From Under One Person: Sincere Journey Through the Heavens

"Don't worry for now, I'll be right back."

Jiang Liu used his mental power to scan the "ghost ship" up close and determined its general condition. Intrigued, he prepared to investigate further.

"Lu Jin, you stay here and act as a coordinate for now. I might use the Qiankun Manipulation ability to teleport some people over later."

After saying that, Jiang Liu handed Lu Jin a paper monkey, then lightly leaped, as if riding the wind, instantly covering a distance of nearly one kilometer, and landed steadily on the ghost ship.

"He's practically a superman!"

The sailors shouted and screamed, their eyes filled with disbelief.

# Chapter 473 The Otter Family of Tatsuto

Upon reaching the ghost ship and stepping onto the deck, Jiang Liu immediately realized that the ship was not made of wood, nor steel, but rather—

Paper.

This is a huge paper boat!

Logically speaking, even if such a ship could sail on the sea, it would be extremely easy to capsize, and even a sacred object would rot if it were soaked in water for a long time.

Not to mention, this ghost ship sank to the bottom of the sea once in front of the river and all the sailors on board, yet it reappeared without any signs of being soaked.

Why?

Because the ship is alive.

Upon reaching the cabin door, Jiang Liu pushed it open and entered. The interior was pitch black, deep, and quiet.

With his mental scanning ability and a pair of bright eyes, Jiang Liu could see everything inside the cabin.

Take a step.

As Jiang Liu stepped down the stairs, which creaked and groaned, he reached the bottom of the cabin and found eight naked men and women, their hands and feet bound by chains. There were exactly four men and four women.

He was emaciated and on the verge of death, as if he might die at any moment.

Jiang Liu flicked his left index finger, took out a flashlight from his storage ring, pressed the switch, and the light came on, allowing him to see the faces of the eight people.

The men were handsome and the women were beautiful, but they were all naked, and each of them had fish scale patterns engraved on their bodies. These patterns were connected from the spine on their backs, forming identical array patterns.

Transparent Sea Array Pattern!

Dragon Otter?

"Can you speak Mandarin?" Jiang Liu asked tentatively.

"Who? Who are you?"

The male and female eagles were awakened by the flashlight beam and saw Jiang Liu. The eldest of them, a man named Longhu who looked to be around forty years old, cried out in surprise.

"I came from another ship... How did you get tied up here?" Jiang Liu was skilled and daring. Seeing that he could speak Chinese, he cut all the chains on the eight of them and took out his own clothes from his storage ring to dress them.

Thank you.

The dragon-headed man, around forty years old, was grateful. Seeing the four otter family members tugging at their clothes, seemingly unaccustomed to it, he instructed them, "You must wear clothes! Otherwise, people will keep staring at you!"

This confirmed Jiang Liu's suspicion that they were indeed the legendary Dragon Otter People!

The men are called the Dragon House, and the women are called the Otter House!

Legend has it that since leaving Guixu, the Dragon Otter People have lived on boats for generations, naked, with disheveled hair, skilled in swimming, and even able to breathe in the sea. They are most adept at swimming to collect pearls, and call themselves the Fish Scale Dragons. They do not submit to the king's rule and do not respect the king's way.

I never expected to actually see it today!

The four otter family members, with their delicate features and fish-scale patterns carved all over their bodies, could only suppress the discomfort caused by their clothes when Longhu spoke.

Then, the dragon explained why they were bound, saying, "We were bound by the Black-Scaled Merfolk to be used as a sacrifice!"

"Black-scaled merfolk?"

Jiang Liu was taken aback. He hadn't expected that mermaids actually existed in the world. However, considering that animals could obtain Qi and cultivate themselves into spirits, it seemed reasonable that there were mermaids in the South China Sea.

“Yes! Mermaids!” the dragon said. “The Mermaid has lived for a thousand years and has become a spirit. She can command the black-scaled mermaids and has activated the formation. She wants to borrow the power of heaven and earth, ride the Jianmu tree to the moon, and obtain the elixir of immortality in order to achieve immortality.”

Jiang Liu: "???"

The amount of information was a little too much, causing Jiang Liu's mind to freeze for a moment.

Are the merfolk going to ride the Jianmu tree to the moon?

Mermaids, ascension, Jianmu tree, moon landing... Jiang Liu can understand these separately, but they can be connected—

What is all this about?

Humans haven't even built a rocket to land on the moon yet, and a group of fish-men from the deep sea are already thinking about going to the moon? Jiang Liu admitted that the Guixu Qi Bureau borrowed the power of the Qi Bureau of Heaven and Earth to stir up undercurrents and cause storms, but this power was too dispersed and spread throughout the entire ocean. How could it allow the merfolk to ascend to the moon?

Furthermore!

Taoist ascension does not mean that the physical body ascends to outer space!

Beyond the heavens—

No oxygen!

