Chapter 484 - 456: Tide Breathing Skill

Chapter 484: Chapter 456: Tide Breathing Skill

The Conjoined Fleet was located in the sea thirty li outside Nanyuan District. Dozens of massive merchant ships were linked head to tail by thick, refined iron chains, forming a continuous, flat expanse on the undulating waves.

Li Yuan, as a streak of azure Escape Light, landed gracefully on the deck of one of the merchant ships.

The deck was brightly lit. Various merchant guilds and Loose Cultivators had set up stalls right where they stood, creating what looked like a small market floating on the sea. The cries of vendors, the sounds of haggling, and the crash of waves against the hulls all mingled together, creating a lively clamor.

Li Yuan weaved through the various stalls.

The stalls were filled with a dazzling array of goods, but most were basic Spiritual Materials from the sea, Tier One and Tier Two Demon Beast materials, and common water-repelling Magical Artifacts. For Li Yuan, with his now profound foundation, such items were hardly enough to pique his interest.

He ambled along, stopping here and there, finally pausing before a stall that specialized in all sorts of books and atlases.

The stall owner was a scrawny old man at the peak of the Qi Refining realm. Seeing a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator stop at his stall, he immediately greeted him with enthusiasm.

Li Yuan’s gaze swept over the stall. He pointed to a Beast Skin Map pinned beneath several tattered travelogues.

"What kind of Nautical Chart is that?"

"You have a sharp eye, Senior." The scrawny old man quickly pulled out the Beast Skin Map and unrolled it. "This is the most detailed Nautical Chart of the Inner Sea in my shop. Not only does it mark the positions of over a hundred islands, large and small, around the Kunpeng Island Alliance, but it also provides detailed annotations for Reef Groups and turbulent current zones where High-tier Demon Beasts often appear."

Li Yuan glanced at it. The markings on the chart were indeed extremely detailed, far more precise than the simple Nautical Chart Zhou He had given him earlier.

After paying a few Mid-grade Spirit Stones, Li Yuan stored the Nautical Chart in his personal storage space.

He continued walking and, before a miscellaneous goods stall near the edge, a faint glow from his trait-perception ability lit up in his vision.

Two gray glows.

Li Yuan stopped in his tracks. The stall displayed some old fishing nets and low-tier talisman-infused water, with a pile of salt-stained, thread-bound books in the corner. The items emitting the glow were two of the booklets.

He reached out and picked them up.

_Tide Breathing Skill_ and _Fisherman’s Stance Skill_.

[Detected Equippable Item: Tide Breathing Skill (Complete)]

[Equippable Trait Preview: Tide Breathing Skill (Gray)]

[Effect: Slightly increases affinity with Water-element Spiritual Qi, provides a minuscule boost to cultivation efficiency in aquatic environments.]

[Detected Equippable Item: Fisherman’s Stance Skill (Complete)]

[Equippable Trait Preview: Fisherman’s Stance Skill (Gray)]

[Effect: Slightly enhances lower body stability, making your Body Technique less prone to imbalance when fighting in turbulent environments.]

Both were the most basic of mortal techniques, not even considered Tier One.

"You’re selling mortal techniques like these?" Li Yuan asked, looking at the stall owner.

The stall owner, a middle-aged man in the Early-stage of Foundation Establishment, gave a dry laugh. "You may not know this, Senior, but large populations of mortals live and thrive on the various islands of the outer seas. To make a living on turbulent ships and work in the moisture-filled air, the mortals on these islands are required to practice these types of techniques from a young age. These two are revised editions. Occasionally, even Qi Refining Cultivators buy them to temper their bodies."

Li Yuan didn’t waste any words. He casually tossed down a few Low Grade Spirit Stones and put the two booklets away.

[Tide Breathing Skill (Gray) has become a permanent trait.]

[Fisherman’s Stance Skill (Gray) has become a permanent trait.]

An extremely faint warm current flowed through his body. The two gray buffs solidified within him. Although the boost was minuscule, every little bit counted. Accumulating small gains was the proper way to use these gray traits.

