Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 365 Evil Spirits Fill the Sea, Stone Man Points the Way

On the other side, the fleets of the Four Seas Trading Company and the United Fruit Company were divided into two columns, running parallel to the imperial treasure ships.

The former was mainly a re-equipped navy of the East China Sea Kingdom, while the latter was an elite private army cobbled together by the company's shareholders.

On the first night at sea, apart from the officers on duty, many people gathered on the flagship of the Sihai Trading Company, the Danyang.

Uncle Zhang San; Zhang Quan and Zheng Shiniang; Xu Youde (Gongyang Ru); Peng Wujiu (the knife-lender); and Sun Tianba (the needle-pen craftsman) who rushed back to his hometown because he was worried about the situation of the Shanhai Association.

Among them, there is naturally a figure who acts as a pillar of strength – the living ghost and deity, Wu Cheng'en, also known as the "Great Immortal of the Spirit Platform".

The siblings Lin Daoqian and Lin Jinlian, who should have been the main force in the "Blood-Soaked Boat Making" operation, were not here.

Because the question of who would marry the Brunei princess was only a matter of days, they only sent a portion of their forces to join the fleet, while the main force went to Borneo to maintain appearances.

When the large fleet finishes dealing with Luzon and Manila and passes through Borneo's Brunei Kingdom, it might even witness their wedding.

Sun Tianba sat on a small stool, devouring a tin can of braised pork, giving Zhang San a thumbs-up as he ate, and mumbling his praise:
I would call Uncle Zhang the number one chef in the world!
It's no exaggeration to say that your invention of these canned goods saved half the lives of all sailors in the world.

I actually ate Frankish sailor's food when I was in Southeast Asia.

Let me describe it to you, and you'll understand. Those black-headed maggots in the nautical biscuits taste cool, unlike the bitter taste of weevils; they're practically a delicacy.

Those who frequently go to sea to collect water know that fuel is scarce on ocean-going sailing ships, and cooking every meal is a pipe dream. Most of the time, the crew cannot eat hot food or drink boiled water.

Since the fresh water was filled into wooden barrels in the hold at once, it would spoil and smell bad in a short time. The Western sailors had no choice but to mix the spoiled water with rum or simply use low-alcohol beverages instead of water.

It's not that they're really addicted to alcohol; it's just that the foul-smelling water is hard to swallow and has a high chance of making people sick.

Their usual food can only be described as inferior, with meat that has been excessively pickled and can last for a hundred years without rotting, and nautical biscuits that have become damp and rotten as their staple food.

Every time they ate, the crew had to endure extreme physical discomfort in order to stuff rotten, maggot-infested food into their throats.

Sun Tianba's words made everyone except for the Gu Master Zheng Shiniang feel nauseous.

Feeding them grasshoppers, silkworm pupae, and cicada nymphs is bearable, but feeding them maggots every day? Ugh!

We can't eat these maggots.

Fortunately, this problem was perfectly solved in the ocean-going fleet organized by Wang Cheng.

The first tin can of food was invented in the Donghai Kingdom, which completely changed the dietary conditions of the sailors.

"Not at all, not at all. What do you mean by the best chef in the world? Old Zhang is unworthy of such a title, hahaha."

Zhang San's face lit up with pride. He habitually adopted a humble attitude, but his eyes darted to the red-clad boy sitting in the corner.

Wang Cheng's guardian spirit, Zhao Cai, is also sitting here. If you didn't know, no one would recognize him as the "Witchcraft Wooden Figure," equivalent to a fourth-rank official.

He is just like a normal child, and can even eat and drink normally.

Of course, what Zhang San was looking at was not the boy, but a wisp of consciousness that Wang Cheng had specially left inside it to coordinate the two fleets.

Because this canned food also contains other new delicacies, which were not his own independent inventions, but rather came about under the "patient guidance" of his good nephew.

It wasn't initially for sailing, but because the Japanese workers in the assembly line factories, who were so busy with "four generations under one roof and six kinds of livestock" that they had no time to eat.

So Wang Cheng and Uncle Zhang San put their heads together.

So Zhang San took the lead in making some improvements to the cuisine.

They experimented with fast food such as fried fish, French fries, hot dogs, and General Tso's chicken.

Ultimately, he incorporated both Chinese and Western styles, creating convenient and quick pre-cooked meals that allowed factory workers to replenish their energy in the shortest amount of time.

Even if you have one hand free to work, you can still eat your fill using only the other hand.

