Chapter 40: The Will of the Bronze Ship's Owner

Li Youyi looked back worriedly, confirming Li Ling hadn't followed, before relaxing slightly.

The bronze ship, the Jin Wu corpse, the Black Flood Dragon corpse—all were treasures. If she knew, she might move the entire Cangli tribe and all the experts of the Nine Li tribe over.

But he was also secretly suspicious and vigilant: why didn't Li Ling dare to chase after him?

Even a place as terrifying as the Spirit-Passing Fog Realm, she dared to travel through; she absolutely couldn't be measured by a normal teenage girl.

"Can only go forward, cannot retreat; why think so much? In this coffin sea, I haven't encountered any danger."

Li Youyi jumped off the plank road and rushed into the endless floating coffin 'land.'

The bloody smell and decaying breath became even stronger.

The position where he landed was different from the coffin dock ferry crossing; he could only find the general direction of the bronze ship now. At the same time, he didn't have the fear Li Ling had, feeling that the Blood Sea Coffin Dock only looked gloomy and terrifying, but was actually very calm and peaceful.

Therefore, after rushing out for dozens of miles, he shouted the names of 'Zhao Meng' or 'Old Liu' (Liu Bing) into the fog.

Constantly changing direction and position, he continued to shout.

Half a day later.

Li Youyi didn't know how far he had left the shore; every shout received no response, and he felt less and less confident in his heart, very worried that the bronze ship had already set sail again, heading to a more distant place.

If that were really the case, what would the scientific expedition team members on the ship, who lacked food and water, do?

What would his senior brother do?

Another half day passed; Li Youyi had left the shore for nearly two hundred miles.

The floating coffins were endless, the yin fog thick.

He felt the whole world was dead and silent; except for himself, there were no living things, and he felt unprecedented panic, complex thoughts, and was at a loss. The bronze ship might... really have sailed far away.

From the yin fog in the distance came a familiar voice: "Youyi, is that you?"

"Brother Youyi, it's me, Qin Ke."

Li Youyi, who was sitting on a four-meter-long jade coffin resting temporarily, was greatly encouraged and rushed toward the direction the voice came from at the fastest speed.

Not long after, the floating coffin shook violently on the water surface, and a huge figure appeared in the fog.

That figure must have been two stories tall, the head as large as a water vat, the mouth as large as a plate, the legs thicker than Li Youyi's body, full of explosive power.

He had a full beard, wore only a pair of patched shorts, and walked with great momentum.

In his left hand, he held a white underworld banner, which, when shaken, caused scriptures to float and light to scatter for dozens of yards. In the palm of his right hand, he held an old blue-and-white jar, like an urn.

"Haha!"

Meeting between senior and junior brothers was naturally joyful; the two stopped a yard apart.

Zhao Meng's laughter was like thunder, his voice extremely loud.

Li Youyi was dumbfounded, having to lift his head high to see Zhao Meng's face, both happy and incredulous: "Senior Brother... what's the situation? How did you grow so tall?"

"This is nothing; who knows how much I'll grow in the future. I'm walking a path of continuously swallowing the blood of ancient immortal beasts; my constitution is very unusual, oh."

Zhao Meng was six meters tall, his skin close to gold, his arms covered with some black flood dragon scales, and he carried many bottles and jars on his back.

The underworld banner in his hand was over three meters long, the top featuring nine skulls with red gems embedded in their eyes, each skull spitting out a white banner from its mouth, the banners covered in scriptures that couldn't be understood.

Li Youyi had seen this underworld banner in the tomb sea stele forest on the bronze ship, stuck on top of some grave mound.

How did his senior brother activate it?

"Senior Brother, did you cultivate magic power... that is, open spring eyes?" Li Youyi had told Zhao Meng how he opened springs on the bronze ship, and Zhao Meng had also practiced the Jade Void Breathing Method for many years; it wasn't strange that he could open spring eyes in a short time.

"Opening springs isn't that easy; do you think everyone has the same talent as you? Master said my talent only reaches your knees."

Zhao Meng glanced at the underworld banner in his hand, seeing Li Youyi's doubt, and explained: "It glowing has nothing to do with me. Did you find land? Where is Gao Huan?"

"Of course I found it, but that's a long story..."

Hearing the movement, Li Youyi cast his gaze behind Zhao Meng.

Qin Ke, holding a foot-high spirit tablet in both hands, and Old Liu and Old Guan, carrying a stone coffin, walked out of the fog one after another.

