Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 63 The Cycle of Five Grains, The Reincarnation of a Flood Dragon

The last time the two met was last November. More than a month has passed, and Wang Cheng has changed a lot.

Hidden in the mist, Ah Xiao didn't recognize him at first glance.

Wang Cheng recognized the pearl diver at a glance, even though she looked almost exactly the same.

She remained as beautiful and aloof as ever, but there was a noticeable hint of weariness between her brows, suggesting that she hadn't been having a good time lately.

Looking further into the mist, one could see the cook and Xie He, their hands bound by a black rope, yellow talismans pasted on their foreheads, silently following behind A Xiao like puppets.

Wang Cheng immediately realized he had made a blunder. The reason A Xiao was there was not to save Xie and the other two, but to lie in ambush in the water, ready to attack them at any moment.

The one who intercepted them halfway wasn't Ah Xiao, but rather their own group!
When Wang Cheng called her name, A-Xiao finally realized what was happening.

He confirmed that the sharp-swordsman and imposing figure before him was none other than the "little scholar" who had sung a love song to him on their first meeting (Chapter 9).

After hesitating for a moment, he called out his name:
"It's you, Wang Fugui?"

Seeing that she had run into an acquaintance, A-Xiao flicked the hairpin knife in her hand and put it back into her hair as a hairpin, but a hint of inquiry appeared in her clear, heterochromatic eyes.

“It’s me. Zhang Wu, Zhang Wen, and the Tanka brothers I recruited from the tribe are all on my boat.”

Wang Cheng pointed at the fog and casually took out the "Wind Lion," a talisman he had taken from the stonemason Cui Sheng.

Back then, the Wind Lion was blessed by this Lu Ban disciple with a curse, making it seem sinister. Its actual ability was to suppress wind and stop fog, and it could be used in either the positive or negative way.

Just as he was about to blow hard to dispel the fog surrounding the "Blue Robe" ship and summon the people on board to reminisce with Ah Xiao.

"Wealthy, don't linger. I'm boarding your ship, let's hurry!"

Unexpectedly, Ah Xiao grabbed the two people in her arms, stepped on the crest of the wave, and flew towards the "Blue Robe" ship in the fog.

As they passed by the Xie family's merchant ship, which was riddled with holes and had hardly any survivors left, they casually tossed a few eerie blue fire beads into the porthole.

call--!
The flames rose and spread rapidly, completely destroying the traces left by the artillery battle, as well as the thugs who were preparing to capture Lady Yan's temple keeper.

Wang Cheng noticed her series of unusual behaviors and realized that something was wrong.

Scanning the sea, they discovered that about a mile before and after the burning Xie family merchant ship, two figures each tore off their talismans and jumped out of thin air.

They were actually four seventh-rank officials with a sliver of crimson aura rising from their heads.

Wearing animal masks, they each displayed their unique skills, speeding across the sea.

It's obvious they'd been lying in wait, setting up a huge net specifically for a certain target, just waiting for them to take the bait.

But this perfectly good drama of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, was shattered by a sudden "Cheng Yaojin" who appeared out of nowhere and chopped it to pieces with an axe.

The enraged ambush troops repeated exactly what Wang Cheng had just shouted at A'xiao:

"Stop! Leave him here!"

While shouting sternly, one of them plugged one nostril with his finger and forcefully exhaled a foul-smelling white vapor from the other nostril.

It moved rapidly through the air like a snake, approaching at high speed.

Wherever it passed, a foul stench permeated the area within a hundred meters, causing dizziness and nausea.

As Wang Cheng ran, he pulled out a [Mysterious Serpent Black Water Talisman] to try and block the evil white mist.

Upon seeing this, A-Xiao immediately stopped her, saying:
"This is the unique skill of the Earthly Official [Night Fragrance Gentleman], [Five Grains Reincarnation Qi], which is most adept at impurity, warding off evil spirits and magical artifacts, and obscuring spirituality."

This person has already touched the threshold of the middle-level third-grade Qi cultivation; don't try to force it.

He took out a dark blue pearl from his sleeve, flicked it with his finger, and shot it into the sky, where it collided with the white energy of the Five Grains Reincarnation.

Boom!

A thunderous roar erupted, and everyone retreated in disarray.

Then he tugged at Wang Cheng, his cool voice unchanged:
"My Black Water Yin Thunder belongs to the Yin Transformation Method, and its Yang energy is insufficient to break this evil spell."

Go quickly! "

Wang Cheng quickly sped up to catch up, and the two of them returned to the [Qingyi] ship together.

Zhang Wu, Zhang Wen, and a group of Tanka crew members were already waiting on the deck, all of them greeting her politely.

"Sister Axiao!"

Although this pearl diver was boarding the "Blue Robe" for the first time, she instantly exuded the aura of a big sister who was surrounded by followers and commanded a large following.

This is the kind of prestige that Lady Yan, the temple keeper and the only official in the clan, should have.

