Chapter 255: Sailing the Ghost World
Lady Sea Snake’s fleet officially departed.
After Lady Sea Snake had greatly exploited the Applaud, Stench, and Lightning Pirates, she had pitilessly tossed them to the back of her mind.
When she went to the highest level of her ship, and returned to her captain’s room alone, Wei Ying flashed to her.
“You’re letting that fishman ghost off?” Wei Ying questioned.
Lady Sea Snake giggled, “Lord Wei Ying, I am not a gold level fighter like you. I am only a silver level magician, having a necromancer at the same level as my slave is a treasure I must treat well.”
“Qi Ling, that necromancer, is really interesting. She has become an undead, yet she is unable to let go of her former clansmen.”
“With such great leverage in my hands, she won’t be able to turn things around.”
“She still has resistance in her heart, so I’ll play with her first and give her a bit of hope.”
“By the time she genuinely despairs, she’ll be willing to acknowledge allegiance to me.”
Wei Ying was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly, “She is your catch, and also your responsibility. Anyways, the coordinates she gave are real, according to our information, that place certainly is one of Jian Gui’s long time bases.”
Lady Sea Snake cackled, “I also think that information is true.”
Lady Sea Snake unfolded a sea map and quickly found where the barren island was, “Lord Wei Ying, come look. This barren island is quite close to Weeping Pine Island and is part of the Eulogy Tombstone teleportation network.”
“I can surmise that Jian Gui used the Eulogy Tombstone hidden here to teleport to Weeping Pine Island.”
“Now the question is how many defenses Jian Gui has on this island? If we rush over, we won’t have any cannon fodder to use.”
Wei Ying shook his head, “This mission is very important, we have to capture the target alive! If this mission fails, you and I won’t have a good end.”
“What I’m more worried about is that Jian Gui is purposely avoiding this place. Qi Ling was exposed as a traitor, and this barren island is not secure. If it was me, I wouldn’t stay there.”
Lady Sea Snake muttered to herself, “I still believe that Jian Gui might make a stop here.”
“Lord Wei Ying, it seems your understanding of the Underworld River isn’t deep.”
“That river is very dangerous, and a mere silver level ghost ship cannot sail it consecutively.”
“When Jian Gui wants to leave the Ghost World and return to the Main World, he needs spatial coordinates. Every Eulogy Tombstone location is a stable spatial coordinate. If they are attacked by a powerful enemy in the Underworld River, they must spatial shift immediately. Under those circumstances, the closest spatial coordinate is that barren island.”
“I believe that it is both possible, and very likely.”
Wei Ying nodded, approving of Lady Sea Snake’s inference, “Then we’ll travel there.”
Lady Sea Snake’s fleet sailed off, leaving Yang Cong Tou’s and Bei Xiang’s respective pirate groups at odds and vigilant of each other.
They didn’t attack the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps, mainly because they weren’t strong enough.
But the dragonman youngster didn’t care about all that.
He asked Zi Di again, “Can you really not find Cang Xu?”
Zi Di sighed, “I am powerless to do anything, the Deep Sea Monster Fish’s detection methods cannot find the ghost ship. Especially when the ghost ship is still in the Ghost World.”
“In fact, interplanar detection is always challenging.”
The dragonman youngster sighed, and after confirming it again, he was forced to drop the matter.
Zong Ge raised his own proposal, “If we decide to track him down, perhaps we can follow Lady Sea Snake’s fleet. Look at how they set out immediately, plus Qi Ling has boarded their ship, its very possible they have some crucial clues.”
Zong Ge had many ideas.
The Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps couldn’t follow the ghost ship directly, but they could hang behind Lady Sea Snake’s fleet.
Although normally, Zong Ge and Cang Xu didn’t get along, Zong Ge was still trying his utmost for Cang Xu now.
This was the battle friendship that was fostered on Mystifying Monster Island.
“Following Lady Sea Snake…” The dragonman youngster hesitated.
Although he was worried about Cang Xu, as leader, he had to shoulder many other responsibilities.
Lady Sea Snake didn’t attack us, great fortune indeed.”
“If we follow behind them now, that might provoke that black clothed fighter into attacking us.”
“They are a gold level, and with the help of the Shadow Plane, they can blink attack, too great a threat to us.”
“We don’t have a gold level, and outside of me being able to hold him back, we don’t have anyone else who can.”
