Chapter 34: This Goes Against Common Sense!

Three catapults were rolled out onto the deck of the Bath Tub,

The sword and shield crew behind Mo Kong climbed into the catapult buckets of their own accord.

Thump, thump, thump.

The catapults fired, quickly shooting each sword and shield fighter across the sky and onto the decks of the five ships.

These sword and shield fighters were at least bronze level, while their leaders were iron levels.

More crucially, they cultivated the same battle qi, if they used their battle skills together, their might would combine to become more powerful than if done separately.

Rou Zang had been committing rampant piracy on the waters for many years, he naturally had good underlings.

Seeing that the swordsmen had landed successfully, Rou Zang exposed a pleased smile.

On the Clam Cloth Merchant group, the first mate turned pale, he couldn’t bear to watch the calamity unfold.

“Formation!”

The sword and shield lead fighter growled, causing seven to eight people to assemble by his side.

They activated their battle qi, and used a defensive battle skill.

The battle skills condensed into a united whole, forming a more formidable defense.

“It’s never been this easy.” 

“Not a drop of resistance!”

“We need to be careful, the stronger people haven’t appeared yet.”

The swordsmen softly exchanged with each other as they killed everyone around them. Then suddenly, the sailors took out crossbows and firearms.

The swordsmen who were cackling suddenly stiffened.

They sensed things had gone terribly wrong.

These crossbows and firearms had a strong aura!

A moment later.

Swish, swish, swish.

Bang, bang, bang.

A succession of alchemy arrows and bullets shot out.

“Erk!”

“Ah!”

“……”

“I…”

The sharp arrows and bullets penetrated their defensive battle skill, riddling them with innumerable holes. The shields they carried could only last a few seconds as, one after the other, they were beaten apart.

The swordsmen were turned into corpses that fell onto the deck, their malevolence, wrath, and fear, but above all, shock and astonishment, visible on their faces.

Who could have thought the other party had so many alchemy weapons?

It was against common sense!

On the Clam Cloth fleet, He Fu and the first mate blankly stared at this.

“Is that no ordinary imperial ship?”

“Where did they get so many alchemy crossbows and firearms?”

After assessing the value of these firearms somewhat, He Fu was even more perplexed.

These weapons were sufficient to give to imperial elite units, yet they appeared on these five rotten ships, and in the hands of ordinary sailors no less.

Who were these people?

“What’s going on with these people? We need to investigate them.” He Fu said to the first mate as his brows creased.

The first mate also frowned, “They don’t have a flag that makes it obvious.”

“Should we assist them?”

He Fu’s rejection this time was firmer, “No! The swordsman battle squad suffering disastrous damage will surely offend Rou Zang. We should leave without delay. Although these people have alchemy weapons, they don’t have strong cultivators, thus when faced with the brutal Rou Zang, they will meet a miserable end.” 

“Alright.” Although the first mate was unwilling, he could only obey the order.

The Clam Cloth Merchant Alliance altered their course substantially, quickly and deliberately putting distance from this battle.

Seeing their flag signals and movement, the survivors all knew the other party did not plan to help them.

“Those wretched dregs!”, Rou Zang bellowed as he dented the medical bathtub with a thump.

He had painstakingly grown this swordsman squad, they had many merits and were considered the most competent group of Rou Zang’s subordinates. But after losing most of them, he became distressed.

Boom.

Rou Zang jumped from the top of the ship and leapt into the air towards the survivors, ready to kill them.

Thus, at the same time, the warlock Mo Kong also flew up and began to cast.

“As expected, Rou Zang went out!”  He Fu’s eyelids trembled as he watched.

But a moment later, the dragonman youngster and Zong Ge appeared, along with Cang Xu who began to tear apart scrolls and launch fireball spells.

“Eh? There are two silver level experts?”

“An iron level magician too?”

He Fu’s heart trembled slightly, but he still stuck with his decision, “Rou Zang actually has a flying battle skill! This group has the devil’s luck to not have a gold level, they have no way of stopping him, no way of surviving this.”

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he heard a loud noise.

Bang!

An artillery shell ferociously struck Rou Zang in the air.

Am immense sound wave, flaming explosion, and suffocating heat wave violently surged out in all directions.

“Gold, gold level ship cannon?!” He Fu’s face lost all color.

The first mate’s mouth fell wide open.

“Boss!” The warlock, Mo Kong, couldn’t help but cry out in alarm.

In the smoke and flames, a figure was flung back into the Bath Tub.

It was Rou Zang.

