Inside its master's lapel, the soul-snatching mirror clicked its tongue several times. *Ah, he's showing off again!*
Faced with the menace of the man-eating yin hui, the pirates who had fallen into the water had no choice but to swim toward the rocky shoal. He Lingchuan's men secured dozens of captives without breaking a sweat.
With nowhere left to run, the slowly sinking ship soon hoisted a white flag in surrender.
He Lingchuan offered them a single condition for their capitulation: tie up the Third Channel Master, Yue Pinghe, and hand him over before the ship sank, or everyone on board would go down with him into a watery grave.
The moment this condition was announced, silence fell over the opposing vessel.
Soon after, furious roars and shouted curses drifted across the water.
He Lingchuan did not bother discerning whose voices they were. Putting away his flute, he turned to the men beside him and said, "All right, battle's over."
***
Before they could founder, both ships were dragged ashore by the yin hui.
The defeated pirates disembarked one after another and were forced to kneel on the rocky shoal, paying no mind to how the sharp stones dug into their shins and feet.
Front to back, five neat, dejected rows of men knelt in the dirt.
The first to be dragged down was Yue Pinghe, black-and-blue and covered in blood, tied up like a dumpling.
Qiu Hu shoved him before He Lingchuan and ordered him to kneel.
Yue Pinghe gritted his teeth, refusing to bow, but Qiu Hu planted a kick right into the crook of his knee, forcing him straight down.
Now, it was his turn to look up at Island Master He, who was smiling with utter amiability.
"Why!" Yue Pinghe spat a mouthful of bloody froth. "Why did you offer them terms of surrender, but when it came to me, you—you launched a sneak attack!"
Among the three pirate factions of the Yangshan Archipelago, his was hardly the weakest. Why had Min Tianxi been recruited and Huang Zhao treated with courtesy, while he had been ambushed without warning?
Yue Pinghe seethed with righteous indignation.
"Because of you, of course," He Lingchuan replied with a genial smile. "Your reputation as the Third Channel Master is dreadful. I asked around, and everyone said you couldn't be trusted."
To be cautious, he had ordered Mount Rong disciples to gather intelligence at Blade Harbor. The feedback they brought back was virtually unanimous: Yue Pinghe possessed rotten character and zero credibility. Even pirates under Yue Pinghe's own command had gotten drunk in taverns and complained bitterly that their boss was a scoundrel who never treated them like human beings.
Why keep around someone who was untrustworthy, a treacherous two-faced snake?
If such a man were in his camp, He Lingchuan would have to watch his back every second of the day.
Fusheng slipped from the void, and He Lingchuan caught it, casually twirling the blade in a flourish.
The moment the saber appeared, Yue Pinghe's arrogance vanished completely. He jutted his chin toward Huang Zhao and scrambled to defend himself: "That's slander! He and I have had bad blood for years, and he concocts all sorts of nonsense behind my back! You mustn't believe a word of it!"
Back on the ship, he had still possessed the courage to fight.
Once bound and hauled ashore, his knees pressing into the rough cobbles, he understood that courage was useless now. A wise man adapts to circumstances.
Huang Zhao did not even bother to refute the charge; he simply spat onto the ground. He was standing while Yue Pinghe was kneeling—what need was there to dignify this dog's words with a reply?
"Then what should I believe?" He Lingchuan asked. "How will you demonstrate your sincerity?"
Yue Pinghe swallowed hard. "I know the locations of three hidden treasures. If you spare me and take me under your wing, Island Master He, those mountains of gold and silver will all be yours! From this day forth, I will gladly work myself to the bone, serving at your beck and call!"
"You've stashed away that much wealth?" He Lingchuan asked curiously. "Exactly how much?"
"Thirty—no, fifty thousand taels!" Hearing the mild tone in He Lingchuan's voice, Yue Pinghe grew even more fervently earnest. "It's the savings I've accumulated over the past thirty years. I am willing to offer every bit of it to Young Master He!"
On the rocky shoal, the pirates exchanged stunned glances.
*Holy shit!* They all knew their boss had been skimming off the top, but none had imagined he had hoarded this much.
