“One thousand saint stones for a ride aboard the White-Jade Ship? That sounds too good to be true!” Zhang Ruochen chuckled.
“Agreed. That sounds fishy,” said Ji Fanxi in her mind.
Zhang Ruochen understood what trick they were trying to play. Who did not want to keep the sacred herbs growing in Luoshui for themselves? Not to mention that endless opportunity in the deep-water region.
It made little sense that the Imperial Origin Divine Dynasty would want to share all that with everyone.
Unless they were up to something else.
“That white-jade ship is no ordinary vessel,” said Zhang Ruochen.
The ship was just a few hundred feet long by eye measurement; its size and appearance were incomparable to the Demi Saint battleship made by the First Central Empire of the Kunlun Realm.
However, there were many elusive arrays covering the surface of the deck, columns, and hull. Some of the arrays had complex patterns. They made Zhang Ruochen dizzy when he tried to study them.
“The Immortal of the Imperial Origin Divine Dynasty has over a thousand children. But only twelve of the children showed signs of vision incarnation during birth,” said Ji Fanxin.
“So Immortal Dizu ordered the use of mysterious gold and sacred jade with the addition of one of the world’s top materials, the Divine-made matter, to make the twelve white-jade objects. Those things would continuously improve in grade. He let them choose whichever objects they liked and use them, and see which white-jade object had a higher grade and bigger changes.”
“So Immortal Dizu is selecting his future successor?” asked Zhang Ruochen.
“I am not sure, but there must be some connection,” replied Ji Fanxin.
She then continued, “The one choosing the white-jade sacred ship is Zhuo Chi, the 14th prince.”
“What level of cultivation that 14th prince has attained?” asked Zhang Ruochen.
“Should be the Seven-step Saint Kinghood.”
“Only Seven-step Saint Kinghood?”
Ji Fanxi shook her head. “Don’t you underestimate him. He may not be as talented as a rare genius like Shang Ziyan, but he is not far behind either. With only the Seven-step Saint Kinghood, his strength challenges that of a Nine-step Saint King.”
“I mean with his cultivation base of Seven-step Saint Kinghood, he could not possibly elevate the grade of the white-jade ship. I might not have tried it before, but I am dead sure that even a figure of the level of the Greater Precept World could not defeat the defense of the white-jade sacred ship,” said Zhang Ruochen.
“That is because you don’t know who the mother of this 14th prince is. His mother used to be the Saintess of the Nebula Sect, which was one of the oldest sects in the Macroworld of the Imperial Path. For the sake of the sect, how could the Nebula Sect not throw their support behind the 14th prince?”
The truth suddenly hit Zhang Ruochen.
By the looks of things, the notion that success lies not only on personal strength but also on one’s background applied everywhere.
“Why don’t we board the white-jade sacred ship and see who the 14th prince really is?” said Zhang Ruochen.
“Aren’t you afraid of an ambush?”
“I’m not some low-hanging fruit. Ambushing me isn’t that easy,” said Zhang Ruochen.
After paying two thousand saint stones, Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin boarded the ship.
Cultivators dressed in different styles of Saint robes had gathered on the deck. All eyes were on Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin as soon as they stepped on board. Specifically, they were ogling Ji Fanxin.
As the famous Fairy of a Hundred Flowers, her aura was unmistakable even though she had changed her appearance.
A young man who looked like someone of importance immediately came forward and introduced himself to Ji Fanxi. “I am Kong Yu of the Wind Realm. You are?”
Kong Yu’s cultivation base had reached the Five-step Saint Kinghood, which was considered pretty powerful.
Following immediately, a few others came up and introduced themselves.
“My name is Kong Hongyi of the Wind Realm.”
“I am Ka Er of the Cha Realm. Can we be friends, lady?”
…
Obviously, they were all after Ji Fanxi.
Little did they know that Fairy of a Hundred Flowers had a high expectation of men and was cold. Except for Zhang Ruochen who could get along well with her, no other cultivators could get a chance to talk to her.
She had tons of admirers; the men who wished to approach her were many.
Nonetheless, Ji Fanxin could not have cared less about them. “If I had known this would happen, I would not have come on board.”
Zhang Ruochen stepped forward, his powerful sense of presence causing those cultivators to step aside. “Get the hell out of here. Don’t you all notice that she is apparently annoyed?”
“He has a powerful cultivation base.”
Kong Yu, Kong Hongyi, and others knew that they had underestimated him earlier and now quickly stepped aside.
The teenager who looked like a student was Ling Tong. He had a pair of smartly penetrating eyes. After staring hard at Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxi for a second, he quickly entered a light door and disappeared from the deck.
A while later, Ling Tong appeared in a colorful confined space. As if he was standing under a starry sky, he cupped his hands in respect. “Your Highness, two powerful figures are among us outside.”
Zhuo Chi, the 14th prince, was drinking with a man carrying a broadsword behind his back and a lady wearing a Nebula robe.
