Crack!
Another bolt of lightning flashed through the dark clouds overhead, striking Wang Liang awake. With no time to rejoice at having just escaped disaster, Wang Liang immediately issued a string of orders.
"Change course!
"Lower all the sails except for one!"
"Helmsman, keep an eye on the situation ahead!
"All sailors, get into position! Whether or not we can survive will depend on ourselves!"
… …
Coils of rope tied Wang Liang to the mainmast. It was precisely by relying on these coils of rope, soaked in seawater, that Wang Liang was able to protect himself in the storm and issue one order after another.
From a tender youth to a dark-skinned captain, only Wang Liang knew what he had experienced in the last four or five months.
The crew on the ship was now less than a third of its original size, and many of the guards of the Wang Clan and those his father had assigned to him had died.
He had experienced storms, civil strife, conspiracies, assassinations, doubts, divisions, starvation, forced abdication … not even Wang Liang could count them all.
This was an arduous journey that Wang Liang had narrowly escaped with his life, one that no historical records could record.
From the self-confidence and smugness he had felt when he first left the port to the calm and tranquil life he had now experienced, only Wang Liang knew what he had experienced.
When he first set out, he knew almost nothing about sailing, but now, he was the most experienced captain of the entire fleet!
To achieve this level of accomplishment in four or five months was something that an ordinary person could brag about for the rest of their lives.
But Wang Liang had no such thoughts.
Life could temper a person, but it could also make a person. Only he knew where this astonishing skill had come from.
He knew nothing about sailing. His only advantage was learning. He studied day and night, forgetting to eat and sleep, doing his utmost to learn.
From the helmsman to the sailors, all the crew members were his opponents in learning. In these four or five months, one disaster after another and one death after another had taught him how to rapidly grow on the ship.
"Watch out! The second wave! "
"Careful!"
… …
Although he had escaped disaster, the disaster was far from over. In front of the might of nature, the abilities of humans were insignificant. Whether it was a True Martial Realm expert, a Profound Martial Realm expert, or an ordinary sailor, in front of the vast might of the world, they were all equal, there was no difference.
In the face of the power of nature, everyone was as insignificant as ants.
Once they fell from the ship into the boundless ocean, even if they were in the Xuan Martial Realm, only death awaited them.
If they wanted to survive, they had to be of one mind, work together, and cross the river together. But …
What Wang Liang was worried about was not this vast and unparalleled might of nature, but the elusive and unfathomable human heart.
For four to five months, he drifted on the ocean, set foot on the island again and again, and returned disappointed again and again. Wang Liang had not found the meteoric metal Wang Chong had spoken of on these small islands.
From the initial trust, to the longing for the treasure, to the disappointment, suspicion, and forced abdication … Now, the secret of the Extraterrestrial Meteoric Iron was no longer a secret to some of the higher-ups in the fleet.
But everyone was suspicious.
Even the Wang Clan's own guards were shaken, and some were even roped in by their opponents.
— — How could a person who had never been out to sea, who had never been there, know that there would be meteorites thousands of miles away?
If there were meteorites, why had the fishermen of the other seas never discovered them?
At the end of the day, this was just nonsense.
The suspicion of Wang Chong, the suspicion of Wang Liang, the suspicion of the purpose of the fleet had never ceased. And with the deaths of so many crew members, the suspicion only continued to grow.
Wang Liang's position as captain was now in jeopardy.
Wang Liang was well aware that if he could not make any progress, what awaited him would be the same as the others: thrown into the depths of the ocean to be fed to the sharks.
"Boom!"
The crashing of the massive wave interrupted Wang Liang's thoughts and the tranquility of the fleet. Amidst the shrill screams, several more figures were washed off the ship by the waves.
Wang Liang opened his mouth and was just about to issue a new order to adjust the fleet. A moment later, there was a heaven-shaking boom. It was like an invisible giant hand had smashed into the bottom of the ship.
Wang Liang felt a pain in his chest. He felt like those coils of rope were digging into his flesh, and his organs were about to be jolted out of his body.
"Not good! The ship has hit a reef! … "
In the time it takes for a spark to fly off a flint, he heard a panicked voice. This was the last sound Wang Liang heard. His vision went black, and he knew nothing else.
… …
Splash!
It was the sound of the surging of the sea. It seemed like only the snap of a finger, but it also seemed like ten thousand years. Wang Liang finally woke up from his coma.
The seawater slowly surged under his body. Wave after wave of water surged over, and then receded. There seemed to be some tiny creature crawling on his body.
"Cough, cough!"
Wang Liang coughed a few times, spitting out a mouthful of rising water and sand. When he opened his eyes, he saw blue water and sand.
Several small crabs the size of a fingernail were crawling on his hands and body.
"… How could I be here?"
His chest ached and his head felt swollen. Wang Liang couldn't understand why he was here.
His last memory was that the ship seemed to have hit a reef and he had been thrown off.
"Was I thrown off the ship?"
Wang Liang's heart tightened, a hint of fear emerging in his heart. In the vast sea, without a ship, one could only wait for death.
He struggled to his feet, and a moment later, Wang Liang was struck dumb.
Just a few thousand feet away from him, a huge ship crashed head-on into a vertical cliff. The ship was half-tilted beneath the water, motionless.
