After returning to Divine Wind Island, Chen Ming outwardly carried on as usual, cultivating, handling affairs, and training the vanguard every day, as though the attack on Jade Wave Island had been nothing more than an insignificant interlude.
But those who knew him well understood that beneath the Island Master's calm lay a hidden current.
Liu Qingqing was settled into the island's finest meditation chamber to recuperate. Chen Ming personally prepared healing pills for her and assigned two maids to attend her closely. Several times, Liu Qingqing tried to cut her recovery short and return to her duties, but Chen Ming turned her back every time.
"An injury to the sinews or bones takes a hundred days to heal. Yours may only be flesh wounds, but you still can't be careless." Chen Ming's tone brooked no argument. "The island can manage without one pair of hands for now. Rest and recover. We'll discuss it once you're fully healed."
Knowing she could not sway him, Liu Qingqing could only obediently lie back down.
During this time, Chen Ming secretly set several things in motion.
First, he sent Zhao Tie Zhu to Tianxing City in secret, under the pretext of "buying medicinal herbs," to gather information. Tianxing City was the intelligence hub of the Chaotic Star Sea, where traces of every faction's movements could be found. If someone had hired assassins to attack Liu Qingqing, they could not possibly have left no trace at all.
Second, he had Feng Wuying temporarily withdraw from Black Wind Island and investigate the backgrounds of Jade Wave Island's personnel instead. Although Liu Qingqing had decided on her itinerary at short notice that day, few people knew she would take that narrow path. If it had not been a coincidence, someone within Jade Wave Island must have