Decaying World

Chapter 229 Black Clouds
The jade-green seawater continuously pounded against the hull of the huge ship.

The sea breeze howled.

The divinely gifted fleet, arranged in a goose-like formation, sailed straight towards the depths of the Jade Sea.

By this time, there were far fewer people on deck, with only a few sailors remaining on duty and observing.

Lin Hui, skilled and daring, remained standing on the ship's railing, gazing at the distant sea.

As he gazed into the distance, he not only experienced the changes in his surroundings but also simultaneously cultivated his spiritual practice.

Like him were Xia Si and the newly joined Su Yaping.

The three of them stood together, frequently attracting the attention of the sailors on and off the ship.

Because they had been observing for at least three hours.

"Gentlemen, we're about to enter closed waters. It would be best if you all went inside the cabins to take shelter. Our men also need to go inside immediately to seal off the entrances and exits," the captain said, emerging from the cabin door to advise Lin Hui and the other two.

The captain of the ship they were on was a rather strong Black man.

I don't know if he was born this dark-skinned or if he got tanned from being outside, but his skin tone is almost as light as charcoal.

He appeared to be in his early thirties, with a short buzz cut, wearing a thick, dark brown leather jacket and pants, and carrying two curved knives, one long and one short, at his waist.

As soon as you get close, you realize that it's different from the other sailors, automatically emitting a strong, unknown fragrance.

The other sailors mostly reeked of a mixture of fishy and sweaty odors.

"Closed sea area? Captain Nongzhuo, can you tell me what's going on?" Lin Hui spoke first.

If he doesn't speak, neither Su Yaping nor Xia Si will want to.

"Is this your first time at sea? Okay, we're about half an hour away from the closed waters, so let me tell you about it." The captain sighed, took out a black metal pipe from his waist pouch, and with a flick of his wrist, a spark ignited a cigarette.

He took a deep breath and exhaled a smoke ring.

"The Jade Sea is relatively safe near the shore. At most, we might encounter some sea beasts. We have sea-avoidance flags produced by the Moon Tower, which are painted with something that sea beasts dislike. This can ensure that the fleet will not be attacked while sailing. That's good."

"But the danger in the Jade Sea actually comes more from the sea monsters than from the extreme natural environment."

"How so?" Lin Hui asked, intrigued.

This was his first time leaving land. The Jade Sea was vast and expansive, its surface a beautiful, jade-green color, which made him want to learn more about it.

"I'll go through them one by one," the black captain said, flicking his cigarette ash and letting it drift freely overboard in the sea breeze.

"The most common thing in the closed sea area deep in the Jade Sea is highly toxic acid rain. This is also the area we are about to enter. In the closed sea area, such highly toxic rain may fall every half day. Once people and animals are exposed to this rain, their skin will ulcerate, they will be unable to breathe, and then they will suffocate and become paralyzed until they completely turn into thick water."

"Could that internal force possibly withstand it?" Lin Hui asked curiously.

“It can’t be stopped.” Su Yaping said from the side, “I have also tested it at sea before. Internal force can’t stop it, only illusory force can stop it, but it can’t stop it for long. This poisonous rain seems to be not just ordinary toxins mixed in, but also some unusual components.”

“This guest is quite right. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come to advise the three of you.” The black captain nodded in agreement. “The highly toxic acid rain is the first danger. After that, there will be a second danger: temperature.”

"Temperature... I've encountered that before, it's alright." Su Yaping nodded to indicate that she knew.

"It seems this guest is quite experienced. Let me explain something to you first. The Federation uses rings as the unit for calculating temperature. Our normal human body temperature is defined as 8 to 10 rings. And this is what we usually use to measure temperature."

The captain took a small black box, shaped like a radio, from an approaching sailor.

The box has a round dial with analog numbers engraved around it, all in rings.

"This is a thermometer that can test temperatures from -20 rings to 100 rings," the captain explained. "One of the dangers we're about to encounter is that the temperature will rapidly rise to over 90 rings within an hour."

"."

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Aside from Xia Si, who had no idea what the concept was, Lin Hui and Su Yaping both fell silent.

Lin Hui quickly converted and calculated the temperature units in his mind.

'It climbed to over 350 degrees Celsius in about two hours.'

He was somewhat skeptical; it seemed a bit too exaggerated.

“You can tell from this guy’s eyes that he doesn’t believe you. It’s alright. If the three of you think you can hold out, you can try to resist. If you really can’t, you can come into the cabin to hide,” the black captain said helplessly.

"Okay, I'll give it a try." Lin Hui decided to experience it for himself.

He now possesses boundless internal energy, and his physique, due to body tempering, has reached a level he himself cannot even fathom. This is a perfect opportunity to test his limits.

A truly strong person should be capable in every aspect, without any weaknesses.

Seeing that he couldn't persuade the three men, the black captain sighed and turned to leave.

Time keeps passing.

The sea outside the ship remained a constant turquoise color.

The sea surface rose and fell, occasionally slapping hard against the hull and causing vibrations.

