Inside the hollow, the four walls were lined with a special black wood. It felt incredibly hard underfoot.
Lin Hui judged that the wood must be extrely hard.
"Simian, is this your first ti riding a Moth Car?" Fox asked, leaning her back against the wooden wall.
"Yeah, it’s my first ti," Lin Hui nodded.
"You’ll get used to it. With your potential, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to ride Moth Cars in the future. The sect has its own, and quite a few of them. Moth Cars like this are actually a specially bred species," Fox said with a smile. "Here, take a sniff. Do you sll anything?"
Hearing this, Lin Hui sniffed lightly and imdiately caught an extrely faint, elegant fragrance.
"It’s fragrant? Like the scent of pear blossoms?"
"Not that. Sll again!" Fox paused for a mont. She had just used a pear blossom-scented body wash before leaving.
"Hmm... a sweet, honey-like scent?" Lin Hui detected another fragrance.
"That’s it. It’s one of this Moth Car’s functions. The Moth Powder on its body has a naturally calming and hypnotic effect on people. It lets you get a good sleep during the journey and wake up at your destination," Fox explained.
"What about at night? What if the journey is long and we have to fly through the night?" Lin Hui asked.
"Moth Cars are nocturnal creatures from the Fog Area. At night, the wings on its back will enclose the passenger area, and we also use wooden planks from inside to seal it off from the outside. There’s also spare water and food here, enough to last us for a while if needed." Fox patted a wooden plank at her feet on the right, which produced a hollow echo.
"What if I suddenly get diarrhea?" Huang Niu chid in with a grin.
"Then you can jump off, do your business, and catch up," Fox said, annoyed.
"Hey, I’m just asking on behalf of our brother Simian here!" Huang Niu said, raising his hands.
"Then we’d have to land temporarily and wait for you to finish. Just hold it in for a bit. People who ride Moth Cars should at least have that much self-control, right?" Fox said, exasperated.
Lin Hui nodded in agreent.
With his current physical condition, very little of the food he ate was turned into waste.
This ant his digestive system was growing stronger, absorbing the vast majority of the energy from his food.
Before, he used to have one bowel movent a day. Now, he only needed to use the latrine once a week at most.
"Alright, let’s go! The sooner we leave, the sooner we’re back!" Fox slapped the inner wooden wall in front of them.
CRACK.
The Moth Car instantly unfolded its wings and gave a light flap.
WHOOSH. Lin Hui felt everything outside begin to sink away at an incredible speed.
His field of vision rose rapidly.
Countless wisps of fog rushed toward them, but they were imdiately blocked by an invisible force, forming a hemispherical, empty cavity.
"Moth Cars have a natural repelling effect on the mist, so we don’t need to use up our Ning Xiang. That’s one of the reasons we chose to modify them," Fox explained.
"I see," Lin Hui nodded.
"We’re going this way. We’ll have to pass the Sea of Life and Death, so be careful. Don’t cultivate and make a big commotion for no reason. We don’t want to attract any troubleso monsters from over there," Fox continued, her tone growing much more serious.
"The Sea of Life and Death? That is indeed dangerous." Huang Niu’s expression also turned grim. Seeing Lin Hui’s lack of reaction, he took the initiative to explain. "The so-called Sea of Life and Death is a special ocean located to the side of Xingdiao City. No one knows its exact size. It’s called the Sea of Life and Death because for half the year, it’s evaporated by high temperatures into a highly toxic, acidic gas. For the other half, it’s condensed by low temperatures back into water, returning to its ocean form. During each transitional period, a large number of sea monsters erge to hunt everywhere."
"A place like that exists?" Lin Hui was stunned. He felt like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world. He had heard of the Jade Sea, but this was the first ti he had ever heard of the Sea of Life and Death.
"Anything is possible outside the Fog Area. A Fog Person once left a text recording how he flew on a Moth Car for decades without ever reaching the border of the Sea of Life and Death," Fox responded. "Furthermore, the monsters over there are almost all Destruction Level at a minimum. Their classification is outside the system we use in the Taixu Federation. Comparatively, the monsters in the areas surrounding the Federation are mostly quite safe."
