Chapter 4: Setting Sail
In the Infernal Realm, the five great continents—Zijing Continent, Kaluosha Continent, Bifu Continent, Xuefeng Continent, and Muya Continent—nearly formed a massive ring. Within this ring lay the inner sea, the Star Fog Sea. Though called an inner sea, the Star Fog Sea’s expanse surpassed that of any single continent.
“Whoosh—” Clear, faintly purple seawater rippled gently.
On this boundless Star Fog Sea, even without wind, waves rose three feet high.
“Swoosh!” A diamond-shaped metallic lifeform swiftly cut through the wind and waves, racing forward at tremendous speed. This metallic lifeform, transformed into a diamond-shaped vessel, was nearly fifty meters long and about ten meters wide at its broadest point. It had no roof, and the metal on its sides was entirely transparent.
Linley, Delia, and the others were admiring the scenery of the Star Fog Sea. This was their first time entering it.
“So beautiful!”
The endless expanse of pale purple seawater, the silk-like thin mist, the cool vapor rising—taking in all of this, Linley felt an involuntary sense of exhilaration and relaxation.
“Boss, when we set off just now, there was no fog above the sea. Now it’s all foggy. It’s like the Zijing Mountains, but not as thick,” Bebe said, looking up. The metallic lifeform was skimming just above the water’s surface.
About ten meters above the metallic lifeform, the fog began.
The fog above the Star Fog Sea drifted in streaks, very thin, posing little obstruction to vision.
Linley looked up as well. Suddenly, a voice rang out beside him: “Don’t underestimate this fog. The fog of the Star Fog Sea is extremely dangerous. Once you enter its range, you’ll be attacked by lightning. The deeper you go into the fog, the more powerful the lightning becomes. Even a Highgod wouldn’t dare fly too high!”
Linley turned his head. The speaker was another midgod demon, a man with short, steel-needle-like black hair and a thick, bushy beard. He was casually leaning in a corner, drinking from a bottle.
“I’m Linley,” Linley said, smiling at him.
“You can call me Bates,” the bearded man replied casually. “This is your first time on the Star Fog Sea, right? Everyone’s like that at first, but later you’ll find it boring. After all, it’s endless seawater, with the occasional annoying bandits. Bandits are everywhere—really irritating.”
Linley couldn’t help but laugh.
“Haha, no need to worry about bandits,” the employer Aichi said, walking over with a broad smile. “Our group has two Highgods. Those small bandit gangs wouldn’t dare provoke two Highgod demons. And the really powerful forces probably wouldn’t bother with a group like us.”
Olivia glanced at him. “From what you’re saying, it sounds pretty safe?”
“On the Star Fog Sea, just traveling straight ahead takes decades. Who knows what might happen?” another demon in the metallic lifeform’s hall said nonchalantly.
Linley smiled.
Danger? As long as he didn’t encounter a Seven-Star Demon or a Sovereign-level expert, he was confident he could at least survive.
That night, Linley stepped out of the cabin to the bow of the diamond-shaped vessel. A few others were already outside at the bow.
“Whoosh! Whoosh!”
The metallic lifeform was moving at incredible speed, and the sea wind was fierce, cutting like blades. For an ordinary mortal, this wind would be enough to suffocate them to death. But for these god-level experts, it had little effect. Linley didn’t talk to the others. He half-lay down, leaning against the slanted transparent metal panel behind him, enjoying the night view of the Star Fog Sea.
Under the night sky, the seawater of the Star Fog Sea looked dark and deep, like a lurking giant beast.
“It’s been a full year since we set sail, but it feels like we’ve barely moved,” Linley thought to himself. That guy Bates was right—spending too long on the Star Fog Sea got boring, since the surroundings were always endless water.
Even though the metallic lifeform was moving incredibly fast, it was almost imperceptible.
“Linley,” a voice came from behind. Linley turned to see Delia. She sat down beside him, also half-lying down, and took his hand. As if remembering something, she started smiling.
“What are you grinning about?” Linley asked with a laugh.
“I was thinking—back when we first met at Ernst Academy, would we ever have imagined that one day we’d be traveling together through the Star Fog Sea in the Infernal Realm? Fate is truly strange,” Delia said with a sigh.
Linley couldn’t help but smile too.
“Linley, look—there’s lightning in the distance,” Delia said, pointing.
Linley turned to look—
Sure enough, in the distant sky, within the thin fog, countless bolts of lightning were darting about like electric snakes.
“Pretty scenery. We’ve been on the Star Fog Sea for so long, but I’ve never seen such an interesting sight at night,” Linley remarked with a smile.
“Lightning!” several people nearby exclaimed in alarm.
Without a word, they darted back into the vessel like startled rabbits.
Linley and Delia looked back in confusion. The employer Aichi was staring at them wide-eyed, sending a mental message: “Get inside! The fog sea is about to erupt. Hurry!”
“Erupt?”
Though full of questions, Linley and Delia quickly dashed back into the metallic lifeform. Once inside, they immediately peered through the transparent metal at the lightning, along with everyone else.
“Crackle—” Countless electric snakes writhed within the fog, spreading wider and wider.
In moments, the electric snakes had spread to the area above Linley’s metallic lifeform. Linley was startled: “In the blink of an eye, it’s spread at least a thousand miles!” Gods had excellent vision, and the speed at which the electric snakes spread was astonishing.
“Swoosh!” The metallic lifeform Linley was on immediately sealed itself completely and turned around at lightning speed, fleeing.
“Crackle—”
Above Linley and in every other direction, the sky was filled with endless darting electric snakes. The area they covered kept expanding, far faster than the metallic lifeform could fly.
“Hope we can escape the eruption zone,” Aichi murmured.
