Sea Cultivation: Giant Ships and Heavy Artillery Knock on the Door to All Races

Chapter 266 Contact Person Missing!
At noon the next day,

Having traversed storms and thunder, the Tianji Wheel finally saw the long-awaited land and approached its destination for this stop—Cangxia Mountain!

Unlike the Western and Southwestern Regions, which are surrounded by enemies and have fixed areas, the Northwestern and Southern Regions, as defensive regions, can be continuously extended and expanded along both sides of the defensive line. Therefore, their actual area is much larger and can support more forces.

There are currently three large Golden Core forces in the Northwest Region: the Chu Family in the far west, the Demon Moon Alliance near the defensive line, and Cangxia Mountain, which is close to the Western Region.

Among them, the newly relocated Chu family possessed the strongest high-end combat power, leading by an almost overwhelming margin, given that some of the foundations of the former Nascent Soul faction remained.

However, since it was not a locally developed force and could be considered an invader, and its location was chosen on the westernmost edge of the Silent Sea, the Chu family's influence over the Northwest Region was actually not significant.
Secondly, there's the Demon Moon Alliance. The Demon Moon Alliance is a long-established, large-scale Golden Core cultivation force, divided into an inner alliance and an outer alliance. It boasts numerous Golden Core cultivators, with a continuous stream of late-stage Golden Core experts.
However, they like to take more and more, and their current development focus is on expanding into the outer seas. The interests in the Northwest are just their fallback plan.
Finally, there's the newly emerging large Golden Core sect, Cangxia Mountain. Cangxia Mountain is an unconventional sect because there are almost no purely sect-based sects in the Storm Ocean.
Cangxia Mountain has a long history, seemingly dating back to when humans first ventured into the Storm Ocean. It has experienced several periods of rise and fall throughout history, and is now only barely returning to its former glory.

Toot~
Having received official permission from Cangxia Immortal City, the Tianji Wheel slowed its speed and gently entered the inner sea of ​​the main island of Cangxia Mountain.

Even though it's storm season, the spirit ships in the inner sea of ​​Cangxia Mountain are still coming and going in an endless stream, and there are many Tier 3 ships among them. I even saw another Tier 3 merchant ship leaving this place.

Unlike Haiyue Xiancheng, which has a natural geographical advantage due to its location on the main shipping route, ships come here even if they have to take a detour, because this place is truly rich and prosperous, and there is real profit to be made!
"Look! There are so many bioluminescent corals on the seabed!"

Unbeknownst to them, the Tianji Wheel had unknowingly entered a boundless belt of glowing corals. These glowing corals greedily absorbed spiritual energy, growing and intertwining wantonly. Apart from them, it seemed that there were no other creatures in this inner sea.

"This is one of the foundations of the Cangxia Mountain Protectorate Formation—the Glowing Coral Belt! As long as the corals in the sea continue to thrive, the main island of Cangxia Mountain will remain unbroken!"

"Wow, that's amazing! Using living things as the array base? These corals can absorb the radiant light? It must be the top-tier array among the third-order arrays, right?"

"Of course! Cangxia Mountain has a profound foundation. Historically, it has attempted to break through to the Nascent Soul stage and advance into the Thousand Star City several times, but they haven't had the good fortune of Wangtian Pavilion, and all their efforts have ended in failure..."

Although Cangxia Mountain currently only has one late-stage Golden Core expert, its influence in the Northwest Region is considerable, and all the Golden Core forces in the surrounding vast area are more or less connected to it.

Among them are Golden Core forces established by disciples of Cangxia Mountain after leaving the mountain, who then voluntarily protect the area around Cangxia Mountain, forming a huge network of interests.

Toot~
The Tianji ferry is close to the land, and a long artificial coastline is visible to the naked eye. Although the storm season should be a time for rest, there is still a noticeable flow of people working on the shore, loading and unloading goods.

After all, ships that can come here will stubbornly continue even through storms and thunder, and may even make more money during storm season.

There are also many dock areas along the coast, including a few large docks, which is one of the core industries of Cangxia Mountain.

Looking out over the coastline, there stands a magnificent and imposing large-scale third-tier immortal city that radiates a nine-colored glow even on rainy days. This is Cangxia Immortal City, under the control of Cangxia Mountain!
"My Fish-Dragon Immortal City is no match for it!"

Many of the shipwrights on the Tianji Wheel had visited numerous Golden Core factions and possessed some basic knowledge.

