Chapter 4420 — No One Takes Up the Challenge

"May I ask Chief Escort Hai—on this new sea route we're to sail, does each of us take a different course, or are we all on the very same stretch of water?" someone in the crowd suddenly called out.

"On that point I can tell you plainly: every contestant will sail the same stretch of sea, on routes that are broadly identical. But to prevent anyone from competing sluggishly—deliberately trailing behind and letting others brave the dangers first—each vessel must leave the starting dock at least twenty meters apart. Right now the sea fog is at its thickest; once we're out on the water, twenty meters is enough to lose all sight of one another, and judging your position relative to the rest becomes very difficult." Hai Wuliang answered with perfect composure.

"Then what if someone cheats—turns back halfway without completing the course?" another voice from the crowd asked. At those words everyone pricked up their ears, and indeed there were more than a few present who had been entertaining exactly such a scheme.

"A good question. For this round of perilous-sea navigation, the start and the finish are both fixed at the Moleng Dock. But twenty li out there is a checkpoint that everyone must pass, and the assembly's stewards are already waiting there. Only with the seal from their hands may you turn back, and only then will your result for this round count. Should anyone dare to cheat and turn back midway, not only will he earn not a single point, but the escort agency he belongs to will face a heavy fine—three hundred thousand spirit jades!" Hai Wuliang replied.

"And the scoring—how exactly is that reckoned?" someone asked amid the general uproar.

"That too is simple. It is reckoned by each man's time of passage. Those who pass within one stick of incense earn two hundred points; within two sticks, one hundred points; within three sticks, fifty points; within four sticks, thirty points; within five sticks, ten points. As for those who cannot even finish within five sticks—there is no need to reckon their score, for such men generally do not come back at all." Hai Wuliang declared in a ringing voice.

The "stick of incense" he spoke of was no ordinary short stick such as most people knew, but a long stick specially commissioned by the assembly. Just as with the first round of fending off robbers, the time it measured was far longer than what people commonly conceived a stick of incense to be—otherwise, with this new sea route running a full forty li out and back, to say nothing of the dangers along the way, even for one who knew every reef and current, such a span of time would never suffice.

By now everyone had a thorough grasp of the rules for this second round of perilous-sea navigation. What remained was to see how each of the thirty-two escort agencies would marshal its forces and lay its plans.

Unlike the first round, this second round—though likewise restricted to Golden Core cultivators of quality—did not in fact demand much of an escort's raw strength. Even an early Golden Core would not be amiss. But there was one requirement: his seafaring experience had to be beyond compare, or else even a Golden Core at the peak of perfection would be useless.

Should a vessel strike a hidden reef or a whirlpool and go down, then to say nothing of a Golden Core expert, even a Nascent Soul expert cast into the vast ocean would find nothing but death. Cultivators might endlessly proclaim their defiance of heaven, but before the immensity of the sea—at least for those below the Nascent Soul stage—they were still far from possessing the confidence to contend with it.

Every escort agency, more or less, had a few veteran escorts rich in seafaring experience. But at a time like this, hardly a single man would step forward of his own accord to sign up.

There was no other reason: this round looked simple, but its perils in truth surpassed even those of the first.

For in this second round of perilous-sea navigation, the reefs and whirlpools lurking beneath the sea fog were far deadlier than a handful of Golden Core foes. The crux was that you could not even see them—in the end you would not know how you died, to say nothing of the pirates thrown into the bargain.

Utterly unfamiliar, utterly random. In such circumstances, even the most seasoned veteran escort had not the slightest assurance. Once out to sea, whether a man lived to return depended on but two things: first, seamanship; second, luck. And I may say in all seriousness that the latter mattered far more than the former.

This was no longer risking one's life—it was flatly gambling it. Men may, in many a situation, throw themselves into peril with fiery ardor, but those who dare to gamble their lives outright are very few indeed.

First, a veteran seafaring escort of ripe experience; and at the same time, a gambler of the highest order willing to stake his life—a man combining both traits simply did not exist in this world, for out on the vast ocean, any gambler whatsoever would not long survive.

"Same as before: whoever is willing to volunteer, no matter the outcome, the agency will reward him with fifty thousand spirit jades. Anyone signing up?" Qi Wenmo still plied his spirit-jade offensive—for the same old reason: behind a heavy reward there is always sure to be a brave man.

This time, however, no one responded with the eagerness of before. The escorts of the Qingtian Escort Agency exchanged glances, every one of them drawing in his neck, not daring to meet Qi Wenmo's eye, for fear the young master would call him out by name before all present.

Besides, there truly were among them men unafraid of risking their lives—trading blows with a foe at least left some chance of survival. But to sail an utterly strange and perilous sea—anyone with the least bit of sense knew that was no different from courting death.

Sea fog, hidden reefs, whirlpools, and pirates—any one of these alone would not be enough to make men shrink back, but put them all together and it was truly a matter of one's very life. However confident a man might be in his seamanship, none dared take on a task so nearly certain to end in death.

Only heaven-defying luck, paired with consummate seamanship, could leave even the slimmest chance of survival. But who present would be willing to stake his life wholly upon luck?

Fifty thousand spirit jades were fine enough—but everyone feared he might earn them with his life and have none left to spend them.

Seeing that no one stepped forward for so long, Qi Wenmo found himself caught in a dilemma. If it came to the worst, the only course left was to exercise his authority as the agency's young master and conscript men by force—after all, he could hardly just forfeit outright.

Yet that was the very last resort, the worst of all choices. Once he truly did so, never mind whether the men chosen would genuinely cooperate—at the very least it would be an incalculably crushing blow to morale. (Happy May Day! Don't forget to go to mobile QQ and join the events in the School Beauty's Close Bodyguard tribe—plenty of gifts to be had... This tribe is the official fan community for us School Beauty readers.) (To be continued...)