Chapter 708: Chapter 42: Divine Manifestation
Reality Dimension.
In a certain area of the East Sea, a luxury cruise ship quietly floats on the sea.
The weather today is nice, with gentle winds and bright sunshine in a cloudless sky. The slight waves shimmer, and the intense sunlight reflects off the sea, merging into a line at the horizon.
On the luxury cruise ship, laughter and joy resound, full of a festive atmosphere. Around the edge of the pool on the deck are the most people, many men and women happily splashing water at each other, exchanging affectionate glances. Huge screens on both sides of the pool play movies and musicals.
High-end restaurants, spa cabins, theaters, casinos, bars...
The well-dressed waiters on the ship shuttle back and forth in small groups, providing various services with a reserved smile on their faces.
On this all-inclusive luxury cruise ship, every inch of the place, space, and corresponding facilities and services make one deeply appreciate what true debauchery really is. Those who can come aboard to enjoy must be either rich or noble, with extraordinary identities and backgrounds.
On the top-level observation deck, a middle-aged man sits silently, seemingly lost in thought, staring dazedly at the sea with a somewhat melancholic expression.
The sound of footsteps approaches; someone walks onto the top deck, and the middle-aged man looks towards the sound.
It’s an Elder, dressed in traditional Chinese clothing, exuding an aura, walking with vigor. If not for his blonde hair and blue-eyed Western features, he would indeed have a certain masterful Kung Fu demeanor. In the current context, he appears somewhat out of place, though.
"Mr. Joseph, you’ve come!"
"Victor!"
The middle-aged man and the Elder greet each other with a laugh.
Remarkably, they speak in a very fluent and standard Chinese, as if they’ve practiced hard.
"Something came up last minute, so I could only come over now..." Joseph, the Elder dressed in traditional attire, briefly explains the reason for his delay, then asks, "How are things going, Victor? I heard there was a fog last night, did you guys...?"
He stops here, his eyes eagerly and intently fixed on the middle-aged man opposite.
"No, just a regular sea fog..." Victor, the middle-aged man, sighs, "Otherwise, we wouldn’t still be here now."
"I see..."
The Elder is slightly disappointed but seems to breathe a faint sigh of relief.
Disappointment because there’s still no hope in sight, relief because he wasn’t left behind. If this delay caused him to miss the opportunity, he would truly be desperate enough to consider suicide. Despite the outward calm, he was burning with anxiety when he heard about the fog last night.
"It’s not so easy to succeed, or rather, can we really succeed?"
Victor understands the Elder’s feelings, and he smiles bitterly, gazing at the sea once more.
Since the original extraordinary event, four or five years have unknowingly passed. Since then, he and the Elder have been working together, never giving up on regaining this opportunity. However, perhaps as the ancient East once said, it all depends on fate.
A missed opportunity is just that, perhaps impossible to pursue forcefully.
They are already among the elite of the elite in this world, yet still confined to the mundane reality, meaningless in the extraordinary world. Just as their power can make countless ordinary people tremble, it cannot make the Immortal of the past glance at them even once.
No matter how deeply they seek, they cannot obtain that being’s special favor...
With time, many have forgotten the absurd news of the past, forgetting what happened in this sea area. The cruise ship’s repeated departures are not understood by most for their true purpose.
——After all, the cruise ship’s voyage is just a facade on the surface.
Sadly, they have circled this sea area for years, constantly returning empty-handed.
"Victor, be patient; I have even less time than you." Joseph seems to see through the middle-aged man’s thoughts and speaks calmly. "At least we have already moved ahead of countless others, genuinely touching the edge of that world, something many still don’t believe."
It’s true.
Everything is true.
They will never forget that night, and there is ample evidence proving these events really happened. That’s why they relentlessly pursue, even if no progress has been made for a long time after that fleeting glimpse. They’ve not wavered, but become even more convinced.
That’s just how it should be—
The other side of that extraordinary world is just too well-hidden.
Because they know it’s all true, they believe unequivocally. If not for the incident that accidentally involved them, perhaps they too would think, like most, these are just legendary tales. At best, they’d desperately seek solutions in life’s final stages but never truly believe.
"I know... I’m just..."
The middle-aged man smiles wryly, then shakes his head. "Forget it, I won’t give up either. Speaking of which, Mr. Joseph, how are things progressing on your end?"
