novel bin Chapter 550: Sword Unsheathed! (III)
Chapter 550: Sword Unsheathed! (III)
Chapter 550: Sword Unsheathed! (III)
The North Sea.
More merchant ships appeared along the way as Li Hao continued on his route. There were also more pirates, but to Li Hao’s amazement, there wasn’t the expected atmosphere of animosity between the two! He even saw a few pirates board the merchant vessels, then merrily return to their ships while escorted by fawning managers.
“You can take down the White Shark flag now,” a voice traveled into his ear. “That trash White Shark ate a huge loss in Silver Moon and there probably won’t be a place for him in the North Sea in the future. You guys can cut down on your expenses a bit and forgo what you usually pay to him. Of course, more taxes will go to the other factions, but it won’t add up to what you used to pay White Shark...”
“Thank you, milord soldier!” flattered a manager.
The wind carried these words to Li Hao’s ear. Expenses... taxes... milord soldier... No, these were pirates. He was certain these were pirates. But these pirates were blatantly extracting taxes from merchants that operated in these waters. They no longer raided their targets!
Raiding and looting was to catch fish by draining the pond. Collecting taxes, no matter how heavy they were, was a much more lucrative and acceptable practice. Commerce was immensely profitable and certain trading companies were willing to pay the tolls. Even after taking this expense into account, they were still able to reap massive profits.
Li Hao didn’t take action on this encounter, he was running short on time. He committed a few faces to memory and recalled some other ones. Each of the eight pirate factions had their own flag. The White Shark Raiders had been ranked fourth—an enormous shark featured on their flag.
The most famous and strongest pirate faction was the Starlight Pirates. They claimed everything that starlight touched to be their territory. If rumors were to be believed, they boasted of ten thousand supernaturals in their ranks. Regardless of whether or not that was true, they surely had many powerhouses among them.
The White Shark Raiders only had three commanders, whereas the leader of the Starlight Pirates claimed to be the North Sea King. His nine direct subordinates were the Nine Starlight Dukes—self-styled dukes, as they were. Their flag bore ten stars, a nod to twinkling cosmic radiance. The North Sea King and Nine Starlight Dukes jointly ruled the Starlight Pirates.
Information quickly flashed through Li Hao’s mind. He didn’t know if he’d run into any of them as he was now in the North Sea. They couldn’t possibly ignore the happenings as they were the greatest faction of the area; they may want to get involved.
Something twitched in his pocket and the young man took out the jade pendant from earlier. There was a new line of text on it.
“Ship 307 of the Four Seas trading company, you are off course. You are not to proceed on your current route. Battle occurred four hundred kilometers ahead of you ten minutes ago. Light Sword killed a Nova and adjusted her bearing toward you!” Li Hao blinked, was the message for him?
Actually, it might be. The ship he’d boarded earlier might’ve been number 307. Then this meant the transmission hub was locked onto the pendant’s location and noticed that it was off course. Although he was very far away at four hundred kilometers, he might soon come across Light Sword if he continued at his current speed.
That warning’s a bit useless... or is it just to confuse me? His speed was so fast that it was beyond the capacity of a regular ship. Had the transmission hub not noticed anything amiss? Perhaps they had, but it was possible that his location was broadcasted only at certain intervals. They may not know where he was at the moment.
Li Hao put the question out of his mind. Four hundred kilometers? Ten minutes ago... that meant that he’d almost caught up to Light Sword.
The young man picked up speed. So she was still alive and had just killed a Nova. Damn, she was tenacious! He wasn’t thinking about any grudges at this point. Firstly, he’d received payment to help her. Secondly, she was still alive after snapping a supernatural lock. This kind of stubborn nature was rather reminiscent of Silver Moon martial masters.
Well, she was one to begin with.
“How dare...” he began to shout. Internal shock roiled him. Who was this?
ROAR!
A ferocious tiger roar erupted by the ear like a volcano. A harsh whistle pierced through one’s eardrums as light from a longsword illuminated the world. A sword stroke pierced through the heavens—bam!
The sword descended amid sparkling sword light!
BOOM!
After that shout, the initial Nova was ripped apart like cloth by the light. The longsword descended to finish bisecting him! Li Hao swept the body onto the ship with a careless sweep.
Off to the side, the other horrified Nova quickly didn’t have time to consider anything else. A dog had soundlessly snuck upon him—he was about to flee when the dog struck with its paw. Nine layers of force overlaid on each other and raised great waves in the ocean!
BOOM!
The waves churned and reached for the skies. Panther reached out amid the frothy spray and ripped the Nova to pieces!
The premises immediately quieted. Although the Solar pirates immediately fled for their lives, sword light flashed and sent pirate heads rolling on the ground in the blink of an eye. That sent the other powerhouses stirring with motion and they all ran as well.
“Who was that??”
“A tiger roar... It reminded me of the Five Styles...”
“Sword light...”
“It’s Li Hao! Demon Sword Li Hao! He’s here and killed experts of the Starlight Pirates!”
“And that dog...”
“......” Shocked powerhouses fled for their lives. Two Novas had died in an instant! Li Hao was horrifying!
The young man had no intention of covering his tracks. It’s not like people were blind. He was here already, so he killed all of the remaining pirates in another heartbeat. Li Hao threw his head back with laughter, in exceedingly good spirits. He then flew ahead, supposing that Light Sword was nearby.
Li Hao naturally had a few cards up his sleeve to be this cocky. He was the height of arrogance and killed without blinking. Whether it was pirates or anyone else, he would kill everyone he could if they dared stand in his way!