Across the vast, boundless sea, a two-masted ship sailed on. A flock of seabirds circled it, occasionally crying out and adding a little clamor to the tranquil waters.
On deck, Wang Qing was playing with Wang Ping. Relying on his nimble body, he teased Wang Ping every so often, provoking Wang Ping into chasing him and trying to hit him. Laughter drifted through the air. When Wang Ping finally caught him, Wang Qing began begging for mercy. In the end, he called out toward the sea, "Guiwu!"
A sea turtle five feet across surfaced, its fierce head emerging from the water. It raised its head toward Wang Qing, who suddenly jumped off the ship with Wang Ping in his arms and landed steadily on its shell. The turtle carried them on a circuit around the ship. Wang Qing then climbed back aboard with Wang Ping and returned to the cabin to change out of their soaking clothes.
"Wang Qing, did you take Wang Ping into the water again? There are plenty of demonic beasts at sea. Don't go into the water whenever you please!"
"All right, all right, Second Senior Brother. It won't happen again."
Liu Yu looked helplessly at the two of them. For a moment, he did not know what to say and could only turn toward Zhao Yi.
Zhao Yi glanced at them and said, "Wang Ping, go back to writing your Daoist script. Once we return to Linghua Island, you must write out the True Explanation of the Fubo Daoist Script from memory without missing a single word!"
With that, he went back to reading.
Wang Ping's shoulders immediately slumped. Looking thoroughly aggrieved, he went aside and began reading.
Wang Qing gave an awkward smile and ran over to polish swords with Li Hai.
Every cultivator on Linghua Island had come along on this trip to Little Wave Island. Attending the Trade Fair was secondary; more importantly, they had something big to do.
After returning, Zhao Yi had told Liu Yu about the attack on Kongqing Island that he and Li Hai had discussed.
Although Liu Yu disagreed, Zhao Yi insisted, leaving him no choice but to force Zhao Yi to promise that they would retreat promptly if things proved impossible. With that, Linghua Island's internal resolution was considered passed.
Zhao Yi now eagerly hoped that Kongqing Island's cultivators would attend the Trade Fair. It would be the perfect chance to do a little business on their island.
Kongqing Island grew both spirit rice and refined rice. It also raised a swarm of spirit bees that produced some spirit honey every year. This honey was no ordinary substance. Consuming it could soften the meridians and speed up the opening of the greater and lesser celestial circuit meridians, giving cultivators a twenty-percent increase in cultivation efficiency.
Kongqing Island's honey had always been in high demand at the Trade Fair. It was practically snapped up the moment it appeared. Thanks to this specialty, Kongqing Island had firmly held a place among the ten strongest islands in the Yunsha Sea Region.
Now, though, that was no longer so certain.
Upon reaching Little Wave Island, Zhao Yi, Li Hai, and Wang Ping stayed aboard. Only Liu Yu and Wang Qing disembarked to attend the Trade Fair. Wang Qing's other task was to watch Kongqing Island's ship. Zhao Yi had already told him what Kongqing Island's flag looked like, and Wang Qing needed to direct Guiwu to hide beneath its hull.
They also had to wait aboard for Black Wind Island's cultivators. They had promised a generous gift of thanks. If they did not deliver it, was Zhao Yi supposed to go knocking on their door to demand it? Black Wind Island produced many Dharma Weapons and was renowned throughout the Yunsha Sea Region for forging them. Supposedly, it could even forge magical artifacts!
After waiting in vain all afternoon, they still saw no sign of Black Wind Island's cultivators. When Wang Qing returned, he mentioned that Black Wind Island had not come this year. Zhao Yi thought it over and found that reasonable. With only those few cultivators left, attending and letting others discover their true situation would only make life harder. They were better off staying away. The various islands did not attend every year, either.
Late that night, Zhao Yi was meditating and regulating his breathing when Wang Qing knocked outside, saying that a cultivator from Peach Blossom Island had come to visit.
Somewhat puzzled, Zhao Yi nevertheless rose at once to welcome the visitor. Entering the ship's reception room, he was surprised to find Junior Sister Liu, whom he had not seen in years. Liu Yu was keeping her company and chatting nearby. Seeing Zhao Yi arrive, he rose and excused himself.
