The Cloud-Piercing Boat sped beneath a lead-gray sky. Below lay waters so dark blue they were almost black, their waves growing rougher. The closer it drew to Black Reef Island, the colder the sea wind became, carrying a damp chill that seemed capable of seeping into the marrow. The spiritual energy also grew thin and impure, threaded with unsettling wisps of icy yin energy.
Han Li stood alone at the prow, his azure robes snapping in the wind. His Profound Yin Spirit Eye was slightly open as he surveyed his surroundings. The route marked on the sea chart now seemed like a slender thread, barely guiding him through the boundless gloom. Occasionally, he spotted pallid ice floes drifting on the distant sea, or enormous dark shapes sweeping through the depths, but none approached.
The Ghost Mist Sea's influence is spreading, Han Li judged. He took out the white sea-chart jade slip Zhao Wuji had given him and checked his bearings again. Black Reef Island lay on the southeastern fringe of the Green Wave sea region. Shaped like a crescent moon, it backed onto a treacherous stretch of sea perpetually shrouded in thick gray-white mist-the Ghost Mist Sea, whose very name made people's faces pale.
According to the records, the Ghost Mist Sea was thick with yin energy and plagued by spatial disorder. Low-level ghosts, yin beasts, and even lost remnant souls appeared there from time to time; ordinary cultivators dared not approach. Black Reef Island possessed mining value thanks to a small cold iron vein beneath it. A protective formation and stationed disciples guarded the island, but its harsh conditions made the posting anything but desirable.
Three days later, a hazy black shape appeared on the horizon ahead. As he approached, it gradually resolved into an island black from end