Sudden gusts of wind swept in from who knew where, dragging roiling dark clouds across the heavens.
In the blink of an eye, the rainstorm struck.
It could no longer be called pouring buckets; it was more like washbasins—the Heavens were tipping colossal tubs over the earth, pouring down without end.
Once the downpour started, the island seemed cut off from the rest of the world, with visibility over the water falling under fifteen zhang.
Yue Pinghe had drunk some wine and dozed off. Waking abruptly around the midnight hour, he suddenly remembered something. "By the way, are Min Tianxi and his men back yet?"
His subordinates asked around, and one soon returned to report: "I heard they returned to their dock two hours ago. The brothers patrolling the sea spotted their vessels heading back. Both ships returned, their lanterns shining brightly."
Yue Pinghe lashed out with a kick. "You had news and didn't bother reporting it to me?!"
Clutching his leg, the man fell to one knee in pain. "Y-You were asleep, Chief! I intended to report it tomorrow morning... It-It wasn't a major matter either."
"Whether it's a major matter or not—do you get to decide that?" Yue Pinghe rubbed his eyes, thought for a moment, and realized it really was not that big of a deal. So he kicked him once more anyway. "Did they lose any men? Did that fellow He come back too?"
"They were all chatting and laughing, looking completely relaxed," the man replied with a bitter face. "A youth was standing at the prow. He looked not quite twenty, but Channel Chief Huang, Channel Chief Min, and a few fierce-looking bruisers were all standing behind him. That... that should be the He fellow."
The news that the Yangshan Archipelago had a new master had recently spread throughout Blade Harbor. At first, everyone had rolled their eyes and treated it as a joke, but now they had ripped the label of "sucker" off the new island lord and replaced it with "enigmatic and unfathomable."
For fresh rumors had spread far and wide, claiming that the two bands of pirates who held sway across the Yangshan Archipelago had actually submitted to this new island lord!
Anyone who first heard the rumor would say: Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
How could a scourge of piracy that even the authorities could not resolve be so easily quelled by a young outsider?
It made no sense.
Even if the pirate delivering the news did not recognize He Lingchuan, judging by his bearing and the way the two pirate chiefs deferred to him, he could guess that was He Lingchuan, the legendary new island lord.
"Could the yin hui truly do nothing against him?" There were numerous rumors about this new island lord, the most widespread being that he could drive away the fiend energy. But no matter how many times he heard such news, Yue Pinghe felt it had to be exaggerated.
He was no ignorant peasant. Could a young man so easily deal with something that even the ancient immortals refused to touch?
Yet it was the yin hui's attitude toward He Lingchuan that perplexed him most of all.
"I heard they killed many yin hui when they put to sea last time," the subordinate offered. "Perhaps that cowed the rest of them?"
"Deep within Longji Island lurks a massive monstrosity that has survived since antiquity. That is not something an ordinary person... no, not something any human can handle." Yue Pinghe frowned, mulling it over for a long while. "What on earth did that He fellow go to Longji Island to do? Could it be he didn't provoke it?"
If they had provoked the king of the yin hui, how could the crews of both ships have returned in one piece?
"Investigate further!"
"Yes, Chief." The trusted subordinate acknowledged the order, preparing to send men out to gather more information first thing tomorrow morning.
Yue Pinghe yawned. The moment he leaned back onto his couch, drowsiness washed over him again.
Raindrops pattered down, and slightly tipsy from wine, it was prime time for sleep.
Before drifting off, his last thought was:
That fellow He truly seems to possess some real skill. Later, when Min Tianxi comes to negotiate on his behalf, should I adjust my strategy and lower my terms a bit?
If he did not know how to suit his demands to the person before him, he never would have climbed to this position.
...
Near dawn, the wind and rain began to subside.
