Chapter 444 - 10: Lotus Fire Rising Over the Sea
The blue fire, shaped like a lotus, suddenly burst out from the cabin.
Densely packed, the Antenna Worms almost enveloped the entire cabin were burned by the Blue Lotus Fire drilling out, sounding like firecrackers with a "pop pop" noise.
The Earthworm Jellyfish that had just surfaced realized the situation was grim, retracted its tentacles, and attempted to flee.
Little did it know, as soon as its body started to dive, a series of lotus-shaped flames drifted over the river surface.
Once the flames touched the water surface, there was a loud "boom," and the entire surface glowed fiercely with fire.
Chaos Green Lotus Fire, of unknown origin, had such a power that it could melt metal and shatter bones. The Earthworm Jellyfish, unphased by Swords, guns, and Dark Power, was peculiarly terrified of fire.
At that moment, thick smoke billowed over the surface, and the fire grew fiercer, looking at the river surface, it was slick with floating patches of oil.
This stretch of water was somehow doused with a massive amount of oil at some point.
The fire burned the whole night through, only gradually dying down in the late hours.
All that remained of the small boat were a few main beams and frames; by the time the fire had diminished, the Earthworm Jellyfish was roasted, at which under the charred beams, a sound was heard.
Three figures emerged from below; Yue Jinghua, along with Chi Xi, and Weiwei expelled the reeds they had kept in their mouths all night to breathe, and looking at the wreckage on the river, they finally heaved a sigh of relief.
Managing to sit astride on the cross beams, Chi Xi wiped her face, speaking with lingering fear, "Thanks to the captain, who had recognized them as Earthworm Jellyfish; otherwise, we migh have been dismembered last night."
Recalling the sight of Antenna Worms crawling all over the boat under water, Chi Xi felt a chill.
She had mistaken the Earthworm Jellyfish for a giant monster jellyfish, had it not been for Yue Jinghua who already knew of their fear of fire and had brought pounds of animal fat for cooking, they might have been devoured by the Earthworm Jellyfish and Antenna Worms into skeletons, sinking to the river bottom.
In fact, most ships passing through this area, including the earlier Dragon Battle Navy, had encountered this Earthworm Jellyfish. They had underestimated it, first being lured deeper into the river path, then one by one dragged to the sea bottom by the Earthworm Jellyfish’s behavior similar to tonight.
Whether dead or sunken, that led to the entire fleet’s demise in this region.
The Earthworm Jellyfish couldn’t have dreamt that, after dominating this area for nearly a hundred years, it was thwarted last night.
Yet, Chi Xi found it peculiar that it was Yue Jinghua’s first time at Cloud River Sea Road, yet she could recognize the Earthworm Jellyfish, a nearly extinct ancient sea creature from the main roads.
"Awooo, because Ugly has me, I am the invincible Divine Worm, the Gold Eater Worm, know your enemy and you won’t be defeated in a hundred battles," this time, it was also thanks to the Gold Eater Worm.
During the initial encounter with the giant monster jellyfish attack, it quickly identified this as the far more dangerous Earthworm Jellyfish and informed Yue Jinghua. This type of jellyfish is impervious to sword and gun, its tentacles could transform into masses of Antenna Worms, but this sort of jellyfish, its greatest natural enemy, is Dark Fire.
After this fire, the small boat was mostly burnt away, but luckily the skeleton of the boat remained undamaged. Everyone tied the beams together, barely assembling a makeshift raft, and tied the severely burnt Earthworm Jellyfish to the stern of the raft.
At this moment, Yue Jinghua had received a message from Golden-haired Gore, stating that they had found the location of the old Dragon Battle Navy’s sunken ships.
The group, following the tide, maneuvered the makeshift raft deeper into the Cloud River Sea Road.
In the vicinity of the Cloud River Sea Road, there was nothing more dangerous than this Earthworm Jellyfish, and its downfall undoubtedly served as a warning to all. This made Yue Jinghua and the rest’s subsequent journey particularly smooth, hardly encountering any more attacks, and they reached the sunken ship area mentioned by the Snake-haired Gorgon.
On her journey, Yue Jinghua also realized why the Imperial Military Department of the Dragon War Empire had been reluctant to send people to salvage the site previously.
Leaving aside the presence of creatures like the Earthworm Jellyfish, the area around Cloud River Sea Road is fraught with numerous reefs, making navigation of ships quite problematic.
Yet, the closer Yue Jinghua got to the sunken ship area, the more puzzled she became. It seemed as if Lady Qingyan had vanished off the face of the earth. How had she managed to evade the Earthworm Jellyfish’s sight, and where could she be now?
Cloud River Shipwreck Zone
Guided by the Electric Saw Sturgeon, Snake-haired Little Gore kept swimming downstream, until touching a patch of fine, soft river sand.
The riverbed quietly held about a dozen sunken ships.
They were either lying on their sides or nose-dived into the rich river sand.
Most of the bodies from the Dragon Battle Navy had been washed away by the river or consumed by Water Element Dark Beasts, leaving nothing but aged masts that would snap at the waist with the slightest touch.
Water grass grew inside the hulls, swaying its slender leaves with the direction of the water flow.
A shadow loomed overhead, and right there, Lady Qingyan, whom Yue Jinghua had been desperately searching for, seemed to "walk" abruptly in this underwater realm.
The nearby Water Element Dark Beasts, noticing the dark light enveloping her, all swam away.
Lady Qingyan passed through several ships until she reached one with the lead general’s flag and then stopped.
She looked at the ring on her hand. The ancient black stone ring had significantly dimmed after a day and night of wear.
"The Spiritual Power of the Sea Stabilizing Pearl is weakening. In another hour, it will be completely depleted, I must quickly find General Mo Lin," Lady Qingyan, as if treading on flat ground, stepped into the ship half-buried in the river sand.
More than twenty years had passed, and the thought of her husband, who had haunted her dreams for over two decades, caused Lady Qingyan’s knees to tremble involuntarily.
She felt both anticipation and terror; she hoped to see her husband again, but was also afraid that her hopes would be in vain, and in the end, she might not even find his remains.
"That’s not possible, as long as that object is there, General Mo Lin’s body must be somewhere on the ship," with this thought, Lady Qingyan searched through cabin after cabin, until reaching the warship’s deck.
At last, a familiar figure appeared ahead, a tall figure.
The figure leaned against the ship’s railing, his body still in a forward-leaning posture, showing that even up to his last moment, the man was still leading his troops in resistance.
Upon seeing the figure, Lady Qingyan brought her hands to her mouth, her body trembling like a sieve.
Countless times she had dreamt of him, thinking that she might never see her beloved again in this life.
The man appeared to be lifelike, around forty years old, wearing a heavy armor engraved with the Dragon Battle Navy Emblem.
Though he had been dead for over twenty years, General Mo Lin’s facial features had not changed much, with sharp, defined contours and a resolute expression, everything seemed paused in time.
Her fingers traced over the man’s skin, which felt just as it did over twenty years ago, vaguely still warm.
"Mo Lin, I’m taking you home," a clear tear slid down from Lady Qingyan’s eye corner.