"There’s a sentry post near the sh.o.r.e. There were three men within the sentry post. We’ve already killed them."

"The rain is getting heavier now, and affecting our visibility. We have to get closer in order to notice it." Soon after, one of them took out a package. At this point, the official came over with an umbrella and held it over the package. When Pei Zi Yun opened it, he realized that it contained a pair of maps. The first map was of the sea, showing the surrounding islands. One of the islands was particularly huge.

There was another map which described the terrain and landscape of this sentry island.

"Good. Send the order, we shall approach the sh.o.r.es now." Pei Zi Yun then looked at the map before pa.s.sing it to Cai Yuan Zhen. This sentry island isn’t very big, and its landscape is simple. Cai Yuan Zhen looked around before acknowledging, "Yes!"

The wars.h.i.+ps inched closer to the sh.o.r.e, they dropped a ramp down to allow their soldiers to disembark. The sound of the soldiers’ boots jumping off the ramp, into the water started to become louder and louder. There were red ribbons tied to their helmets, which stuck out in the wind and rain.

At this point, the pirates seemed to have noticed this. The sounds of drums started sounding out as Pei Zi Yun shouted, "Get into formation, march, and kill them all!"

"Cai Yuan Zhen, go lead your troops."

"Yes!"

Following Pei Zi Yun’s orders, Cai Yuan Zhen hurriedly moved to the front to take charge.

"The officials and their soldiers have attacked us, kill them all." The leader of the pirates shouted. He couldn’t see his enemies clearly in the rain but charged straight at them anyway.

These people were clearly not true pirates. Cai Yuan Zhen raised his blade and shouted, "Stab them!"

"Die!"

Hearing Cai Yuan Zhen’s orders, the leader of the first wave of soldiers echoed the orders to his entire team. They then raised their spears in a jabbing motion, killing the first onslaught of pirate defenders.

"Pu, Pu!" The sound of spears penetrating flesh could be heard. Several pirates waved their blades in the air, but the blades couldn’t even reach their targets before they were stabbed by spears. Soon after, the next wave of pirates charged in and the battle began.

The sounds of anguished screams rang out continually. The pirates knew that these men were officials and their soldiers, and knew they were down on their luck. Killing intent could be seen on the faces of the pirates as they tried to defend their island.

The soldiers belonging to the captain were calm and composed. They wielded their spears effectively and defended their flanks from attack. In a short span of time, they suffered very few casualties.

All of a sudden, a loud scream rang out across the battlefield. When everyone turned to look, they saw several spears piercing through the head of the pirate leader. He then fell to his knees as he twitched violently, blood spilling in all directions.

"End him!" A section leader waved his blade and beheaded him instantly.

In the blink of an eye, more than half of the twenty odd pirates had been subdued. Their resistance was clearly futile, and some of them wanted to flee for their lives. Pei Zi Yun stood atop the deck of his s.h.i.+p and watched the slaughter calmly. The officials and several soldiers stood still beside him, watching as well.

At this point, they noticed a true pirate

in the thick of battle. He was j.a.panese and wielded a samurai blade. He had been stabbed multiple times, and was bleeding all over his body, but was still putting up a strong fight. However, at this point, an entire group of soldiers charged towards him from all directions.

This samurai warrior gave a loud cry, as he fell to the ground, and breathed his last.

Pei Zi Yun gave a cold laugh, "Most of these pirates would flee at the slightest bit of trouble. What’s the point of being brave while outnumbered?"

Seeing that the pirates had fallen, Pei Zi Yun shouted loudly, "Captain Cai, follow the map and surround the entire island. Kill anyone who resists, and spare anyone who surrenders."

"Charge"

Cai Yuan Zhen gave the order, with five to ten soldiers in a group, they charged towards the inner part of the island. The pirates were fleeing with reckless abandon. Seeing such a scene, Chen Pu, the official, clapped his hands together, "I didn’t expect Top Scorer Pei to make prior arrangements before this a.s.sault. I also didn’t expect these pirates to not put up a fight. However, Admiral Chen would never attack the way you did. When you return, you have to make a big deal out of this victory."

From where they were standing, they could see several pirates trying to put up a fight but were cut down immediately.

