Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 1 Sending the King's Ship, Filling the Sea Eye

Dazhao, the seat of Minzhou, was located in the lower reaches of the Jiulong River.

The shimmering river water churned, reflecting the twilight's golden hue and the blood-red setting sun.

beep--!
At a riverside ferry crossing, however, the place was packed with people, the sound of conch shells filled the air, and the smoke from burning incense and candles enveloped half of the river.

"The royal ship sets sail to hold a sea festival and send the prince and his son on a cruise on the river!"

Suddenly, a very cheerful shout woke Wang Cheng from his coma.

Slowly opening his eyes, he was astonished to find himself sitting on a magnificent ship painted with dragons.

With its three sturdy sails—front, main, and rear—unfurled, the large ship propelled downstream along the vast river.

As he moved further away from the ferry, the inexplicable, relieved drumming noise in his ears gradually faded into the distance.

Wang Cheng had no idea what had happened to him, and looked around blankly.
"Didn't I accidentally fall into the sea and drown when I went to submit a customs declaration? Where is this place? And what does 'sending off the royal ship' mean?"

No one answered his question on the vast river.

He was clearly the only living person on the desolate sailboat.

Wang Cheng strained to lift his head and saw that there were three large masts on the ship, each with colorful flags fluttering on it, bearing the inscriptions: "Inspecting the Emperor on Behalf of Heaven," "Protecting the Territory and Securing the People," and "Favorable Weather and Abundant Harvests."

The bow and sides of the ship were decorated with various weapons such as golden maces, silver maces, spears, knives, swords, and halberds, while hundreds of paper effigies of various servants and soldiers were neatly arranged on the deck.

There were grain officials, cooks, and guides, among others, and the ship's hold was piled high with firewood, rice, oil, and salt.

Wang Cheng himself was dressed in a black python robe symbolizing royalty, and sat upright on a gilded throne placed on the aft deck.

Behind him were parasols, feather fans, and a banner that read "Crown Prince." On the table in front of him were incense burners, candlesticks, and offerings of fruits.

"These things... they don't look like they're meant for the living!"

Wang Cheng felt a chill run down his spine. When he looked up, he noticed another large, brightly decorated ship in front of him, which was even bigger and of higher standard.

Compared to his own "Prince's Ship," that was the real royal ship!

Upon closer inspection, a large black royal banner was indeed seen fluttering in the river wind on the ship, bearing the inscription: "King Jinghai, Zheng!"

"Jinghai Wang Zheng?"

Boom!

Upon seeing this name, a thunderclap suddenly resounded in Wang Cheng's mind, and countless fragments of memories surged from the depths of his mind, including those from his past life and this life.

A mysterious shimmering golden light on the beach, a sudden surge of tide and raging waves during a curious exploration, the excruciating pain in my lungs after choking on water, followed by a long period of darkness.
Looking back now, he has become a sixteen-year-old boy who has just awakened from a dream, living a second life.
In this world that closely resembles an ancient dynasty, yin and yang have been intertwined since ancient times, and all things possess a spirit.

Ghostly soldiers passing through, the dead knocking on the door, sheep bones becoming spirits, cutting candles to end one's life—all sorts of rumors emerged one after another, and he had witnessed them more than once.

Fortunately, our ancestors made a pact with the Heavenly, Earthly, and Water Officials, who manifested the Daoist energy, and established a system of divine officials covering all schools of thought and professions.

It encompasses everything from hiking and collecting water to leading fires and raiding tombs, leading sheep and playing with monkeys, and adding gold to orchids.

The three ranks of officials are honored with the title of "Lord of the State and True Dragon Emperor," and they harmonize Yin and Yang according to the "Twenty-Four Solar Terms."

Over time, this world, where all things possess a spirit, gradually evolved into a pattern where mountains represent Yang, water represents Yin, and mountains and seas form the boundaries.

Being near waterways always means great danger.

