On the ocean, waves lashed and the wind howled but the steamship kept moving steadily towards a distant island.
The more than thirty people who were weeping, wailing and throwing curses with all their strength gradually became silent. It was as if they had broken their throats. The Red Cloud Sect’s martial artists also completely ignored them, and let alone welcoming them, they weren’t even beating the captives, contrary to their expectations.
These martial artists were very discrete. They knew that the people who were crying for their fathers and mothers couldn’t even withstand pain let alone being injured by accident.
Yang Kai sat in a corner of the deck and watched what was happening with an indifferent expression. It was as if he was completely apart from the situation. He was silent unlike the rest of captives and drew no attention to himself.
Since they set sail it had almost been an hour, and they were almost fifty kilometres from Sea City.
Yang Kai was analyzing the situation of the True Element Boundary expert on the ship and was pondering, [If I abandon the ship now can I escape with my life?]
By his Qi Transforming Stage strength, Yang Kai didn’t worry about drowning to death, he had enough strength to prevent that. What Yang Kai feared most was the pursuit of the True Element Boundary expert.
While he was hesitating with an anxious look, a senior fisherman who was caught preempted Yang Kai and jumped overboard before he could make up his mind.
Splash! A light sound came from the sea. Hearing this, the more than thirty individuals who were caught also became excited because of a ray of hope and moved towards the side of the ship, wanting to abandon ship and escape with the senior fisherman.
But the shocking thing was these Red Cloud Sect martial artists didn’t try to stop them but just sneered while looking at them.
Yang Kai felt that something was off. They used a lot of energy to catch these common people. So they would not let them escape this easily.
Suddenly, a sad, shrill and pitiful yell came from the water. This voice was of the senior fisherman who had just abandoned the ship. Hearing this sound, everyone who was trying to escape rushed towards the side of ship in a hurry and then stared with big eyes into the sea.
“What? What happened?”
“There are Monster Beasts below us!”
“Below there are Monster Beasts who will eat people.”
These common people were struck by fear and their courage to abandon ship was blown apart.
On the ship, the Red Clouds Sect martial artists looked at everyone and said with a sneer, “Do you want to know what that thing was?”
Not waiting for them to reply, he took out a flare from the side and threw it into the sea.
With the help of the illumination, many people were frightened because of what they saw in the sea. The sea was covered with a layer of blood, the senior fisherman had been divided into many parts by this time. Under the sea there were many fierce fish beasts hidden which were jumping and following the steamship and were eating the corpse of the senior fisherman with large gulps.
“This will be the fate of anyone who abandons the ship.” that Red Clouds Sect martial artist said with a sneer.
Many people vomited after seeing the scene. After all, they were common people who had never seen such disgusting blood shed.
Yang Kai in heart suddenly understood that he had to give up the idea of abandoning the ship and escaping. The Monster Beasts who were following the ship in the sea were probably raised by Red Clouds Island.
In the water, these Monster Beasts were the Kings and he was just a Qi Transforming Stage martial artist. There was simply no way of escaping from them.
“Everyone listen to me.” the Red Clouds Sect martial artist said in a loud voice. He then swept the whole crowd with his sharp eyes and continued, “If you don’t want to die then be obedient and stay on the ship. After an hour or two we will arrive at Red Clouds Island. You should not think that we caught you to be free labour. This is my Red Clouds Island giving you an opportunity! On the island there are endless delicious delicacies and they can be yours if you have the skill to obtain it. As long as you passed the test of my Red Clouds Sect you can become a disciple from that time onwards. Then you can become the one to invite the other batch in the coming month to give them the opportunity to become martial artists.”
The people kept their mouths shut, obviously they didn’t believe the words spoken by him.
They could not rebuke the Red Clouds Sect Martial Artist, so they could only remain silent.
However, once this matter settled down, the normal person who was caught didn’t dare to make noise again and didn’t even dare to have any thoughts of escaping. Under the ship there were Monster Beast who ate humans. So, how would they even have the courage to escape?
The steamship continued to navigate the sea.
After a long time passed, Yang Kai heard a person saying, “Finally returned home.”
“Yeah, I am dead exhausted. We must come out once every month… if things like this continue on, we would be like those people, young and not breathing?!”
(luffy: I think he is probably talking about his Sect)
“We have gotten a good number of normal people. They should be able to support us for a while. We probably won’t need to go out and catch them anytime soon.”
Yang Kai opened his eyes to look towards the front and only saw the outline of a foggy island in front of his eyes. This island was not small, Yang Kai estimated that the area of the island was about four to five times that of Sea City. But the feeling that the island gave was very strange, his present eyes were out of the ordinary, and when he looked at the island the left half was not quite the same as right half. The right peninsula was covered with a layer of dim mist making it quite hard to see through; making it look mysterious.
According to the direction of the ship it was going towards the left peninsula.
After a long time the steamship speed gradually slowed down and finally it stopped when it approached the shore.
The Red Clouds Sect disciple lowered the rope ladder from the deck, then ordered the shaking common people, “Disembark!”
Although the more than thirty individuals were in a panic, they did as ordered and jumped down from the steamship and finally stood on land. Many people fell down because their legs had turned to jelly because of fear from the man-eating Monster Beasts under the ship.
There were many fishermen on board, fishing was their livelihood, but they had never bumped into this type of Monster Beast.
“You, take that quiet one,” the True Element Boundary expert said to his two disciples.