Island Stronghold

The dark clouds ama.s.sed together and were looming overhead when a streak of lightning sliced through, causing the entire sky to light up for a second before descending into darkness once again. An entire group of pirates were pus.h.i.+ng a cart as fast as they could, away from the slaughter. The cart was extremely heavy, as a Daoist shouted out, "Quick, quick, drop everything that’s not important. When you’re dead, you won’t be able to bring any of these with you anyway."

"We won’t be able to save the island anymore. We have to flee as fast as we can." The Daoist sounded extremely upset as he shouted at the pirates, "I already felt something was about to happen, and yet we were still defeated effortlessly. Quick, the soldiers are coming for us soon."

Half of the entire group were j.a.panese vagrants. Hearing these words, a warrior replied, "Xiaosan Lang, throw all these useless items away."

Xiaosan Lang looked pained with the thought of having to throw these items away and hesitated for a moment. It took the strength of many men to push these items on the cart all the way here. They had gotten as far as the sh.o.r.es on the opposite end of the island from where the officials had docked. The entire sh.o.r.e was covered in sand and pebbles. When they looked into the sea, they could see that the waves were choppy and rough, as they slammed repeatedly into large boulders on the sh.o.r.e.

Behind a large boulder was a small boat. The minute they saw the boat waiting for them, most of them started to load their items onto it. At this point, the Daoist then sighed in relief, "Get on the boat, we shall have to report this matter."

Just as they were about to activate the communication talisman, a shadow appeared, "Is that so? Well, you’re too late!"

"What?" The Daoist felt his hair stand on edge as he saw someone appear. With the flash of the a.s.sailant’s sword, the Daoist fell to the ground, as a large puddle of blood formed beneath him.

"Baka! This person has killed our Daoist leader. When we return, our boss will need someone to blame for his death. Kill, kill this man before we can leave." A warrior shouted out and waved his hand. Instantly, several vagrant warriors raised their blades and shouted ferociously as they charged on.

"You wish to fight me over grains of rice?" Pei Zi Yun shouted out, "Cloud Form!"

In that second, Pei Zi Yun charged towards them and moved with speed as quick as lightning. In a blink of an eye, the entire group of pirates fell like withered petals, as blood flew in all directions. When he turned once more, he could hear the sound of anguished cries ringing out. Only the warrior was left.

"You, you’re not human. You are the G.o.d of death." The warrior had a look of fear on his face.

Pei Zi Yun gave a cold laugh, "Tell me all the details now."

"No, even if you are the G.o.d of death, I will not betray my master." As he finished speaking, he drew a dagger and was about to stab it into his chest. However, he didn’t even have the chance to land the blow and end his own life. Pei Zi Yun moved in swiftly, and flicked the dagger from his hands, causing it to fly into the air.

"You’re humiliating my warriorhood." The warrior was extremely agitated as he glared at Pei Zi Yun with wide eyes. Pei Zi Yun didn’t speak to him at all. He pointed at him, causing him to faint instantly.

"Your excellency Pei, the entire group of pirates has been neutralized." Cai Yuan Zhen led an entire group of people over, including the official. Seeing this, Pei Zi Yun spoke out, "This warrior is the leader. Interrogate him, and find out the situation of this island."

"Yes, young master." The official replied.

"And these items, bring them to our s.h.i.+ps." Pei Zi Yun kicked several wooden chests, and his soldiers shouted their acknowledgment. n.o.body asked him any questions.

When they reached their s.h.i.+p, they opened each and every single chest. They realized that the chests contained gold, silver, and precious cloths. Pei Zi Yun turned and asked Chen Pu, "How much do you think there is here?"

"Based on my estimation, there are three hundred taels of gold, two and a half thousand taels of silver. The cloth would be worth a hundred taels."

Hearing these words, n.o.body spoke a word as their eyes started to turn watery from all that gold. Pei Zi Yun walked towards a chest as he picked up some silver and ran his hands through it. He then smiled out, "People die for riches, and birds die for grain. These words have been spoken from the olden days till today."

These words had a certain depth to them, causing everyone to freeze. All of a sudden, they heard the sounds of footsteps coming from a distance. Cai Yuan Zhen had returned, "Your excellency Pei, we’ve already cleared out the pirates. I’ve found two thousand strings of coins and six hundred stones of grain in the stronghold."

