Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 53 Against the Wind! The Chase at Sea

Wang Cheng twisted his waist and abdomen, unleashing explosive force. The slightly curved blade rubbed against the scabbard, sparking tiny sparks, before suddenly shooting out like gunpowder exploding.

Sword Drawing Style: Cloud Dragon Probing Claw.

His bear-skin cloak billowed out like dark clouds, and the gleaming blade of the precious sword Chiwen was like a bolt of lightning across the sky, aimed straight for Monkey Two's eyes.

His life force is pure Yang, and he is unleashing its full power!

Monkey Two and the "monkey trainer" behind him who was performing a ritual both experienced illusions almost simultaneously, as if a dragon were truly descending from the dark clouds with its claws.

Stab it--!
The slash was so fast that Monkey Two had no time to react. He had just closed his eyes and tried to use his muscles to block the blade when the tip of the knife struck his right eye.

The muscles and bones of the palm can stop a lead bullet, but that doesn't mean thin eyelids can stop the blade of a dragon.

Blood splattered, and he went blind in one eye on the spot.

If it hadn't been for its timely, instinctive backward lean to dodge, that divinely inspired slash might have already pierced its skull and shattered its brain!
Monkey Two squeaked and staggered backward, no longer caring about destroying the mainmast that was already within reach.

At the same time, Han Shushu, a seventh-rank official known as "Hai Laozi," also caught up.

Taking advantage of its small size, it dodged a hairy, thick arm, then with a quick twist and a spring, swung its double hammers from Monkey Two's blind spot, slamming them hard into its ribs.

The warhammer is a heavy weapon specifically designed to pierce armor. Its hammer force can penetrate the armor directly, causing internal injuries. Even if a monkey with the "Monkey in a Crown" skill is strong, it cannot protect its fragile internal organs.

He then coughed up a mouthful of blood with a loud "whoosh".

Another flash of light came from Wang Cheng's hand. With a rolling slash, the blade left a deep bloody gash between Monkey Two's chest and abdomen, almost disemboweling it.

Most monsters in this world have to be reincarnated into human form in order to take on human form, so their physical strength is naturally not beyond the realm of reason.

It dared to stand up to the matchlock gun before because there was only one gun on the other side. If there had been a whole musket squad that could calmly form a firing formation, it would have been riddled with bullets.

"squeak--!"

Having suffered repeated blows, the monkey's animalistic instincts gradually regained control, and it let out a sharp cry, almost trying to break free from the control of the "monkey trainer."

But it's only almost.

The calming headband, with just a slight tightening and loosening, caused the object excruciating pain, forcing it to give up its resistance.

Upon discovering that the enemy had quietly circled behind it, the thick tail swept out in a sweeping motion, almost producing a sonic boom at the end, like a whip.

Having learned from Hou Yong's example, Wang Cheng had long been on guard against this move.

In addition, with the "Eye in the Brain" ability, one can avoid being attacked from behind even with eyes closed.

Evasion Technique: Hidden Dragon Turns!
With its toes touching the ground, it used the gust of wind generated by its tail to dodge the attack with a quick twist.

After landing smoothly, instead of retreating, it lunged forward, exhaled loudly, and slashed down at the base of Monkey Two's tail with the Chiwen sword in its hand.

"Squeak!"

A thick tail writhed wildly on the deck like a snake.

In his excruciating pain, Monkey Two flailed his arms wildly, snapping several cables on the mainmast and tearing a hole in it.

Then, with a "plop," he jumped into the sea and swam desperately toward the sailing warship that was getting closer and closer.

Clearly, seeing their operations repeatedly fail, the "monkey showman" on the other side, who was performing a ritual, was also afraid of accidentally losing the precious treasure.

The reason why the "Stabilizing Golden Hoop" cannot exert an overwhelming advantage here is because Monkey King's foundation is too poor, not because his treasure is bad.

If he were to sacrifice his own treasure for the overall interests of the Gentlemen Group, how could he face the ancestors of all generations?
At that point, I'm afraid I'll feel like committing suicide on the spot.

Wang Cheng and Han Shushu didn't have much desire to seize the spoils of war. Now that an insurmountable crisis was looming, their priority was to find a way to save their lives.

The matter is now quite clear.

Pu Shouying, having failed with one plan, devised another. He made an alliance with the traitor in Wufeng Banner to capture Han Shushu and, incidentally, eliminate Wang Cheng, thus killing two birds with one stone and removing the obstacles in Yuegang.

Take over this world trade center.

"Shouldn't the usual tactic be to use piecemeal tactics, slowly feeding the enemy away?"

Is it really reasonable to start with this level of intensity?!

The two of them looked at the enormous creature that had emerged from the wind and snow, and both felt a sense of suffocation.

With its enormous sails, far exceeding the height of the Fujian-style ships, and its menacing cannons spewing flames, there was simply no way to confront it head-on.

If the Zhang Fushun were a warship of the same or even one class lower than the enemy, Wang Cheng’s first order would definitely be: Fight the wind!
Seize the upwind position and use the longer range and more favorable wind direction to engage their artillery in a firefight.

