The Wumu ship drifted swiftly over the surging, tumultuous sea, and at the prow, Li Jun quickly emerged, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Teng Qingshan as they gazed toward the long coastline far to the north.
“The eighth time!” Teng Qingshan kept track of the alternating speeds of the water currents.
“Brother Teng, you said there’s a huge island ahead?” Li Jun asked in surprise, scrutinizing the north, though she could only make out darkness, save for the howling sea winds.
“En!” Teng Qingshan nodded. “You’ll see it soon enough.”
Li Jun certainly didn't possess his night vision capabilities.
A long pause—
“The ninth time!”
Teng Qingshan noted the ship’s speed decreasing slightly again; even this relative ‘slowdown’ was faster than their usual pace upon the open ocean. And the current speed, the so-called ‘fast,’ was astonishingly rapid.
“Bang!” Suddenly, there was a violent impact.
The entire Wumu ship lurched hard.
“Hmm?” Teng Qingshan frowned. “Not good, there are submerged reefs below!”
“Submerged reefs?” Li Jun’s expression shifted slightly as well.
If the reefs jutted above the water, they could have been spotted and avoided easily. But some reefs lurked just beneath the surface. And the draft depth of the Wumu ship placed it right at the level to strike them. This left no room for evasion—it was purely down to luck!
“Bang!” Another collision.
The Wumu ship shuddered again, and Li Jun tightly gripped the bow, fearful of being thrown overboard.
“It should be fine,” Teng Qingshan reassured her. “This Wumu wood is inherently harder than steel and much tougher. Plus, the bottom is reinforced to withstand impact! We’ve hit quite a few submerged reefs on this journey, and we’ve been alright. Once we clear this patch of reefs, we’ll be safe.”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Impact followed impact, shaking the Wumu ship repeatedly.
At this speed, with such violent collisions, even a massive ship forged entirely of true steel would suffer gaping holes. Fortunately, it was Wumu wood, which possessed far superior resilience to absorb the shock.
A moment later—
“Brother Teng, I see it, I see it! Could it be... we’ve reached the North Sea Continent?” Li Jun, aided by the dim moonlight, finally managed to make out the elongated coastline, which, upon closer inspection, seemed endless.
“We are only a few li from the island now,” Teng Qingshan observed the turbulent waters. The Wumu ship violently shook one last time as it struck another submerged reef.
Teng Qingshan mentally calculated: “The alternation between fast and slow covers dozens of li of sea travel each cycle. This is the ninth time... meaning there are nine consecutive zones... a Nine-Ring Chain!” Teng Qingshan focused his gaze on the land a few li ahead; the vegetation along the beach was dense and flourishing.
“Hss—” The Wumu ship finally stopped near the shore. After Teng Qingshan dropped anchor and secured the vessel,
“Xiao Jun, let’s go take a look,” Teng Qingshan said.
“En.” Li Jun disembarked with Teng Qingshan, just as they typically did when encountering an island.
“Whoa~~” The Gale Eagle also took flight and descended to the shore.
After navigating nine consecutive water zones and drifting for hundreds of li, by the time Teng Qingshan and Li Jun reached the seaside, the sky was just beginning to lighten.
On the sandy beach.
Teng Qingshan and Li Jun walked side-by-side across the sand. Suddenly, Teng Qingshan’s expression changed. He spun toward the dense foliage ahead and shouted, “Come out!”
“Swish-swish!”
A rustling sound immediately erupted from the thicket. Teng Qingshan’s body moved, passing through the area like a whistling gust of wind, disappearing into the dense growth in the blink of an eye. Li Jun waited in place, placing full trust in him.
Soon—
“Brother Teng,” Li Jun called out with a smile. Teng Qingshan was returning, holding a middle-aged man firmly in his grasp.
“Mercy, Great Hero, mercy!” the middle-aged man pleaded repeatedly.
“Great Hero?” Li Jun looked at the man with surprise.
