Chapter 7: Phantom Sea

  Lu Xi struggled to open his eyes, but when he woke up, he was no longer lying in that beautiful and magnificent bedroom, but rather in a room that seemed like a shoddy imitation.

  Was the encounter with the ghost at sea just a dream? Luoxi Zero looked down in confusion, touched his chest, and found that the clothes on his chest were slightly wet. This made Luoxi Zero even more certain that Xiner's tears had flowed onto his chest.

  "Kiro!" Suddenly, a familiar voice entered Kiro's ears. The young man turned his head sharply and found that the worrying companion was standing at the door with several fish in hand.

  Xia Xia immediately threw the fish aside and rushed to Lu Xi Zero's face, but used her fists instead of a hug. "Scared me to death! I found you for an entire day, dragging you from the creek to the mountain stronghold, and you didn't react at all. I thought...I thought you..."

  Seeing Xiaoxia's angry and sad look, Lu Xi Ling unexpectedly had an absent-minded expression, "You're fine, that's good. Why am I lying by the creek? Did you only see me? Didn't you see a silver-haired mermaid?"

  "No! I fainted when I fell from the crust, and when I woke up, I was on this mountain. There are several huts here, but they're all dusty and uninhabited. This morning, I went to the stream to catch fish for food, and that's when I found you lying there."

  "Brook? How can it be——” Lu Xi Ling suddenly ran out of the mountain stronghold like a madman, only to discover that the strange brook was surrounding the mountain they were on. From the top of the mountain, he could see the entire brook at a glance, and there was no passage leading to the sea.

  "Xī Líng, what's wrong?" asked Xiǎo Xià with concern.

  Lu Xi forced himself to calm down and then told Xia Xia everything that had happened after he fell from the crust.

  "I'm now worried about Xiang'er's current situation, she saw me off, will she receive severe punishment? Or will she be sent again to offer sacrifices to the Demon King?"

  "She sent you away, just didn't want you to come back, don't think about it, maybe that was just a passing traveler."

  Lu Xi Zero saw Xia Xia for the first time, so cold and rational. "No, I still want to go find the Ghost Sea, I don't know where Qin Er is, I'm uneasy!"

  "But you don't know any magic, and we don't even know where we are. How can we find the Ghost Sea?"

  "The merman king said that the Phantom Sea is now invaded by monsters, so there should be many monsters gathered on the shore. Although I don't know any magic, at least I still understand a bit of astrology, maybe I can find where the monsters are gathering."

  Seeing Luo Xi's determination, Xiaxia had no choice but to remain silent, even if she was unwilling.

  Lu Xi had been eagerly waiting for tonight, but there wasn't a single star in the sky.

  The sky was pitch black, except for the moon, it seemed like there was nothing special about it, but upon closer inspection, a cluster of dark clouds floated around the moon, emitting thick smoke that seemed to be on fire, giving off an eerie feeling that matched the phrase "dark and ominous".

  Miasma? This word suddenly stirred up Luo Xi's superficial knowledge of demons and monsters. It is said that spiritual energy represents gods, immortals, spirits, and humans, while demonic energy represents demons, ghosts, and other creatures. Miasma is generally formed by the cultivation or gathering of demonic creatures, or by the transformation of extremely powerful demonic energy. And the merman king had said that many monsters had recently appeared in the Ghost Sea, so it's possible that the place where miasma gathers is the Ghost Sea!

  A place where monsters gather, just listening to it makes one know that it's not suitable for ordinary people like them to approach. Luo Xi Ling hopes Xia Xia stays behind, but Xia Xia insists on sharing life and death together.

  Luo Xi Zero didn't know if this was right or wrong, but rather than staying in a strange place waiting for death, it's better to bravely take an adventure.

  All night, Luo Xi Ling was outside observing the miasma. He found that it didn't move much, but as dawn approached, it gradually dissipated.

  Because the moon fell down at that time, Zheng Zheng was covered by the miasma for a while, so Luoxi Zero must be located in the west.

  The two of them crossed the stream and continued walking westward. After half a day's walk, they still hadn't encountered anything special. Eventually, the two of them were exhausted and had to stop to rest.

