Chapter 890
The pirates’ gazes turned to Douglas Seyrun. When someone uses their death to rebuke you, there is no room for excuses. To prove his own courage and his desire to be buried at sea, Douglas Seyrun would have to follow Shen Lang and jump. But was that even possible? Douglas had a brilliant future ahead of him; he wouldn't do something so absurd and foolish. However, he was a very clever man and knew not to speak ill of the dead at a time like this. He removed his hat and bowed toward the churning sea.
“Lord Shen Lang, you may not have the strength to wring a chicken's neck, but I respect your courage and your fearless heart.”
The gesture restored some of his dignity, at least making him appear to still possess a certain grace. The pirate chieftains also removed their hats and bowed toward the churning sea, paying their respects to the self-sacrificing Shen Lang. Just then, the Third Chieftain, Haiyuan, spoke up.
“Lord Shen Lang was incredibly brave and fearless, but what we need now is a strong and wise leader. Only then can someone lead us out of this predicament and help us return home. And without a doubt, His Highness Douglas is that person.”
His words were quite interesting, for they were rebuking Shen Lang for acting on rash impulse and doing something utterly foolish.
“Shen Lang is already dead, but the vote must go on. However, since His Highness Douglas is the only one left, is there even a need to vote? Can't we just declare it? Uncle Jack, please announce him as the First Chieftain.”
Hela screamed at Haiyuan.
“Haiyuan, are you really proceeding without a moment's hesitation? My brother's body is not even cold, yet you can't wait to push your master onto the throne?”
Haiyuan shrugged and replied.
“Then what should we do? Kneel on this dam and wail for three days and three nights? The Goulou Gang has already run out of tears. We've been trapped here for over a decade. Besides, who brought us to this dead end? Your mother, wasn't it?”
In response to Haiyuan's accusatory words, Hela sneered.
“Finally, you speak what's on your mind. You've finally spat it out. My mother brought you to this dead end, and she paid for it with her life. But who gave you life? Especially you and Haimon. If it weren't for my mother, would you even be alive today? It's no surprise that you're unmoved by my mother's and my brother's deaths. But don't you dare call yourself a member of the Goulou Gang ever again. It's a disgrace, a disgrace! Ptooey!”
Haiyuan also spoke coldly.
“Uncle Jack Dang, shouldn't we continue with today's election? Aren't we leaving today? The best time to depart is about to pass.”
Jack Dang held Hela tightly and said.
“Child, I understand how you feel. I was utterly shocked as well. I'm old, so I no longer fear death. But even if I die, I have a duty to lead the Goulou Gang out of here. Do you understand?”
“I know, I know all too well. So let me go. I'll be buried at sea with my brother, laid to rest in the belly of a sea monster.”
Jack sighed and said to Hela.
“I won't let go. I've lost Loki, and I've lost Angela. I can't lose you too. Continue the election. Cast your votes.”
At Jack Dang's command, the voting began. It wasn't a typical vote where one wrote down a name. The pirates each held a stone in their hand and simply had to toss it in front of the person they wanted to elect. They walked silently across the dam, placing their stones one by one in front of Douglas Seyrun.
“Hahahaha!”
But then, a loud laugh suddenly echoed from the sea. It was unmistakably Shen Lang's voice.
Startled, they turned their heads and witnessed a truly hair-raising scene. Shen Lang wasn't dead!
Just as he had jumped, and with still a dozen meters to go before hitting the water, countless sea monsters had swarmed and buried him. It was a very familiar sight to the Goulou Gang pirates. Every time someone was buried by the sea monsters, they would be devoured so cleanly that not even a single finger remained, making it impossible to find an intact corpse.
But now, not only was Shen Lang not dead, he was presenting an even more terrifying scene. Countless sea monsters were frantically moving away from him, as if they had seen a ghost. The movement of the sea monsters caused the entire surface of the sea to churn once again. The innumerable sea monsters began to recede like the tide. Hundreds of thousands of sea monsters simultaneously avoided him. An empty circle with a radius of a thousand meters formed around Shen Lang.
‘W-what in the world is happening? Why aren't those sea monsters killing or eating Shen Lang? Why are they afraid of him?’
Shen Lang was floating on the surface, wearing a special gliding suit. To execute this plan, he had to be wearing the gliding suit. If he jumped from a hundred-meter height without it, even if landing on water instead of solid ground, he would surely die. A delicate body like Shen Lang's would be shattered instantly, so he had to wear the gliding suit to slowly descend. However, it turned out he had overthought it. He was surrounded by countless sea monsters even before he hit the water.
“Come on, come on. Come and eat me. My dear sea monster sisters, bite me, tear me apart!”
Shen Lang not only beckoned to the countless sea monsters but also began to swim toward them.
And then, another terrifying scene unfolded. Wherever he swam, the sea monsters there retreated like a receding tide, truly as if they had seen a ghost, not daring to approach within several hundred meters of him.
