Ten thousand meters above sea level, in the White-White Sea.
As far as the eye could see, everything was an endless expanse of white.
There were no landmarks and no directions to follow.
Where they went depended entirely on the waves.
The Sky Island punishment known as the Waterfall Exile was to cast criminals into the White-White Sea and leave them to fend for themselves.
Fortunately, the White-White Sea wasn’t completely barren.
Since it was a sea, naturally, there were fish in it.
The supplies aboard the pirate ship had run out two months ago.
For those two months, the four members of Ren’s group had survived entirely on Sky Fish.
“Vice-Captain, we’re out of Sky Fish again!
We need to restock!”
Black Bear Big Bear picked up two long, solid-metal lure rods from the deck.
They were indispensable if they wanted to catch large quantities of Sky Fish.
The method was also incredibly simple.
All Ren had to do was hold the handles and lower the metal lure rods into the White-White Sea.
Within moments, the catch would pile up like a mountain.
Zzt!
A flash of electricity streaked through the air.
Ren returned to the deck, and Black Bear Big Bear hurriedly handed him the fishing rod.
To his surprise, Ren didn’t take it this time.
Eat fish?
To hell with eating fish!
He had been eating Sky Fish for two straight months, and Ren was sick of them.
Nowadays, the moment he saw a fish, he felt like throwing up.
“Men, prepare yourselves to get rich.
We’ve arrived!”
Standing at the bow, Ren suddenly spun the helm.
The pirate ship made a ninety-degree turn and headed straight southeast.
“Honey cake?
Where’s the honey cake?”
Brown Bear Little Bear jolted awake from his sweet dream and frantically looked around.
On the second deck, Rocks also suddenly stood up, an excited expression appearing on his face.
The reason he had embarked on this Sky Island journey in the first place was entirely because of the grand promises Ren had made back on Maffia Island.
All the way here, they’d done nothing but eat those promises.
They hadn’t even seen a single hair of the City of Gold.
To be honest, after drifting through the sky for three months and eating Sky Fish for two of them, even Rocks was beginning to lose his patience.
If he’d known the City of Gold would be this difficult to find, he might as well have gone straight to robbing the Heavenly Tribute.
At least that would have been more satisfying.
These past few days, Rocks had thought more than once about ending this ridiculous journey.
He was completely fed up with eating fish every day.
Fortunately, hard work had finally paid off.
After enduring three months of hardship, they finally had something to show for it.
“Ren, are you sure you won’t be wrong this time?
If we can’t find it again…”
Rocks was excited, but there was also a hint of nervousness in his voice.
He was genuinely afraid that this would turn out to be another wild goose chase.
“Hahahaha!
Relax.
There’s absolutely no mistake this time!
I told you before—we’re destined to find the City of Gold!”
Ren laughed confidently.
The pirate ship sped across the White-White Sea high above the clouds.
Fifteen minutes later, the outline of an island appeared in everyone’s field of vision.
“Oh my god!
Th-that…
that’s actually an island!”
Brown Bear Little Bear cried out in shock.
“My heavens!
Every Sky Island we’ve passed so far has been built on clouds, but this one is actually made of land!”
Black Bear Big Bear was equally stunned.
“Could that be Jaya, the island that was sent into the sky by the Knock Up Stream?”
Rocks was similarly astonished.
He hadn’t expected it to actually be real.
Another fifteen minutes later, the pirate ship entered the interior of God’s Island and anchored near the altar beside an inland river.
Under Ren’s guidance, the four of them hurried toward the center of the island.
Not long after they left, a young knight riding a Spotted Sky Horse descended onto the deck.
“Adventurers from the Blue Sea?
And at a time like this…”
During this period, the friction between the Sky Islanders and the Shandians had been growing increasingly intense.
If nothing unexpected happened, a large-scale conflict would break out in the coming days.
At a time like this, the arrival of a third party would inevitably create countless variables.
…
…
Within a dense, gigantic primeval jungle, four figures leaped swiftly between the trees.
“What?!
