Chapter 905: He Wants to Be the Island Owner

Lu Xun had mentioned that the Yin Hui often hid in the water, ambushing passing ships.

Sunlight couldn't penetrate the seawater, so they only needed to stay in deep water and wait for cloudy days or nightfall before coming aboard or ashore.

Qiu Hu, who had also been scanning the horizon, suddenly exclaimed, "Some of them are dead on the shore!"

With their sharp eyesight, they could just make out a few small, unmoving black dots on the beach.

Those weren't rocks; they were Yin Hui.

"That was quick," Qiu Hu murmured.

With the malevolent energy gone, the weaker Yin Hui were the first to collapse.

"Without the malevolent energy, it's doubtful these creatures can survive."

Aunt Zhu performed the Wind Summoning spell a few more times, and the boat swiftly glided for several miles. Soon, Dragon's Backbone Island was obscured by other islands.

Everyone stood by the boat, on high alert.

However, fortune favored them. The clouds that had been blocking the sun drifted away after a few moments, and sunlight once again bathed the land—

Though no longer blinding, it was still strong enough to scorch the Yin Hui.

Under these conditions, the Yin Hui wouldn't surface.

After about half an hour, the small boat reached safe waters and finally slowed down. "They might have returned," Aunt Zhu said.

The Yin Hui typically didn't venture far from Dragon's Backbone Island.

He Lingchuan had heard Lu Xun mention that while some of the larger Yin Hui could travel to other waters, they usually wouldn't stray far from Dragon's Backbone Island without a leader to organize them.

Their arrival had likely thrown the Yin Hui into disarray. These creatures didn't seem particularly intelligent.

The sun was close to setting, and the light was fading. The gurgling water all around them created an exceptionally quiet atmosphere.

Aunt Zhu asked He Lingchuan, "Why do you want to go to the island?"

Surely he hadn't brought them for a sightseeing trip?

"The Yangshan Archipelago is a good place, if not for the malevolent energy and the Yin Hui," He Lingchuan said, stroking his chin. "We need to find a place to settle down."

Ever since leaving Yuan Nation, he had been pondering his future.

Now that he was on this new continent, the most pressing matter wasn't to confront the Lu family in court or reclaim their ancestral estate—he couldn't even contemplate those until he was firmly established—but rather how to gain a foothold and grow stronger.

To challenge the ruler of this territory, he first needed to build up his own strength.

He and his chief steward, Ding Zuodong, had discussed it repeatedly. The conventional approach was to first go to Bailie, buy a large house or a manor, then invest in business, and gradually expand.

But there were two problems with this plan:

First, after centuries of continuous development, land prices in Bailie were not low. Manors that included productive land were particularly expensive, and no matter what property he acquired, land tax, deed tax, and other miscellaneous fees would be unavoidable.

Ding Zuodong had calculated that buying a fertile fifteen-hectare manor would cost a total of fifteen thousand five hundred taels of silver, which was several times more expensive than in Yuan Nation!

And that was just for one manor.

Therefore, buying land, a house, or a manor now seemed like buying into a problematic situation.

Second, Bailie's current business environment was unfavorable. There were already precedents of officials fining and seizing foreign investments, as well as coercively purchasing foreign merchants' goods. How could he be sure they wouldn't target He Lingchuan's properties in the future?

What if his business had just started to pick up only to be "harvested" by the authorities?

So, when He Lingchuan heard that the Yangshan Archipelago was unmanaged and virtually abandoned, he was greatly intrigued.

What's so impressive about being a landlord?

He wanted to be an island lord!

If he could acquire this archipelago, everything on the islands would belong to him. He could develop it however he wished, and who would dare to levy exorbitant taxes on him?

Seeing his grand ambitions, Tao Ran quickly reminded him, "Young Master, there are still pirates on the outer islands."

"As long as there's no collusion between officials and bandits, pirates are a minor issue. We can persuade them to leave." When it came to suppressing bandits, He Lingchuan was an expert.

Although river bandits and pirates operated in different environments, their organizational structures should be largely similar. He was confident that the pirates here would be less complicated than the Takigawa river bandits, wouldn't they?

"Precisely," Qiu Hu said, exchanging a glance with Tao Ran. Neither asked what they would do if the pirates refused to leave.

Did their group look like benevolent devotees?

Thinking about the future planning and development of these islands made them feel a little excited.

He Lingchuan stretched. "Then it's settled. Once we're back at the port—"

With a sudden splash, something leaped from the water and directly struck him.

The attack was exceptionally sudden, catching everyone off guard. The force of the impact was so great that the two people and one demon nearby all heard a dull thud.

He Lingchuan was knocked overboard and plunged into the water with his assailant.

The seawater blocked divine sense, and those on the boat were so unprepared that they couldn't react in time to help.

But then they saw the attacker's true form: a colossal Yin Hui!

The creature was thirty feet long, its scales gleamed black, and it created a massive splash when it hit the water.

It used its four arms to tightly encircle He Lingchuan, opening its mouth to bite his neck. Its upper jaw structure was similar to that of snakes; while its fangs weren't as long as true snake fangs, they could spring out like switchblades, delivering a "kiss of death" to its opponent.

Fortunately, due to its length, while its front half was submerged, its tail remained above the surface.

Aunt Zhu, with her thousands of years of combat experience, reacted incredibly fast, spraying out a handful of red spider silk that instantly stuck to its tail.

The Yin Hui's scales were smooth and covered in seawater, making them incredibly difficult to stick to. However, Aunt Zhu had dealt with countless bizarre opponents, some crustaceans being even more slippery than the Yin Hui, so slick that not even water droplets would adhere. Therefore, her red spider silk was specially designed for such creatures, boasting that it could stick to anything and even be projected through water.

As the spider silk shot out, it naturally formed a net that, with a slight tug, remarkably caught in the grooves between the Yin Hui's scales.

Like snakes, the Yin Hui's scales grew directly from its skin, with tiny folds between them. When the scales were closed, not even a single strand of hair could be inserted.

Yet, a single strand of Aunt Zhu's spider silk was so fine it was less than a tenth the thickness of a human hair!

"Master!" Qiu Hu stepped onto the gunwale, leaped into the air, drew his hand axe, and brought it down directly on the Yin Hui.

The Yin Hui, restrained by the spider silk, thrashed wildly in the water, clearly intent on its prey.

As Qiu Hu's axe descended, the creature suddenly lurched forward, causing the axe to strike its back instead of its neck.

Black blood splattered everywhere.

It actually abandoned all defense, completely exposing its back to Qiu Hu. It ignored Qiu Hu falling into the water, focusing all its effort on He Lingchuan.

This was truly a struggle with all its might.

Qiu Hu surfaced from the water, swung his axe again, and finally struck the creature's back neck.

With that single blow, its neck was severed at the base, with only a sliver of flesh still clinging on.

Yet, the Yin Hui's body continued to writhe, sending water splashing everywhere.

As Qiu Hu moved to pull off its head, he discovered it was still clamping down firmly on a shield in its mouth:

The instant He Lingchuan was ambushed, his Soul-absorbing Mirror transformed into a round shield, blocking the Yin Hui's attack. The creature opened its mouth wide, and each lunge was too fast for the naked eye to follow, yet He Lingchuan consistently managed to block every single one with his shield.

Had it been anyone else, their mind would still be reeling the moment they were dragged into the water, and they would have been bitten long ago.