Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 23 Battle of Wits: Passing by the Master, Becoming Godfathers
Although the newcomer looked young, only in his early twenties, the boatmen, porters, merchants, and boatmen who had formed a circle around the dock all instinctively moved aside to make way for him.

The religious officials present, representing all walks of life and from all walks of life, were all very polite. Those who knew each other even cupped their hands and greeted each other with a greeting.
"Master Huang."

"Mirage General!"

Without a doubt, the visitor was Huang Yuanzhou, the "Mirage General" who was in charge of guarding Yuegang, one of the twenty-four generals under the command of Prince Jinghai.

When Wang Cheng saw this familiar face, his eyes flickered for a moment. He subconsciously lowered his gaze to avoid making eye contact and accidentally revealing a flaw.

His father warned him not to seek refuge with his former subordinates, suspecting there was a traitor within the Wufeng Banner.

There aren't many qualified individuals to be traitors; they are mostly powerful figures like adopted sons, nephews, the Twenty-Four Generals, and the Thirty-Six Fierce Generals.

This is a good opportunity to hide in the shadows and see for myself whether Huang Yuanzhou, this young general of the 24th year, has actually surrendered to the government.

As Huang Yuanzhou stormed towards the dock, the water in the harbor suddenly surged with waves, and the hundreds of giant clam shells that had been sleeping underwater opened their mouths and woke up.

They rose one after another from the bottom of the water and began to swim at high speed in the harbor, causing the water to boil instantly and the ships anchored in the anchorage to sway.

Someone on the dock shouted:
"Master!"

"All ships, get out of the way! Our Moon Harbor is about to be invaded by the master again!"

The boatmen who remained on the boat nearby quickly moved their own sailboats to the side, clearing a wide expanse of water.

Among the onlookers were some unfamiliar out-of-town businessmen who, looking bewildered, grabbed the locals beside them:

"Master Guo? Where did this master come from? The nearest government office isn't in Xiangzhou City, the prefectural capital, forty miles away. Why would they dare to come all the way here?"

A kind person quietly explained to them:
"You don't understand. On the waters of the East China Sea and the South China Sea, all kinds of giants whose size far exceeds that of their counterparts are actually called 'Master' or 'Big Master'."

They are as fierce as the officials sitting in the government offices, and given their enormous size, a single shake of their head and a sway of their tails can create huge waves at sea.

Ordinary fishing boats can easily capsize if they encounter them.

These sea creatures also particularly enjoy swimming in groups in the sea; these are what we call 'sea creatures'.

If a fishing or trading vessel encounters a "master," it will run as far away as possible.

Although the danger is less than encountering a "passing ghostly army" on land, if anything goes wrong, everyone on board will die!

The clam shells in the harbor anchorage that are much larger than their counterparts are also considered "masters," and they roam in groups, posing an even greater danger than many carnivorous and ferocious sharks.

"Although the Five Peaks Banner has suffered a heavy blow, the old ship owner is gone, but we are still here!"

I originally wanted to settle scores with your lackeys, but I had to consider my duty to guard the area. Since you've delivered yourselves to my doorstep, you'll all stay.

【Mirage General】Huang Yuanzhou may look like a chubby young man with no beard, but he is ruthless and talkative.

Facing this group of ghostwriters who completely disregarded the Wufengqi Armed Merchants Group, he acted decisively without hesitation.

The Water Conservancy Bureau has the protection of official power, so if a wild "White Water Gentleman" tries to kill someone, he will definitely suffer a backlash. These hired guns don't have that protection.

The next moment, under the watchful eyes of everyone with their own thoughts, the domineering Mirage fell to his knees with a "plop" on the wooden boardwalk of the dock.

She kowtowed towards the sea, abandoning her earlier domineering entrance, and began to fawn over the sea with a fawning expression:
"Godmother, someone is bullying my child! Please, godmother, do me justice!"

A crimson talisman flashed briefly between his brows.

call--!
Colorful mist rose into the sky around Moon Harbor, quickly covering a small portion of the sea outside the harbor.

"Kill Kill Kill"

Amidst deafening shouts of battle, a large horde of surreal "shrimp soldiers and crab generals," exuding a chilling, fishy stench, suddenly charged ashore.

Just as the reserve swordsman closest to the sea was about to draw his sword and slash, he was rushed by the shrimp soldiers and crab generals.

A fierce fighting sound suddenly came from inside his body, and then he collapsed to the ground.

Only then did many hideous wounds and signs of gnawing appear on his body. If his chest and abdominal cavities were opened, it would be found that his internal organs had disappeared.

Then came the second and the third.
"hiss--!"

Many onlookers, seeing this scene that was even more sinister than evil spirits, gasped in shock and swarmed away to keep their distance.

