Chapter 228: Section 16: Kidnapping Cang Xu
Mei Lan, the Sea God.
Beloved deity of the Fishman.
The tales of the mermaid are indeed His divine artifact.
Yet it is known to all that not only Fishmen are His followers.
Faith spreads.
Any aquatic species might take up the faith in Mei Lan. Before He ascended to divine status, His true form was that of a mermaid. Hence, many from the mermaid clans also worship Him.
Similarly, it is not odd for humans to worship this deity, especially in coastal areas where His faith spreads more easily.
Historically, the Holy Bright Empire had no official Sea God.
And Mei Lan was quite the orthodox Sea God.
Believing in Him was very beneficial for His followers. It made sailing smoother and increased the fish catch. Sometimes fishing could yield large shells containing pearls or other rare fish species.
The key point was, He was a god of the other races.
The Holy Bright Empire had always fiercely oppressed such deities.
Because faith is important, these unique resources are fiercely competed over by the deities.
Faith is an incredibly powerful force.
It relates to the secular; followers’ donations bring in massive wealth, and the power of the sects can carve out armed factions. It also has cultural implications; the mutual understanding among believers surely surpasses that of ordinary people. The shared faith means shared values, particularly positive faith, which can greatly promote cooperation among humans.
Lastly, it relates to the gods themselves. Gods are the most ancient beings in the world and often the most powerful forces. The secrets of the gods are not universally known, but generally, the more followers a god has, the stronger His power.
Therefore, anyone worshipping deities like Mei Lan was labeled a cultist. Cultists often met tragic fates, and from the perspective of the empire, it was essential to make an example out of them!
“What an unexpected find!” Cang Xu was moved. He hadn’t expected to stumble upon a lead on Mei Lan in the tavern.
They were now faced with great difficulties, some of which were related to the Mermaid’s Fairy Tale.
This divine artifact could produce Pearl Bubble, which everyone used to conceal themselves. However, the efficiency of the artifact was decreasing, meaning they soon wouldn’t have any Pearl Bubble available.
At that point, it would be hard to counter spells and divine arts including prophecy and surveillance, and they would quickly be exposed.
If the Empire’s forces were to pursue them, they would be doomed.
“If we could find such a cultist, through him find a way to enhance the artifact’s productivity or use the Pearl Bubble more efficiently. This would be a great help to us!” Cang Xu pondered.
Zi Di was deeply engrossed, making it very difficult to contact the Clan Leader of the Hundred Needles right now. Redemption, for the moment, seemed impossible.
In such situations, the longer they dragged on, the greater their chances of redemption became.
“This cultist was unfortunately captured, perhaps due to carelessness or inadequate strength. The poem also speaks of his fate—publicly executed. But still, this is a valuable clue. Perhaps, there are others here with the same faith, not just this one man.”
Thus, when the four of them left the tavern to start their operations late at night, Cang Xu spoke, “Let’s split up. Lan Zao, Sanda, go explore the docks and make sure this area is secure. Meanwhile, Bai Ya and I will check the cultist’s residence.”
Lan Zao nodded in agreement.
Regarding Mei Lan and the Mermaid’s Fairy Tale, this lead was indeed worth investigating further.
However, Bai Ya hesitated, somewhat reluctant to be alone with Cang Xu. The young man harbored a faint fear of the old scholar.
But Lan Zao and Sanda left directly.
“Let’s go,” Cang Xu urged.
Bai Ya gritted his teeth and, with a hardened resolve, followed the old scholar.
The cultist’s dwelling was by the seaside, a crudely built small boathouse. The dilapidated wooden stairs and the leaky roof that had seen better days spoke of utter neglect.
The old scholar asked Bai Ya to guard the door while he himself pushed open the entrance to explore inside.
The boathouse was starkly bare and straightforward. Since the cultist’s incident, many had visited this place.
“Wait a moment.” After looking around, the old scholar suddenly paused, his gaze lingering on the ground beneath him.
This particular floorboard seemed a bit too loose.
The old scholar bent down and, using the clear moonlight, groped around for a moment.
Soon, he lifted the floorboard.
It turned out to be specially made, a movable floorboard.
But Cang Xu soon felt disappointed. Below the floorboard was calm sea water, nothing else.
However, just as he was about to close the floorboard, he caught sight of a symbol out of the corner of his eye.
At that moment, Cang Xu’s pupils shrank. He was shocked because he was one of the few in this world who knew the special significance of this symbol!
“Don’t move!” Just then, a gleaming dagger suddenly appeared at Cang Xu’s throat.
A humanoid shadow slowly emerged behind Cang Xu.
It was a thief.
“I’ve apprehended him!” the thief shouted.
Clearly, he had accomplices.
The next moment, the door was kicked open. Another thief, escorting Bai Ya, entered the room.
Though restrained, Bai Ya struggled fiercely without giving in.
The fighting energy surged into Bai Ya’s body, causing him to scream in agony; his strength quickly drained, nearly collapsing to the ground.
“Be smart, kid. Keep it up, and I’ll kill you!” warned the thief behind him.
“It’s you.” Recognizing the thief behind Bai Ya by the moonlight, Cang Xu realized it was the same man who had successfully stolen his purse in the tavern.
Indeed, even though this thief had failed in the theft and was thrown out of the tavern, he had not given up. He was a member of the Thief Guild, and having found assistance, he had been watching Cang Xu and the others all along.
“They were just two bronze-level thieves; they originally had no chance, but the benefits of pursuing further soon became evident—the four, led by Cang Xu, had split up.”
“The strongest, Sanda and Lan Zao, had left far away, while the weakest, Cang Xu and Bai Ya, took another path.”
