High Martial Arts: Slay enemies to become stronger, forge invincibility from billions of corpses.

A day later, just as the horizon was about to swallow the last trace of the island, a muffled sound came from the direction of the island.

Hundreds of kilometers across the sea, the sound was extremely faint by the time it reached the ship, like a muffled thunderclap in the distant clouds.

The psionic energy surge arrived right after the sound; it wasn't the gentle surge of a critical accident, but a real explosion.

The reactor's psionic core broke apart out of control, and the resulting shockwave stirred up psionic particles throughout the entire ocean.

A ghostly blue light shone from the horizon in the direction of Guangchang Island, turning that sky into an eerie deep blue.

More than a thousand people on the ship turned around at the same time.

The deep blue light lasted for a long time before slowly dissipating.

Guangchang Island is now too far away to be seen; only that patch of light remains on the horizon, like a grave.

Old Zhou didn't look back; he continued to guide the course, leading the ship to a safe waterway within the first group of reefs.

After sailing for more than a day, Song Chen finally felt relieved. This group of people was really professional, and there shouldn't be any major problems. They could make a breakthrough.

After departing from Guangchang Island, the ship first sailed southwest for a full half day, passing through a group of reefs with extremely high psionic energy concentration.

Old Zhou made the boat navigate through the reefs for a full six hours. The gaps between the rocks were less than five meters wider than the hull, and the slightest deviation would have caused it to run aground.

But with his finger on the chart, every turning instruction was precise down to the interval of a breath.

After leaving the reefs, the ship did not continue southwest, but turned due west, sailing close to the edge of a deep-sea trench.

The trench was bottomless. Song Chen used his Illusionary Eyes to probe downwards, but even with his mental power extended to its limit, he could not reach the bottom.

The rock walls on both sides of the trench are covered with caves, which are home to countless deep-sea creatures.

However, the ship was sailing in the shallow waters at the edge of the trench, right on the boundary of the territory of the deep-sea creatures. The deep-sea creatures did not surface, and the shallow-sea creatures did not dive. This boundary line became a blind spot for their perception.

Old Zhou steered the boat into the blind spot.

The ship then sailed into an archipelago, with islands scattered densely across the sea, some covering several square kilometers, others just a reef protruding from the water.

The waterways between the islands are intricate and complex, and ocean currents swirl and surge within the island chain, forming countless eddies.

Old Zhou steered the boat along a route that Song Chen couldn't understand. First, it entered a seemingly dead-end waterway, then made a sharp turn at the end of the waterway, hugging the rocks, and passed through a narrow gap only three meters wider than the boat. Then, the water suddenly opened up, leading into a calm body of water surrounded by islands.

……

Night fell at the stern of the ship, where everyone had already gone into their cabins, and it was very quiet.

Song Chen opened the system panel and redeemed a Heavenly Fate Qi and Blood Pill.

[Purchased 1 Heavenly Fate Blood Pill, consuming 500000 Kill Points.]

The golden pill landed in his palm. Just like last time, the dark red pill was engraved with light gold spiritual energy patterns, and it felt heavy in his hand.

He glanced at it, then tilted his head back and swallowed it.

The moment the pill entered his throat, that familiar burning sensation surged up again.

The Heavenly Mandate Blood Elixir melted in the stomach, transforming into a golden stream of heat that spread along the meridians to the limbs and bones.

Where the heat flowed, muscles trembled, bones hummed, and blood surged through the veins more than twice as fast.

The Qi and Blood value increased at a visible rate: 920, 940, 960, 980...

A burning sensation spread from his internal organs to his skin, and psionic particles gathered around his body, the eerie blue light growing stronger.

Then, the Qi and blood broke through the critical point.

one thousand.

The moment his Qi and blood broke through a thousand, Song Chen sensed the changes in his heart; the life crystal core inside had evolved once again.

He lowered his head and used his mystical vision to look into his chest cavity. He saw the color of the crystal change from pale gold to a deeper gold.

His Qi and Blood value had already reached 1050 and was still rising, to 1060...

Everyone on the ship sensed the fluctuation.

The first to sense it was Lao Zhou; his mental strength was more acute than anyone else's.

As golden ripples spread from the stern across the entire ship, he was examining nautical charts in the cabin when his eyes suddenly widened.