Thirty to fifty thousand taels! Even after years of raiding, all of them put together might not have amassed such a sum. Just how had the boss managed to line his pockets to such an extent?
He Lingchuan pointed at them. "Do your men know about this?"
The expressions on the pirates' faces were beyond description, their searing glares making Yue Pinghe's face burn. Bracing himself, he muttered, "No... they probably don't... aren't quite clear on it."
Admitting in public that he had been embezzling meant it would be nearly impossible to lead these subordinates in the future. But right now, staying alive took priority over everything else; he knew what mattered most.
"Mmm..." He Lingchuan nodded slowly, then pivoted: "Not enough."
This paltry sum to buy his life was simply not enough.
A chill ran through Yue Pinghe's heart. He opened his mouth to beg again, but He Lingchuan rested a hand on his shoulder and leaned down, murmuring into his ear:
"Your men don't matter, and your money doesn't matter either. But your absence—now that's quite important."
Thirty to fifty thousand taels? Hah, go fool a ghost.
Every drop of color drained from Yue Pinghe's face.
He Lingchuan straightened up, patted him on the shoulder, and offered him a friendly smile. Then, a cold flash of light glinted in his hand.
Before most people could even register what had happened, Yue Pinghe's expression froze, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Qiu Hu suddenly snapped straight.
Even he hadn't clearly seen He Lingchuan's strike.
A few breaths later, a head rolled onto the rocky shoal, and blood gushed three feet from the severed neck.
Yue Pinghe, the Third Channel Master, perished right here on his own Centipede Island.
Planting his saber into the ground, He Lingchuan enunciated every word: "Yue Pinghe, chieftain of the Third Channel pirates, murdered, pillaged, terrorized this region, and spread endless venom. I, He, have enacted justice on behalf of Heaven. From this day forward, no pirate shall stir up trouble or plunder ships in the waters of Yangshan! Anyone who defies this shall share the fate of the scoundrel Yue!"
As the final word fell, the last drop of blood drained from the tip of his saber.
His gaze pierced like lightning, stabbing into every man's heart. Wherever his eyes swept, every pirate—whether Min Tianxi's men, Huang Zhao's crew, or the captives on the ground—bowed their heads, not daring to meet his eyes.
Having established absolute dominance through this execution, He Lingchuan ordered Yue Pinghe's remains buried, then had the yin hui tow the two ships back to the cavernous dock within the mountain for extensive repairs.
As the new island master, he had barely any ships to his name; nothing could go to waste.
Qiu Hu made a point of stripping all the storage artifacts from Yue Pinghe's body and handed them over to He Lingchuan.
With their task complete, the yin hui hissed softly, splashed across the surface of the sea, and swam back toward Longji Island without looking back.
Indeed, He Lingchuan had only just finalized his agreement with the king of the yin hui, yet in the blink of an eye, he had called upon it to fulfill its duties, dispatching the creatures to aid in wiping out the pirates.
Tonight, the earth fiend yin vein had surged. These beasts had gorged themselves on fiendish energy before arriving, so they were brimming with vigor, nothing like the sickly state they had shown a few days earlier.
Min Tianxi and Huang Zhao exchanged glances, each spotting the hidden dread in the other's eyes.
Though He Lingchuan didn't say a word about it, anyone with eyes could see that these yin hui had been summoned by him to assist the battle.
That Island Master He could summon and dismiss these fiendish terrors of the Yangshan Archipelago at will filled the onlookers with awe and terror in equal measure.
With the yin hui backing him, who would ever dare make a move against the archipelago in the future?
It was secure. Everything was truly secure now.
He Lingchuan watched the shift in everyone's expressions and noted how their addresses of "Island Master He" had finally become sincere. He knew the effect he intended had been achieved.
When you held good cards, you had to reveal a glimpse of them at just the right moment.
With the fierce battle concluded, they moved on to the part pirates loved best:
Looting the spoils of war.
The Third Channel had originally possessed two strongholds. But not long ago, their other lair had been ambushed by the yin hui, prompting Yue Pinghe to concentrate all his manpower on Centipede Island—only for He Lingchuan to wipe them out in a single stroke.
