Chixinzi was very familiar with the various forces in the East Sea. Because of his past life as a pirate, he knew the distribution of various forces in the East Sea and the details of these forces.
"The environment overseas is even more complex than within the Great You Kingdom. There are numerous forces both inside and outside the Divine Wind Kingdom, the Yanlong Kingdom, and the Fuyu Kingdom. These maritime kingdoms near the coast have developed ports and trade with the Great You Dynasty, making them extremely prosperous. As for the alien races beyond the far seas, which are known to the world as the Seven Overseas Races, in addition to these, there are also powerful forces such as the 'Three Great Merchant Guilds and the Four Island Heroes.'"
Chixinzi described in detail some of the sights and things from overseas.
"While the landscape overseas is certainly different from that of the Central Plains, it is not a true paradise. The sea is indeed vast, but various forces are intertwined and mixed together, scheming against each other and constantly fighting... Heh heh, I must say, at least in this respect, the overseas is indeed not as orderly as the Great You Dynasty."
" The Great You Dynasty has been secretly suppressing the local cultivation world. In the outer seas, weak, Rogue Cultivator and cultivation Aristocratic Clan can act without restraint, but once they encounter powerful enemies or accidentally offend someone from a certain force, their entire family will be wiped out in an instant."
"After all, the cultivation world in the outer seas has few constraints and concerns, and they act recklessly, following the Principle of the jungle. Moreover, although there are many cultivators overseas, many of them practice external methods. Blood sacrifice is commonplace, and it is not uncommon for them to use living people to refine their techniques. Some powerful forces also specifically capture cultivators to serve as their own cultivation slaves in order to mine, explore unknown seas, and capture exotic beasts."
According to him, various overseas cultivation forces like to keep slaves. They organize large slave-hunting groups, partly to capture mortals to populate the population, and partly to hunt down cultivators.
Overseas, human resources are an extremely important resource, and the buying and selling of people is very active, especially monks, who are the most expensive type of slave.
"Cultivation slaves are mainly servants of Rogue Cultivator. Overseas, the more powerful a cultivator is, the more cultivation slaves they have. This is a trend overseas. In addition to captured prisoners, many of these cultivation slaves are people who voluntarily seek refuge with powerful cultivators and are willing to become their slaves."
Seeing He Ping's seemingly dismissive expression, Chixinzi quickly issued a warning.
"Junior brother, most of these slave cultivators are cultivators who haven't entered the true path and can't enter the Dao. But don't underestimate them. Do you remember that Crimson Refining Snake Lord? He couldn't beat you back then, so he planned to fight you to the death, forcibly entering the Dao and detonating the abnormal power within his body. Overseas, those slave cultivators who have been imprisoned by great cultivators are the same. They are controlled by others, and often, at their master's command, they will also detonate the abnormal power within their bodies, choosing to perish together. One slave cultivator is nothing, but if dozens or hundreds of slave cultivators do this at the same time, even a Dao-entering expert will be humiliated!"
He Ping frowned upon hearing this. Indeed, this was a typical "Allahu Akbar" tactic. One or two slaves were insignificant, but when their numbers were piled up, they could trigger a qualitative change. Hundreds of people would "self-destruct" together, transforming into aberrant mutants that would be difficult to resist no matter how powerful one was.
Next, Chixinzi talked about some overseas affairs, He Ping listened carefully and recorded all the information.
He Ping made preparations to set off the next day. He first traveled in Paper Sedan to Dongli Circuit in a secret manner.
He didn't waste any time on the Dongli Circuit, heading almost straight for the largest port city in Dongli.
The scorching sun hung high in the sky, its blazing light blinding. A white line of light rolled up from the pale blue sea, crashing against the black rocks, the splashing water shooting high before disappearing back into the surrounding waves.
He Ping was standing in the harbor filled with the smell of fish. The gray-yellow pebble beach on the shore of the harbor had been transformed into a simple dock, with thick wooden stakes driven into the shallow water and a long wooden bridge built on the side.
