Another cry of alarm rose from the docks. Xia Yunzhao turned his head and saw a thick column of water shoot up from beneath the sea. A shadow drifted slowly through the depths. It was so enormous that at first he thought it was the shadow of a white cloud in the sky. Only a moment later did he realize it was the Cloud-Swallowing Whale.
It really had not left. It was waiting just offshore, showing itself as a warning before slowly fading from sight again, invisible.
The cultivators on the docks exchanged glances and quickly dispersed, abandoning any thought of setting sail for now.
Xia Yunzhao frowned, lost in thought. He had just opened his mouth when Shang Shuangze asked, “Are you thinking of asking the local fishermen?”
Xia Yunzhao looked surprised. “How did you guess?”
Shang Shuangze smiled. “You’ve always believed that cultivators and mortals each have their own strengths. Since the cultivators have no solution, naturally you’ll look to the mortals.”
Xia Yunzhao gave him an approving thumbs-up.
He beckoned the others after him and, sure enough, went looking for local fishermen.
Naturally, fishing boats were not moored alongside cultivators’ treasure ships. Even when they shared a dock, the two kinds of vessels were kept in separate areas.
The group reached the other side of the wharf and was almost knocked backward by the strong smell of seawater and fish.
Life had never been easy for fishermen in any era. Many did not even own houses on shore. They ate and slept aboard their fishing boats, which represented everything they possessed.
Even so, the fishermen seemed to be in fairly good spirits. When they saw the visitors approach, they simply went on with their work without showing much fear.
Xia Yunzhao walked up to an elderly fisherman weaving a net, produced a small piece of silver, and smiled. “Sir, may I ask you something?”
The old man looked at the silver, then at the group. He wiped his hands and took the money. “What would you like to know, my lord?”
“Do you know about the giant whale that’s been appearing near the docks? When did it first arrive?” Xia Yunzhao asked.
The fisherman narrowed his eyes and thought. “Oh, that giant whale is something else. Bigger even than the cultivators’ treasure ships! It’s been around for quite a while now, more than a month at least.” He turned to his wife, who was turning over salted fish beside him, seeking confirmation.
“Nearly two months now!” she supplied.
“Have you been unable to go out fishing for those two months?” Xia Yunzhao asked. “How have you managed to get by?”
The fisherman laughed. “My lord, you must be joking. That giant whale only stops the treasure ships. It doesn’t think our broken-down fishing boats are worth the trouble.”
At those words, even before Xia Yunzhao could react, Du Yan and Xiang Moyue, standing behind him, both raised their brows. The whale only stops cultivators? No wonder Xia Yunzhao had thought to ask mortals.
“Before the whale arrived two months ago, did anything important happen in the city?” Xia Yunzhao asked.
“Something important…” The fisherman frowned. He and his family spent their lives on the boat, and even when selling their catch they usually set up stalls near the wharf. They scarcely ever went into the city. How was he supposed to know what had happened there?
His wife, however, slapped her thigh. “Oh! I remember. When Erni from the boat next door fell ill, I accompanied her mother into the city to buy medicine. I heard the physicians at the clinic talking about how the Sea-Crossing Gang leader’s youngest son was sick. He was searching for a miracle doctor to treat the boy! Mortal or cultivator, it didn’t matter. Anyone who saved his child would be richly rewarded. The physicians kept saying it was a pity none of them had the skill…”
Xia Yunzhao exchanged a look with his companions. The Sea-Crossing Gang. That fit. He asked, “Has the child recovered?”
The old woman thought for a moment. “I suppose so. I haven’t heard anything about it lately.”
“Thank you both,” Xia Yunzhao said with a smile before taking his leave.
As they walked away, they could still hear the old fisherman asking his wife when Erni had been sick and why he had never heard about it. His wife promptly gave him a scolding.
Xiang Moyue found the exchange rather entertaining and kept looking back. He watched the old man being lectured, too tongue-tied to defend himself and left sulking in silence, angrily weaving his fishing net faster and faster.
