Chapter 767
Chapter 767
Screaming internally, Xue Pan’s body went limp, rendering him unable to move. Soon, several sailors approached him.
“Hey, did Heir Xue just pass out?”
“Let me introduce myself. I'm Li Datou. I was a pirate from Sorrowless Island, and I followed Leader Xu. A few years ago, Leader Xu was killed by your Xue Clan, and we were reorganized. Of course, we have no intention of betraying the Xue Clan or avenging Leader Xu. But we happened to find you, and after thinking it over, it seemed Shen Lang would be a bit more generous. You have to believe we hesitated for a long time. And you said you were going to the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion, not back home. That would make it hard for us to get a huge reward, so we thought it would be better to hand you over to Shen Lang. We've long heard rumors that Shen Lang spends money like water.”
Xue Pan, trembling all over, opened his mouth and asked in a hoarse voice.
“What… what did you make me drink?”
Li Datou, the leader of the sailors on the ship, answered.
“It's the poison from a mountain green frog on the island. Drink it, and your whole body becomes paralyzed. I was very careful with the dose. Too much, and you might have died.”
Xue Pan said in a trembling voice.
“I'll give you a thousand gold coins. Take me to the Southern Continent Archipelago.”
Li Datou said.
“I'm sorry, Young Master Xue. If you had said that a moment ago, we would have been ecstatic. But we've already made our move. How can we turn back now?”
Enraged, Xue Pan suddenly leaped up and threw a palm strike at him. His martial arts were indeed formidable. Even paralyzed, he could still strike down two pirates. The remaining three pirates, sensing things were going south, immediately jumped into the sea and swam far away. Xue Pan grabbed an oar and rowed desperately, but after half a quarter of an hour, he lost all sensation and collapsed. The three remaining pirates were very cunning; they waited for a long time before approaching him. They waited for a full quarter of an hour, only drawing near after being certain the poison had completely spread through his body. They continued to row west.
“Let's light a fire. That way, Shen Lang's damn fleet will spot us.”
* * *
When Xue Pan awoke again, the poison had completely left his body, and he could move.
“Cousin, you're awake? That's wonderful, wonderful.”
An emotional voice reached his ears, sounding as if it came from a great distance. He struggled to open his eyes and finally saw an incredibly handsome face.
*Shen Lang?!*
In that instant, Xue Pan fell into despair, wishing he could faint again immediately. The three sailors—no, pirates—who had brought him to Shen Lang were masked and kneeling before him.
“How much do you want?”
The pirate leader replied.
“A thousand gold coins.”
Shen Lang said angrily.
“What? A thousand gold coins? Are you looking down on me? Or are you looking down on Heir Xue? You only want a thousand gold coins? Men, bring three thousand gold coins for these three brave men!”
As soon as Shen Lang gave the order, three chests were placed before the pirates. Each chest contained a thousand glittering gold coins. The pirate leader was so happy he could have cried.
*I was right. Shen Lang really is a profligate who throws his family's fortune away.*
The pirates kowtowed to Shen Lang and said.
“Young Master, thank you, thank you. In the future, if Young Master Shen has any commands, no matter how difficult, we brothers will carry them out without a second thought.”
Shen Lang waved his hand dismissively.
“That's enough.”
Taking the hint from Shen Lang's reaction, the pirates discreetly left. Shen Lang returned to stand before Xue Pan and said in a trembling voice.
“Cousin, do you know how much I've thought of you since you came to our Jin Clan to break off the engagement? Do you know how much I've thought of you since the moment the Xue Clan harmed our Jin Clan over twenty years ago?”
Xue Pan cursed internally.
*Were you even around twenty years ago? You would have been liquid at best.*
But contrary to his thoughts, Xue Pan managed a sliver of a smile and said.
“Worthy Brother Shen Lang, let's talk this out. You're a very smart man, you know what the best deal is… Ahh!”