Even someone like Jiang Liu, who has opened up all the acupoints in his body and can interact with the world through his skin without relying on his mouth and nose, would be in serious trouble if his physical body went to outer space before his life level truly transcended the current human realm. Even if he abandoned the invasion of various cosmic rays and low temperatures, the pure vacuum environment alone would be enough to give him a hard time!

Could a mere group of deep-sea merfolk possibly survive in the cosmic environment?

Unless they're aliens...

Realizing this possibility, Jiang Liu immediately cut off the call and asked Long Hu, "Can you stop this ship?"

"I can't do it."

The man, Long Hu, who was around forty years old, looked bitter. “Our ancestors came out of Guixu in ancient times, tamed a giant tortoise, and built a paper boat on its back for us to live and multiply.”

Why use paper?

This is what Jiang Liu finds most puzzling: this paper is waterproof, but it's definitely not as sturdy as wood, is it?

“There are two reasons. First, it’s light, which makes it easier for the giant turtle to dive. If we use wood, the buoyancy will be too great. If we use metal, it’s uncertain whether the giant turtle can float back up after it sinks.” Longhu didn’t hide anything and told him frankly. “The second reason is that if the paper is torn, it is easy to repair. We dragon people have mastered a technology for making paper from seaweed, kelp and seagrass.”

"Then why can't it stop?" Jiang Liu nodded, then wondered why these dragon people couldn't stop the ship.

Since it's a living magical artifact, it must be controllable, right?

"To control this paper boat, one must return to the origin."

What is the concept of "returning to the origin"?

This brings us to the unique form of this paper boat.

The combination of paper boat and tortoise shell is not simply about gluing the paper boat to the tortoise shell. Rather, it involves inlaying the paper into the tortoise shell according to its texture, making the paper and the tortoise shell completely integrated. Then, a secret method is used to draw the tortoise blood, which flows through the runes and symbols built inside the paper, forming a cycle.

During this cycle, the turtle blood that leaves the giant turtle's body and enters the paper boat can maintain the stability of the paper boat under the influence of runes and symbols, and can also be used to cultivate some edible algae.

Will these algae return to the turtle's body along with its blood?

Not will.

The bottom of the ship has a "filter" device that filters out seaweed, while the pure and nutrient-rich blood returns to the giant tortoise's body, and the algae and other things remain in the filter device, which can be used as a staple food for the Dragon Otter People.

In short, this paper boat is both the tool for the Dragon Otter people to travel and a farm on the sea, their home for generations.

But the most crucial step is the return to the origin, which means that the Dragon Otters must spend a certain amount of time every day to activate the runes and symbols on the paper boat.

It is equivalent to nurturing a magical artifact.

During this process, the turtle blood flowing through the paper boat will also undergo a "sterilization" process, and some of the energy solidified by the chemical reaction of the seaweed will also enter the turtle's body along with the blood, thus saving the turtle from hunting and eating.

But if the "return to origin" process isn't performed for even a day, the giant tortoise will go without food, and carrying this paper boat will become a burden for it...

# Chapter 474 The Thousand-Year-Old Turtle and Alligator Travels to This Day and Gains Freedom

“We have been trapped here for a month, surviving on turtle blood from the paper boats.”

The forty-year-old Longhu looked listless, and the other seven dragon otter people weren't in much better shape. "We haven't performed 'Return to Origin' for a month. The giant tortoise is still managing, but it's starving. Plus, the filter hasn't been cleaned for a month, and the seaweed has piled up. Some of it may have already entered the tortoise's body, making it extremely uncomfortable..."

The paper boat, our home, has become a burden.

"So, it crashed into the ship I was on because it wanted to use our strength to destroy the paper boat on its back."

Jiang Liu revealed the fundamental truth.

The eight dragon otter people were all dejected.

They now face the reality that they must say goodbye to their home, or they will perish at sea.

They, the Dragon Otter People, are skilled in water, but they are still just people after all, and it is impossible for them to live underwater for a long time like fish and shrimp.

"My name is Gu Qian."

The 40-year-old dragon otter introduced himself, saying, "They are Gu Kun, Gu Dui, Gu Li, Gu Zhen, Gu Xun, Gu Kan, and Gu Gen."

The names of these eight people each correspond to one of the eight trigrams in the primordial trigrams.

My name is Jiang Liu.

Jiang Liu introduced himself and then said, "Since you can't stop this ship, then come with me to the steamship."

Can I do you a favor?

Gu Qian trembled all over, his lips quivering, and asked Jiang Liu.

"Please feel free to speak."

"Please destroy this paper boat!" Gu Qian said, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Big brother!"

Nagu Dui cried out in surprise.

"Don't speak!" Gu Qian scolded, wiping away his tears, and said to Jiang Liu, "Things have come to this point, and we can no longer repair this paper boat... We once thought that if we escaped, we would abandon the paper boat and live on land, on coastal islands, or on the coast."

After all, this is our ancestral home, and we don't want to destroy it.

but.

As long as the paper boat exists, the giant tortoise will suffer... but we just can't bring ourselves to destroy our former home!