The legendary City of Gold, Shandora…
the very one from the story told by the great storyteller from the North Blue, Mont Blanc Noland…
is actually real!”
“The City of Gold really exists!
And the reason it disappeared was because it was sent ten thousand meters into the sky by the Knock Up Stream!”
Along the way, the Twin Bear Brothers learned the detailed history of the island from Ren, and both were left completely dumbfounded.
“Vice-Captain, Vice-Captain, is the City of Gold really covered in gold?”
Black Bear Big Bear rubbed his hands together excitedly.
“If we exchanged all the gold in the City of Gold for honey cakes…”
Brown Bear Little Bear wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.
Just as the Twin Bear Brothers were indulging in their beautiful fantasies, Rocks, who was walking at the front, suddenly frowned.
Whoosh!
Whoosh, whoosh!
A series of sounds tore through the air.
A squad of knights clad in silver-white armor appeared before the four of them, blocking their path.
“Who are you?”
“Beyond this point lies the Forbidden Land of God!
You are not permitted to enter!”
“Are you the vanguard of the Shandia?”
The Sky Island Divine Soldiers shouted one after another.
“Get out of the way!”
Rocks had no intention of wasting a single word.
The City of Gold was right in front of him.
Anyone who stood in his way would be blasted away.
BOOM!
The supreme-grade great sword Eclipse was wrapped in black lightning.
With a single slash, the path ahead was cleared.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Rocks continued swinging his blade, carving a path forward and crushing every group that attempted to stop them.
Some were Divine Soldiers from the Sky Island side.
Others were Shandian scout squads that had come to investigate the situation.
It didn’t matter who they were.
Rocks treated them all exactly the same, ruthlessly sending every last one flying.
Meanwhile, Ren wasn’t idle either.
He took the opportunity to use the Sky Islanders and Shandians as practice targets, remotely unleashing Divine Judgment and sniping squads that had yet to approach.
The Sky Islanders and Shandians had been fighting a guerrilla war across God’s Island for several months.
Yet the casualties they had suffered combined over all those months were nothing compared to what happened during these short ten-odd minutes.
“Retreat!
The Sky Islanders have powerful reinforcements!
Fall back for now and regroup!”
The Shandians issued an order to withdraw.
“Damn those Shandians!
Where did they find such monsters?
They’re completely impossible to fight!
Notify the Divine Soldiers and withdraw to Angel Island!”
The current ruler of the Sky Island also made a decisive choice and ordered a retreat.
And so, through this beautiful misunderstanding, the conflict between the Sky Islanders and the Shandians that had continued for nearly half a year was abruptly forced to a halt.
Both sides, almost in perfect unison, withdrew from the dangerous and crisis-ridden God’s Island.
The entire island became Ren and the others’ territory.
At that moment, the only person who knew the truth of what had happened, the young knight Gan Fall, could only stare blankly.
“That…
actually worked?!”
…
…
As for the conflict between the Sky Islanders and the Shandians, the four members of Ren’s group had no desire to get involved.
At this moment, after breaking through layer upon layer of blockades, they had finally reached the very center of the island.
A gigantic beanstalk stretched across the land before them.
Beneath their feet were the soft remnants of Island Clouds.
“Gold!
Gold!”
Rocks and the Twin Bear Brothers searched through the ruins one place after another.
Yet they found absolutely nothing.
“Where’s all the gold we were promised?”
The three of them looked as though someone had poured a bucket of cold water over their heads.
“Don’t rush!
The gold is right beneath your feet!”
Ren pointed toward the sky with one hand and declared confidently.
Crack!
Thunder suddenly exploded through the clear sky.
A bolt of lightning as thick as a barrel descended from the heavens and struck the Island Cloud ruins beneath the four of them.
Crack, crack!
Countless crisscrossing cracks spread outward.
Then, accompanied by a thunderous boom, the Island Cloud ground split open.
In an instant, dazzling golden light burst forth, so brilliant that they could barely keep their eyes open.
At long last—
After being sealed away for more than three hundred and fifty years, the legendary City of Gold, Shandora, finally saw the light of day once more!!!