Even with countless water officials coming one after another to suppress evil spirits, it was still extremely difficult for ordinary people to make a living on the water.

To make matters worse, the Great Zhao Dynasty, which now rules over the twenty-four prefectures of China, had already issued an order during the reign of Emperor Zhaoming Han Lin, which prohibited the sea and mountains and implemented the strictest sea ban in history!
Anyone who dares to go to sea, whether they are a merchant, sailor, or fisherman, is considered a pirate.

The people along the coast of Dazhao, who "used the sea as their fields and fished in the sea," lived a life of unbearable hardship. Some of the officials in the water-based officialdom, who were already of low status in the country, gradually fell into the status of lowly.

This situation has continued for a full two hundred years.
At this point, the fragments of memories from Wang Cheng's two lives finally began to piece together, like a revolving lantern.

This also allowed him to completely unravel the mystery of his prenatal state and realize the extremely dangerous situation he was in.

Looking at the royal ship ahead, he couldn't help but cry out in sorrow:

"Accept amnesty, accept amnesty, what kind of amnesty is this!"
"Dad, you're so confused!!"

In fact, the bizarre scene of "sending off the royal ship" is ultimately a result of the "sea ban" decree issued by the Great Zhao Dynasty.

The Great Zhao Dynasty strictly prohibited the sea, yet the Wang family, who were supposed to collect water, happened to be born in Minzhou, a place described as "eight parts mountains, one part water, and one part farmland," where it would be difficult to survive without the sea.

Born into the lowest social class of boatmen, their family had a long tradition of using water collection methods and had served as officials in the water transport sector for generations.

This also led to most of the Wang family members dying violently in rivers and seas.

When he was young, Wang Zeng, his father, could not bear the poverty and ignored the ban on sea trade. He and several fellow villagers and relatives secretly went into business and established the Wufengqi Armed Maritime Merchant Group.

They started by joining Shuangyu Island, which was then considered a smuggling paradise and a center of world trade.

Having held various positions such as fire captain, steward, ship captain, and sentry, he rapidly accumulated power in international trade across the East China Sea and Southeast Asia by relying on his exceptional skills and official rank of "White Water Gentleman," eventually becoming the supreme leader of the Southeast Sea Merchants!
He even established his own maritime kingdom, the Kingdom of Donghai. If he were on the land of the Great Zhao Dynasty, others could easily call him Captain Wang or Steward Wang.

But once overseas, he became the King of Jinghai, ruling over the thirty-six islands of the East China Sea, possessing thousands of warships and hundreds of thousands of followers!
To everyone's surprise, this most powerful naval officer of the time, despite violating the maritime ban, never attacked the coast of the Great Zhao Dynasty like other pirates.

Instead, they sent people every year with generous gifts to persuade local officials, promising to offer tribute according to the four seasons.

As long as the imperial court agrees to lift the sea ban, give those who rely on the sea for farming a way to make a living, and remove the lowly status of fishermen, river workers, sailors, Tanka people, and fishing boats of the Nine Clans, he, the King of the East Sea, can negotiate any conditions.

It can be said that they longed to be granted amnesty by the imperial court.

After that, he not only took up the banner of the "trade faction" among water collectors, but also took the initiative to help the court to suppress the "plundering faction" pirate gangs that colluded with internal and external forces to commit murder and arson.

For the past three years, the coastal defense of Wuzhou and Minzhou, the two major prefectures, has been "managed" by Prince Jinghai. The East China Sea has been relatively calm, and no major incidents have occurred.

Coastal commerce also flourished, and everyone from peddlers to government officials made a fortune, truly achieving "sharing profits with others and defending the country's borders."

Until a month ago, this leader of the "Mutual Trade Faction" launched a large-scale military campaign, joining forces with the Great Zhao Navy to kill Xu Hai, the leader of the "Pirate Faction" who refused to submit to the king's rule, and known as the "Great General of Heavenly Sea Pacification."

