With the discussion coming to an end, the group continued to sit at the table.
~Rumble~
The faint rumbling of thunder could be heard coming from afar, a dark curtain hanging from the skies in the distance.
"How long till we reach the Islands?" Lin Mu questioned seeing the storm that they seemed to be heading towards.
"We shouldn't be that far… A day or two at most." Qiao De said, looking at the compass embedded in the pedestal.
"I see… Though it looks like we have a rocky journey ahead of us." Lin Mu replied, looking at the storm that continued to get closer and closer.
~shua~
His immortal sense spread to the maximum range, allowing him to feel the storm. The lightning and wind raging there were prominent and were easily picked up by his Immortal sense, even though it didn't exactly reach the storm which was at least twenty five kilometers away. 'The lightning and wind energy is quite strong… far too strong for it to be a normal storm.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
Normally the energy of a storm should be limited to a short area around it, really exceeding more than a kilometer from its limits. But this storm seemed to have its energy spreading more than fifteen kilometers. "We'll be fine." Crown Prince Feng Shun stated. "This ship can take a lot more. And we've already been through hundreds of storms getting here. The people on it won't even feel it rock." He chuckled.
"Oh… Guess this'll be a good chance to observe it." Lin Mu said.
He had been inside most of the time when they had passed though the storms, as such he didn't get to experience it personally. But now he would get to see the effects of all the arrays that were present on the ship.
A few minutes passed, before the ship finally entered the embrace of the storm. The sky disappeared, and only dark grey clouds were now visible above them. Streaks of white lightning ran through the clouds, jumping down from them time to time. The ocean below them stirred like an endless grinder, while whirlpools formed everywhere.
And yet, the ship passed through it peacefully as if it was not sailing on a stormy ocean, but a still lake. No matter how tall the waves were or how strong the winds were, the ship did not sway or rock. It held on steady and cut through it all, as if they didn't even exist. This allowed Lin Mu to witness the excellent capabilities of the ships arrays first hand.
'If it were any other ship, it would have already been damaged… even among other storms, this one is quite strong… Enough to harm even a Fourth Tribulation Stage Immortal if they were careless.' Lin Mu thought.
~BOOM~
And just as he thought that, a bolt of lightning fell from the clouds on to the ship.
~HUMM~
But before it could actually touch the ship, a barrier appeared over it, stopping and dispersing the lightning bolt in a second.
"Truly impressive." Lin Mu couldn't help but admit.
"Of course. This is one of the treasures of the Imperial court and has been in the family for a long time. We've spent a lot on bringing this ship to this level." Crown Prince Feng Shun said proudly.
~Ding~
A sound was heard coming from the compass controlling the ship, causing Qiao De to take a look.
"Time to change directions." Qiao De said. "To the right!"
"On it." Crown Prince Feng Shun controlled the ship, turning it as directed.
~SPLASH~
The turning of the ship caused the waves to strike it flat from the sides, creating a large splash that reached a few hundred meters into the sky. "There is a beauty in it for sure…" Ziran said, watching it all with amazement.
The churning ocean, crashing waves, roaring winds and rumbling skies seem to all merge together, forming a picturesque scene that could be appreciated well when one was in the peaceful defenses of the ship.
"There is a certain sereneness to it," Lady Kang agreed, watching it too.
The group seemingly watched the stormy ocean, feeling faintly connected to it and marveling at it. Lin Mu was the same, and found a certain harmony in it all, making him ponder on it.
Their time passed quickly in this, and twenty hours swiftly went by. ~WHOOSH~
At a certain point, the ship passed through another stormy curtain before coming out on the other side. Belongs to © n0velDrama.Org.
"The storm's gone." They all saw.
Lin Mu turned and looked back, finding the curtain of the storm firm in its place. It was unmoving, as if acting like a barrier. He followed the expanse of the curtain and found it curving in the distance. "We're here!" Qiao De said, spotting some dark spots in the distance.
Everyone stood up at that moment and followed his gaze, quickly noticing the landmasses on the horizon. "The storm… It specifically surrounds these islands, doesn't it." Lin Mu said, having understood its unique layout.
"It does indeed… that's how it has stayed hidden all these years." Crown Prince Feng Shun nodded his head.
"Without the compass, finding it would certainly have been impossible." Ziran agreed. "There are far too many storms in the ocean after all… and one can easily get lost in them."
When one was sailing through the ocean, they would usually choose to avoid storms so as to avoid delaying their journey and to prevent damage to their ships. Thus, it would have been quite easy to miss the islands. Not to mention, not everyone would have a ship that was durable enough like the Crown Prince's. As such, even if they did know the islands were hidden inside this specific storm, they would still have a very difficult time in getting through.
There was a high chance their ship might just get destroyed from the storm and sink to the bottom of the ocean!
Even if the people on it managed to survive and reached the islands, going back would not be an easy task at all.