The less fortunate souls on board began to cry out in excited delirium.
Most of them had spent their entire fortunes on a single ticket for this voyage.
Just as they were celebrating, Captain Li noticed something amiss.
“Why hasn’t the ship’s speed decreased? The sea monsters are no longer pursuing us. Have them reduce the speed to normal. We can’t afford to keep burning fuel at this rate!”
As soon as he finished speaking, someone beside him turned to relay the order.
Suddenly, a man came running over in a panic.
“Captain, something’s wrong!”
The man clutched his head, his face covered in blood.
“What happened?” Captain Li’s expression changed.
“It’s Manager Zhangcheng. He… he… knocked us all unconscious and changed our course!”
This man was one of the helmsmen.
“What?” Captain Li frowned, his heart sinking.
“Captain, the engine room says the speed has been reduced to the minimum. This speed isn’t caused by them.”
The man spoke with extreme panic, and Captain Li’s own expression turned flustered.
A navigational problem on the Underworld Sea was a matter of grave consequence.
It was more terrifying than encountering sea monster swarms.
He had encountered sea monster attacks more than once or twice in his decades of sailing.
Fighting sea monsters had become routine for him.
However, this was his first time encountering a navigational deviation.
The charting of these sea routes had not been done by his generation.
During that era, countless ships had sunk to the ocean floor.
They had encountered all sorts of terrifying phenomena.
The most terrifying…
Just as he was thinking this, someone shouted from the top deck.
“What is that?”
Everyone looked forward, and a wave of shock and disbelief swept through them.
Captain Li also soared from the deck into the sky.
“No, it’s the Eye of the Underworld Sea! Steer left, full speed… quickly!”
Captain Li’s face turned pale at that instant.
The Eye of the Underworld Sea, the most terrifying entity in the Underworld Sea, had appeared before him.
Even Chu Tian’s expression changed dramatically at this moment.
About 200 miles ahead of him.
A colossal vortex, hundreds of miles wide, was spinning relentlessly.
It was devouring the surrounding seawater.
The ship’s rapid movement was due to the water constantly disappearing into the eye of the vortex.
The accelerating ocean currents were pulling their ferry.
Moreover, the swirling vortex emitted waves of terrifying aura.
It seemed as if something monstrous lurked beneath.
On Blue Star, encountering such a sea eye was an extremely terrifying disaster.
Such phenomena were extremely rare in the ocean.
However, any ship that encountered one was doomed.
On Blue Star, with technology reaching its peak, natural disasters aside, technical errors would not cause disasters.
The Titanic captain’s boastful act of crashing into an iceberg would never happen.
Therefore, the sea eye had become the greatest killer of ships at sea.
The massive vortex was like a mouth, ready to swallow heaven and earth. The ten-thousand-meter ferry was as insignificant as dust before it.
Looking at the colossal vortex, Chu Tian felt his scalp tingle, a strong sense of danger surging in his heart.
He noticed that under Captain Li’s command, the ship began to tilt. However, turning was impossible. Every tilt risked capsizing the ferry.
This was because they had entered the vortex’s water flow limits.
Everyone knew that turning a ship wasn't as simple as wanting to turn; it required a wide arc to change direction.
However, in the rapidly flowing water, a tilting and sideways ship could easily capsize.
Seeing this, Captain Li’s face turned grim. Without the ability to turn, they could not escape the vortex’s pull. He felt numb, a sense of despair creeping into his heart.
Even if they possessed high cultivation and could ascend into the sky, without the protection of the ferry’s grand formation in the Underworld Sea, no one would survive for long.
Crossing the Underworld Sea relying solely on their physical bodies, even on safe routes, was impossible.
Chu Tian stood at the bow of the ship, glanced at the side of the hull, and his eyes moved.
“Follow the current, full speed ahead, max power.”
Chu Tian shouted towards the increasingly pale Captain Li.
Captain Li was jolted from his helplessness by Chu Tian’s voice. Just as he was about to ask, Chu Tian interrupted him.
“Don’t ask me why. If you want to live, do as I say!”
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
Countless figures soared into the air. Among them was the peak Saint-level old man, resembling a withered tree, whom Chu Tian had seen before.
The old man’s face was also grim.
He cast a deep glance at Chu Tian, hesitated, and then said to Captain Li.
“Listen to him!”
“This…”
Proceeding with the current, and even increasing speed, wouldn’t that be suicide?
“Hurry up, don’t dawdle! I’ll go when I want to go. This Underworld Sea can’t trap me! If you dawdle any longer, you can die on your own!”
In his divine sense, Chu Tian estimated the distance. These people were truly bothersome. If they continued to hesitate, his plan might fail.
“Increase speed, full propulsion!”
Captain Li finally gave the order.
Hum…
The stern of the ferry spewed waves, and the ship’s speed rapidly increased.
Everyone on board felt a strong push.
“What are the people from the Cloud Water Merchant Association doing? Are they trying to take us to our deaths?”
“No… no… I don’t want to die.”
“Can anyone save us… boo hoo hoo…”
“Stop crying, damn it! I’m jumping overboard! I’m not going to die with you!”
Chaos erupted on the ship. Countless people prepared to jump.
These people were in a daze, having forgotten that jumping overboard in the Underworld Sea was certain death.
However, as they reached the ship’s edge, they were blocked by a wall of air.
That was the protective barrier activated by the ship’s grand formation.
“Little brother, the speed has been maxed out. Below…”
Captain Li’s hands trembled as he spoke.
At that moment, Chu Tian’s body moved.
He dashed to the bow of the ship, to the portside anchor, and grabbed the ten-meter-thick anchor chain.
“Giant Bear Form! Resonance of Strength!”
A phantom of a giant bear suddenly appeared behind Chu Tian, golden electrical currents flashing within its muscles.
Following the circulation sequence of the Pangu Body Refining Technique, from the soles of his feet to his arms…
“Go… everyone… hold on tight!”
Chu Tian exerted his waist, and threw the anchor directly.
“Ah!” Captain Li’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t understand what Chu Tian was trying to do.
To drop the anchor at full speed was truly suicidal.
Boom…
Splash, splash, splash…
However, all of this was unstoppable.
Chu Tian had already thrown the anchor into the seabed with all his might.
Just completing this action, white mist began to rise from Chu Tian’s body.
That was the sweat evaporating from the intense friction of his muscles.