"There hasn’t been much progress; a lot are simply liars or unverifiable old stories..." The elder sighed softly. They haven’t given up on exploring other possibilities, knowing that their encounter that night indicated that legends like the Wild Hunt from Europe are indeed real.
Unfortunately...
With a sigh in his heart, the elder looked toward the distant sea: "For now, our focus must remain on Penglai Island. At least compared to the Wild Hunt, the Immortal is a more agreeable subject, and there are traces in the legends, with eyewitness accounts during that time..."
Recalling the ferocity and the unreasonable nature of the Mad Hunt Demon Spirits, and remembering the cold sensation as if freezing his body, mind, and soul, the middle-aged man couldn’t help but shiver slightly.
The despair from being directly abducted is the main reason he often wakes in fright in the middle of the night, frequently pondering what would have happened had the Immortal not rescued him and where he might have been taken.
Thanks to such an experience, even as both of them remain determined to find traces of the Extraordinary World, they instinctively avoid those dark, terrifying rumors and don’t want to involve themselves, knowing there’s no good outcome if they mess with such things.
Penglai Island is indeed their best choice, having previously crossed paths, and the legend is located in the East China Sea.
—Although it seemed to appear in Europe back then, even before the Wild Hunt incident, there had already been a sighting event here, which at least could match the legend’s lore, proving Penglai Island usually drifts around the East Sea, right?
They could only think this way.
"Those students back then were really fortunate... It’s a pity their great opportunity was wasted." Unable to resist saying so, Victor’s tone revealed a sense of regret.
"Only because they failed do we have our current opportunity."
However, Victor, the elder, didn’t mind at all. "If this matter hadn’t been revealed, we wouldn’t even know about it now, lacking any direction to work towards..."
"That’s true..."
The middle-aged man nodded lightly, about to say something.
"Roar—!!"
An earth-shattering roar, like a sudden clap of thunder on flat ground, exploded unexpectedly, deafeningly so, rendering his mind blank in an instant, feeling as though his soul was shaken. In fact, it wasn’t just him; everyone on the cruise ship, even across the vast sea and into the horizon.
All creatures heard this roar, echoing like thunderclaps resonating between heaven and earth, sweeping across the sky, sea, and land, daunting the heart of every listener.
At this moment, it seemed as if the world was silent, everything stood still, and all anyone could feel was complete emptiness.
This supreme, awe-inspiring majesty...
This unbearable pressure...
The innate sense of one’s insignificance, and the fear of a being far above humanity, was undeniably clear. Even those completely unaware of the situation distinctly felt the eminent Divine Power!
It’s unclear how much time passed.
Finally, chaotic, panicked noises arose, people began screaming, colliding on the deck in a desperate attempt to flee back into the ship’s hold.
The cruise ship, which had been a scene of hedonistic revelry, suddenly turned into a disaster movie setting. Everywhere was chaotic, with women’s screams, men’s shouts, and cries and prayers mixed in these noises.
This happened because, possibly due to the blankness of their minds lasting too long, when people on the cruise ship came to their senses and regained some capacity for thought—
They were astonished to find the entire world plunged into utter darkness.
The next moment, the furious sky burst into a violent rumble, flashing blinding lightning, and the massive silhouette in the sky made their already panicked and chaotic minds intertwine further, rapidly nearing a breaking point under pressure.
Countless bolts of lightning seemed to tear the sky apart, this awesome apocalyptic thunderclap momentarily silhouetting a gigantic form blocking out the sun, resembling a giant serpent with horns and claws, its long body endless in sight, the authoritative golden pupils emanating a commanding presence over all life.
Lightning descends, with torrential rain.
Bodies twist, landslides and tsunamis.
Lightning tears the sky, and mighty waves surge over the vast ocean. Witnessing this breathtaking fantasy spectacle, a nightmare-like fear permeated the air, immobilizing everyone on the ship, their minds blank.
This colossal shock deeply impacted their Spiritual Will, almost scattering their souls.
Beneath this enormous dragon that blocked out the sky with no end in sight, a vague gigantic island appeared, still rising and falling in its verdant, forgotten paradise despite the storm.
At the same time, the satellite constantly monitoring this cruise ship—
noticed this at the first instant as well.
It was initially thought that, as before, nothing would happen in that sea area; however, the authorities were reluctant to abandon monitoring completely, maintaining basic vigilance. As a result, at this moment, witnessing the heart-stirring images appearing on the screen...
Those capable of seeing this scene were struck dumb, unable to respond.