Old Liu and Old Guan were members of the engineering and technical group, but Li Youyi couldn't recognize them at all anymore. One had drunk Jin Wu blood and grown a huge bird head. One had drunk Black Flood Dragon blood and grown a flood dragon head covered in black scales.

Two malformed humans!

Li Youyi didn't see anyone else walking over and asked suspiciously: "Where are the others?"

"They are all on the ship, which has already left."

Zhao Meng's expression was very relaxed, not worried about their safety at all, sitting down on his butt and telling Li Youyi in detail about what had happened on the bronze ship over the past two days.

Li Youyi listened intently, having many curiosities in his heart, and interrupted halfway to ask: "Did the owner of the bronze ship appear?"

"Not really, anyway I didn't see His true body. After the Jin Wu blood and Black Flood Dragon blood were baptized by immortal radiance energy, everyone could drink them; drinking one drop, you wouldn't be hungry for days, and your physical strength would increase. The scientific expedition team members won't starve to death; following the owner of the bronze ship, they might become extraordinary existences in the future."

'He' represented mystery, awe, and the unknown.

Zhao Meng's expression suddenly became serious: "But it's not all good news! He issued a decree, letting the owner of the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish... hmm, that is, you, reach the Longevity Realm as soon as possible; there is one thing you must do, His time is already very tight."

Li Youyi was stunned, then couldn't help but laugh: "What do you mean?"

Zhao Meng said: "It seems our sect promised Him something, planting karma that needs to be undertaken and fulfilled by the owner of the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish. I don't know what the specific thing is, anyway, once your cultivation reaches the Longevity Realm, He will come to find you, and you'll know then, won't you? If it really doesn't work, we senior and junior brothers will carry it together."

"I don't even know what the Longevity Realm is yet." Li Youyi laughed.

An old, hoarse voice sounded: "Gushing Spring Realm, Five Seas Realm, Dao Seed Realm. The fourth major realm that follows is the Longevity Realm. Little boy, you should rejoice; being able to generate karma with the owner of the bronze ship, being able to do things for Him, and having Him send the three of us to be your guides—this opportunity and treatment of yours, I don't know how many people would envy to death."

Zhao Meng had learned the language and characters of this world from the senior sister and was even more familiar with them than Li Youyi, so he could understand what the old voice just expressed. He nodded desperately, and even he felt the owner of the bronze ship was a person of great power; doing things for Him was equivalent to having a backer in this strange land.

Even if this backer had just awakened and seemed to have very important things to do now, and seemed to look down on them, who were insignificant, there was just a feeling of having a big tree supporting them overhead.

Li Youyi searched for a long while and found that the old voice was actually coming from the urn in Zhao Meng's hand.

Looking at Zhao Meng, he whispered: "Another evil thing?"

"Under orders from the owner of the bronze ship, from now on, I am your guide on this martial cultivation path." The lid of the urn jumped, and the voice followed.

In the spirit tablet in Qin Ke's hand, a middle-aged woman's voice sounded: "I am your guide on the Spirit cultivation path."

In the stone coffin carried by Old Liu and Old Guan, there was a low, restrained voice: "I am more miscellaneous, knowing a little bit of everything, responsible for planning your cultivation path. Two years for Gushing Spring, three years for Five Seas, five years for Dao Seed, you must reach Longevity within ten years. Ten years, you only have ten years!"

"You can treat it as the decree of the owner of the bronze ship, or as a transaction, but you must not ignore it. Because, ten years later... or a little longer, the things that will happen will also affect you and those around you."

Li Youyi touched the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish with his finger, thinking of many things instantly, his expression gradually becoming serious, realizing that his senior brother, the owner of the bronze ship, and these three evil things didn't seem to be joking.

And it seemed there was no possibility of shirking or refusing.

He was indeed still ignorant and vague about cultivation now, with too many unknown things.

If he had a famous master to guide him, it was naturally something he couldn't ask for more.

But...

He had too many questions in his heart.

Li Youyi cupped his hands and asked: "May I ask how the three seniors should be addressed?"

The old man in the jar said: "The three of us were once famous figures on this land, but now I only have a jar of ashes left, they are a couple—one only has a remnant soul residing in the spirit tablet, the other only has a remnant corpse. If it weren't for the owner of the bronze ship, we wouldn't even have been able to retain this last bit of remnant soul consciousness. So, in this down-and-out state, we won't mention the past."

The middle-aged woman in the spirit tablet said: "Agreed."

"Agreed." The stone coffin also said.

The old man in the jar added: "Just call me Jar Senior."

"Master Master Lingwei Senior."

