Chapter 4633 — Sunrise at Sea

It was not Shangguan Lan'er alone—even Little Curly Bear, catching sight of Xu Lingchong, made no effort to hide its disdain and pulled a face at him, then immediately made to drag its enormous pair of shears over and charge. The little creature evidently thought the last trim had not been thorough enough and was preparing to repeat the trick.

Catching sight of Wei Zhao and Shangguan Lan'er standing together in the distance, Xu Lingchong's expression turned somewhat complicated, and the moment he glimpsed Little Curly Bear's giant shears, his face became exceedingly ugly—those shears were the very culprit that had startled him awake from countless nightmares.

Still, Xu Lingchong did not dare do anything to Little Curly Bear at this moment, much less clash openly with Wei Zhao. Even Ma Dangfeng, a capable hand of the mid Nascent Soul stage, had been crippled in a single move. Xu Lingchong might consider himself far stronger than Ma Dangfeng, but facing Wei Zhao he could not keep his heart from pounding; the bloody lessons of the past had been far too many, and he did at least have that much self-awareness.

Seeing that Little Curly Bear was on the verge of charging over, Xu Lingchong hastily fled as far as he could, and in the blink of an eye he and Kang Jingming had vanished into the crowd. By the look of it, even if they were lent a few more guts, they would certainly not dare show themselves before Wei Zhao again for some time to come.

The reason Xu Lingchong and Kang Jingming had appeared aboard this ship was that, on the surface, they too were members of the special envoy delegation, going to congratulate Ning Xuefei on her birthday; in truth, however, they carried a secret mission—one that did not come from the Sandie Pavilion of North Island, but from the Center.

As the Center's special envoy to North Island, Xu Lingchong ought not to have left North Island lightly, but now that Zhong Yongliang existed as an equal, he could naturally get out and take on missions. Only by going out on missions would he have a chance to rack up merit, and only then could he climb quickly and put that brat Zhong Yongliang back beneath his heel.

As for how they had managed to slip aboard—for a young master Xu, with his strength and background, such a thing was hardly difficult. The West Island delegation numbered over a hundred souls from top to bottom; to find some pretext and casually insert two more was simplicity itself.

Xu Lingchong had never wanted a head-on clash with Wei Zhao, and the mysterious man had especially warned him about it, telling him that he must never act against Wei Zhao of his own accord, or he would bear all the consequences himself.

Under such circumstances, Xu Lingchong would have to have water on the brain to go provoking Wei Zhao—only a fool would do it. So his principle now was: if he could avoid a clash with Wei Zhao, he would resolutely avoid one. The farther he kept away the better; he did not even mind being a turtle with its head pulled in, for what could one do when circumstances were stronger than the man?

At the conduct of Xu Lingchong and Kang Jingming, Wei Zhao and Shangguan Lan'er both felt rather surprised. True, those two had suffered bloody losses before, but they had never been so sensible. Had their brains suddenly cleared?

"What are those two up to?" Wei Zhao muttered with a frown. His gut told him there was surely nothing simple about this, that some reason must lie behind it. Kang Jingming was one thing, but Xu Lingchong was hardly the sort to bow his head so easily.

Of course, Wei Zhao did not expend more thought on fathoming Xu Lingchong and Kang Jingming; one's level determines one's vision. He would rather spend the time studying Gongyang Jun and Lan Tieshan—those were the ones he needed to take seriously now.

With all personnel and supplies in place, and a low, drawn-out blast of horns, the giant treasure ship set off in earnest. As the vast thing that blotted out the sky and sun slowly pulled away, the great North Island docks suddenly emptied, and the various vessels waiting around vied to enter the harbor, whereupon the North Island docks returned to their everyday appearance.

Standing on the deck of the treasure ship, feeling the sea wind gradually grow stronger, and watching all of North Island shrink smaller and smaller, Wei Zhao suddenly felt an inexplicable thrill at the start of a journey. It felt just like taking a luxury cruise around the world in the mortal realm.

Huge, sturdy, comfortable—the treasure ship could be said to combine every virtue of a seagoing vessel. Above all it could ride the wind and cleave the waves and withstand natural perils, like a mobile fortress upon the sea. Yet where there were virtues there were flaws, and its flaw was speed.

In truth, the treasure ship's speed was no slower than other ordinary seagoing vessels, only faster; so long as spiritual energy kept replenishing the formation's power, its burst of maximum speed could obliterate any seagoing ship. At that maximum speed, an ordinary vessel would long since have shaken itself apart, let alone ride the wind and cleave the waves.

But Wei Zhao was long accustomed to the speed of a spirit bird. However the giant treasure ship burst forth at full power, it plainly could not reach such an absurd level. The distance between North Island and West Island was not considered great; by spirit bird, at its present Nascent Soul stage speed, it would take at most a day to arrive. With the giant treasure ship it was another matter entirely—even sailing at full speed regardless of cost, half a month was simply out of the question.

"Little junior brother, the sunrise at sea is beautiful, you know. How about getting up early tomorrow to watch it?" Shangguan Lan'er suddenly proposed with great enthusiasm.

"Watch the sunrise?" Wei Zhao was taken aback at the words. It had been a long time since he had enjoyed such leisurely ease, the mood to go out and relax; taking the chance to unwind would not be bad at all, so he nodded at once and agreed, "Sure, no problem."

After the two agreed, the sky gradually darkened, and having lingered on deck a while they returned to their respective rooms. Wei Zhao busied himself with seated cultivation, while Shangguan Lan'er conserved her strength and slept like a log—a rare outing like this, and she would not be so foolish as to cultivate!

The two of them brought Little Curly Bear onto the deck, and gazing at the pitch-black before them, so dark they could not see their own hands, Wei Zhao was momentarily speechless. Thank goodness the treasure ship's railings were high, or a careless step might have sent one groping straight into the sea... He hastily extended his divine sense to perceive his surroundings.

"Just wait, the rising sun will appear very soon!" Shangguan Lan'er was full of enthusiasm, and even Little Curly Bear was beside her, capering and bouncing about. Wei Zhao truly feared the little thing would fall into the sea.

Not long after Shangguan Lan'er spoke, sure enough the distant horizon quickly turned red. Though at first there was only a tiny sliver of faint red light, set against the pitch-black surroundings that single thread of radiance was already dazzling.

From the moment it appeared, the red light swelled rapidly, soon dyeing that stretch of sky crimson, and the outline of the newly risen sun gradually grew clear, bit by bit entering their eyes, secretly radiating a vigorous, inspiring power that left one intoxicated and lost in thought. (To be continued)