Tang San raised his cup and drained it.
Dai Mubai and the others raised their cups one after another. Before fifteen minutes had passed, Oscar slumped onto the table. Ma Hongjun cursed the strength of the liquor, then slid beneath his chair.
Outside the dining cabin, all was quiet for a moment.
Haider pushed the Gate open and entered, the warmth gone from his face. Eight sailors followed him, each holding a crossbow tipped with a ghostly blue bolt.
"Land Soul Masters can be as powerful as they like. At sea, they still have to follow the sea's rules."
He walked up to Tang San and reached for the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges.
A strand of the Blue Silver Emperor suddenly wrapped around his wrist.
Haider's pupils contracted. Tang San had already lifted his head, his eyes clear, without a trace of drunkenness.
"The paralytic poison in the wine came from a Blue-Ringed Octopus, mixed with three spices." Tang San pinched the rim of his cup. "You masked the smell well, but heat brings a thin film of oil to the surface. Use cold wine next time."
Haider sprang backward.
More than a dozen crossbow bolts fired at once.
The Blue Silver Emperor burst through the gaps in the floorboards and wove a semicircle across the dining cabin. The bolts struck the vines. Just as the poison began to spread, Tang San's right arm turned into a blur. He entered the Brief Void State and passed through the rain of arrows.
He struck Haider in the chest with his palm, sending the force of Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon through his body. Haider crashed through the cabin Gate and landed on the deck, where Dai Mubai's tiger paw clamped down on his shoulder.
Two sailors lunged at Ning Rongrong from a side