“Hmm…perhaps if Zong Ge wears the Golden Silk Chainmail, he can also vie with him for a time.”
“But anyone else will be in grave danger.”
The dragonman youngster contemplated.
Zong Ge didn’t say anything else, that proposal of his naturally had many clear systemic problems.
Following Lady Sea Snake’s fleet was very risky.
But sometimes, troops marched forward understanding the extreme risks, and that sacrifice was very likely, yet still advanced ahead.
Zong Ge never feared sacrifice.
Zi Di spoke at this time, reminding, “For now, Cang Xu is still safe. We have already saved t he dwarfs and humans, and don’t have sufficient grounds to pursue a gold level enemy. The risks are too high, the profits are unclear, and this will stir up suspicions. We are just one mercenary corps, and at worst munitions smugglers.”
Zong Ge also said, “The gold level black clothed fighter who appeared was obviously prepared for Jian Gui. It was a meticulous attack plan; we just mistakenly stumbled into it.”
“Following Lady Sea Snake is rather risky, and it just occurred to me that we actually have other clues.”
This reminder also caused the dragonman youngster to reply, “Yes, we still have other clues.”
In Cang Xu’s secret letter, heh had given them information on the entire undead gathering.
The dragonman youngster spoke to himself, “Cang Xu, Xiao Wang Zi, and the others boarded the ghost ship. Every year, Xiao Wang Zi meets with his pareznts, said meeting is not far off.”
“The ghost magician Qi Ling said something during the meeting. It had to do with the White Hair Ocean Trench, and the matter about the seabed beast groups migrating in. This might imply that the fishman Qi Ling protects lives near White Hair Ocean Trench. Even if it isn’t, their clan might have migrated and participated in the hunting of those beast groups.”
Zi Di agreed, “That’s right, there are still many clues. We don’t need to shadow Lady Sea Snake.”
“Even if we can rescue Cang Xu, what are the benefits of doing so?”
“Jian Gui and the other necromancers have shown that they aren’t fiendish or the type that kills people like flies.”
“We should do our own thing, do our best to strengthen ourselves so that if Cang Xu gets into danger in the future, we can provide him with more support.”
“Don’t forget, our time is very scarce. It has already been two months since Mystifying Monster Island has been destroyed.
The dragonman youngster nodded, and all thoughts of following Lady Sea Snake were dispelled.
This voyage to Weeping Pine Island went smoothly at first, but in the later stages, unexpected things appeared.
The survivors had accomplished most of their plans, the dwarfs had been saved, they had captured the Iron Lump, and they white washed lots of the treasures they picked up from Two Eyes Island’s seafloor.
But Cang Xu was gone.
There were discrepancies between the plans and reality.
With deep frustration and worry about Cang Xu in mind, the dragonman youngster ordered the fleet to sail to Ice Sculpture Island.
The Ghost World.
Dark clouds covered the sky densely.
The earth was a sickly white, like a dead man’s bones.
The ghost ship quietly sailed through the Underworld River.
Cang Xu stood on deck, on the sides of the ship, watching everything around him with a novel expression.
“This is what the Ghost World looks like?”
“Such dense negative energy!”
Qing Xin was standing next to him, her face green and deep black bags under her eyes.
She was using magic power to protect herself from the negative energy everywhere. As a living being, she was incompatible with the Ghost World.
In fact, Cang Xu was also feeling the burden.
The negative energy was constantly eroding his body, and even though he had transformed his corporeal body, to maintain his humanity, he was half alive and half dead, part of his body was still alive.
By contrast in the distance, Ku Feng and Xiao Wang Zi felt incomparable pleasure, like a fishman returning to the ocean.
Xiao Wang Zi reclined on his pet three headed undead sea serpent’s back, treating his generalissimo as a couch. He lazily said to Cang Xu, “Not all of the Ghost World has such dense negative energy.”
“We are now in the Underworld River, which could be said to be a river of negative energy.”
When Cang Xu heard this, he looked down at the Underworld River under the ship.
The Underworld River was very wide, and Cang Xu couldn’t see either shore.
Fog floated across the surface of the Underworld River, occasionally dense, and occasionally thin.
The water of the Underworld River was light gray.
Cang Xu gazed at it with rapt attention, noticing to his astonishment that as he kept gazing at it, it grew clearer and more transparent.
“Not good!” Xiao Wang Zi shouted loudly, “Save him now!”