’Attract the attention of the Ten Thousand Forms Kun?’

Shi Ming was very clear about the purpose of this trip.

He didn’t want any unnecessary complications.

Before obtaining intelligence on the "Destiny"-attribute Holy Hall Sea Beast deep within the Earth’s Lung, everything else could be compromised. That was precisely why he hadn’t forcefully killed the Mobius Serpent. Instead, he had spent time playing one last turn-based game with it.

He put away the skill origin of the "Destiny Light Cone" and placed it securely in his inventory. Within this personal storage, no material could be detected. It was just like the corpse of the S-class Awakened "Virus" he had killed before—even the Celestial Net System couldn’t perceive her death.

Perfectly safe.

He would absorb the Destiny Light Cone skill himself. Such a high-level Awakened skill would not only provide a decent attribute boost but also increase his affinity with Destiny, enhancing the predictive power of his Eye of Destiny and making the futures it saw even clearer.

Killing three birds with one stone, so to speak.

The Three-Eyed Golden Crow climbed to the ship’s highest point.

The Da Yu set sail once more.

The crew’s ability to accept things like the Da Yu being bound by an illusory giant serpent, the world turning upside down, and the serpent then vanishing had grown immensely. Following Shi Ming these days, they had witnessed too many miracles. The navigation system of this King-level Wandering Ship ignored the fog, continuing toward its designated destination.

The dense fog was like a thick curtain.

It was as thick and cloying as the December smog in a major central city from Shi Ming’s previous life.

A single breath would be more than enough to sate an ordinary person.

The Three-Eyed Golden Crow could easily disperse the dense fog in an area, but Shi Ming didn’t have it do so. Chaotic undercurrents had begun to appear in the seawater. As they went deeper, the Da Yu’s Pure Dome Crystal analysis equipment yielded some extra rewards.

Fog Island Crystals.

This was a peculiar type of Crystal Stone, fundamentally still a common Sea Crystal Stone. Because of this, even the lowest-level wandering ships could try their luck using the most basic Sea Crystal Stone production equipment. It contained solidified, concentrated fog and had many applications, such as lubricating and maintaining precision machinery, or repairing the physical degradation caused by an Awakened undergoing too many awakenings.

One Fog Island Crystal could be exchanged for 1.3 Pure Dome Crystals.

...

With its stealth mode activated, the Da Yu moved through the dense fog like a ghost.

"Captain, we’ve reached the target area."

"Good. Activate the Star Dome Curtain, field stabilization."

Next, it was time to peer into "Destiny"!

Shi Ming leaped up and landed on the She Ri, which resembled a canoe. He then took a Golden Mask from his inventory, put it on his face, and concealed all signs of his living presence. Afterward, the She Ri’s mimicry and stealth modes were fully activated. Like a swordfish in water, the canoe sailed toward the final fifty nautical miles.

The [She Ri] was still at the General-grade.

Its promotion to King-grade was already on the agenda.

He already had leads on the last two Sailing Hearts it needed. One was from Da Yu’s Treasure Vault, a long-hidden treasure from the bottom of their chest. Because the Stone Patrol Envoy’s authority had been raised to the highest level, it was now available for exchange.

The other was from the recently destroyed Snow Country.

After Lighthouse had cleaned up the remnants of the Snow Country, the Empress’s new vessel, the [Snow Maiden], could also be dismantled for a Sailing Heart. Shi Ming could go and retrieve these two Crystal Stones at any time. They would be enough to raise the She Ri from level three to level five.

And in Shi Ming’s inventory, there was still a Sailing Star, also from the [Moon Shadow].

The [She Ri]’s promotion to King-grade was only a matter of time.

’And I have the Snow Country organization to thank for that.’

’As for the Empress herself?’

After being backstabbed by her "allies," the Snow Country organization was completely annihilated.

Empress Catherine was caught completely off guard and defeated by the "Angels," who possessed the 8th-ranked S-class skill "Demon Lord’s Descent." She was captured alive and, along with the confiscated spoils—the "Ivan Matryoshka" and a Sailing Heart—was being held on the [Lighthouse], which had already returned to the Columbia Sea. She had become a bargaining chip for Lighthouse’s atonement.