When he finally turned around again, he discovered that everyone was looking at him. Xia Yunzhao even examined him up and down. “What’s with you? Laughing at that poor old man? You’re making it awfully obvious!”
Xiang Moyue froze and touched the corner of his mouth. I was smiling? Something that boring actually made me laugh?
“Stop spacing out.” Xia Yunzhao nudged him with an elbow. “Help me find out something else!”
“You want me to investigate the gang leader’s youngest son?” Xiang Moyue asked.
“No need for your help with that. Find out something different,” Xia Yunzhao said. “I want to know how to lure the Cloud-Swallowing Whale out, preferably without making it angry.”
Xiang Moyue agreed readily. “No problem. I’ll have an answer for you tomorrow morning.” He was extremely curious what Xia Yunzhao intended to do. So many cultivators passing through the region had been unable to solve the whale problem. What could this little group accomplish? Lure out the whale, and then what? A Soul Transformation-level spirit beast was hardly a creature to trifle with.
Xia Yunzhao looked relieved as soon as Xiang Moyue agreed, as though he did not doubt for a moment that the man could obtain the information. He waved his hand. “Since we’ve come all the way to the docks, let’s not go back empty-handed. Come on, let’s buy some seafood! Didn’t Fellow Daoist Xiang rent a courtyard? We can cook our own seafood dinner tonight!”
Su Meng was, without question, the most enthusiastic. He jumped up at once. “Yes! Seafood! I’ve never tried any!”
Xia Yunzhao tapped him on the forehead. “Then don’t eat too much, or you might have an allergic reaction…” Wait, do people in the cultivation world even get allergies? Better safe than sorry. “If you’ve never eaten seafood before, just try a little first, in case it upsets your stomach.”
Su Meng nodded obediently. He was terribly eager to eat, but he knew he ought to listen to his City Lord.
For a senior cultivator, Zhong Yundu was not particularly dignified either. He grabbed Su Meng and went off to choose seafood. Plenty of fishermen had stalls near the docks, and their prices were lower than those in the city. Zhong Yundu was hopelessly unreliable: he kept choosing the strangest-looking creatures he could find.
Xia Yunzhao only turned away to exchange a few words. By the time he looked back, Zhong Yundu had bought an entire basket of starfish. Xia Yunzhao could not imagine how he planned to cook them.
Su Ying was a little nervous. He and his younger brother had done most of the cooking throughout the journey, but Su Ying had never prepared seafood and worried that everyone would be disappointed. Then someone patted his shoulder. He looked up to find Xia Yunzhao smiling at him. “Don’t worry. We’ll all help tonight. If something tastes awful, whoever cooked it can finish it.”
Su Ying smiled and was about to reply when he heard another voice right beside his ear. “Have you seen any unusual visions since we entered Wangdu Cape?”
Su Ying froze. Xia Yunzhao’s lips had not moved. The voice had simply reached his ear. He quickly controlled his expression and shook his head slightly.
Xia Yunzhao let out a breath of relief. Su Ying’s bloodline might be thin, but the Sky-Peering clan’s instincts remained. If he had not foreseen any danger, at least the situation probably would not turn out too badly.
In the end, everyone carried five baskets of seafood back to the rented courtyard.
The courtyard Xiang Moyue had rented was in an excellent location, within the city but not far from the docks. If they listened carefully, they could even hear the endless rolling of the waves.
The compound was spacious, with more than enough rooms to go around. In the center of its garden was a clearing whose original purpose nobody knew. Right now, though, it was perfect for a gathering.
A bonfire was soon burning in the middle. Xia Yunzhao molded a large iron plate with his bare hands, washed it thoroughly with spiritual water, and prepared to use it to make sizzling grilled squid.
Four of their five baskets contained familiar sea fish, shrimp, crabs, and shellfish. The fifth was stuffed with the bizarre creatures Zhong Yundu had purchased. Xia Yunzhao ordered him to cook and eat every last one of them rather than waste anything.
