Chapter 104: Seven Thousand Meters, The White Sea

【I dreamed last night that the emblem on her car had vanished _(:з」∠)_. I feel like crying.】

Above the sea, the clouds churned in sinister patterns, while a colossal vortex roiled the waters until heaven and earth seemed to turn upside down. A tremendous pillar of water soared from sea to sky, joining ocean and heavens as it thrust straight into the depths of the Strata Clouds.

The waves towered, hurricanes howled, and any vessel that approached this stretch of sea would be torn to pieces in an instant.

Shu Mingyuan’s expression was grave. Before the hurricane, the enormous ink-black bird was buffeted wildly from side to side, barely able to maintain its balance. Shu Mingyuan controlled it with the utmost care. Each burst of ascending current lasted only a minute. To rise ten thousand meters within sixty seconds under such brutal conditions was a feat as difficult as climbing to heaven.

No—this was climbing to heaven.

Every second counted!

He held his breath and focused his energy, then stamped fiercely on the bird’s back. His entire body was covered in a layer of chakra, and he shot toward the ascending current like a human cannonball.

“What in the world is that brat, the Ghost Hunter, trying to do? Does he want to die by approaching a force like that?”

Blackbeard watched the figure high above with a gloomy expression and could not help cursing.

He repeatedly stepped through the air with Moonwalk. Then, as though he had passed through a barrier of violent wind, he suddenly felt the immense upward current rising from the depths of the sea. Instead of falling, his body began to ascend at terrifying speed, as if he were riding a rocket.

What was this?

“An ascending current!”

Shu Mingyuan’s heart leaped with joy. His feet landed upon the towering column of water, almost at a perfect ninety-degree angle to it. Thanks to the nature of chakra, he had no fear of sinking into the pillar. Taking advantage of the water’s tremendous upward momentum, he began pounding his feet against it.

He was running up the column of water!

“H-How is he doing that...?”

The Blackbeard Pirates stared in horror. Every one of the brat’s actions completely overturned their understanding of common sense. It was simply unbelievable.

“Could he be planning to use the ascending current to reach that legendary island—the Sky Island?”

Blackbeard narrowed his eyes as he watched the Ghost Hunter’s figure grow more distant, gradually disappearing into the clouds. Perhaps this fellow truly could accomplish things that others could not even imagine.

Shu Mingyuan raced across the waves. The ascending winds and the ascending current both granted him unimaginable momentum. Combined with his full power, his speed had already reached an astonishing level.

Others needed pirate ships to ascend. He alone possessed the qualifications to reach the Sky Island with nothing but his own legs—and the chakra unique to this world was his ticket.

One thousand meters. Two thousand. Three thousand.

In a mere ten seconds, he had climbed to an altitude of three thousand meters, and he was still rising faster and faster.

Roar!

A thunderous roar suddenly erupted from within the ascending current. A huge black shape, curled tightly upon itself, emerged from the torrent. It was a massive Sea King that had earlier been sucked into the vortex—a gigantic sea serpent more than a thousand meters long. As the ascending current erupted with renewed force, it too had been carried into the sky.

By now, it had evidently broken free of the current. Its enormous body coiled around the rushing waters, and it opened its cavernous jaws to bite down upon Shu Mingyuan. In its eyes, Shu Mingyuan was no more than an ant. What appeared to be an attempt to devour him might have been nothing more than a simple breath.

Shu Mingyuan’s expression turned cold. At such a critical moment, he could not allow a mere Sea King to interfere. Otherwise, this precious opportunity to enter the Sky Island would be lost for nothing.

He tightened his grip on Raikiri. Violent currents of electricity instantly burst from his body and wrapped around the blade. Raikiri answered with a ringing sword cry like thunder in the heavens, and a powerful sword aura swept outward.

Shu Mingyuan continued sprinting without pause and swung his sword with all his strength. The resulting bolt of sword-light stretched for ten yards. It cleaved the ascending current apart, and as it advanced, it seemed to transform into a thunder serpent that struck furiously at the thousand-meter sea serpent.

With a single slash, the sea serpent’s cavernous mouth was split open, yet the momentum of its attack still carried it toward Shu Mingyuan. Its tail slammed heavily against the current, sending it plunging from the sky toward the sea below.

“Konoha-style Swordsmanship: Flash of Lightning!”

In the darkness, Shu Mingyuan’s cool, indifferent voice rang out. A dazzling streak of lightning illuminated the void as though it were eternal. Empowered by Raikiri, the Flash of Lightning finally revealed its full, terrifying might.

A trace of pain appeared upon the sea serpent’s savage face. In the blink of an eye, fear surfaced within its enormous, cold, vicious eyes. Then their light dimmed, and all signs of life vanished.

A blade of lightning a hundred meters long suddenly cleaved through the sea serpent’s body before shooting toward the boundless heights.

Amid a rain of blood, a figure emerged drenched in crimson. Raikiri in hand and lightning swirling around him, he resembled a god of thunder.

Shu Mingyuan stamped heavily upon the sea serpent’s corpse. His body immediately landed once more upon the ascending current, and he resumed his mad sprint across the waves.

“I lost nearly four seconds. I need to speed up.”

He sheathed his sword. Almost half the time had already passed, yet he had reached only an altitude of five thousand meters. Another five thousand remained before he could reach the ten-thousand-meter mark.

The Strata Clouds were divided into two layers. One was the White Sea at an altitude of seven thousand meters, while the other was the White-White Sea ten thousand meters above sea level.

The legendary Sky Island truly lay above the White-White Sea.

At five thousand meters, the ascending current had already begun to slow. The push of the ascending winds was no longer as powerful as before. After all, this was not the colossal ascending current of four hundred years ago, which had been capable of carrying an entire island into the sky.

Under ordinary circumstances, for an ascending current to reach an altitude of eight thousand meters was already extraordinary.

The Strata Clouds had been pierced by the enormous water column, leaving behind a vast opening, as though the sky itself had split apart and revealed a maw capable of swallowing everything.

Six thousand meters!

Fifty seconds had passed. In the remaining ten seconds, he needed to rise at least another thousand meters. That meant his terrifying speed would have to reach no less than one hundred meters per second.

The ascending current began to shrink. The immense energy accumulated in the depths of the sea had nearly been exhausted by the eruption. The great vortex began to contract, the surface of the sea gradually grew calm, and the enormous water column seemed to run out of strength as it vanished at an astonishing rate.

In barely a minute, this tremendous force of nature had disappeared without a trace. The sea became tranquil, as though nothing had ever happened. Only the enormous, thousand-meter-wide opening in the sky, radiating endless light, bore witness to the terrifying spectacle that had just taken place.

With his final step, Shu Mingyuan struck the surface of the sea. His body became like a razor-sharp sword and shot toward the enormous cavern carved through the clouds by the ascending current.

“I’m almost there!”

It was as though he stood with heaven on one side and hell on the other.

At this altitude, the air was too thin. Even Moonwalk could no longer be used.

If he failed to reach the White Sea, he would fall from seven thousand meters into the endless ocean below and be smashed to pieces.

“Ninja Art: Super Beast Scroll!”

An ink-wash bird descended beneath his feet. Shu Mingyuan bent his legs and kicked off with all his strength. Using that fleeting foothold, he finally plunged headfirst into the thick Strata Clouds.

The White Sea.

He had arrived.

P.S. 【Cheering for WE in advance. Three guaranteed chapters today! WE, rise up!】