But when they saw the grandeur of Cangxia Immortal City, they felt that the third-tier immortal cities they had seen before were child's play, and perhaps only the peak-era Yunyan Immortal City could compare to it.

But in Lin Qianfan's eyes, it was just so-so. After seeing the Thousand Star City, which could accommodate millions of cultivators at the same time, Lin Qianfan had long since demystified various immortal cities and could view them very objectively and fairly.

Upon docking at the pier specifically prepared for Tier 3 merchant ships, management personnel immediately came to meet them. The personnel were neither arrogant nor negligent, and all requests were readily fulfilled. This was the kind of service personnel trained by a powerful organization during the Foundation Establishment stage, whose service awareness was at its peak.

"...I have already informed Master Jiang, but there has been no response yet. I would be honored if Young Master Lin would do me the honor of attending..."

"Thank you! But it's alright! I'll wait for her on the boat!"

Lin Qianfan considered many factors when choosing each stop, and naturally, there was a starting point for coming to Cangxia Mountain as well.
Jiang Nanyan, one of the contemporary true disciples of Cangxia Mountain, was also a classmate that Lin Qianfan met in Wuwei Hall. Because the two were among the five disciples who were pre-recruited by Wuwei Hall, they had some interaction.

Lin Qianfan had contacted her earlier, and decided to come here only after confirming that Cangxia Mountain welcomes merchant ships from other places to dock.

However, when he sent a message to discuss the specific arrangements when he was almost there the day before yesterday, he received no response. Today, after arriving at Cangxia Mountain, he sent another message, but still received no response. This puzzled Lin Qianfan.

Under normal circumstances, as long as the person is still in Cangxia Mountain, they should be able to receive the message. Even if they didn't see it at the time, it has been 10 or 20 hours since the first message. This shouldn't be the case!
Because she didn't know exactly what had happened, and was in an unfamiliar place, Lin Qianfan felt insecure.

Therefore, the Tianji ship did not rashly open for commercial activities. Apart from dropping off some tourists who were already at their destination, the other crew members were kept on board and not allowed to disembark and move around freely.

"what's the situation?"

"We have successfully connected with the foreign affairs director of Cangxia Immortal City. Everything is proceeding smoothly, and we are permitted to conduct our business activities normally!"

Merchant ships need the owner's permission to conduct business on someone else's territory; previously, this was always handled by a liaison.

Because Jiang Nanyan, the contact person he had contacted in advance, had gone missing, Lin Lishen had no choice but to go to Cangxia Immortal City to handle the procedures himself. This was also a test to see if he would encounter any additional difficulties.

"As long as the paperwork is complete, we won't open for business today since it's too late. We'll spend some money tonight to warm things up, and we'll open for business at 5 AM tomorrow!"

Because there was no prior publicity or promotion, there wasn't a huge crowd surrounding them after they landed. Only a few people who were already in the vicinity approached to ask questions, but they were all turned away.

"understand!"

Even the best wine needs advertising. In a large city like this, with so many ships coming and going every day, so much noise and so many choices, sometimes there's even more than one third-class merchant ship docking. Without some promotion, your target customers might not even notice you. The next day at dawn...

Because some spirit stones were scattered in certain locations for promotion last night, people were already waiting for the crowds to arrive early this morning.

However, observations show that the majority of visitors are from independent cultivators, with very few Foundation Establishment cultivators present, indicating that the publicity efforts are insufficient.

But Lin Qianfan wasn't in a hurry to earn spirit stones. The Heavenly Wheel was just a cover. What really worried Lin Qianfan was that Jiang Nanyan hadn't replied yet, which was very unreasonable!
Lin Qianfan was confused:
"Could something have really happened to her?"

The two weren't exactly close; they hadn't spoken a word to each other in the first half of their study tour, and only started interacting after becoming fellow disciples of the Martial Might Hall in the second half of the tour. But surely it shouldn't be this superficial?

After careful consideration, Lin Qianfan decided that he still needed to go to Cangxia Mountain to pay his respects at the mountain gate, otherwise he would always feel uneasy.

"Do you need me to come with you?"

"No need! If you accompany me, things might become more complicated. Just guard the Tianji Wheel. There might be unexpected dangers at sea. Here, I'm making a public appearance, so no one will dare to lay a hand on me."

Lin Qianfan declined the Third Elder's offer of accompaniment, then put on the jade pendant representing the Lin family's Golden Core seed and his status as a registered disciple of the Martial Might Hall, and headed to the foot of Cangxia Mountain.

