Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 279 The storm is coming, the elixir is about to be made!
On the edge of an island far from normal maritime trade routes, scattered Japanese pirate warships lay in disarray. Most of the pirates on board were disarmed and looked panicked, clearly a defeated and routed army.

An eerie atmosphere was spreading in the hold of a large sailing warship that had escaped from Quanzhou Port.

A boy who looked about 14 or 15 years old and resembled Amakusa Shiro was hanging upside down on a silver cross with his eyes closed. He was about 50 or 60 percent similar to Amakusa Shiro.

A ring of whale oil candles, blessed by the priest, were lit around it.

The candlelight suddenly changed from a warm, bright yellow to a chilly, pale blue, and then a biting, eerie wind swept through the cabin.

Woo woo woo.
Immediately, a beam of angelic light pierced through the ship's hull and crashed into the boy's body.

The "Hanged Man," who had been asleep for an unknown amount of time, suddenly opened his still somewhat dazed eyes.

It wasn't until several breaths later that his pupils gradually regained focus.

"Ouch—! Why does my head hurt so much?"

I think I was hit by something.

A strong sense of weakness kept coming from the depths of his body and soul, and it took him a great deal of effort to take himself off the cross.

He got up from the ground and shook his head vigorously.

He discovered large gaps in his memory; he only remembered leading a large army to attack Da Zhao and preparing to ambush Qi Yuanjing, but everything else was vague.

When the bishop of the East Bharata Diocese of the Holy Cross gave him this incomplete relic, he had already given him some instructions.

Because the relic is incomplete, the ability to "reborn" through the body of a blood relative is also incomplete, and losing some memories and power is a normal phenomenon.

"But how could it be so damaged?"

Amakusa Shiro looked down at his hands, his face filled with despair:

"Where is my national treasure, the 'Armchair Strategist'? Where is the powerful shikigami, the Basket Serpent Tail, that I just subdued?!"
Where is my own body?! And where is my other half's [ghost name]?!

He searched his entire body and found only the divine title left, which made him doubt himself. Was it possible that he was the missing piece, and had accidentally lost the main body?

Geckos detach their tails to survive, but in his case, it suddenly became detaching his body to save his tail?
Within the Church of the Holy Cross, it is simply a matter of habitual practice among theological professionals to refer to such earthly spirits as heroic spirits.

However, Amakusa Shiro's priesthood is not high; he is not a true Heroic Spirit under the Western theological system, but rather a demon who possesses both the "divine name" and the "demon name."

Losing the Ghost's Howl is equivalent to losing most of his combat power, and his strength has now been weakened to the extreme.

Those whose virtue does not match their position will surely suffer calamity!

Boom!Boom!Boom!
Suddenly someone knocked on the cabin door.

"Who?"

Amakusa Shiro instinctively took a half-step back, like a frightened bird.

"My lord! It is Iye!"

Someone opened the hatch and walked down the wooden ladder to the lower compartment.

By the candlelight, Amakusa Shiro could see the person who had come in, and it was none other than his right-hand man, the fourth-rank samurai, Ichiya Hanjiro.

He lost a sword duel with Lu Yunchen in Meizhou City, and a terrifying, deep sword scar appeared in the center of his face, revealing the bone.

His head was just a hair's breadth away from being split in two, and the remaining sword energy of the Divine Firmament Five Thunder Sword caused him unbearable pain.

But the heavens, earth, and water form a cycle, automatically absorbing the Dao Qi to grow stronger, making it difficult for him to wear down in a short time, leaving him bloodied and looking like a demon.

Upon seeing Amakusa Shiro awaken, the fourth-rank samurai was overjoyed.
"My lord, it's so good that you're alright. The priest accompanying the army has been looking for you, saying that a new mission has arrived from the East Bharata diocese."

Amakusa Shiro put on a stern face and said impatiently:
“Tell him that I have no interest in those trivial matters right now.”