They took out several large, plump squid. Their tentacles were still moving, the suckers contracting and releasing.
Xia Yunzhao examined one from side to side. “Hmm. How do you prepare squid again?” He looked at Shang Shuangze. “Maybe you could do it?”
Naturally, Shang Shuangze was not about to refuse him. He lifted his hand to draw his sword, and then, with a sudden whoosh, Mingyun vanished!
They both froze and looked up together. Mingyun was trembling as it floated above their heads. When it noticed them looking, it flashed white and flew even farther away, hovering over the roof.
Xia Yunzhao did not know whether to laugh or cry. “It’s afraid of squid?”
Shang Shuangze looked equally helpless. Mingyun had followed him for so many years, yet this was the first time the sword had retreated before a fight even began. “Not exactly afraid. I think it finds them a little disgusting.”
“Fine, let’s not torment the child.” Xia Yunzhao took out two short knives. “We’ll figure this out ourselves.” Then he called up to Mingyun, “Come down and eat when we’re finished! Once you try it, you won’t be scared anymore!”
Mingyun hesitated and drifted a little lower, only to see the tentacles of the freshly chopped squid still writhing. It shuddered and hurried back up. Never mind. This is a blessing it simply cannot enjoy.
This was Xiang Moyue’s first time joining an activity like this, and he was quite interested. After glancing around, he sat beside Su Ying and started preparing fish.
Fresh sea fish did not smell especially strong, and all he needed to do was remove the innards. It was easy work. He finished a whole basket in no time and still wanted more. Then he went to bother the crabs and got his finger caught in a claw. Instead of struggling, he simply chuckled while watching the crab dangle from his finger, brandishing its other claw at him triumphantly.
Although Xia Yunzhao was busy cutting up squid, he had been watching Xiang Moyue out of the corner of his eye. He whispered to Shang Shuangze, “Do you think he’s still pretending right now?”
Shang Shuangze replied, “Not everyone can show their true selves openly.”
Xia Yunzhao thought it over. “You mean he might still be disguising himself, but not necessarily out of ill intent?”
Shang Shuangze finished the last squid, took Xia Yunzhao’s hand, and washed it clean with spiritual water. “As you often say, things will work themselves out when the time comes.”
“True. Why think so much about it? We’ll deal with whatever comes!” Xia Yunzhao immediately cheered up. “Hurry, the grilled squid! The iron plate is already hot. I’ll do it!”
Sizzle! The squid, scored with crosshatch cuts, hit the scorching iron plate and immediately curled into little squid flowers. Xia Yunzhao pressed them flat so every side would cook evenly, then quickly poured on the sauce. Steam billowed upward as an explosion of delicious aroma swept across the courtyard.
Everyone paused for a moment, then silently began working much faster.
Soon the shrimp and crabs were steamed as well. High-quality seafood needed nothing more than steaming to preserve its natural sweetness and flavor. Several fish were grilled, and several more were stewed into a milky-white broth, their flesh plump and tender.
The seafood from the Wangjin Sea was of remarkably high quality. Even without spiritual energy, it won unanimous praise from all the cultivators present. Even Xianchan and the Crimson-Cloud Brocadefish ate until their bellies were round.
After the meal, everyone sat in the courtyard to let the smell of food dissipate. Xia Yunzhao smiled and said, “A few of you come with me in a little while. The rest should rest here.”
Du Yan sat up immediately. “What are you going to do? Why not bring Fellow Daoist Zhong?” He was calculating that wherever Xia Yunzhao went, Shang Shuangze would certainly accompany him, and with Zhong Yundu along as well, three Golden Core cultivators could scarcely come to harm in Wangdu Cape. As for Xiang Moyue, he was also Golden Core, but nobody trusted him. Better that he stayed behind.
Zhong Yundu had no objection. “Sure.”