A brief sense of her aura revealed that Junior Sister Liu had also reached great completion of meridian opening.
After exchanging greetings and catching up, Junior Sister Liu brought out the items entrusted to her by Black Wind Island. Zhao Yi accepted them with a smile, making no attempt to decline. By the lamplight, he noticed that Junior Sister Liu was dressed as a married woman, her hair arranged in a married woman's bun.
Concealing his surprise, Zhao Yi said with a smile, "I've been so occupied with arduous cultivation that I never even learned when you married, Junior Sister. That was truly my fault!"
Now a married woman, Junior Sister Liu carried herself with dignity and propriety. She smiled faintly. "Knowing how busy you were with cultivation, my husband and I did not notify you, Senior Brother!"
"Haha, in that case, I shall make up for the wedding gift. But whom did you marry, Junior Sister?"
"You happen to know him, Senior Brother."
"Hmm?" Zhao Yi thought for a moment. Apart from Senior Liu, he did not know anyone else on Peach Blossom Island.
Seeing his confusion, Junior Sister Liu stopped keeping him in suspense.
"My husband is Yuan Zifeng, an elder of Black Wind Island!"
Zhao Yi was dumbstruck.
"Well! Well! Well! That truly is a surprise!" Zhao Yi hurriedly said with a smile, masking his expression.
"Zifeng and I have known each other since childhood-we are truly the dearest of friends! Not even telling me was really too much!"
"My husband knew that you devoted yourself to cultivation, Senior Brother Zhao, so he did not notify you. Before I came, he also asked me to convey his apologies!"
"Mm, that was thoughtful of him. Ah, how did he become an elder of Black Wind Island?"
"Black Wind Island is in a time of crisis now. Apart from the island lord, Zifeng is the only one capable of shouldering such responsibility."
Junior Sister Liu sighed.
Seeing this, Zhao Yi did not know what to say. He rose and went into the back, then brought something out and placed it on the table. Under the lamplight, it proved to be a token inscribed with the two characters for "Linghua"!
"This token was left by my master. With it, you can come to Linghua Island to seek help! Consider it my gift to you and your husband!"
"When you return, tell Zifeng that the situation in the Cloudsand Archipelago is treacherous and unpredictable. He must not be the bird that sticks its head out. Live cautiously!"
Junior Sister Liu carefully put away the token, bowed solemnly, and rose to take her leave.
After seeing Junior Sister Liu out, Zhao Yi smiled a moment later, shook his head, and went back to meditating.
"Love between men and women is not my desire; Linghua's survival is what I seek!"
His voice scattered on the wind.
Reading next door, Liu Yu seemed to hear something. He smiled and continued reading.
On October 27, Fubo Pavilion's merchant ship arrived at Little Wave Island. Liu Yu took Wang Qing aboard. This time, Linghua Island wanted to buy a spirit plant farmer's inheritance so they could cultivate spirit medicine better. Unfortunately, things did not go as hoped. Such an inheritance cost around a hundred spirit stones, exceeding Zhao Yi's estimate, so they could only abandon the idea!
They bought everything else, including a pair of Mother-and-Child Conches and a pair of Voice-Transmitting Conches. Mother-and-Child Conches were wondrous spirit beasts. Leave the mother conch in one place and hold the child conch in your hand, and within a hundred li, the tip of the child conch's tail would always point toward the mother. They were exceptionally useful tools for finding the way. As for the Voice-Transmitting Conches, with each person holding one to their ear, they could hear transmitted voices within ten li.
Zhao Yi planned to give the mother conch to Wang Qing after buying the pair and have him hide it inside Guiwu's shell. Guiwu would then follow Kongqing Island's ship, while Zhao Yi and the others sailed behind, following the child conch's directions. In truth, Zhao Yi's group did not know the sea route to Kongqing Island.
On the afternoon of October 27, Kongqing Island's ship departed. Two hours later, the Linghua also left port.
Days at sea were always exceedingly dull. Wang Ping was a perfect example. When he first boarded, he had been brimming with excitement, finding everything novel. After a few days, he could stand it no longer. Now he stayed in his room diligently studying Daoist script, without even needing his senior brothers to prod him.
