Thick Fog

Lei Chong closed his eyes and silently reflected for a long time. Then he opened them abruptly, and in an instant, two runes transformed into beams of light that shot into the vast distance, dazzlingly bright.

In a flash, Lei Chong felt that the world before him had come alive. Heaven and earth seemed many times brighter, everything incomparably clear.

He could even see through the seawater and make out the living creatures in the ocean depths.

Every fish and strand of seaweed, every rise and fall of the waves in this ocean seemed different, vivid and full of spirit, as though he could see their very essences.

Looking into the distance, he could see endlessly far, perceive the source of things and see through illusions. The movements of the various creatures he saw with his Heavenly Eye had all slowed.

The movements of the petrels in the distant sky, the fish swimming deep below the sea, and the rats and insects in the cabin were many times slower. Every trick was plain to see, their movements as slow as ants crawling.

Most importantly, Lei Chong could clearly sense some unusual red fish around the ship.

Those were genuine Flame Fish, seemingly hiding in the shadows and watching.

Such was the Heavenly Eye. It had only just opened, yet it already possessed all kinds of wondrous abilities.

The creatures he saw moved slowly, an ability that could play an unimaginable role in battle. His opponents' intricate transformations would have a hard time escaping the Heavenly Eye.

In fact, this was only its initial awakening. The true Martial Dao Heavenly Eye had many more astonishing abilities, and as his cultivation deepened in the future, its divine powers would awaken one by one.

"How is it?" the Witch asked.

"Very good." Lei Chong nodded and handed her the sea gall. He had used up half of it, but the remaining half was enough for her.

The Witch took the Blue Crystal Sea Gall with a giggle, then brought out several kinds of spirit herbs and materials.

She held them out, but Lei Chong did not reach out to take them.

"Huh? What's wrong with you?" The Witch looked at Lei Chong and saw that his gaze had turned into symbols, pale golden beams falling on her as he stared without stopping.

"Uh, nothing... it's just that your Dao charm is naturally formed. I think you'll achieve great things in the future," Lei Chong said perfunctorily, his eyes shining brightly.

"You..." The Witch was furious. She immediately realized that this fellow's Heavenly Eye had just formed and could see through things. He was looking at her body.

Wherever Lei Chong looked, he saw a fair, delicate body, snow-white and translucent as ivory, with flowing curves, a graceful figure, and perfectly proportioned contours, infinitely flawless.

The Witch immediately dropped the materials in her hands, and her body dissolved into a drifting rain of light.

Her spirit body lacked a treasure, so it could not block Lei Chong's Heavenly Eye.

The beautiful sight before him vanished. Lei Chong had no choice but to withdraw his Heavenly Eye, smacking his lips a few times as though savoring the sight he had just seen.

Whoosh!

Lei Chong reached forward and snatched the materials into his hand.

After holding them up for a careful inspection, he found that most were ordinary materials. Only one stone radiated boundless light, seeming to be a very precious treasure.

The stone was the size of a fist. Through his Heavenly Eye, Lei Chong discovered a crack inside it, ending any possibility of refining it into a supreme treasure.

No wonder she was willing to trade. So there's something wrong with the stone, Lei Chong muttered inwardly before putting all the materials away.

Even if the stone could not be refined into a supreme treasure, he could still trade it with someone else.

After putting away all the materials, Lei Chong chose to continue cultivating.

Having cultivated the Heavenly Eye, Lei Chong used it to look inward and examine his body, then began inscribing runes inside it.

These were all Thunder Emperor runes, runes that had evolved from his own body.

Inscribing these runes inside his body allowed him to activate them at any time or form them into an array as a means of attack.

The runes inscribed inside his body could be changed at any time. If he obtained a better array in the future, he could replace them whenever he wished.

The key was that, after cultivating the Heavenly Eye, inscribing runes had become easier.

With the Heavenly Eye's aid, the once intricate runes became simple, and even inscribing them was easier. He no longer had to feel his way through the process as before.

Lei Chong had long since settled on a direction for his cultivation in the Array Formation Realm, however.

The Upper Realm's First Spirit Root grew in the Medicine Capital, where there was an array from before the opening of heaven. Going there to copy the array was also a good option.

Now that he had cultivated the Heavenly Eye, it naturally would not be difficult for him.

Then he would search for the Heaven-Swallowing Sparrow's whereabouts and find a way to get his hands on the Mountain Treasure.

With such goals in mind, Lei Chong felt immensely fulfilled.

Rumble!

Lightning Dao runes joined together inside his body, as though thunderclaps were sounding one after another. The sounds were clearly audible, as if lightning were about to burst out of him.

Hearing the sounds inside him, Lei Chong was not nervous in the least.

Judging by his current progress, he was only at the Early Array Formation Stage.

The thunderous sounds inside him were all produced by the Thunder Emperor runes. Once he cultivated to the Late Array Formation Stage, the runes in his body would become subdued.

The North Sea truly was boundless. His spirit body had piloted the great ship across the sea for three days, yet they had still seen no land.

On the deck of the enormous ship, Lei Chong was still cultivating diligently.

Two spirit bodies stood guard beside him, keeping a wary eye on everything around them.

The Flame Fish swimming in the sea were naturally under his observation as well.

Suddenly, a Flame Fish sprang out of the sea and opened its mouth to spew a jet of fire. The raging flames rolled toward the great ship, threatening to burn it down.

Whoosh!

One spirit body swept out its sleeve and blocked the flames.

Seeing that its sneak attack had failed, the Flame Fish immediately darted back into the sea and fled.

"Where do you think you're going?" the spirit body shouted, raising a hand to grab into the sea.

As the hand reached out, countless runes condensed into a giant hand that plunged into the seawater ahead, grasping for the fleeing Flame Fish.

Just as it was about to catch the fish, more Flame Fish leaped out at once and attacked the hand, interrupting the spirit body's technique.

The Flame Fish darted into the sea and fled in the same direction.

The spirit body glanced at the Flame Fish, then at the direction in which they had fled, and immediately understood their purpose.

They wanted to use themselves as bait to lure Lei Chong into a trap somewhere.

The spirit body merely smiled, then quickly turned the ship around.

Buzz!

As the spirit body drove it with all his might, a vast amount of power surged into the ship. Like an arrow released from a bowstring, the ship raced madly in the opposite direction.

The spirit body knew full well that the other side knew his strength and knew he had the Divine Illumination Lamp. They would surely have made thorough preparations.

Without absolute confidence, these people would never have come to throw their lives away.

They must have set up a killing array and were waiting for Lei Chong to rush in and meet his death.

The Flame Fish ancestor had failed in the contest to become the Sea God, so he must have reached that realm himself. The array he left behind was bound to be a Divine Spirit Array.

With Lei Chong's current strength, he could not yet contend with such an array.

Seeing that Lei Chong had not given chase, the Flame Fish were stunned at first. Then cold smiles curled at the corners of their mouths, and they dove into the seawater and vanished.

The spirit body had not opened his Heavenly Eye and did not see this.

He could only take a detour to avoid the array they had laid.

The enormous ship traveled extremely fast, like a bolt of lightning.

But after half a day, a fog suddenly appeared over the sea. It was so thick that almost nothing could be seen beyond three zhang.