The days slowly went by across the vast, turbid waters of the ocean. As usual, the commercial jet speeds bombarded the fast moving oceans and huge waves that could destroy small mountains. With the constant misty fog, it was impossible to tell directions.
Unrest or any complaints didn't happen during these days, probably because everyone is too exhausted and wants to go home. It's a good thing too, because I'd probably threaten them if they argued too much, as it can be irritating. There was no disturbances or enemies either, so it was relatively peaceful if you take out the terrible environment.
The middle-aged man came out with a bright expression on his face with a talisman in his hands. The talisman was red with a bunch of runes on it's surface that I didn't understand.
"Miss, I've finally created a tracking talisman! We'll be able to track home with this!" he said happily.
"Why didn't you all have one in the first place, in case something happened?" I asked.
"I had kept them hidden in the cargo of the ship, but some of the explosions took them out before I could get them." He looked down in embarrassment and coughed dryly. Although I don't why it wouldn't be in the captains quarters, but okay.
"I didn't know you had expertise in the field of runes and talismans," I said, slightly surprised.
"It's not that great.
"Well, get it started then," I said rolling my eyes.
"A-ah. Yes. One moment," he said as he injected his Qi into the talisman. The runes lit up and brightly shined. The man concentrated with his eyes closed before opening them and pointing.
"That direction," he said frantically. I turned my body towards that direction on the left, going diagonal against the currents. But after an hour of constantly using his Qi, to guide me, his face turned pale.
"Just give it to me. I have an abundant supply of Qi," I said which is true. My body is large, therefore, it contains more Qi than humans of the same level.
"Sure," he said getting up. But he looked around and back at my eyes.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"How will you hold it?" he asked. Oh yeah. I don't have any arms in this form. Thinking of a quick solution, I manipulated one of my shingles. It partially detached, leaving flesh exposed underneath.
"Lay the talisman on my flesh," I commanded. He obediently went over and laid the talisman flat on my flesh.
Manipulating the shingle, it reattached itself atop the talisman with no issue. I had to suppress the bleeding, as I've never detached a shingle before. But with the shingle back, the flesh regenerated around the talisman. I injected Qi into the talisman and it brightly lit up again. I felt it slightly tug in a certain direction. I immediately understood how it works.
I moved in the direction of the pull and it stopped, confirming my understanding. It seems to track by pulling, which is a neat little idea. I thought it would require a bit of testing and practice, but it doesn't seem so. The amount needed was negligible, so I continuously used it for directions.
Two months later...
After traveling for so long, we're finally close. Apparently, the tugging force gets stronger the one is closer to the destination. The tugging force is so strong, that it'd fly out of the hands of some lower ranking cultivators. But the winds have barely decreased the entire time, along with the waves. The sea floor has risen up drastically, with less than a mile right now to the sea floor. Meaning land is on the horizon.
I released my divine sense and scanned the area ahead. To my surprise, I caught land ahead. Spreading my divine sense around it, I realized it was a large island. It's size a little more than 120 miles in some places, making it similar in size to Iceland.
Massive, tall walls similar to stone in the waters surrounded the entire island in a complete circle, but there was some entrances for ships that were currently closed off. A huge formation covering the entire island sat on the wall as it's base, allowing the place inside to stay safe from the horrible winds and waves. Every-time a wave hit the walls, runes on the surface would glow, resisting them without no dimming whatsoever. The fierce winds collided with the formation, and then moved around every second.
The place looked to be guarded, as soldiers in armor occasionally walked atop the walls. Past the walls, one could see massive docks filled with ships and man-made structures running along the shorelines. Seeing all this, I couldn't help but be slightly joyed to get out of this terrible weather. But I'm still wondering why I haven't found continents.
"Hey senior guy. Why is it only islands and no continents?" I asked him, who was in my stomach.
"Continents? There's no such places," he asked, genuinely looking at me weirdly.
"There's only islands no matter where you go in this world. The oceans dominate and the land is little. Our clan owns a small island, but it's the strongest in this area except for the clans. There's many smaller islands nearby that are vassal kingdoms to our clan."
"We have equal strength with the other eight clans that are all located within a million miles of this region called Lusapoint. Hundreds of small vassal kingdoms surround the areas of the other clans. Although their islands are bigger than ours, it doesn't compare to our defenses, which is why we haven't been taken over yet."
"Outside of the eight clans influence, are clans and sects much more powerful than what you can imagine. We've only survived until now because the resources and Qi concentration in this region are poor compared to other regions. But why do you mention continents?" he asked.
"E-eh. Well, I thought I'd see some here," I said in a dry voice.
"Continents no longer exist. In the Ancient Era, it's rumored there were large continents that were everywhere while the oceans were small," he said.
"Ancient Era?" I asked, curious.
"The Ancient Era was a time around a billion years ago when humanity was at it's peak. Commoners supposedly had an average cultivation of Post-Xiantian, and regular disciples had cultivation's of Xiantian or Saint Immortal, with core disciples of clans surpassing the Saint realm altogether. When one surpassed the Saint realm, they could leave the world and enter the chaotic places outside."
"The Qi energies were thick enough that it naturally rained from the heavens. Heaven graded weapons were very common with divine weapons purchasable with money. Rare, medicinal plants that cost a fortune and are hard to find were supposedly everywhere back then and commoners used them with no care! All races got along happily," The guys eyes were filled with excitement when talking, but his eyes turned sad.
"A Great Calamity happened. A powerful sea race outside this world existed and the ancient cultivators accidentally provoked them due to arrogance. They were way more powerful, and all the cultivators that surpassed the Saint realm were exterminated. As punishment, they invaded our world and submerged everything underwater.
"It happened so fast that clans and sects had no time to evacuate civilians and move to higher grounds. Everything was submerged in tsunamis and billions upon billions of people died. The powerful race brought powerful sea creatures which destroyed the clans and sects that survived underwater. Only the clans at the highest places had time to react and go into hiding. They created their own realms and hid in them, becoming the hidden clans that are still existing today."
"Most of humanities progress was lost. Inheritances, Qi techniques, alchemy formulas, pill concocting formulas, talismans, runes, formations, you name it. The hidden clans took in the remainders of humanity, but only sheltered them as only talented ones were accepted into the hidden clans. It wasn't until a few million years went by that volcanoes became very active everywhere and created new islands."
"The hidden clans kicked out the remainders of humanity to fend for themselves on these tiny, newly created islands. There was no plant life and only sea creatures to eat. Large amounts of smoke, ash, and soot from the volcanoes made survival hard for humanity. This period lasted for hundreds of thousands of years of hardships. Only when some volcanoes stopped that humanity began thriving again."
"The Qi levels dropped to what it is today. Space became very weak compared to the past and lots of realms suddenly appeared."
"From that time on till this day, humans have been rediscovering everything in an attempt to recover the lost things of the past. Till this day, we've only recovered a few things of the past and we have only partially recovered. Since the the Qi levels are much lower, there's only been one figure in the history after the Ancient Era that have surpassed the Saint realm, but has never been seen again."