Chapter 520

A dull, dark tortoise-shell boat rose into the air and swiftly flew out of Green Willow Manor.

Translation: A dull, dark tortoise-shell boat rose into the air and swiftly flew out of Green Willow Manor.

A dull, dark tortoise-shell boat rose into the air and swiftly flew out of Green Willow Manor.

Wu Tie, along with Hei Hu, whom he had fought and befriended over these days, and Hei Hu's several sworn brothers stood on the deck, looking down at the mountains and rivers flashing by below.

Translation: Wu Tie, along with Black Tiger, whom he had fought and befriended over these days, and Black Tiger's several sworn brothers stood on the deck, looking down at the mountains and rivers flashing by below.

Wu Tie, along with Hei Hu, whom he had fought and befriended over these days, and Hei Hu's several sworn brothers stood on the deck, looking down at the mountains and rivers flashing by below.

Hei Hu's several sworn brothers

Over three hundred Green Willow Manor outlaws mobilized together, forming groups of three or five, gathering according to their bonds, murmuring with strange expressions on their faces.

Translation: Over three hundred outlaws from Green Willow Manor mobilized as a group, people gathering in threes and fives according to their bonds, murmuring with strange expressions on their faces.

murmuring with strange expressions on their faces

The outlaws are a loose band; normally, even when deployed, they send at most a few dozen people depending on mission difficulty, and usually handle whatever comes up. This time, however, all 358 outlaws of Green Willow Manor mobilized together—a situation that had not occurred in over three hundred years.

Translation: Outlaws are a loose band; normally, even when deployed, they send at most a couple dozen people depending on mission difficulty, and usually handle whatever comes up. Yet this time, all 358 outlaws of Green Willow Manor mobilized together—a situation that had happened only once before, over three hundred years ago.

358; over three hundred years ago

Hei Hu, spraying saliva, explained to Wu Tie the situation from over three hundred years ago, when the outlaws of Green Willow Manor joined forces, fought a fierce battle overnight, and slaughtered the entire clan of a local tyrant from the Jade River Prefecture south of Golden Flower Prefecture, seizing his countless mines, workshops, factories, and artisans, all of which became the property of Green Willow Manor's owner.

Translation: Black Tiger, spraying saliva, explained to Wu Tie what had happened over three hundred years ago: the outlaws of Green Willow Manor joined forces, fought through the night, and slaughtered the entire clan of a local tyrant in southern Golden Flower Prefecture's Jade River Prefecture, seizing his countless mines, factories, workshops, and artisans—everything went to the master of Green Willow Manor.

Hei Hu, spraying saliva, explained to Wu Tie.

But we need to keep the name as Hei Hu. So line: Hei Hu, spraying saliva, explained to Wu Tie what had happened over three hundred years ago: the outlaws of Green Willow Manor joined forces, fought through the night, and slaughtered the entire clan of a local tyrant in southern Golden Flower Prefecture's Jade River Prefecture, seizing his countless mines, factories, workshops, and artisans—everything went to the master of Green Willow Manor.

the Jade River Prefecture south of Golden Flower Prefecture

After that operation, Hei Hu and his companions received immense rewards, gaining countless cultivation resources, and they indulged in lavish pleasures for several years.

Translation: After that operation, Black Tiger and his companions received immense rewards, gaining countless cultivation resources, and they indulged in hedonistic pleasure for several years.

Hei Hu and his companions

Today's Green Willow Manor is far stronger than it was over three hundred years ago, and this mission will surely be extremely lucrative.

Translation: Today's Green Willow Manor is far stronger than it was over three hundred years ago, and this mission's spoils are surely extremely rich.

Wu Tie hehe-laughed, continually nodding in agreement with Hei Hu. At the same time, he observed this tortoise-shell boat, whose shape resembled a giant turtle. The vessel is no more than about 250 zhang long, sturdily built, its entire body covered in heavy armor, with only an open deck of several zhang square near the bow.

