Chapter 4236 — A Step Too Late
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
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