Chapter 4009 — Trouble Arrives

The man was, like him, the North Island branch manager of a top-tier merchant guild—one whose influence trailed only half a step behind the Hong Clan Merchant Guild's, and which likewise kept a sizable shop in the inner lane of the market district. The two had dealt with each other often over the years and shared a measure of acquaintance. Yet in the past six months, Hong Zhong had not once laid eyes on him in the inner lane.

Manager Hao returned the salute, his tone somewhat cool and distant: "Manager Hong misunderstands. They say the road to the Far North Island is none too peaceful these days—carrying a few extra hands sets the heart at ease."

"Is that so?" Hong Zhong smiled noncommittally. He meant to press the matter further, but the other man had already waved a hand and sped ahead, pulling away first.

"Manager Hong, is the road to the Far North Island truly so perilous that it takes so many people to manage?" Wei Zhao asked upon hearing this. Once one left the North Island's territory, nothing lay below but a boundless, shoreless sea. To run into trouble in a place like that would be to cry to heaven with no answer and to earth with no response.

"Just so. Beyond the utterly savage weather, one must stay ever vigilant against the powerful spirit beasts lurking beneath the sea's surface—and not a few of them possess means of striking from vast distances. So even with a flying spirit beast, an ordinary cultivator finds it exceedingly hard to reach the Far North Island in one piece," Hong Zhong said with a nod.

"No wonder." Wei Zhao felt a chill at heart. In his idle talk with the ghost fellow, he had once heard that the spirit beast clan had indeed massed a great host of top-tier spirit beasts upon Cloud-Tier Island—but just like the back hills of North Island, the other regions were still crawling with countless powerful spirit beasts, and the vast sea had always been a breeding ground for legendary creatures.

By the ghost fellow's account, even the King of Spirit Beasts in the heyday of his prime—even ruling over an unrivaled clan of spirit beasts—had never conquered the Endless Sea. The waters there ran deep beyond all fathoming. However horrific and ghastly a monstrosity might surface, it would surprise no one.

"Still, perilous as the sea is, so long as a capable hand holds the formation and one does not go blundering about at will, following the charted route—it is in fact reasonably safe, and the odds of mishap are not great. That is why, at the North Island auctions of old, every house sent out only three or four people; there was no need for a grand array of a dozen or more—unless something else is at work," Hong Zhong said thoughtfully.

Put that way, it was not only Hong Zhong who found it strange; even Wei Zhao, a mere bystander, could see something was off. When Hong Zhong had greeted the man earlier, he had clearly seen a good dozen crates of goods lashed tight upon the opposing flying spirit beast—while on their own side there were only two or three crates in all. Not the same order of magnitude at all.

Nor was Manager Hao's house the only one. The other merchant guilds were the same. The implication beneath it all was rather intriguing.

Those in the same trade are natural rivals—the saying held true enough. Wei Zhao had already begun to sense faintly that this auction trip of his, hitched to the Hong Clan Merchant Guild, would hardly prove a calm one.

What Wei Zhao did not expect was that this vague foreboding would so quickly become reality.

A merchant as seasoned and steady as Hong Zhong would never undertake a risky venture unless it was necessary. On this journey to the Far North Island, he had kept throughout to the route that was, on paper, the safest on the map.

It was a route devised by experts, hugging always the outermost fringes of the territories of the many powerful sea beasts; the chances of being marked by a sea beast were far lower than on any other path.

Ordinarily, it was not Hong Zhong alone—others too rarely struck out on their own. In a boundless sea teeming with countless terrifying sea beasts, to wander at random was simply to gamble with one's life; no number of capable hands would avail.

This time, however, the others departing from North Island were plainly playing by no ordinary rules. The flying spirit beast beneath Wei Zhao's feet was no slow creature, yet in mere moments it had lost the others' figures entirely.

Had it been Manager Hao's party alone, it might be dismissed—but a dozen other houses were all shunning the usual path at once. That was far too odd; plainly they had agreed on it beforehand.

"What are they preparing to do?" This time even Hong Zhong was at a loss. They were all in the same trade, and he knew something of these men's dispositions—they were hardly the sort to relish a gamble.

Yet even with doubt gnawing at him, Hong Zhong could not rashly change course. The others had strength in numbers and could afford a little recklessness; but were he to follow suit, he would be dead for certain.

For the next quarter hour or so, the way was all calm winds and still seas—but both Hong Zhong and Wei Zhao could guess it was only temporary; it could not stay placid forever.

Sure enough, amid that uncanny calm, the long-brewing crisis descended all at once.

The flying spirit beast held an altitude of fully a hundred zhang above the sea, with thick cloud layers overhead. Higher than this, one would easily lose one's bearings; lower, one would easily fall prey to sea beasts. It was, on paper, the safest limit of altitude—and yet at just this height, from below came an ambush without the slightest warning.

"Hold fast, Young Master Lin!" Before Wei Zhao could react, Hong Zhong had already swung a palm downward, and with a crack that rang out of empty air, a ring of spray burst suddenly from the thin mist below.

"What was that?" Wei Zhao watched in secret alarm. From first to last he had felt no threat at all—even after witnessing the exchange, he still had not grasped what had happened.

Hong Zhong explained: "That was a water arrow from a flying arrowfish. They can glide up thirty or forty zhang into the air, then unleash their water arrows—piercing power and lethality both are fearsome. And since the arrows are transparent and silent, an ordinary person cannot sense them at all. Without prior guard against them, a single slip and you are struck. In this boundless sea, they rank among the more common threats."

"So that's it." Wei Zhao understood. Without Hong Zhong, that single water arrow would have sent them all plunging to the seafloor, food for fish.

Yet before Wei Zhao could count his blessings, a frigid killing intent suddenly rose from beneath them—and this time, even he could feel it plain and clear.

Looking down, he saw the mist below had been punched through with dozens of holes. The water arrows, which could not ordinarily be easily sensed, now flickered faintly in the air by reason of refracted light—dozens upon dozens of them, dense and thick, each one as deadly as the last. The sight fairly made the scalp prickle.

Even Hong Zhong could not help a twitch of his eyelid at the sight. He said in a low voice: "A school of flying arrowfish, of all things? How could our luck be this poor?"

Flying arrowfish were vicious, bloodthirsty sea beasts by nature, and in ordinary circumstances they always moved alone. Only under special conditions—mating season, for instance—would they gather into a school. Following the standard charted route, the odds of encountering a flying arrowfish school were about the same as winning the lottery in the mortal world. (To be continued) R752