Translation: Wu Tie hehe‑laughed, continually nodding in agreement with Black Tiger. At the same time, he observed this tortoise‑shell boat, shaped like a giant turtle. The flying vessel is no more than about 250 zhang long, stout in build, its entire body covered in heavy armor, with only an open deck of a dozen or so zhang square near the bow.

hehe-laughed; Hei Hu

Thus: Wu Tie hehe‑laughed, continually nodding in agreement with Hei Hu. At the same time, he observed this tortoise‑shell boat, shaped like a giant turtle. The flying vessel is no more than about 250 zhang long, stout in build, its entire body covered in heavy armor, with only an open deck of a dozen or so zhang square near the bow.

This tortoise-shell boat looks extremely clumsy, yet it is very fast, and its armor is extraordinarily thick—far thicker than the armor of the Military Department's standard flagships, which can be nearly a thousand zhang long.

Translation: This tortoise‑shell boat looks extremely clumsy, yet its speed is great, and its armor is extraordinarily thick—far thicker than the armor of the Military Department's standard flagships, which can reach nearly a thousand zhang in length.

Military Department

With such heavy plating, the boat's defense is naturally formidable, its hull extremely heavy, so few can be accommodated inside and the cargo space is reduced, leaving little room for formations or energy furnaces. Yet its flight speed is remarkably high, indicating that the formations and energy furnaces aboard far surpass those controlled by the Military Department.

Translation: With such thick decking, the tortoise‑shell boat's defense is naturally formidable, its hull extremely heavy, so fewer people can be accommodated below deck; the reduced cabin space also limits the size of formations and energy furnaces. Yet its flight speed is so high, showing that the formations and furnaces aboard far surpass those controlled by the Military Department.

In terms of casting technique, this tortoise-shell boat completely surpasses the Military Department.

Translation: In casting craftsmanship, this tortoise‑shell boat completely surpasses the Military Department.

Wu Tie nodded silently, thinking that if this information were leaked, just this one fact would warrant the extermination of everyone in Green Willow Manor

Translation: Wu Tie nodded silently; if this information were leaked, just this alone would warrant the extermination of everyone in Green Willow Manor.

fine.

fine.

Translation: The quality of civilian vessels exceeds that of standard military equipment, and the casting craft of private boats surpasses that of the Ministry of Works Master Artisan—just as hoarding armor and bows in the Cold Weapon Era by mortal‑society nobility is an absolute capital crime of plotting rebellion.

fine.

fine.

Translation: The tortoise‑shell boat trailed a dim, dark glow as it silently swept across the sky; in just over an hour it traveled more than ten thousand li, when another dozen or so tortoise‑shell boats came flying from the side, quickly forming a small fleet that continued racing southeast.

line: "Everyone, everyone, we meet again… Looks like this is a big deal… Want to… make a bet for fun?" We used curly quotes. Need to change to straight double quotes.

Translation: After the fleet had flown for a while, an extremely piercing cold laugh came from one of the tortoise‑shell boats: "Everyone, everyone, we meet again…… Looks like this is a big deal…… Want to make a wager for fun?"

fine.

Translation: Wu Tie looked over; the voice came from a nearby flying boat whose bow deck held a man over two zhang tall, thin as a bamboo stalk, his whole body exuding a strange cold qi.

fine.

Thus: Wu Tie looked over; the voice came from a nearby flying boat whose bow deck held a man over two zhang tall, thin as a bamboo stalk, his whole body exuding a strange Cold Qi.

fine.

Translation: Behind the man, a mass of black mist roiled, within which could be faintly seen an iron‑clad poisonous python thrashing and roaring.

fine.

Translation: This fellow is not human, but a member of the Yao tribe.

fine.

Translation: Not only this man, but the seven or eight men and women standing behind him, their bodies covered in demonic clouds and misshapen forms, are clearly not of any orthodox path.

line: "Lao She, feeling up for a game? Let's see which manor suffers the fewest deaths—that's the winner. The winner takes all, and the other manors' rewards go solely to the victor, who gets fifty percent. How about it?" Contains curly quotes and curly apostrophe. Need to straighten.

