Chapter 794
Chapter 794
Another three days passed. The two fleets, without any conflict, sailed another twenty-five hundred li, now five thousand li away from Xuanwu City. With only seventeen hundred li left to the Great Devil's Triangle, a tense situation suddenly unfolded.
“Aunt, please return to your ship.”
Shen Lang said, but Xue Yin didn't move.
“Are you going to defy me and do as you please again?”
Tears fell from Xue Yin's eyes.
“Don't you trust me?”
Shen Lang roared, and the next moment, Xue Yin grabbed his face and kissed him.
‘Shameless couple!’
Ji Xuan and Ying Han averted their gazes again, while Shen Lang was flustered, not knowing what to do.
‘Don't do this. Please, don't. My wife couldn't have seen. She didn't see.’
After a long three-minute kiss, Goddess Xue Yin leaped from the ship with a sob and swam towards the Jin Clan's large vessel.
* * *
Another two days passed, and the fleet sailed another fifteen hundred li. Now, only two hundred li remained to the Great Devil's Triangle. Shen Lang could clearly feel that the atmosphere at sea had become incredibly strange and heavy. The Great Devil's Triangle was a forbidden zone in this world, considered the most dangerous place for a thousand years—a place from which no person or ship ever returned. The more one knew about it, the more one feared it. Thus, the fleets of the six transcendent powers grew especially quiet.
Ji Xuan was running out of time. If she was to make a move, she had to do it now. Otherwise, the Jin Clan's fleet would enter the Great Devil's Triangle. Ji Xuan sat down before Shen Lang.
“Tell me your plan.”
“On the seventh day of the seventh month, when I send the final signal to Yan Capital, my people will throw the Black Death virus into a great fire and burn it. Yan Capital will then completely avoid the crisis of annihilation.”
“What is the signal?”
“After the Jin Clan's fleet enters the Great Devil's Triangle, I will naturally reveal it.”
“And what about you?”
“I will remain on this ship and let you tear me to pieces, won't I? Of course, you could also capture my wife and family and pressure me to give the signal to avert Yan Capital's destruction.”
Ji Xuan fell silent. She had indeed considered it. For someone like Shen Lang, who valued his family so much, capturing Xiao Bing or his daughter and merely cutting off their hands and feet—without even threatening their lives—would have a significant impact.
“But you must know this. I protect the million citizens of Yan Capital not because I fear threats, but out of compassion for them. You know I have no desire to harm them in the slightest, so you must not stir resentment in my heart. If you harm my family even a little, resentment will fester within me. And once that happens, even if my entire family enters the Great Devil's Triangle, I might continue to seek revenge. Besides, you don't know if I have other means at my disposal, do you?”
Ji Xuan had long understood this reasoning, which was why she hadn't tried to threaten Shen Lang with his family. Shen Lang was right. His protection of Yan Capital's people stemmed ultimately from his compassion and goodwill toward them. He would never want to harm the innocent.
“Just watch my family enter the Great Devil's Triangle, and all will be well. I will remain here and let you subject me to death by a thousand cuts. Especially you, Ying Han. Don't you want to slice me into pieces?”
Ji Xuan and Ying Han remained silent. A moment later, Ji Xuan gave the order, and the imperial fleet halted its advance. The command spread through a series of flag signals. It took a considerable amount of time for the message to reach the entire imperial fleet, which stretched for a hundred li. Finally, everyone in the imperial fleet breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as though they had survived a disaster.
Any fleet that entered the Great Devil's Triangle was shattered to pieces, their crews dying without a place for burial. Moreover, even a glance at the area felt ominous. Although they were still two hundred li away and couldn't see it, everyone could already feel the mysterious, strange, and dreadful aura emanating from it. It was as if a colossal demon stood before them, its great mouth, the gateway to hell, wide open, waiting for countless people to perish.
“All crew members of this vessel are to transfer to small boats, follow the Jin Clan's fleet, board their large ship, and enter the Great Devil's Triangle with them.”
