Treasure map

After the two left, Zhao Yi continued studying the sheet of paper carefully, then took out the treasure map originally stored in the box and compared the two.

There were indeed only thirty-seven islands on the copied nautical chart. Bamboo Sea Island, Three Heroes Island, and the like were absent, which meant the chart dated back at least fifty-odd years.

It should have been a nautical chart from the early days of the Cloudsand Archipelago's opening to seafaring.

Zhao Yi was not quite sure whether the positions of most islands and the routes drawn on the chart were accurate. But the positions of Linghua Island, Peach Blossom Island, Little Wave Island, Black Wind Island, Kongqing Island, and the like were correct, as were the routes between them.

Perhaps the chart was genuine.

If the chart was correct, then the place circled in red on the treasure map was their destination, the location of the treasure.

Zhao Yi laid the two maps together. The place circled in red lay over six hundred li west of Linghua Island.

Looking at the red mark on the nautical chart, Zhao Yi felt unsettled. His intuition told him there was something there.

Knock, knock!

A knock sounded at the door. Without raising his head, Zhao Yi said, "Come in. The door isn't closed."

Liu Yu smiled slightly in the doorway and stepped inside.

"Close the door!"

Liu Yu reached back and closed the door, came over to Zhao Yi, pulled out a chair, and sat opposite him.

"What are you studying so intently?"

"You don't know? Weren't you the one who split open the wooden box for Zheng Tong, then put it back together for her?"

"I was, but Zheng Tong pushed me out of the room before I had time to read what was on the wooden pieces. What, have you cracked the secret?"

Zhao Yi waved the nautical chart in his hand. "This is it."

Then he handed it to Liu Yu.

Liu Yu took one look and became absorbed in it.

Several dozen breaths later, Liu Yu set the chart on the table. "Senior brother, this chart should be genuine."

Zhao Yi tapped his fingers against the tabletop with a series of sharp knocks and nodded. "Go on."

"The location marked on the treasure map should be real too. It's just been so long that there's no telling whether someone else got there first."

"We'll know once we take a look."

"Senior brother, what if it's a trap aimed at us?"

"Over half a year has passed. What cultivator lying in ambush could sit there waiting for a rabbit to run into a stump? Wait that long?"

"I have a feeling that this time, I might find an opportunity to enter the Spirit Attraction Stage! I have to go!"

Zhao Yi's gaze was resolute, revealing a trace of killing intent.

Liu Yu nodded gravely. "Your Dao Path is at stake, senior brother. Even if it's a dragon's pool or a tiger's den, we have to investigate!"

Having listened since childhood to Master's tales of treasure hunts and adventures, ambushes by cultivators, infighting and turning the tables to kill, Zhao Yi and the others were all extremely cautious about exploring cultivators' cave abodes.

"In that case, let me accompany you this time, senior brother."

"No need. Wang Qing and I will go. Wang Qing will bring Guiwu, who'll be useful at sea, both as a fighting force and for diving underwater to scout the way."

"You and Li Hai stay on the mountain and take good care of our three younger junior brothers and sister."

"Senior brother..."

Liu Yu frowned at Zhao Yi.

"We'll settle on that arrangement. With you and Li Hai guarding Linghua Island, I can rest easy."

They held each other's gazes for several breaths before Liu Yu finally nodded helplessly.

"All right, then. Senior brother, go and come back soon. I'll make the arrangements. You'll set out tomorrow morning!"

"We won't use the Linghua. Just prepare a Single-Masted Ship!"

"Mm!"

Liu Yu rose and went out, paused at the door for several breaths in hesitation, then headed down the mountain to make arrangements.

There were only two cultivators at perfection of Meridian Opening and two at great completion of Meridian Opening on the mountain. Zhao Yi could not possibly take Liu Yu along. He had to leave Liu Yu and Li Hai behind to guard Linghua Island. If anything happened to him and Wang Qing, they could still protect Wang Ping and the others as they grew.

He understood this, and so did Liu Yu.

Over half a year had passed since their return from Kongqing Island. Zhao Yi's injuries had healed, and the pill toxins had been expelled. During that life-and-death crisis on Kongqing Island, his true qi had broken through the Qi Origin Gate and condensed into a unified whole. Now, all that remained was to accumulate true qi. Of the three gates of essence, qi, and spirit for spirit drawing, only his spirit origin remained unfulfilled!

