Chapter 270: Chapter 263: Xuanwu and the Dugout Canoe

Thousands of nautical miles away, in the Sea of Silence, the King-level Wandering Ship *Black Gold* had a secret chamber that could block all Spiritual Power probes.

After gaining a preliminary understanding of the Nameless Cocoon’s characteristics, this room was specially built to guard against its prying Spiritual Power. All secret plotting against this powerful, third-ranked sea beast took place here.

"Da Yu has slain the Moonlight Ripple Beast and obtained the Purifying Marrow, ranked 96th on the list of wondrous items."

"Send a message and make them an offer."

*Black Gold* was in desperate need of the Purifying Marrow.

The wondrous item used to suppress the Nameless Cocoon, the Sealed Prison, ranked 27th, was subject to wear and tear from prolonged use. To counteract this, *Black Gold* had to consume a large number of beast hearts for maintenance, which was why it had a standing bounty for them.

But with the Purifying Marrow, the Sealed Prison’s effectiveness could be fully restored.

If the seal could be maintained at peak efficiency for a long time, it might even force the restless beast back into a state of slumber. When that happened, the pressure on *Black Gold* would ease, and they wouldn’t have to expend so many resources on suppressing it.

The Nameless Cocoon could not be killed.

But forcing it into hibernation would be a great boon.

*Black Gold* would then have the spare capacity to manage other affairs in this chaotic sea region.

A secret message was thus sent from the chamber, bypassing the Nameless Cocoon’s omnipresent Spiritual Power. It traveled across the distance toward Da Yu in the Sea of Soaring Dragons. In just over two hours, Da Yu’s Jiuzhou Platform would receive the purchase request.

The people on *Black Gold* weren’t worried that Da Yu would hoard the Purifying Marrow.

Faced with a common crisis, they would be willing to sell.

...

At the break of dawn, the newspapers published by the major King-level Wandering Ships all featured the latest news from the sea. The residents, living in sheltered corners under the protection of these ships, were avid fans of these publications, a medium long abandoned in the Land Era.

It was one of the few pleasures in their otherwise boring and stable lives.

The Soaring Dragon Report: *Captain Kunwu and Dragon Country Awakened Join Forces to Slay the Moonlight Ripple Beast! Jiuzhou Platform’s Elder Zhou Personally Attends Celebration.*

The Twelve Morning Stars Chronicle: *The Great Bane of S-Class Sea Beasts? Uncovering the S-Class Sea Beasts That Have Died at the Hands of the 13th Honorary Knight!*

The Eternal Lighthouse Gazette: *Beware the Rise of Individual Heroism Across the Endless Ocean!*

...

...

...

Accompanied by his student, Li Jiuyuan, Chongwen piloted a small boat to a calm, deserted stretch of sea.

This was his appointed meeting place with Shi Ming.

The matter was private and related to Wandering Ship No. 360. If they were to discuss it aboard Da Yu, Chongwen worried it would give Shi Ming the impression that he was using his position to apply pressure. A neutral environment was very helpful for honest communication, and he had always been sensitive and perceptive about such things.

He waited patiently.

Finally, a ship appeared on the horizon, sailing toward them.

Chongwen was filled with a nervous hope, yet also inexplicably afraid that he might be disappointed.

"Dr. Chongwen."

"Brother Shi."

After exchanging pleasantries, Chongwen got straight to the point. He didn’t start by mentioning Wandering Ship No. 360. Instead, he simply said that his older brother had left Da Yu alone on a boat over twenty years ago, searching for traces of the Sea Beast Xuanwu, and had never been heard from since.

He never even got to see him one last time.

"The Overlord Body-type skill you used when you slew the Moonlight Ripple Beast must have come from Xuanwu. My brother has been missing for over twenty years, but I was wondering... when you killed Xuanwu, besides the Tun Nan, did you discover any clues related to my brother, Brother Shi?"

After asking, he grew tense.

He hoped for a relevant answer but feared he wouldn’t get the one he wanted.

"I did," Shi Ming said.

The light in Chongwen’s eyes immediately brightened.

"I found traces of Xuanwu a few months ago. By then, the great beast had fallen into a deep slumber and become a floating Turtle Island. On the island, I excavated a canoe—the one you call Tun Nan—and inherited its captain’s authority. I also found a notebook. Besides that... near Turtle Island, I also found a stone stele."

"A notebook?"

Shi Ming took out a wooden box. Inside were a pen and a notebook.

The pen was a common fountain pen, long since unusable. The notebook’s material felt like lambskin. Aside from some wear on the edges, the handwriting was clear and legible.

Chongwen took it and opened it with trembling hands.

’Familiar handwriting!’

*April 5th. This is our 66th day trapped by the flood. The food in the research institute is almost gone, and the floodwaters still haven’t receded. Everyone is pessimistic. A flood this severe has never been recorded in history. This is a catastrophe for humanity.*

The dust was wiped from Chongwen’s sealed memories, and the hazy past became clear.

Back then, the two brothers had looked out for each other, surviving the disaster of the great flood to become one in a hundred survivors. Now, a flood of memories washed over him, and the past flashed before his eyes like a montage.

For a moment, his eyes blurred with tears.

Shi Ming and Li Jiuyuan sat quietly to the side, not wanting to disturb him.

*September 2nd. Humanity has entered the Wandering Era...*

*...*

*January 3rd. I’ve changed my research focus. Awakening... it sounds so appealing. In the scientific fields I’m familiar with, my younger brother is better than me. He is more than enough.*

*...*

*June 7th. I encountered a storm at sea, the likes of which I’ve never seen before. Fortunately, I made it to an island and was able to catch my breath.*

This was the last entry. The story ended abruptly there, with no information following it.