His voice cut off abruptly, replaced by a miserable, sharp scream. Shen Lang, who had been holding a sharp blade, had suddenly let it go, and it had fallen straight down, embedding itself between Xue Pan's legs. Xue Pan first felt an icy coldness, then a searing pain as if burned by fire, and realized he had lost something. Shen Lang cried out in feigned surprise.
“Cousin, I'm so sorry, so sorry. I didn't have a firm grip on the blade, and it happened to fall on your eggs. But don't you dare blame me. Let me see. Was it a bad cut? Is it ruined? Not quite. There's still a little bit left; it's not completely severed. But since it can't be put back to normal like this, how about I just cut the rest off?”
*Snip!*
With a kitchen knife in his other hand, Shen Lang forcefully sliced it off Xue Pan.
*Hmm! Now that's a clean cut.*
The source of Xue Pan’s lineage was cleanly severed, leaving an empty void.
“Aaaargh! Shen Lang, I'll kill you! I'll kill your entire family!”
Castrated in an instant with no chance to resist, Xue Pan roared in fury.
“Cousin, most of the world's troubles come from this seed of trouble. Now that it's been cut off, isn't that wonderful!”
“Shen Lang, I'll slaughter your entire family!”
Xue Pan roared like a madman, then suddenly caught a whiff of a certain fragrance and fainted once again.
* * *
How much time had passed? Xue Pan awoke again. Huh? Strange! The place where he'd been castrated didn't hurt. To be precise, he felt nothing at all.
“Cousin, after you threatened me back in Tianshu Province, I truly tossed and turned at night, unable to sleep. Do you know how much I've missed you?”
Xue Pan said in a trembling voice.
“Worthy Brother, if you have something to say, let's just talk. Let's use our words… Ahh!”
Shen Lang pressed a red-hot iron disk from his hand onto Xue Pan's face.
* * *
How much time passed again? Xue Pan, who had fainted, awoke once more.
“You have no idea how much I've missed you since you went to assassinate His Highness Ning Zheng.”
Xue Pan tried to placate Shen Lang in a trembling voice.
“Worthy Brother, if you have something to say, let's just talk… Ahh!”
* * *
Again, after some time, Xue Pan awoke to find his torso inside some kind of jar.
“Cousin, you have no idea how much I've missed you.”
“Shen Lang, kill me, kill me… Ahh!”
How much time passed again? This time, Xue Pan did not wake up. With his limbs severed below the neck, he would probably never wake again.
One name on the list of enemies written on Shen Lang's blackboard was crossed out. Xue Pan! A red X was drawn over his name. Xue Pan's head was placed in a box, and Shen Lang looked into his eyes and said.
“Cousin, I'll miss you. Men, send Heir Xue Pan's head to Lord Xue Che in the Southern Continent Archipelago. And tell him that I miss him very much!”
* * *
Following this, Shen Lang did not immediately go to attack the Southern Continent Archipelago. Instead, he launched a frenzied surprise attack on the surviving ships of the Xue Clan's fleet. After the Xue Clan's main fleet was destroyed, some ships remained to maintain the safety of the entire sea route. And since these warships were generally scattered, they were all picked off one by one by Shen Lang's ships. Shen Lang sank every ship he saw on the sea, not just warships, but all of the Xue Clan's merchant vessels as well. Why didn't he plunder their wealth? Because the ships in Shen Lang's fleet were too small to carry the loot even if they did.
Within a few days, Shen Lang's fleet had wiped out all of the Xue Clan's warships and merchant vessels within two thousand li of the southern sea, a total of over a hundred ships. It was nothing short of a one-sided slaughter. The Xue Clan's patrol ships and merchant vessels were operating on fixed routes, making them easy targets. Their resulting losses were immeasurable.
* * *
Shen Lang's fleet, of course, did not deliver Xue Pan's head to Southern Continent Island directly. They intercepted a merchant ship midway and had them deliver the head to Xue Che, along with a handwritten letter from Shen Lang.
Inside Southern Continent City.
