Star Gate

Chapter 509: Pirates (II)

A man wearing a mask walked out from behind the white-robed Aloof when the crowd stampeded out.

“You know that Hou Xiaochen is cunning and will certainly have laid contingency plans for his absence,” he rasped. “It’s not logical to let Sea Shark go to Silver Moon!”

“We would not be pirates if we were logical!” answered Aloof. “Sea Shark was about to mutiny if I kept him down any longer. Must we wait for him to rebel and then kill each other?”

Mask Face quieted, opting to give a simple reminder. “General White, this naval unit is very useful to us. Don’t lose too many of your troops. Although Sea Shark is short-tempered, he’s strong and ferocious in battle. The White Shark Guards are also an important provider of sea treasures for us...”

“I don’t need you to remind me of that,” replied White Shark. “If you’re uneasy, you can follow them in secret. Be careful and keep your distance. You can leave them alone if no problems develop, and you’ll be able to reinforce them in time if anything does crop up.

“They shouldn’t run into issues so long as they don’t head to White Moon City. If Sea Shark keeps his head in the face of temptation and leaves Silver Moon when he should, I don’t foresee us having any problems.”

Mask Face thought for a bit before nodding. “Then I’ll take people with me to prevent anything untoward from developing.” He changed the subject from Sea Shark. “There’s orders from upstairs for us to consolidate all of the pirate factions in the North Sea as soon as possible...”

“I know, but it’s not that simple!” White Shark frowned. “There’s seven renowned factions among the North Sea pirates, we make for eight. Each of them has a Nova in residence and some of them have major monster spirits supporting them from the waters. They’re incredibly thorny opponents!”

He represented the White Shark Raiders and while they were strong, they were only ranked number four. The three factions ahead of them were formidable and boasted a peak Nova each in their ranks. They would be extremely difficult to bring to heel!

White Shark scratched his head irritably, but knew that with the strength that upstairs represented, he would be in grave trouble if he didn’t accept. That he was in the middle of the sea didn’t change that fact.

“I’ll need some support if I’m to consolidate everyone. The others might have their own patrons as well. Pirates of the North Sea are so bloodthirsty that it’s tough for us to reach our current development without support from land. According to what I know, the Sea Monster Raiders might be secretly backed by the Near River Director General Office...”

“The Near River Director General Office?” snorted Mask Face. “You can ignore that one! The one in Near River has just made it to metamorphosis and that province possesses fewer than a dozen Novas. He’s certainly ambitious. He should consider the fact that there’s three northern provinces in front of him and Silver Moon behind him. What right does his Near River have to establish itself? He even wants independence! The day he does is the day he invites his own death!”

Mask Face was quite derisive of the Near River sovereign.

“He’s reached metamorphosis?” White Shark was puzzled. “That’s very fast... General Kou didn’t manage it...”

“I don’t know.” Mask Face shook his head. “Perhaps someone’s supporting him from the shadows. This is intelligence that I’ve received from above. They want to let him grow stronger, possibly so he can stand against Silver Moon and restrict their expansion!”

Near River neighbored Silver Moon—the latter was an exceedingly important place that various sides had started making plans for a long time ago.

White Shark frowned without saying a word.

“You don’t need to think too much,” Mask Face continued. “You don’t need to worry about backers in the dark either. You should focus your efforts on consolidating the factions in the sea. Only when you hold the North Sea in your grasp can you exercise control over the entire north...”

White Shark didn’t pay much attention to these words. The other thought far too highly of the White Shark Raiders if he expected them to seal off the North Sea. Sea bandits were sea bandits after all. There wasn’t anything that a pirate force could do to stop the nineteen northern provinces if the latter really wanted to enter the central region.

“Ah yes...” A thought struck Mask Face. “I hear that Yuan Shuo’s disciple, Li Hao, the heir to the eight families, is still in White Moon City. If we can capture Li Hao, then we should do so! He’s very important and wields a precious treasure. Red Moon’s been keeping an eye on him too. It’s not just the treasure that’s valuable, but that the person is key as well!”

White Shark inclined his head without offering a response. He would not go if the boy was in White Moon City. The possibility would only cross his mind if the young man left the city. Therefore, he didn’t care about anything Mask Face said; he simply made the right sounds. White Moon certainly had more powerhouses in residence. As strong as White Shark is, he didn’t have the confidence to fight someone of Hou Xiaochen’s level.

Mask Face spoke a bit more before leaving to collect men to follow Sea Shark. The latter was strong enough that he shouldn’t be allowed to perish in Silver Moon.

......

At the same time.

Li Hao breathed out heavily after he finished reading some files. Who would’ve thought that there would be so many pirates in the North Sea? According to information left by Golden Spear and the others, there were a hundred pirate factions in the extensive north sea. Eight of them dominated and had Novas in residence—with even peak Novas in some.

