Chapter 176: Thunderstorm
Two months later.
In a pitch-black region of the Thunderstorm Sea, the seawater here was of a light purple color, and it stretched as far as the eyes could see.
Even without any wind, massive waves were still sweeping over the surface of the sea. At the moment, the wind was quite fierce, and that was only aiding in the formation of the waves.
The dark clouds in the sky were thick and dense and situated at an extremely low altitude, only six hundred to seven hundred feet above the surface of the sea.
It seemed that some of the taller waves surging over the sea were almost able to reach the clouds up above.
Thick bolts of lightning were occasionally flashing through the dark clouds, illuminating the sea down below amid rumbling thunderclaps, presenting a doomsday-like scene.
Right at this moment, yet another bolt of lightning pierced through the surface of the sea.
A massive shadow appeared beneath the dark clouds in the distance, and it was a giant boat that was hurtling rapidly through the air. The boat was several thousand feet long and over 100 feet tall.
It appeared to have been constructed from some type of wooden material, but this material somehow gave off a metallic appearance, and it was clearly extremely resolute and durable.
The surface of the boat was riddled with runes that were glowing with purple light, and it was also entirely covered in a thin translucent membrane.
Even though the giant purple boat was flying at as low an altitude as possible, it was still inevitably struck by some of the lightning that was crashing down from above.
However, despite how fearsome the bolts of lightning appeared, as soon as they struck that thin membrane on the giant boat, they were immediately repelled, leaving the boat completely unharmed.
The boat was divided up into a series of independent rooms, and each room had a window that allowed those staying inside to see what was outside.
Inside one of the rooms on the boat was a slightly chubby young man with a fair complexion, and he was looking out through the window at the giant bolts of lightning that were tearing through the heavens as he mused, "I'd always heard that the Thunderstorm Sea was an incredible place, and it's certainly living up to its reputation."
Behind him was a yellow-skinned middle-aged man who was seated with his legs crossed, and he was also looking out the window as he nodded in agreement. "Indeed, this is an extremely rare and spectacular sight to behold."
The yellow-skinned man was none other than Han Li, and the fair-skinned young man said in an excited manner, "I came from a mountainous region with a very dry climate, and we often go years without seeing any rain, so this is definitely a refreshing contrast."
Han Li merely smiled in response and remained silent.
The chubby young man's name was Sun Ke, and he was a Spatial Tempering cultivator. According to him, he was the young master of quite an affluent clan on the Primordial Wave Continent, and the two had met over a month ago.
At the time, Han Li had been staying in a secluded inn in Thunderclap City, waiting for the Seafaring Lightning Boat to set sail. However, on the night before the boat was scheduled to depart, Sun Ke was targeted in an assassination attempt while staying in the same inn.
Han Li didn't want to get involved in this matter, but the assassin was an overconfident Body Integration cultivator who planned to kill everyone in the entire inn in order to cover his tracks.
Unfortunately for him, he was slain by Han Li with ease.
Sun Ke was extremely grateful to Han Li for saving his life, and the two of them met once again the very next day on the port where the lightning boat was docked. Sun Ke was traveling to the Ancient Cloud Continent as well, and the two of them quickly became close acquaintances.
According to the Sun Ke, his assassin was an elder from his clan, and he had originally been instructed by the clan leader to protect him on his trip. However, he was bribed by Sun Ke's half-brother to have Sun Ke killed instead.
Thankfully, Sun Ke was able to discover his ploy in time, and he had several bodyguards who had been willing to sacrifice themselves in order to buy him time to escape. Only then was he able to flee all the way to Thunderclap City.
On the way here, he learned that some massive changes had taken place within his clan, and it was no longer a place that he could return to.
Hence, in order to completely distance himself from this mess, he decided to leave the Primordial Wave Continent altogether.
During their conversations, Han Li discovered that Sun Ke was a very knowledgeable person, and one of his hobbies was to learn about all types of general trivia and obscure historical events. Hence, he was quite happy to interact with and speak to Sun Ke as well.
After all, following his return to the Immortal Realm, he had spent a long time in the Black Wind Sea, which was quite an isolated place, so his knowledge of the rest of the immortal region was rather lacking.
Sun Ke was a wealth of knowledge, both important and trivial, and he really liked to impart his knowledge on others, but back in his clan, no one liked to hear him talk about these things. In contrast, Han Li was actively seeking out his knowledge and listening to everything that he said with keen attention, and that filled him with a sense of immense satisfaction. In addition to that, Han Li had saved his life, so over time, he naturally became very fond of Han Li.
"I've heard that the deeper one ventures into the Thunderstorm Sea, the more fearsome the lightning becomes. It hasn't been very long since we set off, yet the lightning outside is already this fearsome. Once we reach the deepest parts of the Thunderstorm Sea, the lightning there is said to be 10 times more powerful. Will this Seafaring Lightning Boat be able to handle that?" Han Li asked with slightly furrowed brows.
"Rest assured, Brother Li. This Seafaring Lightning Boat is crafted from the wood of a 100,000-year-old Urgent Lightning Tree, and this type of wood is extremely lightning-resistant. On top of that, according to my observation, the sap used for the lightning membrane on the surface of the boat came from an Urgent Lightning Tree that was at least 200,000 years old, so there won't be any issues," Sun Ke declared in a confident manner.
