Chapter 173: I’ve Turned Good
Translator: Ninetales Editor: Fish_Creek
Everyone on the ship was overwhelmed. That coxswain was a divine arts practitioner with extraordinary abilities, but as he had to control the direction of the ship, he couldn't care for everyone.
Three Wonders Castle had three wonders, the first being bugs, the second being medicine and the third was beautiful women. Consort Che in the royal palace was an outstanding beauty from Three Wonders Castle. Three Wonders Castle was proficient in their medical expertise, having many famous physicians that were good at using venomous insects to treat illness.
Meanwhile, the first wonder among the three was insect.
The insect army of Three Wonders Castle was extremely terrifying. The people that were good at healing were also good at poisoning. The venomous insects of Three Wonders Castle were also a unique skill. After they were annexed by the imperial court, the emperor had ordered Three Wonders Castle to form an insect army and most of the soldiers in the army were experts in controlling insects.
Now that Three Wonders Castle had rebelled, it was evident that the insect army had already rebelled and this battle was between the imperial army and the insect army of Three Wonders Castle.
They had wandered carelessly into the battlefield and came under attack from Three Wonders Castle's insect army. Things were not going to end peacefully.
"It's impossible to guard against this kind of insects! Junior Protector Sword can't deal with so many insects!"
Qin Mu's scalp turned numb as countless of golden insects flew towards him. He immediately split his focus into two and brandished his Junior Protector Sword at one soldier while bursting forth his vital qi in his body. Countless of fine vital qi threads surged out from his hand to form something like a blazing red sun.
His vital qi threads were formed from incomparably fine vital qi swords which transformed into a setting sun in this instant, floating in the air with a buzz.
Yuyuan Imperial Studies, Sunset Sword Skill.
That fireball spun rapidly and countless of sword lights instantly burst forth from this setting sun. Each and every sword stabbed the bodies of the small golden insects and in an instant, insects corpses filled the ground around Qin Mu.
At the same time, his Junior Protector penetrated through the chest of a soldier in a flash before returned with a stab to finish off the soldier.
"Superb sword skill!"
That coxswain praised and let his assistant control the ship. He immediately made a move and took out a fire bottle gourd. After he opened the bottle gourd, a piece of fire cloud flew out from the bottle gourd and transformed into a nine-head fire phoenix which opened its nine mouths to spew out raging inferno that scorched countless of bugs to death.
That nine-head fire phoenix spread its wings and shrouded the ship while spewing out trails of flames. Before the soldiers of Three Wonders Castle could even get close, they were burned into charcoal.
"This coxswain has a very deep cultivation which is not inferior to Little General Qin Feiyue!"
Qin Mu's heart moved slightly. The coxswain was a middle-aged man with a burly body. However, this flame divine art that he had unleashed was indeed extraordinary. He was probably a divine arts practitioner of Seven Stars Realm.
Right at this moment, the terrifying golden insects swarmed over like waves. A woman wearing a military uniform stood among them. With a point of her finger, the swarm of insects surged forth towards the ship.
"The second wonder of Three Wonders Castle, the girls sure are pretty."
That coxswain gave a chuckle and the nine-head fire phoenix came back into the fire bottle gourd with a whoosh. The bottle gourd grew larger and larger, turning into a huge object that was about three to five humans tall. With the mouth of the bottle gourd facing downwards, a terrifying suction came from it and sucked in the swarm of insects which were surging over.
That coxswain held mudras with both of his hands and slapped dozens of mudras one after another on the fire bottle gourd. All kinds of elegant runes instantly appeared in the air around the huge fire bottle gourd one after another before vanishing gradually.
The swarm of insects was instantly turned into ashes in the bottle gourd.
Qin Mu's eyes lighted up. Cultivation was to study and this coxswain seemed to have quite an in-depth knowledge regarding runes and mudra.
That female general of Three Wonders Castle was shocked and the swarm of insects under her feet instantly stopped. Standing in the air, she blinked her beautiful eyes and said, "You are… Fire Bandit Fan Yunxiao? When have you turned good and become a coxswain?"
The expression on most of the merchants on ship changed and even those few officials changed their expression hugely. They all manipulated swords using qi to point them at the coxswain.
That coxswain spat twice, "What do you mean 'turned good'?"