He looked out over the waves beyond the harbor, where flocks of seagulls were flying overhead, and fishing boats, ocean-going vessels, and merchant ships of all sizes appeared in front of the harbor docks, with hundreds of ships moored here every day.
This port is a gathering place for fishermen from the surrounding area and merchants from all over the world. The port market is packed with goods and crowds of people, making the bustling street very lively.
If you look closely, you'll find that most of the crowd consists of locals dressed in the attire of the Great You Kingdom, as well as a few red-haired Great Xiye Kingdom. They are all gathered in front of the stalls, pointing and gesturing, or negotiating prices with the stall owners.
Wealthy merchants are often accompanied by dark-skinned Kunlun slaves. Seafarers from the three kingdoms of Divine Wind, Yanlong, and Fuyu are also common, as are merchants from the Niduso Kingdom south along the coastline of the North Sea, seeking business opportunities here.
The seagull swooped down to the sea and then rose again, a fish with shimmering silver scales in its beak. He Ping glanced at the seagull, smiled slightly, turned around, pressed his hand on the hilt of the longsword at his waist, and draped the whisk over his shoulder.
He was dressed in a Daoist robe with an iron hairpin in his hair, clearly a Daoist priest. He had a rugged face, a bushy beard, and a powerful gait, making him look more like a warrior than a Daoist.
The Great You Dynasty experienced three exterminations of Daoism and four exterminations of Buddhism. Daoist temples and monasteries were devastated, and Buddhist temples were deserted. However, compared to the extermination of Buddhism, the You Dynasty still spared some incense money for the Daoist sect and did not go all out. Apart from the Three Primordials, the three lineages of Mysterious Dao, Hidden Dao, and Wondrous Dao Qi in the cultivation world were still within the Great You territory, but they did not appear in the world.
In addition, there is another lineage of Daoism that has emerged into the world, called Pure Heart Dao. The lineage of Daoist priests in this school is quite special. Its source comes from a book called Long Gate Scripture. This book is not the orthodox method of entering the Tao. It only promotes purity and non-action. Accumulating virtue and doing good deeds can lead to immortality. It also incorporates a lot of Confucian ethics and morality, as well as Buddhist doctrines of cause and effect.
The Daoist priests of Pure Heart Dao rarely practice Daoist arts; instead, they mostly practice martial arts. Before the founding of the Great You Dynasty, the world was frequently in turmoil. Among the many soldiers under the first Emperor You, there was a team led by several Daoist priests of Pure Heart Dao, who made great contributions to the Great You Dynasty.
This led to successive Emperor You of the Great You Dynasty showing exceptional favor to the Pure Heart Dao. While many Daoist temples in the Yujing City fell into disrepair, the Pure Heart Dao temples grew larger and larger, attracting many worshippers on a daily basis. The Pure Heart Dao also had many temples in various places, all built with funds allocated by the imperial family, receiving annual funding, making it a special case.
For this reason, nine out of ten wandering Daoist priests are from the Pure Heart Dao. If you are not Pure Heart Temple priest from the Suxin Temple and do not have an ordination certificate, you are most likely a charlatan who has shamanized himself without authorization. If caught by government officials, you can be beaten to death on the spot.
The Flying Fish Sect Master, Daoist Chi Ling, whom He Ping befriended in Suian City, was a Daoist from the Pure Heart Dao sect.
Currently, He Ping is also disguised as a disciple of the Pure Heart Dao. Among the Daoists of the Pure Heart Temple, there are several groups who do not cultivate Daoism but only practice martial arts and often travel around the martial arts world. Some of them are quite famous in the chivalrous world.
He Ping is now playing such a role; he needs to take a boat to sea and also needs a disguised identity.
For him, this identity should not be too conspicuous, nor too inconspicuous, lest it attract the attention of some people with ulterior motives and cause unnecessary trouble.
Dressed like a Daoist priest from Su Xin Dao, with a sword on his waist, he looks like a martial artist who practices swordsmanship, is proficient in martial arts, and often walks on the rivers and lakes. At least a junior like Xianxiao would not deliberately provoke such a person.
