Free Web NovelChapter 124: Chapter 123: Huaisuang, the Six Great Seals, the Sea Covering Seal
"But don’t worry. I’ve already contacted the organization’s people in the Shenghai branch. We’ll figure out a way to get you safely out of Shenghai as soon as possible..."
The sharp-featured woman walked to the bedside, sat down next to the girl, and spoke in a soft, comforting voice.
The girl, who looked like a student, raised her head. Her delicate features were a mix of profound confusion and inexplicable pain.
She looked at the woman beside her and murmured, "Sister Nianzhen, since I left Hong Jun... at sea, on the White Dragon, at the docks... all along the way, so many, many people have died..."
"Just for one person—me. Was it worth it?"
"Of course it was worth it!"
The woman placed both hands on the girl’s shoulders, looking directly into her eyes, and said with conviction, "Because you are Li Mingyi’s daughter."
"Just because I’m Li Mingyi’s daughter."
The girl suddenly grew frightened, flinching as if burned. She hugged her knees and shrank into the corner of the bed. "But I don’t want this... I really don’t want so many people to die for me alone..."
"Huaisuang."
The woman sighed, moved forward, and gently hugged her. "Listen to me.
"...Back then, the Xin Republic’s Government used despicable means to steal what had been achieved. But in the end, they only managed to learn the most superficial parts. It’s all just for show. Internally, it’s still the same old, corrupt system from the former dynasty..."
The woman sneered. "I’ll give them three years, tops. Mark my words, the Xin Republic’s Government is bound to collapse.
"When that happens, the entire South will be plunged into war again, and I fear it will be even worse than five years ago..."
She paused, her tone growing heavy. "Right now, everyone is fixated on our internal problems. Almost all eyes are on the domestic situation.
"But the real catastrophe is the threat from the outside!"
"Take Shenghai, for instance. The major Concessions are crawling with Western thugs. It’s only been a few years, and everyone’s already used to the idea that Westerners are superior, that it’s their birthright to step all over us.
"It’s laughable. Those dignitaries and compradors in Shenghai spend their days in debauchery, living in a drunken haze. They actually think they can peacefully coexist with the Westerners, as if those people traveled thousands of miles just to do business with them...
"They’re fools, through and through!"
The woman rose and gazed out the window, her voice low. "I studied abroad in Dekli for five years. For three of them, I received the most rigorous military education.
"I once visited an armory in Dekli. Three years ago, the guns they were manufacturing were already a full generation ahead of the equipment used by the Northern Army’s most elite units!"
The woman’s knuckles whitened as she clenched her fists, a strange light glinting in her eyes. "Huaisuang, so, so many people don’t understand. The Westerners are quiet right now, not because they can’t make a move, but because they haven’t finished their discussions!
"Our nation is like a giant cake on the Westerners’ dinner table, but there are too many people who want a slice. Right now, they’re still arguing and haggling over how to divide it... but once they’ve reached an agreement—
"That’s when the true calamity will begin."
"If we don’t want our descendants for ten thousand generations to be the fish on a foreign platter, carved up at another’s whim...
"Then someone must stand up, first to resolve the internal strife, and then to eliminate the external threat.
"And in this world today...."
The woman suddenly turned her head, her gaze burning as she stared at the girl on the bed, and declared:
"The only one with the power to turn this tide... is Mr. Mingyi!"
"And you are Mr. Mingyi’s only daughter. As long as we can deliver you safely to his side, no matter how many of us die, it will be worth it."
The woman took two steps forward and clasped the girl’s icy hand. "Huaisuang, you must remember this: every drop of blood that has been shed for you... has not been in vain."
The girl stared blankly at the woman, sensing the blazing, almost martyr-like zeal radiating from her. A sudden, strange fear washed over her, and she instinctively shrank back again.
The woman faltered, then gave a wry smile. "I’m sorry. This is all too much for you, I know.
"Let’s talk business..."
The woman took a deep breath, her composure returning. "I haven’t had a chance to ask you properly—who exactly were the people hunting you down?"
"I don’t know."
The girl shook her head, still hugging her knees. "Before the White Dragon even docked, a group of Westerners stormed the ship, killing everyone in sight... The people from Hong Jun escorted me off, but then another group caught up to us... a group of strange men with braided queues, wearing the court robes of the former dynasty."
"Queues and old court robes... That has to be the Toad Palace."
The woman’s eyes grew cold. "Elder Jin Wenze of Hong Jun died by their hands," she said icily. "As for that group of Westerners you mentioned..."
The woman mulled it over but couldn’t come to any conclusion. She shook her head and changed the subject. "Fortunately, only those two groups know your identity. Before Elder Jin died, he deliberately leaked information about the Gold. They were led away by the obvious bait and would never guess that the White Dragon’s true cargo... was you.
"If we can get you out of Shenghai safely this time, and the Gold is also delivered to Mr. Mingyi, then it will be a great success.
"If not, we’ll have to sacrifice the Gold.
"By the way, where is the Gold now?"