The female general of Three Wonders Castle sneered, "I've heard you were a relinquished disciple of Dao Sect. Dao Sect disliked you having improper intentions and chased you out from Dao Sect, thus you became a bandit to plunder merchants everywhere. You have been wanted by the imperial court for quite a while. Now that you have become a coxswain, haven't you turned good?"
That Coxswain Fan Yunxiao laughed, "I only work as a bandit during times of peace to rob people of their valuables, how can I be a bandit in these times of unrest? During times of unrest, more money comes from being a coxswain than robbing people. General, please make life easy for me?"
The female general snorted coldly and looked around. The insect army of Three Wonders Castle was still fighting and it wasn't good for her to engage in a fight with this bandit now.
Even though Fan Yunxiao was a relinquished disciple of Dao Sect, he had extremely high abilities. Even the imperial court could not catch him in so many years, so she might not be his opponent. Her insect cloud swept backward at once and she floated away.
Fan Yunxiao let out a sigh of relief and ordered his assistant to drive the ship away.
The merchants on the ship looked at this burly man with eyes filled with terror. Fan Yunxiao immediately said, "Relax everyone, I've turned good and won't rob during times of unrest. The officials can also be at ease, I've turned good, this ship is even recorded in the capital city!"
An official sneered, "Could this ship of Coxswain Fan be the infamous Cloud Chasing Pirate Ship among the bandits?"
"Please excuse my humble ship. Cloud Chasing Pirate Ship has also changed its name to Cloud Chasing Passenger Ship. When the world is peaceful again, we'll then go back to rob."
Fan Yunxiao went to the merchant who had been eaten until only his skin was left and frowned, "You have boarded my ship and I should have protected you with everything I could, yet you still met with trouble, I can't take your ship fare." After he said this, he took out a coin pouch and handed it to the merchant's associate.
Everyone on the ship was trembling with fear and felt that they had just escaped from a pack of wolves only to enter the tiger's den. This Fen Yunxiao had created trouble for merchant ships for many years, plundering people everywhere. Now that they were on his ship, everything pointed to disaster.
"I've turned good!"
Fan Yunxiao bowed with his hands held in front, "I've really turned good! Don't worry, I'll definitely send you guys to the capital city."
Everyone still had a face of terror.
Fan Yunxiao was helpless and looked at Qin Mu while smiling, "Little brother's sword skill ain't half bad, you're from Yuyuan Family?"
Qin Mu shook his head and replied, "Imperial College's Qin Mu. Senior Brother Fan has great knowledge which I admire."
Fan Yunxiao's eyes lighted up and smiled, "This is the first time someone praised my knowledge. Your judgment ain't bad. What's funny is that everyone is so caught up in cultivating and don't study. What they don't know is, cultivation is studying. Dao Sect's ultimate arts were all derived from studying. Without knowledge, you can't even learn shit."
Qin Mu had the same sentiments. If one wanted to learn the teleportation divine art, an extremely high knowledge was also needed. Dao Sword of Dao Sect also required knowledge and just now Fan Yunxiao's mudra also contained transformation of runes which couldn't be achieved without profound knowledge.
"If you didn't go Imperial College and went Dao Sect instead, Dao Master that old man would definitely like you very much."
Fan Yunxiao recalled the past and said dimly, "I don't even know which eye of that old man saw me having improper intentions, I was clearly very well-behaved in Dao Sect."
Qin Mu gave a cough and asked, "Did Senior Brother Fan became a bandit after you got chased out?"
Fan Yunxiao clapped heavily and exclaimed, "The old man is still the wiser one! He had seen that I would become a bandit in the future, therefore, he had chased me out to let me become a bandit! However, I was still very well-behaved in Dao Sect, how did he see it…"
Qin Mu was speechless. He suddenly remembered something and asked, "Senior Brother Fan, how's your algebra?"
Fan Yunxiao became disappointed and said, "I was originally very good at it but after being a bandit for all these years, I have returned them all to Dao Master. The Computational Canon of Mysterious Woman and Computational Canon of Supreme Mystery in Dao Sect are all very profound and not easy to learn. If one could learn all of them, they could learn Fourteen Writings of Dao Sect. I had originally cultivated it…"
Suddenly a head popped out under the hold of the ship and shouted, "Robber baron, our furnace seems to be faulty. Just now, the woman from Three Wonders Castle stuffed a few insects into our pill furnace when we were unprepared and they gnawed the pill furnace!"
