Chapter 340: Section 127: Fighting Side by Side
The three of them left the cabin where Zong Ge was being housed.
“There’s some good news,” Cang Xu received a report from his subordinates, “the Empire has responded, and they agree to let us go to Knife Harbor to rest and resupply.”
The Fishman youth nodded.
To go to the Empire’s secret port for rest and resupply was not a matter of just showing up.
Since they were pirates, and it was a secret mission, every resupply attempt had to be kept as confidential as possible. It was arranged by the Empire to minimize contact between pirates secretly recruited by the Empire.
“Have our requests been put to the Empire, and how did they respond?” the youth asked.
...
Cang Xu replied, “We don’t have much credit left for our contributions, this time we need to first hand over some supplies from the ship in exchange for the supplies we need. As for our specific resupply requests, the Empire is urgently coordinating them and has promised to fulfill the vast majority at least.”
The youth nodded again.
This piece of good news slightly eased his heavy heart.
Knife Harbor is the closest Sea Town to the Sky Pillar Sea Eye, and it does not belong to the Holy Bright Continent but is located on Knife Mountain Island.
Knife Mountain Island, isolated out at sea, has been secretly controlled by the Empire.
The entire island has two seaports, one of which is the port in Knife Harbor, secretly constructed two or three years ago, mainly to coordinate with the Empire’s spy missions.
If other pirate groups are already resupplying in Knife Harbor, it would be troublesome.
The Justice Pirate Group might be scheduled five or six days later before being allowed to enter the harbor for resupply. According to the youth and Cang Xu’s estimation, in five or six days, the events that happened in the Sky Pillar Sea Eye would have completely spread.
Three days is not enough for the news to be known by all the major powers.
In their last inspection, the three saw Zhenjin again.
Zhenjin was hidden in a metal coffin, which was embedded in the wall, its surface as smooth as a brick. Only by activating a specific alchemy device would the metal coffin slowly extend from the wall.
Zhenjin still resembled Hei Juan, but his true identity had long been exposed.
This sole heir of the Hundred Needle Family now lay with his eyes tightly shut, motionless, his breath so faint it was barely perceptible. With each breath, there was almost no rise and fall of the chest.
He was now in deep slumber.
This slumber concerned not only the body but also the soul.
It was a state of imprisonment only made possible through the use of an alchemy device from the Deep Sea Monster Fish and Cang Xu’s Undead Magic.
Seeing Zhenjin, the faces of the youth, the young girl, and Cang Xu were somewhat complicated.
“We are fortunate that the battle at the Sea Eye did not harm his life,” the Fishman youth remarked.
He had no fondness for Zhenjin, but that didn’t interfere with Zhenjin’s own value.
The entire Justice Pirate Group needed to use Zhenjin to help them negotiate with the Clan Leader of the Hundred Needle Family and make contact with the upper echelons of the Empire, in order to absolve themselves of wrongdoing.
“There’s a contact point for the Purple Vine Chamber of Commerce on Knife Mountain Island. Once there, I will use this channel to contact the Clan Leader of the Hundred Needle Family. It’s just… I am now not very confident in this channel,” Zi Di sighed.
The faces of the youth and Cang Xu both darkened.
After leaving Mysterious Monster Island, they had two Divine Artifacts in their possession and had to kill Jia Sha and the King of Flame Dragon. Thus, the original plan was to contact the higher-ups, surrender the spoils of war, and help themselves be absolved of any crimes.
But now, they were involved not only with two Divine Artifacts but also two gods. Among them, the Goddess Mei Lan was an enemy of the gods of the Empire.
Although unintentional, the trouble they had caused had grown far more significant.
Could a Golden Level Viscount, a Clan Leader of the Hundred Needle Family who was being suppressed to the point of breathlessness, truly help them absolve their crimes?
“Regardless, the Clan Leader of the Hundred Needle Family will certainly not give up on his only family heir,” Cang Xu said indifferently.
“Let’s try our best,” the Fishman youth sighed, “The most urgent matter at hand is to head to Knife Harbor for rest and resupply. Let’s hope for smooth sailing.”