“In the eyes of the two thieves, this strategy of splitting up was foolish, but it also made them very happy.”
“They stealthily followed, watching Cang Xu enter a small boat dock. Seeing no one else around, they immediately made their move.”
“I’ve said it before, opportunities always favor those who do not give up,” one thief said as he restrained Bai Ya, looking towards Cang Xu with great self-satisfaction.
Cang Xu shook his head and sighed, “Don’t harm us. What do you want? I can give you money.”
The thief in front of the old scholar immediately laughed, “See, I told you this was a fat sheep!”
The next moment, Cang Xu heard the thief behind him reply, “He who can afford to drink bronze apple wine must naturally be a fat sheep.”
“Speaking of which,” Cang Xu changed his tone, “you’ve kidnapped us, aren’t you afraid of our people giving you trouble? Do you even know who we are?”
The thief holding Bai Ya laughed, “You are certainly not a mercenary group. But that goblin, he might have been a mercenary. People are different, although mixed together, in my eyes, all your backgrounds are clear.”
“If I’m not wrong, you must have some noble backing you. You’re a noble’s lapdog!”
“As for this young man, he’s just purely a rookie, too inexperienced.”
Cang Xu nodded, “Your guess is actually quite good.”
The thief grew even more proud, continuing, “I’ve been in New Moon Town for many years, and in these recent two or three years, New Moon Port has gradually changed. It seems unchanged on the surface, but actually, I know some forces have secretly reached out here.”
“Your backing noble probably wants to smuggle.”
“That’s why he values this place, wanting to seek huge profits through a sea route.”
“So, you’ve built a dock and secretly dispatched men among the pirates to build a network.”
“No, the power behind you isn’t necessarily the Human Race. Heh, it might be the elves from Honeymoon Forest. I’ve long heard rumors that the Elf King of Honeymoon wants to return to the Elf Holy Hall, although the trade with the Empire grows bigger, the status of Honeymoon Forest has been declining year by year.”
Cang Xu could only laugh in silence.
This thief in front of him did have quite the imagination.
It was not strange for the thief to know that Cang Xu’s group wanted to infiltrate the pirate group. Cang Xu asking a bartender for information about others and the bartender, likewise, selling his information to others.
This was the business of intelligence.
The thief had a keen eye and to some extent, he figured out the details of Cang Xu, Bai Ya, Sanda, and the others.
But he didn’t know that in fact, it was the Imperial Navy secretly investing in the construction of New Moon Port.
The Imperial side aimed to turn this into a qualified secret supply port, convenient for espionage missions.
What the thief said about “New Moon Port gradually becoming different in the last two or three years” indicated that the Imperial plan to advance the secret port construction had already started two or three years ago.
The competition for the Pirate King’s throne began this year, but the wise men of the Empire had long heard or foresaw this situation occurring, and had prepared a plan in advance.
The Holy Bright Empire wasn’t the world’s leading power solely because of its strong muscles, but also because of its intelligent brains and far-sighted vision.
Although the thief’s speculation was wrong, the logic was internally consistent. It’s just a pity he belonged to the lower ranks—if he was a bit higher in status, receiving more secretive information, he should have guessed the correct answer.
“How many gold coins do you want? I’ll cooperate with you. I hope you release me soon because I have important tasks assigned to me,” Cang Xu sighed, “Compared to the loss of this money, the consequence of delaying the mission from above is far more severe. Moreover, I have to warn you two, after receiving the ransom, please leave this town as soon as possible and try not to come back.”
“Because once I regain my freedom, I will inevitably use manpower and resources to hunt you down. Of course, I don’t really wish to harm you two, but my status dictates that I can’t bring disgrace to the noble backing me. Please cooperate with me and don’t make it too difficult for me.”
“Hehehe,” the thief, with a mocking expression, said, “I know, the honor of nobility!”
“Tell me, how much ransom do you want? If you can’t write, I can help you write the ransom note,” said Cang Xu.
The two thieves looked at each other, not expecting Cang Xu to be so compliant. One of them tentatively said, “Then, a hundred gold coins?”
“Fine,” Cang Xu immediately nodded in agreement.
Seeing his straightforwardness, the two thieves instantly regretted it: “No, two hundred gold coins.”
Cang Xu nodded.
“Three hundred gold coins, no, five hundred gold coins!” the thief reneged again.
Cang Xu shook his head, “Five hundred gold coins is too little. How about a thousand gold coins instead?”
The eyes of the two thieves gleamed.
“But the problem is, can you actually afford this thousand gold coins?” Cang Xu smiled.
The two thieves suddenly changed color. The mocking tone in Cang Xu’s laughter was just too intense.
“You old thing, I’ll let you suffer.” The thief holding Cang Xu flicked his dagger.
The next moment, the dagger stabbed into Cang Xu’s cheek, slicing a long wound across his face.
But no blood flowed from the wound.
Moreover, from the cuts, it was evident that Cang Xu’s inner flesh was a shocking white, devoid of any vitality.
“What are you?!” The two thieves were horrified.
Cang Xu smiled, reaching out to touch his own cheek. He pressed the sliced open flesh back into place with his fingers.
Then, the other three watched as the wound on Cang Xu’s face rapidly healed.
The two thieves realized something was amiss and wanted to pull back to increase their distance from Cang Xu.
But at that moment, they realized they were immobilized.
An indescribable coldness froze their souls.
“You, you, you!”
“Spare us, spare us!”
Their faces contorted, desperately begging for mercy.
But Cang Xu began to chant.
After a dozen breaths, he cast his spell, forcibly extracting the souls of the two thieves; their bodies fell to the floor.