Chapter 147 A Handful of Stones for a Safe Journey

Some time after Huten finished eating the fruit, he began cultivating.

Not far from the shaved-headed boy, who was deep in meditation, An continued working on the runes.

A huge pile of spirit stones lay beside him. He had asked Old Oluye for them to test the Pure Sky artifact.

As he focused on the runes, An also kept an eye on Huten, specifically on his cultivation.

‘Hm, this is the first time I’ve watched someone else cultivate... For someone at the fifth layer of Qi Condensation, his control over Qi isn’t bad... It’s even better than Mo Fan’s was when he was around the same cultivation level.’

He curiously watched the Qi moving through the boy’s body with interest, then shook his head.

‘He’s also very young. If he were a member of a sect, he could definitely become a local genius...’ An had already forgotten that he was only a few years older than the boy himself. His body was only sixteen years old, and he wouldn’t turn seventeen for another few months.

After spending some more time methodically checking every chain and connecting the two different power sources, An split the huge pile of spirit stones into two.

Once everything was connected and powered up, he relaxed and prepared himself.

“Well then... let’s hope everything works!” Activating the entire chain system, he began manipulating the Qi, helping the energy from the stones spread evenly through all the runes.

However, as he reached the two chains whose purpose he still hadn’t figured out, he braced himself for the worst, however.

‘What idiot made these?! I wasted so much time on complete garbage! These aren’t even runes… they’re just hollow junk!’

The two chains turned out not to be chains at all.

The runes within them were artificial, most likely created to deceive anyone trying to copy the master’s work and make the process more difficult.

Only when energy was supplied to the entire system was the true nature of those two strange sections revealed.

‘Either the master who made this artifact was a moron, or he was paranoid about someone copying his work… So much time wasted!’

He continued manipulating the Qi and distributing it through the system, all the while cursing everyone who might have had anything to do with the artifact.

‘Okay, now for the important part...’ He opened the flow of all the runes into the artifact itself.

The energy consumption immediately skyrocketed, and the spirit stones began crumbling one after another.

Thrum! Thrum!

The artifact began to shake, slowly but steadily increasing the frequency of its vibrations.

‘It actually works...’ An smiled without taking his eyes off the enormous tuning fork.

“D-did it work?” Huten awoke from his cultivation at just the right moment, now standing on the verge of breaking through to the sixth layer of Qi Condensation.

Hearing and feeling the waves of vibration coming from the artifact, the boy began jumping around the deck in excitement without even waiting for An confirmation.

After a few seconds, he suddenly seemed to remember something, turned around, and ran toward the ship’s side.

Leaning over the railing, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Sergeant Oluye! Sergeant Oluye! It worked! It’s working!”

Down inside the ship, the passengers heard his cries through the enormous hole leading outside. They immediately began grumbling and cursing among themselves, afraid that the noise would attract more spirit beasts.

Old Oluye dropped everything, pulled out his golden rope, and ran straight toward the enormous hole leading outside.

Su Mei and her two companions, the servant Mo and Feng Min, followed closed behind. They quickly overtook the old man and headed straight for the artifact at the stern.

Huten stepped aside and bowed so he wouldn’t get in their way. As soon as they flew over him, he leaned against the railing again and waited for the out-of-breath Old Oluye.

....

“Is Pure Sky repaired?”

Su Mei approached the artifact, then stopped several meters away and looked back at An, who had immediately moved farther from it.

“Mm...” An just nodded.

“Why is it vibrating so strongly? Are you sure you didn’t break it?” Feeling the waves coming from the artifact, Feng Min frowned, clearly looking for any excuse to criticize.

“Without meter-thick walls and hundreds of formations shielding you, of course you can feel the vibrations... Besides, what do you think makes this artifact drive the beasts away in the first place?”

An smirked and shook his head, genuinely surprised by such a foolish question, even though he understood perfectly well that Feng Min was hostile toward him for no reason.

Feng Min was normally a fairly reserved person who kept his true feelings to himself. Yet for some reason, his hatred of this disheveled rune master kept spilling over.

“Don’t forget yourself! Do you even understand who you’re talking to?” Feng Min grabbed the hilt of his rusty sword.

But Old Mo raised a hand, stopping him. “Thank you for your work, rune master. You have saved all of us.”

Su Mei nodded in agreement with her servant.

“Heh... Not quite. See those two piles of spirit stones?” An pointed toward the nearly depleted piles.

