Chapter 27: Traces of Meisha

"Our destination is the Misty Phantom Archipelago, located in the Misty Sea, a deep-sea region."

The speaker was Yasen Howell.

As Yasen Howell spoke,

the others all looked at the large, detailed nautical chart on the table.

The area roughly two to three thousand nautical miles from the coast of the Oya continent, extending seaward, is the "inshore zone."

This stretch of ocean has an average depth of about 1,000 meters.

But beyond the vast inshore zone, as one extends further into the ocean depths, the seabed drops sharply.

The water depth plunges from over 1,000 meters to more than 5,000 meters, becoming the bottomless—deep-sea region.

And the further one goes into the deep sea, the deeper the water becomes, with enormous trenches tens of thousands of meters deep everywhere.

In the deep-sea region, the forces of sea races are complex, with numerous powerful deep-sea races living there.

Such as the merfolk, the sea serpent race, and the trench dwellers.

There are also various smaller but equally powerful deep-sea races, such as the shark race, the crab race, the electric eel race, and so on.

At the same time, this area is also a severe zone plagued by pirates.

Recently, due to earthquakes and other reasons, a large number of ocean undead and powerful demons have been released, and now a significant portion of them wreak havoc on the surface of the deep sea.

The deep-sea region is roughly divided into four major sections from north to south.

The northernmost is the "Whale Sea."

The Whale Sea, with its cold waters and broad surface, is the most suitable habitat for whales; nearly a third of deep-sea whales live here.

Hence, it is called the Whale Sea.

Next to the Whale Sea is the "Misty Sea."

The Misty Sea is perpetually shrouded in fog; at night, one cannot see the stars, and even during the day, the sun is barely visible.

Demon ships fare better, as they can submerge and avoid running aground.

But ordinary merchant ships, once trapped in the Misty Sea, if lucky enough to see the sun or stars and get a fix, might still escape.

Those less fortunate often perish in the Misty Sea.

Whether from hidden reefs, deep-sea races, or sea beasts.

Further south lies the Black Demon Sea.

This is a cursed ocean; from afar, the water is pitch-black like ink, utterly dead and silent.

This is not to say the water is truly black, but some peculiar phenomenon turns the Black Demon Sea into a deathly dark color.

When calm, the surface of the Black Demon Sea is like a mirror, without a ripple.

But when gales rage, hundred-meter waves easily capsize merchant ships.

Even steel steamships can be overturned by the waves.

Only demon ships, submerging to depths of five or six hundred meters, can avoid the influence of the waves.

Beyond the Black Demon Sea, the southernmost is the "Aenor Maelstrom."

It is said that the Aenor Maelstrom is larger than the entire Oya continent—whether true or not is unknown.

The Whale Sea, the Misty Sea, the Black Demon Sea, and the Aenor Maelstrom—these are the four major parts of the deep-sea region.

And the "Misty Phantom Archipelago" that Gune was heading to

lies in the Misty Sea, at a relatively shallow position.

Since Gune had already revealed that he possessed treasures, the others had little doubt about the expedition to the Misty Phantom Archipelago.

The main concern was the sailing route to the Misty Phantom Archipelago.

After all, the direct route would pass through many sea race territories, and the voyage would take nearly half a month.

Therefore, necessary route planning was essential.

Traveling along the borders of two sea race territories was obviously much better than directly crossing the airspace above those sea races.

Half an hour later, after detailed discussion and planning,

a feasible plan was put forward by the three.

Looking at the nautical chart route they had plotted, Gune felt much more at ease.

"Fortunately, I formed a decent adventure team; if I were alone, I'd probably lose my bearings once at sea."

"Once I reach the Misty Phantom Archipelago, I'll see if my adventure system can work," Gune thought to himself.

If there were treasures there and a feasible way to obtain them,

then the adventure system could come into play.

But if that place was a dead end, completely inaccessible, then Gune wouldn't go, because that would be suicide, not adventure.

At that moment, the discussion was over and the others had left; only Gune remained in the captain's cabin.

As he pondered, Gune looked around and activated his source vision.

On the Demon Whale, crew members were either gathered together drinking their own liquor or playing card games to pass the time before sleep.

Some crew members on duty were watching the ocean and the seabed conditions.

Then, Gune used puppet secret threads to seal the entire captain's cabin.

After confirming nothing was overlooked, Gune began to set up the "Blood Ritual Incantation."

Source candles at the hexagram points, fresh fish scales, source-infused liquor for preliminary mana replenishment, and an empty bronze goblet.

After arranging these items,

Gune turned his hand, and a dozen drops of blood fell into the bronze goblet.

This blood was from the Flower Queen Meisha.

Then Gune began to repeatedly chant the incantation of the Blood Ritual.

As Gune chanted,

the blood in the bronze goblet quickly ignited.

The burning blood seemed to be suppressed by something, trying to surge, but a mysterious force constantly restrained the power of the Blood Ritual.

After about a dozen seconds, the burning blood reached its peak, broke through the obstruction of that strange force, and coalesced in the air into a burning blood-red arrow.

Gune quickly took out the continental and oceanic map he had obtained from Senior Nigel, precisely oriented it with a compass, and then, following the direction of the burning blood arrow, drew a straight line on the map.

At this point, there were already more than one straight line on the map.

Some started from the Sugg Ruins City.

Some from Belan City.

Some from the Harutov Sea Port.

And one from Gune's current location.

All these lines converged on a mysterious area deep in the Misty Sea, perpetually shrouded in fog.

Looking at this area always covered in fog,

Gune sat quietly in his chair, lightly tapping the table, deep in thought.

Since obtaining the Blood Ritual Incantation, by moving his position, Gune had performed four divinations to track Meisha's traces.

Each time, Gune could feel some force trying to interfere with his ritual, even destroy it.

But that force was very weak, easily broken through by Gune's ritual.

In other words, the force preventing Gune was itself terrifying and powerful.

But with Gune's own fate thread nearly severed, it could not effectively restrict or prevent him, thus failing to interfere.

Each time, Gune obtained the true answer.

"If nothing unexpected happens, Meisha and her main body are in this mysterious fog-shrouded sea area."

"Could it be... that the Mother Goddess of the Human-Flower Church is also at this location?"

"For a long time, the Human-Flower Church, which has traces at sea, has been a key target of the Yulan Kingdom's navy."

"Perhaps I can report this important intelligence to the navy high command at an opportune moment."

"Even if it's not the location of the Human-Flower Church's Mother Goddess, this place is still a crucial stronghold, and a major naval strike against them would be excellent."

For now, tracking Meisha was only to roughly know her location; Gune did not have the strength to single-handedly wipe out a stronghold of the Human-Flower Church.

As he thought, Gune set aside the matter of Meisha for the moment.

Instead, he turned his attention to his soul.

After this period of idle cultivation,

Gune had not condensed any more Secret Crossing Runes. Instead, he had been condensing Repetition Runes.

Now, Gune already had eight Repetition Runes.

With two more Repetition Runes, he could condense his secondary soul.

And Gune's first choice for his secondary soul was the demons that had been wreaking havoc at sea during this time—the demons!