He sounded extremely excited and glad from his tone. When he stepped forward, his eyes were dazzled by the amount of gold before him, and he stood there, stunned.

"Your Excellency, can I ask how we’re going to handle this?" Chen Pu bowed and asked, "Everything shall be decided by your Excellency."

"That’s easy. There are two thousand strings of coins found in the pirate’s stronghold and six hundred stones of grain. All of these should go into the records. Take out a thousand coins and three hundred stones of grain and distribute them to the foot soldiers."

"Those who partic.i.p.ated in the battle should be given one entire string of coins and one stone of grain. Those who didn’t fight should be given half a string of coins and half a stone of grain."

"This is a very generous amount, n.o.body would dare to complain that we didn’t give enough."

"As for these, Cai Yuan Zhen!"

"This humble soldier is here!"

"Gather your a.s.sistant leaders and the higher-ranking soldiers. We shall split this amount of gold." Pei Zi Yun then continued, "We shall split it into ten parts. Five parts shall go to you and your soldiers. Three parts shall go to the Governor. The remaining two parts shall be split between myself, Chen Pu, and the rest."

"What do you think of that?" This amount wasn’t the least enticing to Pei Zi Yun. However, he knew that he had no choice but to take it. If he didn’t, n.o.body else would dare to take the money.

"Your Excellency, five parts is too much for us. We will be glad with just three parts." Cai Yuan Zhen spoke out uneasily. He counted and realized that five parts, or half the sum, was equivalent to four thousand taels.

"It’s not much at all. All of you risked your lives. Eight a.s.sistant lieutenants and forty team leaders, this amount is not much at all!" Pei ZI Yun waved his hand, "There’s nothing else to say. This is how we shall do it."

"I shall take five hundred taels, and you soldiers shall take three hundred taels each. The rest of the soldiers shall have forty taels each."

"Yes!" When everyone heard this, they were all extremely content. Even one of the group leaders who always had a frown on his face smiled.

Everyone started shouting out their thanks and appreciation, causing the morale to increase substantially. The next moment, a shout could be heard coming from some distance away. When Pei Zi Yun heard this, he relaxed. He realized that he had finally grasped this army for himself, and won their support. He could use this fleet from hereon.

Golden Island

There were many people on Golden Island. At this point, the wind and rain were a.s.saulting the entire island. Streaks of lightning illuminated the sky repeatedly, causing the roiling clouds to become visible.

Someone stood atop the highest point on the island. He had a Daoist beside him, who was holding onto a map. There were many small inscriptions and writings across the map. As the rain fell, the man asked, "Are you sure that Pei Zi Yun is coming for us?"

"Yes. Although this man is very crafty and attacked us suddenly, one of our men managed to escape and reported the matter to us."

"Are you sure he has a thousand soldiers?"

"I am certain he has a thousand soldiers. There’s one more thing that happened. Before Pei Zi Yun arrived, he killed Admiral Chen’s brother-in-law."

"Oh, then what was Chen Ping’s reaction?" The person seemed extremely interested.

"He was extremely agitated. Maybe we can reach out to him, and pull him to our side."

"That’s worth a try. What’s the situation on this island now?"

"We have placed traps and Dao arts aboveground. We have also placed explosives underground, and we have water spells in place to protect us as well. When the time comes, we just have to activate them." The Daoist pointed out on the map to indicate where the relevant traps were placed. With the protection of Dao arts above them, the rainwater couldn’t smudge the ink on the map.

"Hm, the Imperial Banners won’t even leave the s.h.i.+p. Based on my estimation, this person should reach the island soon." The leader smiled, "We’ve done well this time to accommodate Master Hou. It seems like even the Governor might be affected this time."

The Daoist standing beside him was full of confidence as he spoke, "That’s right. It takes only a day to reach the island. In a day’s time, Pei Zi Yun shall be buried here."

"He won’t be able to attack us, and will even explode to death with all these explosives. Pei Zi Yun, you asked for it."

The Daoist thought to himself, when someone ran out all of a sudden, "Not good. Pei Zi Yun has killed his way to the sentry island. Something happened there."