"Someone is breaking through to the fourth rank."

Everyone in the cabin stopped what they were doing.

Some people stood up, some turned their heads, and some were startled awake from their sleep.

Everyone is searching for the source of the fluctuations.

Lin Zhao was the first to rush out of the cabin.

When she ran to the stern, Song Chen was sitting cross-legged on the gunwale with his eyes closed.

The psionic particles gathered around his body to a density almost like liquid, and a ghostly blue light enveloped his entire body.

Lin Zhao covered her mouth with her hand.

More and more people poured out of the cabin.

They crowded onto the deck, along the ship's side, in any spot where they could see the stern.

Song Chen's heartbeat echoed at the stern of the ship, and with each heartbeat, golden ripples spread from the crystal core, sweeping across the entire ship.

As the ripples swept across the body, everyone could feel their blood and energy being drawn and pulsating slightly, as if being gently plucked by an invisible thread.

Song Chen's breakthrough lasted for a long time.

The Qi and Blood value finally stopped at 1105. After taking one pill, it added another 200 points of Qi and Blood. It truly deserves to be called an S-grade pill.

Song Chen opened his eyes, raised his right hand, clenched his fist, and exuded a powerful sense of strength.

Fourth rank, he has broken through to the fourth rank.

The people on the ship were still standing on the deck, watching him.

Song Chen stood up from the ship's side and nodded to the crowd. Then he walked back to the cabin.

The next day.

Another day of new voyage begins.

Lin Zhao stood next to Song Chen, watching the ship sail between the islands.

"This archipelago marks the boundary between the territories of two fifth-tier beast kings."

"The island chain is bordered by the Giant Whale Clan to the north and the Sea Dragon Clan to the south. The territories of the two royal families meet here, and any unusual activity on the border line will be regarded as a provocation by both sides. Therefore, neither side dares to set up patrols here."

Song Chen nodded.

The border between the territories of the two royal families, the gap between power, and the place that the sea creatures dared not touch, became a passage for humankind to escape.

On the third day, the ship submerged into the deep sea, a true descent.

Old Zhou activated the psionic patterns on the bottom of the ship, and the entire ship was enveloped in a light blue light membrane, slowly sinking into the water.

The ship was sailing at a depth of fifty meters, with the sea surface above and the sea even deeper below.

Song Chen stood on the ship's side and saw groups of second-tier armored sharks swimming over the ship, while third-tier iron-spined sea serpents darted through the seaweed forest below.

Not a single sea beast looked in the direction of the ship. The aura emanating from the ship was exactly the same as that of ordinary sea beasts, and the spiritual energy fluctuations simulated by the psionic patterns blended perfectly into the surrounding environment.

In the time that followed, the boat was sometimes on the surface of the water and sometimes underwater.

Sometimes it glides along the edge of the trench, sometimes it travels through the gaps between islands, and sometimes it glides along the edge of the ocean current.

Each route is situated at the crossroads of the sea tribes' territories, the border between the two royal families, the transition zone between the royal and royal families' power, and the ecological fault line between the deep-sea and shallow-sea tribes.

These boundary lines do not exist on the map and are deliberately ignored within the patrol range of the sea creatures.

But Lao Zhou and his team figured out each and every one of these routes.

It was another early morning. Song Chen stood at the bow of the ship, watching the sea split open and then close again at the bow.

This route reminded him of his own breakout attempt.

He was able to navigate through the tentacles of a fifth-tier beast king by finding the narrowest gap between the attacks.

Old Zhou did the same thing: instead of forcibly entering the sea tribe's territory, he moved through the gaps between territories.

Half a month after the voyage.

The ship arrived at the mouth of the Ganges River.

Song Chen stood at the bow of the ship, his gaze sweeping across the sea and landing on the increasingly close coastline in the distance.

The mouth of the Ganges River, in old Bengal.

Before the arrival of psychic powers, this was one of the most densely populated areas on Earth.

After the arrival of psionic energy, sea levels rose, submerging most of the delta. In addition, the remaining land was repeatedly invaded by sea monsters, and human cities fell one after another.

Not every country can defend its coastal cities like the Great Xia, and not every city has a sixth-level Grandmaster in charge.

The city here is long gone, now a paradise for strange beasts.

You have to travel several hundred kilometers deeper into the land before you can see any human presence.