"Yuwan, Yuwan, come out, quick!"
Shui Wuyue stepped out of his cabin and stood on the deck, staring in a daze at the churning, ink-black ocean on all sides and the surging black mist.
"What is it?" Yuwan walked out of her room and looked around as well.
"This is—!" she cried out in shock.
"The Ghost Sea. Ghost Shark says the Ghost Sea has suddenly appeared."
"One of the seven great mysterious seas, the Ghost Sea?!" Hearing this, Yuwan's shock instantly gave way to delight. "Doesn't that mean I can contract a ghost pet beast too?!"
She quickly extended her senses in every direction, only to realize she couldn't see any ghost sea beasts at all.
"What's going on...?" Yuwan's brows furrowed.
Shui Wuyue explained, "It really is the Ghost Sea, but right now, we are still lingering in the 'real world.' We haven't actually entered the true Ghost Sea yet."
"So it's impossible for you to see ghosts here, let alone contract them."
Yuwan didn't understand.
Shui Wuyue added, "The Ghost Sea is very unique—it serves as an interstitial space between two dimensions."
"Our reality is the world of the living, which is Space 1."
"Corresponding to it is the world of the dead, which is Space 2."
"And the Ghost Sea is Space 3, situated between 1 and 2."
"We only see the 'Ghost Sea' manifested in the real world, but we're still in Space 1, so we can't see the world of the dead."
"Only by successfully entering Space 3, the true Ghost Sea, this interstitial layer between dimensions, can one see the dead of Space 2. Do you understand now?"
"Only there can one perceive the ghosts' obsessions and finalize a contract with them."
"By the same token, ghosts from the world of the dead cannot cross directly into the real world. Forming a soul contract with a human is their only way to pass from the world of the dead into reality."
Shui Wuyue probed around with his own senses and said, "Only one person on our ship has successfully entered the true Ghost Sea. Clearly, the Ghost Sea consciously came seeking him."
"Chen Bo is ruled out right away—so it's Luo Yu?" Yuwan asked.
"Yeah." Shui Wuyue thought to himself that it was a good thing he had briefed Luo Yu beforehand.
For a Beast Master with a soul talent, encountering the other mysterious seas couldn't be guaranteed, but meeting the Ghost Sea was almost a certainty!
It was just that the timing...
He shook his head.
To think Luo Yu would encounter the Ghost Sea on his very first voyage!
Then again, perhaps it had to do with just how exceptionally powerful Luo Yu's soul talent was.
"All right... so there's nothing in this for us? Only Luo Yu gets lucky!" Yuwan practically cried. The first time in her life she encountered a mysterious sea, and it shut her out?
"It's hard to say," Shui Wuyue said.
"At his current level, encountering the Ghost Sea isn't necessarily a good thing."
He only hoped Luo Yu remembered his warnings...
He absolutely must not contract any ghost sea beast with an absurd obsession!
Doing so would only delay his own cultivation.
"Don't worry, he should have a good grasp of things. Still, he really did run into the Ghost Sea." Yuwan murmured, "In his exam essay, he wrote about the Ghost Sea, hoping he might see his parents again here..."
"There's no chance of that." Shui Wuyue shook his head. "Though the Ghost Sea has precedents where humanoid ghost projections appeared, those human ghosts were all soul-talent Beast Masters in life. Those without soul talents don't even qualify to enter the world of the dead—when they die, they're simply gone."
"In any case, we just have to wait."
"How long?" Yuwan asked.
"At most one day."
"A Beast Master can only stay in the Ghost Sea, the interstitial layer between dimensions, for a single day. Once that day is up, whether they've chosen to contract a ghost or not, they'll be expelled and returned to the real world."
Yuwan let out a sigh of relief. "That's not so bad, then."
She had genuinely feared that if they waited too long, the rock sheep on board might die!
* * *
Chen Bo had a very long dream. He dreamed that he encountered the Golden Evolution Sea, where his Thunderbolt Shrimp bathed in the power of evolution and evolved into an Upper Monarch Species, the Sky Thunder Shrimp.
From then on, neither he nor his Sky Thunder Shrimp ever had to endure agonizing acupuncture training again. Even if Luo Yu pricked himself a hundred times a day, he still wouldn't be able to defeat Chen Bo.
"Too bad it was just a dream."
After getting out of bed, Chen Bo wanted to go to the deck for some fresh air.
Yet the moment he pushed the door open, he was greeted by thick black mist outside.
"This is—!"
Seeing the black seawater, Chen Bo's heart skipped a beat!
He dashed over to the gunwale, looked at Yuwan and Shui Wuyue, and asked, "Senior Shui Wuyue, did we enter the Ghost Sea?!"
Seeing Chen Bo's ecstatic expression, Yuwan couldn't bear to dash his hopes, but she still explained the situation, telling him that only Luo Yu had successfully entered.
"Ah..." Chen Bo's spirit collapsed. Could it be that he had missed out just because he was asleep?
Luo Yu was already so strong, and now he was getting powered up again?