After submitting this thick pledge of allegiance to the imperial court, they finally received an imperial decree granting them amnesty.

Unfortunately, this most skilled water collector's fervent desire to become a loyal subject of the Great Zhao Dynasty was met with a betrayal and ambush by the court, which ultimately led to his death!

Three days ago, Prince Jinghai, who was invited to land with a small number of guards, not only failed to land successfully, but also lost the lives of his entire family because he was too naive and trusted the court too much.

Only his only son, Wang Cheng, was lucky enough to survive and is still alive.

Recalling everything that had happened during this period, Wang Cheng still felt deeply resentful:

"Why are you so insistent on appeasement and lifting the maritime ban? You are the King of the East Sea, not a timely rain!"

The imperial court's reaction was also quite strange.

Those high-ranking officials were all shrewd individuals who had fought their way through the imperial examinations.

Don't they realize that rashly killing the King of the East Sea, who strictly abides by the rules and is still eager to be recruited by the government, will not only fail to pacify the East Sea and stop maritime trade, but will also create countless pirates and tyrants?

Once his adopted sons, twenty-four generals, and thirty-six fierce warriors—dozens of ship captains with extraordinary skills and abilities—all establish themselves independently, he certainly won't bother with any more of those ridiculous rules.

They will never believe any promises from the government again, and will fight to the bitter end.

Beyond Wufengqi, countless maritime merchants and water miners will abandon their illusions and completely transform from traders to pirates.

This time, the coastal areas of Dazhao are likely to suffer truly. What exactly are these high-ranking officials trying to do?

However, Wang Cheng no longer had the right to worry about the lives of others.

After merging his memories from two lifetimes, he learned what it meant to "send the royal ship"!
In many parts of southeastern Dazhao, waterways crisscross the land, and miasma, plagues, evil spirits, and demons and monsters abound.

The Taoist ritual of "sending off the royal ship" takes place at the end of the year, with a water-based deity, "Lord" or "Eternal Lord," presiding over the procession to send the five plague gods, evil spirits, and pestilence from the land into the vast ocean to the east.

He patrols the land on behalf of Heaven, protecting the borders and ensuring the safety of the people!
And now, Wang Cheng and his father's corpses are each sitting on a Wang ship.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but turn ashen-faced and clench his teeth tightly:

"Killing someone is just a matter of a head falling to the ground, but even after death, they are used to send the king's ship. The hearts of scholars are truly vicious!"

Immortals ascend to heaven in broad daylight; gods are worshipped after death.

In this world, immortals are just legends, and the greatest desire of those officials who follow the path of gods is nothing more than to be favored by heaven and earth after death and be conferred a position as a ghost or god.

Given the official rank of Prince Jinghai, the most powerful water collector of his time, his life's achievements, and the influence of the mighty King of the East Sea, it would be no problem for him to become a local deity to be worshipped after his death.

Death was far from the end for him; rather, it was the beginning of another form of life, and he could even continue to protect his hometown and his relatives.

But it would be a disaster if it were used to send the royal ship away.

"It's a great thing for ordinary people, but a life-or-death ordeal for ghosts and gods."

During the ceremony, the "Prince" must be able to suppress the evil spirits and plague demons within a province or region; if he cannot suppress them...

Just then, the last rays of the setting sun disappeared behind Wang Cheng into the mountains.

Bang bang bang.
Suddenly, a strange, chaotic splashing sound came from the dark water, as if something was dragging the bottom of the two royal ships, one in front and one behind.

What followed was a strong stench of decay, mixed with a nauseating smell of blood.

Wang Cheng could clearly feel his vehicle sinking into the water, and its speed slowing down.

My heart skipped a beat, and an overwhelming fear rose from the depths of my being, causing me to shiver uncontrollably.

"If we can't suppress it, this [Prince] and [Emperor] will be dragged along by countless ghosts and evil spirits to fill the East China Sea eye."

They will surely be like evil spirits, never to be reincarnated!

(End of this chapter)