Free Web NovelChapter 352: Chapter 345: The Earth’s Lung Welcomes Its Evil Star
During the Land Era, the Andean Alliance in South America had been overly reliant on agriculture and natural resources. Compounded by its complex geography, its overall strength was never particularly prominent.
Back then, "Earth’s Lung" was still a title of honor.
It referred to the planet’s largest tropical rainforest, which brought renewing vitality to the blue planet and bestowed endless glory and resources upon the continent.
But times have changed.
Earth’s Lung became synonymous with danger.
The tropical rainforest and the land sank together to the seabed. The corpses of trees and once-isolated tribes were buried deep beneath the waves, forming a new ecosystem amid the corrosion. Deep in the sea, gases from the decaying rainforest combined with the energy from Sea Crystal Stones, creating a persistent, dense fog and chaotic air currents on the surface. This miasma shrouded the former Amazon Region, making it incredibly easy to get lost.
Kindling had once issued a no-sail order: all wandering ships navigating the Andean Sea Region were forbidden from entering the Earth Lung Region.
But it had little effect.
The danger here was insidious, like a frog in slowly boiling water, but it concealed profits great enough to make the crews of ordinary wandering ships risk it all.
Within the chaotic fog, a brand-new crystal could form—the Fog Island Crystal, with a value comparable to a Pure Dome Crystal. Even ordinary Silver-level or Bronze-level wandering ships could precipitate a few using their Sea Crystal Stone equipment. And the deeper one ventured, the higher the probability of precipitation became.
Daredevil captains tested the limits of this danger, like they were provoking a tribal Beautiful Serpent.
Alluring and dangerous.
And now, this Beautiful Serpent was welcoming a guest from afar—the Dayun.
"Captain, we’ll reach the Earth Lung Sea Region in 120 nautical miles. Radar has detected a powerful lifeform approaching. Suspected to be... an A-rank sea beast."
"Reduce speed."
It was now just after nine in the evening.
In other sea regions, the moon had risen and stars were out, but on the Dayun, it was as bright as day.
The Three-Eyed Golden Crow stood atop the great ship, completely restraining the aura and heat of an S-rank sea beast as it preened its black-and-gold feathers. The faintest light it casually emitted was enough to illuminate the three- to four-hundred-meter King-level Wandering Ship and the surrounding four to five nautical miles, bathing the area in daylight.
This was a true sunlamp, allowing the Dayun to dispense with both lighting equipment and the bait needed for fishing.
For instance, a suspected A-rank sea beast was currently launching an attack on the Dayun. But clearly, it had no idea what was waiting for it.
A light-class Sea Suppressing Cannon was already loaded. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
A single shot would be enough to send this A-rank sea beast to its doom.
But Shi Ming stopped it from being fired.
"No one is to engage."
"I’ll handle this."
He suppressed his entire aura, appearing like a common warrior.
Sea beasts were extremely sensitive to the intimidating aura of powerful enemies. To avoid scaring off this A-rank sea beast, Shi Ming kept a low profile, like an ordinary person. As the beast drew closer, he could see it clearly: a twenty-eight-meter-long, mutated Jungle Python.
Shi Ming watched it from a distance.
He was experimenting with a brand-new combat technique.
He was trying to fuse and use the different Holy Hall Tier powers within his body. For example, right now, the Nine-Headed Dragon Pattern was spreading across his skin, its nine heads flaring wantonly. Yet his physical eyes were channeling the abyssal malice of the Extremely Evil Sanctuary. Sometimes, when he blended and stacked the two powers, they would cancel each other out, greatly diminishing their strength. But other times, they would synergize, creating an effect where one plus one was greater than two.
He was searching for that balance.
And this experiment was proving very effective.
Before the Jungle Python could even get close, it felt a powerful draconic pressure! It shuddered instinctively. Before it could even think of fleeing, an irrepressible malice began to fester horrifically within its flesh and spirit.
Then, it exploded into a pile of shredded flesh.
From start to finish, Shi Ming hadn’t made a single move.
The Extremely Evil Sanctuary has grown. Number of tentacles +3!
’Not a bad experiment.’
’Although I wasted the chance to devour and digest an A-rank skill, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of how to control my Holy Hall Power.’
’The Divine Revelation Stele mentioned that after obtaining three types of Holy Hall Level Power, other developments seem to occur. The text was cut off, but through trial and error, I might be able to discover even stronger applications. When I find the remaining steles, I can cross-reference them to improve, maximizing my time and efficiency.’
"Salvage the sea beast’s carcass!"
The Dayun had killed too many sea beasts recently.
Space on the ship was limited, so they had to discard the bodies of some lower-value sea beasts to make room for the shredded Jungle Python they were hauling aboard.
The python’s meat was silky-smooth and delicious, and unlike that of typical sea beasts, it was rich in fat.
They could have a late-night snack tonight.
...
...
...
The mists began to rise.
After a delicious meal, the Three-Eyed Golden Crow dimmed its light, limiting its illumination to the immediate thousand-meter vicinity.
Unlike the Sea of Boiling with its clearly defined borders, Earth’s Lung was a vast sea region covering seven million square kilometers where the danger gradually increased. This was merely the outskirts of Earth’s Lung, where a thin fog was beginning to rise. Kindling was stationed at the far periphery in another direction, outside the fog’s reach.
Yellow Cannon monitored the king-ship’s sensor screen.
"We’re detecting at least two Bronze-level wandering ships?"
"They’re way too bold!"
’Are they really that gutsy?’
Ordinary wandering ships sought opportunity in the midst of danger. Precipitating just one Fog Island Crystal was an enormous fortune. It could be easily exchanged for Dome Crystals or High-Level Sea Crystal Stones, which in turn could be traded for the blood of C-rank or even B-rank sea beasts. From there, their fortunes would skyrocket.
It was certainly worth the risk.
On the outskirts of Earth’s Lung, the probability of a crystal precipitating was less than one in a thousand, while the level of danger was just about acceptable.
Shi Ming didn’t interfere with the fates of others.
He continued to pilot the King-level Wandering Ship, venturing deeper. Even the dense fog in the depths couldn’t stop the Dayun.
The Map of the Endless Sea in his hand glowed with an azure light.
’The Holy Hall-level Sea Beast is located in the depths of Earth’s Lung, the deepest part of the former Amazon Forest. It’s still 280 nautical miles from here. By my conservative estimate, after sailing another 200 nautical miles, I’ll be able to use the Eye of Destiny to get some intel on it.’
The light from the Map of the Endless Sea faded.
Then it lit up again.
Shi Ming injected his S-rank awakened power into it.
There were no S-rank sea beasts within a 1,000-nautical-mile radius.
’This Holy Hall Sea Beast is very territorial!’
"Continue forward."
...
The King-level Wandering Ship plowed through the Endless Ocean, the Three-Eyed Golden Crow perched on its pinnacle like a brilliant star heralding the dawn.
The thin fog grew thicker.
As Shi Ming was in his captain’s quarters studying the Hundred-Floor Celestial Tower, his eye suddenly twitched. The Eye of Destiny had unexpectedly delivered new intel.
[Heh heh heh.]
[The gears of fate have begun to turn... but the Eye of Destiny is quite curious as to which gear is stronger.]
[An abstract sea beast is about to descend from the Light Cone World.]
[Will you shake it off?]
[Or... will you play a turn-based game of dice and luck? It won’t take long, but if you win, there’s an extra surprise!]
