Chapter 619 Enablers
After a short while, a trio of relatively large battle ships that became tiny in comparison, approached the Fortress Ship that Wu Long and his ladies traveled on.
"This is the naval territory of the Island Kingdom of Lihai, please identify yourselves and your purpose of visit", a voice resounded from one of the ships, slightly nervous in the beginning as the one speaking likely first cleared his throat a few times before using a volume-amplifying array.
"Heh, as expected of a Naval Kingdom", Wu Long chuckled as Cao Xiang's sailors started exchanging a dialogue with the patrol ships far below and in the distance, him and his ladies watching while standing at the edge of the terrace.
The subsequent dialogue was more of a formality, as the Kingdom did not restrict the waterway, the patrol only collecting a toll and making sure it was not a military invasion from one of the continent nations, subsequently notifying the Kingdom about the incoming ship's presence.
Rather, part of this Kingdom's revenue was tourism from the wealthy and middle-income people of the Wood Spirit Empire, so a ship coming into their waters was nothing new.
They just never saw such a giant ship, which clearly was a war ship, but its peaceful appearance and approach threw them off.
Wu Long could see the shifty eyes of one of the vice-captains eyeing the ship and its crew while his captain was going over the details and formalities with Cao Xiang's right hand man.
A wry smile touched Wu Long's lips, which didn't escape the sight of his beauties who looked more closely at the few people from the patrol ship that came onboard.
"A Lust Cultivator...", Shen Min's pupils narrowed at the sight of the man as Wu Long nodded. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝔀𝓮𝘣𝘯𝘰𝘷𝑒𝓵.𝒸𝑜𝘮
"He's likely one of the network of spies to check the incoming ships for potential prey. Once in a while a ship or two would disappear in these waters, after all", he said as she turned to him with a question in her eyes, to which he answered with a chuckle "Haha, no need to make a fuss and get into odds with the Royal Navy at this moment, not to mention that he will make our search easier. We can always deal with him later"
"But are they going to risk it?", Hua Ziyan asked next, as she understood from his words that if this man reported, Lust Cultivators would likely approach them first, without the need to search for them. However, the ship was too formidable, and the crew required just for it to be navigated was like a small army.
Even if they visibly made the security look weak, and made all members of the crew conceal their cultivations, this was still a risky affair.
"Hehe, they won't have a choice", Wu Long chuckled as he turned to a different corner of the upper deck.
About three dozen extremely attractive young maidens with seemingly eye-catching but not too intimidating cultivation bases came out to enjoy the sea breeze there.
The Frozen Garden Palace has actually traveled on this ship in full force from the very beginning, mostly spending their time in cultivation chambers filled with Spiritual Qi of the Secret Realm.
They were working on their cultivation for the majority, who still have to reach Mortal Transcendence Realm, and others who already reached that level circulating special techniques to increase how much Yin Qi they could accumulate.
They were unable to participate in the previous battle with the cultists due to the urgency with which it was necessary to move, but were quite eager to show their worth in the upcoming cleansing of Lust Cultivators.
As soon as the gaze of the patrol officer of the Royal Navy fell onto the ladies, he froze, as his widened eyes filled with bewilderment, greed and lust.
The Lust Cultivator first seemingly doubted himself, as he closed his eyes and rubbed them with both hands, opening them again only to confirm that what he saw was not a product of his fantasy.
"See? Now they won't be able to look the other way", Wu Long chuckled as the ladies around him revealed wry smiles, something in his expression reminding them of a fishing enthusiast that just got a big one to chew on the hook.
The inspection and entrance procedures were finished, and the patrol ship distanced from the Fortress Ship that started gaining speed and traveled past the patrol zone into the territorial waters of the Island Kingdom of Lihai.
The Kingdom itself did not only include the main island, but all the small islands of the Eastern Sea, boasting the best navy in and around of the Three Continents, as well as abundant sea traffic that became apparent as soon as they approached the first of the small islands they saw on the horizon and circled its coastal line to move deeper into the Kingdom's territory.
This was historically the most ancient of the countries, as its history boasted more than nine thousand years, unlike the Empires that only had a bit more than three thousand, and has always maintained its independence as well as relative distance from the politics of the continents.
This also made the Hong Dynasty that governed it the longestruling line of descent to exist.
They soon started encountering numerous small ships and even fruit boats that were traveling in between the numerous small islands.
Wu Long could sense quite a few intense stares toward the ship from some of the 'fruit merchants' that approached trying to 'do business'.
On a night after entering the waters of the Lihai Kingdom, the ship was quietly approached by smaller fast ships, hundreds of them.
The night ambush, however, ended in complete failure as the ladies of the Frozen Garden Palace subdued all assailants with ease, the boats that were trying to get away sunk with no mercy as the crew was pierced by so many Spiritual Qi icicles, that they resembled hedgehogs for a moment until the images made of Spiritual Qi started to dissipate as they floated on the water.
"Heh, not so dumb after all", Wu Long chuckled as he saw the people who were forced to kneel on the deck.
"Mercenaries?", Shen Min asked since she knew the moment she saw them that these people were not Lust Cultivators.
"No, pirates, the real ones", Wu Long shook his head.
"Then maybe unrelated?", Hua Ziyan asked as he repeated the motion.
"No, they were given our information. Not to mention that their leader reminded his crew to not harm the 'goods' before embarking our ship", Wu Long's words caused the leader of the pirates to raise a look full of shock to him.
"The bait was good but the ship still is too intimidating, so they tested the waters first... no, they always used these pirates...", he traced his chin in thought, discerningthe accuracy of his guesses from the reactions of the trapped men to his words.
He then shrugged his shoulders with "no matter, they can't run far anyway", and turning away made a motion with his hand "Butler Bang, take the leader and his deputy, as well as a dozen of higher-level men, and find out their point of contact, where do they hand over the women, and anything else of use"
"Yes, Young Master. Guanting, Mister Kwon, if you will...", Butler Bang made a light bow, and then the two he called, as well as a few other subordinates went to pick up the key members of the pirate crew, escorting them away to the lower decks.
"What about these?", Qiu Yilao asked pointing at the other subdued pirates.
"Dispose, but don't dirty your hands with them, just cripple their cultivations and leave them swimming here", he said with not much interest to their fates, as the faces of the pirates turned pale with horror as they turned to the dark waters of the night sea.
This area was too far from any land, and littered with corpses, so not only sharks, but Demonic Sea Beasts would soon swarm the vicinity as well.
The beauty nodded, turning to the Frozen Garden Palace members and raising her hand as shrieks and cries begging for mercy rose into the night sky.
"Sometimes, enablers are even more hateful than the culprits", Wu Long said under his nose while walking away as Shen Min nodded with agreement beside him.
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If the fate of pirates and the words about enablers feel personal... it's because it is ^^
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