After a pause, she smiled and added, "But don’t worry. We’re just passing by the edge of the Sea of Life and Death, not going in. As long as we don’t make a big disturbance, the monsters over there won’t notice us."
Lin Hui nodded, a sense of curious wonder for the bizarre world outside the Fog Area blooming in his heart.
The Moth Car whizzed into the air, constantly accelerating as it flew forward.
Thick fog stread past on both sides. Nothing but white mist was visible ahead, and there was no telling how the moth navigated.
After waiting for a while, Fox suggested that they each cultivate or rest. She would alert them when they were close.
So, the three of them each claid a small spot and began their individual cultivation.
Ti slowly passed. With no fra of reference, Lin Hui couldn’t gauge the Moth Car’s speed. He only felt it was a bit slower than his own top speed, but not by much. Plus, it was flying at a high altitude and in a straight line.
He asked Fox how long it would take, and she said it would be about eight or nine hours.
From this, he judged that the Xingdiao City District was likely quite far from Yunbian Town.
’If even Xingdiao City, which is said to be the closest to Tuyue, is this far by flight, then how did Song Zhanlong and the others get to Tuyue back then?’
"That’s sothing you wouldn’t know. Large rchant caravans travel between Tuyue and Xingdiao all year round. You can walk through the Great Maelstrom, which shortens the distance considerably. However, the Great Maelstrom seems to be connected to the Sea of Life and Death and is also affected by the black fog, so it’s only passable during a few short periods each year," Fox explained. "We’re currently in a period when the Great Maelstrom is impassable."
Lin Hui nodded in understanding.
"So what is the Great Maelstrom?"
"Look." Fox suddenly stood up and looked ahead to their right.
She raised her hand and pointed into the distance. "That’s a great maelstrom."
Lin Hui got up and looked.
The fog seed to be pulled away by so imnse gravitational force, clearing the surrounding area and revealing the scenery far into the distance.
In the distance was a grayish-white sea, as if made of countless tons of white sludge.
A massive vortex was slowly spinning in the sea.
From their vantage point, they were above a black mountain range by the sea, at least several thousand ters off the ground. Yet, they felt no difficulty breathing or thinness in the air.
The vortex was right next to the mountains, just off the coast.
Fierce winds blew. Standing in the Moth Car, Lin Hui looked through the invisible barrier at the gigantic, mountain-sized vortex. He could see black dots constantly flying in and out around its periter, as if they were all using the vortex to travel to so unknown place.
"That’s the Sea of Life and Death over there," Fox said.
"It might look close, but we’re actually at least seven or eight hundred kiloters away."
"Do people live over there, too?" Lin Hui asked.
"Yes, another country called Hong Yin, the one closest to us. But the situation there is different. Compared to our Taixu, their monsters are more nurous and powerful, so their population remains at a low level. And because they’re constantly at war, their society is under strict, militarized control. They also have a custom of raiding outsiders for their population. So my advice is to stay away," Fox explained.
Lin Hui nodded.
He gazed at the grayish-white sea and the massive vortex until the surrounding fog gradually closed in again, obscuring his vision and returning everything to a state where nothing could be seen.
He sat back down and continued to circulate his Inner Strength. Several quiet hours passed before the Moth Car shuddered slightly and began to slow down.
Lin Hui opened his eyes and saw Fox and Huang Niu standing together, their lips moving slightly. They were communicating via voice transmission.
"You’re awake? We’re almost there," Huang Niu said aloud.
"Xingdiao? This is my first ti visiting a city district outside of Tuyue. I wonder what it’s like..." Lin Hui said with a smile.
"We’re about to enter the No-Fog Zone. You can get up and take a look. We’ll be landing at the edge of the No-Fog Zone in a place called Qishan Town. Our fellow sect mbers are there to et us," Huang Niu said.
"The Good Heart Sect... we have people everywhere, don’t we?" Lin Hui asked.