On October 28, the child conch continued pointing the way. Old Wu, who steered the ship, kept his eyes on the tip of its tail, ready to turn the rudder at any moment.
October 29...
October 30...
November 1...
On November 2, the child conch's tail finally stopped turning and held a fixed direction. Old Wu immediately informed Zhao Yi, who told him to keep sailing forward. An hour later, Liu Yu, on deck, ordered them to stop advancing and sail to the left instead. Before long, they reached a deserted island. Zhao Yi had them drop anchor there and arranged for Old Wu to wait for their return.
Dressed entirely in black, their heads and faces covered, the four of them sailed toward Kongqing Island in a single-masted boat.
Only after four hours did the small boat reach Kongqing Island. They looked at the lighthouse in the distant harbor and the two-masted ship moored there.
"Wang Qing, call Guiwu back. Have him carry the two of us. We'll go to Kongqing Island's two-masted ship first. Liu Yu, Li Hai, wait here. Once we've taken the ship, we'll notify you through voice transmission."
Zhao Yi gave his instructions.
Before long, a figure surfaced beside the boat. Wang Qing nodded to Zhao Yi, then crouched on Guiwu's shell. Zhao Yi followed close behind, jumping into the water and reaching out to grasp Guiwu's tail. The two men and one beast swam over.
The Clear Spirit, one of Kongqing Island's two two-masted ships.
Zhao Yi and Wang Qing poked their heads out of the water. Zhao Yi climbed aboard first.
Landing on the ship, Zhao Yi kept a careful watch. Once Wang Qing came up, they crept forward, one on either side.
A short while later, they met inside the cabin. The deck had been deserted.
Zhao Yi considered briefly, then took Wang Qing down to the hold.
As they opened the lower hold, voices indeed came from within.
"Fourth Brother, how long do we have to watch this stuff? Didn't we always transport it onto the island the same day before? Staying down in the hold is miserable!"
A young cultivator complained to the cultivator beside him.
"What's the hurry? Once the island lord and the elders finish discussing how to arrange things, we can transport it onto the island."
"All right, stop complaining. Come on, let's keep going. Having wine and meat here isn't bad!"
Hiding in a corner, Zhao Yi listened to the two cultivators and smiled to himself.
He waved at Wang Qing. Wang Qing took out his bow, nocked a Talisman Arrow, and abruptly stepped out.
Whoosh!
A Talisman Arrow shot straight toward the two men.
Boom!
With a tremendous blast, the Explosive Arrow caught them completely off guard.
"Aah!"
Screams rang out.
Like a hunting leopard, Zhao Yi shot forward to stand before them. With a light sweep of the sword in his hand, he beheaded them both.
That was right, he used a sword. He avoided using Long Ji for fear of being recognized! Against these two small fry, a sword made it just as certain a thing as grasping something already in his hand!
Wang Qing walked over. "Eldest Senior Brother, you struck so fast! I wanted to play with them a little!"
"Play, my ass!"
"Hurry up and rummage through their things. See if there's anything useful."
Wang Qing crouched down, searched the two corpses several times, and stripped them bare.
"Just this: six Essence Qi Pills, two Low-Grade Fireball Talismans, three spirit stones, and two Dharma Weapons."
Zhao Yi nodded. Even a mosquito's leg was still a scrap of meat!
"Didn't they just say they were guarding something?"
"Yes, Eldest Senior Brother! Shall we search?"
"Search for what? No searching!"
"Signal Liu Yu. We need to get onto the island quickly!"
Leaving the corpses where they lay, they went straight to the deck. Wang Qing took out a conch. "Second Senior Brother! Second Senior Brother! Everything's been dealt with. Come to the harbor at once!"
A few breaths later, Liu Yu's voice came through. "Received!"
The Voice-Transmitting Conches had been bought together with the Mother-and-Child Conches. They cost five spirit stones and could transmit messages within ten li! Buying them together with the Mother-and-Child Conches gave a discount of two spirit stones. Both pairs had cost only thirteen spirit stones altogether.
"Come on, let's go to the harbor!"