Following this, in order to prepare supplies for ocean-going sailors, they invented even heavier glass jars and tin cans.

There are two main categories: canned meats such as braised pork, fish in tomato sauce, dace with black bean sauce, mushroom meat sauce, and luncheon meat, as well as canned fruits such as yellow peaches, lychees, and pears.

In an instant, it transitioned from the original eight major cuisines, which were cooked one spoonful at a time, to large-scale industrialized catering.

Its application in ocean voyages is far superior to the salted meat and biscuits infested with blackhead maggots and weevils that Western sailors ate.

Thanks to this achievement, Zhang San was successfully promoted to the fourth rank [Five Temples Divine Treasury].

Wang Cheng also gave him a thumbs up, giving him the highest praise:

"Third Uncle, wherever our Thunderfire Industrial Revolution and ocean-going fleet expand in the future, your influence will extend there as well."

Riding on these two favorable winds, even with force, we can still propel you to the top three ranks, making you one of the most renowned culinary gods in the world!

They even came up with a very catchy "prayer" for him.

The day the finished product was made was a Thursday according to the Gregorian calendar.

Therefore, this ninth major cuisine outside of the eight major cuisines of China was named: "Pre-made Food Crazy Thursday!" Just this aspiration alone could easily support a second or third-rank deity.

Uncle Zhang rubbed his calloused hands together, his face glowing. He couldn't believe that he and his seventh brother, Dong Piao, had both become founders of their own lineages.

Just thinking about how all food factories and meat processing plants will have to worship him before starting operations makes me chuckle to myself.

Of course, even after pioneering new paths, there still need to be taboos and rules.

Together with Wang Cheng, he settled on four words: "people-oriented".

Industrialized catering is meant to serve the public, not to turn the public into a source of wealth for the industrialization of catering.

Otherwise, given Wang Cheng's understanding of human nature, now that they've invented canned food and various pre-made convenience foods, people might dare to feed them energy bars, nutritional drinks, hunger pills, or even cockroach protein blocks and corpse starch.

Wang Cheng's idea was quite simple.

The entire Wang family, who were responsible for the water collection, was wiped out by Wang Bengu and Jiang Jichun, the "Rain Water" gang. Uncles, cousins, and others became civil officials and ghost generals in the Jingwangye Temple. Even the sworn brothers of the older generation, like Huang Yuanzhou's father, mostly died before they achieved fame and success.

Of those who are still alive, only Uncle Zhang and Uncle Dong remain.

Since we have the ability, we should naturally lend them a hand; it's our duty as human beings.

Zhang San relies entirely on his nephew's merits to hope for a position among the living gods and spirits. If it weren't for the fact that he has no beautiful daughters at home, he would definitely repay Wang Cheng by marrying him off.

"My nephew has helped me rise to prominence; I would even be willing to have my daughter as his concubine!"

However, he also had doubts:

"Both the Kitchen and the Storyteller belong to the Outer Eight Sects, with limited upper limits and narrow paths ahead. Their ultimate limit is roughly the third-grade Ghost God Dharma Aspect realm."

The ancestral master we worship in the kitchen is the Kitchen God, a supreme deity manifested by the Daoist Qi, who is not swayed by worldly customs and will not cause me any trouble.

But I heard that the founder of the Pear Garden was that "Old God" Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. If he had died a few decades earlier, he would definitely have been qualified to compete for the title of a wise and virtuous ruler in history, and he had a profound influence on Chinese folk arts.

Most of the water-class spirits were embedded in the Great Wall of Curses as bricks, while the whereabouts of the heavenly and earthly spirits are somewhat complicated.

A thousand years have passed; I wonder if that old shaman is still around? And if he will cause trouble for my seventh brother?

He subconsciously turned his head to look in the direction of the Mountain and Sea Curse.

"Huh? Is this some kind of evil spirit: a Yaksha lighting a lamp?"

Just like Wang Cheng, he let out a soft "hmm," only to find that thick fog was also rising in his direction, and two blood-red lantern-like orbs of light were rushing towards him, carrying a pungent, fishy stench.

It's even faster than the Great Zhao Navy's fleet.

Whoosh!
With a whooshing sound, a monstrous creature with a deep blue body and an ugly face, its two large, blood-red eyes glaring, leaped high from the water and jumped onto the deck of the Danyang.

This is one of the most common evil spirits in the East China Sea. It often jumps onto fishing boats to steal their catch. If you don't immediately give it the biggest and most precious fish on the boat, it will eat the fishermen.

