Chapter 23: The Fusang Divine Tree

The bow of the ship was already packed with people, the atmosphere lively.

Everyone was excited and agitated.

"That is absolutely the Fusang tree from myths and legends, the divine tree where the Golden Crows dwell," Gao Huan said with great certainty.

He was very serious, lacking his usual playfulness, having yet to emerge from the grief of his father's murder. But his profound knowledge in the realm of myths and legends did not allow him to remain silent; he had to stand out and explain to everyone the phenomena they could not comprehend.

……

Li Youyi stood behind the crowd, gazing into the distance.

Deep in the ocean, two enormous mulberry trees grew, leaning against each other. Their trunks were craggy, their lush branches and leaves stretching straight toward the horizon.

The bronze warship was likely hundreds, perhaps even thousands of miles away from them.

Because the trunks of the two mulberry trees were very faint, much like the feeling of looking at the moon from hundreds of thousands of miles away in the early morning. This situation only occurred when the distance was sufficiently great.

Li Youyi had once gazed at snow-capped mountains from hundreds of miles away and knew that feeling of being faint and blurry due to the distance.

The distance between them and these two mulberry trees was absolutely far greater than hundreds of miles. The height of the trees was several times that of the snow-capped mountains he had gazed at, as if they were connected to the sky.

"The trunks are likely thicker than the mountain mass of the snow-capped mountains, and the height... who knows how many tens of thousands of meters."

If it weren't for every leaf on the two mulberry trees being quite bright, like thousands of leaf-shaped moons, Li Youyi would have even suspected that what he was seeing was a mirage.

As the bronze warship rode the wind and waves, sailing rapidly, the distance closed significantly.

The trunks on the horizon became clear, and one could even see the gully-like wood grain.

On the sea surface, a thick fog appeared.

In the fog, golden flowers of all sizes bloomed, without leaves, only dense white roots submerged in the water.

These golden flowers emitted a refreshing and peculiar fragrance.

The large ones were over ten meters in diameter, while the small ones were only the size of a fist, all emitting brilliant light, like thousands of divine lamps floating in the sea, making the ocean as bright as a sea of stars.

Gao Huan temporarily forgot his grief, his face flushed with excitement: "It's the Xihe Flower!"

"The Xihe Flower and the Fusang tree are eternal companions, both growing in the Tang Gu Sea."

"The Xihe, it blooms by swallowing the flames of the Golden Crows. If a mortal eats it, they will be incinerated; if a small demon eats it, they will transform into a giant demon."

"Finally, I know our current location!"

"It's the Tang Gu Sea."

"The Tang Gu Sea is the intersection of the three realms: the Human Realm, the Netherworld, and the Divine Realm. Legend has it that the sea area is as vast as 1.5 million li."

Someone didn't believe it: "You just keep blowing hot air, 1.5 million li. Is the distance between the Earth and the Moon 1.5 million li?"

"The distance between the Earth and the Moon is about 380,000 kilometers. It's kilometers, not li." Cai Yutong, having changed her clothes and put on sunglasses and a mask, appeared beside Li Youyi and interjected.

Gao Huan felt that no one could question his authority in the realm of myths and legends, and he argued seriously: "Is 1.5 million li so incredible? Do you know how big the world where the Chixian Divine Continent is located is?"

"According to the 'Lüshi Chunqiu', within the four poles, the distance from east to west is 500 million and 97,000 li, and from north to south it is also 500 million and 97,000 li. Your knowledge is shallow, and you are still stuck in mortal thinking; I won't hold it against you."

"Are we still on Earth? We are currently in the Netherworld, in the Ghost Wasteland territory."

"Goo!"

"Gurgle!"

……

In the direction of the Fusang tree, the seawater turned golden-red, as if infinite divine flames were burning on the seabed.

The seawater in the outer sea area boiled, bubbling with bubbles the size of water vats. Soon, the water mist became thicker, shrouding the entire bronze warship in a vast whiteness.

"Whoosh—"

Deep in the thick fog, a giant three-legged bird flew out from the seabed of the sea area where the two divine mulberry trees were located, flapping its wings.

The light erupting from its body illuminated the white fog in the field of vision of the scientific expedition members with colorful brilliance.

"It's a Jin Wu... see that? That's a Jin Wu! So the Golden Crows don't dwell on the Fusang divine tree, but nest on the seabed beneath the Fusang divine tree." Gao Huan was incredibly excited, proving once again that he was right.

The records in the mythological classics, though containing errors, were by no means groundless.

"The Jin Wu carcass in the tomb forest feels like just a fledgling; compared to this one soaring into the sky, it's far too small," Li Youyi said.

The Jin Wu flying out from the seabed had wings like clouds hanging from the sky, likely spanning tens of thousands of meters wide.

A single flap could stir up water waves ten zhang high.

The heat and light erupting from its body, after being blocked by the bronze warship's defensive power, still stung the eyes and made the skin feel hot.

