Medical skills revealed! Yingqiong offers a reward, Li Xian asks for a beauty-and means to devour the general

The Bitter Sea's waters were turbid. Sailing against the current, they slipped backward instead of advancing. Zhao Yingqiong frowned. "At this crawling pace, the day lilies will have gone cold by the time we reach the Mad Slaughter Pirate Alliance. What are we to do? Hurry up and think of something."

Though Ke Sancai and Shi Ze were skilled in maritime affairs, neither had an idea. Gong Kuai said, "We could have the Water-Treading Horses tow us faster, but there are only enough to pull the three large ships. The smaller vessels would have to stay behind." Li Xian said, "General, I have a plan that might work." Zhao Yingqiong slapped the table in delight. "Good! Give it a try!"

Li Xian summoned the Cavaliers and had them roast the pearls plundered from the islands in a great furnace. During their time stationed at sea, they had fished, dived for shrimp, and gathered clams. The clam meat had gone into fresh soups or been dried, while the pearls had been packed into chests, ready to be sold for money once they returned to Jade City. Now Li Xian had another use for them and took them all out. After grinding them into powder, he mixed in a fragrant medicinal powder and packed it into wooden containers. He dispatched a dozen or so small boats carrying buckets to spread out toward the southeast, scattering pearl powder over the sea as they went. Before long, a layer of fine pearl dust coated the surface, carrying an unusual pearly fragrance. It gleamed brightly, a most peculiar sight.

The Cavaliers watched with aching hearts. They calculated silently: those pearls were worth a considerable sum. Each scattering cost several taels of silver, each bucket several dozen. A dozen buckets meant hundreds of taels gone. But