Heavenly Jewel Change

Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er took turns controlling the Sea Emperor’s Shuttle, with the other person using the time to train.  In the vast and endless sea, time became an all but irrelevant concept. They just continued to advance through the sea in an unchanging straight line, doing and seeing the exact same thing every day.  They didn’t know how long they had travelled for or how far they had travelled. All they felt was a sense of unending repetition.

Zhou Weiqing really began to celebrate the fact that he had brought Shangguan Bing’er with him him this voyage.  If he had to do this alone, he might well have gone crazy from the silence and loneliness. Thankfully, the two of them were able to chat with each other.  When the loneliness was too much to bear, they’d ‘park’ the shuttle on top of the surface of the sea and enjoy the sun. They’d stare at the ocean, resting for a while before continuing their journey.

The amount of Heavenly Energy or Saint Energy they used up was irrelevant, as they had more than enough to keep the Sea Emperor’s Shuttle advancing at maximum speed.  However, it was becoming harder and harder for them to control their emotions as this sort of life continued.

Five days went past.  Ten days. More. By the time they had spent a full month traversing the seas, they felt as though they were about to go mad.

“Bing’er, I can’t take this any longer.  How much farther away from the Xuantian Continent are we?”  Zhou Weiqing complained miserably to Shangguan Bing’er while controlling the shuttle.

Shangguan Bing’er’s face was rather ashen as well.  She smiled bitterly as she shook her head and said, “All I know is that we’ve been out here for ages.  Even if we wanted to turn and go back, it would take us forever to return. We must have advanced at least twenty thousand kilometers.  Let’s continue. Little Fatty, if you really can’t take it any longer let’s rest for a while on the surface of the sea or take a nice nap.”

Zhou Weiqing let out a sigh.  “Forget it. Let’s keep advancing.  I never would’ve imagined that I would be almost unable to take it despite not having even reached the Xuantian Continent.  Thank goodness you are here. If I didn’t even have someone I could talk to, I probably wouldn’t be able to last long enough reach it.”

Shangguan Bing’er smiled warmly, reaching out to take him by the arm and giving him a gentle message.  Her warmth against him caused Zhou Weiqing’s mood to improve fractionally.

The vast sea was truly boundless, and they had no idea when this would all come to an end.  Only now did Zhou Weiqing understand why some people claimed that the ocean was the most powerful of all forces.  It was true! Human strength, in the face of nature’s might, was absolutely miniscule.

“Little Fatty, why don’t we fly in the skies for a while?  The Sea Emperor’s Shuttle has an automatic guidance system.  Even if we go the wrong way, it’ll be able to help us find the right path to take.”

Zhou Weiqing’s eyes lit up.  “Great idea! We fly even faster than the Sea Emperor’s Shuttle advances, and I’ll feel much better with a fresh breeze blowing past me instead of staying inside here.”  He immediately accepted Shangguan Bing’er’s suggestion, sending the Sea Emperor’s Shuttle to the surface of the ocean and then removing the octahedral gem.

Once the gem was removed, the ‘lid’ over the cabin would automatically open while the faint blue light permeating the Sea Emperor’s Shuttle would vanish.

Zhou Weiqing unleashed his Dragon-Tiger Transformation, while Shangguan Bing’er summoned her enormous Wings of the Wind God.  They put away the Sea Emperor’s Shuttle and soared into the skies together.

The sea breeze blew against them, immediately refreshing their senses.  Bathed by sunlight, the two felt much more comfortable than they were previously.  They continued to follow the path the Sea Emperor’s Shuttle had been taking, and after exchanging a glance they began to accelerate, transforming into streaks of light that advanced at high speed.

Zhou Weiqing was a nine-Jeweled cultivator, but in terms of flying speed Shangguan Bing’er was every bit his match.  The Wings of the Wind God were formed from four pieces of God Tier Consolidated Equipment, after all. In terms of raw flying speed, there was probably no equipment which could surpass them.

