Chapter 300: Map Delivery
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Before a nation perishes, there were bound to be omens!
Beauty She twisted a piece of bamboo leaf and thought to herself, "The late emperor could have lived for ten plus years more but he got ruined by Sister Dowager. Now, the minister Wang Qiao has too become a puppet of us demons. It is not hard for an internal conflict to happen in Da Chu…"
However, she had some doubts.
After paying such a huge price, many amongst the demons were still too worried and were preparing to have two strings to one's bow.
Other than the current land, the demons were already searching for new islands and lands in the vast seas. They were preparing to sow a batch of seeds of the demons on these new lands to preserve their elemental energy.
One obvious plan and one clandestine plan, this was how the demons planned to strike back.
As for those demons who harmed humans, they were merely defeatists who have given up.
"The heavenly trend cannot be opposed!"
As Beauty She thought of how despondently the Saint said that with a tinge of savagery, she unknowingly felt her heart became heavier.
"My demon race has dominated for centuries! Used to and still is! The world will still be in our hands in the future!"
"Provoking massive outbreaks of chaos is to eradicate all the brilliant human minds, whenever a human rise up, we will suppress him. All in all, we must stir internal conflict amongst the humans and cause them to deplete their own elemental energy!"
Beauty She's expression turned cold and her eyes sparkled with a blue-green essence, "Mere humans, how dare they vie for the throne of master of all races!"
Moments later, she stood up and left, leaving behind two evenly dissected pieces of bamboo leaves that were slowly falling.
...
At the Pier in Black Lake District.
"Sir, latest intelligence from the capital!"
Xu Ting had only rested for less than half a day before he got interrupted. After reading a few lines of the letter, an uneasy look appeared on his face.
"Minister plans to rebel!"
Although it was a few simple words, it was utterly shocking for Xu Ting.
"Initially, I thought troubled times were ahead of us, looks like I am already in a troubled world now…"
Xu Ting gave a wry smile, with his intellect, he could already predict the chain of events that would happen thereafter.
"I thought I was fast enough, I guess I'm too slow now! Way too slow!"
Once Wang Qiao usurped the throne, he could make use of clearing rebels as a reason to eradicate anyone he deemed disloyal to him and the burden of righteousness could literally be thrown aside.
With how smoothly things went, Xu Ting felt as though he was in a dream.
"There's no problem with Golden Lake Prefecture, however, there is more than one prefecture around Golden Court Lake! For our family to rise, we still require more strength and we have to continue with capturing the pirates, but however, at a much faster pace!"
He gritted his teeth, "We have to continue with the plans of hiding troops in the lake, just that…"
Even though he had the support of his family, it was demanding to support thousands of people. Furthermore, the supply of troops ahead of him was never-ending.
Also, it was too conspicuous to have it carried out in Golden Lake Prefecture.
"I definitely have to look for a more suitable place to allocate the remaining big group of troops…, the leaders of the pirates and their family members definitely have to be placed ashore to control them with ease, while the rest do not have to and can be placed in the lake, in the lake…, in the lake.…"
Xu Ting tugged his hair in frustration.
He finally understood that no matter how good a plan was, once executed, numerous unexpected issues would arise. Such situations tested the abilities of commanders.
"Small islands in the lake are too scattered! If they were so spread out, how could I rule them together?"
Xu Ting pondered.
In order to hide the troops in the lake, the most crucial problem to solve was where would the base be.
If they were to use those larger islands, it would be easily discovered by the fishermen who fish in the lake daily and also the numerous pirates in the area.
Unless…
"Sir!"
As he was deep in thoughts and scribbled on his desk, time past unknowingly and it was already dark outside.
A lovely maid carrying an oil lamp and meal boxes came forward.
"Luan'er?"
Xu Ting's gaze softened as he saw her, "What brought you over personally?"
"I was told to specially come take care of you since you worked so hard on eradicating the pirates!"
Li Luan lit up the room, opened the meal boxes and laid out the dishes. There was a plate of roast chicken, a plate of drool-inducing braised pork leg, two plates vegetables and one bottle of wine. They were all Xu Ting's favourites.
"Haha, Luan'er knows me the best!"
After receiving a pair of chopsticks from Li Luan, Xu Ting took a bite and sang praises immediately, "Your skills have improved… I better eat more today! Eh, how come there's no fish?"
On the shores of Golden Court Lake, fish was the most common dish.
Since he started eradicating the pirates, he seized countless dried fish. Hence, he asked curiously.
"Fish…"
Li Luan smiled unconvincingly, "Sir, you wanted fish?"
"No! I'm already of sick of it…"
Xu Ting seemed like he remembered something and shook his hands.
In spite of that, Li Luan's face was still pale, it was as though dark clouds were looming over her.
As a thoughtful person, Xu Ting immediately realised the change in atmosphere. "Do you have something that is troubling you…?"
"Indeed!"
Li Luan pulled herself together. "Sir, do you still remember the person who visited your father?"
"I do!"
The plan to hide the troops in the lake was given by that young man. It left such a strong impression on him, how could he not remember?