In response to the question, the girl hesitated before slowly rolling up her sleeve, revealing a seemingly ordinary jade stone bracelet on her pale wrist.
The bracelet glowed faintly. She closed her eyes, as if listening or sensing something. After a moment, she whispered, "’Little Fish’ is being very good. Just as I wished, it has deliberately led them in the opposite direction. Now... it’s about to enter the Su River..."
The woman’s expression flickered. She whispered, "In a few days, when we’re about to leave Shenghai, have it..."
Before she could finish her sentence, a sudden KNOCK KNOCK came from the door.
The two in the room tensed instantly. The girl’s face went deathly pale as she scrambled into the corner of the bed, pulling the blanket over herself.
The woman, however, swiftly drew a gun. She then quickly reapplied the disguise she had removed—a fake mustache, a prosthetic Adam’s apple, and shoulder pads. In an instant, she had transformed back into the gloomy man in the suit.
"Who is it?"
She asked in a low voice through the door, gun in hand.
There was no answer, just persistent knocking.
A cold glint appeared in the woman’s eyes. She flung the door open...
...only to see a woman leaning against the doorframe. She was caked in heavy makeup, her teeth were stained yellow, and she lazily blew a smoke ring as she spoke.
"Hey mister, want a back rub? It feels real nice..."
The woman’s face darkened with annoyance. She slowly lowered the pistol she’d been hiding behind her back and squeezed two words through her teeth: "Not interested."
Then, SLAM! The door was slammed shut, cutting off the other woman’s sneer and the smell of smoke.
.......
Ink Garden, the training hall.
Cao Tian was bare-chested, heavy iron balls chained to his wrists and ankles. With intense focus, he was slowly practicing a set of fist techniques.
Li Tong sat to one side, watching with a detached air, offering a word or two of guidance from time to time.
Not far off, Big Kitty and Little Kitty stood like a pair of iron-cast door guardians, watching everything with cold, expressionless faces.
"VMMMM—"
Suddenly, a strange, muffled humming sound rang out, shattering the tranquility of the vast training hall.
All eyes in the hall instantly snapped toward a bronze Medicine Cauldron in the center of the room. Even Cao Tian, deep in his training, couldn’t help but stop.
"THUMP—"
Another muffled bang, this one louder than the last. The entire Medicine Cauldron trembled slightly.
Everyone held their breath.
Ever since the "Heart Transformation" stage began on the seventh day, the Medicine Cauldron had been silent for a full twenty-four hours. If Li Tong hadn’t stopped them, Big Kitty and Little Kitty would have already rushed over to open the lid and save the person inside.
"THUMP! THUMP! THUMP-THUMP!"
An even more frantic series of thuds echoed from within the cauldron, as if a seething torrent of energy was trapped inside, crashing about violently, desperate to find an escape.
The entire Medicine Cauldron shook violently with the barrage of impacts, shifting across the floor with a piercing shriek of scraping metal. The massive vessel, weighing hundreds of pounds, suddenly seemed as light as paper and as brittle as an eggshell. It felt as if it would be blown apart from the inside at any second!
Finally...
"BOOM!!!"
With a deafening, earth-shattering crash, the lid of the Medicine Cauldron was blasted into the air by an immense force.
A plume of heat immediately billowed out from the mouth of the cauldron like a volcanic eruption, instantly filling the air. From within the roiling white mist, a figure leaped out defiantly...
"THUD!"
The figure landed heavily. A web of fine cracks instantly spiderwebbed across the floorboards under its feet, and a blast of hot air swept through the hall, ruffling the onlookers’ hair.
The person slowly straightened up. The thick white steam radiating from his body swirled around him, vaguely forming the shapes of a great dragon and a colossal elephant.
His features were impossible to make out clearly. All that was visible was a formidable, powerfully built physique of corded muscle and, from behind the roiling, hot steam, a pair of eyes that blazed like morning stars.
"HAAAAH... HAAAAH..."
The one who had burst from the cauldron gasped for air, breathing in and out in plumes of white steam. Finally, a raw, hoarse voice rasped, "Uncle Tong... I... I did it."
Li Tong smiled slightly and walked slowly toward the figure.
As he walked, he applauded softly. "Congratulations, Young Master.
"You have now learned the Basic Seal of Strengthening Body and Solidifying Essence, one of the Six Great Seals of Dragon Elephant Wisdom.
"Now, I shall teach you the second seal..."
As he spoke, Li Tong came to a stop before the figure.
He lightly raised a palm and thrust it toward the person before him. At the same time, he spoke softly, his tone serene, "This seal is called—the Sea Covering Seal!"
As he finished speaking, an infinite torrent of air seemed to be pulled from nowhere, stirring within the vast hall and emitting a whistling shriek like the trumpeting of an elephant and the roar of a dragon.
"BOOM—!"
As Li Tong’s palm descended, the white steam in the hall instantly vanished. Before the powerful figure within it could even speak, he was sent flying like a cannonball. He became a blurry afterimage, crashing straight through the Medicine Cauldron behind him and hurtling an unknown distance away...
