Picking out changes on the wide open sea was a trivial scouting task, since there were few changes of any sort that weren’t notable. Even though Anton’s mind was well away from the area, only a few moments after something came within his range he was able to focus in on a change. Atop the irregular pattern of waves was a ship- and one filled with cultivators. They stood out like a sore thumb among the otherwise uniform distribution of natural energy.

“Ship spotted to the northwest!” Anton called out. In truth, they were expecting some sort of encounter soon. If nothing went wrong they would be reaching some of the islands soon. Running into a patrol nearby only made sense.

Unlike the previous travel to the east, the numbers were small enough that everyone might have fit on a single large ship. For the sake of comfort, they had three that weren’t quite as large- as cultivators they could afford some wastefulness. Having some backups was good as well- in the worst case they could all cram into two or even a single ship.

For the sake of the mission, it was decided that a single ship would approach directly with the other two lingering behind somewhat, so as to not appear aggressive. There was no way to hide that they posed some sort of threat, as concealing their cultivations would no doubt make things worse.

As they maintained their course for approximately half an hour the other ship approached them, then curved around to sail parallel to the lead ship. It was clear their ship design was far more maneuverable- and swifter. Part of that was the difference in purpose between the two types of ships, but it was clear they had streamlines the designs of their ships as well.

Since the other side had not spoken a word, merely closely watching from their decks, Matriarch Afi stepped towards the starboard side of the ship where she would be closest to them. “Greetings, citizens of the Exalted Archipelago. We come in peace.”

The captain of the other ship responded, “And you may leave in peace as well. But you are not welcome here.”

Anton quietly and carefully extended his senses, searching for signs of the Twin Soul Sect. He had gained mastery of the skill over the years, though recently had little practical application for it. He didn’t discern any connection, which at least meant they practiced a different cultivation style. They could still work with them, or otherwise intend to betray the world to the hands of the invaders when the time came.

“Do you speak for the whole of the Exalted Archipelago?” Matriarch Afi questioned. “Such a grand nation as yours must at least harbor some who would be curious to speak to us.”

The man stood in silence for some time, the matched speeds of the ship keeping them still relative to each other. Finally, he came up with a reply. “I heard tale of a southern group that expressed interest in meeting you, should those from your continent return. The Worthy Shore Society.”

“Very well. If you could instruct us as to how to reach them… while avoiding the territory of those who would prefer to be without us,” Matriarch Afi asked with a wrinkly smile.

Whether because of her polite manner or because he decided it would get them away the quickest, the man answered directly. “To the south. Two…” he looked over the ships, “Three days, turning south by southeast after a day and a half. Be aware of the dangers in the area.”

“We appreciate the guidance,” Matriarch Afi inclined her head. “If you could elaborate on those dangers…?”

The man shook his head. “Figure it out for yourself.”

“Very well. We will be on our way.”

There wasn’t much else to say than that. Pressing further seemed likely to end up in a conflict, and neither winning nor losing would benefit those from Brogora. It was only negative outcomes in every direction. The lead ship turned, to be joined by the others a short time later when the plan was explained to everyone involved. Not that the plan was much. They simply had to hope the man’s directions were accurate. No doubt he could give very accurate guidance, but he may have chosen not to. At the very least, the dangers were left completely up to their imagination.

But south they turned. Two days passed swiftly. At various points Anton noted ships to their west, but either they weren’t sensed in return or they were deemed to be far enough away. He presumed it was the former, but he couldn’t completely put it past them to have some who had trained their senses to extend as far as his own.

On the third day, they found themselves approaching an area akin to actual land. It was made up primarily of rocky cliffs and disjointed segments of land. The water grew more shallow beneath them, so it was mostly by technical definitions that they might have judged it to be one island or many small ones. Either way, it seemed they should be in the area.

“The distance between the various outcroppings narrows up ahead,” Anton said. “It should still be navigable, but it will require some work to maneuver through the area.” If he could not sense so far ahead, it was quite possible for them to be entrapped in a small area that was difficult to turn around and end up crashing upon the rocks. The question was whether they had been directed truthfully or if it was simply intended to get them into trouble. Warning them of the dangers could have been simply to make them think there was something beyond this area worth getting to, as they might have otherwise turned away. Then Anton sensed a ship. “We should be able to get to them within an hour… perhaps two, given the difficulty of the area. It seems a strange location though.”

If the group had not been made up of cultivators, it was entirely possible that they would have simply run around on a shallow section. The ships proceeded one by one through the area, with everyone keeping their senses trained on the area around and below them. Spikes of rock that would be invisible due to the distorting nature of water and the darkness were avoided… or destroyed. Most of the cultivators weren’t expert sailors, and while there were enough to man the ships they were not necessarily ready to respond to the various issues. Cultivators leapt off the ships to shove them away from cliffs that currents pushed them towards and to clear paths where it seemed they should have been able to get through. Anton stuck by his belief he was guiding them down the best path- but there were simply so many options and many were strictly worse. At least their vessels were slightly smaller than they could have been, as that sometimes made all the difference. It was better not to destroy much of the local terrain if they could help it.