Translation: On the tortoise‑shell boat where Wu Tie stood, a resonant, hard, icy voice sounded: "Old Snake, interested? Let's play a round—see which manor loses the fewest, that side wins; the winner takes all, and the other mansions' rewards go to the victor alone—how about it?"

line: Lao She, interested? Let's see which manor suffers the fewest deaths—that's the winner. The winner takes all, and the other manors' rewards go solely to the victor, who gets fifty percent. How about it? Contains curly apostrophe and curly quotes? Actually we didn't use quotes but we have curly apostrophe in "Let's". Need to straighten.

Thus: On the tortoise‑shell boat where Wu Tie stood, a resonant, hard, icy voice sounded: "Lao She, interested? Let's play a round—see which manor loses the fewest, that side wins; the winner takes all, and the other mansions' rewards go to the victor alone—how about it?"

fine.

Translation: Heavy footsteps sounded, and a burly man about three zhang tall, his whole body covered in pentagonal magic‑dragon scales, stepped out slowly.

fine.

Translation: Hei Hu and the others hastily lowered their heads, putting on obsequious faces.

fine.

Translation: This burly man is the Dark Dragon Venerable, the chief of Green Willow Manor's outlaws and the oldest among them; it is said he had already taken residence when Green Willow Manor was first established.

fine.

Translation: His cultivation is said to have reached the half‑step Divine Realm, his flesh unmatched in strength, his temperament brutal and cruel—no one in Green Willow Manor dares provoke him in the slightest. According to Black Tiger, the Dark Dragon Venerable is also the only one in Green Willow Manor who has broken free of the master's restraint, possessing a free body, yet willingly stays to enjoy the offerings.

fine.

fine.

Translation: The Dark Dragon Venerable's appearance is strange, but he is in fact of pure human bloodline.

fine.

Translation: Merely, his cultivation method is extremely evil and vicious; he slaughtered the dragon tribe, extracted their blood, tempered the dragon essence with all the world's poisons into toxic dragon blood, and continually merged it into himself, thus turning himself into this neither‑human‑nor‑ghost form.

fine.

Translation: It is said that one condition for the Dark Dragon Venerable to remain in Green Willow Manor is that the master provides him each year with a certain number of pure‑blood dragons, so he can refine dragon essence for his cultivation.

line: "Lao She, dare you take my wager? Also, old pals, come out for a breath—hehe, let's play? It's rare that we're all gathered like this!" Contains curly quotes and curly apostrophe.

Translation: The Dark Dragon Venerable sauntered to the prow, hands in his belt, squinting at the middle‑aged man who had become the great python: "Old Snake, dare you take my wager? Also, old pals, come out for a breath—hehe, let's play? It's rare that we're all gathered like this!"

line: Lao She, dare you take my wager? Also, old pals, come out for a breath—hehe, let's play? It's rare that we're all gathered like this! Contains curly apostrophe.

fine.

Translation: Wu Tie looked around; there were eighteen flying boats in total.

fine.

Translation: Each flying boat carried over three hundred but under five hundred outlaws, giving seven to eight thousand Embryo Storage Realm experts. Moreover, these people are all ruthless, vicious, and utterly lacking in moral scruples—outlaws.

fine.

fine.

Translation: If these fellows formed a battle array, they would surely not be a match for the Military Department's standard army; but if they fought in small guerrilla bands, they could easily kill several times their own number of Military Department Embryo Storage Realm commanders—this is a very frightening force.

fine.

Translation: Especially, according to the information provided by Mr. Li, these people are very likely only a tiny fraction of the outlaws recruited by Old Master Hu!

fine.

Translation: On the other dozen or so tortoise‑shell boats, powerful and odd‑looking masters kept appearing, each loudly laughing and jeering, fearlessly exchanging greetings and curses, and unafraid to accept the wager proposed by the Dark Dragon Venerable.

fine.

Translation: At this moment, the eighteen tortoise‑shell boats were flying over a desolate mountain range, the mist thick below, the vast expanse nothing but untouched deep forest.

line: "A bet? I love betting! Come on, come on, count me in!" Contains curly quotes.

