Volume 6: Stealing is Plundering - Chapter 10: The Gathering Storm (Part Two)

Hearing Anna say this, Jing'er nodded repeatedly with joy and pulled Kuang Chi into a nearby grand hall. Finding a suitable spot inside, she settled in to watch the excitement.

Kuang Chi had no objections either, as such an opportunity was not something he had ever encountered before. Having the chance to observe a sparring match between Martial Sovereigns made him very happy as well.

On both sides of the plaza stood several people, with no other onlookers present. Including the four currently fighting, there were barely over a dozen people in the entire plaza. Among them were the three Martial Sovereigns from the Kuang family whom Kuang Chi had met previously, who called themselves the Three Scoundrels Young Masters.

However, the three men's plan was clearly unrealistic. Before the three of them could even stand firmly, one of the individuals who was evidently from the Piaofeng Empire's Hall of Revered Masters turned around, looked toward the hall where Kuang Chi and his companions were standing, and called out, "Little Princess, why haven't you brought our distinguished guests over yet?"

Upon hearing this, Jing'er froze for a moment, then casually remarked, "Well, the show's over; we've been spotted."

Anna even stuck her tongue out at Jing'er, and the three of them had no choice but to obediently walk out of the hall.

Seeing the three of them emerge, the combatants promptly stopped fighting and returned to their respective sides.

Kuang Sanpi, one of the Three Scoundrels Young Masters, let out a series of strange cries the moment he saw Kuang Chi. "I say, Young Master, how is it that you don't even know how to dodge? We finally had a chance to get a fight going, and look—now the fun is ruined."

Anna was clearly very familiar with Kuang Sanpi. As soon as he finished speaking, she made a funny face at him and retorted, "Grandpa Sanpi, how can you blame us? Who told you guys to be so formidable? We wanted to hide, but we simply couldn't!"

Before anyone else could interject, one of the members of the Piaofeng Empire's Hall of Revered Masters let out a cold snort and said, "Alright, stop babbling here. Go right back where you came from; this place does not welcome a bunch of lunatics like you."

With that, he turned around and strode away, and the rest followed suit. One of them even glared fiercely at Jing'er, making her expression extremely unsightly.

Moments later, Jing'er acted just like a lit firecracker. Ignoring Kuang Chi, she marched swiftly up to the seven Kuang family Martial Sovereigns who were still standing in place, and demanded, "Seniors, take a look at what has been made of this place again! Didn't I tell you that Fatty was in deep meditation? Why did you insist on charging into the imperial palace? Are you doing this just to embarrass me on purpose?"

Before Jing'er could continue, the eldest of the Three Scoundrels Young Masters smiled warmly, took out a small, greenish-blue wooden box from his robe, and tossed it directly to her, saying with a grin, "I'll give this to you, little Jing'er. Are you satisfied now?"

Without even looking at it, Jing'er caught it with a smile, tucked it straight into her robe, and then addressed him sweetly, "Thank you, Grandpa Dapi."

The rapid change in her attitude before and after left Kuang Chi shaking his head and sticking out his tongue as he walked up from behind. However, Anna refused to let it go. Before Kuang Chi could even speak, she approached with a grievance-laden expression and said, "Grandpa Dapi is playing favorites!"

Seeing this posture, Kuang Da Pi quickly looked toward his two brothers. Kuang Sanpi evidently doted on Anna immensely; he hastily reached into his robe and pulled out a greenish-blue wooden box identical to the one Kuang Dapi had just given Jing'er, handing it over while laughing, "How are we playing favorites? Isn't yours right here?"

Anna snatched it away in a flash, then imitated Jing'er and said sweetly to Kuang Sanpi, "Thank you, Grandpa Sanpi."

The sudden shift in both of their attitudes caused Kuang Chi to shake his head inwardly. He then quickly stepped forward and bowed to the seven figures, saying, "Your grandson Kuang Chi pays his respects to the seven seniors."