“Yes, Uncle Master!” The two disciples compiled respectfully, then the two caught Yang Kai on either side.
“Move, we will take you to a life filled with fulfillment.” The two Red Clouds Sect disciples had not embraced these common people. They caught Yang Kai and lead the common people with him.
Yang Kai showed a look of innocence and accompanied them with a smile and asked, “Senior apprentice brothers, when will we enter the Sect?”
One of them rebuked Yang Kai with a sneer, “Who is your apprentice brother?”
The other one also lost his patience but still gave a patient reply, “Do not be so anxious, didn’t you hear on the ship? As long as you are able to pass the test of my Red Clouds Sect, you will be able to enlist yourself as a disciple and then you will be given entry into the Sect and you will be able to cultivate martial arts.”
“So what is this test about?” Yang Kai asked again.
“Test, hey. It’s a very simple test, you only need to pick up something. Now don’t ask any more, when the time comes you will know.” That person thought that Yang Kai was easy to deceive, so he said while patting his shoulder, “If you are good, then we always have an opportunity to become fellow apprentices little brother. You have just come to Red Clouds Island, so you don’t need to be worried about it just yet. You can have all the delicious delicacies every day, until the test, and when the time for test comes, naturally someone will inform you.”
Yang Kai gave a nod as he was unable to inquire any further; he could only give up on any further enquiry.
However Red Clouds Island was truly a good place for cultivation. Here the world energy was richer compared with the High Heaven Pavilion. It was no wonder the sects tried to establish their schools on islands, as islands were good places for cultivation. This point made them superior to the land-based sects.
Moreover the island was filled with many rare treasures, the type of things that couldn’t be seen on the land.
Perhaps after seeing the beautiful scenery of Red Clouds Island, the mood of the common people who were captured also stabilised. They moved forward while looking at the surrounding scenery.
One of the two Red Clouds Sect disciples gives a reminder, “Do not run all over the place on the island. There are also man-eating Monster Beasts on the island. If you run all over the island, then no one will be able to save you.”
If the common people were told that there were Monster Beasts on the island then it would not have too much effect, but if they were told that there were man-eating Monster Beasts on the island, then even if this was just a bluff it would produce the desired result.
And it really was effective, after hearing him say that, many people became silent and they suddenly remembered the fate of the senior fisherman on the steamship which they just got off.
They followed a specific path which, after walking for about an hour, led them to their final destination.
At the destination there were other Red Clouds Sect disciples to aid them. After seeing more the than thirty common people in the giant courtyard they said with a light smile, “Two apprentice brothers worked hard, this time you had quite a good harvest.”
“This time we found more people compared to several months ago. I will hand them over to apprentice brother to manage.”
“Apprentice brother, feel at ease.”
After talking some more, the two Red Clouds Sect disciples then departed.
After they walked off, the Red Clouds Sects disciple who was responsible for aiding them waved his hands and said, “You all, come with me!”
After entering the courtyard, Yang Kai looked around and discovered that fence had surrounded an area of a few kilometers. Many small houses were built and designed for single occupancy.
The more than thirty people were all arranged in these small houses. Yang Kai also lived alone.
The things in the house could not be said to be luxurious, but at they at least met his basic needs. There was a bed which had a bed covering which could be folded easily.
“From now on you are going to live in this place. You don’t need to manage anything and even without doing any thing you will be given three meals every day, which will be brought along by someone. Your only duty from now on is to eat your meal until you are full, have a good sleep, and improve your complexion until my Red Clouds Sect grants you the test,” the disciple of Red Clouds sect said to everyone.
Hearing this words Yang Kai suddenly remembered the saying raising pigs for slaughter.
He didn’t believe that the Red Clouds Sect caught this many common people to let them enjoy their life. It really looked like raising pigs; allowing them to eat to the full and having a good night sleep will only make anyone sluggish, and when meeting the enemy one can only be be butchered under his blade.
What does Red Clouds Sect want to do? Yang Kai really felt at a loss.
However Yang Kai didn’t have the means to escape now. Here after all was their sect, and it was situated on an isolated island. He could only escape if he can somehow get a steamship, but could that ship resist the Monster Beast attack?
[Let’s just cope with it when the time comes.] Yang Kai lay down the burden in his heart, sat cross legged on the bed and started to cultivate.
On the next day, someone really came with delicious delicacies. This food could only be eaten by the rich. If examined carefully there was a slight medicinal fragrance coming from the food so some kind of medicine must be have been mixed into it.
Yang Kai didn’t start eating right away but waited for others to finish and after seeing that they were apparently ok he then picked up his chopsticks and began to eat.
After eating the food this common people felt refreshed, Yang Kai also felt better. Although the medicine contained in these meals was not significant but this was good for recharging the body’s vitality. After eating this type of food not only cultivators even average people could also live a long life.
Several days passed by like that. The people who were caught, didn’t have any shred of complaint at the moment. They now believed completely that the Red Clouds Sect disciples said they were brought here to enjoy a happy life.
These were the people who were very poor and had never been treated this way their entire lives. After being made to enjoy so many delicacies they became too happy to think about their home and duty.
However, besides these foods with medicine mixed in, the people must drink a grass fluid every day. This drink was very bitter and was advantageous to the body similarly and did not harm them. Day after day passed by and these poor people’s physiques started to become more robust compared to before.
Their moods became joyful as they could eat without any worry, and they started to feel that they were in heaven.
And there wasn’t much limit on what they could do. Except for not leaving the courtyard, they could move around it however they liked.