Yue Pinghe dreamed that he had led his men to plunder a great ship laden with countless golden pearls, gems, and beauties. He was just debating which armlet to wear—the gold inlaid with jade or the silver chased with rubies—when a deafening roar suddenly shattered his slumber:
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
Startled, Yue Pinghe was about to shove the treasure chest behind his bed when his arm was violently shaken without warning.
"Chief, wake up!"
He bolted upright in fright, only to realize that raiding ships and seizing plunder was nothing but a dream—someone storming his stronghold was the reality!
Yue Pinghe grabbed his subordinate by the lapels. "Get a grip! Who is attacking?"
"The First and Second Channels! Under cover of the rain, they landed on the western side of the island! Our brothers didn't notice..."
"Useless trash!" Yue Pinghe hurriedly threw on his armor and seized the long saber by his pillow. "How far have they pushed?"
"The outer gate of the stronghold is lost! The ones spearheading their charge are terrifyingly fierce, and they have powerful demons aiding them..."
"Order everyone to fall back to the inner gate and hold the line!" Yue Pinghe's heart tightened. "What kind of demons?"
"A spider the size of a house!"
Yue Pinghe cursed viciously. "That bastard He!"
The news of how Min Tianxi had been subjugated by He Lingchuan days earlier had reached his ears long ago. The man named He possessed a powerful helper: a colossal spider demon.
Word had it that it could take on over a dozen giant hui single-handedly without yielding an inch.
Why was He Lingchuan suddenly launching an assault on his stronghold? Yue Pinghe was both shocked and enraged. Hadn't it been agreed that Min Tianxi was coming to negotiate?
Just as he rushed outside, another pirate, face drenched in blood, burst in to report:
"Chief, the inner gate has been breached!"
Disaster. The sturdiest outer gate and the most heavily fortified inner gate had both fallen in such a short span of time? Yue Pinghe screamed inwardly that things were dire. Forcing himself to steady his mind, he shouted, "To Centipede Cave! Everyone, retreat to Centipede Cave and board the ships!"
The island took its name from this very Centipede Cave. Opening directly to the sea, the cavern served as a natural, concealed harbor dock. Even a cunning hare kept three burrows; the Third Channel pirates had secretly stashed several vessels there, large and small, in case they ever needed to make a quick escape.
When Yue Pinghe burst out with a cohort of trusted men, he saw his own forces retreating in disarray while arrows rained down from the opposite side, forcing his men to scramble for cover in all directions.
The sturdy inner stronghold gate had been smashed open by some unknown force; one of the gate leaves had been torn clean off and now lay trampled underfoot.
The enemies charging at the forefront were indeed ruthless to a man. Yue Pinghe recognized those two scoundrels, Min Tianxi and Huang Zhao, at a single glance.
Min Tianxi in particular—that wretch always preferred to hang back during raids and fights, claiming that a commander does not lightly take the field. Yet here he was, charging right in the very front rank!
Was he trying to curry favor with his new master?
Yue Pinghe gritted his teeth with bitter hatred.
There were indeed great demons among the enemy ranks—not just one, but two!
The giant spider his subordinate reported was among them, but the other was a ghost-faced giant ape standing a zhang tall!
Covered in an armor of bone impervious to swords and spears, arrows bounced off it as though striking steel plates. Grabbing the broken gate from the ground to use as a weapon, it smashed several men flat with thunderous crashes.
Yue Pinghe even saw it snatch a pirate up at random and toss him into its maw. The man's shriek was cut short in an instant, and blood splattered from the ghost ape's jaws—looking for all the world as if Yue Pinghe had just bitten into a plump, juicy tomato.
This gruesome spectacle of devouring a living human terrified many of the Third Channel pirates. No one wanted to die so... gruesomely.
Fortunately, Yue Pinghe's thunderous shouts upon arriving acted as a shot of adrenaline. The rout of his forces slowed. There was no lack of hardened fighters among them, and they now answered his commands, turning back to parry the enemy's assault.
Amid the chaos of battle, Yue Pinghe suddenly locked eyes with a young man.