Xue Che was just then conversing with Yan Ye and Ning Qi. He was, in fact, worried about something. A few days ago, a massive earthquake had occurred in the sea a thousand li away, and there seemed to be signs of a tsunami. Of course, he wasn't the least bit worried about his main fleet. Yan Nanfei's main fleet had gone to attack Raging Tide City, so they would have been far from the earthquake zone long ago. However, the recent frequency of earthquakes in the southern sea was an ominous sign. This all began when Mount Fudao started developing the ancient ruins.
The southern sea was the foundation of the Xue Clan's power, and frequent undersea earthquakes were extremely detrimental to trade. So far, their merchant ships hadn't suffered significant losses, but the number of passing vessels had clearly decreased by twenty percent, which was a considerable loss for the Xue Clan. However, Xue Che had no intention of complaining to Mount Fudao about his troubles; he planned to let them quietly remember that they owed him a debt.
“By my calculations, Yan Nanfei's fleet should reach the waters of the Thunder Continent Archipelago within a few days and completely annihilate the Jin Clan's fleet.”
Yan Ye said.
“Senior Brother Xue, didn't the State of Wu also send an army of thirty thousand to attack Raging Tide City before, only to suffer a crushing defeat and return with nothing to show for it?”
Xue Che told him.
“The State of Wu is the State of Wu; we are different. Besides, isn't today's Thunder Continent Island different from two years ago, with seventy to eighty thousand more immigrants? They are all subjects of the Jin Clan. Do you know what Jin Zhuo's weakness is? He is righteous and honest!”
As soon as he heard this, Yan Ye understood Xue Che's intention. Yan Nanfei's army of thirty thousand did not plan to attack Raging Tide City directly, but to slaughter the immigrants and subjects of the Jin Clan on Thunder Continent Island. The villages and towns of Thunder Continent Island would be unable to defend against Yan Nanfei's army, and his forces would kill thousands, even tens of thousands, of the Jin Clan's people. Other nobles wouldn't care if their subjects died, at most spending a fortune to resettle them, but Jin Zhuo would certainly not stand by and watch his people die. The Jin Clan's defenders would be forced to come out of the city.
“But Shen Lang's Nirvana Army is extremely strong. The Second Nirvana Army, in particular, are master marksmen.”
Xue Che replied to Yan Ye's words.
“They are indeed very strong, but I did not tell Yan Nanfei to confront them head-on.”
“Then?”
“He will set the entire Raging Tide City on fire and burn it to the ground!”
At Xue Che's words, Yan Ye flinched and trembled. In truth, that was not the extent of Xue Che's plan. For example, he planned to secretly poison the Jin Clan's subjects with a potion from Mount Fudao, so that when they took refuge inside the city walls, they would spread a terrifying plague. For a critical moment, he had prepared Mount Fudao's *gudu*. He had secretly loaded several vials of *gudu* onto Yan Nanfei's fleet, intending to launch them into the main fortress of Raging Tide City with catapults.
In any case, Xue Che had many other methods at his disposal. He had no intention of fighting a conventional war with the Jin Clan; he planned to use any means necessary. Even if it meant killing all the people of the Thunder Continent Archipelago, he would annihilate everyone in Raging Tide City, seize that sacred ground, and exterminate the Jin Clan. Afterward, he would order Yan Nanfei's fleet to blockade the entire eastern sea. That was the most crucial task. He understood the intentions of the Imperial Prince of Yan perfectly. In the grand game to come, the direction of Raging Tide City must not become a breach. In Xue Che's view, the King of Wu was too young and still adhered to a moral code.
“Your Highness, please trust me, do not be impatient, and wait. Your era will soon arrive.”
Xue Che said no more. He didn't even speak much about the war situation at Raging Tide City. He believed that his brother, Yan Nanfei, was vicious enough to get the job done right. When seeing Yan Nanfei off, Xue Che had clearly ordered him to uproot everyone in Raging Tide City. How infamous would Xue Che become in later generations for such a cruel act? In this world where the victor becomes king and the loser a thief, how long would infamy last? He would probably receive Yan Nanfei's victory report soon. To be precise, it would be more of a notification than a victory report. A notification that all the people of Raging Tide City and the Jin Clan had been slaughtered.