At this moment, a sturdy, middle-aged man with white hair who had not spoken until now smiled and said, "Not bad. You've actually broken through to the seventh layer of the Kuang Dragon Art."

The other six also nodded repeatedly, clearly very satisfied with Kuang Chi's cultivation realm.

Before Kuang Chi could respond, Jing'er chimed in, "Seven grandpas, this is no place to talk. Let's head back to the spacecraft and discuss it there."

All seven of them nodded in agreement.

Returning to the Phantom Pirate Ship, Kuang Chi discovered that inside the vessel, in addition to the Demonic Sect Holy Maiden draped in her usual black cloak, there were now over a dozen other individuals dressed in identical attire whose cultivation had clearly reached the level of Martial Sovereigns. Furthermore, there were more than a dozen Martial Sovereign-tier experts from the Kuang family as well.

After the group seated themselves in a spacious hall within the ship, the Demonic Sect Holy Maiden took the initiative to speak, asking, "May I ask when the Young Master intends to set sail for the Divine Resentment Star Domain?"

Kuang Chi did not answer immediately. Instead, he glanced at the more than twenty Martial Sovereign experts from his family sitting on his side and said, "We will set sail whenever everyone decides. I am unfamiliar with and do not understand the Divine Resentment Star Domain, so I will leave it to all of you to decide. I have no opinion."

The Demonic Sect Holy Maiden nodded, ignoring Kuang Chi thereafter, and instead looked directly at a small, thin elderly man seated to Kuang Chi's right who appeared to be dozing. Clearly, this group of over twenty Kuang family Martial Sovereigns took this man as their leader.

Seeing the Demonic Sect Holy Maiden look over, the old man did not even open his eyes. He merely stated calmly, "Let us wait a few more days. Some others from our family are still on their way here."

The Demonic Sect Holy Maiden seemed to ponder for a moment before speaking with deep respect, "Senior Saber Sovereign, you once traveled alone to the Netherworld Soul Sea. Could you tell us what the true situation inside the Netherworld Soul Sea is like?"

Kuang Chi knew very little about the Martial Sovereign seniors of his own family; in fact, he had never even heard of them before. He had no idea what background the old man—whom even the Demonic Sect Holy Maiden addressed with such respect—came from, but anyone who commanded such reverence from her could hardly be an ordinary person.

Moreover, judging by these words, the old man sitting right beside him had actually traveled entirely alone to their destination, the Netherworld Soul Sea.

The old man, his eyes still half-closed, simply replied in a faint voice, "The situation inside cannot be described with mere words. Only when you witness it with your own eyes will you truly understand what is going on there."

With that, he said nothing more.

At this point, Kuang Dapi of the Three Scoundrels Young Masters suddenly spoke up, "Holy Maiden, didn't your Demonic Sect frequently visit the Netherworld Soul Sea back when you possessed the Netherworld Ships? Could it be that you don't know the situation inside either?"

The Demonic Sect Holy Maiden shook her head and replied, "The secret texts and archives contain no descriptions regarding the Netherworld Soul Sea."

After a brief pause, she suddenly turned to Kuang Chi and asked, "Young Master Kuang, is this Phantom Pirate Ship of yours much larger in scale than the original vessel?"

Kuang Chi nodded and answered casually, "In terms of scale, it should be nearly half as large again."

Only after speaking did Kuang Chi notice that the atmosphere in the cabin had grown somewhat oppressive. After a long silence, the Demonic Sect Holy Maiden turned back to the old man on Kuang Chi's right and asked, "Senior Saber Sovereign, do you think a ship of this size can pass through the Divine Realm Star Domain to reach the Netherworld Soul Sea?"

Kuang Chi asked the Demonic Sect Holy Maiden with some puzzlement, "What's wrong? Is it bad that it's larger?"

Before the Demonic Sect Holy Maiden could reply, the old man on the right spoke up, "The passage explored by the Demonic Sect over tens of thousands of years has certain sections through which this current spacecraft obviously cannot pass."

