Chapter Sixty-One: Enemies Meet on a Narrow Road, Revenge Brooks No Delay

The date was now the sixth day of the first month, in the fortieth year of the Shaozhi era. The biting northern wind still held dominion over the entire Eastern Sea.

A dense, icy fog drifted lazily southward along the coast of the Great Zhao, and had any bird chanced to stray into it, it would have been startled out of its wits, for concealed deep within the mist sailed two ships in single file.

These were the Azure Garb and the Zhang Fushun, both under Wang Cheng’s command.

Now that he possessed more than one vessel, his title of “captain of the fleet” was finally deserved. Wang Cheng felt fortunate he had expanded his crew to over thirty men in advance; otherwise, he would never have been able to sail both ships home.

Of course, this meant they could not maintain the three-shift rotation they once had on the Ziying; now, with just enough for one shift, they had no choice but to anchor and rest at night.

The flock of damselfish they’d tamed earlier had not accompanied Wang Cheng. Their only purpose was logistics—remaining near the deserted island to tend sea urchins was work enough; there was no need for them to risk their lives at sea. With the example set by “Gulu,” the damselfish who had become a spirit by gorging on monkey-brain urchins, the rest were now eager—after all, they could exchange seaweed for urchins, a deal they found most generous.

Next time Wang Cheng returned, he would likely reap an even greater harvest.

As for Gao Ren, the interpreter still adrift at sea, Wang Cheng had used the Four Seas Universal Coin to forcibly purchase his memories upon awakening, setting the stage for his next move with this man, whose fate was to slay his superiors.

“Senior Brother Wang, we made it back safely. As you instructed, we cleaned every trace of monkey hair from the ship, and encountered no further danger on the way. Uncle has hidden us for now at a private harbor somewhere in the Pinghu Archipelago. He also told Shushu that since we left, Yue Harbor has been plagued by strange disturbances—no one has found the source yet. He advises Shushu to remain in hiding for a while, to master the Han family’s secret arts before returning to help. Senior Brother Wang, won’t you join us? Shushu still hasn’t properly thanked you for saving her life.”

Before Wang Cheng, a thin trail of incense rose from the burner dedicated to the Sea Goddess, weaving three feet above into the delicate, timid face of Han Shushu. Her cheerful voice chattered out from the smoke.

They had made contact immediately after escaping danger, using the miraculous message incense to exchange news and confirm their safety.

Wang Cheng learned that apart from the Tailfin Shadowless, the Han Xingfa now also possessed a newly installed warding artifact, the Dragon Eye: the Dragon Horse’s Path. Though they could only navigate by the star-officer at sea, with these dragon eyes aboard, they would always find their way home—just as they had come, so they could return.

Thanks to this treasure, they had escaped with their lives.

Everyone aboard the Han Xingfa owed their survival to Wang Cheng and was full of gratitude. That he had then escaped unscathed from the pursuit of a warship only added to his legend, and cries of “Fourth Lord, mighty indeed!” rang out.

Han Shushu’s trust in Wang Cheng soared; she now spoke of him as if he were not only a true senior brother, but a blood kin.

After all, how many real relatives can endure life and death, keeping their word unto death itself? Especially for a brother and sister by chance rather than blood?

In a word: reliable.

And this, even though they did not yet know he had, in turn, captured a warship.

If they found out, who could say how many would beg to join him?

But when Han Shushu invited him, Wang Cheng did not immediately accept.

“Junior Sister Han, we won’t impose. The Zhang Fushun has its own destination.”

Other than assuring his master of his safety and reporting his achievements, Wang Cheng had told no one else. For now, he preferred to keep the Azure Garb, his trump card, secret for as long as possible.

As the saying goes: the investigation of a disappearance is nothing like that of a murder. The warship had been thoroughly cleaned, so much so that even General Sun Xiong, who issued the pursuit order, would have no idea where his precious ship had gone. At a critical moment, it might just serve to strike a blow at his enemies.

For now, the Azure Garb needed more crew. Wang Cheng planned to visit the Zhang brothers’ Tanka clan and recruit, aiming to fill the standard complement of nearly two hundred. He also intended to seek the pearl diver Ashao to verify information about the Dragon Lineage.

“Very well, Senior Brother Wang, take care. Another day, we’ll drink together in celebration. Uncle asked me to tell you: if you need anything—gold, silver, antiques, artifacts—so long as the Han family can manage it, we will do our utmost. In a few days, I’ll copy the household accounts for you—don’t be shy with my uncles and elders!”