“So,” Xiang Moyue asked with a smile, perhaps having noticed everyone’s wariness, “where are you going?”
“I thought I’d pay the Sea-Crossing Gang a visit,” Xia Yunzhao said. “What, want to come?”
Xiang Moyue paused, then said at once, “Since this is official business, I won’t intrude on City Lord Xia.”
Xia Yunzhao called Liang An and Guang Yun to join them, and they left the courtyard.
Zhong Yundu and Shang Shuangze followed him. Seeing which direction they were heading, Zhong Yundu asked, “We’re really going to the Sea-Crossing Gang?”
“Of course,” Xia Yunzhao replied. “Didn’t they say the leader’s child was sick? I’m an alchemist. It’s only reasonable that I should go offer medical treatment, right?”
By the time he finished speaking, they had reached the Sea-Crossing Gang’s gate.
The Sea-Crossing Gang was not especially powerful. Its leader, Xu Zhenhai, was only at early Golden Core. Plenty of cultivators came and went from Wangdu Cape each day, including many whose cultivation exceeded his, so the place lacked the pomp one might expect from a gang leader’s residence.
When the gate guards saw three Golden Core cultivators arrive, they were so startled that they hurried inside to summon their leader.
Xia Yunzhao took the measure of Xu Zhenhai as he came out. He looked somewhere between thirty and forty, had ordinary features and a somewhat heavy build, and the spiritual power moving through him was clearly water-attributed. He approached quickly. “Greetings, three seniors!”
Xia Yunzhao concealed his appraising gaze and smiled. “There’s no need for ceremony, Fellow Daoist Xu. We arrived in the city today and heard that your son had been ill and your household was seeking physicians. I’m a Level-Three pill cultivator. Would you be willing to let me examine him?”
Xu Zhenhai replied at once, “Thank you for your concern, Senior, but my son made a full recovery some days ago.”
“Is that so? That’s good to hear. But if that’s the case, why isn’t Gang Leader Xu focusing his energy on the gang’s affairs? When will travelers be able to set sail from Wangdu Cape again?”
The change from “Fellow Daoist Xu” to “Gang Leader Xu” clearly conveyed Xia Yunzhao’s displeasure. Xu Zhenhai heard it immediately and hurriedly bent at the waist. “Yes, yes! This junior is already trying to find a solution!”
Xia Yunzhao nodded inscrutably. “Then we’ll await Gang Leader Xu’s solution.”
Xu Zhenhai bowed even lower. He did not dare say a word for a long while. Only when someone came to help him straighten up did he realize the visitors had already disappeared.
He wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Has the young gang leader gone to sleep yet?”
The attendant hastily replied, “He just fell asleep.”
Xu Zhenhai immediately turned and went to his son’s courtyard. The nursemaid caring for the child was dozing beside the bed. A little boy of four or five lay sleeping beneath the covers, his cheeks rosy. Between his brows was a faint blue mark, the mark of a contract. It meant the child had formed a symbiotic contract with another living being: the two shared life and death and even their lifespans.
Xu Zhenhai stirred the contract mark with his spiritual power and faintly heard the cry of a young whale.
He sighed. “Sleep. Sleep peacefully. Your father will never let the life you finally got back slip away again.”
On the roof, everyone who had become accustomed to eavesdropping and spying finally understood. So that was it.
Liang An asked curiously, “Was the child’s illness so severe that he could only be saved with a symbiotic contract? With so many cultivators passing through Wangdu Cape, aren’t there any pill cultivators or medical cultivators?”
Xia Yunzhao said thoughtfully, “Have you ever heard something mortal physicians say?”
Everyone looked at him, their expressions saying it all. You’re the only one here who likes spending time with mortals.
Xia Yunzhao said, “Medicine can cure illness, but it cannot cure fate.”
Everyone thought about it. Put that way, the symbiotic contract really might have been the only way to save the child. It was essentially an attempt to change his fate against the will of heaven.