Although the Sea Emperor Shuttle was extremely fast, you simply couldn’t sail through the sea as fast as you could fly through the air.  Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er moved through the skies like a pair of blurs, the waves of the sea quickly vanishing behind them as they pressed onwards.

Zhou Weiqing had incredible vision, but all he was able to see was at the horizon was the sea and the sky.  The Xuantian Continent remained extremely far away, but the change in travel mode made them at least feel a bit better.

By now, they were deep in the ocean.  The waves were all deep blue, and no other living creatures could be seen anywhere.  There weren’t even any birds flying in the blue skies, which stretched off into infinity.  Below them were the endless waves. This feeling of being like an uprooted blade of grass that was just floating in the middle of nowhere was uncomfortable, but they had no other choices.  All they could do was advance in a straight line.

As they were continuing to press onwards, a different color suddenly appeared before them in the form of dim light.  Zhou Weiqing was startled when he saw it. He hurriedly called Shangguan Bing’er over, and the two immediately slowed down.

They stared carefully, only to discover that a rainbow had appeared in the distant skies.  This dazzling, seven-colored rainbow instantly drew their attention.

“A rainbow!  I’m going to go take a look,” Zhou Weiqing said happily.  This month of utter loneliness and repetition had finally been broken by something new, causing both of them to feel happy.  They were in desperate need of something new to break up the monotony and improve their moods. They sped up and soon managed to reach the source of the rainbow.

There was an enormous waterspout here, belching up enormous amounts of water from the surface of the sea which then fell back down.  This was what was generating the rainbow. What was even more exciting was the fact that not too far away from the giant waterspout was a great ship.

Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er had seen a few ships when they were in the coastal waters of the Mi Ou Empire, but they were absolutely tiny compared to the great vessel before them.  More importantly, a ship meant people! They couldn’t help but feel excited at the prospect of seeing other humans.

However, this ship seemed to be in trouble.  Streams of light were shooting out from the sides of the ship and blasting into the seas, while the waterspout coming out of the sea seemed to be targeting the ship.

The ship was protected by multiple layers of glowing barriers, making it impossible for the powerful waterspout to damage it.  However, the ship was also clearly rather unsteady, and it rocked so heavily on the surface of the sea that it seemed ready to capsize at any moment.

“They’ve encountered a Heavenly Beast,” Zhou Weiqing said.

Shangguan Bing’er responded, “Then what should we do?”

Zhou Weiqing chuckled.  “Save them, of course. Bing’er, we’re almost free.  For us to see a ship here means that the Xuantian Continent can’t be far away.”

In truth, both of them had underestimated how fast the Sea Emperor Shuttle moved.  The shuttle was an absolutely divine artifact when it came to crossing the seas, and it moved far faster than any ordinary ship possibly could.  Although they had only been travelling for a month, they had travelled more than thirty thousand kilometers across the ocean. As Zhou Weiqing had said, they were extremely close to the Xuantian Continent now.

If they didn’t have the help of the Sea Emperor Shuttle, they probably wouldn’t have come this far even if they were given twice as much time.  The auto-navigation system of the shuttle ensured that they didn’t get lost, after all.

Right at this moment, an enormous ripple suddenly appeared in the seas before them.  A dense aura of blue light erupted forth from the area around the giant waterspout, slowly solidifying in midair and then shooting out towards the warship.  As this happened, an enormous head slowly began to rise up from beneath the waves.

Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er were in midair and so saw the whole thing clearly.  When they saw that enormous oceanic Heavenly Beast, they couldn’t help but take deep breaths.

This Heavenly Beast was simply terrifying in size.  Its head alone was more than fifty meters in diameter, and it looked like a titanic turtle.  After its head appeared, the enormous shell on its back broke the surface of the sea as well, making it look like a small island.

That thick pillar of water was coming from the giant turtle’s mouth.  Clearly, the turtle was feeling rather impatient. The deep blue light repeatedly slammed against the barriers protecting the ship, causing them to flicker dangerously.  They were starting to be damaged.

