Chapter 267 - 153: "I, Zhang Damao, Have Discovered a New Continent.

Chapter 267: Chapter 153: "I, Zhang Damao, Have Discovered a New Continent.

However...

They had lost many resources in the process, including their most precious supply of water. Most of their freshwater had been stored on those two Sea Ships.

Just as they were debating whether to turn back, they spotted an island.

The entire crew was ecstatic.

This meant they had truly discovered a New Continent—an island separate from the Eternal Night Continent. It covered a massive area, and on it, they found vast quantities of Heavenly and Earthly Treasures.

One of these was a fruit, about the size of an an apple, but a closer look revealed a nose and eyes, just like a monkey’s head.

He recognized this fruit.

It had been discussed during their training in the Mortal Realm.

The Private Schools in the Mortal Realm had an extremely important lesson: training on the appearance and preservation methods for various Heavenly and Earthly Treasures. This was to prevent people from encountering them and not recognizing them—like the Monkey Head Fruit, which was quite rare on the Eternal Night Continent.

Here.

They were everywhere.

As far as the eye could see, they were endless!

All the Commerce Pavilion members were overcome with joy. Everyone knew they had made a monumental contribution this time. They would surely receive a handsome reward from the Domain Lord upon their return. They had truly discovered a New Continent.

But—

After landing on the island to replenish their freshwater, they gathered some Monkey Head Fruits and prepared to return, but they were hit by a storm.

A terrifyingly violent storm.

They could barely control their direction, forced to drift at the mercy of the waves.

They were carried farther and farther from the Mortal Realm.

Just then!

Without any warning.

The dark clouds overhead seemed to be ripped apart by an invisible, giant hand. The sea suddenly surged, forming a spinning waterspout hundreds of meters tall that stabbed toward the Celestial Vault, as if a great dragon in the clouds was drinking from the sea.

"HARD TO PORT!!!"

Wang Mazi stood on deck, clinging to the mast to steady himself as he roared at the top of his lungs, "HOLD IT!"

He didn’t know what it was.

But he knew they absolutely could not get caught in it.

Otherwise, they would surely die.

Endless Ghost Objects, carried by the churning sea, surged past both sides of the Sea Ship. Their numbers far exceeded anything they had ever seen, yet the creatures had no time to attack, as if they were fleeing something themselves.

They lost track of how long they had been swept through this Sea Realm, unable to distinguish day from night.

In their despair, a massive wave crashed down upon them.

Many Commerce Pavilion members were swept into the sea.

The remaining members were all knocked unconscious.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Light, a long-unseen visitor, finally shone upon the deck of the Sea Ship. The vessel drifted like a lone skiff on the water. They had finally escaped that terrifying region of storms and waves, but...

The bad news was,

they were even farther from the Mortal Realm.

They were also drifting farther and farther from Hope Island—the one they had discovered, the one with no traces of humanity.

The Commerce Pavilion members had excitedly come up with the island’s name together.

Wang Mazi, who had been slammed into the ship’s cabin by the waves, struggled back onto the deck. He felt the calm air and placid water around him and looked back at the Sea Realm behind them, which was covered in black clouds like a distinct boundary line.

"Pavilion Master."

A subordinate with a deathly pale face reported with difficulty, "A lot of men died. Including you and me, there are only twelve of us left."

"..."

Wang Mazi turned his head toward the horizon and said hoarsely, "Take stock of the Ghost Stones. Prepare to head back."

"There aren’t many Ghost Stones left..."

They were out of supplies.

They were in the middle of the deep sea, with nowhere to turn. It was just their small group, with no hope of aid. The Mortal Realm didn’t even know their location, let alone their predicament. No one could save them.

Without Ghost Stones,

they couldn’t return home.

Just then—

he suddenly spotted another island ahead, one much smaller than Hope Island.

’Maybe it’s the Eternal Night Continent.’

’Or maybe it’s a new continent.’

"Make for shore!"

Wang Mazi quickly reined in his emotions and gave the order, "We’ll build a camp and prepare to fend off enemies. We’ll kill enough Ghost Objects to get home."

’If we don’t have Ghost Stones,’

’we’ll just have to kill Ghost Objects and earn them.’

The Ghost Stones they had left were enough to power the turrets for a while.

Soon!

The Sea Ship raised its sails, turned its rudder, and set off once more.

The moment the Sea Ship docked beside the Island and dropped anchor, Wang Mazi stood on deck and stared at the scene before him, his eyes filled with horror.

If Hope Island, the one they had discovered before, had been devoid of any trace of humanity...

then...

this island was covered in them.

As far as the eye could see,

there were heaps of skeletal Ghost Corpses and human remains. Incredibly valuable Ghost Stones lay scattered everywhere, untouched. Farther on, he could see the ruins of many destroyed buildings.

Aside from that, there were no living creatures.

A dead silence.

’No, that’s not right.’

’He could occasionally see a rat scuttling past. There were living things here after all.’

’This is...’

’This is an island that was destroyed by Ghost Objects. Humans once built a base here, but it was overwhelmed by a Ghost Tide. No human has set foot on it since. Otherwise, it’s impossible that these Ghost Stones would have been left uncollected. They were the first people to step onto this island after its fall.’

"..."

Wang Mazi’s mouth fell open as he gazed into the distance.

This was the first island they had seen, but after landing, they could faintly make out more small islands behind it, clustered like stars. If he wasn’t mistaken, those islands had probably all been destroyed as well.

And beyond them,

he could faintly discern the coastline of an enormous continent.

He turned to look back the way they came.

On the surface of the sea,

the Black Cloud Thunderstorm Sea Realm stretched for what could be hundreds of kilometers, its end nowhere in sight. It was like a clear, unbreachable dividing line, completely separating the region where he now stood from the ocean of the Mortal Realm’s Dead Sea.