Inside the study of the Crown Prince's Crown Prince's Eastern Palace in the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
Just as Qian Renxue placed the folding fan on the table, a molting eagle fluttered down outside the window.
She tore off the small sheepskin scroll tied to the eagle's claws, glanced at it by the candlelight, and that usually flawless face turned ashen with anger. She crushed the teacup in her hand into pieces with a "crack"!
"You damned bastard... you stupid stray dog!"
Qian Renxue Crunch her teeth, her chest heaving violently. The crooked handwriting made with charcoal sticks made her vision blur.
"Everyone has obtained the Divine Slaughter's Domain, and the spoils have been divided. Now, Ling Yun intends to lead his men to Vast Sea City to rob Sea God Island as pirates... Your lives are still at stake, make a decision quickly!"
Sea God Island!
What kind of place is that?! Decades ago, the former Pope Qian Xunji led two renowned Titled Douluo and a full two thousand skilled fighters across the sea, only to lose two Title Elders and have all the two thousand tough guys rot at the bottom of the trench, returning in disgrace! Since then, the Spirit Hall has regarded it as an unspeakable forbidden zone!
These peasants, they just trampled the Slaughter City like a mud puddle, and now they're turning around and running off to Sea God Island to "scramble for scraps"?!
Does Ling Yun think he has nine lives, or does he think that man-eating sea is just a broken basin for washing his feet in his backyard?!
"Send a message to the Spirit Hall in Vast Sea City!" Qian Renxue swept away the shards of porcelain on the table, her eyes flashing with murderous intent. "Tell their archbishop to open his eyes wider! If those bandits dare to show their faces at the docks, don't confront them head-on, but secretly leak information to the local pirate leader... Since they want to go to sea and become dead ghosts, find someone ruthless and sink them all into the trench to feed the turtles!!"
Twenty days later, in the southwestern region, in the Vast Sea City.
The damp sea breeze, carrying the scent of salty ribbonfish, swirled with coarse white sand, creeping along the wide road straight into people's collars.
This is the westernmost seaport of the Heaven Dou Empire, connected to the boundless sea. Among the people walking on the streets and sitting in the taverns, seven out of ten are sea Haozi with bare arms and covered in dark blue tattoos, carrying daggers that have been used to cut up fishing nets at their waists, and their mouths are full of vulgar curses.
At the entrance to the dilapidated wooden pier at the West Wharf, a group of hooligan bachelors were gathered, watching the spectacle.
"Hey young man, going into the sea?"
A withered, thin man with a brass tooth in his mouth stood in front of Ling Yun and the others, his Xiao Lu eyes darting incessantly over the Agarwood box in Ning Rongrong's arms, drool practically dripping down his chin.
"I'm not bragging, brother, but of all the more than two hundred ships in this Hanhai City, our 'Sea Wolf Gang's' Black Whirlwind is the most resilient! For just three thousand gold soul coins, we guarantee to get you safely to the deep sea! If you're short on cash... your wooden box will do as payment!"
Several pirate henchmen carrying large curved swords followed behind, jeering and laughing, their steps spreading out, clearly intending to openly force a sale by force.
Ling Yun wore a tattered straw hat on his head, his hands were in his short jacket pockets, and he didn't even glance at the brass-toothed man.
He turned his head and glanced at Ning Rongrong beside him. "Rongrong, he's asking you for Sanqian gold coins."
Ning Rongrong didn't even bother to take out an abacus. Instead, she pulled out a dried sea urchin shell from her small cloth bag, kicked the tattered straw sandals with her toe, and pouted with the disdain of an expert.
"You want Sanqian gold coins from me with a rickety raft that hasn't even been properly coated with preservative oil? Did your Sea Wolf Gang eat salted fish last night and ruin your brains?"
Ning Rongrong raised her chin and pointed with her slender white finger at a large, three-masted black ship moored in a deep-water berth in the distance:
"The ship has a three-zhang (approximately 10 meters) draft, a solid keel, and flies a black shark flag. Four heavy crossbows are mounted on either side of the deck. That's the real deal, capable of sailing the open sea. You rotten bastard, you're clearly trying to lure us out to sea, then stab us in the back halfway."
The fake smile on the man with the brass Axew immediately crumbled.
He'd been swindling and cheating people at this run-down dock for over a decade; he'd never encountered a rich girl who could Detect right through him at a glance.
"Damn it! You shameless brat!"
Brass Teeth spat on the ground, his face hardening. He pulled out the blood-grooved water-splitting dagger from his waist. "Since you understand, you're not leaving today! Leave your suitcases and all your valuables on the pier! Throw the men into the sea to feed the fish, and the women..."
He hadn't even finished his rant.
Ling Yun didn't even take his hands out of his pockets; he simply tapped the sole of his right shoe lightly against the moss-covered, rotten wooden stake beneath him.
Buzz--!
A chilling, bone-deep killing intent, devoid of any trace of life, swept across the ground along the cracks in the rotten wooden pier like a sharpened iron razor!
Divine Slaughter's Domain!
