When they first set off from the Summit of the Western Heaven, both Black and the little slave girls were quite excited.
They had never experienced sailing among the clouds before.
But as the days passed, it started to feel a bit boring.
The deck of the sanctuary returned to its usual state.
Koala and Mandy were cultivating, while Stella was preparing refreshments.
Perona, however, lay sprawled on the deck, bored out of her mind, completely unconcerned with her image:
"It's so boring! It feels no different from being at sea."
Black glanced at her disdainfully:
"I'll throw you off this thing, and then you won't be bored anymore."
"Hmph!"
Perona was no longer afraid of him; she snorted lightly and turned her head away.
Robin, meanwhile, put down her book:
"We've been on this route for quite some time now; we should be reaching Sky Island very soon."
"Look! There really is an island!"
Before Robin's words had even finished, Rami, who was nearby, pointed ahead and shouted loudly.
Following the direction of her finger, they saw a Sky Island shimmering with colorful light, appearing faintly in the distance.
"What a beautiful island!"
Koala exclaimed in surprise.
Indeed, due to Sky Island's unique geographical environment and climate, its aesthetic appeal surpassed most islands in the Blue Sea.
Soon, the sanctuary, following the Summit of the Western Heaven, arrived at the Sky Island dock.
Seven-colored sound shells were embedded in the steps made of crystal coral, shimmering with the rhythm of the tide.
The harbormaster stood before the control panel, adjusting the musical scale with a conductor's shell.
"Welcome to the Cloud Mist Capital. I am Locke, the harbormaster here."
He smiled and greeted everyone, not showing any surprise.
Clearly, there must have been quite a few Blue Sea people who arrived here via the Summit of the Western Heaven.
As Black gestured for the girls to disembark, Locke pointed to the steps on the ground and reminded them:
"These sound shell steps will produce different tones based on your footsteps, but please be careful..."
Perona had already skipped onto the steps, and several sound shells immediately emitted sharp, discordant noises.
Locke quickly adjusted the control panel, and the musical scale returned to normal:
"Sound shells in damp areas are susceptible to moisture, causing overtone effects. We usually recommend that visitors use the dry areas, where the tones are more stable."
Black didn't respond; he simply stood at the highest point, his gaze sweeping across the entire port.
His scepter lightly tapped the ground, and Mandy immediately stepped forward, pulling Perona back to the dry area.
Robin looked down at the movements in the other person's hand and asked curiously:
"Do these sound shells require regular maintenance?"
"Yes."
Locke nodded:
"They need to be wiped with cloud whale oil every week, otherwise the resonance chambers will accumulate dust, affecting the sound quality."
He pointed to a groove on the edge of the steps:
"Look, this is where the oil is injected during maintenance."
After listening, Black simply raised his wrist and glanced at his watch:
"Let's go. We'll explore this island today and return before dark."
Everyone continued forward, and Stella casually bought some Sky Island specialties from a street-side shop.
Continuing on, Black and the others arrived at a scenic viewing area.
Here, pipes of varying thicknesses were laid out in the sky, arranged in an orderly fashion without appearing cluttered.
Colorful liquids flowed through the transparent pipes, forming brilliant vortices.
A technician was inspecting a node and stopped work when she saw tourists approaching.
"These pipes transport different flavored fruit juices."
Seeing everyone look over, she smiled shyly and touched her head:
"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Adele, a technician."
She pointed to the colorful pipes in front of her:
"Mango pulp, coconut milk, cloudberry dew... The flow rate of each liquid is precisely calculated."
Koala leaned forward curiously:
"Why does the strawberry juice flow faster than the mango juice?"
"Because their densities are different."
Robin reminded her, and Adele nodded, tapping the pipe wall:
"These spiral patterns reduce turbulence, ensuring smooth liquid transport."
Suddenly, with a crisp "bang," a pipe joint burst, and mango pulp sprayed out.
Adele quickly pulled out a sound shell and shouted a few syllables into it, and the pipe immediately stopped leaking.
She wiped her sweat, smiling somewhat awkwardly:
"This is an emergency command. Every repair worker needs to remember these codes."
Black offered no comment, merely thinking how extravagant these Sky Islanders were to lay special pipes just for transporting fruit juice.
After playing here for a while, Stella asked Adele about suitable areas for sightseeing.
Following her directions, they arrived at the Sky Garden where "Heart Clouds" were cultivated.
In the garden, an old gardener, who looked quite aged, was pruning the cloud vines with a special shell.
Rami reached out to touch the floating, glowing cloud clusters, and they immediately gathered, forming blurry animal shapes.
The old gardener put down his work and approached to observe:
"Heart Clouds reflect the emotions of the person touching them, but excessive contact will cause them to crystallize."
Rami quickly withdrew her hand, and Robin, noticing the change in the cloud clusters, asked:
"Can they store memories?"
"To some extent, yes."
The old gardener first nodded:
"Actually, they are more inclined to capture momentary emotions rather than specific images."
The others also stepped forward, beginning to touch the Heart Clouds with their hands.
The cloud clusters transformed into different scenes, eliciting gasps of surprise from everyone.
Black also tried it; the cloud cluster in his hand transformed into the shape of a water droplet, indicating his calm state of mind at that moment.
They spent most of the day exploring this island, and by dusk, everyone returned to the ship, and the sanctuary set sail again.
A few days after leaving the Cloud Mist Capital, the outline of an island appeared again in the distance.
"I wonder how this Sky Island will be different from the Cloud Mist Capital?"
Robin stood at the bow, resting her chin on her hand.
The younger girls chattered excitedly, discussing it.
Black, however, raised an eyebrow, seeming somewhat surprised.
The sanctuary slowly approached, and the noise on the deck gradually died down—
Because this island did not look like a benevolent place.
To be precise, it wasn't a single island, but an archipelago made up of several Sky Islands.
Dozens of island fragments were held aloft tens of thousands of meters high by an invisible force, then forcibly riveted together with chains and rock pillars.
The spire of the central palace pierced through the clouds, surrounded by volcanic islands flowing with magma, pale ice-snow islands, and strange islands shrouded in purple mist, forming a three-dimensional fortress that defied the laws of nature.
Looking out from the deck of the sanctuary, the floating island cluster appeared faintly amidst a thunderstorm.
The continuous ash spewed by the volcanic island darkened the sky, clashing with the cold currents generated by the ice-snow island, forming a swirling cloud thousands of meters in diameter.
Occasional flashes of lightning revealed the outlines of the inverted islands.
Black chuckled lightly:
"Ah ha! I wonder if this means I'm unlucky, or you're unlucky?"
"I think this could be called—mutually unlucky?"