Chapter 81: Sediment of History, Invasion of the Eastern Pirates (Seeking First Subscription!)

The instability of the feng shui array caused the dragon energy to leak, and the first place it affected was Yue Harbor.

Even while refining his techniques, Wang Cheng did not neglect to continue his cultivation through the "Offering Method." In deep meditation, he hazily sensed himself descending into a deep pool.

Instinctively flicking his head and tail, he only then realized he had neither hands nor feet.

With the help of his reflection in the calm water, he finally saw that he had turned into a great fish with the head of a dragon. More precisely, he had become an entirely fiery-red chiwen!

“What is happening?”

Looking around, he discovered he was not alone in this deep pool. It teemed with countless “kin.”

These were fishes of all sizes and fantastical appearances.

Each seemed to have absorbed a trace of dragon energy, displaying hints of divine draconic features.

Some had grown two long golden whiskers, others had a few gleaming, mottled dragon scales, and some had a mane of scarlet fur sprouting from their napes.

The little white dragon had once said, “Should I urinate in water, the fish that eat it will become dragons. Should I urinate upon mountains, the grass there will become lingzhi mushrooms, and immortals will harvest them for longevity.”

Though the dragons of this world were not quite so magical, there was no true reproductive barrier between them and other species.

Rivers, lakes, seas, stables, and cowsheds all held dragon-spawn in whose veins ran the blood of the flood dragon.

Yet no matter how dragon-like the fish around him appeared, none could compare to Wang Cheng, who had transformed into one of the nine sons of the dragon: a chiwen.

With a single thought, the illusory yet real scene responded to him:

“The dragon aspect is the manifestation of one’s own flood dragon fortune. The greater the fortune, the more pronounced the dragon aspect.”

Enlightenment dawned for Wang Cheng.

Whether it was the “Divine Aura of the Han Emperor” or the derived flood dragon energy, its essence was no different from the aura of a ruler, king, or official.

As long as you occupy a leadership role within any small hierarchy, and win the hearts of others, you’ll inevitably acquire a trace of this fortune.

Only by rising to a position above all others, unbound by any restraint—a true chieftain—can one truly possess the aspect of a flood dragon. In troubled times, such people are known as hidden dragons.

“This must be the manifestation of the dragon energy I stole from the ‘Sending off the King’s Boat’ ceremony, and the main reason why the gentry pursue me so relentlessly.”

Previously Wang Cheng hadn’t known exactly how much dragon energy he’d siphoned away, but now he had a rough idea.

There was indeed a considerable amount. If he were the rightful owner, he’d be anxious as well.

“Wait, that one is even more dragon-like than I am!”

As Wang Cheng observed the other “dragon-spawn,” he noticed a true flood dragon coiled quietly at the bottom of the pool.

Its entire body was covered with silvery, gleaming scales radiating a cold and noble light. Silver horns jutted majestically from its head, and its vertical blue eyes shone with golden divine brilliance.

When Wang Cheng looked over, he found the creature gazing back at him.

Their eyes met, and both felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

Instinctively, Wang Cheng tried to use his “Rare Commodity” ability, but realized his consciousness alone had been brought here—he couldn’t use his special skill.

Just as he was about to swish his tail over to try and communicate, the surrounding fish suddenly grew agitated, surging toward the surface in a frenzy.

Looking up, he saw nine round pearls fall from the surface. Their exquisite fragrance instantly made his mouth water, and he was seized with the urge to take a bite.

One of the pearls landed right in front of him.

Perhaps intimidated by the overwhelming dragon energy radiating from him, the other fish instinctively parted to make way, some even crowding around him in support.

As the treasure orb drew closer, the desire from deep within his bloodline to devour it grew ever more intense.

“Gulp. That’s the taste of dragon energy—so rich and thick.”

The loud sound of him swallowing startled even himself.

Realizing the danger, he knew he could not get any closer, and was about to stealthily shield the other fish behind him.

Suddenly, the silver flood dragon at the bottom—who had remained aloof all this time—lashed out with its long tail, forming a whip of water that yanked him away from the surface.

Tumbling in the depths for a while, he finally regained his balance.

When he looked up again, he saw that nine fish had each seized a pearl in their jaws.

In a flash, they vanished without a trace.

Soon after, nine more pearls dropped from above. The other fish, as if oblivious to the danger, continued to swarm upward, only to disappear once more.

“Is this…fishing?”

Wang Cheng strained to peer above the water’s surface.

There on the bank stood a massive, pitch-black cast iron octagonal tower. Yue Harbor’s own tower had five stories and was considered tall, but this one had eighteen.

A breeze blew, setting the iron eaves’ bells clinking and chiming.

Countless human corpses hung alongside the bells from fishhooks dangling from the eaves, swaying with every gust.

The hooks pierced through their upper jaws, suspending them from the iron tower’s eaves, making them look exactly like fish pulled from the water by a fisherman.