Zhong Yundu rubbed his chin. “The symbiotic contract has already been formed. That child and the young whale can no longer be separated. No wonder the adult whale is so desperate.”
Xia Yunzhao said, “Perhaps it can sense that the child is still alive, and that’s why it hasn’t taken more drastic action. It’s simply guarding the port. Hmm… In that case, maybe we can negotiate with it…”
“Negotiate?” Zhong Yundu was dumbfounded. After a long silence, he said helplessly, “Negotiate with a spirit beast? That’s a Level-Five spirit beast!”
“Is there a problem?” Xia Yunzhao tilted his head. Xianchan and Xianbao poked their heads out of his arms and tilted theirs as well. One big head and two little heads, six eyes staring directly at Zhong Yundu.
The corner of Zhong Yundu’s mouth twitched. “…No. Not a problem at all.”
* * *
Early the next morning, just after everyone had finished breakfast, Xiang Moyue announced that he had found the information Xia Yunzhao wanted.
Xia Yunzhao brightened and urged him to tell them.
Xiang Moyue explained, “My scouts asked some old cultivators who know a great deal about marine spirit beasts. They all said that since the Cloud-Swallowing Whale has been lingering here so long, it can’t have found enough food to fill its stomach in the shallow coastal waters, and it hasn’t had time to go hunting elsewhere. It should be extremely hungry by now. If we want to draw it out, all we need to do is scatter a large quantity of bait near the coast. It won’t be able to resist coming out.”
Xia Yunzhao thought for a moment. “How large a quantity?”
“At least a thousand jin,” Xiang Moyue replied.
Su Meng immediately cried out, “A thousand jin of bait? And it has to contain spiritual energy, doesn’t it? Ordinary seafood surely won’t do. Where are we supposed to find that much at such short notice?”
Jing Ruyun said promptly, “If there’s no other way, I could take the guards into the mountains and hunt for it?”
While they discussed the problem, Xia Yunzhao waved a hand. “We already have bait! Forget a thousand jin, we have five thousand!”
He lowered his hand, and a catfish covered in peculiar ring-shaped patterns dropped to the floor. Everyone froze, then suddenly remembered. “Oh! The Ring-Patterned Hidden-Spine Catfish!”
Of course! They had killed hundreds of aquatic beasts in the underwater cavern at Buxianxian. Each weighed dozens or even hundreds of jin. Altogether they amounted to several thousand jin!
Liang An sighed with feeling. “Back then the City Lord didn’t even want to keep those whole aquatic-beast carcasses. Good thing we didn’t throw them away. Now they’re useful.”
“Exactly,” Guang Yun agreed. “The City Lord is rich these days, and he’s already starting to waste things.”
Xia Yunzhao raised his hand, sending the catfish flying straight at them. The two hastily caught it, then returned it to him with ingratiating grins.
With bait secured, their next task was to find somewhere to place it. First, the site had to be close to shore: the whale might not bother traveling out to deep water to fetch it. Besides, they couldn’t take a boat out to sea, so they had no way of reaching the deep water themselves.
Second, it needed to be somewhere rarely visited. They did not want to attract anyone else’s attention.
After searching around, they finally chose a bay roughly a hundred li from Wangdu Cape.
According to local accounts, many low-level sea beasts had once gathered there, and cultivators often came to hunt them. After the Cloud-Swallowing Whale arrived, however, it had devoured the sea beasts. The cultivators no longer dared come either.
The group reached the bay. Xia Yunzhao took out a storage pouch, pointed its opening downward, and tipped it out with a great clatter. Huge pieces of whole aquatic-beast carcasses, bloody, mangled, and hideously ugly, tumbled into the water. The once-clear sea instantly turned bloodred.
Everyone watched the surroundings warily. The Cloud-Swallowing Whale was enormous and could turn invisible. They might not spot it in time.
Suddenly, Xia Yunzhao felt a strange tug on his nerves. He had no evidence at all, only an inexplicable premonition. “It’s here!”