The Third Channel pirates also had a treasury, located in a cavern deep inside the fortress. In ordinary times, it might not have been completely impregnable, but breaking through the layers of checkpoints to reach it was no easy feat.
This time, however, He Lingchuan had led a nighttime raid that breached the stronghold so fast that Yue Pinghe had fled before he could even pack up the treasury.
He Lingchuan summoned Yue Pinghe's trusted confidants and had the treasury opened in full view of everyone.
Inside lay gold, silver, jewels, and various magic artifacts, yet they didn't even cover half the floor.
Several dozen Third Channel pirates were present. One look was enough to stir a ripple of commotion among them—not out of greed, but because the hoard fell far short of their expectations.
"So little?" He Lingchuan stroked his chin. "Seems Yue Pinghe kept a secret stash of his own, lining his pockets all along."
He walked into the treasure cave and used Fusheng to carve a line across the ground.
"The treasures outside this line will serve as tonight's reward for everyone who took part in the operation. As for how to divide it—" He glanced at Qiu Hu and the two channel masters. "Confer amongst yourselves and submit your proposal to me."
*Whoa!* The three highest piles of treasure were all partitioned outside the line. Smiles instantly broke out across everyone's faces.
Didn't men risk life and limb just to put food on the table?
The new boss wasn't stingy. Their hearts were set at ease.
Afterward, the men escorted the captives on the return trip, while Ding Zuodong, who had come along aboard the ships, led two newly hired stewards to inventory the remaining wealth in the treasury and assess the value of the assets on Centipede Island.
Before He Lingchuan had distributed the rewards to his men, the total value of the goods in the treasury had been less than thirty thousand taels, not even matching the personal fortune Yue Pinghe had claimed to possess.
However, in an inconspicuous wooden box, Ding Zuodong uncovered over a dozen land deeds and commercial contracts. They corresponded to properties and shops across the Mou Kingdom, the Qing Kingdom, Blade Harbor, and several other smaller nations.
When pirates plundered cargo, they preferred gold and silver jewelry first, bulk goods second, and these legal contracts least of all. Liquidating deeds carried high risks, took a long time, and involved inconvenient transactions.
For He Lingchuan, however, none of that was an issue; he could simply hand them over to Ding Zuodong to manage.
Furthermore, while the buildings on Centipede Island were worth very little, the dock nestled inside the mountain held seven intact standard vessels, thirteen smaller boats, and a number of skiffs and fishing boats.
Though not all of them were cargo carriers, they were exactly what He Lingchuan needed.
The Yangshan Archipelago's future commerce and transportation depended entirely on seafaring; how could they manage without these fundamental vessels?
Ding Zuodong grinned from ear to ear as he inspected the haul.
"The remaining treasure in the vault should be worth over seventeen thousand taels. As for these deeds and shop contracts—" Ding Zuodong hesitated, unfamiliar with property prices in the Mou Kingdom and the smaller nations, "let's conservatively value them at nine thousand taels for now."
He Lingchuan grunted in acknowledgement. Buying the Yangshan Archipelago had cost eighty thousand taels, and wiping out Yue Pinghe had immediately brought back twenty-six thousand. This venture was truly paying off.
Now, he had over two hundred and forty thousand taels in hand once again.
"And these ships..."
He Lingchuan smiled. "No need to calculate the ships. We'll use all of them; none are for sale."
Moreover, the destruction of Yue Pinghe brought an unexpected bonus. Min Tianxi made a special effort to remind He Lingchuan that Centipede Island housed quite a few shipwrights and boat carpenters whose craftsmanship in construction and repair was renowned throughout Blade Harbor.
Now that the Third Channel pirates were eliminated, these craftsmen naturally became He Lingchuan's spoils.
They were precisely the talent He Lingchuan needed most.
He was an island master now; he needed a fleet of his own. The more ships, the better; the larger the hulls, the better.
Surprisingly, the island also possessed a large quantity of equipment for pressing and extracting palm oil. In another cave inside the fortress sat seven to eight hundred barrels of pressed oil of remarkable quality, which was reportedly scheduled for delivery in five days.
Chapter 925