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Those dozen or so burly men who were just shouting and yelling didn't even raise their knives above their shoulders. They felt the air around them suddenly freeze into solid ice in the dead of winter, and a fierce aura emanating from a pile of dead bodies choked them right in the throat!
His two leg bones trembled uncontrollably as if they had been pulled out of their sockets, and he couldn't even manage a howl. A dozen or so men knelt on the wet, rotten wooden planks, their eyes gleaming with a deathly gray, and their crotches were soaked with sweat!
The gust of cold wind forced the brass tooth to Crunch on the spot, blood streaming from its mouth. It collapsed to the ground like a noodle, smeared with snot and tears. "Kill... killer god... Grandfather, spare my life!!"
"A spineless bastard that makes a lot of noise, but its bones are softer than rotten seaweed."
Ling Yun stepped over the head of the man with the brass teeth, and walked forward on the creaking wooden boardwalk, his eyes fixed on the huge vessel in the deep water.
It was a large three-masted ship covered entirely in thick iron sheet, with black shark tooth flags flying on both sides. A black iron dragon head with a grinning mouth was carved on the bow, rising and falling with the waves, which was very eye-catching.
That was the Sea Wolf Gang's most prized possession—the "Black Dragon."
Ling Yun led Dai Mubai and the others swaggering up the gangplank onto the Pinsir.
Seven or eight old pirates on deck, who were drinking cheap, spicy liquor and playing dominoes, had just drawn their short knives when Dai Mubai them twice across the face, sending blood and teeth flying. Tai Long grabbed one by the back of his collar and threw him into the icy sea, splashing around and clearing the deck clean in the blink of an eye.
A one-eyed, bearded man stumbled out of the captain's cabin. Just as his hand reached for the short flintlock pistol at his waist, Ling Yun flicked his finger, and a thin, high-pressure water jet, as fine as a horsehair, slicing past his chin and severing the large gold earring hanging below his right ear!
The gold earring clattered onto the wooden board, a thin line of blood appeared on the neck of the one-eyed bearded man, and he instantly froze into a piece of rotten wood.
Ling Yun, hands in his pockets, strolled over to the bearded man, kicked the gold earring that had fallen to the ground with his toe, his eyelids drooping, and slowly opened his mouth:
"Are you the head shrew on this ship?"
The bearded man swallowed hard, cold sweat dripping from his stubble-covered chin onto the ground. He cried out in a trembling voice, "I... I'm the vice-leader of the Sea Wolf Gang... no, no, I'm a stinking stray dog! Sir, whatever toll you want, I'll give it to you, I'll sell everything I own! Just spare my worthless life!"
Who cares about your little bit of money?
Ling Yun patted the hard, thick sheet metal on the ship's side, grinned, and his thuggish, bandit-like tone carried far on the sea breeze:
"This ship is well-built, with a heavy keel, and can hold a lot of cargo. I just happen to need a black boat for transportation, so I'm requisitioning it."
The bearded man nearly choked on his breath, crying out, "Sir! This ship is a prized possession that our leader smuggled from the Spirit Hall for a full 30,000 Gold Soul Coin! You... you didn't even pay a deposit, this breaks the old rules of the sea!"
"Rule?"
Ling Yun glanced at him sideways, pointed his thumb behind him, and said, "Those blind bastards under your command pulled out knives and Astonish these two young ladies behind me on the wooden bridge. I'll be generous and use that money to pay for your lousy boat."
Ning Rongrong, familiar with the place, rushed forward, her little abacus clicking away furiously. She chimed in crisply, "Vice Chief, according to the Heaven Dou Law, pulling out a knife in the street to scare innocent civilians incurs a fine of 32,000 gold coins for emotional distress! Your shabby boat is worth at most 30,000, so you still owe us 2,000!"
The bearded man stared blankly, his head buzzing with confusion.
They stole my massive iron ship, and now I have to pay them two thousand Gold Soul Coin?!
"Stop talking nonsense."
Ling Yun gestured with his chin at Tai Long and the fat man. "Clean the deck thoroughly, and make sure you count all the dried bacon, wheat, and good wine in the hold. If you miss a jar, you can make up for it with this bearded man's hide. As for you bunch of sea dogs..."
Ling Yun looked down at the unfortunate souls kneeling on the deck, a row of gleaming white teeth flashing from his lips:
"All of you, get to the hold and row the big oars and hoist the sails. Anyone who dares to Slack Off or try to cheat, I'll chop them up and hang them on the bow to fish for big sharks in the sea."
The bearded man didn't dare utter a sound. He led a group of bruised and swollen old pirates, tumbling and crawling into the dark hold, where he gritted his teeth and desperately hauled up the iron anchor.
The heavy iron anchor burst through the water with a loud crash, and the large black and white sails fluttered wildly in the sea breeze.
"Weigh anchor!"
Ma Hongjun climbed up to the top of the watchtower and let out a loud howl in his hoarse voice.
This large black ship, which had just changed hands, turned its massive black iron dragon head around, smashed through huge white waves, and, carrying Blue Tyrant and his gang of arrogant bandits, roared towards the legendary dead land left behind by the gods at the end of the deep sea, charging headlong into it.