Chapter 96: Smuggling Ship

After the communication with Hong Guang Ai Er·Mo Rui Ya ended, Lei Kedun hastily tidied up, rearranged the ritual, contacted the library deep within the spiritual realm, and obtained the books Hong Guang Ai Er·Mo Rui Ya gave him.

He then concluded the ritual, cleaned up the aftermath, and calmly lay down on the bed.

While pondering the information he received from Hong Guang Ai Er·Mo Rui Ya, Lei Kedun did not expect the Seven Lights of the spiritual realm to be so familiar with Mr. Huang.

He even suspected that Mr. Huang might be a dragon that survived from the Second Era, a dragon that passed through the White Tower, which would explain his old‑friend‑like relationship with the Seven Lights.

"The system of spiritual realm sorcerers also has major problems," Lei Kedun sighed to himself.

Although he had previously considered that drawing power from the spiritual realm would have certain side effects, he did not anticipate those side effects would erupt after death, turning almost everyone into malevolent spirits and vengeful souls.

When spiritual realm sorcerers become numerous enough, Lei Kedun has no doubt that vengeful souls and malevolent spirits will become the most common monsters in this world.

While mulling over these details in his mind, Lei Kedun gradually fell into a deep sleep.

The next day, to finish reading the books on spiritual realm creatures as quickly as possible, Lei Kedun specifically summoned Fu Lan Ke and Pa Si the cat for help.

"I'm a cat! You actually want me to read!" Pa Si looked at Lei Kedun with disbelief.

Tu Ba Ge was much calmer, leisurely gnawing fruit while waiting for his boss to speak.

"Al, even if we help you read, you can't share the knowledge we see!" Fu Lan Ke also raised a question.

"I will teach you a spell, similar to the Hidden Sage's knowledge infusion; you can use it to transmit the contents of your minds to me." Lei Kedun had already prepared this.

Finally, he added another sentence:

"That is, after you finish reading, you transmit the refined content to me."

This was a spell knowledge Lei Kedun accidentally glimpsed from a portion of the Hidden Sage's mythic creature form; he modified it into a simplified version that spiritual realm sorcerers could learn and use.

To make reading easier for himself, Lei Kedun incorporated Fu Lan Ke and Pa Si into the spiritual realm sorcerer system.

Feeling the magical boost from the ring behind him, Fu Lan Ke exclaimed in amazement:

"It's amazing, I feel my magical ability has greatly increased; with this ring's help, my future experiments will be much easier."

"Meow! It's a bit odd, but I don't feel much," Pa Si mewed.

Lei Kedun was not surprised by Fu Lan Ke's and Pa Si's reactions; the arbiter himself has little magical ability, and it is unsurprising that Pa Si cannot sense any change.

"Fu Lan Ke, your experiment will be postponed for a while; once I pass the retest, I'll help you with the experiment again," Lei Kedun said to Fu Lan Ke.

"No problem, helping you read also lets me gain a lot of knowledge about spiritual realm creatures; maybe later I'll have a chance to use them for experiments!"

Talking about using spiritual realm creatures for experiments, Fu Lan Ke's face lit up with longing.

"I'll give you special dried small fish of various sea fish!"

Lei Kedun turned, promised the dried fish and bribed the gluttonous black cat.

Having negotiated terms with Fu Lan Ke and Pa Si—one person, one cat—Lei Kedun distributed the books he obtained from Hong Guang Ai Er·Mo Rui Ya.

Two people and two extraordinary animals thus began a reading life in Fu Lan Ke's laboratory.

The spiritual realm knowledge recorded in the books carried mental contamination, making the reading process very slow; especially the knowledge Lei Kedun received via knowledge infusion also bore mental contamination, though less severe.

This intense mental extraction lasted a week, and Lei Kedun even felt his mental strength had risen a notch compared to before.

Preparing to return to his room for a nap to replenish his spirit, Lei Kedun was suddenly inspired as a brass‑colored book materialized from the spiritual realm.

Lei Kedun thought it was a letter from someone of the Earth Church on Ma Dan's side; he took the messenger book, opened it, and a line of draconic script stared back: "Prepare for the exam!"

Lei Kedun was stunned; he felt Mr. Huang's move was a bit outrageous, but upon reflection it seemed quite reasonable.

However, regarding the origin of this brass book, Lei Kedun could roughly confirm that it was definitely a book the God of Knowledge tossed from his divine realm when he summoned the messenger.

Lei Kedun hurried back to his room, grabbed a feather pen, and began the retest.

Thanks to the books given by Hong Guang Ai Er·Mo Rui Ya, this retest at least passed.

Mr. Huang thoughtfully left the next exam time: two months later!

Then he logged off; Lei Kedun fiddled with the brass book for a while, confirmed no other information, and casually tossed it, causing the messenger book to return to the spiritual realm on its own.

Life at sea was bland and tedious; although the Wei Lai Hao was a pirate ship, Lei Kedun hadn't encountered any business during his time aboard.

