Chapter 170 Taking the Punishment "Why did you come here to fawn over him?"...
Before leaving, they still needed to take the villagers who had been possessed by the mirage spirit with them.
Each villager bore wounds corroded by the mirage energy, varying in severity, a horrifying sight that naturally caused excruciating pain. Bai Yuan applied a layer of frost to their bloody wounds, using the chilling energy to alleviate the pain of festering flesh, before applying medicine and bandaging them upon returning to the village.
Having personally experienced this ordeal, the villagers were all filled with fear and trepidation, each one like a frightened bird. To appease them, Master Fang took out his savings and distributed several yellow talismans to the villagers for warding off evil spirits.
The villagers clutched thin, small talismans for self-defense, following the four unidentified outsiders as they emerged from the dark, gloomy underground cave.
It was still dark, and they staggered along, not knowing what time it was.
However, the moment they saw the light of day again, a huge panic returned, shattering the villagers' already tense nerves.
In the distance, amidst a sea of clouds, mountains stand amidst the misty waves.
This time, the mirage only showed towering, unmoving mountains, without any strange or distorted ghostly figures, but it still caused great panic among the villagers. It took Master Fang and the mirror polisher a lot of effort to calm them down.
The mountain shadows had barely appeared halfway before vanishing in an instant, the clouds and mist mingling together. Someone exclaimed, "They've disappeared again!"
Zhou Yaren's divine sense had already swept through and plundered this restless little fishing village twice. Given the chaos in the village tonight, the Gu Master should not have remained completely silent.
Such silence could only mean one thing: the Gu Master is no longer here.
Now that a mirage has appeared on the sea again, Zhou Yaren is certain that the Gu Master must have already set sail and is using the Yin Sui to search for the way to the secret realm.
The mirage gave rise to evil spirits, which not only frightened and terrified the villagers, but also made Lu Bing tremble with fear. When the mirage reappeared between the clouds and the sea, Lu Bing was bitten by a snake and suddenly threw the Yin Sui out of the ship's side, where it crashed into the sea with a splash.
Then, with another splash, Acong chased after Yin Sui and plunged into the water.
Chen Ying was furious that Lu Bing could ruin her plans like this, thankfully A Cong quickly pulled Yin Sui out of the water. But when she looked up again, the mirage that had just appeared in the void had completely vanished. Chen Ying wanted nothing more than to kick Lu Bing into the sea.
However, Lu Bing and Yin Sui were both indispensable and equally important, so he couldn't be kicked. Chen Ying was very angry, but ever since the Gu snake entered his body, turning Lu Bing into a body as fragile as Fuxi's, she couldn't let him beat and scold her at will. Chen Ying wanted to slap Lu Bing, but then she saw the still-swelling red finger mark on his left cheek—hitting him would be useless, and her own hand would hurt too.
Chen Ying could only glare at him, her eyes flashing with a fierce light: "You really dare to do that."
What a joke! It's just something he can throw away casually. What's there for him not to do?
Chen Ying took the shovel from the water and immediately yelled at A Cong, "Is it my fault for having a bad temper? Does he want to get beaten up?!"
Ah Cong silently signed: He's asking for it.
That's utter nonsense! Chen Ying was furious just looking at it: "Can I kill him?!"
Ah Cong shrugged and then said: "Everything has its counter."
Very well, Chen Ying, who was looking for a place to vent her anger, slapped A Cong's mask, and the latter took the slap without feeling any pain.
Chen Ying turned her head: "Lu Bing, you'd better know your place. If you dare to do it again..."
"This thing will attract evil spirits." He had been holding this thing before, hoping to attract a group of demons and monsters, but unexpectedly it brought great disaster to the fishing village. He couldn't accompany Chen Ying in her reckless behavior.
"I've put so much effort into you, all for this day. I don't care what it brings, I won't give up until I find the secret realm in the sea. If you really had a choice, you wouldn't be in this situation now. Be smart and don't be stubborn with me at this time."
...
The secret realm lies somewhere in the distant sea, and the journey there would take an unknown amount of time at sea. The fishing boats the villagers usually use are quite small, and they typically set out in the morning and return at dusk, fishing only in the waters a dozen or twenty miles from the shore. Going out to sea would be extremely risky and they would be unable to withstand large waves. Therefore, through the introduction of the fishermen they rescued, Zhou Yaren and his companions rented a large boat at Langya Port, fifteen miles away.
Zhou Yaren negotiated the price with the boat owner. None of them knew how to sail a boat, let alone sail on the vast ocean. They had to bring an experienced helmsman and boatmen.
Master Fang and the mirror polisher were also busy, arranging to buy food and water from the fishermen in the port and carrying them onto the boat in baskets and buckets.
The mirror grinder, carrying a large jar of pickled vegetables, asked, "How many days' worth of food should we prepare?"
Master Fang glanced at Zhou Yaren, who was still talking to the boat owner in the distance, and wondered: "At this rate, it will probably take at least a month. Anyway, we should prepare more. If we run out of food, we can catch fish to eat. If we run out of water, people will die of thirst, so we must prepare enough water."
Who knew that after they had worked hard for half the night, just as they were about to board the ship to set sail, Bai Yuan stared at the Taoist priest Fang carrying his bundle and the mirror polisher carrying his belongings and asked, "Are you going too?"
Master Fang and the mirror polisher stared at each other blankly.
