Killing for the Sword

Bai Xiaowen's words did not sway Matsuura Shin Kuro.

"That useless Ma Ye! To deal with Yu Dayou, I even sacrificed my vital energy, offering thirty-six months of my lifespan to the divine artifact! Yet he couldn't even handle Fujian without Yu Dayou. Qi Jiguang's continued absence disrupted my plans to plunder Zhejiang."

Matsuura Shin Kuro slowly said, "You are useless subordinates, and naturally you are all good-for-nothings. Go back and tell Ma Ye that if he wants to maintain the honor of the Matsuura Clan samurai, he should die a glorious death in battle."

Makita was momentarily at a loss for words.

Bai Xiaowen said, "Lord Shin Kuro is sending us back to our deaths."

Matsuura Shin Kuro sneered, "Your existence is just a waste of food."

"Very well, since Lord Shin Kuro is unwilling to provide aid, Lord Ma Ye must have no chance of survival," Bai Xiaowen said leisurely. "We will not go back to our deaths. If Lord Shin Kuro is unwilling to accept us, then we will have no choice but to establish our own independent force. Perhaps next time we meet, we will be qualified to stand on equal footing with Lord Shin Kuro."

Matsuura Shin Kuro, who had a very high opinion of himself, frowned slightly upon hearing Bai Xiaowen's words.

Matsuura Shisuke, the deputy standing beside him, stopped Shin Kuro and whispered something in his ear. Matsuura Shin Kuro's expression Transformation slightly, and he looked Bai Xiaowen over again. "Setting up your own power, you stray dogs have quite the nerve. However, I doubt whether you have the corresponding strength. I can agree to temporarily take you in. But in five days, I will attack Ningbo, and you will have to accompany the army then. Let me see what you're capable of."

Bai Xiaowen nodded. "I will definitely give Lord Shin Kuro a surprise."

After Bai Xiaowen and his group left, Matsuura Shin Kuro turned to Matsuura Shisuke: "What is your intention in advising me to accept them?"

Matsuura Shisuke, wearing a tall hat and waving a paper fan, looked less like a Wokou Pirates and more like a cunning strategist. He smiled and said, "My lord, if what these Ming people say is true, then Lord Ma Ye is probably in grave danger. The head of the clan's proposed strategy of advancing on both overt and covert fronts will also fail. In my opinion, it would be better to keep these Ming people and let them take Ma Ye's place."

Matsuura Shin Kuro snorted, "You overestimate them. Ma Ye has several thousand men under his command, far more than these mere hundred or two lackeys."

Matsuura Shisuke said, "Lord Ma Ye has grown to that size through a long period of development. It is also fortunate that Lord Ma Ye disguised himself as a Ming person that he was able to more easily win over other Ming pirates to work for him. This person in front of us is a Ming person himself, isn't he a very good pawn?"

After a pause, Matsuura Shisuke said, "In the battle five days from now, let's observe the performance of these Ming soldiers. If they perform well, we can appropriately support this force and continue the head of the clan's two-pronged strategy."

Matsuura Shin Kuro gave a soft hum, which was taken as agreement with Matsuura Shisuke's suggestion.

On this side, Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi left Matsuura Shin Kuro's quarters, where two Wokou Pirates servants came and led them to demarcate their encampment.

The encampment that Matsuura Shin Kuro assigned to these two hundred "stray dogs" was quite ordinary, with no support on any side and a full 100 meters away from the outer perimeter of the Wokou Pirates camp. As a result, the movements of these two hundred personal guards were under the surveillance of the Wokou Pirates under Matsuura Shin Kuro's command.

"It seems that Shin Kuro doesn't trust us very much," Li Shuyi said.

"That's normal. If he had taken in those two hundred men, I would have suspected he had ulterior motives," Bai Xiaowen said with a smile. "Actually, it's a good thing he did."

"We're all being monitored, it's so restrictive, what's so good about that?"

"I mean, it's good that the garrisons are separated. Although I can trust the loyalty of these personal guards who have been ordered to disguise themselves as pirates, their behavior is still different from the real desperados under Ye Mazi. If they are mixed together, they will inevitably come into contact with other Wokou Pirates, and they will inevitably give themselves away," Bai Xiaowen said.

Li Shuyi nodded, and then said:

"I've roughly observed the Wokou Pirates camp. The inner circle has nearly a thousand Elite Tier Wokou Pirates, while the outer circle has several thousand more Wokou Pirates servants. How can we kill Shin Kuro while under the protection of so many Wokou Pirates?"

"Killing Shin Kuro on this island is an impossible task—a BOSS with stealth abilities is very difficult to deal with, not to mention that the other party doesn't completely trust us," Bai Xiaowen said confidently.