Among Liu Yu and the others, Li Hai had progressed the fastest over the past six months. With the help of Essence Qi Pills and the Spirit Honey Liu Yu had found in the bamboo building, he had quickly reached great completion of Meridian Opening! Even Zhao Yi sighed with feeling. Aptitude really could leave one feeling powerless sometimes.

On the twelfth day of the seventh month, year 5498 of the Yuangguang Calendar, the breeze was gentle and the sun bright, an auspicious day for travel.

At Linghua Island's harbor, the Linghua towered over the sea, its flags fluttering in the wind.

A dozen or so small boats lay scattered about the harbor. The other boats had all gone out to fish.

Liu Yu had prepared all the supplies. With packs on their backs, Zhao Yi and Wang Qing said goodbye to everyone at the harbor.

"Senior brother, even with favorable winds and currents both ways, it'll take seven or eight days. I've prepared a month's worth of refined rice for you!"

Zhao Yi nodded and smiled. "There's no need to prepare so much. With Guiwu out at sea, we won't starve!"

Wang Qing was talking with Li Hai and the others. Hearing this, he hurriedly turned his head and said miserably, "Eldest senior brother, Guiwu is my companion. How could we eat Guiwu!"

"What are you thinking? Just have Guiwu go into the water and catch a few fish. That'll be enough for us to eat!"

"Let's go!"

Zhao Yi gave Liu Yu a few more brief instructions, telling him to keep a closer eye on the Jade Tablets in the Ancestral Hall: if a jade tablet shattered, it meant that person had died. Ignoring Liu Yu's surprise, Zhao Yi finished speaking, then he and Wang Qing boarded the boat, raised the sail, and left the harbor.

Watching the little boat leave the harbor, Liu Yu wore a smile, but deep worry lay hidden in his eyes.

Only when the boat was out of sight did Liu Yu turn around. Looking at the one older and three younger people before him, he gave a faint, rather frightening smile. "To give our senior brothers a surprise, your lessons will be doubled these next few days! Until they come back!"

"Ah!"

"I want to go with eldest senior brother! I wouldn't shrink from plunging through boiling water and treading on fire!" Wang Ping flailed his arms and was about to jump into the sea when Li Hai grabbed him, lifted him up, and thumped him against the ground twice.

"Me too!"

"Until you finish your lessons, don't even think about going anywhere!"

In an instant, Liu Yu had become the most terrifying monster in the world in the eyes of the three half-grown children.

"Li Hai, go guard Jade Pearl Island for a few days, until our senior brothers return!"

On the fourteenth day of the seventh month, after sailing for two days and two nights, the little boat finally reached the end of the route, the position marked with a circle on the treasure map. The wind was fierce and the waves high. Looking at an island on the nautical chart not far from their position, Zhao Yi decided to head there first to shelter from the wind and waves. As for whether the cultivators on the island welcomed them, he did not care.

Another half day passed before they finally reached the island. The little boat circled it, but they found no signs of people.

They did, however, discover a natural harbor. Zhao Yi steered the boat inside and dropped anchor to shelter from the wind and waves.

On the fifteenth and sixteenth days of the seventh month, fierce storms raged, and heavy rain fell without cease. Zhao Yi and Wang Qing sheltered in the harbor, quietly waiting for the storms to subside.

On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the storm stopped. The dark clouds filling the sky dispersed, sunlight spilled across the entire sea, and the waters grew calm once more.

Zhao Yi and Wang Qing first went ashore to investigate and found some traces of habitation. Zhao Yi reckoned it was a small village of a hundred people at most. Judging by how worn the objects inside were, they must have been several decades old.

"Eldest senior brother, stop wandering around. This is just an abandoned, deserted island!"

"Oh? How do you know?"

"Eldest senior brother, have you found a water source? How could anyone live here without one?"

"Heh, you're right. Wang Qing, you've improved! In that case, let's head straight for our destination!"

Seeing that they really could not find any useful information, Zhao Yi and Wang Qing sailed away.