Isn't this something they tacitly agree on? Otherwise, why would they be so busy and hardworking, buying salted meat and pickled vegetables? They just want to have something good to eat at sea. Even though there's seafood, nobody wants to eat fish and shrimp every day.
Mirror grinder: "Shouldn't we have been taken along?"
Master Fang said, “This matter concerns the divination of the legendary Emperor Xi, so I must go along.”
"Then let me make this clear beforehand: the sea is unpredictable, so don't go there only to find yourself unable to return."
Everyone knows that the sea is rough and dangerous, and Master Fang nodded, indicating, "I understand."
Having understood, Bai Yuan said no more and turned to go up on the deck.
The mirror polisher whispered to Master Fang behind his back, "Evil spirits are really hard to deal with."
Master Fang immediately put a finger to his lips to shush him, and winked at the deck, meaning that there was a hearing-blind person who could hear him.
The mirror polisher glanced over there and said in a low voice, "It's obvious they don't trust us at all."
Master Fang immediately retorted, "It's not us, it's you. Who told you to be unable to distinguish sides before?"
"I can't tell them apart. I don't recognize any of them."
"Alright, that's enough, just shut up."
With the navigation charts passed down from generation to generation in his hands, the helmsman discussed the route with Zhou Yaren and went straight to the bow of the ship.
Bai Yuan narrowly missed him.
Zhou Yaren, with her ears open, turned around and asked, "Should we bring Master Fang and the others along?"
“These two have come from a thousand miles away to find this place. I wonder what they’re up to. Now that they know that the Gu technique can create the Hand of Fuxi to open the secret realm, keeping them around will only cause trouble. It’s better to take them with us. If they really have ill intentions,” Bai Yuan said, “keeping them under our noses will make it easier to deal with them.”
"To silence them?" Zhou Yaren said. "I've never done such a thing before."
Bai Yuan, feeling the salty sea breeze, said, "It's alright, practice makes perfect."
The dangers of this journey are not limited to unpredictable winds and waves. For example, the Taoist priest and the mirror polisher, who boarded the ship with their luggage, were completely unaware that the two on the deck were plotting to kill them.
Zhou Yaren smiled and listened to the Taoist priest and the mirror polisher arguing over a window berth in the cabin. Neither of them seemed to be cunning, but he had long understood the principle that you can't judge a book by its cover and you can't always trust what people say. Zhou Yaren said, "I asked the ship owner. Just yesterday, a woman and a man wearing an iron mask came here to hire a boatman to go out to sea."
Without a doubt, this refers to the Gu Master and Wang Xiang. Bai Yuan asked hesitantly, "After so much time, is it still possible to catch up?"
“There’s still time.” Zhou Yaren said, raising her arm and fanning herself. A long wind arrived instantly, like an invisible giant hand propelling the ship.
At the same time, the boatman exclaimed happily, "We have a favorable wind!"
The helmsman shouted, "Raise the sails—!"
Several agile boatmen immediately climbed the thick mast and pulled the ropes with all their might, slowly raising the huge sail.
Zhou Yaren once again unfurled her sleeves and fanned herself, and a gust of wind rushed into the sail, creating an extreme arc. The boat, which had been gently rocking, began to accelerate due to the injected wind.
"Wind control technique!" Sensing the wind speed, Master Fang rushed out of the cabin, his eyes shining as he stared at the man in blue holding a fan on the deck. Then he peered out at the ship cutting through the waves and couldn't help but exclaim, "So fast!"
"Wow, that's amazing!" The mirror grinder followed out and saw Zhou Yaren wave his fan, and the wind filled the sails, propelling the ship forward at high speed. "The wind control technique can actually be used to sail a ship. That's so practical."
When sailing on the Haihe River, the most important thing is to have the wind and the current. With the wind accelerating the propulsion, sailing towards the sea area where the mirage appeared, we should be able to catch up with the Gu Master's ship as soon as possible.
Without any external support, the ship sailed slowly on the calm sea. Ah Cong tended the stove, cooked a pot of millet porridge, boiled some dried fish, shrimp and vegetables, and picked out a few dried dates from the food box and put them on a plate. He then handed the plate to Lu Bing and gestured for him to eat.
Lu Bing glanced at the bowls and plates, but didn't touch his chopsticks. A monstrous elephant that neither eats nor drinks can't taste the saltiness of food, so it can't make any delicious dishes at all.
Ah Cong pushed the millet porridge towards him again.
Lu Bing felt that it was just as repulsive as Chen Ying.
Seeing that he was reluctant to pick up his chopsticks, the repulsive-looking Ah Cong lowered his head, took out a small and exquisite porcelain bottle from his pocket, and pointed it at Lu Bing's left cheek where his fingerprint was imprinted, indicating that he should apply the ointment to his face.
"Stop pretending!" Lu Bing smashed the porcelain bottle over.
“Why are you trying to curry favor with him?” Chen Ying stood silently in front of the cabin door, glancing at the wound medicine that had rolled on the ground. “Young Master Lu is stubborn; he won’t listen to polite words, he’ll only accept punishment.”
Chen Ying strolled in, stepping on the rolling medicine bottle. "You're just wasting something worth a few taels of silver like this? Well, you even dared to throw Yin Sui into the sea." She then kicked it away, the bottle swirling on the ground. Chen Ying draped her elbow over A Cong's shoulder, speaking slowly and deliberately, "If you give him face, he'll only think we need his help and forget he's nothing but a stray dog, a prisoner." She turned her head, forcing a smile. "Right, Lu Bing?"
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