On the churning sea, more than a dozen small swift boats blocked the merchant ship's path. Each boat carried five or six burly men armed with weapons.
At their head stood a tall, lean man with wild hair and scars all over his body.
"Boss Hai, are you really going to protect that Xia family brat today?"
The tall man's left eye was covered by a black eyepatch. His exposed right eye fixed on the bearded, burly man standing at the front of the merchant ship's deck, filled with a vicious killing intent.
"Back then, when I was in trouble, it was the Xia family's old clan leader who saved me," Boss Hai said solemnly.
"Now that the Xia family has been wiped out, I don't have what it takes to avenge the old clan leader. But if I can't even protect his only surviving bloodline, then I might as well stop calling myself a man."
As he spoke, he raised the Ghost Head Blade in his hand and pointed it at the pirate leader. "Boss Dulong, if you want money, you can have all the cargo on this ship. I'll even sell the ship to make up the difference. But if you want a person, then you'll have to ask whether this blade of mine agrees."
"So there's nothing to discuss."
Boss Dulong suddenly barked, "Brothers, kill!"
At once, the sails of the dozen-odd swift boats unfurled. Carrying sixty or seventy pirates, they sped toward the merchant ship. Boss Dulong, at their head, leaped off his boat and charged straight across the waves toward the merchant ship.
"Brothers, get the young master out of here first. Leave this to me!" Boss Hai roared. He leaped off the merchant ship as well, first sweeping his blade to send several streaks of sword energy slashing toward the swift boats, then charging at One-Eyed Dragon.
"Anyone who shelters the Xia Clan remnants will die today!" Suddenly, an enormous boom crashed down like thunder.
A gigantic Azure Eagle plunged from the sky.
Two people stood on the eagle's back. One of them tossed a stone down toward the merchant ship.
As it fell, the stone kept growing. In the blink of an eye, it had become a boulder about ten zhang across, hurtling down from the sky with a roar like a falling meteor, straight toward the merchant ship's second-deck cabin.
"Are those brothers from the Shang Clan?" Boss Hai's expression changed. "Uncle Mo Er, protect the young master!"
"Got it. Take care of yourself!" As the middle-aged man's voice rang out from inside the cabin, an open umbrella glimmering with green light rose up to shield the merchant ship from above.
Boom!
The boulder slammed into the umbrella. The resulting shockwave sent the merchant ship below lurching so violently that it nearly plunged into the sea.
Inside the cabin, the middle-aged man's face turned pale. He took a deep breath before finally steadying the True Essence churning inside him.
"Young master, take this Breath-Holding Talisman. I'll have Little White take you away through the sea." The middle-aged man shoved a Dao Talisman into the hands of the young Xia Jie, then dragged him out of the cabin and onto the deck.
Just then, another tremendous boom sounded above the merchant ship. The True Essence that had only just settled inside the middle-aged man could take no more, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Uncle Mo Er!" Xia Jie cried out.
"I'm fine." The middle-aged man wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Boss Hai and I will hold them off here. Just hold on to Little White and don't worry about anything else. It'll take you to Jade Dragon City."
"Okay." Xia Jie knew that he would only hold them back if he stayed.
He followed the middle-aged man to the stern, where a demon beast resembling a white whale was already waiting.
"Go!" The middle-aged man shoved Xia Jie off the ship. The white whale leaped out of the sea and caught him in midair, letting him sit astride its back.
Boom!
Another tremendous crash sounded from above. The umbrella protecting the merchant ship had reached its limit. Several huge tears burst open in its canopy, and its green light was completely scattered. It fell from the sky.
Xia Jie twisted around on the back of the white whale and saw Uncle Mo Er spitting blood, yet still raising his hand to send two flying swords toward the boulder magical treasure in the sky.
"You bastards from the Shang Clan! You wiped out my whole family for the sake of an Earth Fire Vein, and now you're still trying to kill every last one of us!"
Hatred surged through Xia Jie's heart like a flood. His two bloodshot eyes fixed on the two Xiantian Lifeforms on the Azure Eagle's back.
He knew them both. The one who had thrown the boulder was Shang Li. The other had a sneer on his lips and watched everything in silence: Shang Ren, the two sons of that old scoundrel Shang Youde.
He had even called them uncles before.
Yet these two uncles had been so vicious and frenzied when slaughtering the Xia Clan.
His mother and elder brother, his younger brothers and sisters—all had been crushed to pulp by Shang Li's boulder magical treasure.
"As long as I, Xia Jie, survive today, I'll pay the Shang Clan back a hundred, a thousand times over!" Xia Jie bit his lip hard, clutching the white whale demon beast beneath him as he took one last look behind him.
Just then—
A towering, broad warship parted the waves and swept over from afar.
The ship carried ranks of soldiers clad in blue armor, each of them radiating an imposing aura, their eyes bright with spiritual light.
Surrounded by the soldiers was a tall, lean young man clad in black armor.
He wore no helmet. His short black hair made him look sharp and alert, and his eyes flashed like lightning as he coldly watched the slaughter below.
He was a Xiantian Lifeform of the Jade Dragon Army's First Squad, on his way from Jade Dragon City to take up a post on Crouching Ox Island overseas.
"Daring to plunder ships near Jade Dragon City! Shangguan Yun, Shangguan Yu, lead your men into battle!" Zhou Hao ordered. "Kill all the Xiantian Lifeforms among the pirates. Capture those at the Post-Heaven realm and take them to Crouching Ox Island to mine."
