Beginning with the Ubume Bird

Chapter 252: Chapter 89 The Secret of Jealousy

“Fire Cauldron Lady, the Dharma Platform and incense burner you requested are all prepared,”

Lady Dan lifted her eyes and nodded to show she understood.

The Dharma Platform prepared by Chaoyi was on an outcropping peak on one side, high enough, encircled by water and mountains, with a cliff behind it covered in Shanmukian trees—it was indeed the resting place of Madam Shi.

Gazing from the mountain, Lady Dan saw billowing black smoke at the coast, the Demon Thief’s arrogance unmatched. His hand emerged amidst a cloud of white smoke, carving out a huge chunk from the turbulent sea surface! A Red Flag Gang’s sluice ship, coated in a thick layer of moss and shells, rose from the water and then shattered explosively.

“Xiu, fetch me a basin of water,” she said.

“I’ll go,” Chaoyi just started to speak when Xiu had already grabbed a copper basin and headed toward the spring.

“It’s ready.” Xiu lifted the copper basin onto the table, her sleeve wetted by the water.

Lady Dan nodded, took the copper basin, and her slender index finger started rippling the water’s surface.

Suddenly, a whirlpool rose from the center of the basin, and a black stone started growing against the wind on the water surface. In about seven or eight breaths’ time, it had become a head-sized, moss-covered irregular stone, floating on the water.

Lady Dan’s complexion turned pale, but her face retained a calm hue.

Chaoyi frowned and watched for a long time but couldn’t figure out the method.

Almost at the moment the strange stone in the basin formed, the Demon Thief’s complexion wildly changed; he looked towards the lush mountain peak, flicked his sleeve, and sliced off a corner of the mist.

At the same time, Lady Dan’s gaze sharpened. She pulled Xiu, who was stretching her neck to look towards the sea, backward, and clenched her delicate fist, hammering it down into the water of the copper basin!

Boom.

Under Xiu’s feet, at least thirty zhang of a cliff, snapped cleanly in the middle, plunged into the sea with dust and smoke!

Next to the strange stone in the basin, a toothpick-sized piece also broke off and sank to the bottom. The water in the basin rippled back and forth.

Zhang He furrowed his brows and suddenly his vision darkened, as a massive wave, at least five meters taller than the mast of his own sluice ship, came crashing down upon the frenzied Demon Thief fleet, causing the structures of at least five or six Demon Thief ships to collapse, tipping over directly!

“Madam Shi?!”

Zhang He’s throat suddenly turned shrill.

…

Li Yan stepped forth, each step creating frosty ice shards. The Tiger Head Great Spear, cumbersome in the hands of an ordinary person, became streaks of platinum brilliance in his grasp. The corridor was extremely long; Li Yan strode over the deck, pulling shadows with himself and the spear; in an instant, the spear had thrust back and forth four or five times, shattering the fire-gun formation of the Duwa Royal Family guards!

By then, the wound on his chest had stopped bleeding, but the burning pain within his chest cavity still reminded Li Yan not to underestimate the needle bullets in these people’s hands.

Each of these Portuguese was agile and relied on their magic-motion rifles. A round of shooting had indeed injured many Gaoli ghosts, but they didn’t manage to kill a single one. Instead, Li Yan led his men to break their formation, each falling into the deadly embrace of the Gaoli ghosts. These Duwa guards, who were said to have gear organs implanted, were indeed physically inferior to the Gaoli ghosts. Coupled with their fewer numbers, they were quickly overpowered by the Red Flag pirates and perished.

Thwack~

A Portuguese man, disregarding the Devouring Blade, lunged directly at Li Yan. Despite being pierced through the chest by the spear, he tenaciously gripped the shaft, forcing Li Yan to halt. Immediately, other Portuguese reacted, and several magic-motion needle bullets shot at Li Yan. His reflexes were monster-like at that moment, he twisted his body to dodge the vitals, but an interposing Gaoli ghost took the bullets that drilled into his silent comrade’s head. The bullet’s killing power had weakened too much when it grazed Li Yan’s hand.

Li Yan’s brows knotted tightly; he twisted the spear along with the Red Hair impaled on it and tossed it out, swinging the great spear over the fallen Red Flag pirates and pressed his thumb on the shaft, his Swallow Through the Curtain attack engulfing a row of three sailors…

Seeing their situation was untenable, these retired Duwa Royal Family guards began to retreat. Li Yan could not let them escape; almost none within his field of vision got away from his hand alive.