With those generous words, Han Shushu regretfully extinguished the precious message incense.

Wang Cheng felt a pang of sympathy for the Han brothers and their loose-lipped little sister, but his thoughts turned to the news she’d revealed.

“It’s been almost a month since I left Yue Harbor. Even with Master’s intervention, those gentry won’t have given up so easily. Disturbances in Yue Harbor? What underhanded trick are they up to now? If it was simply to drive out the Wufeng Banner and seize the treasure trove that is Yue Harbor, would they really use such a double-edged sword? Losing a thousand to hurt the enemy by eight hundred is the least of it. Strange indeed!”

With so little information, Wang Cheng could not yet unravel their schemes. But he was confident that, having warned them of Pu Shouying’s traitorous agents, the situation in Yue Harbor could hold for a while.

For now, he would proceed step by step, focusing on his own affairs.

“First, I’ll find Ashao—the only surviving pearl diver I know from the Great Southern Pearl Harvest—and see if she can shed any light. I need to confirm whether the fall of so many maritime heroes in recent years is really tied to the Dragon Lineage. Then, I’ll prepare for the investiture ceremony with all my strength.”

Of particular note, he had already honored his promise en route, discreetly donning a disguise to visit Citong Harbor and bury the ashes of Borjigin Daichin there. Though Citong was no longer under the Yunmeng Empire, and the Borjigin golden clan had retreated to the steppe two centuries before, never to return…

No, that wasn’t quite right!

Suddenly, Wang Cheng realized that perhaps things were not so absolute.

“I wonder if, in this world, the Borjigin clan might not become another illustrious surname—like the Borjigit—one day reclaiming their place in Cathay under a new guise?”

As Wang Cheng pondered the future of this world, the lookout in the fighting top suddenly shouted down to the deck:

“Captain, there’s a merchant ship ahead, heading toward us! The flag’s that of the Xie Trading House. Xie He himself is aboard—I saw that scoundrel at the standoff in Yue Harbor, I’d know him even if he turned to ash!”

Wang Cheng’s spirits lifted. He raised his brass telescope at once.

Indeed, he saw Xie He, the gentry’s mouthpiece whose doom Wang Cheng had long since decreed.

“So we meet again. I’d meant to trouble you only after my investiture, but here you are, coming to me instead. No wonder my fortune from selling nearly two hundred Japanese captives via the Four Seas Universal Coin hasn’t yet arrived. It seems fate intended it for this moment. I dared not act when I hadn’t seized a warship; now that I have, how can I hesitate? Otherwise, what was the point?”

To hesitate now would be a disservice to the warship beneath his feet.

Thus, Wang Cheng gave the Azure Garb her first order in battle:

“Open fire! No quarter!”

...

Aboard the merchant ship, Xie He, dressed in a lavish white fox-fur coat, stepped onto the deck for air. As an ordinary man without office or rank, he noticed nothing strange about the fog ahead.

“How cold! Even Minzhou’s capital has seen snow this winter—unheard of. Yet Pu Shouying insists I use trade as cover to capture the temple keepers of Lady Yan scattered among the ship shrines, to interrogate the whereabouts of that flood dragon’s true form. Am I, young master of the Xie family, nothing but an errand boy? Such blasphemy—and you won’t do it yourself, but send me?”

He sipped the qinghong wine his pretty, flirtatious page had poured, grumbling to himself about the tasks Pu Shouying had assigned.

He had lived through the Xie family’s golden age—back then, even deigning to glance at Pu Shouying was a courtesy. Now, the tiger fallen from grace, he had to obey that foreign merchant like a dog—charge when told, draw fire when ordered, the restoration of his house a distant dream.

All this, he blamed on the Wang family of the Water Lords.

He ground his teeth daily: “That wretch—who knows where he’s run? We’ve searched all Yue Harbor in secret, no sign. And that meddling scholar Wang Fugui—none of the Wangs are good! Pu Shouying claimed he’d sent his agents to deal with Wang Fugui before the New Year—has it happened or not? Always boasting, yet not a word since. Useless…”

Boom! Boom! Boom!...

Thunderous cannon fire shattered the air. Xie He looked up in horror to see five or six blazing iron balls arcing through the mist.

One shot raked the open deck, obliterating the handsome, coquettish page at his side in a spray of blood.