「Two days later.」

The main escort fleet of the Celestial Peak Sect finally arrived, mooring around the Conjoined Fleet. The entire massive fleet began to weigh anchor and set sail, officially heading into the depths of the Inner Sea.

Li Yuan boarded the large merchant ship arranged by Zhou He.

The ship was over thirty zhang long and featured a three-story structure. Its entire body was constructed from sturdy ironwood, and its sides were densely inscribed with countless Defensive and Water Avoidance Array Patterns.

The moment Li Yuan stepped onto the deck, he felt a rush of pure Water-element Spiritual Qi wash over him.

He secretly extended his senses and discovered that the ship’s hull not only had a large Spirit Gathering Array inscribed on it but was even embedded with a complete, small-scale Water Spirit Vein, which continuously supplied the entire vessel with power and a Spiritual Qi-rich environment.

Zhou He walked down from the upper deck to greet Li Yuan.

"What do you think? This ship is pretty sturdy, isn’t it?" Zhou He said with a smile, patting the ship’s rail. "It’s an ocean-going Spirit Ship, jointly funded by several merchant guilds. For this trade fair, there are even two Early-stage Golden Core Cultivators stationed in the core cabin on the lowest deck. Your safety is absolutely guaranteed."

Li Yuan nodded. Sea voyages were long and tedious, but the ship’s facilities were indeed comprehensive.

"Is there an alchemy room on board?"

"Of course. The second floor has cultivation rooms and alchemy labs specially prepared for the traveling Cultivators. They are connected to the Earth Fire Formation on the lowest deck, and the Spiritual Qi is abundant."

Zhou He quickly had a steward arrange for the highest-grade alchemy lab to be made available for Li Yuan.

For several days, the voyage continued. The surroundings were nothing but the vast, boundless sea, save for the occasional Low-tier Sea Beast leaping from the water.

Li Yuan stayed in his alchemy lab but wasn’t in a hurry to enter seclusion. The Water-element Spiritual Qi on the ship was excellent, and he planned to use this opportunity to refine a batch of water-element medicinal pills.

In the alchemy lab area, he met several other Pill Refiners who were also traveling to the trade fair. Most of them were at the Tier Two level and made their living on the seas year-round.

Li Yuan, presenting himself as a Loose Cultivator Pill Refiner, struck up a conversation with them, and they soon began to exchange experiences.

One of them, wanting to try some land-based pills, offered Li Yuan a recipe for Tide Condensing Powder in exchange for one of his.

It was a Tier Two Middle Grade auxiliary medicinal powder. When consumed by a Cultivator while diving deep or fighting in the sea, it could significantly alleviate the throbbing pain in their meridians caused by water pressure and rapidly accelerate the recovery of their Water Spiritual Power. It was highly sought-after among cultivators in the sea regions.

Returning to his alchemy lab, Li Yuan took out the medicinal ingredients he had purchased from Yunyang and the White Mirror District and ignited the Earth Fire.

With his Tier Three proficiency in Alchemy, enhanced by a series of permanent traits like "Pill Fire Condensation" and "Pill Principle Comprehension," refining this Tier Two Middle Grade powder was child’s play.

He precisely controlled the heat with his Spiritual Power, adding the ingredients one by one.

An hour later, he opened the furnace.

Over ten granules of pale blue powder had congealed into a cluster at the bottom of the furnace, emitting a cool, watery aura.

The quality of the finished powder was superb.

Li Yuan refined three batches in a row, his technique growing more masterful each time. As the third batch of Tide Condensing Powder came out of the furnace, his perception finally caught that familiar green glow within a three-foot radius.

[Detected Equippable Item: Tide Condensing Powder (Complete)]

[Equippable Trait Preview: Tide Condensing Powder Recipe (Green)]

[Effect: Increases the success rate of refining water-element pills by 20% and extends the duration of the pills’ effects.]

[Permanence Condition: Successfully refine ten consecutive batches of water-element pills without a single failure (0/10).]

