LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 8 Jiaolong Island
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After sailing at sea for over thirty days, Lu Qingshan left his cabin for the first time.
With some rare leisure time, Lu Qingshan remembered the mysterious West Mouse King who had been secretive during this period.
She was not in her room early in the morning, and nine times out of ten, she had run off to find Zang Xiaojian again—it was time to see what she had been up to lately.
Lu Qingshan stopped a passing crew member and asked, "Is there a girl about fifteen or sixteen on the ship?"
"You mean Miss Zang?" the sailor blurted out without much thought, evidently leaving a deep impression of Zang Xiaojian.
"Do you know where she comes from?"
The sailor shook his head, "All I know is that she, like you, paid a hefty price to take this ship to the Poseidon Archipelago."
He didn't learn much, but that was normal. Lu Qingshan got the location of Zang Xiaojian's cabin, thanked the sailor, and went looking for it.
"...Thunder faintly rumbling, fog all around. Under the sun, opposing the sky..." As soon as he arrived at the door of the cabin, Lu Qingshan faintly heard the West Mouse King muttering inside.
???
Lu Qingshan knocked on the door.
"Come in," came the crisp voice of Zang Xiaojian.
Pushing open the door, Lu Qingshan was met with an extremely odd scene.
The West Mouse King, with its paws holding a book larger than its body, looked like an absent-minded scholar, shaking his head and continuously reading something.
Lu Qingshan glanced at it, and the cover of the book read "Lisao Consonance" in bold letters.
"What are you doing..." Lu Qingshan rubbed his forehead, unable to comprehend the West Mouse King's behavior.
"The West Mouse King likes to read, but doesn't recognize the characters of the Human Race, so seeing its eagerness to learn, I thought I'd teach it," Zang Xiaojian explained on behalf of the West Mouse King, her spirits high and tone cheerful. "This was the book my dad used when he was teaching me to read. I brought it along, and believe it or not, it's learning quite fast.
It's only been a little while, and it's already got to phonetics and prosody."
Praised by Zang Xiaojian, the West Mouse King immediately set down the book it was holding, hands on hips and declared proudly, "The mere characters of the Human Race are nothing to this lord."
Lu Qingshan tentatively guessed why the West Mouse King had suddenly become studious but decided not to point it out directly and said to the West Mouse King, "Alright, then continue your studies."
He then turned to Zang Xiaojian and said, "I appreciate the trouble you're taking."
Zang Xiaojian waved her hand at Lu Qingshan dismissively, indicating it was no bother, and turned her head to watch the West Mouse King that had resumed its shaking and swaying study session.
She found it amusing!
...
Three days later, at the hottest part of the day, the vast silhouette of Jiaolong Island appeared on the horizon within everyone's view.
Jiaolong Island, the main island of the Poseidon Archipelago, was as large as a mid-sized prefecture in Great Xia. Its contour resembled that of an imposing, winding mountain ridge; it was extremely long, with its mid and head parts being quite wide. But as one traveled eastward, it became increasingly narrow, especially toward the tail end of the island, where it was particularly cramped.
The journey thus far had been very calm; they hadn't encountered demon beasts, pirates, or storms.
This was not surprising; after all, the fleet had been sailing this route for over a decade and had always been safe. There was no reason for trouble to start just because Lu Qingshan was aboard.
If anything was to be considered unusual, it was the encounter with the young girl Zang Xiaojian, who seemed to have an extraordinary background, and under her guidance, successfully performed a Refining Ritual for the Water Walking Sword Armor.
Mountains seem close when viewed from a distance. Jiaolong Island, seemingly near, required the fleet to sail for nearly another hour before they entered the broad and straight waterway of Jiaolong Island.
After traveling about two or three miles further, the docks of Jiaolong Island, stretching a kilometer long, came into view.
Once the fleet docked at the pier, three Qi Refining Cultivators clad in green gowns with Jiaolong claw prints approached them.
The fleet's captain immediately went up to them with a big smile on his face. He exchanged words with the three cultivators, who occasionally swept their glances back and forth over the fleet.
After some muttering, the captain slipped a small bag of silver taels to them, and the three green-gowned cultivators finally departed.
This was probably what was referred to as customs duty in ancient times.
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Lu Qingshan pondered inwardly.