Thwack~

The Devouring Blade claimed the life of a guard in a bronze helmet. The sensation in Li Yan’s hand was rough and dry. Just as he was puzzled, that corpse swiftly inflated and heated up, and with a loud bang, flesh and flames flew together, enveloping Li Yan and two Gaoli ghosts around him.

Li Yan felt his scalp tingle and rolled to protect his head and face; after the intense burning sensation, he turned over and sat up. His reflexes were quick, and after undergoing the Nine Phoenix Enhancements, he was not very afraid of ordinary flames anymore, but those two Gaoli ghosts had their eyes burned and were now howling in pain, their fingers buried into the deck.

“Sun Xiaoba, Zhao Sheng, Zhang Yazi,”

Li Yan called out to three Gaoli ghosts who had followed him closely without much injury.

“Settle the brothers who can’t move and find a place to hide, wait for our message.”

Li Yan looked down once more at the pirate who had taken a bullet for him, whose head was now pierced and who had already lost his voice.

“Everyone else, follow me.”

The cabin violently shook. Everyone other than Li Yan staggered more or less, inhuman roars erupted above their heads, the cracked planks began to leak water, the grim blaze, and the fierce collision between ships could be heard coming through—it was clear to everyone that there was no time to waste.

“Tianbao, there are people ahead and behind us!”

Gu’s voice carried over.

But Li Yan felt a tightness in his chest, not bothering about the people ahead, the fact that there were people coming up from behind meant that the situation wasn’t good on Yan’s side, to the extent that the Portuguese sailors had spare forces to dispatch soldiers over…

Li Yan licked his tongue and scanned the dimly lit lower deck.

“Heh, Gu, Gaoli ghosts must be good swimmers, right?”

“Tianbao, do you even have to ask? Not to brag, but you can pick anyone here and with one hand they can carry a sack weighing over a hundred pounds. I wouldn’t venture to say more, but swimming for a dozen or so miles should be no problem.”

“Then I’m really sorry to all the brothers!”

Li Yan knocked on the bottom cabin plank coated with the air film and swung the great spear with the force of ten thousand jun, smashing down upon it!

Bang~

A torrent of water sprayed out.

“With this weird film here, gunpowder is useless. My mighty spear will smash it and sink the ship.”

Bang bang bang bang bang~

Nails flew everywhere as the thick layer of the ship’s ribs was brutally shattered, and the cracks rapidly spread. The outer planks, originally filled with hemp rope, coal tar, asphalt, and a mix of shell and fishbones, had several large holes casually broken through them by Li Yan.

A deck was directly kicked down by Li Yan, and unexpectedly, three or four Portuguese sailors hiding behind were preparing to ambush these Far East pirates with a sneak attack, only to be discovered by Li Yan, who was smashing the ship in a surprise move, and were promptly killed by the chaotic knife slashes of the Gaoli ghosts.

The entire “Jealousy” tilted, its tail end sinking into the sea; beneath the feet of Li Yan and the others, water had already gone past their knees, and the several broken holes led directly to the sea. The sailors caught between the front and rear attacks were thrown into disarray by Li Yan’s actions.

The lower deck of “Jealousy,” roughly ten meters in dimension, was nearly punctured through by Li Yan with his spear, but to his surprise, the sound of machinery buzzing beside his ear seemed to grow louder amidst his reckless behavior.

Li Yan caressed his slightly aching palm and listened intently for a moment before swinging his great spear towards his right!

Wood splinters and mangled nails littered the floor, and in front of Li Yan was a vertically running structural timber core going through the entire length of “Jealousy” – the keel, which was hollow. Mounted on it were many glass tubes and vessels filled with various colored liquids that Li Yan did not understand, as well as a mermaid symbol with a forked tail.

Inside the keel flowed the slimy air film, revealing the Magic Motion Technology of “Jealousy” to Li Yan.

[Magic Motion Technology: Air Film Making Machine]

Quality: Legendary (Unique)

Origin: Helun Shipyard

Condition: Perfect

Effect One: Uses “Siren Algae Bacterium” to form a film that defends against cannon fire

Effect Two: “Siren Algae Bacterium” has an extremely strong reproduction capability, forcing objects covered by the bacterium over two-thirds of their surface to sink.

Creator: The greatest microbiologist of Europa, Hekes.

Note: I am ashamed to be listed alongside that drunkard and rogue in the Seven Great Ships’ science advisory board. Just like the middle-finger symbol he represents, he’s a disgusting scumbag. Yet, when that old rascal urinated on the Hesting sofa, I actually felt a perverse pleasure. O God, please forgive the devil inside my heart…

——Hekes