Shen Lang gave the command. Any other crew would have been terrified by such an order, but the sailors on Shen Lang's ship were all transformed individuals with the Blank Bloodline. They felt no fear and obeyed his command completely. Upon hearing his order, they boarded small boats and rowed toward the Jin Clan's large vessel.
After all the crew had departed, there was no one left to control the ship. The vessel Shen Lang was on slowed, drifting with the wind and waves. The entire imperial fleet retreated, leaving only four colossal ships from the powers of the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion, Sky-Gazing Tower, Mount Futu, and Tongtian Temple. They continued to follow the Jin Clan's fleet closely.
Frankly, even though the imperial fleet had withdrawn, those four ships alone could have easily annihilated the Jin Clan's fleet within half a shichen. The distance to the Great Devil's Triangle grew shorter, but it still remained out of sight. However, Shen Lang could sense Ji Xuan and Ying Han holding their breath slightly, the fine hairs on their bodies standing on end instinctively.
Even Shen Lang felt a dreadful aura. It was a peculiar energy that couldn't be described in words. He could genuinely feel the presence of a magnetic field. The magnetic field here was completely different from anywhere else; he could confidently say that any modern ship or aircraft entering this area would lose all responses—radio waves, signals, and the like. Suddenly, as they drew nearer, the Great Devil's Triangle appeared before their eyes. Shen Lang had read written accounts of it, but seeing it in person was a profound shock.
‘This… it’s truly like a wall at the edge of the world. Like the end of the world itself.’
Though it was broad daylight, the sea ahead seemed to be in eternal darkness, like a boundless wall of shadows. It appeared to be a dense fog, but it wasn't. It was as if black clouds stretched for thousands of li across the sky and earth. This Great Devil's Triangle was triangular in shape, with each side spanning thousands of li. Its total area exceeded several million square kilometers, completely cutting off the Eastern Sea from the Southern Sea.
Within the endless dark clouds of the Great Devil's Triangle, countless bolts of lightning flashed. The lightning bolts resembled swimming dragons, flickering innumerable times. Logically, there should have been a deafening roar of thunder, but thankfully, that didn't happen. It was as if the sound was blocked; despite being only a few dozen li away, nothing could be heard. Perhaps that was why the Great Devil's Triangle truly looked like hell at a glance. Any person or ship that entered would be torn to pieces and completely cut off from the world.
All the ships escorting the Jin Clan's vessel had now abandoned their duty, their crews boarding the larger ship until several thousand people were on the colossal vessel. A few enemy ships silently pursued the Jin Clan's behemoth. As the Great Devil's Triangle drew closer, the once-massive ships seemed incredibly small, like tiny paper boats.
Shen Lang was about a dozen li away from the colossal ship Mulan was on. Mulan stood at the stern, while Shen Lang stood at the bow. Though separated by a dozen li, they couldn't see each other; straining their eyes, they could only make out a single dot.
“My husband, I believe in you. I believe you will surely meet us again. Don't you dare deceive me. If you do, I'll become a ghost and never let you go.”
“Don't worry, my love. If I've lied to you, then you can find me in hell and torment me in bed until I breathe my last.”
“Next time, I'll give you half a shichen.”
“Please don't. That would be too exhausting. Thirty minutes is just right. Pursuing ecstasy is what matters most; sheer length of time is just for show.”
Though separated by a dozen li, the two seemed to be communicating in silence. Soon, Mulan held Shen Li in one arm and Shen Mi in the other. Shen Ye stood on the deck, hugging his mother's legs and wailing loudly. Mulan took Shen Mi's hand and waved it toward Shen Lang.
“Husband, see you again!”
“My love, my treasures, we'll meet again!”
“I love you!”
“I love you!”
