Early the next morning, Pan Long escorted the Qionghua Pavilion party aboard a ship bound for Guangling.
On the way there, they had needed to watch the wind and currents and steer clear of reefs. The return trip was much easier. A fair wind kept the sails full, and they could sail straight through deep water without worrying about hidden reefs or losing their way.
As an old sailor aboard put it, he had sailed the Southern Sea for over thirty years, and this was the first time in his life he had seen such smooth sailing.
On the way there, they had proceeded cautiously and taken twelve or thirteen days to reach Gold Sand Bay on the eastern side of the Southern Sea from Guangling. On the way back, they made it from Gold Sand Bay to Guangling City in less than seven days!
After reaching Guangling, Pan Long said goodbye to the Qionghua Pavilion party and rode the wind away. He flew all the way to Yi Province in one stretch and arrived at the Dragon-Slaying Treasure.
He told the Wenchao Afterimage everything that had happened recently and asked Wen Chao what he made of it.
"Great Xia really is on the brink of collapse. Every kind of trouble is coming out of the woodwork," Wen Chao sighed. "I thought Zhao Luonan's Reform might ease some of the tensions. But it had barely begun before he suffered such a serious injury."
"His injuries have nearly healed," Pan Long said.
Wen Chao shook his head. "The point of that battle at Mid-Autumn wasn't how badly Zhao Luonan was hurt. It was that his long-standing image of invincibility was shattered. Of course, we all knew that, as a junior True Person, he couldn't match the veteran masters. But being beaten