At sunrise.
The red tide at Red Tide Port had gradually receded, leaving only the warm rosy light spilling across the sea in a sheet of pale golden yellow.
The docks had already grown busy early in the morning.
With the Righteous-Demonic War growing fiercer by the day, trade routes cut off and sea lanes unstable, business should, in theory, have been out of the question.
Yet the greater the wind and waves, the more expensive the fish.
With resources of all kinds skyrocketing in price under the current circumstances, completing even a single deal brought unusually high profits.
Thus, as one of the nearby transportation hubs, several merchant ships berthed at Red Tide Port had impatiently set off for various destinations early that morning.
A small merchant ship bearing an Azure Flower emblem had quietly stopped there amid the bustle.
It looked ready to set sail, yet its unhurried manner gave it an almost leisurely air.
Below the ship, an old man was speaking carefully to a young man with a waxen-yellow complexion.
"This ship is quite fast, but its long-distance capabilities are poor. We generally use it only for short-distance transport for Langya Mountain."
"It's eight hundred li from Red Tide Port to Langya Mountain. We should arrive in roughly half a day."
"I've already contacted them. Once you arrive, an elder of my clan will get in touch with you and arrange a ship to Giant Whale Port."
"However, the trade routes of my Langya Mountain caravan only extend as far as Giant Whale Port of the Azure Sea Alliance. If you want to go to the Ten Thousand Immortals Society, you'll have to find another way then."
The hunched young man listened attentively, not missing the slightest detail.
From time to time, he even asked a