It was as if its owner had simply vanished.

It was clear that he had landed on Xuanwu’s back and then died because of it. The notebook and the Tun Nan were lost on it for over twenty years before being found by Shi Ming. This young man had also acquired Xuanwu’s skill, and just as he had inherited the Tun Nan, he had also inherited his predecessor’s will and unfinished work.

Chongwen closed the notebook.

His mood was still somber.

The man was gone, and having no news for decades had been a constant regret. Now, being able to see the mementos his brother left behind before his sacrifice had alleviated some of that regret. As for the Tun Nan, according to the "Endless Ocean Wandering Ship Inheritance and Management Rules" established in the early Wandering Era under the leadership of No. 001 and several major King-level Wandering Ships, Shi Ming had already become the nominal heir to the ownerless vessel.

Although this rule was a joke in 99% of the sea regions in the Endless Ocean.

It wasn’t a joke to Da Yu, or to him.

"Teacher, could you tell us about Dr. Shangwu’s past?"

Li Jiuyuan spoke at the opportune moment. He knew his teacher needed an emotional outlet right now.

"Thirty years ago, humans were no match for sea beasts. Even with King-level and Grand General-level Wandering Ships for shelter, if we encountered an S-class, A-class, or even B-class sea beast attack, we could only rely on the ship’s weapons, and the casualties were devastating. It wasn’t until the secret of Awakening was deciphered from the great stone stele that we barely gained the power to fight back."

"But in the early days, powerful Awakened were exceedingly rare."

"He said that scientific research couldn’t save humanity, only power could."

"News of Xuanwu came from survivors. Those who had seen it said the sea beast was as long as an island, immensely powerful, and ferocious, but also extremely lethargic. In a light sleep, it lacked the desire to attack. So, he believed that Xuanwu would be easier to kill than a typical S-class sea beast. And so, he piloted the Tun Nan alone and embarked on a journey to find it."

"..."

After finishing his story, Chongwen looked at Shi Ming.

"Can I see the ship?"

Shi Ming hesitated for a moment, then reached into the Hive he carried and retrieved the *Shooting Sun* from his warehouse.

Its appearance was still the same as when it was first excavated, only without the signs of corrosion. It had been completely restored. But from the outside, you couldn’t tell at all that it had been promoted to a Grand General, let alone a Third-level Grand General.

Chongwen bent down, caressing the marks on its surface.

"Even though it’s small, it was a pillar of support in the fight against sea beasts during the early Wandering Era."

"Shooting Sun..."

"Take good care of it."

Shi Ming nodded.

’This is my first Wandering Ship, and the starting point of my journey. One day, it will advance to the King-level and become a new king of a ship in the Endless Ocean!’

The Tun Nan of old, which once "parted the clouds and carried the blue sky," will now take the sky as its target and charge forth as the Shooting Sun!

"By the way, you said you also found a stone stele near Xuanwu? What kind of stele?"

The stele was actually discovered in the Scorpion King’s Pyramid.

’But for the sake of a simpler explanation, I’ve grafted its location to the vicinity of Turtle Island. These details don’t matter anyway, as long as the story is plausible.’

He dipped his finger in water and drew a complex symbol on the floor.

Seeing this symbol, Chongwen’s and Li Jiuyuan’s pupils dilated once again!

They were incredibly familiar with similar symbols!

This was the mysterious script from the great stone stele discovered on Mount Everest. The mission of the Da Yu branch of the Xirang Research Institute was to use the immense computing power of the King-level Wandering Ship’s advanced equipment and massive amounts of Pure Dome Crystals to decipher the meaning of the script! Over the years, they had made considerable progress, but they had only managed to crack less than six hundred characters, barely enough to compile two volumes of the *Compendium of Wondrous Items in the Endless Sea Region*.

And even that was considered highly efficient.

It was said that the Twelve Stars’ Eternal Stele was a similar object. The Twelve Stars had studied it for many years without any results, and could only treat the small stele as an eternal cornerstone of honor.

’Just how many of these smaller steles are there?’

Chongwen’s gaze shifted from its earlier nostalgia and sorrow to one of intense focus.

Li Jiuyuan knew he had just entered work mode.

"Brother Shi, may I see that stele?"

"Of course, but it’s quite large, so I don’t have it with me."

The physical stele itself held no meaning for Shi Ming; as long as he could read the text on it, that was the greatest reward. And if he wanted to casually get close to Xirang’s massive stele, to read it without revealing his secret knowledge of the mysterious script, he first had to establish a connection to it.

He had to find a plausible opportunity.

Just like when he carved his name on the Twelve Stars’ Eternal Stele.

But the knowledge he gained from the steles was something Shi Ming could not share. He remembered clearly that not only the mysterious woman who had taught him the language, but even the Eye of the World had repeatedly warned him never to reveal that he understood this script, or he would face great danger.

What kind of danger? He didn’t know.

’This world still holds too many secrets.’

’I must always remain cautious.’

Besides himself, Shi Ming knew of one other being that definitely understood this language and could even speak a few phrases.

The Abyss Lord of the Sea of Boiling.

Back when he was in the Three-Eyed Golden Crow’s lair, just as he was about to kill the Golden Crow and used his tenfold power to sever one of the Abyss Lord’s vile tentacles, the Abyss Lord had spoken similar words, expressing its boundless rage in that very language.

’It’s possible that the other ancient, Holy Hall-level Sea Beasts understand it too.’