"Ah," Kuang Chi and Jing'er exclaimed in unison.

After a long moment, Jing'er asked, "What should we do then? Had we known, we wouldn't have expanded the hull in the first place."

The Demonic Sect Holy Maiden then chimed in, "Being large has its advantages, too. This spacecraft of yours doesn't seem all that ordinary either; at the very least, I have never seen or heard of hull materials of such toughness."

The Saber Sovereign at the side also nodded, adding, "Size has its advantages as well. It allows for the installation of more advanced equipment currently available, and the collection range once inside the Netherworld Soul Sea will be even wider."

Kuang Chi looked at Jing'er and continued, "There is still a lot of equipment on the ship that we haven't had time to install."

The Demonic Sect Holy Maiden replied, "We have already heard about this from Princess Jing'er. The batch of equipment we are procuring on your behalf is already on its way here."

Pausing for a second, she added, "Consider this equipment as part of our payment for boarding the ship to the Netherworld Soul Sea."

At this moment, the Saber Sovereign suddenly intervened, saying, "I imagine having just these things is still not enough. With the Demonic Sect's influence, acquiring a batch of high-威力 [high-power/high-yield] weapons shouldn't be a problem, right? And the Divine Resentment Star Domain is hardly a peaceful place; advanced goods like energy force fields should be something your Demonic Sect can arrange without any trouble as well."

The Demonic Sect Holy Maiden smiled as she looked toward Jing'er and said, "When it comes to weapons, I suppose no one here is more conveniently placed than Princess Jing'er. As for the energy shields, I had already anticipated that; they are already on their way from the Cosmic Federation."

Jing'er frowned, glanced around at everyone present, and finally said, "I do have some ways to get weapons, but we don't have the money to buy them."

With that, Jing'er looked toward the Martial Sovereigns beside her. A bizarre phenomenon suddenly manifested in the hall: all the Kuang family Martial Sovereigns turned their heads away in unison.

After a long pause, the Demonic Sect Holy Maiden let out a low chuckle and said, "The funds can be covered by our Demonic Sect. However, our sect would like to bring a few more people along. I wonder if Senior Saber Sovereign has any objections?"

The Saber Sovereign nodded directly. "No problem. After all, there are fewer than forty people from our Kuang family heading to the Netherworld Soul Sea this time."

Though the Saber Sovereign spoke lightly of "fewer than forty people," Jing'er gasped out loud upon hearing the number.

The Demonic Sect Holy Maiden then smiled and said, "Is Her Royal Highness the Princess surprised? The Kuang family has nothing else in abundance, but they certainly have plenty of Martial Sovereigns."

Hearing this, Jing'er nodded repeatedly, the look of astonishment on her face still lingering.

At this point, Kuang Chi suddenly remembered the promise he had made to Jing'er and chimed in, "Seniors, there is still one more matter I would like to ask for your help with. It might delay everyone for a few days."

Everyone looked over at Kuang Chi. He smiled and stated directly, "As you all know, I am currently very poor. However, I recently spotted a very good target, and I plan to pull off a heist. I must ask my seniors to lend a hand."

In an instant, everyone's expressions turned bizarre. The dozen or so members of the Demonic Sect were all hidden beneath cloaks, making their expressions impossible to see, but judging from the gazes piercing out from under their hoods, the shock they felt was extraordinary.

As for the Kuang family Martial Sovereigns, the expressions on their faces were wonderfully varied. Well over half of them were staring at Kuang Chi with their jaws dropped. Even the Saber Sovereign, who had kept his eyes closed the entire time, opened them to reveal a pair of eyes flashing with an eerie golden light, though he promptly shut them again immediately afterward.

After a long silence, following a series of dry coughs, the Saber Sovereign spoke, "Young Master, are you saying you want us to help you go commit robbery?"

Kuang Chi nodded righteously.