“Hiss! No, those are…they’re the same fish that were just caught!”

A chill ran through Wang Cheng.

He recognized some familiar faces from Yue Harbor among the corpses—like Manager Tong of the Eight Treasures Curio Shop, notorious for selling counterfeits and never once giving Wang Cheng a bargain.

He was even this man’s landlord.

There were others he recognized as well—people he had definitely seen in Yue Harbor.

At last, he understood: the “fish” who appeared with him in the pool were not merely dragon-tinged creatures, but living residents of Yue Harbor who had entered meditation or dreams!

“But wait, only two rounds of fishing happened. How can there be so many bodies hanging up there?”

He quickly realized something else was wrong. The number of corpses was not just eighteen from the two rounds, but a hundred and eighty, even eighteen hundred.

Most had long since dried into “fish jerky,” as if they’d hung there for twenty or thirty years.

The sinister “fishing” continued.

But Wang Cheng noticed that any fish in his heart’s vision that shone with a layer of virtuous light were always knocked down by the silver flood dragon’s tail at the bottom of the pool.

They did not get to eat the pearls, but were saved from disaster.

A rare few, before being struck down, managed to bite off a crumb of the pearl, and their dragon aspect grew noticeably stronger.

As time passed, the bait grew ever larger, its dragon energy more fragrant, and the fish in the pool more frenzied.

The flood dragon at the bottom sometimes barely managed to save them in time, so Wang Cheng also joined in, swishing his tail to help knock down the others, the two of them working in perfect tandem to save as many as they could.

As for those unfortunates weighed down by heavy karmic debt, they would have to rely on their own luck.

Wang Cheng also wondered:

“If all these are Yue Harbor’s residents, then who among them possesses even stronger dragon energy than I do?”

The answer flashed instantly in his mind.

Having interrogated the ghostly matchmaker for secrets even Xie He did not know, he had learned that Lady Yan, the dragon maiden, had already been reborn as a human. This flood dragon at the bottom was most likely her reincarnation!

Who could it be?

The same question crossed Yan Yunxiao’s mind:

“Three whole months, and at last, I’ve found you—the brat from the Water Gathering Wang family!

Apart from the nobles of the Great Zhao, only you in all of Yue Harbor possess flood dragon energy at the chiwen level. There’s no mistake.

You really know how to hide.

If ‘Historical Sediment: Stone Drum Fishing the Dragon’ hadn’t awakened and the gentry weren’t about to attack my true body, I would have enjoyed ‘caring for’ you myself.

The only problem is, this boy must be hiding under a false identity in Yue Harbor—who is he really?”

Who knows how long the two of them worked, saving countless people from this sudden disaster.

“Cock-a-doodle-doo—cock-a-doodle-doo!”

A series of crows, far louder than any ordinary rooster, rang in their ears. The fishing vision rapidly faded.

Wang Cheng, waking in the master bedroom, and Yunxiao, waking in the guest room, opened their eyes at the same moment.

They got up, dressed, and turned to look out through the semi-translucent clam shell windows.

Outside, the sky was pitch-black. Heavy clouds shrouded all of Yue Harbor. Though it was already dawn, it still seemed the dead of night.

The crowing just now was not from a chicken, but from Ajie the white-headed eagle, imitating a rooster.

It knew nothing of other white-headed eagles, but its crowing was even more practiced than that of a sea eagle. Lately, it crowed on time every morning.

With its imposing appearance and fondness for bullying domestic fowl, it had terrorized all the chickens in the two neighboring streets, turning them all into upturned-beaked captives.

Wang Cheng stepped out of his room and ran into Yunxiao, fresh and radiant after washing up, her mood much improved. He greeted her:

“Good morning, Sister Xiao.”

She nodded coolly:

“Morning, Fugui.

With Ajie crowing all day, I couldn’t sleep in even if I wanted.”

These days, the two of them spent every morning and evening together, their bond deepening, and the inexplicable sense of closeness between them growing stronger.

Yunxiao’s aloof disposition hadn’t changed, but this casual jest was something she’d never have dared utter before.

Ajie, perched on the roof, felt a chill down its neck and quickly switched to its most dignified red-tailed hawk cry, flapping its wings as it beat a hasty retreat.

Wang Cheng, turning his gaze from Ajie, noticed Yunxiao staring at him intently with her heterochromatic eyes, leaning forward as if to catch a scent from him.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable, he touched his face and coughed:

“What is it? Is there something on my face?”

“No, nothing.”

Yunxiao had harbored suspicions about Wang Cheng, hoping to trace the source of that mysterious intimacy.

But after sniffing, she found his dragon energy was faint, not at all at the level of a dragon’s scion—unless he was shielded by a national treasure.

But if the Water Gathering Wang family possessed such a thing, how could they have fallen so low?

Finding nothing, she repressed her doubts and looked away.