"Mhm, that’s how it is in the Taixu Federation. We’re in every city district. After all, we’re an ancient sect that’s been around for several thousand years," Huang Niu laughed.
A chill went through Lin Hui’s heart.
’From the sounds of it, the scale of the Good Heart Sect is on a completely different level from any other sect he had ever heard of.’
Pushing his thoughts aside, he looked outside the Moth Car.
They were just entering the No-Fog Zone. After piercing through the towering Fog Wall, the view ahead instantly cleared.
Imdiately after, a vast, tall black wall appeared at the edge of Lin Hui’s vision.
The black wall was so high that it pierced the mist in the sky, its top completely out of sight.
The wall was riddled with broken gaps and holes, clearly the aftermath of a recent, major battle.
"Sothing happened here not long ago—I’m sure you’ve heard about it. That’s why the high walls of the Inner City were smashed up for a while. Now they’re rounding people up for repairs. It’s also why so many Outer City People fled. Who wants to be forced into labor these days? It’s a death sentence," Huang Niu sighed.
Lin Hui looked closely and could indeed make out tiny human figures within the holes of the towering black wall, working hard to repair it.
Outside the wall, there were rope-like contraptions hoisting basket after basket of repair materials.
"Our mission this ti is to eliminate a city district official nad Zhu Chengqiu. He’s extrely powerful, an Elder of the Shayue Sect’s Rain Palace here. In fact, a year ago, he wasn’t an Elder. He earned constant rits by capturing our sect mbers, which is how he was so quickly promoted to his current position," Huang Niu said.
"Do we know his specific realm?" Lin Hui asked.
"We don’t know. Based on his recent combat achievents, he’s at least at the High Priest level. And he’s extrely vigilant. He knows every expert in Xingdiao like the back of his hand, which makes it impossible for our local mbers to make a move on him. He’s aware of every Grand Priest Level expert, so if any of them make even the slightest move, he’ll notice imdiately," Huang Niu said.
"That’s why they brought in unfamiliar faces like us from Tuyue to target him," Fox added from the side. "Don’t worry, Simian. Brother Niu will be the main attacker, and I’ll provide support. You just need to be our lookout. This is mainly to let you gain so experience. After you’ve done this a few more tis, one day it’ll be your turn to lead a team alone. That’s how we all started."
"Alright..." Lin Hui looked down from the sky. Outside the tall black wall, the small towns looked like charred ruins—desolate, dilapidated, and gray-black, like filthy piles of charcoal.
He couldn’t even see many people inside them. There was no sign of life. The only noise ca from the flocks of crows that occasionally swooped by at low altitudes.
"Okay, pay attention, we’re about to land. Our tracks may have been exposed, so as soon as we touch down, we’ll eliminate all surrounding threats. Execute all hostiles," Huang Niu reminded them.
"Got it!" Lin Hui and Fox nodded at the sa ti.
’In their eyes, I should be at the peak of the Circulation realm. As long as I’m careful, that should be enough to handle most dangers.’
’Even though I can already take down a High Priest, I still don’t know much about the Good Heart Sect. I’m just a newbie. If I don’t keep an ace up my sleeve and end up getting betrayed, I’ll be in big trouble.’
"Careful! They’re here!" Huang Niu’s voice rang out, suddenly stern.
Lin Hui gripped the Ruyi Sword Handle on his back and looked down.
On the black earth below, more than a dozen black figures were rushing toward their landing spot.
The five figures at the front were all wreathed in the white flas of Inner Strength. Each of them was clearly at the Circulation realm.
The rest only had the ordinary white glow of Inner Strength. They were obviously just regular Inner Power Martial Artists.
"Circulation realm masters are a rare sight on a normal day, but there are so many of them here? It’s an ambush!" Fox said with a laugh.
"What’s wrong with a little warm-up?" Huang Niu also chuckled. "I’ll take care of the leader."
He didn’t wait for the Moth Car to land completely, flipping himself over the side and leaping out.
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