Chapter 797
Chapter 797
Escaping across the boundless sea, from thousands of supreme martial artists of the Transcendent Factions? It was a feat more difficult than ascending to the heavens. So, Shen Lang had prepared three methods. The first was a simple submersible, for which he had already prepared a large supply of oxygen-generating devices. The second was paragliding, leaping from the mast. The third was a hot air balloon. The first two were quicker and more direct, but the hot air balloon was exceedingly complex, and only Shen Lang could pull it off. To get it airborne in the shortest time, he had undertaken an incredibly intricate process.
First, the cabin had to be modified. To keep the balloon spread out and ready for ascent, it had to be propped up by numerous supports. This way, it could launch as soon as the fire was lit. Later, once filled with enough hot air, the balloon would inflate, the cabin structure would disassemble, and the internal supports would fall away, allowing the balloon to immediately soar into the sky. Furthermore, the balloon could be neither too large nor too small. A large one would take over an hour or two just to prepare for flight. Fortunately, Shen Lang had streamlined every part of the process, drastically reducing the preparation time.
Even with all these preparations, however, Shen Lang had decided to use the hot air balloon only if time permitted. If pressed, he would resort to the simple submersible or paragliding to escape. After all, he didn't need to flee far—just a dozen miles or so to plunge directly into the Devil's Triangle. But both paragliding and the submersible were extremely risky, and he could easily be recaptured. The hot air balloon was the safest bet. Still, as mentioned, it was incredibly complex. No matter how much Shen Lang had streamlined the preparations, it still took a significant amount of time to get airborne.
But unexpectedly, the situation changed, affording Shen Lang an abundance of time. Terrified of the Black Death, the Transcendent Factions merely surrounded his ship from a distance, not daring to approach, let alone board it.
Shen Lang conducted the heating of the balloon from within the ship's cabin, ensuring no light from the flames would escape, even if his enemies couldn't approach. Soon, the cabin's structure would disassemble, the balloon would rise into the sky, and only then would the flames become visible. By the time his enemies noticed, it would be too late.
***
“Fire, fire!”
Princess Ying Han screamed herself hoarse, and thousands of men frantically fired arrows at the balloon, but it was all for naught. Shen Lang had already ascended to an altitude of a thousand meters. Princess Xixuan drew a large bow and a very special arrow.
Swoosh.
The arrow shot powerfully toward the sky, emitting a startlingly bright blue light as it soared nearly a thousand meters. Was this another secret weapon of the Transcendent Factions? The sheer power of the arrow was astounding. It flew high enough to pierce straight through Shen Lang's balloon, but it hardly mattered. A single hole was no cause for concern for a hot air balloon, especially one so small. Shen Lang's balloon continued to rise higher and higher, finally moving beyond the range of any bow—including those from the ancient civilization.
A gentle breeze began to blow southward, carrying Shen Lang's balloon slowly toward the Devil's Triangle. Princesses Xixuan and Ying Han stopped shouting, silently watching the distant point of light. The fog was so thick that even with their profound martial abilities, all they could see was a faint glow. No matter how vivid their imaginations, they could never have conceived that Shen Lang would escape in such a manner. Who would have thought that Shen Lang, a man without the strength to wring a chicken's neck, could escape the encirclement of thousands of supreme masters? It was both terrifying and extraordinary.
Suddenly, Xixuan asked.
“Was he our fiancé?”
“Yes.”
“If I were an ordinary woman, I would be pleased to see that. What will happen to him after he enters the Devil's Triangle? Will he be able to return?”
“I don’t know. But I have a feeling that when he does return, something world-shaking will happen.”
“We must return and convene a meeting immediately. The six great Transcendent Factions must assemble an exploration fleet and enter the Devil's Triangle once more. It would be fortunate if they perish in there, but if they don't, we must hunt them down and eradicate them, root and stem.”
***
Shen Lang rode the hot air balloon, flying steadily south toward the Devil's Triangle. Though he was several days behind, he prayed he could still catch up to his wife. Just as he was drawing near the Devil's Triangle...
CRACK.
Suddenly, a flash of lightning split the sky, followed by a furious barrage. Of course, there would be no accident. Shen Lang was encased in metal, which, thanks to the Faraday cage effect, would protect him from being struck. The balloon and its basket were also made of insulators. But in the brilliant flash that illuminated the sky, Shen Lang witnessed an astonishing sight. A massive whirlwind was forming on the sea not far away. The whirlwind had appeared out of thin air, spinning and taking shape near the Devil's Triangle. It drew closer and closer to his balloon, and Shen Lang screamed inwardly.
‘No, no, no!’
