Several days passed swiftly, and the fleet sailed out into the boundless sea.
Since the treasure ships were magical artifacts by nature, and had ocean currents and seasonal winds to aid them, they traveled more than ten thousand li a day. Before long, they reached the broad waters a hundred thousand li from Sea City.
Aboard the Golden Toad, the captain who headed the crew smiled as he explained to Fang Qianyuan, "Grand Elder Fang, we'll soon reach the great whirlpool."
"On land, First-Class Cities and Teleportation Arrays form a transportation network spanning a million li. But at sea, the world stretches boundlessly, with nothing to anchor such a network. Even where islands happen to have stable space suitable for these arrays, they can hardly handle large-scale transport. In the end, we must rely on these whirlpool gates, which connect to the Water Realm and borrow its natural energies to carry us through."
"Our destination on this visit to the Flying Immortal Sect is Penglai Island. Because of the terrain, we must pass through two great whirlpools along the way. The first leads to Eastwind Island out at sea. We usually call it the sea entrance. The second is a gateway half a month's journey west from Eastwind Island."
Eastwind Island was a famous transit market district in the central Eastern Sea. Merchants and travelers from every quarter chose to stop there, for nearby lay an enormous rift in the void connected to the Water Realm, like a waterfall in the sea.
All around it, gates in the void dotted the waters like stars across the sky and pieces on a game board, creating spatial whirlpools in the sea. Those who entered them could travel in every direction, reaching destinations throughout the Eastern Sea.
The Eastern Sea stretched across millions