Now his Dharma form is only half left. Apart from a fragment of the Holy Son's shroud, all his treasures, shikigami, and assets have been completely wiped out in Da Zhao.

Their strength plummeted to rock bottom.

Now he can only barely keep his life, and even if he spends several years, he may not be able to regain all his skills.

He's more than capable of fighting fourth-rank officials, but if he faces other living ghosts and gods, he'd probably be easily beaten and ridden around. How could he dare to take on any more missions?
He understood better than anyone the consequences of his martial virtue not matching his status.

However, they dared not show weakness or expose their vulnerability to the outside world, so they had to refuse firmly.

Yi Ye gave a wry smile:
"My lord, I'm afraid we can't refuse this time."

The accompanying priest said that this was a direct order from the Bishop's Palace of the East Bharata Diocese, requiring us, the Chechidan warriors, to fully cooperate with the Franciscan Empire in completing an important task assigned by King Philip II.

Cancel all current operations. Remain in place and await further instructions, and do not stray far from the East China Sea.

And then, without forgetting to add a sentence:
He said it was all for the glory of God on earth!

The cabin fell silent.

As high-ranking members of the Yingzhou Diocese, both men were well aware of one fact.

In Eastern parlance, the Holy Cross Church is the supreme ruler of the Western countries, while the Eastern Frankish Empire, as the most loyal supporter of the Church, is its number one favorite son!
These church members, who were under the command of Archbishop West Franzisque, were often seconded to the Governor-General of East Franzisque and his military priests in the colony of Luzon when they were in Southeast Asia.

Go and cleanse the natives and the evil spirits, ghosts, sorcerers, Champas, elephant cavalry, and even the bloody indigenous ghosts and gods that roam the mountains and fields.

The so-called glory of God on earth is the glory of the Frankish Empire!
Amakusa Shiro knew he couldn't refuse, and his expression turned rather unpleasant.
"Who is the Franco Empire going to attack this time? Why is it being so solemnly commanded by King Philip II, who is far away in the West, remotely micromanaging from half a world away?"

"Is this a prelude to war against the Great Zhao?" The Onmyoji was startled, but he inadvertently caught a glimpse of the cold light that the fourth-rank samurai, Iya, was giving him as he looked him up and down when he lowered his eyes.

A chill ran through me.

The Samurai class's special ability is called "Counterattack," which not only greatly enhances their mastery of various weapons and killing techniques but also often helps them create miracles of defeating stronger opponents.

However, this spiritual response also gave rise to the fine traditions of "subordinates overthrowing superiors" and "Heaven punishes traitors to the country"!

This is an inherent flaw in the samurai, determined to their very core, and it can never be changed.

This is not the beginning, nor is it the end.

Now that the Japanese pirates have just suffered a major defeat and had to rely on the "rebirth" strategy to escape with their lives, it is not only Iya who is feeling uneasy.
Amakusa Shiro gritted his teeth:
"This may not necessarily be a bad thing. I need a resounding victory to regroup."

I hope the Frankish Empire can find me a worthy opponent where I can truly demonstrate my abilities! As long as I'm clinging to the coattails of this maritime superpower, the advantage will definitely be mine!

at the same time.

In Yujing City, the Renshou Palace, the core of imperial power, had long been surrounded by the White Scale Guards.

Several days ago, all outsiders were prohibited from entering or leaving the premises, and only letters and memorials were allowed to be delivered.

The Emperor Daojun, a Daoist of the highest rank and a first-class Dan Ding Daoist, had already gathered all the Five Temples Divine Treasure Flowers to personally refine the immortal elixir—the Five Organs Returning to Truth Pill!

Flames roared and heat blazed within the Bagua Purple Gold Furnace, where Emperor Shaozhi, dressed in a Taoist robe, was personally tending to the furnace.

In the great victory in the southeast, the general's office in Minzhou killed thousands of Japanese pirates and a living ghost, and captured countless memorials, which he casually tossed aside.