After further investigations, that man was apparently Black Dragon General, a people dao deity. It was truly inconceivable, and naturally, the misunderstandings dispelled.
However, when Xu Ting heard Li Luan mentioned him again, he felt slightly uncomfortable. "What is the matter?"
Li Luan answered, "He met your father again and delivered this map!"
She took out a scroll and slowly unravelled it.
"Eh..."
Looking at the contents of the scroll, Xu Ting's eyes opened wide. "This is…. the water map?"
Having fought with the pirates for so many days, he studied the water map daily and naturally, he could recognise it, "Not only is this a simple water map, it encompassed the whole Golden Court Lake, such detail…"
Beside him, Li Luan silently heaved a sigh of relief as he saw the sparkle in Xu Ting's eyes.
The map had great utility, furthermore the fact that they could have it meant that Fang Yuan had the support of Golden Court Dragon God. Such rapid progress was shocking.
However, compared to Fang Yuan, Xu Ting was…
At that moment, Li Luan was gratified as he saw how contented Xu Ting was, she then added, "Sir, not only that… look!"
She lightly caressed the water map and a layer of vapour appeared. It was as though the map came to life.
Sparkling red dots appeared on the map; they could be seen clearly on the map moving.
"These are the pirates' hideouts, the brighter the red dot, the more powerful they are…" Li Luan explained.
"This is… a valuable treasure!"
Xu Ting stood up, his face beamed with joy.
With this map, it was akin to having the entire Golden Court Lake! With the help of the deity!
"Such valuable treasure could only be made by Golden Court Dragon God. Congratulations Sir!"
Li Luan then pointed at the map and continued, "There's a big island here, we can reclaim 5,000 acres of farmland there! There's also a deep-water harbour for us to build a pier. It is a great location to place our base in!"
"This place…"
Xu Ting was puzzled and looked carefully, there was indeed an island. He then asked, "Why hasn't it been discovered?"
"Because there are a lot of undercurrents and whirlpools nearby which makes it difficult for ships to traverse through. However, there's a safe route on the map…"
As Li Luan explained, in her heart, she was clear of something.
The island was actually inhabited by water dwellers.
Although many of the water dwellers lived inside the waters, on special occasions, they would come up on land to mate.
On the whole Golden Court Lake, there were a few of such islands which were all forbidden land for humans.
However, for Xu Ting's sake, one of the islands was cleared out.
In his heart, Xu Ting was even more in awe of the heavenly trend and Fang Yuan's power.
"Such a valuable treasure... what a valuable treasure…"
Xu Ting felt slightly uneasy as he held the scroll. However, his hands were still tight. He then enquired, "Then how did Black Dragon General got hold of it? Was he tasked by the Dragon God?"
"I do not know if he was tasked by the Dragon God or not. However, I am sure the Dragon God is on our side. We should provide some offerings!" Li Luan reminded.
"Hmm… that's true!"
Xu Ting nodded his head. This time, with the help of the deity, his wishes came true and it made him felt as though fate was in his favour.
...
Outside the prefecture, Fang Yuan suddenly smiled as he was looking at the scenery. "With the support of the Dragon God, Xu Ting's strength has multiplied… looks like there wouldn't be any more problems with uniting the pirates of Golden Court Lake."
In reality, it was a win-win situation.
With the Dragon God's backing, it was natural to return the favour by multitudes once they succeeded.
Most importantly, it was for Xu Ting reach that level of success where he could return the favour.
Fang Yuan opened the bottle gourd on his waist and drank the dragon palace's rare spiritual wine. As he drank and gazed at the sky, he felt awe-inspiring.
At that moment, as soon as Xu Ting got the information, Fang Yuan naturally got it too.
"A minister trying to usurp, what a coincidental timing! When the nations are in chaos, the demons would definitely interfere and add fuel to the oil, causing the humans to be in a perpetual internal conflict!"
Although he did not know that there were already demons causing chaos in the nation, he could easily guess it as it was obvious for them to attack their enemies at such timings.
As he saw Li Luan fell deeper and deeper, Fang Yuan had an even greater understanding and fear of this realm's heavenly trend.
"The heavens make a fool of people, such a phrase is indeed true… even if Li Luan wholeheartedly wanted to support the Dragon God, she would inevitably be deluded and the outcome would be unpredictable…"
"If that could happen to her, what about those demons who hated the humans to the core?"
Even though there were techniques to pry into heavenly secrets in this realm, most of the results were muddled or gave partial revelations that misled people.
"Some of the demons were too smart for their own good!"
"After all, the uprising of humans was the heavenly trend, there is no place for demons to rule!"
Fang Yuan chose not to be too close to the Xu family due to that exact reason.
Even for the delivery of the water map, Fang Yuan had made use of Li Luan as a middleman to let her benefit, just for the sake of maintaining distance from them. By maintaining a distance from the Xu family, if the situation were to turn awry in the future, he could cut ties with them quickly.
The heavenly trend was hard to predict! One could only tread as though he was on thin ice and be on guard against the unknown at all times!