"There are many people who go overseas to make a living and earn money, including many Jianghu people from Dongli Circuit. In particular, Jianghu people have money and weapons, and they mostly do business that involves risking their lives. My identity Pure Heart Temple is just right. It is conspicuous but not eye-catching, and at least it will not cause any extra trouble or complications!"
He swaggered onto the wooden bridge and boarded a large ship. The ship was enormous, entirely vermilion, with small black and red pavilions at the bow and stern. Many sailors and dockworkers were carrying cargo on and off the ship.
He Ping examined the ship carefully and found that its shape was similar to that of the Fujian ships of the Song and Yuan dynasties. The ship was flat on top and sharp on the bottom, making it extremely resistant to wind and waves. When he went up to the deck, he was greeted by crew members from the merchant ship.
"This Daoist priest, could he be the Mo Wenmo?"
"That's right. I've booked a seat on your ship. With so much cargo, will I even have room to stay?"
He Ping glanced at the large ship and knew that it was a typical merchant and passenger ship, carrying both cargo and passengers out to sea.
"Please rest assured, Daoist Master."
The crew on that ship were very clever.
"You booked it just a few days ago, how could we dare to neglect our distinguished guest? Your accommodation has been arranged perfectly. We've taken your money, how could we not do our job? You booked a VIP room in the stern deck, which was cleaned yesterday. Even if we had to throw away the cargo on the ship, we wouldn't dare to take your place, Master Dao."
"That's good!"
He Ping casually tipped the sailor some loose silver, and the sailor was overjoyed. Knowing that he had encountered a generous guest, he became even more attentive and led him to a guest room in the third-floor stern tower.
This merchant ship was one he had ordered a few days ago. After investigation, he found that its background and foundation were very clean. It belonged to a small coastal chamber of commerce called " Baocanghong," which was a well-known name in the industry.
This small business association, named " Baocanghong," was organized by a few wealthy overseas merchants. Naturally, it couldn't compare to the three major overseas business associations, but it was still quite powerful and had good connections with officials.
"Next, we'll take a boat to Flying Ray Island Flying Ray Island. Chixinzi has a treasure trove there, and it's no ordinary place. Inside, there's a key ingredient that can be used to craft the Three Corpses Secret Demon Puppet. Once we retrieve it, we can use it to craft one of the Three Corpse Demons, the Azure Corpse."
The Three Corpses Secret Demon Puppet is an extremely powerful puppet technique within the Immortal Puppet Sect. During its refinement, it requires the collection of malevolent forces from the world to create three puppets: the Green Corpse, the White Corpse, and the Red Corpse. However, the refinement process is extremely tedious and complex, with the required materials alone taking a great deal of time. Chixinzi collected numerous heavenly materials and earthly treasures overseas and spent many years, but he only managed to find the main material for refining the Green Corpse.
"Even a Dao-entering expert would be no match for a Three Corpse Puppet once it's been refined. However, those in the Immortal Puppet Sect who can refine the Three Corpses have definitely broken through to the Dao-entering realm. Among the Three Corpses, the Green Corpse is the easiest to refine, the White Corpse has an extremely low success rate, and the Red Corpse is not something to be easily refined without Dao-entering cultivation. However, even if one only obtains a Green Corpse, the Three Corpses Secret Demon Puppet is extraordinary. Its use in combat is unpredictable and has many wonderful applications!"
If He Ping were to refine the Three Corpses Secret Demon Puppet himself, just gathering the materials would take forever. Fortunately, with Chixinzi's treasures, he saved himself a lot of hard work. Thinking of this, he felt a rare sense of gratitude towards his senior brother.
As He Ping was thinking this, he was sitting cross-legged on the bed in his room on the stern tower. The ship had not yet set sail. He closed the door, closed his eyes, and sat cross-legged, using both his mind and body to work. He was thinking at the same time, silently practicing, eliminating distracting thoughts, and entering a state of tranquility and introspection.
Just then, he heard an argument coming from another room on the stern tower.