The title ‘Great Hero’ was rarely heard on the continent of Jiuzhou. More importantly—although the middle-aged man’s accent was somewhat awkward, the language was clearly that of Jiuzhou.
“I’ll ask one question, you answer one. Be honest!” Teng Qingshan held a sharp sword in his hand, which was, in fact, the man’s own weapon.
The middle-aged man quickly stated, “My name is Shangguan Quan!”
“Shangguan, that’s quite a rare surname,” Li Jun mumbled aside. The man named Shangguan Quan quickly tried to defend himself, “Esteemed Heroine, you are mistaken! Shangguan is a major family name in our Beiyan Town.”
“Beiyan Town?” Teng Qingshan’s heart stirred.
“How many people live in your Beiyan Town?” Teng Qingshan asked.
Shangguan Quan paused, seemingly confused by the nature of the question. Teng Qingshan’s expression darkened: “I ask, you answer! If you hesitate again—” With a sudden exertion of force, Teng Qingshan twisted the sword in his grip until it resembled a piece of twisted scrap metal. Then, with a crisp sound, a cascade of pulverized iron powder flowed from Teng Qingshan’s palm.
“Iron powder?” Shangguan Quan was stunned rigid.
Twisting a sword into a knot was not impossible! Breaking it into pieces was not difficult either! But reducing a sword to mere powder was simply unbelievable.
A sharp glance from Teng Qingshan, followed by the sight of the metallic dust, chilled Shangguan Quan to the core. He immediately stammered, “There are probably several hundred thousand people in my Beiyan Town.”
“How many towns are there on the island in total?” Teng Qingshan inquired next.
Although Shangguan Quan found the query strangely basic, he dared not delay: “My Mingyue Island has eighteen towns in total.”
Teng Qingshan and Li Jun exchanged a look; shock registered in both their eyes.
Even on near-coastal islands adjacent to Jiuzhou, a single island boasting tens of thousands of inhabitants was considered large. Those reaching hundreds of thousands were truly massive islands. Yet, here, deep in the North Sea, an island perhaps housing tens of millions was hidden!
“What were you doing by the sea so early this morning?” Teng Qingshan asked.
“I am just a fisherman,” Shangguan Quan replied. “I came over in the morning…”
“A fisherman carrying a sharp sword? I noticed your swordsmanship earlier was quite good!” Teng Qingshan’s face darkened. The desperate sword strike the man delivered while trying to escape capture had been genuinely potent.
Shangguan Quan looked at Teng Qingshan in astonishment: “Great Hero, we have studied sword arts in the ‘Sword Academies’ since childhood. In any small village nearby, who doesn't know swordsmanship? What basis do you have for saying that, Great Hero?”
“Sword Academies?” Li Jun exclaimed in bewilderment.
Teng Qingshan was utterly shocked!
Sword Academies—were these schools akin to the ones in his past life’s society? Where everyone had to learn swordsmanship from childhood? What kind of island was this? If an island of ten million people all studied the sword, even across the entire Yangzhou region with its two to three hundred million populace, only perhaps ten million people would receive systematic training in internal energy, swordsmanship, and so on. The common civilians would have no opportunity, knowing only two or three basic stances.
“Everyone studies the sword?” Teng Qingshan pressed. “Do they study other weapons? Axes, knives?”
“Axes are for chopping trees, knives for splitting firewood,” Shangguan Quan replied matter-of-factly. “But the most formidable art is certainly the sword! Talented disciples in the Sword Academies are all quite skilled with the blade.”
“Hmm, do you have any currency on you?” Teng Qingshan suddenly asked.
“Yes, yes.” The fisherman promptly pulled out a beautiful white pearl from his pouch.
...