  Although it's a strange world, this place is like an abandoned resort village with many ancient-style villas neatly lined up together, but there's no one in sight.

  Luoxi Zero slept in the mountain stronghold until late at night, woke up naturally, walked out of the stronghold, but found that what was originally a vacant lot outside had become a beach!

  In the dim light of the dark night, Lu Xi Ling saw a floating castle in the distance. Lu Xi Ling immediately woke up Xiao Xia and they ran towards the castle, only to discover that it was a ship, a ghostly and eerie specter ship! The castle seen earlier was actually on the ship, as if it might collapse at any moment, yet seemed to stand upright, leaving one feeling disoriented.

  Lu Xi Ling raised her head and saw that the eerie atmosphere filled the sky. She realized she hadn't come to the wrong place, so she decided to be brave and charge forward to find the answer.

  As they made their way through the cabin, they suddenly realized that this wasn't a ship at all, but an entire world! Before them stood a massive castle exterior, and a tunnel-like passageway. The two cautiously stepped into the passage, only to discover that the walls on either side of the cave were actually houses, seemingly connected to the castle outside, but much more real than the mirage-like cityscape outside!

  It seemed like all they had to do was break the window and go in, but they were all afraid of the unknown place and hesitated.

  Suddenly, some voices of conversation rose up, and Luoshi immediately took Xiaoxia to hide behind a rock not far away.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, a group of people walked into this passageway, and they were some colorful monsters, but there were no mermaids. Several monsters went to the houses on the wall, opened their windows and jumped in, while two more wandered outside.

  These two monsters seemed to be shift guards, Luoxi Ling and Xiaojia did not dare to move rashly, waiting until the next morning, the monster returned to the castle.

  A strange scene unfolded before the two of them, as the monster entered the castle, it gradually disappeared, leaving behind a path that seemed to be created by nature itself.

  Active at night and resting during the day, Lixiaozi suspected that these monsters were ghosts, so they lived in the Ghost Sea!

  The two walked out of the passage and found that the magnificent ship had turned into a dilapidated wreck, shrouded in smoke. No wonder it couldn't be seen during the day.

  The gloomy feeling made Xia very uneasy, and the girl finally couldn't help but propose: "Xizero, this place is really scary, let's go!"

  "Don't worry, those ghosts won't appear during the day. Let's take advantage of the daytime safety and quickly find some clues. At least we can find a way to protect ourselves!" What Luoxi said made sense. Although they had passed the night safely, it was still better to look for ways to protect themselves.

  The hull was broken and stuck on a huge reef, every plank had rotted away, and there was no clue to be found.

  "Let's go, Xiaxia!" Under disappointment, Lu Xi Zero had no choice but to give up.

  "My clothes are caught on this wretched hook!" Xiaxia complained.

  Lu Xi Ling walked into the captain's quarters where Xiao Xia was, carefully helping her untangle her hooked clothes, but hesitated to discover that there were actually words engraved on the rudder!

  "Isn't this the pattern for decorating the rudder?" Xiaxia asked curiously as she saw Luo Xi zero studying the words on the rudder.

  "You say these are patterns?"

  "Yes! It's some strange symbols!"

  "No wonder the monsters didn't discover it, it turns out this is the merfolk's script!" Luo Xi Ling suddenly had an epiphany!

  "What mermaid script is this? Can you read it?"

  "In my eyes, these are Chinese characters. I don't know why, maybe it's a gift from the gods! It says here that the true body of the Phantom Sea was sucked into a black hole 300 years ago, and it's not just a terrifying black vortex, but a 'black hole' that doesn't exist in this world! The merfolk have been studying the direction of the Phantom Sea, but still can't find its true body." Luo Xi Ling furrowed his brow, pointing at the last symbol of the text, "The only thing I don't understand is this symbol. It looks like a 'feng' character, but with an extra horizontal stroke."

  "I think it looks more like a symbol!"

  "Could it be the symbol of the merfolk?" Luo Xi suddenly remembered what Qin'er had said to him in his dream, this must be the only way, otherwise why would Qin'er have told him to find the ghostly sea pirate ship?