Zhao Yi and Wang Qing disembarked and headed straight for the harbor. A mortal came up to question them, but Zhao Yi knocked him unconscious and laid him on the ground. They then swept through the entire harbor, capturing several islanders. After some intimidation, Zhao Yi learned where the spirit bees were kept: in a valley on the island. To prevent mistakes, Zhao Yi specifically made an islander draw a map, then interrogated the others. Comparing the maps and finding them essentially identical, he knocked all of them unconscious.
"Eldest Senior Brother, were your ancestors bandits? You're so practiced at this!"
Wang Qing looked at Zhao Yi in amazement, praising him repeatedly.
"Even if you've never eaten pork, haven't you seen a pig run? Those miscellaneous books on the island all describe this sort of thing! Read more from now on, instead of spending every day playing with a turtle!"
Zhao Yi nagged Wang Qing a little more.
Afterward, Liu Yu and Li Hai brought the small boat into the harbor and secured its rope. The four crept onto the island, with Zhao Yi and Liu Yu in front and Wang Qing and Li Hai behind, advancing cautiously.
None of them, Zhao Yi included, had ever visited Kongqing Island, so they were unfamiliar with it. Taking the lead with an islander's hand-drawn map, Zhao Yi left the harbor and headed west.
Kongqing Island's terrain was much like Linghua Island's, high in the east and low in the west. Its cultivated land, including the spirit fields, lay in the west. Zhao Yi guessed that only one cultivator would be guarding that area.
After all, Kongqing Island was short of manpower!
From the harbor to the beekeeping valley in the west, they proceeded cautiously. They encountered islanders patrolling several times, but Zhao Yi avoided them in advance each time.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Kongqing Island really must be short-handed. They've even started using islanders to patrol! Zhao Yi thought to himself.
Before long, they reached a valley. The peaks on either side were not high, only a hundred meters or so. The entrance was roughly fifty or sixty feet wide, with no cultivators guarding it. Security seemed very lax.
Even faced with such lax defenses, Zhao Yi did not dare grow careless. He transmitted his voice to Wang Qing. "Wang Qing, take your bow and arrows and climb above the valley entrance to keep watch for the three of us!"
Wang Qing nodded to Zhao Yi, then climbed toward the summit like a gecko. A short while later, he sent word to Liu Yu that he had reached the top.
Knowing that Wang Qing was in position, Zhao Yi waved to the two behind him. Hugging the cliffs on either side of the valley, the three slowly advanced inward about ten feet above the ground!
Before long, they reached the valley's interior. Looking at the beehives scattered throughout it, Zhao Yi knew they had come to the right place. This was where the bees were kept.
Looking farther into the valley, Zhao Yi spotted a two-story bamboo house.
The bamboo house was lit. Someone was guarding the valley! That made sense; this place ought to be one of Kongqing Island's highest priorities!
Since that's the case, don't blame me for showing no mercy.
"Anyone who stands in my way dies!"
Zhao Yi said viciously.
Despite his excitement, Zhao Yi grew even more cautious, slowly approaching the bamboo house. When he was a little over a hundred feet away, there were no longer any plants ahead to conceal him. He stopped hiding and used the Lightness Technique to charge straight toward the house.
Snap!
With a faint sound, Zhao Yi felt his leg touch a thread! This is bad! he thought.
Clang!
Dong!
Crack!
A gong rang out! Mixed with other noises, its sound shook the valley!
Zhao Yi glanced back at Liu Yu and Li Hai and roared, "Stay behind me!"
As it turned out, silk threads covered the area around the bamboo house. Unable to see them clearly in the dead of night, Zhao Yi had charged recklessly through, snapping more than a dozen in succession.
For a moment, gongs clanged, bells rang, clay jars shattered, and mechanisms triggered, all sounding at once.
With those noises, never mind the valley-even the mountaintops probably knew! Zhao Yi abandoned all stealth and charged straight ahead with his head down.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Dozens of concealed arrows shot toward him. Zhao Yi did not even dodge, taking seven or eight hits. Fortunately, his Inner Armor protected him, leaving him completely unharmed.
Boom!
An explosion sounded to Zhao Yi's left, and a fireball rose.
The blast hurled Zhao Yi ten feet away!
There were even Fireball Talismans buried here!
Then the ground turned into a mire, trapping Zhao Yi and leaving him unable to move. Several vines rose and wound around him, while nine Ice Arrows came shooting at him from ahead!
Before you continue