Long Xuan hurriedly ran out of the captainâs cabin and rushed towards the bottom of the ship. Soon, he spotted a massive crack, with seawater continuously gushing in. This part of the cabin had already been flooded.
Di Xin, the shipwright, had long been there, gazing at the huge crack with a slight frown.
âThis isnât going to be easy. Iâm afraid weâll have to patch it up,â Di Xin said as she saw Long Xuan approaching.
âThen letâs patch it. Anyway, thereâs a repair insect on Sky Island, and it might be able to fix this crack,â Long Xuan replied.
Since the ship could still sail, Long Xuan felt relieved. To him, as long as the ship could hold out until they reached Sky Island, some damage wasnât a big deal. After all, this was his only trip to the sea, and he would return to land afterward.
Di Xin shook her head and smiled. âYouâre using thousand-year ironwood, a material of such high quality. How could the repair insect fix something like this so easily?â
âIf the repair insect were truly that miraculous, do you think Iâd let you have it? If it could fix any ship, wouldnât I be out of a job as a shipwright?â
Long Xuan didnât explain further. Instead, he said, âIâll leave it to you, then. And while youâre at it, drain the water here. After all, youâve got enough hands for it. Iâm going to check on the other crew members.â
With that, Long Xuan quickly turned and left.
Hearing this, Di Xinâs face darkened. So much water, and he expected her to drain it. He really was treating her like a workhorse.
On the deck, Long Xuan saw the old shipâs doctor already treating the injured crew members. He immediately walked over and asked, âHowâs the situation? There havenât been any casualties, have there?â
Shi Jiefo shook his head. âThe impact was mostly absorbed by the ship. The crew members have suffered significant shock injuries, but none of them are at risk of dying.â
âHowever, theyâll need time to recover, and they wonât be able to assist the captain for a while,â Shi Jiefo added.
Hearing this, Long Xuan relaxed and said, âIâll leave them in your hands, then.â
He then turned his attention to the other key crew members.
This group of crew members was far stronger than ordinary sailors, and their injuries werenât severe. Surprisingly, Young Master Mo was excitedly writing in his travel journal and even sketching the giant creature they had encountered. His heart truly was big. Despite such a perilous day, he could still smile.
Leng Yanâs face was pale as she gazed out at the sea. âThis world is truly mysterious. If we donât venture out, weâll never know how many unknowns are waiting for us.â
Nie Qingcheng sighed. âI miscalculated this time. I should have avoided the central region. The central area of the Death Sea is not something we can cross with our current strength.â
Long Xuan comforted her. âWho could have expected there to be such an incomprehensible existence there? Donât blame yourself.â
âWeâve already left the central region. As long as we stick to the edges of the Death Sea, we shouldnât encounter any more life-threatening dangers.â
Seeing that all the crew members were fine, Long Xuan stopped chatting and went to repair the Shenlong.
Di Xin, the shipwright, could only patch up the Shenlong, but the minor formation patterns that had been damaged had to be repaired by Long Xuan himself.
For instance, the huge crack at the bottom of the ship had split the formation patterns in half, causing the Shenlong to lose some of its functions and performance. Long Xuan needed to fix them as soon as possible.
Over the next two months, the Shenlong continued to sail. Although there were no major crises, small troubles occurred constantly.
Every day, various sea beasts would chase the Shenlong, but thanks to its incredible speed, even the fastest sea beasts were easily left behind. The crew survived one dangerous situation after another without harm.
The only troublesome event occurred when a large-scale plague suddenly broke out on the ship. The disease was highly contagious, and many crew members were infected. Even the shipâs doctor was helpless, claiming that the plague was unknown and beyond his expertise.
However, just when everyone had lost hope, Long Xuan effortlessly resolved the plague with his Disaster Poison Gu, leaving the crew baffled.
At this moment, Long Xuan once again felt the true danger of the Death Sea. If not for the Shenlongâs exceptional performance and his own hidden cards, anyone entering this sea might face certain death. Those who managed to survive were likely incredibly lucky.
But with great danger comes great opportunity. This sea, where few humans dared to venture, was truly a land of treasure.
Not far from where they walked, everyone discovered that spirit herbs were growing on the seabed, some of which were thousand-year or even ten-thousand-year-old herbs. They picked so many herbs along the way that their hands cramped, and there was no end to it. Everyone was overjoyed.
This trip to the Death Sea, aside from the few super-rich on the ship, was sure to multiply the wealth of the remaining crew members by dozens of times. Each person would have enough wealth to refine one or two peak-grade Gu insects.
As the captain, Long Xuan would take half of the crew's harvest, making him undoubtedly the biggest winner.
He placed the World Tree Seed in the seawater and opened a small opening, allowing the seawater to gush into the seed.
Thus, a small oceanic world began to form within the World Tree Seed.