Some even experienced hallucinations, feeling that the menacing "shrimp soldiers and crab generals" would follow their gaze and crawl into their bodies. Zhang Wu, standing next to Wang Cheng, watched with rapt attention, excitedly shouting:

"The Mirage will be one of the eight famous ship captains in Moon Harbor. It is said that he has learned the strange art taught by Prince Jing: [to become a godparent and to make offerings to the master].

I took a mirage tortoise that had gained sentience as my godmother, and today I saw that it was indeed ridiculously powerful.

I wonder when I will be ordained and listed as a water-class officer, qualified to learn this skill.

Wang Cheng was just beginning to feel relieved that this "forgetful soul" had finally made something of himself and had some higher aspirations when he heard him continue talking to himself:
"Once you learn this skill, you could be as efficient as a hundred mules even if you went to work at a mill."

Wang Cheng was speechless:

'The extraordinary skills and techniques these officials cultivate are not so simple.'
With the words 'worship' and 'offering' at the beginning, do you think you're raising cattle and horses?

If you give them that kind of order, they might actually pull the millstone, and their efficiency would be equivalent to that of a hundred mules.

But you, my friend, are probably the one being ground up in that millstone!

His gaze returned to the battlefield, landing on Huang Yuanzhou, the commander of the Mirage, as he silently observed and assessed the situation.

Few ordinary people in the world probably understood the art of water collection better than Wang Cheng, the heir of the Prince of Jinghai, who came from a family with a strong scholarly tradition, and even some of the little-known secrets of various schools of thought and professions.

Q: Are there any distinctions of high or low among the 360 ​​professions?
They say no, but they both say yes.

The same applies to officials.

On the surface, everyone is a minister of the Great Dao, worshipping the Three Officials, who are manifestations of the Dao's energy, as the main deities, but there are still different ranks among them.

Apart from a few high-ranking officials who can cultivate themselves in order of succession with the help of the Taoist tradition and the dynasty, and steadily produce officials of the third rank who are qualified to be deified after death.

Most other divine officials did not have complete lineages, and their practice had to be explored and cultivated by later generations themselves.

They might be able to reach the level of an official appointed by the imperial court and attain a divine status, but this is mostly difficult to replicate. It requires a specific circumstance and opportunity, and only one in a thousand or a hundred might succeed.

The Water Rank Officials belong to the latter category, the lowest of the Eight Outer Ranks, and have no legitimate path to follow.

Generally, the more unique skills and extraordinary techniques one learns, the greater one's abilities become, making it easier to fulfill one's duties, receive feedback from the Dao, and gradually improve one's Dao cultivation and rank.

But how difficult that is!

By the time the "Guide to Sending People Away with the Wind" from the Wang family was passed down to Wang Zeng's generation, it had already included 108 unique skills, 24 unusual techniques, and three orthodox methods from the 36 halls of the Water Class.

The technique Huang Yuanzhou used, "Paying Homage to a Godfather and Offering Sacrifices to a Master," is one of the twenty-four extraordinary arts.

This strange art is divided into the Northern School and the Southern School. The Northern School practices worshipping living people, and the candidates are mostly important figures who are blessed, powerful, and influential.
The Southern School worships ancient, non-human objects such as stones, large trees, and deities, which can provide protection for children and keep them safe from ghosts and evil spirits.

Whether it is powerful or not depends entirely on the quality of the godparent.

If one's loyalty is weak, the help to the official will be minimal; if one's loyalty is strong, the help will be substantial.

By supporting a powerful "master" clan, one can sign a legal contract that can be passed down through generations of descendants and masters, allowing even newly ordained disciples to immediately receive powerful assistance.

"For example, Huang Yuanzhou himself is not the first generation of [Mirage General], but a second generation of Wufeng Banner like me."

His father went into business even earlier than my father.

After learning extraordinary skills from "The Guide to Sending You Off with the Wind," he found his gentle and virtuous "Clam Girl," who later died in battle while expanding the territory of the Five Peaks Banner.

Huang Yuanzhou, who was only six or seven years older than me, took over his father's position and became the godmother of his father's beloved "Clam Girl".

If it weren't for this extraordinary skill, it would have been far more difficult for him to reach the strength of a twenty-fourth-level general at this age.

The only side effect is that he can never eat the food of his godparents' relatives again in his life; drinking yellow wine and eating clams are taboo for him.

The Wang family doesn't specialize in this unusual art, but it looks quite impressive. Should I also enshrine one or two masters after I receive my ordination and join their ranks?

The thoughts churning in Wang Cheng's mind happened in the blink of an eye.

The moment the first reserve swordsman fell, Wei Zhong, the swordsman leader who was prepared, roared and attacked fiercely.

(End of this chapter)