A boss that can turn invisible will definitely have a very high priority for its invisibility skill, which Bai Xiaowen's Mental Scan couldn't detect.

At Jinghai University, upon entering the first level of the Trial Space, the Boss Tier of the third ship, Grego, was an invisible boss. Bai Xiaowen dealt with him easily, mainly because Grego wasn't very intelligent, and due to the rules of the Trial Space, he couldn't leave the small area at the bow of the ship. This allowed Bai Xiaowen to use the "hand in hand, marching in step" tactic to catch him and defeat him easily.

Li Shuyi caught Bai Xiaowen's unspoken meaning. "You want to deal with Shin Kuro outside the island?"

"Yes, this is the only possible route. Before we went to the island, I instructed Makita to use the pretext of seeking help for Ye Mazi to ask Shin Kuro to go to Kinmen by sea. This would have greatly increased our chances. But I didn't expect Shin Kuro to be so heartless, not caring about Ye Mazi's life or death."

"What do you think about Shin Kuro's statement that he will attack Ningbo in five days? In five days, we will have already left the Jiajing Plane World. Is there any way to extend our time in the Jiajing Plane World?" Li Shuyi asked.

"Extending our stay is basically impossible," Bai Xiaowen shook his head. "Only by starting the subsequent main quest can we extend our stay. We're currently doing side quests, and the main quest Choice have already been made, so there's no possibility of starting the subsequent main quest."

"What should we do then... That's it! We can have Matsuura Shin Kuro attack Ningbo ahead of schedule!" Li Shuyi's eyes suddenly lit up. "Matsuura Shin Kuro is waiting five days before attacking Ningbo, so he must have some preparations that aren't finished yet. If we get involved and complete those preparations ahead of time, wouldn't we be able to move up the date of our attack on Ningbo?"

Bai Xiaowen nodded in approval. "That's good, a good idea."

Venturing into the Spirit Realm to discover its benefits often requires awakened individuals to create opportunities themselves. Awakened individuals who lack flexibility will experience very slow growth.

The Spirit Realm Plane isn't a fixed computer game where you just do whatever the NPCs say. Shin Kuro said he'd attack Ningbo in five days, but if the time is right, he might send troops tomorrow or the day after. Li Shuyi's plan is highly feasible, and while helping with the preparations, she can also uncover some small tasks. They might not be very lucrative, but every little bit helps.

The fact that Li Shuyi could think of this shows that she has already become a mature and awakened person.

After settling his personal guards at their encampment, Bai Xiaowen then sent a message through the Wokou Pirates Makita, inquiring whether he could contribute to the preliminary preparations for the attack on Ningbo.

Matsuura Shin Kuro quickly agreed and assigned Bai Xiaowen a task.

[Mission: Destroy the Fortifications (Elite Tier)]

[Mission Objective: Destroy the Xiashiling Shaxiling city along the coast of Ningbo Prefecture and dismantle at least four beacon towers along the route.]

[Mission Difficulty: A-Tier]

[Mission Deadline: 72 hours]

[Task Reward: Unknown]

The mission was accomplished, but neither Li Shuyi nor Bai Xiaowen showed any relief.

Because this task... is impossible to complete!

Bai Xiaowen is currently disguised as a pirate under Ye Mazi's command, stationed in the territory of the Wokou Pirates Shin Kuro. The "Matsuura Clan Samurai Token" itself serves as a token. That's why Bai Xiaowen was able to receive Shin Kuro's mission.

However, Bai Xiaowen has joined the Anti-Pirate Ming Army Faction, and that will not change. If he attacks the Ming Army's fortifications, his reputation will inevitably collapse.

Even though Bai Xiaowen has risen to the esteemed level and completed the main quest, so he doesn't have to worry about his reputation dropping, the Ming Army soldiers on those two ships aren't fools. How could they possibly follow Bai Xiaowen to plunder Great Ming territory? They were ordered by "Hu Zongxian" to impersonate Wokou Pirates, but that doesn't mean they were real Wokou Pirates.

In order not to arouse Matsuura Shin Kuro's suspicion, Bai Xiaowen readily accepted the task.

Back home, Li Shuyi was somewhat dejected. "I underestimated things. I thought preparations would just involve gathering supplies and distributing weapons..."

Bai Xiaowen smiled and comforted her, saying, "Don't be self-deprecating; being able to think independently is already quite good."

"What should we do now? We've already accepted the mission, and to avoid arousing Matsuura Shin Kuro's suspicion, we have to go all the way to Ningbo... It will probably take two days to get there and Ningbo! In other words, because of my suggestion, we'll waste at least two days on the road before we can get back to Penghu Main Island..."

