Chapter 284
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Right after that, the second ship, a third, a fourth, a fifth, and then a sixth massive warship entered Zhang Xiaohua’s divine sense.
Zhang Xiaohua was shocked. It was the dead of night, and the wind howled while the waves surged—who would dare sail so recklessly in such conditions? Could they be ships from the other Two Seas or the Seven Waters? Zhang Xiaohua carefully observed, but saw no banners embroidered with flood dragons on the masts—there weren’t any banners at all. Although these six massive ships were large, they were still slightly smaller than the one he was currently on, and they were moving even faster. Sweeping his divine sense deeper into the ships, Zhang Xiaohua found that the cabins were filled with armored men holding longbows. In some of the cabins, there were even men dressed in fitted combat gear, armed with treasured swords or long spears, all with guarded expressions. A few stood at the prow, peering ahead with some instruments in hand, speaking amongst themselves.
At once, Zhang Xiaohua understood—these were the navy troops of the authorities!
And those men in combat garb were likely elite masters of the Heaven’s Way Alliance!
This… what now?
Zhang Xiaohua could no longer bother with scanning the ships. He jumped off the bed in haste.
Throwing the door open, he headed straight to the cabin on the first floor where Qin Shiyue was resting.
Because of the foul weather, the others below deck had no mood for company. Qin Shiyue had long since shut the cabin door, sitting cross-legged in meditation to nurture his true qi. Zhang Xiaohua, in his urgency, cared nothing for etiquette and pushed the door open, calling loudly: “Qin Daren, I have an urgent matter to report!”
Qin Shiyue sat cross-legged on the bed. A lantern hung from the ceiling, swaying slightly. In truth, he had already sensed Zhang Xiaohua’s approach the moment he neared the cabin. Seeing him barge in without a word, he couldn’t help but frown and scold: “Ren Xiaoyao, what are you doing? Can’t you knock before entering? And how did you even know I was staying here?”
Zhang Xiaohua paid his reprimand no mind, nor did he bother answering his questions. He simply said: “Qin Daren, there are six naval ships pursuing us from behind.”
Qin Shiyue froze, then quickly asked: “How do you know?”
Zhang Xiaohua replied: “I was out taking a walk on the deck just now, and I saw them.”
“Oh? Is that so?” Qin Shiyue sounded slightly puzzled. “If you saw them, how could Flood Dragon King Xu’s men not notice?”
“Well…” Zhang Xiaohua hesitated slightly. “Maybe they just weren’t paying attention.”
Upon hearing that, Qin Shiyue immediately got to his feet and shouted: “Ying Fei! Go summon Flood Dragon King Xu at once!”
Ying Fei lived right next door to Qin Shiyue. The moment he heard Qin Shiyue’s shout, he rushed out, and in no time at all, had summoned both the Three Seas Flood Dragon Kings and the Seven Waters Sect Leaders. Once Zhang Xiaohua finished recounting what he had seen, Flood Dragon King Xu was equally alarmed. He exclaimed: “That Jing Lao’er is simply asking for death! If those really were navy ships, and he failed to notice even with them that close, what right does he have to call himself a helmsman? I’ll personally chop him down!”
But when he hurriedly stepped out of the cabin and looked behind the ship, he was instantly dumbfounded. Before and behind, all he could see was pitch-black darkness. There wasn’t the faintest shadow of a ship, let alone six of them.
He looked back at Zhang Xiaohua suspiciously, then glanced toward the equally puzzled Qin Shiyue. Even so, he still ordered someone to call up Jing Lao’er. That man was an elderly sailor with a full head of white hair, practically Qin Shiyue’s peer in age. When he heard someone claim there were pursuers behind them, Jing Lao’er’s face was also full of confusion. He pulled out a long cylindrical instrument from his robes, examined the sea behind them carefully, and only then let out a breath, speaking with full confidence: “King Jiao, there’s absolutely no one behind us. It’s pitch-black back there—how would anyone even manage to follow us? I swear on my professional reputation: there is definitely nothing unusual behind our ship.”
Flood Dragon King Xu finally let out a deep breath and said: “Lord Qin, you see? Even an expert of the South Sea Flood Dragon Palace vouches for it—there are no pursuers behind us at all. So perhaps…”
Qin Shiyue furrowed his brows tightly, then turned and asked: “Ren Xiaoyao, how exactly did you see them? The expert here saw nothing, yet you claim you did?”
Zhang Xiaohua saw that Qin Shiyue wasn’t smiling, but he also wasn’t angry. Knowing this, he replied: “Well… Lord Qin, to be honest, I didn’t actually see anything.”
Qin Shiyue chuckled. “Then why did you say you did?”
Zhang Xiaohua gritted his teeth and said: “Lord Qin, to tell you the truth, I have a sort of special ability to sense danger. It doesn’t activate often, and it’s not always accurate—but when it does appear, it’s usually spot-on. Just now, while I was walking on the deck, I felt that danger approaching. That’s why I rushed to report it to you.”
Qin Shiyue laughed. “Then tell me—back at West Cui Mountain, did you feel this sense of danger?”
Zhang Xiaohua replied awkwardly: “Well… that time, no, I didn’t. But this time, it’s real. I swear! You have to believe me!”
Jing Lao’er chuckled and said: “You, young man—just based on a gut feeling, you say there are pursuers behind us? Isn’t that a bit too reckless? Even with my decades of experience, I saw no such thing.”
Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help but complain inwardly, Who doesn’t know how many so-called experts are full of it, growing fat off empty talk? If it weren’t for the fact that I actually have divine sense and can see what’s going on behind us, just looking at your confident expression, I might’ve really been fooled. Sigh… this so-called ‘expertise’ really is enough to kill someone.
But in his rush, Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t think of any good explanation for how he knew. He could only say: “Jing Lao’er, I really felt it. Right now, this is a matter of life and death!”
Jing Lao’er glanced at Flood Dragon King Xu and said: “Flood Dragon King, you decide—will you believe my fifty years of experience, or the words of this greenhorn?”
Flood Dragon King Xu looked at Qin Shiyue’s beaming expression and said: “Well then, Jing Lao’er, of course I believe in you.”
Qin Shiyue narrowed his eyes with a smile as he looked at Zhang Xiaohua. “Ren Xiaoyao, have we let you wander around too freely these past few days? Are you growing too bold for your own good?”
Jing Lao’er spoke magnanimously: “Perhaps this boy isn’t used to the loneliness of sea travel. Hallucinations—both visual and auditory—are a common ailment out here. He’ll be fine once we’re back on land. Alright, everyone, get some rest. This old man still has to return to the lower deck.”
Qin Shiyue shot a glare at Zhang Xiaohua and turned to leave. The rest of the group also chuckled and made their way back.
Seeing this, Zhang Xiaohua extended his divine sense once again. The warships had already spread out and were now surging forward in an encircling formation. He had no choice but to shout: “Lord Qin, Flood Dragon King Xu! I’m truly not mistaken—there really are pursuers behind us. Surely it wouldn’t be too difficult to take some basic precautions, would it?”
Jing Lao’er shook his head vigorously, muttering: “This child’s gone mad… completely mad…”
Qin Shiyue took a sudden step forward, brought two fingers together, and made to jab at one of Zhang Xiaohua’s acupuncture points. “Shut your mouth! Or have you forgotten the taste of the Soul-Searching Hand?”
But alas, within Zhang Xiaohua’s divine sense, Qin Shiyue was no longer the inescapable force he once was. With a flicker of his Piaomiao Step, Zhang Xiaohua dodged to the side and said: “Lord Qin, please, calm yourself. Let me ask Flood Dragon King Xu one more thing.”
“Flood Dragon King Xu, if there were enemies behind us, do you have any simple way to respond, preferably without alarming too many people?”
Flood Dragon King Xu thought for a moment. “We could change course, or increase speed—both are possible. However, it would disturb the sailors who are currently resting.”
Zhang Xiaohua glanced at the lights inside the cabin, and his eyes lit up. “How about this: we extinguish all the lights on this ship and quietly wake the resting sailors. I’ll give you a heading, and we sail at full speed in that direction. Would that work?”
“This…” Flood Dragon King Xu hesitated.
At that moment, Jing Lao’er protested loudly, “King Jiao, I object! My sailors have worked hard all day. Now that they finally have a chance to rest, we can’t disturb them. Otherwise, they’ll be too exhausted to continue tomorrow, and it will delay our journey back to the South Sea!”
Zhang Xiaohua was furious upon hearing that. This old fool really must’ve been raised on crap—stubborn to the core.
But he also understood—his divine ability was simply too bizarre to be easily believed. It was only natural that others would be skeptical. After thinking for a moment, he said: “Flood Dragon King Xu, if we only extinguish the lights on this ship, that shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“I object!” Jing Lao’er immediately tried to speak again.
Flood Dragon King Xu glanced at Qin Shiyue’s somewhat darkened expression, then shot a glare at Jing Lao’er and barked: “Shut your mouth.”
“Extinguishing the lights is acceptable. We’re about to rest anyway. Keeping the lights burning would just be a waste. Fine, I’ll have someone put them out.”
With that, he gave the order to douse all lights aboard the ship.
As the lanterns were extinguished one after another, the entire ship gradually sank into darkness. And within Zhang Xiaohua’s divine sense, the six warships picked up speed, tightening their encirclement.
Once the vessel was completely dark, Jing Lao’er let out a sneering laugh. “Boy, you’ve plunged the entire ship into darkness—for what? We of the South Sea Flood Dragon Palace are not some rural bumpkins. A few lights here and there are hardly worth the cost!”
But before he could finish speaking, the surrounding sea, dark and distant, suddenly lit up with countless flickering lights. Amidst the storm and crashing waves, the sea surface was illuminated in patches. It was the six warships. They must have seen the lights aboard the giant ship suddenly vanish and assumed they’d been exposed. Fearing the ship would slip away under cover of darkness, they lit their lanterns in haste.
Staring at the distant lights, Jing Lao’er looked as though he’d seen a ghost. “This… how is this possible? How could he have seen that?”
Indeed, divine sense had no eyes to see with—but in this pitch-black night, where the human eye failed, divine sense could perceive everything.
Flood Dragon King Xu looked at Zhang Xiaohua with a complicated expression and asked: “Young master, which direction should we flee in?”
Zhang Xiaohua smiled. “Do I even need to say? That direction over there—the one without any lights. It’s obvious that one of the warships hasn’t completed the encirclement. Breaking through there is our best chance.”
Flood Dragon King Xu glanced around—sure enough, there were six points of light surrounding them, with only a single direction left in darkness. It was clear that the six military vessels had yet to complete their encirclement. If he didn’t break through from there, then where else could he? He, too, was simply grasping at straws in a moment of desperation.