"I didn't think that you would be so familiar with the construction of this Seafaring Lightning Boat," Han Li praised.
"You're far too kind, Brother Li. The Black Feather Trading House actually shares some very close ties with my clan. I wonder when I'll be able to return there," Sun Ke sighed as a slightly dejected look appeared on his face.
Han Li remained silent as he rose to his feet, then cast his gaze out the window.
Even through the restrictions on the boat, he could still sense the incredibly formidable lightning aura outside, and it was resonating slightly with his Lightning Bird bloodline.
This was a perilous place, but it was definitely also a fantastic location for those using lightning-attribute cultivation arts.
However, the lightning in the Thunderstorm Sea wasn't the only dangerous thing about it.
Ever since the boat entered the Thunderstorm Sea, Han Li had detected that the spatial pressure in the area had begun to increase sharply.
The Immortal Realm had an abundance of the world's origin qi, and the spatial pressure here was also immense, thereby severely limiting his speed of movement and the effective range of his spiritual sense.
To his surprise, the spatial pressure in the Thunderstorm Sea was several times more severe than in other places, and he couldn't help but wonder why this was the case.
"Brother Sun, I'm sure you can feel the spatial pressure here as well. Why is there such tremendous spatial pressure in this area?" he asked.
"I've tried to find an answer to that question myself in the past, but I'm afraid I wasn't able to find anything concrete. Some people say that this is the result of a battle between a pair of Dao Ancestors that took place here long ago, while others speculate that there's an enormous lightning beast concealed within the Thunderstorm Sea, but both of these are just unsubstantiated rumors," Sun Ke replied as he scratched his head in a slightly embarrassed manner.
"It's rare to see something that even you don't know the answer to," Han Li chuckled.
Initially, the scenery outside was extremely stunning to behold, but over time, it eventually grew stale, and Sun Ke quickly lost interest in the spectacle as he bade farewell to Han Li and returned to his own room.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to set up a restriction in the room, then summoned his Twin Starshift Plate before casting several incantation seals onto it, and the array plate immediately began to glow brightly.
A long while later, the light radiating from the array plate faded, and Han Li was left to look at the ball of egg-sized heavy water hovering above the palm of his hand with a wry smile on his face.
At this point in his journey, the Twin Starshift Plate's transmission ability had taken another severe hit, and even after such a long time, it was only able to transmit a tiny amount of heavy water to him.
He shook his head as he stowed the array plate and the ball of heavy water away, then flipped a hand over to produce a series of thick books that he began poring over.
The Thunderstorm Sea was extremely vast, and it would take at least two to three years to get to the other side.
Time flew by quickly, and over half a year passed by in the blink of an eye.
The lightning in the clouds was becoming more and more concentrated, indicating that the Seafaring Lightning Boat was gradually reaching the deepest parts of the Thunderstorm Sea.
Han Li was standing in front of his window, looking at the dark clouds outside. Thick bolts of lightning were regularly flashing through the clouds one after another, almost perpetually illuminating the sea with their radiance.
Most of the lightning was only raging in the clouds, and only a small proportion of them would actually come crashing down.
Due to how massive the boat was, it was regularly struck by lightning.
In this area, the bolts of lightning were far thicker and more powerful than before. Each time the boat was struck by a bolt of lightning, it would tremble while the lightning membrane on its surface rippled, but there was no sign of any damage being caused.
Han Li was staring at the lightning flashing outside through his window with deep focus and concentration in his eyes.
The lightning here appeared to be completely chaotic and haphazard, but it harbored some profound laws of nature, and watching the permutations in the lightning aided him in improving his mastery of lightning.
Right at this moment, the dark clouds up above suddenly began to churn like the surface of the sea down below, and the lightning in the clouds also began to surge violently, as if there were some gigantic objects crashing against one another inside.
Han Li was quite intrigued to see this, but he had already witnessed similar scenes many times on this journey, so he wasn't too surprised.
The Seafaring Lightning Boat began to glow with bright purple light as it immediately changed directions and fled into the distance.
The boat was extremely fast, but not as fast as the changes taking place in the clouds, and a massive vortex took shape in the blink of an eye.
All of the nearby lightning around the vortex was drawn toward it, converging into a dense clump of lightning that was so bright and concentrated that it forced any onlookers to avert their eyes.
A burst of terrifying rumbling rang out, and the boat accelerated to its top speed, attempting to fly out of the area encompassed under the vortex as quickly as possible.
In the next instant, the center of the massive vortex abruptly lit up, and countless thick bolts of lightning came crashing down onto the sea, encompassing an area with a radius of several thousand kilometers.
Each bolt of lightning resembled a massive tree, forming an enormous forest of lightning, causing the sea down below to churn and boil incessantly.
Thankfully, at this point, the Seafaring Lightning Boat had already just barely flown out of the area encompassed under the vortex, so it managed to avoid the forest of lightning.
Han Li's eyes were flashing with amazement as he watched the unfolding spectacle.
This was a renowned thunderstorm that the Thunderstorm Sea received its name from, and there were many types of thunderstorms, with this type of vortex thunderstorm being one of the more common types.
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