Chapter 177: Deep Sea Giant Clam
Aside from this lightning vortex, Han Li had also witnessed even more terrifying types of thunderstorms, such as the mist tide thunderstorm and the tornado thunderstorm.
However, just as Sun Ke said, the Seafaring Lightning Boat was extremely resolute, and it was able to weather the storms just fine.
The boat continued onward, covering a distance of several hundred kilometers in just a few seconds to leave the vortex in the clouds behind.
After releasing that forest of lightning, the vortex began to slowly vanish, starting from its outermost parts, and soon, all that remained was a black hole in the middle, and that was quickly about to disappear as well.
Han Li was just about to withdraw his gaze when he spotted a blurry shadow in the black hole out of his peripheral vision.
However, it was too far away, and there were still some remnants of lightning lingering in the air as visual disruption, so he wasn't able to see the shadow clearly.
Out of curiosity, he released his spiritual sense toward the black hole.
At this point, they were already deep in the Thunderstorm Sea, so the spatial pressure permeating throughout the area was extremely potent. As a result, even his spiritual sense was only able to extend to several hundred kilometers away at most, only just barely reaching the black hole.
All of a sudden, Han Li's expression changed drastically, and he almost jumped up in alarm.
Through his spiritual sense, he had detected that the shadow within the black hole was a gargantuan eye.
The eye was several thousand feet in size and orange in color. Inside the eye's giant pupil was a long and thin vertical vein that was flashing with a cold light.
This was already as far Han Li's spiritual sense could go, so he was unable to glean the full appearance of the owner of the eye.
However, judging from the size of the orange eye alone, it had to have been far more massive than any living being that Han Li had ever seen before.
Right at this moment, the orange eye seemed to have detected Han Li's spiritual sense, and it turned slightly to "look" in Han Li's direction.
A sense of foreboding immediately welled up in Han Li's heart, and he hurriedly tried to withdraw his spiritual sense, but it was already too late.
A terrifying aura swept toward him from afar, slamming into his soul like a heavy blow from a hammer.
He immediately threw up a large mouthful of blood, and his face turned deathly pale.
His soul began to tremble violently like a candle flame flickering in a gust of fierce wind, looking as if it could be snuffed out at any moment.
He hurriedly activated his Spirit Refinement Technique, and his spiritual sense transformed into countless translucent threads that enveloped his soul to stabilize it.
The translucent threads intertwined with one another to form a series of translucent chains that wrapped around his soul layer upon layer, and thankfully, that was enough to hold it together.
He opened his eyes before quickly devouring a few pills, then flipped a hand over to produce a small jade vial that was half-filled with a type of light purple liquid, which was giving off a peculiar aroma.
Han Li immediately tipped his head back and drank a large mouthful of the fluid.
This was a type of soul-nurturing spirit liquid that he had made from some Soulbirth Flower fluid left behind from his Earthly Deity Avatar refinement, and it was very effective for treating spiritual damage.
Thanks to the combination of the pills and the spirit liquid, his complexion was beginning to improve, and he took a deep breath before taking another glance outside.
The Seafaring Lightning Boat was traveling extremely quickly, and at this point, it had already completely departed from that area of the sea. The black hole in the clouds had also disappeared, having been concealed by other clouds.
However, Han Li didn't dare to let his guard down, and with a sweep of his sleeve, he released several hundred bursts of light in rapid succession, setting up one restriction after another throughout his room.
All of a sudden, a long black saber appeared in his hand amid a flash of light, and it was none other than the weapon that he had acquired from Fang Pan.
Through his examination, he had already verified that this saber was an Acquired Immortal Treasure of a decent caliber. It contained a type of extremely destructive law powers, and that was why it was able to slice through the defenses of Han Li's Giant Mountain Ape transformation.
However, up to this point, he hadn't been able to determine exactly which type of law powers it contained.
At the same time, several spirit treasures had also been summoned, circling around him in a wary fashion.
The Seafaring Lightning Boat continued onward, and soon, close to an hour had passed by without any further mishap.
Only at this point was Han Li finally convinced that the crisis had been averted, and he stowed the black saber and the spirit treasures away, but the surrounding restrictions remained.
He then sat down with his legs crossed, then closed his eyes as a layer of azure light appeared over his body.
Several days later, the azure light faded, and Han Li slowly exhaled as he reopened his eyes.
His complexion was already looking far better, and the spiritual damage that he had sustained was also close to halfway healed.
What on earth was that thing?
There was still a hint of lingering fear in Han Li's heart as he thought back to that giant eye.
Even though the contact had only been extremely brief, he was still able to clearly sense the insurmountable gap between himself and the owner of the giant eye. He felt like an ant staring into the eye of a giant, and just that single glance had almost been enough to destroy his soul.
He had heard from Sun Ke that that there were some extremely powerful lightning beasts that had the innate ability to control lightning residing in the Thunderstorm Sea, but according to Sun Ke, even the most formidable of those lightning beasts were only comparable in power to True Immortal cultivators, which was most definitely not the case of the owner of that giant eye.
With that in mind, he suddenly recalled something else that he had heard from Sun Ke, which was that it was speculated that the reason why there was such immense spiritual pressure in the Thunderstorm Sea was because there was a gargantuan beast residing deep within it.
Could it be that this rumor was true, and that the gargantuan beast in question was the owner of the eye?
Han Li only entertained this train of thought for a moment before shaking his head.
There was no point in considering such matters, and all he could do now was pray that he didn't encounter anything else that formidable.
Close to half a year later.
Inside a spacious room that was several hundred feet in size on the top floor of the Seafaring Lightning Boat, there were some tables and chairs, with each table separated by some elegant screens or bonsai trees.