Stab it--!
In an instant, a bright flash of light appeared, and it abruptly froze in mid-air.

First, its skin was entirely blue, then its flesh, blood vessels, tendons, internal organs, and grayish-white bones were all neatly separated and fell into the sea one by one.

The most amazing thing is that not a single drop of blood was shed from beginning to end.

Zhang San's gleaming, sharp ox-ear-shaped knife was sheathed again, and the temple mandala [Royal Kitchen] above his head, manifested by [Eastern Kitchen Master of Fate Qi], slowly dissipated.

This fourth-rank chef used only one move, the "Ox-Dissecting Knife Technique," to easily dismember the Yaksha-Lighting Lamp.

However, this is only the beginning.

Wow.
As the sea fog dissipated and the waves rolled, more evil spirits revealed themselves.

Paper boats painted red and gilded, used for sacrificial processions to the gods, but filled with human heads, are called "Big Flower Shoes"; and there's the "Grandma Stone," which is said to bring misfortune and sudden death if seen at low tide.
There are "ghost ships" that are tattered and filled with dead people; and "Rakshasa Sea Market" where everything is bought and sold using one's own three fires of fortune, prosperity, and longevity as currency.
There were all sorts of evil spirits, both familiar and unfamiliar. There were at least several thousand within sight, and who knows how many more were hidden from view. It was practically a grand expo of evil spirits.

Many of them are even considered major evil spirits equivalent to the middle-level third rank.

Fortunately, few dared to follow the murderous rule of "getting on the ship" like a demon lighting a lamp, and instead voluntarily jumped onto the bow of the ship.

clang!clang!clang!
The alarm bell rang, waking many sleeping crew members who rushed to the deck.

Hissing sounds filled the air.

"Why are there so many evil spirits all of a sudden?"

A burst of lightning flashed as Wang Cheng blasted the Yaksha that had jumped toward the bow of his ship into ashes with a single strike of his Qilin Shangfang Mace.

Shen Yueye unfolded another Zheng He treasure map in her hand.

Turning to the first page: "In the late Yan Kang era, immortals vied for the throne!"

In the mortal realm, demons run rampant, reincarnations are ingenious, disbelief in the Great Way prevails, simplicity and purity are scattered, the three and five principles are lost, and humans and ghosts are in disarray.
The six-day-old aura, referred to as "official title."

The following section reveals records of the treasure ship's naval crew's experiences during their various voyages:

"Land and sea are two completely different geographical environments, and people's activities in these two environments are also different."

The mainland was the domain of agriculture, animal husbandry, and commerce; the ocean was the domain of fish and salt production, trade, and navigation.

River civilizations developed stable agricultural economies and centralized systems based on their river basins, while maritime civilizations relied on coastal areas to form outward-oriented commercial economies.

The ocean is rich in resources, including birds, wood, stones, gold, tin, salt, iron, pearls, fish, and shells, which provide sustenance for the people. These conditions naturally facilitate trade with other countries, which is quite profitable.

Prosperous maritime trade breeds piracy; this is a natural law, just as agrarian countries naturally attract nomadic invasions.

Mountains are considered yang and water is considered yin. When a river civilization living on land attempts to enter the yin realm of water on a large scale, it is more likely to encounter various evil spirits that originated from its own traditions and customs than a maritime civilization.

This is also the law of nature!
Because as large numbers of people go to sea, they change their living environment, customs, and production methods, potentially killing them at their source.

The ship's naval commanders had encountered this situation before and had even discerned the cause in advance.

Small-scale maritime trade has never been mainstream; most of it has been smuggling activities conducted privately.

If there is an imperial edict and a coordinated effort from top to bottom, and the nation begins to explore the oceans with its own will, they will encounter various evil spirits that will block their way, and force them to return to the right path.

Just then, the sea was shrouded in mist, cold and deathly silent, but deep in everyone's hearts, they faintly heard thousands of mournful cries:
"No going out to sea! No going out to sea! No going out to sea!"

However, as the fleet members awoke, the yang energy above them surged once more, and the evil spirits dared not approach for a time.

Just then, from the surrounding evil forces that had formed an encirclement, a gap suddenly appeared in the east direction, close to the Great Wall of Curses.

A tall, ancient stone figure, standing fifteen feet in height and with a girth of ten spans, was standing on the sea, waving towards the direction of the [Mirage Cloud Dragon Ship] and the [Danyang Ship].

(End of this chapter)