“Pure Sky consumed more than eight thousand spirit stones in just one minute of continuous operation. And that’s after I reduced the artifact’s range to keep its consumption as low as possible...”

He turned toward them and looked at each of them in turn. “So now it all depends on you… or rather, on the depth of your pockets… and, of course, on the other passengers...”

“You!” For his own personal reasons, Feng Min took An’s words as a personal jab.

“Master Feng, please! There are more important matters to deal with right now. Please, calm down.” Su Mei turned to him with a serious expression. Seeing her face, Feng Min immediately fell silent, though his grip on his sword tightened further and further.

“Old servant, how long do you think it will take us to reach the nearest fort?” Su Mei turned to her loyal person, named Mo.

“Hmm. If we travel at a speed of two to three kilometers per hour, taking the terrain and the need for frequent rest into account... Ahem, it would take us more than three months... That would cost about one and a half billion spirit stones, or something of equivalent value...”

The old man’s expression immediately fell as he realized what they were facing.

“What the... And where are we supposed to find that many?” Feng Min grabbed his head in frustration, realizing that solving one problem had immediately created another.

At the same time, he wondered if he could convince Miss Su and her servant to abandon everyone here and rush to the nearest fort at full speed. But he quickly stopped himself, realizing what that could do to his reputation.

“That many... Wait, what about the engine?!” Su Mei suddenly brightened as she remembered the engine room, where, as far as she knew, there should be an enormous number of spirit stones inside, at least enough to keep this massive ship flying.

“Young Master Su, you’re right! My old head completely forgot about that!” Old Mo slapped his forehead with his remaining hand and turned toward Feng Min.

“Master Feng, we need your help! With a few workers, we’ll quickly find everything we need!”

Feng Min didn’t argue. He simply nodded, and the two of them went off to search for the ship’s engine room.

‘This is going to be difficult. After the explosion in the engine, I doubt most of the stones are still intact...’ Remembering the force of the explosion and the density of the Qi around it at the time, An wasn’t sure the spirit stones could have withstood it.

“You, come with me! And don’t forget to bring Pure Sky!” After watching the two men leave, Su Mei turned around and gave An the order in a commanding voice.

An slightly shook his head, unable to understand why everyone around him treated him this way.

Wrapping the piles of stones and the artifact in Qi, he slowly floated down toward the ground. Su Mei followed him.

“Leave everything here and come with me.” After giving the order, she didn’t even look in his direction. She immediately headed toward the hole in the ship leading down to the passengers.

An followed her inside and surveyed the passengers.

The dead and injured lay mixed together, and everyone was so exhausted that a strange, almost frightening silence hung over the area. Only the workers continued rushing between them, doing whatever they could to help.

Off to one side, he immediately noticed Old Oluye. The old man was clutching his back as he explained something to a group of young workers, demonstrating with his hands as he spoke.

Su Mei stopped, looked around, then coughed into her fist to get everyone’s attention.

“Ahem! Please look this way me and listen to what I have to say!”

Almost all the passengers and workers turned toward her, trying to understand what this young master wanted.

“The Pure Sky artifact has been restored! That means we no longer have to fear attacks from the beasts!” Su Mei spoke each word clearly so that everyone could understand her, even those on the other side of the area.

The workers immediately perked up at the news, much more so than the passengers, who simply didn’t understand what she was talking about.

Old Oluye immediately looked at An when he heard this. An was standing behind Su Mei, looking around as though he were somewhere else entirely, completely detached from everything happening around him.

“Excuse me! What is Pure Sky, and who are you?”

One of the passengers, an old man with neatly groomed mustache and a short beard, surrounded by three young and beautiful women, loudly asked the question that seemed to be on many of the passengers’ minds.

“I am the heir of the Su Clan! And the Pure Sky artifact will protect us from the creatures on the way to Tranquil Fort.”

Su Mei addressed everyone rather than the old man specifically, placing emphasis on the name of her clan.

....

“The Su Clan? No way... One of them actually survived?! I thought only their heir, Su Mei, was among us...”

“I remember him! The captain showed that young man respect for helping repel the first attack.”

“A clan? So what? We have no hope, no way out... Tch!”

“Wait! It can protect us all the way to the fort?”

“We’re finally safe? Mom, Dad, did you hear that?!”