Unfortunately, Zhang Fushun was just a fishing boat, and its only means of combat was boarding and jumping over the enemy's ships. Bows and arrows and crossbows were barely enough to keep it afloat.

However, sending a group of Tanka people who had only recently begun fishing to fight hand-to-hand with a group of well-trained elite Wufeng Banner soldiers would likely result in the loss of all their hard-earned resources. The most correct, and only, option now is:

"run!"

Without giving them a chance to hesitate, Wang Cheng jumped off Han Xingfa's path, leaving Han Shushu with a message:
"Junior Sister Han, on the high seas, whoever has more cannons is stronger. Even if our two ships are combined, we still can't beat them."

Run in different directions! I'll try to hold them off for a while, buying you some time.

Han Shushu was not some delicate, sentimental young lady, and at the crucial moment, she didn't whine or say, "I'm not leaving, if we have to leave, we'll leave together."

Yet she also knew the dangers of stopping a sailing warship, her large eyes glistening with tears as she bit her pale lower lip hard.
"Senior Brother Wang, please take care!"

It was at this moment that the glorious image of [Chao Feng Lang], who "kept his word and never went back on his word," was completely embodied in her heart.

This "Senior Brother Wang" not only saved her life, but also nipped a conspiracy that could have overthrown Moon Harbor in the bud.

Faced with crisis, instead of following the wise saying "You don't need to outrun the enemy, you only need to outrun your teammates," he chose to stay behind to cover the rear.

In Han Shushu's eyes, Wang Cheng was shining brightly!

He secretly vowed that if he could escape this time, he would make his uncles and other relatives reward him handsomely.

"Quickly, adjust the direction against the wind!"

"Everyone, stay alert! The mole is no longer on the ship. It's still snowing heavily, and visibility is low. As long as we create enough distance, we have a chance to escape."

Encouraged by Han Shushu, the "Han Xingfa," with its foremast broken and its mainsail torn, stumbled and lurched downwind.

Fortunately, Fujian ships used rigid sails, so even with a hole, they could still be used.

If they had used Western soft sails, the entire sail could have been torn apart by the strong winds, and they would have been left to die.

The Zhang Fushun, however, went against the tide and stood firmly in front of the sailing warship.

Of course, it's not a stupid blockade.

"Burn incense and pray!"

Incense craftsman Zhang Wen led the crew in bowing to the ship goddess Tianfei and Prince Jing, drawing upon the power of the spirits to activate the solidified ability of the lion-headed board: [Majesty].
"When the enemy sees the lion-headed board during battle, they will be filled with fear, their fighting strength will be weakened, and the probability of making mistakes will greatly increase."

If the gunners on the sailing warship wanted to hit the Zhang Fushun, they had to use their eyes to aim, and they couldn't avoid the lion-headed plank on the ship.

Due to the effect of [Majesty], the already low hit rate of the muzzle-loading smoothbore cannon was further reduced.

"Hmph, a death throes!"
The eldest daughter of the Han family's boat is damaged and can't go far, so let's deal with the target in front of us first.

"Get close and fire!"

On the aft deck of the sailing warship [Zi Ying], a young man dressed as a craftsman glanced at Monkey Two, who had returned to his original form after escaping to his ship, then waved his hand, and the warship accelerated toward Zhang Fushun.

Regardless of their profession, officials in all three ranks can only advance by continuously fulfilling their duties in their official positions and accumulating external skills.

For example: [Night Fragrance Boy] must diligently empty the chamber pot; [West Lake Boat Girl] must strive to entertain guests and provide them with emotional value; [Executioner] must keep beheading.
Those in the Water Ranks are destined to remain on the vast ocean, which is filled with all sorts of evil spirits and malevolent entities.

Coupled with the high attrition rate of the top three ranks of officials, the water collection lineage suffered a severe loss of elites.

Not all ship captains in merchant and pirate groups, including those of the Five Peaks Flag, were water officers.

Take Cui Sheng, the captain of the ship "Zi Ying", for example. He is a stonemason, a local official who practices the Lu Ban method. He belongs to the stone industry among the three industries of mud, stone and wood.

"I don't know if I've been incompatible with curse magic lately, it's like I've stirred up trouble with Lu Ban's magic."

Not only are their methods difficult to deal with, but they also possess a cursed stone technique. When they fire cursed stone projectiles from cannons, the projectiles explode like exploding shells.

On the ship 【Zhang Fushun】, Wang Cheng was also looking at this side with a brass telescope.

He shifted his gaze from the stonemason Cui Sheng to observe the other crew members.

Most of the crew on this sailing warship were short-statured Japanese.

Although small in stature, they had fierce appearances, and many of them carried samurai swords, clearly indicating that they were wandering samurai from some feudal state.

The Five Peaks Banner established the East Sea Kingdom in Yingzhou. Relying on its monopoly on arms and its biased and muddying-the-waters approach, it had a bit of the air of a retired emperor of the Sixty-Six Kingdoms. Naturally, it had many Japanese under its command.

However, this purely personnel configuration made it impossible for Wang Cheng to discern their origins or guess the identity of the mole behind them.

boom! boom! boom!
Wang Cheng, braving artillery fire, issued the order:

"Go upwind! Let's get the wind and run north!"

(End of this chapter)