"It's because of his talent. You don't need to be too envious—who knows, you might have your own destined mysterious sea," Shui Wuyue said.
"Me?" Chen Bo asked.
Shui Wuyue nodded. "For instance, statistics show that good-looking people—handsome guys and pretty girls—have a much higher chance of stumbling across the Mermaid Sea. Ugly people don't qualify to become 'mermaids.'"
"Otherwise, mermaids would have to be renamed 'uglymaids.'"
"You're quite a good-looking kid, much more handsome than Luo Yu. You're bound to encounter it in the future."
"I'm good-looking...?" The corners of Chen Bo's mouth split into a grin. "Senior, you flatter me. I'm really just a bit above average, that's all."
"..." Beside them, Yuwan stared at Shui Wuyue in speechlessness. *Aren't you just lying through your teeth? In what universe is this kid more handsome than Luo Yu?*
Still, Chen Bo, whose resolve had been on the verge of shattering a moment ago, genuinely cheered up after being sweet-talked by Shui Wuyue.
With just a few words, he had successfully salvaged a young boy's mindset.
Yuwan secretly gave Shui Wuyue a thumbs-up. *Impressive.*
* * *
"Where is this...?"
The interstitial layer between two dimensions, the Ghost Sea.
Luo Yu looked around in bewilderment.
He felt as if he were inside a colossal aquarium, standing in a hollow tunnel flanked by dark ocean waters, where all kinds of white, ghostly sea beasts swam about!
"The Ghost Sea—it really is the Ghost Sea!"
Luo Yu's heart pounded. Although Shui Wuyue had told him he would definitely encounter the Ghost Sea in the future, he hadn't expected it to happen so soon. To run into it on his very first voyage!
Luo Yu was overjoyed.
Just days ago, he had been complaining about how difficult the Ghost Ship was to pilot and how much he hated steering it. Who would have thought that help would arrive right when he needed it most? Here was an opportunity to contract a ghost sea beast to pilot the ship for him.
"July seems to have been forced into a slumber inside the Beast Taming Space..."
"Whatever, I'll pick a ghost pet beast first."
Luo Yu nervously fixed his gaze on a ghost sea beast. According to Shui Wuyue, maintaining one's gaze allowed a Beast Master to peer into their obsessions...
Besides, he had already tested it outside—he could view the data panels of ghost sea beasts as well!
The first creature Luo Yu inspected was an old turtle.
[Species]: Thousand-Year Turtle
[Attribute]: Ghost, Water
[Species Rank]: Upper Common Species
[Life Level]: Level 1
[Species Ability]: Water's Aegis
[Individual Talent]: 1. Obsession (Special Talent...)
2. Battle Maniac (Ordinary Talent...)
As Luo Yu kept staring, he realized this was an extraordinarily bellicose turtle. Through hazy, translucent visions, the turtle's entire life seemed to unfold before his eyes. With its species advantages, it could easily have lived for an eternity, but...
Because it was far too belligerent, it had died when it was only eight years old.
Consequently, the Thousand-Year Turtle was filled with immense regret. Its dying obsession was wondering why it had been so fond of fighting.
Its sole obsession now was to live out its next existence in absolute peace and quiet, never fighting a single battle again.
"Get lost." Luo Yu turned and walked away. *What use would I have for you? You don't even have a top-tier laborer talent, and you still refuse to fight?*
Next, Luo Yu looked at a white ghost duck enveloped in swirling ice mist around its wings.
[Species]: White-Cut Duck
[Attribute]: Ghost, Ice
[Species Rank]: Lower Common Species
[Life Level]: Level 1
[Species Ability]: Ice Wings
[Individual Talent]: 1. Obsession (Special Talent...)
2. Delicious Flesh (Ordinary Talent...)
Through sustained observation, Luo Yu discovered that this had been a weak mutated beast eaten alive by a Green-Scaled Snake. Its greatest obsession was to create a world without Green-Scaled Snakes.
"It really isn't easy to choose." Luo Yu took a deep breath.
He intended to combine his Data Eye with careful searching to pick a ghost sea beast that had a manageable obsession alongside top-tier talents...
No, as long as its talent was truly top-tier, he could accept even a bizarre obsession.
After quickly scanning several dozen creatures, Luo Yu finally spotted his first monarch-tier sea beast. It was a glowing, behemoth-sized lobster with eyes like twin moons and a rocky crest atop its head. Its body was as large as a small vessel—seemingly fully capable of carrying passengers across the waves!
[Species]: Moon-Crested Shrimp
[Attribute]: Ghost, Water, Light
[Species Rank]: Lower Monarch Species
[Life Level]: Level 1
[Species Ability]: Water Spout, Moonlight Beam...
[Individual Talent]: 1. Obsession (Special Talent...)
2. Light Element Affinity (Advanced Talent...)
When Luo Yu examined its obsession, his jaw dropped even further. Its greatest dying regret was that it had always wanted to visit the moon.
*Pfft... can a guy really find a normal pet beast in this place?*
Chapter 56