The passengers immediately broke into a buzz. Strangely, the passengers of higher status were more interested in discussing the Su Clan, acting as though their own safety wasn’t all that important to them.

As for everyone else, they were practically cheering after hearing the wonderful news that finally gave them the hope they so desperately needed.

....

“HOWEVER! There is one problem!” Su Mei suddenly cut through all the excitement.

Everyone fell silent, expecting the worst. Their expressions darkened even further, as though every last drop of hope had been drained from them, again.

“The artifact consumes far too many resources! That means we all have to CONTRIBUTE!”

Su Mei almost shouted the words and held out her hand.

“Rune master, please give me the spatial pouch that was used to deliver the spirit stones to you!” Surprisingly, she already knew about it.

Without hesitation, An pulled the folded pouch from his pocket.

Instead of placing it neatly in her hand, An casually tossed it at her feet.

Caught off guard, Su Mei turned her head and shot the strange rune master an irritated look, only to receive complete indifference in return.

With a sigh, she lifted the pouch with her Qi, took it in her hands, and raised it above her head.

“I’m going to pass this around to all the passengers and workers! Please! All our lives depend on this!”

The passengers immediately began checking their storage items, trying to calculate how many spirit stones they had.

However, one passenger who knew how the ship worked couldn’t help asking a question. “What about the engine? There should be a large number of spirit stones in there!”

Many immediately stopped counting their ‘savings’ and looked at Su Mei as though they were looking at a robber rather than a savior.

She seemed to have expected the question and answered without hesitation. “Don’t forget, the reason we crashed was because of the engine malfunction. According to the information Captain Bongromonte gave us, there was a massive explosion inside the engine room after the crash!”

One of the passengers immediately looked around and shouted, “B-but where’s the captain? Why haven’t we seen Captain Bongromonte since the creatures attacked us?!”

Everyone immediately began looking around, searching the crowd for a familiar face.

The workers immediately fell silent. They had known for some time what had happened to their commander.

“Captain Bongromonte fell in battle against a third-rank beast! He gave his life protecting you, protecting us! He believed we still had a chance to escape to safety! He placed all our hopes in the Pure Sky artifact, insisting that it was the only thing that could keep us alive!”

Su Mei shouted without hiding anything, simultaneously placing a burden on everyone and giving them hope.

She deliberately tossed the pouch into the air so that everyone could see it, then caught it and threw it to Old Oluye, who barely managed to catch it.

“Sergeant Oluye! Oversee the collection of the spirit stones! You’re responsible for this!”

Su Mei shouted the order, pushed off the ground, and rose into the air. After giving the passengers one last look, she turned and flew toward the exit, wrinkling her nose as she cast a fleeting glance at the bored-looking An.

“Yes, Master Su!”

Old Oluye and the other workers bowed, reinvigorated with hope. Despite their exhausted bodies, they somehow found a new reserve of strength. They began by gathering everything the workers themselves had, showing the passengers that they were contributing to the common cause as well.

Then Old Oluye began moving among the passengers like a beggar, holding the open pouch in both hands.

Many passengers grumbled, but they still handed over everything they had, understanding that it was better to be broke but alive than to keep full pockets and end up in a beast’s stomach.

....

Deciding not to disturb anyone, An headed straight toward the second-rank creature’s body, which was still lying in the corner of the area.

Along the way, many passengers gave him suspicious looks, especially at his bare feet and torn clothes.

One passenger grabbed a young female worker, a girl who looked no older than sixteen and strongly resembled Huten, and asked, “What’s with that strange gentleman? And why isn’t he giving up his spirit stones like everyone else?”

The girl didn’t hesitate. She looked in the direction the man was pointing and, upon seeing the tall, disheveled young man standing barefoot, her mouth formed a small ‘O’.

Turning back to the passenger, she lowered her voice to a whisper. “That’s the rune master. The artifact wouldn’t even be working without him. I don’t think it would be right to ask him to hand over all his savings too...”

She glanced at An’s back again and shook her head. “Besides, I’m not even sure he has a single spirit stone. Just look at him! He’s obviously eccentric. Don’t you think?”

The passenger quickly lost interest and waved her away. “Go on, go on! Enough slacking off around here!”

She snorted and continued on her way, helping the other passengers who needed something.

Not far away, amid the crowd, a woman who looked no older than forty stood in an elegant yet understated evening dress. After overhearing their conversation, she turned toward An. When she caught sight of his profile, she frowned and fell into thought.