"Coffin Senior."

All three reported their names.

Was it this easygoing and down-to-earth?

Completely different from Chan Hai Guan Wu and Yu Tuonan.

Perhaps it was the will of the owner of the bronze ship.

Li Youyi's gaze swept across the urn, the spirit tablet, and the stone coffin one by one, asking directly: "Do the three seniors know what the karma between the Chan Sect and the owner of the bronze ship is? Why must I reach the Longevity Realm as soon as possible? And why is there only ten years? I heard that ten years is only enough for a cultivator with superior talent to open four springs."

"Then how many springs have you opened now?" Jar Senior asked.

"Three springs."

"How long did it take?"

Li Youyi said: "Less than half a month!"

"Doesn't that settle it? What superior talent, inferior talent—you are different; you are the person the owner of the bronze ship has taken a fancy to." Jar Senior said.

The Coffin Senior in the stone coffin had a voice that was always unhurried: "No, my view is different from his. Li Youyi, you are not the person the owner of the bronze ship has taken a fancy to; you can only be yourself. Only when a cultivator understands what they want and what they seek can they gradually forge a firm and unwavering Dao heart in the long cultivation ahead. So what the karma is, is actually not important to you now."

Li Youyi pondered deeply.

Coffin Senior continued: "I'll just ask you two questions: what are you pursuing at this stage? What do you want? Don't rush to answer; let's return to the Lingxiao Life Realm first."

Li Youyi's lips moved, but he didn't answer immediately, wanting to think it through first.

The group walked toward the shore.

Zhao Meng was also pondering these two questions, but his mood was very relaxed: "Anyway, at this stage, I just want to find the senior sister; she must be a person of this world."

Half an hour later, Li Youyi came back to his senses from his pondering, thinking that Li Ling might still be at the Coffin Dock ferry crossing, thinking that Shi Jiuzhai and his disciples might be blocking the Dragon-Killing Waterfall.

"Since the three seniors know the Lingxiao Life Realm, you must have been people from here when you were alive, right? Do you know if there is any other way to go back besides the Spirit-Passing Fog Realm at the Coffin Dock ferry crossing?" Li Youyi said.

Jar Senior was very active, laughing: "You asked the right person! Regarding the Blood Sea Coffin Dock and the Spirit-Passing Fog Realm, no one knows better than your Coffin Senior; he is the Nine Li..."

"Shut up."

The voice in the stone coffin sounded: "Is there any danger at the Coffin Dock ferry crossing?"

"Danger is hard to say, but I want to avoid it if possible." Li Youyi said.

The voice in the stone coffin: "There is another path, but it's a bit of a detour. Next, I will use the Nine Emperor Banner to identify the direction and lead the way. The one holding the banner, walk in front!"

The Nine Emperor Banner was the white underworld banner in Zhao Meng's hand; the red gems in the eyes of the nine skulls could provide it with secret energy similar to magic power. The scriptures and light emitted from the banner pointed out the direction for everyone.

The shore was too far away; they had walked very fast, but when the sky turned completely dark, they still hadn't reached land.

Finding a floating coffin area blocked by a giant coffin from the cold wind with stable ground, they prepared to rest for the night first.

Zhao Meng, following Coffin Senior's guidance, stuck the white underworld banner in his hand into the gap between two coffins. This banner could suppress souls, and the area covered by its light was where spirits dared not approach; it was a treasure from Coffin Senior's lifetime.

Li Youyi took food from the Evil Camel Bell and distributed it to everyone.

Just finished eating.

"Bang! Bang..."

The blue-and-white urn jumped out from the corner: "Time to cultivate, time to cultivate! Everyone together. You, Li Youyi, stop thinking about those broken problems of Old Coffin's; you're just thinking about profound, ethereal things. Realistic things are the most important; you must open the fourth spring eye as soon as possible. All of us now rely on you for protection; don't let just any five-spring or six-spring cultivator come and wipe us all out, let alone talk about Longevity."

Li Youyi said: "Senior, opening a spring eye shouldn't be something you can just open; it has to be gradual."

"Fart! With the abundant blood energy of Jin Wu blood, with your Chan Sect's supreme breathing method, with my guidance, there's no danger in the first four springs; with your bloodline and talent, you can break through easily. However, there is a certain danger at the fifth spring; you have to go to a state capital giant city to get a spring-opening needle to open it quickly."

Jar Senior had a short temper; he started doing it immediately, directly beginning to guide Li Youyi to force open the fourth spring in the center of his left palm.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 41 =====