized dehydrated compressed blocks; though the taste was dreadful, they offered advantages of compact size and easy storage. After confirming the nanounits remained absorbable by the Transform Into Method, Feng Xue had been filling his Hutian Bag nonstop.

"This weight is about the limit… add more, and even with this exoskeleton, mobility would suffer."

Looking at the half-ton of dried fish in his Hutian Bag, Feng Xue finally nodded in satisfaction, stepped onto the deck, breathed in the sea breeze—and his nascent soul, now taking rudimentary human form, suddenly twitched.

For xuan cultivators capable of forming a subtle connection with the Human Dao (Note ②), sudden intuition was not something easily dismissed as "illusion"; he entered a state of "stillness" while taking out three copper coins, placing them in a tortoise shell and shaking them.

Feng Xue had discussed divination techniques with Li Qianbei, but he himself was not skilled at it—not due to any requirement like a "innate divination saintly body," but simply because he had no time to memorize texts.

Yes, memorize texts. According to Li Qianbei, unless one intended to specialize in this path, merely memorizing the I Ching and using the six-line divination method during moments of intuition would suffice.

Feng Xue possessed the I Ching, but had no time to memorize it; using a search engine risked breaking his "stillness," but now with Xiao Lingdang, everything became easy—each time the copper coins rolled, Xiao Lingdang's code responded almost synchronously—

"Kan above, Gen below, Water over Mountain is Jian… favorable to the southwest, unfavorable to the northeast, danger and obstruction ahead."

"Unfavorable to the northeast? I recall our target is northeast, right?" Feng Xue grinned, immediately stepped onto the deck, activated his Qi-Viewing Technique, and saw nothing but vast blue waves.

"Yunxi, Fina, prepare for combat!"

Hearing Feng Xue's call, Liu Yunxi immediately ran over obediently, waiting for Feng Xue to turn her into a ring, while Fina first entered fusion state, then said:

"Sara said she didn't sense anything…" She suddenly tilted her head, her crimson eyes suddenly flickering with data, "Wait! The biological readings beneath the hull are off!"

As she spoke, the Da Yun Hao tilted without warning. Six barnacle-covered chains erupted from underwater, their shark-toothed anchors precisely gripping the port side deck. Seawater surged upward along the chains' strange runes, crystallizing into ice on the hull's surface.

"Not ordinary anchor chains!" Feng Xue flung open his coat, swiftly pressed the Green Ink Jade Seal downward; water and wood primordial energy surged into his belt as cultivation force, and murky thunder immediately dripped from his fingertips, attempting to corrode backward along the chains.

"This is a Sea Folk hunting vessel!" Fina rapidly retrieved relevant data from her database, and as she spoke, the calm sea surface shattered— a wooden warship, unmistakably incapable of submerging, rose from the waves.

The boundless blue sea was instantly shrouded in thick fog; an ethereal sound like a whale's song accompanied twelve orchid-like lights, lending an eerie beauty.

Through Qi-Viewing Technique, Feng Xue's gaze pierced the fog and saw over a dozen blue-glowing figures—these must be the vessel's main combatants.

"Rats who desecrate the Sea God—all must die!"

A voice emerged from the fog; the chains frozen to the hull immediately tightened, as if intending to capsize the Da Yun Hao outright!

"Xiao Lingdang, close the distance, avoid being overturned!" Feng Xue knew the Da Yun Hao's tonnage couldn't resist such pulling, and immediately issued the order. Xiao Lingdang responded by altering its counter-strategy—adjusting the ship's posture while moving along the direction of the iron chains.

But the taut chains seemed to sense this change—not relaxing, but tightening further. Only when the Da Yun Hao had tilted nearly twenty degrees did his murky thunder break four chains!

"Electromagnetic cannon preheating complete. Requesting fire!"

"What are you waiting for? Fire!" Hearing Xiao Lingdang's query, Feng Xue gave the direct order. Amidst flashes of electricity and piercing current sounds, a tiny projectile accelerated to ten times the speed of sound, hurtling toward the eerie lights in the fog at a velocity even Feng Xue's soul-enhanced dynamic vision struggled to track.

But…

Nothing happened.

As if it were all an illusion, the projectile that struck the mist didn't even stir a ripple.

"The Sea Folk's vessel is protected by the sea—cannon fire is useless! Board directly!" Fina's voice suddenly turned mechanical and cold; compared to her earlier manic, beast-eared girl persona, her beastification had intensified further—fine white fur grew across her face and palms, her once-smooth white hair now stood on end like static, making her resemble a low-purity fursona.

Without waiting for Feng Xue to speak, the madwoman stomped onto the icy chains and charged into the fog. Feng Xue thought, This woman's going to get herself killed again—but still kept attacking the chains.

The Da Yun Hao was the foundation of his luck-luck-out plan—he couldn't let it capsize!

Yet Fina's reckless advance seemed to have worked—distanced screams and cries reached him, and he felt the devotional force clashing with his murky thunder on the chains suddenly weaken. He gritted his teeth, pulled two Jade Seals from his pocket, and jammed them directly into the external slots. With a surge of primordial energy input, more murky thunder erupted.

"Crack! Crack!"

The sound of shattering ice accompanied the snapping of the final chain. Xiao Lingdang quickly stabilized the ship's hull, and Feng Xue exhaled in relief, leaping off the deck—

"Seeing Mo Ying!"

"Got it!"

At this moment, Seeing Mo Ying showed none of her usual hesitation—she flew out of the scroll almost before Feng Xue spoke, condensing a gray cloud beneath his feet.

(End of Chapter)