Basically it was drifting at sea for a while, then stopping at a port for supplies before quickly departing again.

Lei Kedun grew curious about the Xing Xing Hai Dao Tuan's source of income; the Huang Jin Meng Xiang Hao at least had treasure hunting as its main business, while the Wei Lai Hao truly just drifted at sea.

"All hands, prepare. Target: Bai Jing Zhi Hai."

Jia De Li Ya's voice echoed through the Wei Lai Hao to everyone's ears.

"Whoa, should I pull out a bottle of Prophet and drink it!" Lei Kedun exclaimed.

Lei Kedun felt the Wei Lai Hao's sailing speed accelerating steadily, causing items in his room to shift due to the sudden speed increase.

After steadying himself and adapting to the sudden speed boost, Lei Kedun left his quarters and went to the deck to meet the others.

On the deck, Lei Kedun quickly found Tu Ba Ge and Pa Si, who were with Fu Lan Ke, and hurried forward.

"Fu Lan Ke, what's the situation now? Why the sudden heading to Bai Jing Zhi Hai?" Lei Kedun asked, full of curiosity.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think the captain discovered a smuggling ship hidden in Bai Jing Zhi Hai," Fu Lan Ke said uncertainly.

"Smuggling ship?" Lei Kedun was taken aback.

It sounded as if Jia De Li Ya was preparing to have the Xing Xing Hai Dao Tuan plunder the smuggling vessels, a sort of pirates eating pirates. After all, ships daring to smuggle on the open sea inevitably have some connection to pirates.

"Which smuggling ships are we going to plunder?" Lei Kedun asked excitedly.

Having been a pirate on the Wei Lai Hao for so long, reading or taking exams, he finally could do something a pirate should do.

"Smuggling ships from Dong Bailing; they usually disguise themselves as the fleet of the Blood General, traveling between the Southern Continent, the Luo Si De Archipelago, and the Jia Er Jia Si Archipelago, transporting contraband."

Unexpectedly, Jia De Li Ya explained the situation to Lei Kedun.

Then she gave Fu Lan Ke another instruction:

"Fu Lan Ke, a battle may occur later; look after Al, he has no experience with naval combat."

"Don't worry, Captain!" Fu Lan Ke patted his chest in assurance.

Jia De Li Ya nodded, returned to her captain's cabin and resumed commanding the Wei Lai Hao.

Lei Kedun did not expect Jia De Li Ya to specifically ask Fu Lan Ke to look after him; he wanted to thank her aloud, but she turned and left, so he said nothing.

"Fu Lan Ke, how long will we encounter the smuggling ship?" Lei Kedun brought the topic back to the smuggling ship.

"Since the Captain issued a notice, it's likely we'll encounter them within half an hour to an hour; if battle breaks out, don't rush too far ahead, just bring Pa Si and Tu Ba Ge and stay by my side." Fu Lan Ke advised.

Lei Kedun nodded, not refusing Fu Lan Ke's kindness. In terms of combat, I'm indeed not very skilled, and it's still naval combat.

Lei Kedun leaned against the rail with Tu Ba Ge and Pa Si, gazing at the sea ahead.

The Future sailed forward for about thirty to forty minutes, when two black dots appeared on the sea ahead. Lei Kedun squinted his eyes for a while; aside from his eyes hurting a bit from the sea wind, he couldn't make anything out.

"When I have time, I want to create a spell similar to a telescope and enchant it directly onto my glasses." Lei Kedun added the development of the next spell to his schedule in his mind.

"Hold on tight, steady yourself!" Jia De Li Ya's voice echoed throughout the Future.

"Quick, grab the railing beside you." Fu Lan Ke immediately added a reminder.

Lei Kedun had some guesses and immediately grabbed the rail he was leaning on. Tu Ba Ge and Pa Si each grabbed one of Lei Kedun's pant legs.

Lei Kedun wanted to complain, knowing his pant legs would eventually be torn apart by them.

In the next moment, the Future's hull was covered with a layer of starlight. Its speed suddenly increased severalfold, and Lei Kedun felt the Future was no longer sailing on the sea but rather flying through the sky.

A strong wind howled past, blocked largely by the starlight permeating the Future, but the remaining wind scraping his face still made his face ache a little.

This high-speed travel lasted about five to six minutes; the starlight suffusing the Future faded, restoring normal sailing speed. At this point, the Future had reached the vicinity of the two smuggling ships.

"Cannons ready!" Jia De Li Ya's voice came from the captain's quarters, echoing throughout the Future.

Under the cannon operator's handling, the Future's cannons swiftly adjusted aim, targeting the two smuggling ships ahead, then fired.

Boom~boom!

The cannons bombarded the smuggling ships ahead, but the shells hadn't yet gotten close before being blocked.

Shadows on one ship twisted and condensed into illusory yet solid black shackles that blocked all the shells, detonating them in midair. The shells aimed at the other ship oddly hovered in midair, then fell into the sea.

(End of chapter)