She failed to notice Wang Cheng studying her all the while, especially those magnificent heterochromatic eyes.

Unfortunately, his “Universal Treasure” remained as inert as ever, revealing nothing new.

At that moment, both turned toward the front door of Fenglin Studio, their keen senses already picking up the noisy commotion in the street.

“Manager Tong is missing!”

“Manager Zhou is gone too!”

“And Boss Xun as well!”

“Did any of you dream last night? I dreamed—”

The two exchanged glances and walked out together into the bustling antique street, filled with shopkeepers and merchants.

Ajie had already relayed what it saw—not just the antique street, but all of Yue Harbor was gripped by panic.

Many people had had the same dream—or rather, it was more than just a dream.

Some awoke unharmed, but all who had been “hooked” in the dream were gone without a trace.

All that remained on their beds was a pool of blood.

Letting others know they had met with misfortune, and in a particularly gruesome manner—their upper jaws pierced by a fishhook.

Soon, an old legend began circulating through every street and alley along the Nine Dragons River: “Stone Drum Fishing the Dragon.”

“Long, long ago, it is said that nine demon dragons haunted the Nine Dragons Pool at the river’s source, preventing rain from falling on Xiangzhou Prefecture.

A brave villager named Stone Drum used his own son and daughter as sacrifices, and fished the nine demon dragons from the pool, blinding them with bamboo ash before killing them one by one.

After their deaths, the nine demon dragons became the Nine Dragons River.”

Of course, no river is truly formed from dragons’ bodies, but the legend of Stone Drum slaying dragons took root as a regional “historical sediment.”

These sediments are essentially a kind of terrifying regional “cultural phenomenon,” distinct from natural phenomena, born of sentient beings’ collective thoughts, usually rooted at the intersections of yin and yang in the earth’s veins.

For example: the Corpse-Driving of Xiangxi, or the Wild Men of Shennongjia.

Like volcanoes, some sediments lie dormant, some are active. When dormant, they are nearly harmless; when active, they can be perilous.

This time, “Stone Drum Fishing the Dragon” was awakening from dormancy, and even a trace of its aura caused massive panic.

Differently from Pu Shouying’s predictions, the roles of man and dragon were reversed under the influence of negative wish-power—it was humans being hooked and not dragons.

It was a danger to both sides.

Old folks said that twenty years ago, another great drought struck the Nine Dragons River basin, killing many, and the “Stone Drum Fishing the Dragon” sediment erupted in Yue Harbor.

Fortunately, Lady Yan sealed the earth vein’s node, suppressing the disaster.

It was because of this that she gained her temple and mass worship along the river even before she’d returned to her place.

Now, incense burned brightly for Lady Yan once again.

But Yunxiao, as the temple’s chief attendant, looked grave. She said seriously to Wang Cheng:

“Fugui, last night’s ‘historical sediment’ was only an appetizer. The real danger is yet to come.

I’ve explained everything to Elder Shen. When the time comes, we’ll act alone—you stick close to me.”

“Alright.”

Wang Cheng didn’t care if his guess was right or not. He agreed immediately, deciding to cling tightly to Sister Xiao for safety.

He then went about his sixth round of cultivation. The snake slough in his silk pouch was brimming with spiritual energy and had begun to stir.

“I started this practice on the twenty-fourth day of the first lunar month. Now, there’s only one day left before the Dragon Robe is complete on the morning of the thirtieth.

Let’s hope Yue Harbor can hold on—by tomorrow morning, I’ll be finished.”

But, as always, things refused to go according to plan.

Just after dusk, his third senior brother, Zheng Qian, sent word.

The “Night-Soil Lord” Qian Wu, whom they’d traced during the “Blood Sacrifice Crossing,” was stirring—everyone on their side was ordered to prepare for action tonight.

That lead had been left precisely for this moment. Wang Cheng, setting aside all complaints, quickly gathered his crew and sent messages to the shipyard.

Then he sat in the main hall with his blade across his knees, waiting with Yunxiao for the gentry’s next move.

After midnight, as darkness reached its deepest, alarm bells sounded from the Baoshan beacon tower. Thirty li upwind from Yue Harbor, an immense fleet of Japanese pirates suddenly appeared on the sea, heading for the port.

The Five Peaks Banner and the People’s Faction’s fleet reacted instantly and with furious wrath:

“Those gentry dare to openly collude with the pirates? They’re no longer part of our trade alliance, but bandits who deserve annihilation! Strike hard at once!”

“Set sails!”

“Raise anchors!”

No sooner had the fleet left port than bands of pirates burst from the anchored merchant ships, from warehouses by the docks, and from obscure courtyards of uncertain ownership.

They slaughtered the night patrols and then split up, infiltrating the city.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The alarm bells on the Baoshan tower rang out, and the crimson moonlight mingled with even redder beacon fires, illuminating the entire night sky.

At that moment, there were still two hours left before Wang Cheng’s cultivation would be complete.