"How many times have I told you, stop calling me robber baron, I've turned good!"
Fan Yunxiao scratched his head and looked around, "Everyone, who knows how to forge tools and repair the pill furnace?"
At this moment, a dull boom sounded from the hold of the ship. A few apothecaries climbed out from the hold of the ship and said with black faces, "The pill furnace has exploded!"
Fan Yunxiao's expression changed hugely and cursed, "Damned woman, sneaking such a ruthless attack. Let's abandon the ship, everyone, jump down together!"
Qin Mu came forward and said, "I know how to forge tools and also learned the path of medicine. Let me have a look first."
Fan Yunxiao was skeptical and followed him to the hold of the ship. The hold of the ship was already in flames and a few fierce-looking bandits were extinguishing the fire, minimizing the intensity of the fire. However, without the pill furnace providing medicinal energy to the ship, the speed had already started to slow down and the ship could fall off from the sky anytime.
Qin Mu went forward and looked at the shattered pill furnace. This kind of furnace was the standardized pill furnace and was different from ordinary pill furnace. There was a shipyard in Eternal Peace Empire where countless of ironworkers worked day and night to forge pill furnaces which could be used on the ship, providing motive power to the ship.
This kind of pill furnace burned spirit stones and dozens of herbs, transforming the medicinal energy contained in the spirit stones and herbs into surging energy which was transported to the bronze beasts located at the aft of the ship. The energy was then turned into raging flames which spewed out from the mouth of the bronze beasts, allowing the ship to rise.
The structure of the pill furnace was extremely complicated and was a unique treasure that the skilled blacksmith of Imperial College had created. Other than refining pills, there was also a complicated digestive system in the furnace which was similar to a human body, turning the medicinal energy into energy.
When these pill furnaces were spoilt normally, they could only find the blacksmith of the shipyard in Eternal Peace Empire to repair them or to change new ones.
"Can it be repaired?" Fan Yunxiao asked anxiously.
Qin Mu checked the structure of the pill furnace and had a rough understanding of it, "I had learned to smith in the past for a few years. I can forge a new one in an incense stick of time. How long can this ship last?"
"If we use our magic power to sustain it, we can still last for an incense stick of time."
Qin Mu immediately started to reforge the pill furnace. With Vermillion Bird Vital Qi in one hand and with Black Tortoise Vital Qi in the other, he swept up countless fragments of the pill furnace and smelted them into molten iron. Using Black Tortoise Vital Qi in the other hand, he quickly cooled the iron down and constructed the components of the pill furnace rapidly.
Everyone was dazzled by the sight and the ship suddenly jerked and began to descend. Fan Yunxiao couldn't care about looking at how Qin Mu forged the pill furnace and hurriedly rushed out of the hold to activate his fire bottle gourd, transforming it into a nine-headed phoenix to lift up the ship.
Even though he was a strong practitioner of Seven Stars Realm and had dense magic power, it was still extremely tough for him to carry the ship to fly.
As the time ticked by, Fan Yunxiao's face grew red as the pressure on him increased. It was harder and harder for him to persevere and everyone on the ship was extremely terrified. If Fan Yunxiao couldn't persevere on, this ship would probably fall from a height of ten thousand feet, breaking them into pieces.
Fan Yunxiao had already reached his limit and couldn't persevere any longer. Suddenly, the two bronze beasts at the aft of the ship spewed fire from their mouths and the flames grew exponentially. The ship trembled violently and its speed increased as it flew forward.
Fan Yunxiao let out a sigh of relief and took his nine-headed phoenix back. However, he saw the speed of the ship becoming faster and faster as everything went by in a blur. The speed of the ship was three to five times faster than before!
He was bewildered and when he saw Qin Mu walking out from the hold of the ship, he asked immediately, "Brother Qin, exactly what furnace have you forged?"
Qin Mu said, "I have never seen the blueprints of the pill furnace so I could only forge it according to my understanding. There might be some differences from the structure of the original pill furnace. I have only learned to smith for a few years…"
Before Fan Yunxiao could even speak, another loud boom suddenly sounded out as the ship broke through the air at a speed that was even faster than sound!
"Brother Qin Mu, whom did you learn the technique of smithing from?"
Fan Yunxiao was surprised and delighted, "From now on, who will be able to catch me when I go robbing?"
Qin Mu now realized why Dao Master of Dao Sect said he had improper intentions.