A scientific researcher, very curious, threw out a steel bar the thickness of a thumb.

The steel bar flew out of the bronze warship's outer defensive barrier, and before it could fall to the sea surface, it was roasted red by the terrifying heat, showing signs of melting.

Everyone watched, dumbfounded.

Was it really this terrifying outside right now?

The temperature in the air had likely reached several thousand degrees; no wonder it could burn the sky and boil the sea.

Was this the power that the legendary destructive divine bird, the Jin Wu, could erupt with?

After that adult Jin Wu flew into mid-air, it looked back at the bronze warship sailing on the sea surface and could see the fledgling carcass on the ship. But it dared not approach at all; there was an aura on the ship that made its soul tremble.

This aura, it had never perceived on any living creature in this world.

Too terrifying!

It flapped its wings toward the high sky above the clear void, flying toward the west.

Not long after, it transformed into a scorching sun in the firmament.

……

In the deck area, within that sea of tomb steles.

Not far from the Jin Wu fledgling carcass, beneath a tombstone, a skeleton dressed in red palace attire also gazed at the Jin Wu receding into the firmament.

Her long hair was as black as silk, hanging down to her feet.

Just standing there casually, she was full of temperament and momentum. Even though she was just a skeleton, one could imagine her peerless elegance when she was alive.

Within her deeply sunken bone sockets were two clusters of spirit flames the size of fingertips.

She looked at her own skeletal arm, on which strands of blood were flowing, and life energy was constantly being born inside the bones. She whispered: "That boy must be a descendant of that ancient clan from the legends. Only the blood of the descendants of that ancient clan can wake the corpse with a drop of blood, let the bones grow flesh, and let the dead return to life, returning to the order of the Yang Realm within the laws of life."

"Unfortunately, my Yang-marriage ritual with him was only half-completed before he escaped."

The red-clothed skeleton looked at Qi Shanshan, who had been captured by her and was still unconscious on the ground, and muttered to herself: "First, hide the bone body inside her, borrow her flesh and blood shell and life aura to avoid that life law between heaven and earth that prevents the reversal of life and death."

……

Ever since the bronze warship sailed through the "Tang Gu Sea" mentioned by Gao Huan, for the next few days, there was day and night on the sea.

Many scientific expedition members speculated that many Golden Crows lived on the seabed of the Tang Gu Sea, and it was they who transformed into the sun, flying from east to west, causing day and night to appear in this world.

In reality, no one knew where east was and where west was.

Everyone was judging the direction based on the previous understanding of the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, believing that the direction the bronze warship was sailing was north.

The Fusang tree was no longer visible; the bronze warship seemed to be sailing into another sea area as if it were continuously jumping through space, and there were no more terrifying dead souls in the sea.

There was no wind on the sea, and the sea surface was as flat as a mirror.

The seawater was a crimson color, very abnormal. After being scooped up with a bucket, it was like fresh blood, and even filtering couldn't remove the color; no one dared to drink it at all.

Of course, they just didn't dare to drink it for now...

Because the generator couldn't be fixed at all, and the food that was not easy to store had almost all rotted. Starting from yesterday, food and water were subject to a quota distribution system, instantly changing from three meals a day to one and a half meals a day.

Another day passed.

Coffins appeared sporadically on the sea surface, not knowing where they came from. They were in the same direction as the bronze warship, dragging long trails on the calm sea.

This world always gave people a feeling of dense yin energy, which neither the Fusang tree nor the Golden Crows could dispel.

That initial "Soul Sea" was like the place where the souls of all the dead on all planets in the universe returned. Now, this "Blood Sea" was like the place where the blood of all living beings in the universe returned.

In the afternoon.

Giant birds flew past from the horizon, preying in the sea, their cries loud. There was also a group of strange birds with beaks like sickles and seagulls, pecking open the coffins floating on the sea, sharing the rotten meat and bones in the coffins.

With signs of life, everyone on the ship was in a great mood, soon forgetting the grief and fear of a few days ago.

They speculated one after another that they were not far from the land.

It was too heartening; as long as they reached the shore, they would be able to survive no matter what.

In these few days, except for the area around the skeleton demon's tomb, Li Youyi had searched the entire bronze warship but couldn't find even a trace of Qi Shanshan.

"She wouldn't have really been eaten by the skeleton demon, would she?"

Li Youyi had long had this suspicion, because the most dangerous thing on the ship now was that ghost.

No matter what, he had to go and investigate.

In his heart, he had the idea of repaying Qi Shanshan's favor so he would no longer be burdened by it. At the same time, there was also a sense of crisis; he always felt that the skeleton demon would sooner or later crawl out of the tomb.

Rather than sit and wait for death, it was better to take the initiative to resolve the hidden danger.

But before that, he had to raise his own combat power a bit more; he didn't want to die recklessly.

……

Monday, please give me monthly tickets.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 24 =====