"This is …"
Wang Liang's entire body froze. The ship had run aground. In other words, what it had crashed into last night had not been some submerged reef, but a cliff?!
Wang Liang couldn't say a single word.
The ship had not disappeared, and he had not been thrown off. This was undoubtedly something to be happy about, but the ship had run aground.
The only silver lining in this misfortune was that the ship had not sunk. As long as he used some techniques to fix the leak, the ship could still continue its journey.
Temporarily putting aside his thoughts, Wang Liang struggled to make his way to the island. His first priority was to find the rest of the crew.
Since the ship had run aground here, the rest of the crew couldn't have gotten far.
This was the first time Wang Liang had taken a look at the place he had drifted to. This was a lonely island. Strange rocks, each as tall as two or three people, stood on the island like a strange forest of stones.
He didn't know if it was an illusion, but when the sunlight shone down from above, Wang Liang suddenly felt like the tops of these stones reflected a gloomy metallic luster.
No, it wasn't an illusion!
Wang Liang's eyes swept over the nearby rocks that had fallen off, and his entire body shivered. Under the mottled and peeling surface of the strange rocks, what was revealed was not brown rock, but pieces of metallic luster.
This was the typical luster of metal ore.
Wang Liang had once specially investigated for this operation, so he was extremely familiar with the color of this metal ore.
"Could it be …"
As this thought flashed through his mind, Wang Liang could no longer suppress his excitement. But Wang Liang did not act rashly. After so many trials, he had gone from hope to disappointment, then to hope, then to disappointment …
Wang Liang was already used to it.
These were just metal ores, not necessarily the meteoric metal Wang Chong spoke of. He had already seen these kinds of metal ores, iron ores, copper ores, and of varying quality.
The sheer number of ores was an eye-opener for Wang Liang. However, this place was far from the Central Plains, and the long period of time meant that these ordinary metal ores were not worth mining on a large scale.
If these ores were also of that sort, then they would have no value at all.
"I hope, I hope it's the kind of ore I'm looking for …"
Wang Liang rubbed his hands, his mind uneasy.
He knew in his heart that he couldn't go too far. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but that the fleet could no longer advance under these conditions.
There were no results, no harvest, and the people were not united. Food and water were all running out, and even the sturdy ship he had built with so much care had been severely damaged.
He probably wouldn't have many chances to explore.
He took in a deep breath and calmed his mind. With a clang, Wang Liang finally unsheathed the Bi sword on his back.
Wang Chong had given it to him before the operation.
There was no way to distinguish Meteoric Metal from its color, and Wang Liang was not a professional blacksmith, so he could not distinguish it with the naked eye.
But Wang Chong had taught him the simplest method.
If one used the WuZi Steel sword to chop at it, if one could cut it in half or sink it several feet deep, then it was just ordinary metal, ordinary ore, and had no value at all.
But if one could block the chop of WuZi Steel, or if the WuZi Steel could cut through it, it would only be able to cut into a relatively shallow layer. There was no question that this was Meteoric Metal!
This was the simplest method of distinguishing Meteoric Metal.
If it could block the chop of WuZi Steel, then even if it wasn't Meteoric Metal, the quality of this metal was infinitely close to that of Meteoric Metal.
Clang!
In the sunlight, a cold light flashed, and with Wang Liang's uneasy heart, the sword slashed at the exposed part of the jagged rock.
For a moment, time seemed to drag on in Wang Liang's eyes …
Clang!
As the sword swept past, Wang Liang saw that the WuZi Steel sword in his hand was stuck half an inch into the jagged rock, unable to go any further. Wang Liang suddenly froze.
All the sounds in the world disappeared in that instant. The entire world was silent, and even time seemed to have stopped at that moment.
Half an inch, half an inch! … …
As he watched the WuZi Steel sword finally get stuck in the rock, Wang Liang's breathing almost stopped.
Clangclangclangclang!
In the next moment, Wang Liang seemed to have gone mad. His eyes red, he suddenly pulled out the WuZi Steel sword and madly hacked at the jagged rock again and again.
Half an inch, half an inch, half an inch, half an inch …
From top to bottom, every part of the rock was marked by the marks of Wang Liang's WuZi Steel sword. But without exception, they were all half an inch, some not even half an inch.
The unstoppable WuZi Steel sword that could cut through iron like mud was actually only able to cut half an inch into this strange rock.
Whoosh!
As if agitated, Wang Liang's eyes went red as he suddenly began to peel away the mottled stone shell on the surface of the rock. Dark gold, dark gold, it was all dark gold …
After peeling away the brown shell on the surface of this strange rock, what was underneath was actually mottled dark gold metal!
Clang!
Wang Liang suddenly threw away his sword. His eyes red, he raised his hands to the sky and roared with laughter.
"Hahaha, success, I've succeeded!
"I've finally found the Meteoric Metal!
"Hahaha …"
… …
At this moment, Wang Liang's voice resounded over the entire island. As he laughed and laughed, tears began to flow from his eyes.
After so many trials and tribulations, after so many narrow escapes, he had finally found the Meteoric Metal that Wang Chong had spoken of in the outer islands.
From childhood to adulthood, he had finally surpassed himself, truly accomplished something inconceivable!
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