A green trait. Not only did it increase the success rate, but it also extended the duration of the effects.

For the rest of the voyage, Li Yuan would occasionally leave the alchemy lab to get some fresh air on the deck.

The merchant ship proceeded smoothly along its predetermined safe route.

「On the tenth day of the voyage.」

The once-calm sea surface suddenly surged with powerful undercurrents.

The ship gave a sudden, slight shudder. Immediately after, ripples spread across the light barrier of the outer Defensive Array, and a piercing alarm blared across the deck.

Li Yuan pushed open his cabin door and walked out.

The surrounding seawater was churning violently. A dozen massive dorsal fins sliced through the water like sharp blades, rapidly approaching the merchant ship.

Tier Two Mid Stage Sea Demons—Green-Scaled Sawtooth Sharks.

The Cultivators on deck showed little panic. In fact, many of them wore excited expressions.

Zhou He was standing at the railing of the second-floor gallery, looking down. He turned to Li Yuan and said with a smile, "Younger Brother Li, no need to worry. When the merchant ship travels this route, we sometimes deliberately release special Demon-Luring Incense underwater to supplement our travel expenses. It attracts lone Demon Beasts or small packs that have been separated from their groups."

"The ship’s Defensive Array is strong enough to withstand attacks from a Tier Three Demon Beast, so these Tier Two Sea Demons can’t break through the barrier. It’s a perfect opportunity for the Foundation Establishment Cultivators below to hunt some demons and earn a little extra."

Sure enough, as Zhou He finished speaking, a dozen of the traveling Foundation Establishment Cultivators eagerly summoned their Magical Artifacts, passed through the array’s light barrier, and leaped into the sea to battle the pack of sharks.

Watching the blood roiling on the sea’s surface, Li Yuan felt an impulse.

With a leap, Li Yuan transformed into a streak of azure Escape Light, shot through the barrier, and landed steadily on the churning waves.

He suppressed his Cultivation, revealing the Spiritual Power fluctuations of a Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. His right hand formed a spell seal, and the Ice Seal Skill activated instantly.

The seawater beneath his feet froze rapidly. A sharp ice spike burst from the water and accurately pierced the abdomen of a Sawtooth Shark that was about to launch a sneak attack on another Cultivator.

The massive body of the Tier Two Mid Stage Sea Demon stiffened abruptly. Before blood could even spurt from the wound, it was completely sealed shut by a layer of frigid ice.

Li Yuan’s figure moved like lightning, his Demon Shadow Step leaving an afterimage on the water’s surface. He didn’t use a Magical Artifact, simply holding his fingers together like a blade and unleashing a series of palm strikes imbued with both Demonic Qi and Water Spiritual Power.

CRACK! CRACK!

Two more Sawtooth Sharks were struck in their vital spots. Their skulls shattered, and their massive corpses rolled over, floating to the surface.

His clean and decisive killing technique drew surprised glances from the several struggling Foundation Establishment Cultivators nearby.

After leaving behind seven or eight corpses, the pack of Sea Demons finally realized the danger and quickly retreated into the deep sea.

With a grasping motion of his hand, Li Yuan pulled the three Sawtooth Shark corpses he had killed toward him. Forming a blade with his fingers, he precisely sliced open the Demon Beasts’ abdomens and extracted three Inner Cores that radiated a dense, water-element Spiritual Qi.

The moment he grasped one of the Inner Cores, a green light flashed.

[Detected Equippable Item: Sawtooth Shark Inner Core (Complete)]

[Equippable Trait Preview: Bone Blood Evil Attraction (Green)]

[Effect: Allows the consumption of Essence Blood to greatly increase the power of Evil Qi spells for a short time and enhance their defense-breaking capabilities.]

[Permanence Condition: Slay three different types of Tier Two Demon Beasts while buffed by this trait (0/3).]

A green trait.

It was an extreme method, trading Essence Blood for a burst of damage. Combined with his Profound Nether Killing Skill, which he had mastered to perfection, it could unleash destructive power far beyond his current tier in an instant.