呼.
Suddenly, Lin Hui's eyes flashed, and he looked far to the right front.

On the sea there, a blue humanoid figure, standing on a large black fish, was swiftly passing by the fleet.

The humanoid figure was only wearing a simple blue bikini, and judging from its body curves, it should be female.

The person had flowing blue hair, a lithe figure, and two seahorse-like fins at their ears. The humanoid figure flashed through the mist and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Are there humanoid races in the Jade Sea?" Lin Hui asked curiously.

“Yes, there are sea tribes living in the Jade Sea, but they are all near-shore tribes. They don’t dare to go into the deep sea, and some of them even have deep trade relations with cities in the Federation,” Su Yaping explained, knowing a little about it.

"I see." Lin Hui recalled that he had once met a leader of the Wanhua sect who lived in a water tank.

In the following period, some large sea fish would occasionally appear near the fleet.

But gradually, the surrounding temperature began to rise, and the number of sea fish decreased.

More and more water mist began to rise from the sea surface.

The fog rose into the air, turning the surroundings into a thick blanket, so dense that one could not see their own hand in front of their face. It was much, much thicker than the fog before.

"Teacher, I smell a strange smell. It smells very good," Xia Si suddenly said from the side.

"Which direction?" Lin Hui couldn't smell anything, so he looked at Su Yaping, who also shook her head slightly.

"Over there!" Xia Si pointed towards the distant sky behind the ship.

Lin Hui looked in the direction the finger was pointing.

The thick fog was so dense that it obscured the view, and I couldn't see anything.

He was about to activate the Typhoon Sword Technique to try and dispel some of it when he suddenly sensed something, and his pupils contracted.

call!
The fog behind the ship thinned slightly under the influence of an unknown force.

In the distance, a blurry female figure wearing a long, bright red dress can be vaguely seen in the sky. Judging from this distance, her length is at least a thousand meters.

The woman's figure was flying rapidly across the sky in the distance, the hem of her red dress spreading out into a red cloud that almost covered most of the sky, moving along with it.

Although the woman's figure was large, the contrast was still huge compared to the endless red dress that stretched out behind her, covering most of the sky.

If it weren't for Xia Si's finger pointing at him, Lin Hui might not have been able to spot the female figure leading the way at the very front immediately. Instead, he would have only seen the vast expanse of red clouds stretching across the sky.

"The temperature has still risen!" Su Yaping said in a deep voice. He was also shocked by the discovery he had just made.

"The sky has turned completely red! What is that?!" Lin Hui stared at the sky.

After the enormous female figure swept past, it was as if the curtain of a movie was slowly drawn back, setting the stage for an escalating atmosphere.

The red sky was quickly obscured by the fog again. But judging from the still blurry red, the sky did not turn back to its previous gray-white color.

“Now I understand why the Mist God Cult is so rampant and so difficult to eradicate,” Su Yaping sighed.

“I feel the same way.” Lin Hui nodded.

The sky was dyed red after the skirt of a woman's figure swept across it. Who wouldn't be confused by this?
Lin Hui suddenly realized that even a terrifyingly powerful being like the Mistmen could only stay in the city, which meant that there must be even more dangerous and terrifying beings in this world than the Mistmen.

The three continued to wait.

As time went by, the deck gradually emptied out, leaving only the three of them.

Earlier, people from the Lin family and Qingfeng Road came to inquire about them. After confirming that they intended to stay on the deck, they had no choice but to hide in the cabin.

The sky was still red, but the bright red had gradually faded into a pale red.

The temperature is getting higher and higher.

Lin Hui gradually began to hold his breath.

Because the air has been completely filled with high-temperature water vapor, not a single drop of oxygen can be inhaled.

He simply held his breath.

He had never held his breath before, but instinctively, he felt that he didn't really need oxygen anymore.

Just like instinct, we blink, cry, and reach out our hands and feet.

And things did indeed turn out as he had predicted.

After you stop breathing, your body automatically absorbs a continuous stream of oxygen-like air from the back of your head to replenish what you've lost.

'Is the windstorm friendly?' Lin Hui sensed the familiarity in the aura and confirmed what was helping him hold his breath. It was his newly formed special organ connected to the windstorm—his hair.

He looked at Xia Si and Su Yaping. The two were very close, and he could easily tell that they were simply holding their breath and not receiving any extra energy compensation. They were simply using their body's stored energy to tough it out.

The temperature is getting higher and higher.

An unexpected situation arose for Lin Hui.

The three people's clothes started to catch fire, and flames appeared.

Lin Hui silently used his internal force to suppress and extinguish the flames on his body. Combustion requires multiple factors to occur; simply removing the oxygen will extinguish it.

As a result, all three of them looked a bit sallow and disheveled.

At this point, the outside world had completely turned into red mist, and nothing could be seen.

During the tedious wait, Lin Hui simply closed his eyes and began to cultivate, passing the time.

Xia Si and Su Yaping followed suit, and the three of them fell silent for a moment.

(End of this chapter)