Chapter 4236 — A Step Too Late

Li and Guan shot Wei Zhao a contemptuous glance. They had had no wish to bother with him at all, but then they recalled Qi Wenmo's particular instructions before they set out, and in the end could only tamp down their impatience and speak.

"Xianpeng Island lies only a few dozen li from South Island. Not only does the miasma fog run thick there, but the skies nearby are ruled by a great many powerful and vicious avian spirit beasts. Should an ordinary flying spirit beast stray into their territory, it would very likely come under attack—and then it would be a living, breathing target, practically begging for death." Li Yanji curled his lip as he spoke.

"But surely the sea has its dangers too?" Wei Zhao could not help but start. The spirit beast clans were fearsome enough, but from what he understood, sea beasts were hardly lambs either.

"No. There is no danger in the sea." Li Yanji gave Wei Zhao a look of scorn before continuing his explanation. "Sea beasts may run rampant across the ocean, but they have never dared come near the waters around South Island. That is why, all this time, no sea beast has ever been known to appear in the seas near South Island."

"I see. Thank you for the guidance, Brother Li," Wei Zhao said with a nod of thanks.

Only then did Li Yanji's scornful expression ease a little. He gave a slight nod and said nothing.

Wei Zhao did not much mind. What occupied his thoughts at that moment was something the damn thing had once told him: the spirit beast clans might claim dominion over all the spirit beasts under heaven, and whether the powerful spirit beasts on the other islands acknowledged that claim was another matter—but at least on one point, they had never conquered the sea beasts.

The spirit beast clans and the sea beast clans kept to their own waters, each minding its own business. Since South Island was the stronghold of the spirit beast clans, it stood to reason that no sea beasts roamed the surrounding seas.

Still, the thought of the damn thing left Wei Zhao somewhat puzzled. Come to think of it, it had been quite a long while since he had last communicated with it. Yet he could sense that its present condition did not suggest anything amiss—it seemed rather to be in secluded cultivation, which was why it had remained cut off from the world all this time.

As for how a mere primordial spirit, lodged within the jade pendant's space, went about secluded cultivation—that was beyond knowing.

What Wei Zhao was intensely curious about now was this: with South Island so close at hand, what attitude would the damn thing take? It was, after all, an elder of the spirit beast clans. Even if it had not completed its mission, returning to its old haunts now ought to stir some thoughts in it.

But since the damn thing would not come out of seclusion of its own accord, Wei Zhao could hardly intrude on it rashly; he would have to wait until it emerged.

As they spoke, the sailboat, catching the wind, had already sped away from the harbor. What Wei Zhao did not know was that shortly after their departure, Cheng Qitian came chasing after them with his men.

"Where is that Ling Yi? Where is he?" Cheng Qitian swept his gaze left and right across the bustling harbor, but caught no sign of Wei Zhao, and demanded in a furious haste.

The Poison Eye Mercenary Corps was indeed a force not to be underestimated. From the moment Wei Zhao had begun using the alias Ling Yi, scarcely a few hours had passed, and he had not even used it openly all that much—yet already their underlings had ferreted it out.

He had just received word from his lackeys that this Ling Yi had, of all things, turned up again at the harbor!

Who would have thought the chance for vengeance would come so soon!

Cheng Qitian wasted no time. He gathered up Old Kong and hurried over. To guard against every contingency, he had even brought along several more skilled hands from the mercenary corps, each at the late Golden Core stage or above, so that even if Qi Wenmo were present, he would not come off the worse.

"Young Master Cheng, they've already gone…" one of the underlings assigned to keep watch at the harbor faltered.

"What? Gone?" Cheng Qitian flew into a rage and kicked the man to the ground, spitting curses. "Useless trash! You saw them leave and you didn't stop them—you just stood there and watched?"

"Y-Young Master Cheng… it wasn't that I didn't want to, I truly didn't dare. They were running an escort under the banner of the Qingtian Escort Agency, and it was cargo for the Hong Clan Merchant Guild on top of that. Where would I get the nerve…" The underling was on the verge of tears.

In a place like the harbor, to strike at that Ling Yi outright—any normal person would take it for a hijacking. To offend both the Qingtian Escort Agency and the Hong Clan Merchant Guild at once—how the hell was a man supposed to make a living after that?

"So they've gone out on an escort run?" Cheng Qitian's expression eased somewhat. If that was truly the case, then never mind whether this petty underling dared—even if he himself had been standing right there, he probably would not have dared either. Even the Poison Eye Mercenary Corps would not risk provoking both houses at once.

"Yes, yes, I saw it with my own eyes. It's the truth, every word." The underling nodded vigorously.

"Hmph. I'll let you off this once, then." Cheng Qitian gave a cold snort, then gazed out at the distant sea, his face savage as he growled low, "Out on an escort run, are they? Very well. I don't believe you won't come back… Wait—what did you say? They're running an escort for the Hong Clan Merchant Guild?"

"That's right!" The underling nodded.

"Heh heh, well then. Very good…" Cheng Qitian said something baffling, then turned and walked away.

………………

They pressed on, and for three days straight, just as Qi Wenmo had said before they set out, the journey was utterly uneventful—not a single risk or mishap along the way.

Yet Wei Zhao and the others did not let down their guard on that account. The four took turns keeping watch from the lookout platform, and at the slightest stir of wind or grass, they would sound the alarm at once.

Still, though there was a lookout platform, the visibility could hardly be called good. The sea's surface was completely shrouded in sea fog, and the visibility was so low it was downright outrageous.

And from what Wei Zhao knew, the further they went, the thicker the fog would grow, and it would gradually change from harmless sea fog into poisonous miasma fog—which meant Xianpeng Island was not far off.

According to Li and Guan, they would then need to take special miasma-warding pills to keep from being poisoned too deeply; even a Golden Core expert's resistance had its limits, after all.

Of course, it was precisely because the sea fog was so dense that such places were so utterly devoid of human traces—and with no need to fear sea beast attacks, there was hardly any danger to speak of.

Apart from taking turns on watch and staying sufficiently alert, the only thing the four had to do was steer the sailboat's course by the compass needle. For Golden Core experts, a little practice was all it took—sailing a ship was no difficult feat.

At this moment, Guan Zhiyuan was on watch at the lookout platform, Li Yanji was steering the ship from the cockpit, and Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao stood on the deck surveying their surroundings.

With visibility at only thirty or forty meters and the vast sea all around them, there was precious little to see from the deck—a monotonous expanse of gray, and beyond that the endless, unchanging sound of the waters. R1152