The crisis was temporarily averted. Once they passed through the shark area, they would be safe.
But now, they were about to face huge, surging waves on the sea.
Now, everyone was too busy holding onto the raft to keep rowing. They pressed the oars under their bodies, clinging tightly to the bamboo raft with their legs, and gripped the bamboo stalks with their hands.
Tang Xiaoguo couldn't help but complain, "Why are the waves so big?!"
Lin Qianqian looked up, "The weather looks pretty good. What's going on?"
Jiang Yao said, "Don't tell me, Xiaoguo, that you took a dump out here and now Poseidon or the Dragon Kings of the Eastern Seas feel insulted?"
Tang Xiaoguo yelled, "Humph! They should feel honored!"
"Something's not right!" Lu Zhe pondered for a moment, and suddenly realized something.
"That's it. September 12th. The seventeenth day of the eighth lunar month!"
Tang Xiaoguo was shocked, "What? We missed the Mid-Autumn Festival?!"
"Is that the point?"
"Then what is?"
Lin Qianqian said, "During these days, the sun and moon are at opposite ends of the earth. Sunlight shines directly onto the moon's front side. Also because of the 0 degree angle between the ecliptic and celestial equator, the sunlight cannot be blocked. All the light is aimed at the earth, making the moon look especially big and round!"
"Wow Qianqian, so professional... But wait, that's not the main point either!"
Lu Zhe said, "But you're thinking in the right direction. During this time, the moon's gravitational pull on the tides is strongest, which makes it easier to produce surges. The Qiantang River tide happens around this time every year. So it's not that strange we encountered big waves now."
Jiang Yao said, "No wonder the waves have felt quite strong the past few days despite little wind..."
As she spoke, another wave crashed over them, frightening Jiang Yao into screaming again.
If Lu Zhe hadn't put an arm around her waist, Jiang Yao would have likely fallen into the sea.
Lu Zhe yelled, "Everyone stop rowing! Focus all your energy on holding onto the raft. Don't fall into the water no matter what!"
"Got it..."
"Whoosh... Whoosh..."
The waves kept pounding them ceaselessly. If they hadn't clung to the plane raft like riding a horse, they might have been thrown off.
Now, Lu Zhe squeezed the raft between his legs. He felt this was far more thrilling than horseback riding.
Because of the giant waves, they couldn't row anymore. Their plane raft was pulled by some unknown ocean current southeast!
That was the opposite direction of Volcano Island!
Lu Zhe knew that if this continued, they would drift farther and farther from home until they ended up who knows where.
But was there anything they could do about it now?
There really wasn't.
After calm analysis, the top priority was getting everyone to survive. They had to resist falling into despair from this uncontrollable situation. Keeping a positive mentality was most important.
So whether or not they could go home wasn't something to bring up now.
Only by staying alive could they have a chance of reuniting with their companions.
"Hold tight to the raft. Surviving is most important. After we get through this wind and waves, we'll row back!"
The four clung to the bamboo raft, waiting for the waves to weaken.
But they didn't.
This gale lasted a full five hours!
For five hours they just lay plastered against the plane raft, drifting along.
Around three thirty in the afternoon, the waves finally started subsiding.
When Lu Zhe tried to turn them around, he discovered the sea surface was empty all around!
The big bright sun shone on the undulating sea. They were stranded in this endless ocean, with no land in sight for miles.
"Where did our Volcano Island go?" Jiang Yao asked.
"Don't know," Tang Xiaoguo replied.
"Where is this place?" Qianqian asked.
Lu Zhe didn't say anything.
To be honest, he didn't know either.
Jiang Yao said anxiously, "We couldn't have drifted all the way into the Pacific Ocean!"
Lu Zhe knew that while Jiang Yao was exaggerating out of emotion, it wasn't entirely impossible.
In his mind he calculated.
They had drifted southwest the whole time, at about 1-2 meters per second over 5 hours. It was highly likely they were now over thirty kilometers away from their original location!
And without any point of reference during the drift, Lu Zhe didn't know their exact speed either.
What should they do now?
Just let themselves and three girls drift aimlessly on the ocean?
That would lead to death eventually right?
"What do we do, Lu Zhe..."
"Sis Mu and Captain will be so worried..."
The girls' voices carried tinges of crying.
"Everyone calm down first. Qianqian, observe our surroundings for any islands we can land on or ships."
Hearing Lu Zhe say this, Qianqian felt like she had a backbone. She nodded and started scanning their environment through her glasses.
"Yao Yao, Xiaoguo, take stock of our current supplies."
Jiang Yao and Xiaoguo nodded. "What about you?"
"I'll dive into the water to check its depth, and see if there's a spot we can anchor."
Saying so, Lu Zhe put on his swim goggles, took out a coil of rope with one end tied to the plane raft, grabbed the other end and jumped into the sea.
There were many fish down there, including tuna, sauries, sea breams and more. As long as they caught fish, they could obtain necessary proteins and energy in the short term.
Only fresh water was a problem.
Lu Zhe kept diving until over seventy meters, but still couldn't see the seabed.
This showed how terrifyingly deep this part of the ocean was.
If he went any deeper, his rope wouldn't be long enough.
Lu Zhe was also feeling thirsty now, so he hurried back up.
"Hey, did you find anything?"
Lu Zhe shook his head. "The waters here run too deep. No continental shelves nearby either, so we can't anchor. How about you guys?"
Qianqian shook her head. "I didn't see anything!"
Jiang Yao said, "We originally each carried a backpack. Yours and Xiaoguo's got snatched away by the Giant King Octopus. There's just mine and Qianqian's left."
"For food there's half a bottle of Lao Gan Ma chili sauce, a small bottle of honey, two lemons, that's it."
"Fresh water... there's just two bottles left. One regular bottle of drinking water, the other is Qianqian's... you know..."
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