This had to be a Heavenly Beast which was at least a high level Heavenly King.  Zhou Weiqing had a great deal of combat experience. Although he had never battled an oceanic Heavenly Beast, he was able to judge from the power of its aura as to roughly how strong it was.

“Little Fatty, shall we help them out?”

Zhou Weiqing nodded.  “Let’s go give them a hand.  However, we can’t fly over to them.  As the saying goes, when you meet strangers only tell them 30% of the story.  We still need to be cautious. It’s best to keep some things from them. Come, let’s go underneath the sea.”  As he spoke, he released the Sea Emperor Shuttle and boarded it alongside Shangguan Bing’er. He affixed the octahedral crystal, causing the shuttle to sink into the sea and the lid to swing shut over them.

After spending more than a month commanding the Sea Emperor Shuttle, Zhou Weiqing was now able to control it like it was part of his own body.  He sent the Sea Emperor Shuttle hurtling lightning-fast towards the source of the trouble.

The giant sea turtle suddenly came to a halt, perhaps because it was able to sense the aura emanating from the Sea Emperor Shuttle.  It then completely submerged its giant body beneath the waves as it turned to stare at Zhou Weiqing’s direction.

A cold smile flickered across the corner of Zhou Weiqing’s lips.  The Sea Emperor Shuttle was no mere tool of transportation. It also had tremendous power in combat.  The thirty-six Death Acupuncture Points in his body began to activate, sending an enormous amount of Saint Energy out from his hands and into the Sea Emperor Shuttle.

Instantly, the faint blue glow surrounding the Sea Emperor Shuttle transformed into a gentle silver light.  This silver light was able to illuminate a large amount of the sea around them… and moments later, a barrel-thick beam of silver light erupted from the seas and shot straight towards the sea turtle.

The sea turtle was also one of the lords of the seas.  For it to have reached such an enormous size meant that it had already become a Heavenly King-class Heavenly Beast.  However, in terms of either power or purity of bloodline, it wasn’t even close to being a match for a Terror Sea Dragon.

This is why it had instantly come to a shocked halt when it sensed the Terror Sea Dragon’s aura and had immediately dove back into the seas.  However, when it saw the Sea Emperor Shuttle it couldn’t help but feel puzzled. Terror Sea Dragon’s were terrifyingly large, even larger than the turtle itself was, but while the shuttle before him was tiny.  Just as it was feeling puzzled, Zhou Weiqing launched an attack against it.

The Saint Energy was multiplied in power by the Sea Emperor Shuttle, unleashing a level of power than was ten times greater than normal.  Unfortunately, the Sea Emperor Shuttle was only usable in the sea. Otherwise, if Zhou Weiqing was able to activate it on land he’d probably be able to challenge Heavenly Emperor powerhouses.

The enormous silver beam of light blasted against the sea turtle’s enormous body without hesitation.  Instantly, a muffled explosion rang out, and the sea turtle’s enormous body was sent flipping backwards through the water.  The enormous amount of water generated by its giant body flipping backwards actually created an underwater whirlpool! The terrifying whirlpool from this blast spread outwards, causing even the ship above them to continuously spin in circles.  Thankfully, this ship was large and steady and thus was not destroyed by the powerful whirlpool.

This Saint Energy blast was incredibly powerful.  The giant sea turtle had been alive for many years, and it was no fool.  It could sense that it was in danger, and so it didn’t hesitate at all, immediately fleeing and diving deeper into the sea.

If it hadn’t been for the ship ‘waiting’ for them up above, Zhou Weiqing probably would’ve chased the turtle down.  With the Sea Emperor Shuttle on his side, he was virtually invincible in the ocean. He might very well have taken this opportunity to Devour the giant turtle’s Heavenly Energy!  However, that wasn’t where his attention was focused right now. The chance to meet other humans and escape the hell of loneliness was clearly much more enticing to himself and Shangguan Bing’er.  He simply watched as the turtle fled, then murmured a few words to Shangguan Bing’er before opening up the Sea Emperor Shuttle.

The two soared out from the Sea Emperor Shuttle, put away their treasures, then began to float upwards towards the surface of the sea.