The 14th prince looked very young and handsome, wearing a seven dragon-patterned, purple Saint robe. “What do they look like? Which realm did they come from?”
“It’s a man and a lady. The man is wearing a mask that could block spiritual power. The lady has changed her appearance; there is no way to tell what her true form is,” said the student-looking teenager.
The lady wearing a Nebula robe was Nie Qingli, an outstanding disciple of the Nebula Sect of the Imperial Path Macroworld.
“Tong Ling, you have got the most badass vision in the entire Macroworld of the Imperial Path. Even you couldn’t tell who the two are. I guess their backgrounds aren’t that simple.”
“Sister Nie, Brother Bai, let me go out to meet them.” The 14th prince rose to his feet slowly.
Nie Qingli and Bai Shang got to their feet in unison and walked out of the light door with the 14th prince.
A cloud of nebula had formed in the air above the white-jade sacred ship. It was round, bright and beautiful.
Driven by the nebula, the sacred ship started to sail.
Zhang Ruochen and Ji Fanxin stood on the deck, staring at the sparkling water surface.
There were stars, but no moon tonight.
The water surface reflected the starlight as if a long stretch of the bright and beautiful galaxy was inlaid on the Eastern Region.
Ji Fanxin suddenly discovered something. “The starlight reflection on the water should be the guide to enter the deep-water part of Luoshui.”
Zhang Ruochen raised his finger and gestured something in the air before letting out a smile. “Indeed. It is a star path. And this white-jade sacred ship is moving on it. That 14th prince is somebody, and he must have quite a number of capable men around.”
A burst of laughter came from not far away. “Thank you for the compliment. I am really flattered.”
Zhang Ruochen looked in the direction where the voice came from. A young man, dressed in a seven dragon-patterned purple robe, was coming in his direction. His aura told Zhang Ruochen that this guy was of utmost importance.
Kong Yu, the noble disciple from the Wind Realm, was pale in comparison in terms of aura.
This aura was lofty yet not prideful and distasteful. Needless to say, this young man must be the 14th prince of the Dizu Divine Dynasty.
Ji Fanxin was still gazing at the starlight reflection and ignoring the presence of the 14th prince. Zhang Ruochen forced a smile and came up to meet him. “There is something that I don’t understand, Your Highness. Why do you want to bring everyone to the deep-water part of Luoshui?”
“You must be a forthright man. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have asked this question so bluntly. But I am as bad as you think. I am just doing something that everyone would benefit from,” said the 14th prince with a smile.
“Eh?”
With his hands behind him, the 14th prince gazed into the depth of Luoshui. “In fact, Luoshui doesn’t belong to the Kunlun Realm. It fell from the outer universe. Somewhere deep down under Luoshui is the grave of a god. Have you sensed that?”
Zhang Ruochen closed his eyes and carefully scanned with his perception.
After the white-jade sacred ship entered the deep-water area of Luoshui, the Precept of Heaven and Earth had undergone obvious changes. The precept of many aspects had become incomplete.
Right then, a faint sense of divine energy permeated the air, engulfing and suppressing Zhang Ruochen’s cultivation base.
Indeed, only a phenomenon like this could appear in the death place of the god.
When Zhang Ruochen reopened his eyes, the white-jade sacred ship had passed through the white fog. Far head was several islands. They all were black and round like balls.
As the ship approached closer, the black-ball islands became even bigger in view, looking like massive mountains growing out of the water.
The white-jade sacred ship looked like a speck of dust in comparison.
It was a mind-boggling scene with several black planets floating on the water.
On the planets were mountains and rivers, and lakes, and oceans.
Above some of the planets, rocky mountains and smaller continents were circling around the planets.
“There is dimensional perturbation above the water. The dimensional structure of this place is complex. In a journey that is only a thousand miles, you may easily get lost traveling across the water if you are not following the star path during the voyage. I fear that the actual width of this water is no less than 5 million miles.”
Zhang Ruochen was a little puzzled, wondering what kind of place Luoshui really was.
They had seen many sacred herbs along the way, but the cultivators of the Dizu Divine Dynasty did not take a single one of them. They had left them to the other cultivators, who were the passengers of the ship.
Zhang Ruochen looked like he had a thousand questions in his head. And he could really read who the 14th prince was.
The white-jade sacred ship sailed toward one of the floating planets. It was roughly 2,150-mile in diameter, with two-third of it underwater.
On the top of the planet was a million-meter sky-soaring stone column, which was so huge and tall that it was beyond description.
On the stone column was a strange creature that almost grew together with the column. Its body was so huge that it surpassed that of the column it grew on. Looking closely, there were thousands of iron chains bound to the strange creature and the stone column.
The creature was dead, but the energy it emanated was making the Saint King cultivators nervous. They even went weak at the knees.
Just then, Zhang Ruochen saw some fast-moving shadows on that planet. Obviously, some other cultivators were one step ahead of them.
