Chapter 4790 — A Solemn Apology

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He recounted the whole affair from beginning to end, sparing no detail, and Ning Xuefei and Liu Ziqi gasped again and again as they listened. When they heard that the sea dragon had appeared, their eyes lit up—even Liu Ziqi's—for clearly a creature so close to the Sea God himself was no ordinary thing. Everyone had heard the legends of it.

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As Wei Zhao and the others were talking, a stir ran through the crowd. Oda Ba had come.

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After casting Wei Zhao a glance thick with complicated feeling, Oda Ba did not come straight over. Instead he turned to face the assembly and announced in a ringing voice, "Everyone—because of the crisis just now, our warship has burned through every last reserve of spiritual qi and cannot sail on for the time being. We must wait for qi to gather and replenish. During this time, none of you are to move about on your own. There is no Beast-Warning Formation, and no defensive formation either. What danger that means, your captain need not spell out."

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"What? Then what are we to do?" The crowd paled in alarm. They had stayed the whole while in the relatively enclosed living quarters and knew little of what had happened outside; as for things like the Starfall Formation or the Ten-Thousand-Mile Formation, they had never so much as heard the names. All they knew was that they had been attacked by a horde of top-tier sea beasts. It had never crossed their minds that the situation was so desperate.

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The ancient warship was in their hearts a colossus that roamed the seas, against which no sea beast could pose a fatal threat. And now they were suddenly told that every ounce of its spiritual qi was spent. To keep drifting on the open sea like this—was that not a road to certain death?

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"There is no need for undue worry. If we hold out for a day and a night, the warship will have drawn in enough spiritual qi to set sail again. It is dangerous out there, true, but so many top-tier sea beasts died this time that nothing should dare come near for a good while yet. We are reasonably safe. There is no cause for panic," Oda Ba said, steadying their hearts.

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Only then did the crowd breathe a little easier. If holding out a single day and night would put them back on course, then surely it would be no great trouble.

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"But to be safe, we must double our watch in the meantime. Vice Principal Liu, you and I are the strongest aboard this ship. I fear we must bear the hardship," Oda Ba said.

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"It is my duty. No problem at all," Liu Ziqi answered at once.

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"Good. If there is nothing else, everyone may disperse." Oda Ba nodded, then, under all those watching eyes, walked over to Wei Zhao. He hesitated a moment, then spoke: "Young Hero Lin, what happened before was purely a misunderstanding. At a time like this, what we need most is a danger lookout..."

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Before he could finish, Wei Zhao waved him off. "I am done with it. Since none of you would listen to me, what use is there in being some danger lookout? Forget it—spare us both the wasted effort!"

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At that, Oda Ba's face darkened, but he was no fool. The business with the North Island treasure ship could be written off as baseless rumor, but what had happened today he had seen with his own eyes.

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This Wei Zhao's gift for seamanship was like nothing he had seen in all his life. Compare men and you want to die; compare goods and you throw them away. Today he had truly come to know what it meant to be a top-tier genius born for the sea.

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Consider the ship's rightful lookout—a veteran older in service than even himself, a man whose wealth of experience was praised by all in seafaring circles and whose standing and prestige aboard ranked only a shade below the captain's own, beyond even the vice-captain and the first mate.

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Yet this seasoned elder of the seafaring world had failed to spot the sea beast horde in time, while Wei Zhao had seen it early and first. Had they acted on his warning then, none of this would have happened, and they would never have been reduced to this desperate, life-and-death strait.

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And that was not all. Wei Zhao's performance in taking charge of the Starfall Formation amid the crisis had left every crewman aboard, Oda Ba included, staring open-mouthed—stunned as though at a being from beyond this world.

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While they were still agonizing over those three Mountain-Opening sea beasts, he had gone straight for the hand behind the scenes. They had not caught so much as a shadow of the sea dragon, yet Wei Zhao was already laying plans to deal with it.

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Whenever he recalled the words with which he had scolded Wei Zhao for making a nuisance of himself, Oda Ba's old face burned with shame even now. A warship captain in full standing, and he could not even make sense of another man's strategy—what a humiliation.

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Looking back now, the Starfall Formation in his own hands, in the hands of its rightful captain, was nothing short of an enormous disgrace. He could not even handle a few paltry Mountain-Opening sea beasts, while Wei Zhao dealt with something like a sea dragon as easily as turning his hand. The gap between them was not a jot or a tittle—it was a hundred thousand miles.

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Meanwhile the Eastern Island disciples present, ignorant of the true state of things, were still enjoying the show. Ren Zhongyuan and his lot in particular wore gloating looks. This brat Wei Zhao dared speak to Oda Ba in such a tone—did he really think this was the Western Island, where everyone would indulge him?

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And to say he would no longer serve as danger lookout—was that something a brat like him could simply choose not to do? A fool who did not know death when he saw it!

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Even now Ren Zhongyuan had not caught the shift in Oda Ba's tone. He was still happily mired in his dream of pushing Wei Zhao into the fire pit, still supposing that Oda Ba had deliberately raised the matter before the crowd to stress the importance of the danger lookout—so that Wei Zhao could later be called to account!

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But Oda Ba's next words made Ren Zhongyuan and the rest gape: "Young Hero Lin, what happened before was indeed my oversight. For that I offer you my solemn apology!"

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Now it was not only the crowd that was dumbstruck; Liu Ziqi and the others looked at one another in bewilderment, and even Wei Zhao could not help but be taken aback. He had truly never imagined that this lofty captain would, before so many people, set aside his pride and apologize to him of his own accord.

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"To speak plainly, I regret it deeply now. Had I heeded your warning from the first, Young Hero Lin, none of what followed would have happened. But at the time I believed there was no danger, and I took you for an inexperienced newcomer, so I dismissed it out of hand—never thinking it would come to this. It leaves me thoroughly ashamed," Oda Ba said, his tone earnest.

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Wei Zhao could not help but regard the man more highly. Able to take up a thing and let it go—no wonder he had it in him to be a ship's captain. Vile as he had seemed when standing up for Ren Zhongyuan, he was plainly not wholly without merit. He was, in his way, a somebody.

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