On the seventh day of the ship’s voyage, it had just passed an archipelago of islands on the border of the Western Xiliang. After making a brief rest stop to replenish at the shore, the ship set sail again. Every single person on the ship had been carefully selected by Jin Siyu out of Dayue’s elite. However, most of his Dayue soldiers were inexperienced with water, so the sailors and the boatmen had to be recruited from Xiliang at a high cost. Jin Siyu took serious precautions. At every port, he would replace all the sailors completely and hire an entirely new crew from the new location. This way, no way could follow him all the way to Dayue, other than that one chef— but that chef had caught his attention as soon as he arrived in Dayue. He had recruited the chef after eating at his restaurant several times, therefore the guy’s background was clean and beyond doubt. Thus, the whole ship was completely secured.
This night, the star was glittering in the sky. The two of them had finished their dinner in a harmonious atmosphere and were now leaning against the window , watching the passing scenery as their meal digested. Feng Zhi Wei was dressed in women’s clothing, her hair loose and scattered lazily– Jin Siyu had strictly forbidden anyone from coming within thirty feet of this room, so she had no fear of being discovered.
The slight breeze gently lifted Feng Zhi Wei’s long hair, sending strands of it brushing across Jin Siyu’s face. Instead of being overcome by the sea’s fishy smell, the fragrance of her hair was light and noble. The silky strands, soft as satin, caused Jin Siyu to slightly close his eyes when they brushed past him. In that instant, out of his control, an expression of a slight melancholy appeared on his face.
The moon was perfect and the stars gleamed and sparkled.
The waves are like lovers’ whispers, noisy and gentle at the same time, swirling and echoing tenderly between the rocks.
“I say…” Feng Zhi Wei suddenly spoke, breaking the intoxicating silence of the moment, “How many days has it been since we left?”
She didn’t ask where they were, she asked how many days they had been traveling. Jin Siyu found the question vaguely odd but didn’t think much of it. After thinking for a moment, he replied, “Six days?”
Feng Zhi Wei let out a hummed sound, and after a bit of pause, asked again, “This is a fast ship, right?”
Jin Siyu smiled and said, “Of course, it would take an ordinary ship about eight days.”
“Yes.” Feng Zhi Wei lowered her head, seemingly calculating something. She muttered to herself, “Then it should be about that time.”
“What did you say?” Jin Siyu didn’t catch her words and turned his head to ask.
As he tilted his head, he saw the woman’s eyes glimmering like the moonlight, and behind that moonlight, the sea surged and rolled. His heart trembled, instinctively feeling a sense of foreboding. He immediately backed away but a *click* had already sounded on his right hand that had been resting on the window. He looked down and saw that at some point, a steel ring had popped out from the edge of the window and locked around his wrist.
He reacted extremely quickly and immediately swung his left hand to attack Feng Zhi Wei’s deadly acupoint (there is supposedly an acupoint that could kill instantly if you hit it hard enough)
A fierce gust of wind wooshed through the air!
Feng Zhi Wei abruptly squatted down!
His strike missed, and then he immediately heard another *click*. This sound was even more familiar. Looking down, he saw that Feng Zhi Wei had somehow at some point taken the heart lock off her right hand but had instead locked it to anchor latches that could be found everywhere on the ground.
She had used his own method against him and shackled him to the ground!
Jin Siyu’s face turned ashen with fury, and was about to open his mouth to let out a sharp whistle when a light green smoke suddenly rose behind him. He instantly held his breath and aborted his call for help.
Across from him, Feng Zhi Wei let out a slight smile, reached out a hand, patted his shoulder and said tenderly, “Your Highness, this journey has been truly pleasant, but I should return now. Thank you for giving me a ride.”
Jin Siyu abruptly looked up and stared at her. His gaze dark and vicious, full of unwillingness but he could not speak because the smoke had not cleared yet.
Feng Zhi Wei was all smiles as she looked at him and kindly shook the white chain for him, “Your Highness’ first question must be how I unlocked this lock?”
Jin Siyu snorted coldly.
Unhurried, Feng Zhi Wei continued, “Your Highness still remembers how I snatched after it that day?”
Jin Siyu paused, a flash of memory suddenly shot through his mind of how Feng Zhi Wei had made a move…snatched…he backed away…she suddenly pounced…and pressed him hard to the ground…pressed…pressed!
That press!
Jin Siyu’s eyes lit up and Feng Zhi Wei knew he had figured it out. She nodded in satisfaction and said with a smile, “Your Highness is truly wise and brilliant to figure it out so quickly.”
Her praise was genuine but in Jin Siyu’s ears, they sounded like mockery. His refine, handsome face turned almost to the color of iron.
This cunning and treacherous woman!
When she had pounced on him that day, he didn’t understand then why she did that. He knew someone like her always had her own reasons for every action. She would never act rashly in a moment of emotion. Sure enough, she had pounced on him just to slap his hand holding the key to the ground!
In fact, perhaps the whole attempt to try to snatch the key was just a diversion. She had known full well that it was impossible to take the key from him by force and the whole thing was just a set up for that final lunge and press.
That one press, pressed his hand hard on the ground, leaving the imprint of the key on the floor. Then, she found a way to send the imprint out. On this boat, she must have an accomplice. Not just any accomplice but one who was a master of exquisite craftsmanship.
At the end of the day, the only thing he could truly use to trap her was just this chain that could not be cut even with the world’s sharpest legendary weapon. The chain that was personally fastened to his own wrist, keeping them close at all times. As for everything else, from sealing her martial arts power, to poison, none of it could truly do anything to her. She has countless powerful and skillful people who can solve all that for her.
And indeed, she was cruel enough. Clearly, she had the key copied a long time ago and could make her escape, but she had to wait for the best opportunity and locked him up before leaving.
As these thoughts flashed across his mind, he immediately let out a low laugh, “Good, good, you are good.”
Feng Zhi Wei looked at him tenderly and said softly, “I am not good, Your Highness. But fortunately you’ll not have to deal with my “not good” again. After we say our farewell today, it’s likely we will never meet again.”
“How are you going to leave?” Jin Siyu’s expression was filled with sarcasm, “True, there are backup small boats in the lower deck, but you think those two small boats can outrun my fast boat? Once I turn and give chase, you still won’t get away.”
“Your Highness, You won’t come chasing after me.” Feng Zhi Wei said with a smile that, no matter how you looked at it, was full of irony, “Your Dayue is already in chaos, you need to go back right away to deal with it. You no longer have the time to spend on dealing with me.”
“Chaos?”
“Your Highness has been slow in receiving news because you have been at sea.” Feng Zhi Wei explained leisurely, “But out of kindness, I can remind you that Dayue’s court is likely already in turmoil because a group of assassins infiltrated the capital and attacked several high-ranking ministers, seriously injuring three people. These ministers are the main political backers of the princes who are currently in the capital. Two of the princes are, in fact, bitter enemies of Your Highness, Prince Ah. What’s more, the clues left behind by those assassins are all starting to point straight at your own elite personal guard camp— Your Highness, you are in trouble.”
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
ps. Anyone feeling bad for Jin Siyu yet?
Thank goodness. I was getting so annoyed at him, as he was so smug and I was just waiting for her to pull something on him… after all of her ‘false attempts’, which were just misleading. Don’t feel sorry for him at all.
(By the way… for all the drama Prince Helian fans, Edward Zhang (the actor who plays him), keeps popping up in various dramas, and is still very ‘Helianish’. He had a few episodes in The Immortal Ascension, and even next to Yang Yang, he is quite an eyeful….)
This knew she had a plan waiting to spring, there was no way this would go on so long otherwise. Thank you!