The Justice Pirate Group was now in a dire situation.
They needed to replenish a large amount of supplies, some alchemy materials, and some potions and scrolls.
They had many wounded who required further treatment.
Zi Di also needed to contact the Clan Leader of the Hundred Needle Family.
The Deep Sea Monster Fish was stealthily speeding through the sea.
They had completely thrown off the pursuit of the Fishmen from Sea Eye City, taking Mei Lan and making a mad dash for it.
Soon, those Fishmen would likely have to flee as well.
The uproar caused this time at the Sky Pillar Sea Eye was too significant, involving the gods, so all the major powers would surely intervene.
However, intelligence took time to spread, and the location of the Sky Pillar Sea Eye was quite remote; it would take some time before any of the major powers could respond.
The inspection by the Fishman youth had stabilized morale, and the mana reserves in the Deep Sea Monster Fish’s mana pool were more than sufficient for the journey to Knife Harbor.
But on the second day after leaving the Sea Eye’s Sky Pillar, Deep Sea Monster Fish encountered a problem.
The alchemy array that produced air had broken.
And this wasn’t a job that alchemy puppets could handle.
It required manual labor,
an alchemist to use a special hook line pen and infiltration liquids to trace and repair specific parts of the array.
Even with Cang Xu and Zi Di working together, repairing would take a week.
Given no other choice, the Deep Sea Monster Fish now had to surface periodically for extensive air exchanges.
This undoubtedly slowed down the speed of the Justice Pirate Group.
But fortunately, by the second night, they had entered the ocean currents.
Ocean currents flow in fixed directions, and with their aid, the Deep Sea Monster Fish’s speed increased while mana consumption decreased.
It was because of the currents that Cang Xu was confident they could reach Knife Harbor within three days.
But it wasn’t just the Justice Pirate Group reaping the benefits of the ocean currents.
The currents often formed fixed maritime routes.
By the third day, ships began to appear above the Deep Sea Monster Fish.
Some were trade ships, some were Navy warships, and others were pirate ships.
The increasing number of vessels also posed a problem for the Justice Pirate Group.
They needed to exchange air, and every time Deep Sea Monster Fish surfaced, there was a risk of exposure.
Luckily, the magic devices on board the Deep Sea Monster Fish were powerful and had a wide detection range, allowing them to evade nearby ships each time they needed to surface, going unnoticed by others.
As they were nearing Knife Mountain Island, Tower Spirit relayed intelligence to the Fishman youth: a nautical battle was unfolding three nautical miles away. Three trade ships were under attack from a pirate group, and the situation was dire. The trade ships’ captain was frantically sending out distress signals through a magic device.
“Perfect, we need a ship to act as a diversion,” the youth immediately ordered, and Deep Sea Monster Fish slightly altered its course.
By the time they arrived at the battle scene, the fight had already ended.
One of the three trade ships was sinking, while the other two were being commandeered by the pirates.
The Fishman youth dived into the water from below and then suddenly leaped out, landing on the deck.
“Enemy attack!”
“Don’t panic, it’s just a single Fishman!”
“Damn it, it’s a Silver Level Fishman; help me—argh.”
The Fishman youth unleashed a whirlwind of blood and carnage on the deck.
“Stop, you cursed Fishman, let me take you on!” The pirate captain swung across to the Fishman youth on a rope. Holding a scimitar, with his chest of long black hair bared and murder in his eyes, he sneered, “I’ll slice you into sashimi with my blade.”
Whoosh.
The next moment, a fireball came hurtling towards them.
The pirate captain hurriedly invoked his Silver Fighting Spirit, retreating and defending amidst the explosion.
The fireball exploded, leaving the pirate captain with a soot-blackened face, livid with rage, “Damn it, there’s a mage too, find him!”
The spell’s residual energy lingered, but by the time the First Officer led the pirates to the casting location, Zi Di had already made her departure.
She hid behind a stack of barrels on the aft deck, looking at her hands in disbelief, “Just now… how did I do that? It was like an Instant Cast!”