522 The Heart on the Ship (1/2)
Chapter 522: The Heart on the Ship
Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
He was surrounded by sea water. It pressed down heavily on him like a giant rock as black as ink. It poured into his mouth, nose, and ears, rendering him unable to breathe. His body swayed back and forth with the unseen currents like a dazed fish. At any moment, he could be smashed against the invisible reefs.
Suddenly, Fan Xian opened his eyes. His eyes were calm. His cheeks gradually swelled up. Using the air pressure inside his body, he managed to create a sort of equilibrium with the seawater outside. Stretching out his right hand, he made a line in the water and grabbed onto the corner of a reef at the bottom of the sea, stabilizing his body on the seafloor. He was a full meter and a half from the surface of the water.
The sword strike from the heavens earlier had not pierced his body, but the wave of sword intention had sunk into his heart meridian and caused him internal damage. This mark of damage was even more terrifying than Yan Xiaoyi's arrow.
The Tyrannical zhenqi in Fan Xian's body circulated quickly, resisting the might of nature, while Tianyi Dao's zhenqi flowed gently through his body. It slowly soothed the injury brought on by Ye Liuyun's surprising sword strike.
Being at the bottom of the ocean, he was unable to immediately heal himself. He could only suppress the injury for a while.
The rapid circulation of two different qualities of zhenqi in his body put a great deal of pressure on it. One wave of power welled up in his body. Gradually, two streams of blood flowed out of his nostrils. Disturbed by the hidden currents in the water, it immediately dispersed into a fog of blood and enveloped his face. The arrow injury on his shoulder also began to bleed heavily.
He was like a leather satchel filled with red paint that had been pricked with two little holes. It looked terrifying.
Fan Xian's cheeks were swollen. His eyes were round and bulging. His face had already changed shape. One hand held onto the hidden reefs while he looked up toward the surface of the ocean like a toad. The difference he was bleeding and didn't know when he would give up. He was unable to smile and didn't have the state of mind to smile. Thinking of the dangerous scene earlier, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.
The sea water untied his hair. It floated messily like seagrass. A complicated expression flashed through his eyes on his deathly pale face. Yan Xiaoyi's arrow was still waiting for him on the surface, so he couldn't immediately rise out of the water.
As for the Great Grandmaster speeding across the waves on the ship, after his first strike had no effect, presumably he had lost interest in attacking him.
Fan Xian didn't know how long he stayed in the water. The skin on the hand with which he held onto the reefs felt a bit strange. As he stared up at the flat surface of the ocean, he couldn't find any way to escape the danger. He felt a glimmer of regret. Yesterday, he should have brought the chest with him. If he had that chest at his side, he wouldn't be so suppressed right now by Yan Xiaoyi.
This proved that the person Fan Xian was most on guard against after his rebirth was still the Emperor of Qing Kingdom. Perhaps this was a remnant from history or an instinct of his subconscious mind, but he was unwilling to show his trump card to the Emperor.
Even in the current situation, in which he and the Emperor were tied tightly together and were about to welcome the strongest enemies in the world, he still did not want the Emperor to know that the chest was at his side.
He, like Chen Pingping, did not know the Emperor's trump card. He didn't know what reaction the Emperor would have after learning that he had such a killing machine.
This kind of thinking influenced Fan Xian's decision. Thus, he had sunk into his present dangerous situation. Fortunately, he had not died by the arrows or sword. If the story of the dance tonight below the precipice, black arrows, and swing of the sword spread under heaven, everyone's acknowledgement of Fan Xian would reach another level.
A Great Grandmaster and the most powerful ninth-level ace in the world were unable to kill Fan Xian. This was enough for him to be boastful.
The Tyrannical zhenqi in his body valiantly provided the necessary nutrients his body needed. Being unable to breathe air, he wouldn't be able to last too long. Fan Xian's nose was no longer bleeding or was the injury on his shoulder, which had already turned white in the sea water like the belly of a dead fish. A glimmer of unswerving determination flashed across his deathly pale face. His right hand went down again and picked up a large rock from the bottom of the ocean.
For now, he didn't float up. Instead, he chose a stupid method he had learned from watching Huo Yuanjia in his previous life.
At that time, Huo Yuanjia was walking across the bottom of a lake while, whereas Fan Xian was walking across the bottom of the ocean. Holding onto the large rock, he used the weight of the stone to steady his body so that it did not waver under the attack by the hidden currents at the bottom of the ocean. He walked determinedly forward along the sandy bottom but did not follow the shoreline to try and get onshore and break through the blockade.
There were aces blocking on both sides of Dong Mountain. He could not be sure that the remnants of his zhenqi could support him for very long walking underwater. So, he chose the closest path, which would allow him to rise out of the ocean.
He walked to a position below the ships of the Jiaozhou Navy. Raising his head, he opened his eyes and glanced calmly at the bottom of the boat, which was slightly darker than the color of the sea water. A powerful desire to escape danger heightened all his senses to the point that he could even see the lichen and barnacles on the bottom of the wooden ship clearly.
He let go of the heavy stone. The stone did not make much noise landing on the bottom of the ocean. It only stirred up some mud and sand. Fan Xian slowly drew two half circles and carried out one last adjustment to his breath before relaxing his body and rising up as naturally as possible with the buoyancy of the water. He was terrified of alerting Governor Yan, who had eyes like an eagle, ears like a shark, and a nose like a dog.
Maintaining the rigidity of driftwood and the sensation of deadwood, Fan Xian slowly floated to the bottom of the military boat. He carefully moved toward the outside of the bottom of the ship. He still didn't poke his head out of the water. He carefully watched for movement on this boat through 10 centimeters of water.
It was a gamble. The reason he had chosen this ship was because Yan Xiaoyi had not fired from this boat. However, if the helper he was looking for was not on this ship, Fan Xian could only dive again to try his luck on another boat. He didn't know if he would be able to make it to another boat at that time.
Fortunately, his luck was pretty good.
A wicked smile rose to Fan Xian's deathly pale face as he floated in the sea. He thought to himself that his luck in this lifetime was truly incomparable.
He saw a hand on the ship's railing. The hand hung very naturally outside of the railing and was lightly tapping without sound, maintaining a steady but strange rhythm.
…
…
There were five naval ships moving slowly on the surface of the sea. Under the light of the moon, these ships looked like demons looking for prey. Slicing across the water, they were prepared to pin a prey at the bottom of the ocean to death at any moment.
There were another three boats far away from this group. They maintained a relatively larger distance. They were responsible for taking over as well as keeping an eye on a larger area.
On one of the ships, the light in the middle cabin was very dim. The Jiaozhou Navy captain responsible for this ship was Xu Maocai. He was sitting coldly in a heavy chair. Two of his three trusted soldiers were outside the cabin on guard duty. One of them was responsible for making contact with the navy's flagship.