“Come on, let's play together.”
When Shen Lang swam toward a certain group of sea monsters, the tens of thousands of monsters there fled from him in unison. It was an astonishing sight.
Shen Lang turned back and shrugged at everyone on the dam.
“Did you all see that? I, Shen Lang, am a sea god, which is why the countless sea monsters revere me like a deity. Only I can save the Goulou Gang! Only I can be the chieftain of the Goulou Gang.”
At that moment, Hela shouted, shedding tears of joy.
“Shen Lang, you damn bastard! I'm going to kill you!”
Of course, since she was shouting in the Eastern tongue, her accent was a bit strange.
“Someone, hurry up and pull me out.”
When Shen Lang shouted, Jack released his grip, and the freed Hela immediately jumped, entering the water with the graceful form of a mermaid. Falling from that height would normally kill a person upon impact with the water's surface, but that didn't happen to Hela. However, she had to jump a short distance away from Shen Lang's position. Otherwise, there could have been the tragedy of her brother being killed by her jump.
After entering the water, Hela swam toward Shen Lang and immediately hugged him tightly.
“You scoundrel. I thought I was about to lose you. Did you always act like such a hooligan in the Eastern world?”
Hela immediately carried Shen Lang on her back, swam to the base of the dam, and using both her hands and feet, scrambled up the dam like an arrow. It was truly incredible. The hundred-meter-high dam was like a sheer cliff, impossible to climb, yet she ascended it with such ease.
* * *
Back on the dam, the entire situation had changed. The pirates looked at Shen Lang with eyes full of mystery and awe. They had fought the sea monsters of the cursed waters for over a decade, suffering tens of thousands of casualties. It was a good thing the sea monsters didn't dare to come onto land; otherwise, the Goulou Gang legion would have been annihilated long ago. They were incredibly hostile toward the sea monsters, but deep down, they also felt a sense of despair. The number of sea monsters was so great that annihilating them was an impossible task. But now, Shen Lang had fallen among hundreds of thousands of sea monsters and emerged unscathed. Not only that, but the monsters feared him as if he were a god.
Shen Lang walked over to Douglas Seyrun and spoke slowly.
“Your Highness Douglas, you are truly remarkable. Creating a screen with a mirage at sea to make countless sea monsters stare at it every day. But I am on a different level. Wherever I go, all the sea monsters vanish without a trace. Because I am the incarnation of the sea god. So, members of the Goulou Gang, if you don't vote for me, how long will you wait to leave this place? I am your savior, and I am your lord.”
* * *
Why did the sea monsters avoid Shen Lang as if they'd seen a ghost? Was it because Shen Lang was the incarnation of the sea god? Of course not. It was, as expected, because of his blood. His blood wasn't remarkable; it was just too toxic. As mentioned time and again, even the formidable ancient parasites of Mount Budao died upon entering his bloodstream, and the hundreds of thousands of Hellfire Parasites from the Incineration Sect injected a mysterious substance into Shen Lang's blood, but it produced no reaction, and instead, they all perished.
It was the same with these sea monsters. Before they could tear him apart, Shen Lang had cut his own blood vessel, causing crimson blood to spurt out. As a result, all the sea monsters fled. They were utterly terrified of Shen Lang's blood.
Does everyone remember when Mulan's ship entered the Devil's Great Triangle? At that time, countless sea monsters rushed the great ship, and one sea monster tried to swallow Shen Ye. But after that sea monster cut Shen Ye's tender skin, it immediately stopped and no longer tried to put him in its mouth. This was because Shen Ye had inherited Shen Lang's strange bloodline. Shen Lang's bloodline wasn't so much divine as it was so toxic that the sea monsters couldn't bear to touch it.
In fact, Shen Lang had only discovered this yesterday. To protect Shen Lang, Hela had held him and rushed madly across the sea, emitting a powerful fighting aura. But against so many sea monsters, how could Shen Lang not get hurt at all? Before the sea monsters could even touch Shen Lang, they smelled the strange scent coming from his body and halted their attacks. Hela hadn't noticed, but Shen Lang had witnessed it. This proved his suspicion was correct—the suspicion that his blood was like a curse to the sea monsters. That was why Shen Lang had just put on that grand performance, acting as if he were possessed by a sea god.
Haiyuan, inwardly shocked, stared intently at Shen Lang for a long moment before shouting loudly.
“To escape this predicament and leave this place, just scaring the sea monsters isn't enough. His Highness Douglas has already dealt with the troublesome sea monsters. The important thing is how to break the curse so our fleet can leave this place. As long as the curse remains, no matter how many times we set sail, we will still return to our starting point and never be able to leave these cursed waters.”
What Haiyuan said pointed out the most crucial issue. To truly save the Goulou Gang's fleet, they had to be able to leave these cursed waters.