Now, she was waiting for Shi Ming to decide her fate.

Unwittingly, Shi Ming had become another "core" figure among the six great King-level Wandering Ships. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

...

...

...

"Whew... The seawater here has a dreamlike quality to it. It feels exceptionally soft."

Wearing the Golden Mask, Shi Ming moved through the sea.

The She Ri’s mimicry mode could erase all traces of the wandering ship’s passage. Combined with the Golden Mask, it created a perfect disguise. Add to that the positional suppression the Eye of Destiny exerted in the domain of Fate, and he could completely deceive a Holy Hall-level Sea Beast, gathering intelligence to hunt it right under its nose!

A nebula appeared in Shi Ming’s line of sight.

No, it wasn’t a nebula. It was a Kun!

Like an aurora flowing at the bottom of the sea, or perhaps liquid crystal, its parts intertwined to form a magnificent, dreamlike, giant Kun. The creature swam slowly in the deepest part of the Earth’s Lung. On the endless scale of the seabed, spanning thousands of miles, it was as vast as a great nebula, yet as small as a phantom butterfly.

The Ten Thousand Forms Kun!

"Eye of Destiny, acquire intelligence!"

Shi Ming needed to know how to hunt it, as well as the basic threshold for fusing with the Destiny Sanctuary!

[BEEP~ BEEP~]

[Compiling intelligence...]

[Searching. Confirming detailed coordinates... Search successful. Summarizing intelligence... Intelligence report generated:]

[Holy Hall 005: Ten Thousand Forms Kun]

[This is a Beast of Tu Nan that migrated from the Northern to the Southern Netherworld. It roams the ocean between reality and illusion, moving freely, peeking into, usurping, and perceiving Destiny from within the myriad forms. It witnesses all living things and perceives the myriad forms of heaven and earth.]

[Holy Hall Origin: Destiny]

[Skill: Ten Thousand Forms Sanctuary]

[The Ten Thousand Forms Kun lets out the cry of a Kun-Peng, entering the target’s Sea of Spirit to perceive and usurp their destiny. The Ten Thousand Forms Kun can transform into any creature whose destiny it has usurped. When transformed, it can perfectly replicate any of the target’s skills that are equal to or lower than its own tier, and it completely inherits their destiny.]

[Affiliated Skills:]

[Southern Netherworld Phantom Dream, Ten Thousand Rivers’ Autumn Waters, Mist Ascending Thousand Realms, Forgetting Ruins and Returning to Dust.]

[And various usurped skills... (Requires transformation into the corresponding form)]

...

’Just as I thought. The Eye of Destiny’s previous evaluation of this sea beast was spot-on.’

’Its disgusting factor is off the charts.’

’One wrong move, and it could devour someone close to you, transform into them, and continue living under their identity. Without being a master of Destiny Power, it would be impossible to notice.’

The Eye of Destiny’s intelligence report continued—

[When the Ten Thousand Forms Kun enters the world, it hides among the living. When it emerges, it resides in the Ice Sea of Antarctica.]

[After the dawn of the Wandering Era, it was attracted by a wondrous object and has since resided in the depths of the Earth’s Lung, no longer entering the world.]

[The wondrous object it guards is so special that it remained unmoved even when its descendant, the "Kun of Returning Ruins," was killed by Da Yu. This treasure is now enveloped by its powerful Destiny Power, existing in a state between the real and the illusory.]

Shi Ming’s eyes lit up.

’A very special treasure?’

’There are probably only a few treasures in the entire Endless Ocean that would be so highly valued by a Holy Hall-tier Sea Beast.’

’It must be a top-10 wondrous object! Or maybe even higher!’

Even though the Eye of Destiny hadn’t spelled it out, Shi Ming could easily identify the few most likely candidates from the complete "Compendium of Wondrous Objects in the Endless Ocean"!

’Could it be... that one?’