It appeared that this was a restaurant, and the windows around the room were quite large, granting the patrons of the restaurant an exceptional view of the Thunderstorm Sea outside.
The journey to cross the entire Thunderstorm Sea was one that took several years, and it was quite boring to constantly stay in one's room all the time, so there were some amenities like restaurants and teahouses on the boat.
At this point, everyone on the boat had already become accustomed to the sights and scenes of the Thunderstorm Sea, and people had gradually begun visiting the restaurant as a form of relaxation.
At one of the tables sat Sun Ke and Han Li across from one another.
Sun Ke wore a bright smile as he filled his and Han Li's cups with the contents of an intricate dark red flagon in his hand.
"This is the renowned Red Crane Wine from my hometown, Brother Li. It's flavor is quite exquisite," Sun Ke said with a smile.
Han Li offered no response as he picked up the cup before taking a small sip.
Sun Ke was quite an avid drinker, and his storage treasures were filled with all types of delectable wines, but drinking alone was rather depressing, so he would often ask Han Li to drink with him.
After having some drinks, Sun Ke would often begin telling Han Li about some of the interesting stories pertaining to the Immortal Realm that he had seen from the books that he had read in the past, so Han Li was quite happy to drink with Sun Ke.
This Red Crane Wine was sweet and gentle, producing a slight heat in one's dantian following consumption. Han Li could tell that it would be quite beneficial to the cultivation of low and mid-grade cultivators, but its effects on him were quite minimal.
He held his cup as he cast his gaze outside.
Through the window, he could clearly see that the dark clouds had become even denser than before, and just the mere sight of the thick bolts of lightning tearing through the sky struck the beholder with a primordial fear.
The boat had already reached the very center of the Thunderstorm Sea, and the restrictions around the boat had been activated to their maximal capacity, while its speed had also decreased significantly.
"What a stunning place this is. It's a pity that I'm too weak to venture outside. Otherwise, I would be sure to explore this Thunderstorm Sea to my heart's content. According to writings left behind by some immortals, the Thunderstorm Sea is home to countless rare and precious lightning-attribute materials that are impossible to find anywhere else, and there are even supposed to be treasures that contain the power of lightning laws here," Sun Ke sighed as he also cast his gaze out the window.
"Risk and reward have always come hand in hand. The more perilous a place is, the greater the rewards that can often be reaped there," Han Li said.
"Indeed, Brother Li," Sun Ke chuckled as he filled Han Li's cup again.
Right at this moment, the dark clouds outside began to churn once again, and this time, the affected area was extremely massive. All of the lightning clouds stretching as far as the eyes could see were surging violently, as if the sky were about to collapse.
"Looks like another thunderstorm is coming," Sun Ke said with a hint of apprehension on his face.
Han Li rose to his feet and began making his way toward the entrance of the restaurant.
The restaurant was situated on the top floor of the Seafaring Lightning Boat, so whenever a thunderstorm took place, it would be struck by violent tremors, and that was why everyone had to vacate the restaurant during thunderstorms.
Countless bolts of lightning were flashing through the air like giant serpents, and every single one of them was several thousand feet in length.
Each bolt of lightning that struck the water down below would instantly cause the surface of the sea to explode.
"It's a wandering serpent thunderstorm!"
Everyone in the restaurant quickly departed to seek refuge in the lower levels of the boat.
The wandering serpent thunderstorm was the most formidable of all types of thunderstorms. In order to weather the storm, the Seafaring Lightning Boat had completely stopped in its tracks, darting from left to right as quickly as it could to avoid being struck by the enormous bolts of lightning.
"Well, this is rather depressing. I'm going back to my room for now, Brother Li," Sun Ke said with a slightly dejected expression, then made his way back to his room.
Han Li was watching the unfolding thunderstorm through the window beside him, and he was just about to retire to his room as well when he suddenly spotted something that caught his attention.
The surface of the sea roughly 200 to 300 kilometers away from the boat had suddenly begun to churn, and a giant vortex had appeared.
A round blue object that was several thousand feet in size emerged from within the vortex, revealing itself to be an enormous clam. The clam's blue shell was riddled with countless lightning-shaped patterns, and it was giving off an immense True Immortal Stage aura.
The giant clam shell slowly opened up, and two purple feelers that resembled elephant tusks emerged from within, while plumes of purple mist were billowing out of the holes at the center of the feelers' tips.
All of a sudden, a ball of purple light that was around the size of a human head shot out of the clam shell.
It was an object with thick arcs of purple lightning revolving around it, and the purple lightning was so bright that it was impossible to see what was inside, but it appeared to have been a ball of some sort.
As soon as this object appeared, all of the surrounding lightning immediately began to churn violently before converging toward the ball and surging into it.
After absorbing those bolts of lightning, the lightning radiating from the purple ball had become even brighter.
A string of strange sounds rang out from within the giant clam shell, and it seemed that the clam was roaring with excitement.
Han Li was rather intrigued by the sight of that purple ball.
His spiritual sense was only just barely able to reach the clam, but he could still clearly sense that the purple ball was giving off extremely potent law power fluctuations.
He didn't know if the ball was the clam's pearl, but it was definitely imbued with tremendous lightning law powers.
After a brief moment of contemplation, he quickly returned to his room, then released a series of array flags with a sweep of his sleeve to set up several restrictions.
After that, he flew out of his room as an invisible shadow.
Even though there were some restrictions around the boat, they naturally didn't affect him, and as soon as he left the boat, he immediately flipped a hand over to produce his High Zenith Invisibility Talisman, allowing him to bypass the restrictions with ease before flying toward the giant clam.
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