Linley and the other demons watched the sky through the transparent metal. The electric snakes had already spread over a vast area, nearly covering the entire sky. The thin, dim fog glowed brilliantly under the light of the snakes.
“Rumble—” A low, rumbling sound arose.
Countless electric snakes and the fog began to swirl together. In the sky, a massive vortex formed by countless electric snakes and fog, spanning ten thousand miles, was born. The enormous vortex of electric snakes shone brightly in the dead of night, illuminating Linley’s face.
“Rumble—”
The ten-thousand-mile vortex in the sky caused the seawater below to suddenly form a terrifying whirlpool of the same size. The force of this whirlpool was astonishing—able to churn the waters of a ten-thousand-mile region. Just imagining that power was terrifying.
The ten-thousand-mile waters churned, raising waves dozens of meters high, connecting with the fog above.
“Swoosh!” The metallic lifeform Linley was on tore through the water at breakneck speed, seizing every moment to flee the center of the vortex.
“This whirlpool is really strong. The metallic lifeform is shaking violently,” the bearded man Bates remarked. Linley could clearly feel the entire vessel trembling.
“Why not fly up?” Bebe frowned. “Even if we enter the fog and get struck by lightning, as long as we don’t go too deep, the lightning shouldn’t be that strong. This whirlpool is way too dangerous.”
The metallic lifeform was twisted violently by the whirlpool’s force, nearly turning around.
“Damn it, running into a fog sea eruption. What terrible luck,” Aichi cursed under his breath, struggling to control the metallic lifeform’s advance.
“Fly into the fog now?” another demon in the vessel sneered. “During a fog sea eruption, all the lightning power is concentrated. Charging into the fog now would mean facing the strongest lightning. Even a Highgod couldn’t withstand it. If you want to die, don’t drag us with you.”
Among the group, aside from Delia, there was another Highgod demon—a bald young man. He said calmly, “We spotted it early, and we were a fair distance from the vortex center. We didn’t get sucked into the core, so there’s no immediate danger. But the final wave of the fog sea eruption is the most terrifying.”
“Final wave?” Bebe looked at him curiously. Linley, Delia, and Olivia were also unclear.
The bald young man explained, “The initial vortex of a fog sea eruption might cause some trouble if we get caught in it, but it wouldn’t kill us. However, at the end of the eruption, all those countless spinning electric snakes in the sky will indiscriminately strike down at random. If you get hit…” He smiled wryly. “If I get hit, even I would die.”
Linley was inwardly shocked. He looked up at the vortex of countless electric snakes above. “Those electric snakes are indeed terrifyingly powerful. Even that bald young man, a Highgod, can’t withstand them.” He now understood why the metallic lifeform was fleeing.
The closer you were to the vortex center, the denser the lightning, and the higher the chance of being struck.
In truth, fog sea eruptions were a natural phenomenon of the Star Fog Sea. The fog there had special properties, naturally absorbing lightning power from the heavens and earth. Anyone who entered the fog would be struck by lightning from it.
Knowing this, no one was foolish enough to go in and get struck.
With no one entering the fog, the lightning within it accumulated more and more until it had to discharge.
That was a fog sea eruption—a process of releasing massive amounts of lightning!
“It’s too late. We can’t escape the eruption zone,” Aichi said with a sigh, then turned to look at everyone. “Be careful. Don’t get struck. And remember—when the lightning comes down, don’t enter the sea.”
Linley and the others knew that water conducted electricity.
With ten thousand miles of lightning powerful enough to kill a Highgod raining down, it would probably strike all the way to the deepest seabed. Entering the sea would be suicide.
“Good luck to everyone,” the bald young man said loudly.
“Good luck!” a few others echoed.
“Good luck!”
Everyone’s expressions turned serious. In the Infernal Realm, they often walked the line between life and death, but no one ever let their guard down. This time, it was all about luck. The electric snakes were less than a hundred meters above them—there was no time to dodge if they struck.
“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” …
Linley looked up—
In an instant, over a ten-thousand-mile area, countless electric snakes crashed down from the sky like rain, dense and unrelenting. In that moment, the world blazed with blinding light.
In the blink of an eye, they struck the sea surface. Across the ten-thousand-mile region, many metallic lifeforms were hit. More than half were directly struck.
Linley’s group was lucky. The nearest electric snake grazed past them, striking the water nearby. Each bolt of lightning carried immense energy, piercing into the deep seabed like arrows. Only a small amount of residual electricity spread out, crackling across the sea surface.
Most of the energy was concentrated, driving straight into the ocean depths.
“Crackle—” Even the residual electricity that spread out caused Linley’s metallic lifeform to shudder violently.
“Bang!” The metallic lifeform exploded.
Linley and the others floated above the sea surface, finally breathing a sigh of relief. Below, electric light still flickered across the water, but everyone knew it was just residual energy—no real threat.
“We’re safe,” Aichi said with a grin.
All the demons relaxed and laughed.
“Haha, we’re safe!”
“Damn, I cheated death again!” Those who had survived the ordeal let loose.
Linley, however, looked into the distance. When the countless electric snakes had struck, another metallic lifeform not far from them had been unlucky—it was hit directly and exploded. Some on board were killed instantly, while a few managed to escape with their lives.
What Linley didn’t know was that across the entire ten-thousand-mile region, far more than just a few had died.
“I think I saw a figure flying through the air, ignoring all the lightning,” a puzzled voice said.
In the midst of that apocalyptic rain of lightning, someone dared to fly?
All the demons, including Linley, turned to look. The speaker was the bearded man Bates. He frowned, saying, “I’m pretty sure I didn’t see wrong. There was a person, and he seemed to be carrying a weapon—couldn’t tell if it was a sword or a blade.”