Even if they don't attack Ningbo, they still need to make a show of going to sea. But to avoid arousing suspicion, they can't return early either; if the voyage is less than two days, Shin Kuro will definitely know that Bai Xiaowen and the others didn't go to Ningbo to carry out their mission.

"Who says it's a waste of time? I need a reason to go to sea," Bai Xiaowen laughed. "Alright, let's get ready and set sail."

After Bai Xiaowen readily accepted the task, Shin Kuro valued Bai Xiaowen much more. One obvious sign was that he personally saw Bai Xiaowen off at sea, and his words were quite polite, giving the impression of someone who was arrogant at first but respectful later.

However, three days later, Bai Xiaowen returned, bringing news of the mission's failure.

Bai Xiaowen not only failed to capture the Shaxiling city of Ningbo, but also failed to destroy a single beacon tower, failing to even complete the minimum requirements of the mission.

Shin Kuro's anger was palpable; he cursed Bai Xiaowen as "useless" and "pig," and even refused to allow Bai Xiaowen to continue stationing on Penghu Main Island, demanding that he be driven out of his territory.

However, Shin Kuro quickly changed his mind, retracted his previous statement, and allowed Bai Xiaowen's troops to remain on Penghu Island.

"I'll let it slide this time and give you another chance to prove yourself. There are two days left until the scheduled date. Once I've completed my preparations, I will officially launch the attack on Ningbo. I hope that the strength you demonstrate then will earn back my respect!"

Bai Xiaowen thanked him repeatedly, her attitude humble.

After Bai Xiaowen left, Matsuura Shisuke said, "It seems these Ming pirates are not very strong, so they are no longer worth supporting."

Matsuura Shin Kuro sneered, "I never agreed with these stray dogs from the start. If they were truly capable, why would they have fled in such a sorry state, even losing their Boss Tier? However, I have my reasons for keeping them here. During the final assault, they will be the vanguard, cannon fodder to wear down the Ming Army's muskets and arrows!"

Matsuura Shisuke gently fanned himself with his fan and chuckled, "You're quite right, sir. By driving the Ming people to a war of attrition, we can minimize our losses. However, since these Ming people have alerted us, should we still attempt to attack Ningbo Prefecture in two days?"

Matsuura Shin Kuro said, "No, I already have a new target. However, I don't need to be so clear with these people, just in case the information leaks out."

"Your military strategy is increasingly admirable, sir. Now that you have some free time, I wonder if you would be willing to play a game with me?"

Matsuura Shin Kuro readily agreed, and the two set up the chessboard and began their game.

However, before the game of chess was even finished, the door to the quarters was pushed open, and a Wokou Pirates servant cried out in a panic, "Lord Shin Kuro, Lord Shisuke, something terrible has happened!"

"What's wrong?"

Matsuura Shin Kuro, engrossed in his game of Go, glared at the servant with obvious displeasure.

"Maeda- kun has been killed! And there's a riot outside the camp..."

Matsuura Shin Kuro's expression changed slightly, and he stood up abruptly. "Maeda? Who did this?"

The servant shook his head, indicating he didn't know.

Matsuura Shin Kuro rushed over and grabbed him by the collar. "Where's my sword? Is my treasured sword still here?!"

The servant continued to shake his head. Matsuura Shin Kuro abandoned the Wokou Pirates servant and rushed out of the dormitory in a panic.

Matsuura Shisuke was standing nearby, hurriedly followed.

Upon arriving at the dormitory where Maeda had been murdered, Matsuura Shin Kuro could only find a mangled corpse; his prized sword was nowhere to be found. He was furious.

"Could it have been done by those Ming people?" Matsuura Shisuke asked in a low voice.

"Quickly, search the Ming people's encampments for the murderer!" Shin Kuro shouted.

At this moment, the commotion outside the Wokou Pirates camp grew louder and louder. A group of Wokou Pirates servants, led by several Elite Tier ronin samurai, rushed over. As soon as they saw Shin Kuro, they shouted, "My lord! Those Ming people suddenly boarded the ship and sailed away!"

"Baka! You're just going to watch them walk away?" Shin Kuro slapped him across the face.

The ronin samurai who had been slapped didn't dare cover his face, taking the slap head-on, and said, "Sir, the servants on the outer ring also tried to stop these Ming people, but dozens of them died. The Ming people fought their way through, boarded the ship, and left!"

"They killed my trusted confidant and stole my treasured sword! This is an insult to me!" Matsuura Shin Kuro said through gritted teeth. "Chase them!"