Teng Qingshan, by skillfully circling his inquiries with the fisherman ‘Shangguan Quan,’ finally formed a general understanding of Mingyue Island. The currency of Mingyue Island was not gold or silver, but unique pearls native to the island, categorized into purple, white, and gray pearls, with the purple pearls being the most valuable. One purple pearl was roughly equivalent to one hundred white pearls, and one white pearl to one hundred gray pearls.
To prevent the Wumu ship from being stolen by other fishermen, Teng Qingshan returned to the vessel. Using the long oars, he managed to propel the ship several li further south against the current. However, after just a few li, the currents became so turbulent that even rowing hard, he could barely counteract the water's velocity.
This illustrated the incredible speed of the flow!
Subsequently, Teng Qingshan dove into the water, directly pulling the iron chain, dragging the Wumu ship forward about two li underwater. He then secured the ship's anchor by wedging it into a submerged reef.
“With currents this fierce, even an Xiantian expert would struggle greatly navigating such powerful underwater drafts,” Teng Qingshan thought, feeling secure leaving the Wumu ship there. He disassembled the Samsara Spear and packed it into his bag, also placing an ‘Iron Leaf Fruit’ inside before finally leaving the ship.
On the beach.
“Let’s go!” Teng Qingshan, Li Jun, and the captive fisherman ‘Shangguan Quan’ set off together.
...
Along a desolate dirt path, Teng Qingshan and Li Jun, both carrying packs, traveled alongside Shangguan Quan, while the Gale Eagle circled overhead. Shangguan Quan was completely unaware of the relationship between the eagle and the two people before him.
“Great Hero, you are truly magnificent! To move such a large ship so far all by yourself?” Shangguan Quan was filled with admiration. “That’s the legendary ‘Nine-Bend Ghost Swamp’! Even powerful disciples from the Sword Towers dare not enter it. Many fishermen who dared to swim across ended up drowned.”
Teng Qingshan smiled slightly.
The Nine-Bend Ghost Swamp?
That was quite a fitting name. Based on Teng Qingshan’s observations... the intensity of the underwater currents meant that Xiantian experts could manage swimming alone. But towing a large ship forward, even for a Xiantian Golden Core expert, would be unsustainable for long. After all, they lacked the sustained endurance that Teng Qingshan possessed.
“Nine Bends? Who named it?” Teng Qingshan mused. It seemed someone on Mingyue Island was aware of the nine cycles of alternating acceleration.
“It’s been a long time,” Shangguan Quan replied. “It’s just been passed down through generations. However, no one has ever managed to pass through the Nine-Bend Ghost Swamp. Great Heroes, did you come from outside?” Shangguan Quan was beginning to realize something.
Teng Qingshan offered a slight smile and glanced at him: “Knowing less allows one to live longer!”
Shangguan Quan shivered internally, recalling Teng Qingshan’s terrifying capabilities, and hastily nodded.
“Xiao Jun, let’s scout this Mingyue Island for a bit, and then we’ll procure some food and supplies to take back to the ship!” Teng Qingshan instructed. Li Jun nodded in agreement; they were tired of constantly eating roasted fish. Teng Qingshan spoke to Li Jun without bothering to moderate his words in Shangguan Quan’s presence... He was just a resident of the island; they would look around, gather goods, and leave. Why should they care about him?
...
Not long after, Teng Qingshan and the others arrived upon a main road and spotted a village not far away.
“That is the village where I live,” Shangguan Quan said cheerfully.
Teng Qingshan glanced over.
“Hah!”
“Hut!”
A group of children, looking no older than five or six or six or seven, were practicing a set of sword forms using tree branches. Judging by Teng Qingshan’s eyesight: “This sword form is actually a superior-grade technique! The common children in the village practice a superior-grade sword form?”
“The little ones are practicing their swords, so they can eventually enter the Sword Academy in our Beiyan Town!” Shangguan Quan chuckled. “Only by striving hard as a child can one stand out among the Sword Academies of the eighteen towns and gain entry to the Sword Tower! To become a powerful Sword Tower disciple!”