Tall and slender, the youth possessed an eagle's gaze and a wolf's alertness. With casual gestures, he issued a succession of commands, dictating the tempo of the assault with absolute ease.
A stray arrow shot from who knew where, aiming straight for his face. The youth did not even bat an eye; the burly man at his side casually raised a bronze staff and knocked the arrow aside.
Yue Pinghe had never seen He Lingchuan before, but at first glance he knew without a doubt that this was the new master of the Yangshan Archipelago, the architect of tonight's assault on Centipede Island!
"Fall back!" he barked, glaring venomously at He Lingchuan. "Everyone to Centipede Cave! Keep your footing and fight in tight formation!"
Hearing his order, the Third Channel pirates indeed fought as they retreated.
With two swings of his staff, Qiu Hu shattered the skull of a ferocious pirate. He remarked to He Lingchuan, "Their formation didn't break during the retreat. These pirates aren't much worse than the Blackwater City troops."
He Lingchuan gave a rueful smile. Had the Yuan Kingdom's Blackwater City troops become a unit of measurement?
They were provincial troops, after all; no matter how shoddy they might be, they should still be better than common pirates.
Even so, the Third Channel pirates advanced and retreated in good order, mounting organized offenses and defenses. Faced with the joint onslaught of the First and Second Channels, their performance was remarkably commendable once past their initial panic.
Such caliber reminded him of the ruthless bandits who had once occupied Xianling Village and clashed fiercely with He Chunhua's army.
By contrast, the coordination between the First and Second Channels on his own side was clumsy. Combined with fighting on unfamiliar ground, they failed to make full use of their numerical superiority.
Fortunately, he had already surveyed this issue beforehand. Both Huang Zhao and Min Tianxi had confessed that while the two pirate channels had cooperated many times in the past, it had always been to intercept and plunder merchant ships. Their opponents had mostly been guards hired by merchant caravans rather than well-trained regular soldiers.
In other words, they were seasoned at looting together, but had little precedent for formal pitched battles.
He Lingchuan did not mind much. A lack of experience could always be remedied through drill.
He directed the battle without the slightest rush, unbothered by the Third Channel falling back toward Centipede Cave.
The more flaws exposed in combat, the easier they would be to correct later. Furthermore, these hundreds of pirate troops had not been easily won; they would form his core foundation for a long time to come, and he could ill afford to see too many of them injured.
Tonight, when the driving rain gave way to easing winds, He Lingchuan had immediately changed his mind and decided against returning to Blade Harbor.
After heavy rain, thick mist blanketed the sea and visibility dropped under ten zhang. Was that not the perfect moment for a surprise attack?
Thus, he ordered Min and Huang to assemble their forces and launch a dawn raid on Centipede Island.
The attackers had doused their ship lanterns beforehand, creeping up on Centipede Island under the cover of the dense fog. By the time the island sentries noticed anything amiss, the invaders had already made landfall and breached the stronghold gates at the very first moment!
Had that gate held, He Lingchuan's casualties would undoubtedly have mounted.
Even with both gates shattered, Yue Pinghe's stronghold was still rigged with numerous contraptions and traps. Triggered in rapid succession, they inflicted significant injuries on many of Min and Huang's men.
As the Third Channel pirates fought while falling back, two sorcerers among them began chanting incantations. Then, raising their staffs, they struck the stone walls beside the path in unison.
The terrain here was superb: overhead, two massive boulders met, forming a triangular archway with the ground, through which the Third Channel pirates fled.
In front of the boulders stood several man-made stone walls. In ordinary times, their purpose was unclear, seeming like a superfluous addition. But now, with that rap of the staffs, the walls shuddered and suddenly rose into three stone golems, completely blocking the narrow pass!
These stone golems were clumsy and could hardly injure anyone, but each stood over a zhang tall and was as broad as a rampart. Sitting one atop another before the passage like a human tower, they made it impossible for the pursuers to pass.
Chapter 923