His body was burnt black, and his nose was covered in blood, he was a sorry figure.

Who would have anticipated t hat the other party had a gold level cannon hidden away?!

This was too unexpected.

It could be said that this was more unexpected than for a gold level fighter suddenly emerging from the survivors’ ranks 

Generally speaking, if one had such resources, they would usually be invested in a cultivator first.

Gold level ship cannons were put on magic ships of the same level, and even saint level magic ships.

“These, these people…dammit it, gods dammit…” Rou Zang stood up again, fury causing the corner of his mouth to shiver faintly, this was truly unexpected.

“Boss, are you okay?” Mo Kong flew back at once, “These treacherous people actually have a gold level cannon in their hold, and had a magic formation to mask its aura.”

The aura masking magic formation had been controlled by the tower spirit’s alchemy puppets, allowing the cannon to be concealed.

There were a lot of magic formations in War Merchant’s database wit this function.

It was because of the diminished aura that until the gold level cannon fired, the other cultivators could not sense it.

But by then, it was too late!

The gold level artillery shell had astonishing speed, Rou Zang had no time to react, and thus was struck.

In that moment of life and death, he used all of his strength to preserve his life.

A serious injury!

It was a truly grievous wound.

The injury immediately triggered the Life Scorching Flame within him, causing Rou Zang’s body to once again catch fire with these flowery flames.

Rou Zang tenaciously clenched his teeth as his entire body shuddered.

With extreme enmity, he gazed at the survivors’ five ships, terrifying brutality flickering in his eyes.

“Boss, retreat first. They have a gold level cannon, and their firearms are excellent. We don’t know what other things they still have. The Clam Cloth Merchant Alliance fleet is nearby, the fleet boss is surely a gold level!” Mo Kong advised after summoning all of his courage.

“Snake Rat Island is close by, they will surely come here.”

“They won’t run away!”

“Our people still need to regroup.”

“Snake Rate Island…” Rou Zang was moved as he looked deeply at Mo Kong.

Mo Kong bowed his head at once and kneeled onto the deck, his body slightly trembling.

At that very moment, the air seemed to become as thick as a mountain, leaving Mo Kong breathless.

Every fraction of a second became this painful.

In the end, Rou Zang coughed, and although he was very unwilling, he returned to his bathtub and slumped into it.

“Away.” He gasped, then pointed at Mo Kong, “You, go ashore and investigate the ins and outs of these little rats.”

“Yes, boss.” Mo Kong promptly responded.

Very quickly, the Bath Tub slowed down and changed directions as fury and unwillingness leaked from it, akin to a hunting vicious beast being defeated and choosing to rest for the time being.

“They actually won!” He Fu’s entire clam caravan was shocked.

“Contact these people, express the benevolence of our merchant alliance.” He Fu muttered to himself and immediately gave the order.

“Hip hip hooray!  We won again.” On the five pirate ships, a cheerful shout was raised.

Zong Ge spat out some air, “A close call.”

At the most critical point, their meticulous preparations had succeeded.

This time, they intended to mainly rely on the gold level cannon and artillery shells to repel Rou Zang.

Although Rou Zang was hit by the cannon, he did not die.

They knew he did not have armor.

Yet his physical strength was still so formidable!

Cang Xu and Zi Di relaxed.

They had beaten back Rou Zang again, and while not exposing the Deep Sea Monster Fish, this was for the best.

After all, the Clam Cloth fleet was to the side, exposing an alchemy ship to them would be too inconvenient for them.

The Clam fleet transmitted their goodwill, followed by the first mate personally appearing with many boxes of supplies who asked if the survivors had any surplus munitions on hand.

After having a few words with the others, the dragonman youngster stated that they did not have any surplus munitions. But at the same time, he accepted the Clam Merchant Alliance’s gift of supplies.

The dragonman youngster expressed his gratitude, and both sides left behind a way to contact the other.

Although the Clam fleet sat on the sidelines and watched, Rou Zang ultimately retreated, and they had played a role in that happening.

Not long after the two fleets parted, the survivors met Snake Rat Island’s patrol feel enroute.

“I am Snake Rat Island’s Lord, Tan Qiu, when I received new of this battle, I rushed over to provide assistance!” Tan Qiu was a silver level fighter, he was a middle aged man with a short stature and ordinary appearance.

Compared to the Clam Cloth fleet, the dragonman youngster had a better opinion of Tan Qiu.

Tan Qiu expressed a strong welcome to the arriving survivors, “Repelling Rou Zang isn’t easy, you are all warriors of the empire! Let us land on the island together.”