The next moment, one of the enormous carcasses floating on the surface vanished.
Xia Yunzhao’s back tightened instinctively. He was not a coward; it was simply the combined terror of the unknown and something impossibly huge.
Then another carcass disappeared. More and more gaps opened up on the water’s surface, yet the only sound was the splash of disturbed seawater. It was as though ghosts were playing tricks on them.
Everyone silently tensed.
Only when half the aquatic-beast carcasses were gone did Xia Yunzhao speak. “Senior Cloud-Swallowing Whale, these are our gifts to you on our first meeting. We have something we would like to discuss. If you wouldn’t mind, would you show yourself so that we might speak?”
Everyone was sweating inwardly. Only their City Lord would dare say something like that! Who else would? The Cloud-Swallowing Whale was a sea-dwelling spirit beast with Level-Five strength. They would be lucky if it did not swallow them too! Yet here Xia Yunzhao was, asking it to show itself!
Xia Yunzhao dared. If anyone asked him why, he could not have explained it. Perhaps the spirit beasts that had sought him out on their own had given him confidence. When he first left, the mother of the Spirit-Claw Civet had simply handed Xianchan over to him. The Crimson-Cloud Brocadefish had sought him out on its own after he departed. As for Xianbao, Du Yan had been the one to catch it, but it had also chosen to recognize Xia Yunzhao as master on its own initiative.
He had always felt that he possessed some inexplicable attraction for spirit beasts. He hoped that attraction would work this time too.
In the next instant, the sea stirred.
It was as though something vast was rising from below. Water poured down its surface in sheets, revealing a swelling, curved patch of sea. Beneath that curved surface there was nothing visible at all.
The exposed arc kept growing, first the size of a table, then a bed, then a carriage… until it was larger than a house.
A colossal dark-blue whale appeared before them.
And still it kept rising. Its body was only a little smaller than the entire bay; curled up within it, the whale looked like a person sitting in a bathtub.
Xia Yunzhao tipped his head back, then farther back, then farther still, until he finally could not help himself. “That’s enough, Senior! Please don’t come up any higher!”
The Cloud-Swallowing Whale paused, shifted upward a little more, and finally revealed two eyes, each larger than a fishing boat.
So it turned out that it had not even been halfway out of the water before…
Its eyeballs, each nearly as tall as a person, moved as it studied him with a distinctly human-like glint of curiosity.
Xia Yunzhao was about to speak when he felt something brush against his divine sense. A faint voice reached him: [What is it?]
He froze, then immediately realized the Cloud-Swallowing Whale was speaking to him! He hurriedly cupped his hands. “Senior, have you been lingering near the shore because you’re looking for one of your own young?”
The whale slowly shifted its tail, raising a small tsunami. [Mm. My little one is missing. It was playing and a glowing wooden thing took it away.]
Xia Yunzhao froze again. A glowing wooden thing… Of course. To a Cloud-Swallowing Whale, wasn’t a treasure ship simply a glowing piece of wood?
He hesitated, but in the end decided to tell the truth. Lying to someone at the Soul Transformation stage was far too dangerous!
After explaining everything in one go, he asked nervously, “Senior, do you think there’s still some way to resolve this?”
The Cloud-Swallowing Whale remained utterly motionless, like a mountain standing in the sea. When it had heard him out, its only reply was, [Bring my little one to see me.]
Xia Yunzhao immediately shot Shang Shuangze a meaningful look.
Shang Shuangze nodded slightly and took his leave.
Half a quarter of an hour later, Xu Zhenhai was playing with his son when his vision suddenly blurred. The white-robed senior he had met only the day before appeared out of nowhere. With a lift of his hand, a mass of spiritual power wrapped around Xu Zhenhai and his son. Then the man rose on the wind, carrying all three of them into the sky.
Xu Zhenhai: “?”
These days, if somebody kidnaps a child, do they have to kidnap the father too?