However, Great Xia's influence didn't extend to the islands of the South Sea, and Jiaolong Island wasn't under Great Xia's jurisdiction, so who was the power responsible for collecting tariffs?
With that thought, Lu Qingshan began to inquire with a dark-skinned, stout sailor standing beside him.
"On Jiaolong Island, aside from the Sea God Sect, who else has the strength to monopolize Jiaolong Port, this gold mine?" The stout sailor glanced at the dock to make sure the three cultivators in blue robes had gone far away, then spit a mouthful of saliva contemptuously, "These beasts that betray their own kind to please demon beasts, of all the islands in the South Sea, their tariffs are the highest.
I don't know why the boss is so set on doing business here."
"Betray their own kind?" Lu Qingshan frowned.
The stout sailor hurriedly made a silencing gesture to Lu Qingshan, "I only dare to say this much here. Young master must remember, these words cannot be carelessly spoken on the island.
On Jiaolong Island, the Sea God Sect covers the sky with one hand. If someone with intentions overhears this, young master, you may lose a layer of skin at least, and if your luck is poor, you might not keep your life!"
Seeing the stout sailor's cautious demeanor, Lu Qingshan also tactfully refrained from asking more questions.
After all, as long as he set foot on the island, he would sooner or later learn this information.
After the ship's captain had managed the relations, everyone began to disembark and unload the goods.
Lu Qingshan walked leisurely away from the merchant ship, and at the same time, was calculating something in his mind.
...
To acquire Three-feet Edge, he must find the incognito Family Head of the Mo Family.
This was a straightforward causality.
Lu Qingshan hadn't lied to the King Rat; he truly didn't know where the Mo Family's Family Head might be, and even before arriving at Bibo City, he was oblivious to the Heaven Rank Sword Artifact named Three-feet Edge.
But to say it was like looking for a needle in a haystack wasn't entirely true either.
He did have a piece of information related to the Mo Family's Family Head.
It was during the game's closed beta test, while reviewing the update logs, he briefly came across an interesting entry in the historical narrative records:
In the first year of Immortal Martial, in the third month, on Jiaolong Island of the South Sea, the Mo Family's Family Head, who should have perished on Dragon Spring Island twenty years earlier, reappeared. Wielding a Heaven Rank Sword Artifact, he fought against the Jiaolong Demon King, died on the island, and with his death, the Heaven Rank Sword Artifact disappeared, never to be seen again.
Immortal Martial had turned into Tianyuan, and Lu Qingshan couldn't be certain whether the Mo Family's Family Head would appear on Jiaolong Island as scheduled in Tianyuan's first year in March.
He guessed that the probability was high that the Family Head would still appear, perhaps the timing might change by a few days, earlier or later?
However, he didn't plan to just wait for the Mo Family's Family Head to show up.
Because at the time of his appearance, it would be an earth-shattering struggle. In that situation, the chances of acquiring Three-feet Edge were slim.
His plan was to find the reclusive Mo Family's Family Head before the intense battle with the Jiaolong Demon King.
Of course, even if he found the Mo Family's Family Head, acquiring Three-feet Edge would still be extremely difficult.
But it was definitely more practical than waiting for the Mo Family's Family Head to appear.
Moreover, in Lu Qingshan's view, how to obtain Three-feet Edge from the Mo Family's Family Head was a matter to consider after finding him.
...
Lu Qingshan had checked the nautical charts; the Poseidon Archipelago was the closest cluster of islands to Dragon Spring Island, where the Mo Family was situated.
Following the destruction of Dragon Spring Island, the Mo Family's Family Head, who had fortunately escaped, would have first stopped at the Poseidon Archipelago.
Furthermore, people all have a sense of attachment to their homeland. Living in seclusion on the Poseidon Archipelago, which was nearest to Dragon Spring Island, was likely for the Mo Family's Family Head.
Additionally, three months later, the Mo Family's Family Head would appear on Jiaolong Island to fight against the Jiaolong Demon King.
Taking these two points together, at this moment in time, the likelihood of the Mo Family's Family Head being on the Poseidon Archipelago was not a hundred percent but at least seventy to eighty percent.
So, the next step was to figure out how to find traces of the Mo Family's Family Head on the Poseidon Archipelago.