Cangxia Mountain is just the name of this faction; there isn't actually a tall mountain here. In fact, there aren't any particularly tall mountains within the entire Thousand Star City area. As for its name, its predecessor probably came from the Old World before it was developed.

Many of the names of these forces can be traced back to before the pioneering era.

However, the name "Cangxia" still appears. The closer one gets to the mountain gate, the more artificially cultivated first and second-tier Cangxia trees appear along the way, growing extremely well, truly a scene of rosy clouds filling the sky.
I've heard that Cangxia Mountain has a secret realm specifically for cultivating high-quality Cangxia wood, filled with first, second, and third-tier Cangxia wood. This is one of the foundations of their extremely developed shipbuilding industry.

To build a Tier 3 ship, you need a large amount of Tier 3 spirit wood and a huge amount of Tier 2 spirit wood. If you just buy it, the cost will be too high. It's best to grow it yourself to make a big profit.

It's just that I don't know if Cangxia Mountain has the ability to build third-tier ships. Logically speaking, they should, as they have a large number of Golden Core cultivators and meet other requirements, but it seems they haven't taken on any orders.

"Halt! Who dares to trespass upon my mountain gate! What business do you have here!"

Lin Qianfan flew all the way here without seeing any no-fly signs or no-air formations. Finally, he was stopped by an unkempt old man who suddenly jumped out of the forest.

Lin Qianfan was not arrogant because of his status. He immediately clasped his hands in greeting, explained his background and purpose of visit, and paid his respects to Jiang Nanyan.

"So it's Young Master Lin. It's a pleasure to meet you. Jiang Zhenchuan shouldn't be on the mountain. As far as I know, she was taken back by the Jiang family about half a month ago. What business does Young Master Lin have with her?"

After confirming Lin Qianfan's identity, the old man became much more polite, but when he mentioned Jiang Nanyan, his eyes held a different meaning, and he even looked Lin Qianfan up and down, clearly indicating that something must have happened recently.

"Oh? Fellow Daoist, could you please reveal a little something?"

Clearly, the other party's words had a hidden meaning. Lin Qianfan handed over a small storage bag, wanting to inquire about it. It wasn't out of genuine gossip, but rather because he didn't want to be implicated or suffer undeserved misfortune.

"Then why are you so embarrassed?"

The old man apologized, but deftly pocketed Lin Qianfan's bribe, and then began to talk about what he knew/guessed.

It turns out that Miss Jiang and Young Master Wan were already engaged. They both came from the same Golden Core sect, were both Golden Core seedlings of their respective families, and were both true disciples of Cangxia Mountain, so their engagement was considered a good match.

However, this trip to the City of a Thousand Stars was an unexpected turn of events. Jiang Nanyan, with her exceptionally outstanding performance, was exceptionally admitted as a disciple of the Martial Might Hall.
Meanwhile, the playboy young master of the Wan family ranked last in the assessment of Tingyuxuan, causing Cangxia Mountain to lose face. The status of the two sides has changed dramatically, which has led to many entanglements.

These entanglements have now spread to the Jiang and Wan families, so neither of them is on Cangxia Island anymore, making it impossible for them to pay a visit.

Jiang Gong Island, where the Jiang family lives, is quite far from the main island of Cangxia Mountain, so the other party cannot receive Lin Qianfan's message at all, and naturally cannot reply.

"I see! Thank you for informing me, fellow Daoist!"

"Of course, after all, you're Jiang Zhenchuan's friend. But if I may be so bold as to say something, Young Master Lin would be best off leaving Cangxia Mountain as soon as possible. I'm afraid that young master Wan might cause you trouble..."

Perhaps because he had been paid, the old man advised Lin Qianfan to leave as soon as possible. He said that the young master of the Wan family was greedy and lustful, and it would be bad if he ran into Lin Qianfan. Outsiders are more likely to suffer losses.

"Huh? No? What does this have to do with me? I'm just here in Cangxia Immortal City to run some business and visit some old friends. What do I have to fear? Why would I avoid his sharp edge?"

"I get it, I get it, young people will be like that, haha~"

The old man had a rather vivid imagination, and his laughter was ambiguous.

Back at the Heavenly Pivot Wheel, Lin Qianfan found the Third Elder and explained:
"I have some personal business to attend to and need to go out for a while. I'll be back in four or five days at the earliest, and at most ten days at the latest..."

(End of this chapter)