But the heavens seemed deaf to his pleas. The whirlwind continued to drift north, drawing ever closer to his balloon. If his balloon so much as touched it, it would be instantly torn to shreds. Some say the eye of a storm is safe, but that was a complete fallacy. While there was no wind at the center of the whirlwind, the air pressure dropped to zero—a certain death sentence. The massive whirlwind looked as if it was about to swallow his balloon whole. Shen Lang closed his eyes.
‘It's all up to the heavens now. If you wish to take my life, then have it your way.’
***
Fortunately, Shen Lang was lucky. The whirlwind didn't sweep him into its eye. Had it done so, there would have been only one outcome: being torn to pieces. Instead, the whirlwind enveloped him. Like a colossal dragon, it devoured the ocean's vapor, spinning furiously as it grew ever larger. In the end, it became a massive tentacle connecting sea and sky, sweeping madly toward the northeast.
Before the massive whirlwind, Shen Lang's balloon was as fragile as a soap bubble. Though not drawn into its core, the whirlwind caught his balloon in its grip and carried it along. Its speed was incredible, reaching nearly a hundred kilometers per hour. Pulled along by the storm, Shen Lang's balloon flew steadily northeast.
He had avoided being torn to shreds, but he was far from safe. The ride was more turbulent than any airplane, and the whirlwind was still spinning at a terrifying speed. Dozens of rotations became hundreds, then thousands. Shen Lang desperately lashed himself to the basket. His life was as fragile as a soap bubble, ready to pop at any moment. His vision was almost completely obscured as the storm's remaining power sent his balloon flying wildly.
RUMBLE. CRASH.
Thunder and lightning crashed furiously, seeming to tear the sky asunder. In those brief flashes, the only thing Shen Lang could see was the Devil's Triangle receding further and further into the distance.
‘My wife, my family... No! I have to trust Mulan. I have to trust that ship. They will surely cross the Devil's Triangle and reach the new world at the heart of its waters.’
Entering the Devil's Triangle presented numerous dangers. The first was the thunder and lightning. The lightning that struck ceaselessly within its bounds could easily splinter any ship. In the age of sail, ships met a disastrous end in thunderstorms. A single strike would set a vessel ablaze. During the Napoleonic Wars, it was said the British fleet lost a hundred ships to a single thunderstorm. But within the Devil's Triangle, lightning struck countless times and without pattern, making it impossible to evade. Thus, the vast majority of ships that entered were shattered by lightning moments after their arrival. However, when building his ships, Shen Lang had taken ample precautions against lightning strikes. He had used large amounts of metal to channel the lightning strikes into the sea, ensuring the ships would not be destroyed.
There was another terrifying aspect to the Devil's Triangle: the hurricanes and whirlwinds. Before such forces of nature, any ship was hopelessly fragile. However, Mulan could sense these storms in advance, so she would be able to lead the fleet and successfully evade them.
“My love, I entrust our family to you. I believe you will keep them safe.”
Watching the flashing lights, Shen Lang waved toward the receding Devil's Triangle. Then, he lost consciousness completely. His body had reached its absolute limit.
‘Heavens, where are you taking me? Do as you will! Wherever you take me is your design. As long as there are people, I, Shen Lang, can still make waves that shake the very heavens.’
***
He didn't know how much time had passed. It might have been several days and nights. When Shen Lang awoke, his head was splitting, and his stomach was rumbling. The one small mercy was that he wasn't dehydrated. The whirlwind had been accompanied by torrential rain, and he had managed to drink his fill. It took all his strength just to open his eyes. The sunlight was so intense and dazzling it was almost painful.
‘Damn it. Wh-where am I? How far am I from the Great Yan Dynasty? How far have I been blown from the Devil's Triangle?’
Checking the data on his computer, he found he had been unconscious for three nights and four days. Of course, the actual flight time couldn't have been that long. Still, by his rough estimate, he was at least three thousand miles from the Devil's Triangle, and over four thousand five hundred from the Great Yan Dynasty. This was just a conservative guess, of course; only the heavens knew the true distance.
All around him, the boundless sea stretched to the horizon. Shen Lang was adrift in the balloon's basket. The basket itself was mostly intact, but the balloon's fabric, riddled with holes, floated on the water beside it. The sky was a vast, clear blue, without a single cloud.
‘The sky here is so blue, and the sea is just as blue. They meet at the horizon, almost indistinguishable. The view is breathtakingly beautiful, but what damn good is it? I'm stranded here.’
Shen Lang checked the basket. Aside from the backpack he wore, everything else was gone. The food and fresh water had vanished, but thankfully, his backpack—containing crucial machinery, medicine, and samples—was safe. Still, drifting at sea like this, he would likely starve. If it didn't rain, he would die of thirst. And more importantly, he couldn't bathe; he felt like he'd die from the filth. He hadn't brushed his teeth or washed his hair in three days. How was he supposed to live like this?
‘Where's the land? Just give me an island, any island. And if you throw in a few women, I could populate an entire nation.’