But the occasion wasn't right, and Ah Xiao didn't have time to greet them before urging them on:

"Sail away quickly, get away from the coastline, and don't get entangled with the pursuers!"

If this were within the tribe, the words of A-Xiao, the sole official and temple keeper, would undoubtedly be carried out unconditionally and without question immediately. However, upon hearing these words, all the Tanka crew members on the ship turned to look at Wang Cheng, awaiting his orders.

They seemed to think that only the person at the bow of the ship could decide whether to fight or retreat.

Even Ah Xiao, whose expression had always been indifferent, couldn't help but show a hint of surprise.

Strictly speaking, her suggestion was perfectly reasonable and did not overstep the authority of the ship's captain.

But in just one month, this group of Tanka people who had lived together for six or seven years only knew about the boatman and not the temple keeper.

What kind of bewitching potion did they give them?

She clearly hadn't realized the true weight of the statement, "He gave too much."

Strict adherence to orders is merely the starting point for building a powerful army.

Feeling at a loss, he looked at Wang Cheng, the young scholar he had only met once, with even more seriousness.

I can no longer see him as the flirtatious scoundrel I first met.

Wang Cheng was very pleased with the support of the crew members and immediately repeated Ah Xiao's words.

"Activate the Lion Head Plate [Ghost Head Wind] to accelerate and leave them behind!"

Woo woo woo.
The wind direction at sea was suddenly changed by the gale, and the two sailboats, one in front of the other, turned around in the fog and accelerated towards the deep sea.

If a group of ordinary seventh-rank officials dared to rush in without taking a boat or worshipping the ship god, given that the evil spirits had already passed the New Year and were gradually reviving, they would most likely have to go in but not come out alive.

By the time the four officers lying in ambush caught up with the burning and sinking Xie family merchant ship, the mysterious fog had already reduced the ship to a mere silhouette.

With their vision obscured by the fog, they couldn't even see who was making the move; all they knew was that they had used artillery.

"Oh no, they got away!"

The four officials removed their masks, looked at each other, and their ugly expressions were exactly the same.

A pale-skinned, eerily sinister corpse retriever watched the merchant ship slowly sink into the sea, his face ashen.

"Everyone, although the Xie family has long since declined, Xie He's life is worthless."

However, we failed to complete the task assigned by our employer and capture the temple keeper who might know the whereabouts of Lady Jiaolongyan. Even the bait was eaten by someone else.

This failure will make it much harder to catch them next time. Everyone should think carefully about how to explain this to the employer afterwards.

Beside him stood a scissors slung over his waist, his skin smooth and strangely oily, a "second-rate cobbler" stroking his gleaming bald head:
"I always said that Xie He and his cook were unreliable; they couldn't even hold out until we came to their aid."

"We shouldn't have separated in the first place. We should have used my [Fine Clothes Technique], which allows me to change appearances, to peel off human skin and wear it, then lay in ambush beside Xie He."

Upon hearing this, the corpse retriever narrowed his eyes dangerously:

"Master Chen, do you mean that the responsibility for the mission's failure lies with Cheng, who was lying in ambush outside?"

If I had listened to you and stayed on the ship, I would have been riddled with bullets by now!

Beside them, the "female matchmaker," with a large mole above her lip, tried to smooth things over in a shrill voice:

"Oh dear, you two, please say less."

Xie and the abbot arrested many of Lady Yan's temple keepers, and the employer had anticipated from the beginning that he would be targeted.

The four of us were arranged to ambush the isolated and vulnerable temple keeper of the Tanka people. The planned ambush was not here, so it's understandable that we were caught off guard.

Getting into internal strife here won't get anything done; let's think about how to salvage the situation.

They were all freelancers temporarily recruited by their employer from the martial arts world, and none of them were willing to submit to the others.

Seeing that the cobbler and the corpse retriever were ignoring the ghost matchmaker and were about to continue arguing.

A muffled voice sounded:

"Matchmaker Ye is right. Captain Cheng and Master Chen, you should both calm down for a while."

All three of them instinctively stopped talking and looked at the last person, who was also the one who had just exhaled the Five Grains Reincarnation Qi, the "Night Fragrance Master" Qian Wuye.

He was also the leader of their operation.

"Everyone already knew this before we left after receiving the employer's deposit."

Our mission is to use the pure dragon energy emanating from Lady Yan, a member of the Heavenly Consort lineage, to replenish the deficit left by the Prince of Jinghai and complete the divine ritual requested by a noble person.

What you may not know is that Lady Yan is the youngest daughter of Duke Yan. She has not yet undergone the ritual of "dying but not perishing" to return to her divine position and is still alive and kicking in the human world.

Many years ago, a fragment of his spirit escaped and was reborn, leaving behind a dragon's body, preparing to take human form when he returned to human form in the future.

Therefore, our real target this time is not an ordinary temple keeper, but the reincarnation of Lady Yan!

(End of this chapter)