The Silver Moon Guards had met one of the more famous factions two years ago—the White Shark Raiders. Their leader White Shark was an extremely formidable person. He hadn’t been present in person at the last encounter, just their third commander who was another Nova powerhouse.

The three leaders of the White Shark Raiders were all Novas. There were ten thousand members of this pirate faction and the third commander had led a thousand people to raid White Moon City. The Silver Moon Guards rebuffed them; Golden Spear almost killed the guy. Sadly, he managed to escape.

The Guards suffered high casualties in the skirmish, but it also meant that the faction didn’t dare trespass in the Moon Sea for the next two years.

“Are there really so many Novas in the seas?”

Just a pirate faction alone possessed three Nova commanders. Li Hao furrowed his brows. How many Novas were there to be found in the entire North Sea then? And how were they so strong?

After a while, the young man narrowed his eyes in thought. Perhaps... it wasn’t just the bandits in the seas, but also some characters supporting them from the shadows. Whether it was to highlight their own importance by permitting enemies to prosper or having other schemes in mind... Li Hao had long come to his own conclusions about these large factions, important personages, and famous clans.

None of them were anything good! Why else would so many Novas choose to be pirates? They would be a sovereign of any place they settled in on land. They could also join the three great organizations or nine ministries. It would be a decent life in that case.

These people might not be able to hold themselves in check after the director’s departure... Should I bring the fight to them?

Li Hao pondered over his next steps and came to the decision that he could go take a look. He’d yet to truly explore the deep blue himself as well. It’d be nice to get his bearings in the sea. This task fell to him since he was still here. The young man suddenly regretted not leaving with Hou Xiaochen. If he had, the wily foxes in Silver Moon could just play among themselves.

......

The plaza of the barracks.

It was already night by the time Li Hao emerged from the warehouses. This was the first day of Hou Xiaochen’s departure. The Demon Hunters were still training. They worked very hard, possibly out of habit, or possibly having been inspired after witnessing Li Hao’s strength.

Whether it was the Sword Sect or the Inspectorate, these people all had very humble identities. Some were orphans, some were regular people in society, others had accidentally come in contact with martial dao and progressed from there. Aside from Hong Qing, they were all from the bottom rungs of society. No one’s status was that high and not even Hong Qing felt special from her background. Apart from extra affection from Hong Yitang when she grew, she wasn’t treated differently in the Sword Sect.

She had to wash her own clothes and make her own food, a far cry from the young miss that one might imagine. Therefore, she didn’t halt her daily cultivation goals when everyone trained. She worked diligently despite having recently comprehended the aura.

The group paused when Li Hao approached them. The young man studied them thoughtfully.

“In staying behind, we have automatically accepted a mission to strengthen the coastal defenses! The pirates are the enemy we need to face. You guys might not be familiar with them...”

“I know about them!” called out a Sword Sect disciple through clenched teeth. “I’m from the North Sea, we were once invaded by pirates! They committed all sorts of unspeakable horrors, burning down houses, killing, looting, and destroying cities for the fun of it. They slaughtered people for enjoyment! They’re complete animals!! The city I lived in before coming to the Sword Sect suffered one of their raids and was razed to the ground. Only some elderly, women, and children barely managed to survive the horrors...”

Li Hao hadn’t thought that he’d run into survivors of a pirate raid here! He was surprised, but quickly placed the disciple as someone that Hong Yitang had taken in from the North Sea. He’d grown up to become a martial master.

“Leader, I’ll be the first to sign up against the pirates!” snarled the young man. “But... I know how cruel they can be, how inhumane! Silver Moon doesn’t have many cities near the coast and has always been protected by the Silver Moon Guards, so the province doesn’t know much about the pirates. If you wish to fight them, leader, you must be careful and be on guard against them threatening us...”

“What kind of threats?” Li Hao raised an eyebrow.

“Razing cities!” The young man ground his teeth. “Never negotiate! The city I was in had supernaturals protecting it, but the pirate leader threatened our supernaturals. If we surrendered, they would only loot our valuables. If we resisted, the city would be destroyed! Our supernaturals felt that we couldn’t stand against the enemy and elected to accept those terms. And then... we all died, no one was spared!”

“How can one compromise when the enemy is at the gates...” Li Hao blinked.

“That’s right...” answered the morose young man. “But people were still afraid when faced with the cruel and mighty pirates. They didn’t dare risk their lives and hoped that the pirates would leave after filling their pockets. Killing wouldn’t be of use to them—we didn’t have that many supernaturals. It was mostly mundanes, and what was the point of killing mundanes?”

Such were the thoughts shared by many people. I pose no threat to you and have more valuables, what would you kill me for?

But... would pirates by pirates if they listened to reason and spoke of humanity? They killed for fun! It was pure satisfaction to see a moment’s worth of despair and hear a pained wail.