Translation: In the distance, a flicker of dark light glimmered, accompanied by a loud, gleeful laugh: "A bet? I love betting! Come on, come on, count me in!"

line: no quotes.

Translation: Similarly styled dozen‑odd tortoise‑shell boats sped this way, and soon the two small fleets gathered together; the Dark Dragon Venerable and his companions exchanged provocative greetings with the leaders of the incoming fleet, quickly signing the wager.

fine.

Translation: After flying onward for a little over an hour, another several dozen tortoise‑shell boats converged.

line: no quotes.

Translation: By then, the gathered tortoise‑shell boats numbered over eighty, each carrying three to four hundred outlaws. Wu Tie watched, secretly startled—this amounted to over thirty thousand Embryo Storage Realm ruffians, a force that, even placed within the Military Department's main army, would be a weighty contingent.

fine.

Translation: Dozens of tortoise‑shell boats advanced abreast, trailing a broad swath of dark light across the sky.

line: no quotes.

Translation: Below lay nothing but wild mountains and ridges, tens of thousands of li without a soul, when suddenly a spatial gate slowly opened on a mountain peak ahead; this small spatial gate, when opened to its fullest, was only a few hundred zhang in diameter, and the tortoise‑shell boats filed in one after another—in the next instant, Wu Tie and company had no idea where they had been sent.

line: no quotes.

Translation: Wu Tie grew ever more astonished; Old Master Hu was indeed bold and grandiose—the technology of spatial gates has always been monopolized by the officials of the Great Jin Divine Kingdom, and ordinary folk lack the skill, the wealth, and the courage to construct one privately.

line: no quotes.

Translation: Yet along the way, the tortoise‑shell boat fleet continually passed through one small spatial gate after another; their staggering number left Wu Tie utterly astonished.

line: no quotes.

Translation: But never mind the Dark Dragon Venerable and his ilk—just look at Hei Hu and these low‑rank outlaws of Green Willow Manor; they all treat it as routine, showing that the spatial gate business is no secret to them.

line: no quotes.

Translation: After all this transferring, who knows how many spatial gates they had passed; ahead, the sound of waves suddenly arose. By then, Wu Tie and company had been on the road for about half a month, and with the gates' transfer capacity, they had no idea how many hundreds of millions of li they had been sent.

line: no quotes.

Translation: This is a large island, roughly a thousand li across; aside from this island, the surrounding sea is empty and clear—using Wu Tie's vision, from high altitude he could see a million li in every direction, yet still no other island appeared.

line: no quotes.

Translation: On this solitary island, flora flourished, rows of barracks stood neat and tidy, and transport warships with bulging hulls were neatly docked along the edge. When Wu Tie's tortoise‑shell boat emerged from the spatial gate, on the ground and in the barracks, squads of armored soldiers shouted cadence as they marched in step onto the transport warships.

line: no quotes.

Translation: Wu Tie's gaze swept over these soldiers; their cultivation basically ranged from the tenth to the twentieth layer of the Chonglou Realm, evenly balanced. Such cultivation would count as elite troops even in the Great Jin military.

line: no quotes.

Translation: Moreover, these soldiers bore the unmistakable air of regular troops, starkly different from the lawless, wanton behavior of the outlaws on the eighty‑odd tortoise‑shell boats.

line: no quotes.

Translation: The number of soldiers on this island is not small, at least on the scale of a million.

line: no quotes.

Translation: Placed in the army, such a million‑strong elite force, combined with a certain number of Embryo Storage Realm commanders, when formed into a battle array would erupt with enough power to raze cities and overthrow states; even a half‑step Divine Realm expert would fall under its encirclement.

line: no quotes.

Translation: Wu Tie stared wide‑eyed.

line: contains curly quotes around "Fox Tail". Need to straighten.

Translation: In Mr. Li's intelligence, regarding the "Fox Tail," it merely said that this was the most secret arm of the Linghu clan, suspected of hoarding troops beyond quota.

line: contains curly quotes around "Fox Tail". Need to straighten.

