護花近衛 - 第4011章 一路坎坷 - 翰墨軒

Though Wei Zhao could in an instant draw both crates of goods into the jade pendant's space, that thing was his greatest secret, and he had no intention of exposing it outright. For the time being, he did not plan to tell Hong Zhong about the jade pendant.

After a while, the turmoil finally passed. The school of water-arrow fish gave up the chase, and the sea demons that had appeared from nowhere at last vanished without a trace. The sudden crisis was, for the moment, over.

Looking at the empty expanse behind them, Hong Zhong and Wei Zhao wore not the slightest expression of relief; they stood in silent speechlessness.

They had not even caught sight of the Far North Island, and already his two lieutenants and two crates of auction goods were gone, all of it. Dead before the campaign had begun—the journey had not even started, and already they had been thoroughly disgraced.

After a long while, Hong Zhong finally recovered his composed, seasoned expression and said in a low voice, "Young Master Lin, this old man has dragged you into trouble this time. I am truly sorry."

"What are you saying, Manager Hong? It is already a favor that I was permitted to come along; how could you call it dragging me into trouble? Mishaps are simply unavoidable. You are too hard on yourself, Manager Hong," Wei Zhao said quickly.

But Hong Zhong shook his head. "It was no mishap. What happened this time was absolutely premeditated by someone—and I can be almost certain it was Manager Hao and his lot who pulled the strings."

"How can you tell? They merely left a step ahead of us. There is no reason to be sure our misfortune was not an accident, is there?" Though Wei Zhao harbored the same suspicion in his heart, he still asked.

"There are things you do not know, Young Master Lin. The water-arrow fish and the sea demons are both rarely seen sea beasts, and the two are as incompatible as fire and water; their territories never so much as border each other. Under normal circumstances, one could make dozens of crossings without meeting either, let alone both at once. There is only one explanation for that—someone deliberately lured them here with something," Hong Zhong said with certainty.

The journey was a rough one, but two hours later Wei Zhao and Hong Zhong finally arrived at the Far North Island.

Along the way, Wei Zhao had truly come to know the deadly perils of the vast sea. Even though they had followed what was by all accounts the safest route on the map, in those two hours they had still come under no fewer than three attacks—one from the air, two from the surface of the sea.

By Wei Zhao's judgment, each of those three attacks had been utterly lethal; any one of them would have been more than enough to slay the flying spirit beast beneath them in an instant. Only because Hong Zhong intervened in time to suppress each one had they escaped disaster.

So it was just as Hong Zhong had said: perilous as the sea was, a single dependable expert at the helm was enough to guarantee safety.

Descending from the back of the flying spirit beast and taking in the scene before him, Wei Zhao could not help drawing a deep, sharp breath. The Far North Island was not large, yet at its very center stood a magnificent, dazzling palace, half-hidden within seven-colored auspicious clouds, dreamlike and illusory, as though a paradise on earth.

"A mirage?" Wei Zhao raised an eyebrow. Truthfully, encountering the legendary seven-colored auspicious clouds in a place like this was still quite a surprise to him.

Beside him, Hong Zhong chuckled. "That is the mark of the Far North Island. Because of the climate, this place has always been wrapped in cloud and mist year-round. After it was developed into a den of gold, the clouds were artificially turned into seven colors—you will not see such a rare sight anywhere else."

Wei Zhao nodded. Judging at least by this outward appearance, the name "Northern Den of Gold" was well deserved.