"Understood!" Shangguan Yun shouted. "First Squad, brothers, form the 'Flood Dragon Flying Sky Formation'!"
"Yes!"
The runes on the Green Jade Dragon Armor worn by the twenty-five Xiantian Lifeforms led by the Shangguan siblings suddenly lit up.
Countless runes, driven by their Xiantian True Essence, coalesced into a green flood dragon in midair. With a rush, it burst from the warship and flew toward the merchant ship below.
The Shang brothers spotted the Jade Dragon Army's Puppet Warship bearing down in such a grand display at once.
Shang Li's expression changed drastically. "Big brother, it's the Xiantian Battalion of Jade Dragon City's Green Flood Dragon Army! What do we do?"
"What can we do? Leave first!" Shang Ren said sharply.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't within Jade Dragon City's sphere of influence. But whenever the Xiantian Battalion went out to sea and encountered pirates attacking a merchant ship along the way, they always killed them without a word.
He didn't think much of ordinary Xiantian Lifeforms, but once they gathered in sufficient numbers and joined forces, they became a formidable force.
Besides, would a warship capable of carrying more than a hundred Green Flood Dragon Army soldiers through the sky really have no Purple Mansion Cultivator aboard?
The Shang brothers couldn't afford to keep pursuing the Xia Clan remnants now. After all, nothing mattered more than their own lives.
Flap! Flap!
The great demon Azure Eagle beat its wings frantically, trying to speed away. Just then, a green flood dragon flew out from the warship.
Before the dragon even reached them, two long ribbons shot from its mouth. Like a pair of long whiskers, they wound toward the great demon Azure Eagle.
They were Shangguan Yu's magical treasure, the Flowing Cloud Ribbon.
Snap! Snap!
The eagle's wings were instantly ensnared. The immense force of the tightening ribbons even began tearing the skin beneath its feathers.
"A Dao Soldier Formation?" Shang Ren's expression darkened further. He raised his hand and released a flying boat, then pulled Shang Li onto it.
He was actually prepared to abandon the great demon Azure Eagle and flee on the flying boat.
"A Purple Mansion Cultivator?" Zhou Hao's eyes lit up aboard the warship. "The Shang Clan's eldest has actually entered the Purple Mansion?"
This was his first time leading a squad overseas, so naturally he had first familiarized himself with the forces on the islands around the sea surrounding Jade Dragon City.
While the warship was still far off, Zhou Hao's keen spiritual sense had detected a fluctuation of magical power over here. With a sweep of his divine sense, he had heard the entire exchange between Boss Hai and the pirate leader One-Eyed Dragon, and learned who both sides were.
The Shang Clan and the Xia Clan were based on a large island a hundred thousand li from Jade Dragon City. Because the low-lying land between them was submerged beneath the sea, what remained above water were two islands shaped like horses. Hence, they were called Twin Horse Island.
The Shang Clan on Shangma Island and the Xia Clan on Xiama Island were forces no weaker than the several great hegemonic clans of the Great Wild Plains. Each had several Purple Mansion Cultivators, and their clan leaders had reached the peak of the Purple Mansion realm, making them no weaker than the Green Flood Dragon Army's two deputy generals.
The Shang Clan's old clan leader, Shang Youde, and the Xia Clan's old clan leader, Xia Yi, were collectively known as the "Virtuous and Accomplished Pair."
According to the Green Flood Dragon Army's intelligence reports, the Xia Clan's old clan leader, Xia Yi, was an honorable man who often helped the weak and had an excellent reputation.
But that man Shang Youde was a complete hypocrite. Not only did he secretly work with pirate forces, but his merchant ships also played both sides, often making a business of taking without paying.
Shang Youde had five sons. Shamelessly, he had named them after the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith—Shang Ren, Shang Li, and so on. In reality, they were all scoundrels who never did good and committed every evil under the sun.
The intelligence reports said that all five Shang brothers were Xiantian Lifeforms. But the flying boat Shang Ren had released was clearly a Human-Rank Magical Treasure, something only a Purple Mansion Cultivator could refine and control. Zhou Hao hadn't known that Shang Ren had entered the Purple Mansion realm.
"Commander, should we have the two Venerables step in?" asked Vice Commander Hu Yong beside him.
Besides the soldiers of their Fifth Squad, True Person Muxuan had also sent two Purple Mansion Cultivators from the City Lord's Mansion's Hall of Venerables to accompany the ship and take up a post on Crouching Ox Island.
"No need."
Thinking of those two Venerables, one was a rogue cultivator who was so conceited that he practically kept his nostrils pointed at the sky in front of their Xiantian Lifeforms, while the other was aloof—but so aloof he seemed like a block of wood.
Zhou Hao shook his head with a smile. "Just have the two Venerables steer the warship."
"All soldiers, heed my command! Form ranks! We'll wipe out the pirates with me!"
They had spent five days training in the Dao Soldier Formation. Now that they'd run into a Purple Mansion Cultivator, it was the perfect chance to sharpen the troops through real combat.
Besides, wouldn't it be better for their own men to take action and share the spoils among all the brothers?
Why enrich outsiders?
Zhou Hao glanced at Hu Yong.
He seemed like a pretty sharp fellow. Had too many trips to the Emerald Cloud Pavilion made him soft in the head...
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