The setting sun blazed like fire, setting dozens of miles of coastline aflame.
Leading their warhorses, the Seventy-Two Braves filed aboard the two three-masted ships Wang Cheng had sent and set sail!
Yang Ge stood at the stern, gazing at South Sand Bay as it receded into the twilight. For one fleeting moment, he seemed to see countless indistinct figures on the golden beach, waving to him as though wishing him a safe voyage...
He pressed his lips together, then smiled and waved back.
Just then, a young pirate approached quietly behind Yang Ge, bowed, and saluted with clasped hands. "Second Master, our chief has prepared a feast in the captain's cabin for all you heroes. Please do us the honor of joining us!"
Yang Ge turned around. "Let's go!"
The young pirate stepped aside and gestured for Yang Ge to proceed. "I'll show you the way, Second Master."
On the shore.
A hundred or so weather-beaten men and women of the martial world watched the two three-masted ships slowly disappear into the fiery red horizon. Every face sagged with an indescribable sense of loss.
"This is all your fault! I kept saying last night that we should turn in early so we could get an early start today, but you just had to keep drinking. Happy now? We missed them!"
"Weren't you the one who said we should arrive right before the Second Master and the others departed, so he'd have a harder time refusing us?"
"If you ask me, it's all that bastard Yang Tiansheng of the Bright Cult's fault. He led us around in circles in Zhoushan..."
"Right, blame that bastard Yang Tiansheng! Hogging the whole meal himself-hope it gives him the runs..."
"All right, enough from you lot. Why wouldn't the Second Master let you