Translation: But seeing this great army on the island, Wu Tie felt the Fox Tail issue was far worse—hoarding troops beyond quota, and that excess is surely not a trifling amount.

line: no quotes.

Translation: Dozens of transport warships slowly rose into the air and merged into the tortoise‑shell boat fleet.

line: no quotes.

Translation: A low‑pitched command rang out from a transport warship; the reorganized fleet swiftly headed southeast, presumably sailing into deeper waters where the horizon was a haze of mist and waves, and no one knew what lay ahead.

line: no quotes.

Translation: Above the sea, there were no more spatial gates; the fleet proceeded straight ahead with all its might, flying for a full two months—who knows how many tens of thousands of li it covered—when a thin veil of water mist suddenly appeared ahead.

line: no quotes.

Translation: Within the mist rose a thunderous roar of waves; Wu Tie narrowed his eyes, seeing faint spiritual light flicker, and made out a colossal vortex tens of thousands of li across, at whose center seemed to hover a great island.

line: no quotes.

Translation: At the edge of that great vortex, three huge vessels hovered.

line: no quotes.

Translation: So‑called giant vessels—they are truly massive, half again longer than the largest Four Spirit Warship Wu Tie has ever seen and more than twice as wide. Enveloped in radiant spiritual‑cloud light, the giant vessels hover a hundred zhang above the sea, and faintly one can see each bow bearing a Dharma Altar.

Many powerful magic cultivators stood before the altar, continuously pouring magical power into the altar.

Three altars connected heaven and earth; in the high sky, a huge elemental energy vortex, its diameter equal to that of the sea water vortex below, had formed, and the direction of its rotation was exactly opposite to that of the sea water vortex below.

"Fall!" As Wu Tie's fleet arrived, they heard a loud shout drifting over.

In the high sky, the huge elemental energy vortex slowly descended; a suffocating, terrifying pressure surged forth, and Hei Hu and the other bandit-level outlaws were instantly unable to move, stiffening on the deck, staring wide-eyed as the two huge vortices rapidly approached.

With a tremendous roar, the elemental energy vortex fell into the sea water vortex.

Two giant vortices, each tens of thousands of li in diameter, began to rub and grind against each other, emitting a terrifying roar.

Heaven and earth shook; the sea surface within a million li radius was churned into towering waves. As the elemental energy vortex kept intruding, the sea water vortex's spin slowed, and the forces of the two giant vortices mutually canceled, gradually dissipating.

On the sea surface, strands of naturally formed Dao markings constantly flickered, turning into half-real, half-illusory long dragons that roared as they shot up very high into the sky, where in the high sky they became streaks of thunder and lightning crisscrossing the void.

After shaking like this for a day and night, the huge vortex on the sea surface finally dissipated completely.

On the bows of three huge warships, hundreds of Dharma cultivators with formidable cultivation each spat a mouthful of blood and went limp on the ground. The three altars collapsed simultaneously; the altar, forged from who-knows-how-much rare material, bore the recoil force of the huge sea vortex on the surface and has been shattered into powder.

The water mist obscuring vision on the sea surface cleared, and far off in the distance, a strangely shaped big island clearly appeared before everyone's eyes.

Old Master Hu stepped out from the central huge warship, his face twitching violently; he took a deep look at the big island, then solemnly shouted: "Outlaws First Army, go ashore... Whoever can clarify the situation on this island for me will be richly rewarded. Whoever can draw a detailed map will be richly rewarded. Whoever can find something extraordinary on the island will be richly rewarded."

After the three successive rewards, Hei Hu and the others, who had regained their ability to act, couldn't help but shout in unison in celebration.

About eighty turtle-shell boats suddenly accelerated, surging forward like a pack of hungry wolves straight toward the big island ahead.

What's on the island?

It doesn't matter!

Is the island dangerous?

It doesn't matter!

Will landing on the island get us killed?

It doesn't matter!

This is the outlaws!