At last, the Jin Clan's colossal ship plunged into the Great Devil's Triangle, disappearing into the endless dark clouds. The six ships of the transcendent powers stopped ten li from the Great Devil's Triangle, quietly watching the Jin Clan's vessel vanish from sight. Shen Lang's eyes were wide open, as if trying not to miss a single detail of the scene before him, watching his wife and three children recede into the distance. The Great Devil's Triangle was truly like a giant beast, swallowing the colossal ship bit by bit. Soon, the ship and everyone on it disappeared from Shen Lang's view, and tears streamed down his face.
‘My love, my treasures, my family… gone just like that.’
Shen Lang's heart felt as if it were being stabbed with a knife. He stood as still as a statue, not moving an inch.
* * *
A moment later, Ji Xuan's cold voice reached his ears.
“Shen Lang, we have already accepted your terms and allowed your family to enter the Great Devil's Triangle. Now it's your turn to talk. What is the final signal to completely halt the operation to destroy Yan Capital?”
Ji Xuan asked calmly. She intended to behead Shen Lang the moment she got her answer.
“There is no signal.”
Hearing Shen Lang's words, Ji Xuan's expression changed drastically. She asked coldly,
“What do you mean? Shen Lang, I have already allowed your family to enter the Great Devil's Triangle. Are you really going to break your promise? If you tell me the signal, you can have a slightly more comfortable death. If you don't, I guarantee I will make you regret being alive in this world, unable to live or die.”
Shen Lang said calmly.
“There is no signal to call off, because there was never any operation to destroy Yan Capital to begin with. I am not like you. I am not a beast who would harm common people. You've been played. From the very beginning, I never had any intention of releasing the Black Death virus in Yan Capital.”
Upon hearing this, the expressions of Ji Xuan and Ying Han turned ice-cold. It was an unprecedented humiliation.
‘Shen Lang, were you just toying with us like monkeys? For over twenty days, you've been tormenting and mocking us? The masters of the Ends of the Earth Sea Pavilion and Sky-Gazing Tower risked their lives to escort those fireworks, all to stop the destruction of Yan Capital. And it was all a lie.’
“Wasn't it nice to give the people of Yan Capital a fireworks show? After all, your people must live under great oppression.”
Ji Xuan said with a sneer.
“Good, good, very good. *Cough*… Then you can die with peace of mind.”
Ying Han said.
“Shen Lang, kneel. I will personally cut off your head. It's time to end this ridiculous farce.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Ying Han drew a sharp sword, ready to slice off Shen Lang's head. Killing Shen Lang would completely eliminate the followers of Jiang Li. But in this murderous situation, Shen Lang laughed and said.
“My two dear sisters, I forgot to tell you something. As I said, the plan to destroy Yan Capital was a lie; I never intended to release the Black Death virus there. However, it is true that you have been infected with the Black Death virus. Don't you feel a fever? Don't you feel a cough coming on? Isn't it agonizing?”
Hearing this, the expressions of Ji Xuan and Ying Han changed dramatically.
“You… when did you poison us?”
In truth, the two had been feeling a bit strange. They kept feeling the urge to cough and had a slight fever. However, their high level of martial arts allowed them to forcefully suppress the symptoms. But they hadn't drunk a single sip of the water Shen Lang offered, nor had he released any poisonous mist.
“The source of the virus is me. For the past two days, you have been very close to me, breathing the same air, so naturally, you would be infected. As formidable as Mount Futu is, they are only proficient with venomous insects and poisons, not at curing the Black Death. Once infected, death is the only path left. No one can save you.”
Ji Xuan and Ying Han were completely stunned. He had infected himself with the Black Death virus first and then transmitted it to them? It was a method too vicious, too terrifying.
“My dear sisters, if we're to die, why not die together? Why don't we take this chance to have a tumble? Come on. Enjoy yourselves. We still have two or three days left, anyway! Didn't you say you were going to kill me? You can ravage me first, then kill me, can't you? Come on! Don't spare me just because I'm a handsome man. Come and trample all over me!”