He then planted all the aquatic spirit herbs they had harvested into this ocean inside the World Tree Seed, creating another massive aquatic spirit herb garden.
While pouring water into the seed, he also accidentally let in a large number of various types of spirit fish, and the ecosystem of this small world was gradually taking shape.
On this day, Long Xuan finally achieved his greatest haul yet.
"Captain! My treasure-hunting dolphin has discovered a sunken ship on the seabed! Itâs a massive nine-floor treasure ship! We're about to strike it rich!"
"Wow! Iâve never seen a nine-floor treasure ship before! It's much bigger than the Golden Fortune ship we encountered earlier."
As Ye Qingluanâs joyful voice rang out, Long Xuan, who was in his cabin, was startled and could no longer sit still. He quickly put down his work on pill recipe and rushed out in excitement.
"Where is it? Take me there quickly!"
Long Xuan dashed out as fast as he could.
At this point, the other crew members were also losing their minds, rushing out from their cabins to the deck, their eyes eagerly fixed on the sea.
Before long, under the guidance of the adorable dolphin, the crew finally sensed the gigantic sunken ship, and everyone was ecstatic.
"Hahaha... It's real! It's the legendary nine-floor treasure ship! This is my first time seeing one, and we're going to be rich!" Xiong Dali laughed wildly.
"Haha, who were the unlucky fools who dared to sail into the Death Sea and ended up sinking? Now all of it belongs to us!" Qiu Tiandao laughed excitedly.
"Judging by the age, it's been here for a long time, possibly not even from this era, buried in the depths for countless years," Leng Yanâs eyes gleamed with excitement, her voice betraying her uncontrollable joy.
This was the nine-floor treasure ship, a colossal structure that housed countless Gu cultivators. Not to mention their personal wealth, just the materials used to build the nine-floor treasure ship were already astronomical. Even dismantling the ship would earn them a fortune.
Long Xuan couldnât wait any longer and quickly commanded the Shenlong to shift into its second form, allowing the entire ship to submerge rapidly into the sea.@@novelbin@@
Deep-sea salvage is usually an incredibly difficult task, but with the Shenlong's diving capabilities, it was as easy as navigating to the seabed.
After an unknown amount of time descending, the ship finally bumped against something at the bottom, signaling they had reached their destination.
This area was already the edge of the Death Sea, so although the water here was dark, it wasn't as pitch-black as the central region. With the help of the Shenlong's lights, they could still see the nearby surroundings.
At this moment, the Shenlong had landed on the deck of a giant ship. The deck was so vast that it resembled a massive wooden island, large enough to house an army of a hundred thousand.
Donât think that just because the Shenlong has three floors, itâs only three times smaller than the nine-floor treasure ship. That's not how it works at all.
The Shenlong's three floors can only house six people, while the nine-floor treasure ship could accommodate thousands. How could that even compare?
In reality, the Shenlongâs size was equivalent to a one-floor treasure ship. Having more floors doesnât equate to it being a treasure ship of that many floors.
Everyone's mouths dropped open in astonishment as they gazed at the colossal ship in a daze.
Compared to this behemoth, the seven-floor treasure ship of the Qian familyâs ninth young master looked like a mere toy.
"Is this the shipbuilding technology of the ancients? They could actually build ships this large? Our Mo clan, as the top shipbuilders of Starsea City, struggles to build five-floor treasure ships, yet the ancients could easily create nine-floor ones! Is this the wisdom of the ancients?" Young Master Mo exclaimed in amazement as he stared at the giant ship.
Leng Yan, her eyes glowing with admiration, remarked, "How can this even compare? In theory, times should always be progressing, but the spiritual energy of the world has become scarcer, causing many advanced materials to go extinct, which has indirectly led to the loss of many technologies."
"The ancients were far stronger than us, not because they were smarter, but because they were born in a better era."
"In their time, resources were abundant, and treasures were everywhere. They could research all kinds of incredible things, and their cultivation speed was far faster than ours."
"Even if we, in later generations, are incredibly talented, we are limited by the lack of resources. Itâs like trying to cook without rice, leaving us far behind the ancients. As time passes, the gap will only grow wider, and civilization will continue to regress."
"This nine-floor treasure ship used so many materials beyond the fourth grade. In todayâs world, those materials are already extinct. How could we possibly build something this large?"
Leng Yanâs face showed a look of unwillingness.
"Exactly! It's not that we're inferior to the ancients, we just weren't born at the right time. Itâs a shame that this ship has been submerged in the sea for so long. Most of the materials have already corroded, and we probably wonât be able to salvage much," Qiu Tiandao said regretfully.
"Hahaha, be content! Even if we can only use one-ten-thousandth of these materials, itâs enough to make each of us incredibly rich! Weâre truly going to strike gold this time!" Xiong Dali laughed, his eyes gleaming with excitement.