How many Japanese pirates came, how many died along the southeast coast—to him, they were just numbers. When the battle reports came, he only replied with one sentence:
"Understood. The Ministry of War shall bestow the reward as usual."

His thin, otherworldly face was illuminated by the flickering light of the stove fire, and even the good news brought no joy to his eyes.

The intelligence sent back by Lu Yunchen ahead of time revealed that the impact of the Guishan Academy and the Ninth-Rank Official Law was a hundred or a thousand times greater than that of the Japanese pirates invading the territory.

He stared at the blazing fire in the furnace, and a fire was burning fiercely in his heart as well:
"This batch of the Five Organs Returning to Truth Pill that I have prepared will take forty-nine days to be refined."

Although no one has ever tested the efficacy of this medicine, and whether the claim of immortality is even true is unknown, does this elixir have any side effects?

But in my eyes, as a first-rank alchemist, this elixir is more than capable of prolonging life!

"What a pity! How many of these officials don't want me to successfully refine this elixir? Probably eight or nine out of ten."

He held the photographic bead, which he had never shown to anyone, in the lining of his sleeve.

The scene that had nearly made him furious when he first saw it seemed to reappear before his eyes.

You Shuangxiong from Guishan Bookstore asked:

"Uncle, if the emperor really collects all five sacred flowers from the temples, refines the elixir of immortality, and becomes an immortal mortal ruler, how should we conduct ourselves?"

You Zhen's face turned solemn, and he said decisively:
"In this land of China, no ruler can live forever!"

Even though it had been a long time since he received the confession from the You family uncle and nephew, Emperor Shaozhi still couldn't help but be furious whenever he thought of the ravings of these treacherous officials.

Who is he? He is the supreme emperor, the true dragon, and the ruler of the land!
Even the Habsburg emperor of the Western countries paled in comparison to him, and even the Pope would have to bow down to him.

After all, how many tens of thousands of imperial guards could the Pope possibly have in Beijing?
But in the mouths of those treacherous officials, killing him was as easy as slaughtering pigs and sheep.
"In other words, before I refine the elixir of immortality, the twenty-four 'Grand Justices' of the Guishan Academy, named after the twenty-four solar terms, will definitely try to harm me again!"
Is it flooding this time? Burning? Strangulation? Hahaha.

Emperor Shaozhi's face was grim, exuding a murderous aura that sent chills down one's spine.

The wrath of the emperor can cause millions to die and blood to flow for miles!

However, this time he intentionally controlled the scope of the "interaction between heaven and man," and it did not cause any changes in the celestial phenomena.

He looked up at a screen at the edge of the alchemy room.

The walls were covered with numerous green wooden plaques, each listing the name, place of origin, official rank, promotion history, and other details of important officials in the court, so that the emperor could keep track of their whereabouts at any time.

He glanced at all the ministers he had promoted, but at that moment, each one of them seemed like a traitor, or a potential traitor, in his eyes.

Officials enjoyed the preferential policies for scholars established during the reign of Emperor Taizu.

They enjoyed the legal privilege of exemption from corvée labor according to their rank: 2000 mu for the ninth rank and 10000 mu for the first rank.

Although land taxes are still required in principle, this system has long been abused.

Through "donations" and "deceptive donations," officials and the gentry class practically became a privileged class that did not pay taxes or perform military service.

Officials and gentry have controlled more and more land under their names, and now they have formed a huge "official-gentry-landlord" group.

Most officials were also large landowners in their hometowns, making them perfect candidates for the "Nine-Rank System of Officials." How could the emperor not be wary of them?
"Wang Cheng's description of the dynastic cycle in the book is absolutely correct."

These people are all parasites on the country.

The only way to deal with them is to kill them!

Cheng Gong?

A ghostly figure suddenly flashed into the alchemy room and knelt down on the ground.

"The servant is here."

(End of this chapter)