“What about that ship?” Catarina asked after a time. “Are we getting close?” Matriarch Afi stood by to listen as well.

“About that…” Anton said. “It’s been stationary.” He scanned around the area at a larger distance and frowned. “There are more such ships. Definitely manned, but I don’t sense anything that I would associate with a ‘Worthy Shore Society’. No flags at all. Mixed cultivation techniques.”

While technically their own group also had a variety of cultivation techniques, they still had at least a handful of most. They were a bundle of different groups… but Anton was finding it hard to see more than one or two that felt like they really practice the same from the ships ahead.

“Do you think pirates, perhaps?” Matriarch Afi asked.

“I’m not confident enough in that assertion to start shooting,” Anton said. “But I’d assume so. Perhaps we should avoid them. If they truly are this Worthy Shore Society, we can at least not end up surrounded. It’s going to take some work, but we can swing around to the west, and hopefully avoid them before they sense us.”

“Let’s do that,” she agreed. “I’d discuss with the others, but we don’t have long to choose, right?”

Anton nodded. They had anchored in this place for too long already. Someone could notice them by luck.

“In that case,” Catarina said. “Should we activate the formations? We can hide our energy signature. I can make it look natural, too!”

“Maybe just a little bit. Anton can direct us around them, but if they’re who we are looking for we don’t want to completely slip past their blockade.”

As they continued to move deeper into the area, they ranged between narrow passages that left barely a hand’s width on either side of the ship and wide open areas that lasted for several minutes. One trouble that Anton had difficulty predicting was sand bars, since he’d mostly been scanning the surface- and couldn’t intricately inspect every location if they wanted to keep moving. The lead ship passed through one, but the ship following behind was slightly off and ran into the sand bar.

“What terrible luck,” Anton said. “The ships have just started moving towards us.”

A large splash followed that, much more than any sensible cultivator would have made. Even the giant fellows from the Desert Hippo Sect were still human in proportions. But of course Fuzz wasn’t. He was already nose deep in the sandbar, frantically digging away.

The third ship was far enough back to recognize the error of the second, so they too passed through the sandbar to a more open area. People were sent from both ships to help the one run aground. Some helped Fuzz dig, since he could only cover a section, while others simply set about lifting the ship. The difficulty was doing so without exhausting themselves too much. After all, potentially hostile cultivators were incoming. Everyone could sense them now, and they would be intersecting in less than half an hour even with the slow and roundabout routes required.

Ultimately the ship was set loose, but it took enough time that the group had to settle for readying themselves in something approximating a bay. It had some room to sail around, since fighting among the smaller crevices would only give an advantage to the locals. It also limited them to coming from a few directions- flanking the group from behind would require a much longer route.

Six smaller ships approached their three vessels. A few people held out hope that it was merely a cautious approach because they were unfamiliar, but it certainly seemed to be leading up to an attack. Three of the ships carried a Life Transformation cultivator, but the majority of those on board were in Essence Collection- and some Spirit Building. A sizable force that actually made it slightly more likely to belong to a proper sect. Could random bandits- or pirates- really have three Life Transformation cultivators? Anton thought about that, and decided that the answers would have to wait.

Matriarch Afi was still the voice of their fleet, and she stood at the bow of the ship to call out to the approaching groups. “Hello there! Are you perhaps the Worthy Shore Society?”

One of the three Life Transformation cultivators, an old man, stepped up to where he could be seen. “Indeed we are. So glad you’ve heard of us.”

It was a smooth response, but everything inside Anton told him it was a lie. His stance was wrong, and the way he said us was emphasized too much.

“Wonderful,” Matriarch Afi responded. “We are from Brogora and we have come in peace.”

“Perfect,” the man said. His words lingered in the air as the other ships were clearly getting into position. The six vessels were on the move while the three from Brogora had their anchors down. A vulnerable position. “That means nobody will miss you.” With a wave of his arm, clearly a signal for some kind of an attack, numerous attacks were launched. Arrows were fired and onboard ballistae launched their payloads. Several cultivators launched balls of fire at the sails of the stationary ships, and some even threw strange crystals towards them.

All of the attacks impacted a single large barrier that formed over the three ships. Catarina’s presence became quite apparent as she controlled the core of the power. At the same time, the anchors were released from the ground below, where they had never truly been lodged in the first place, merely held with a small amount of natural energy. As the initial bombardment was still happening, Anton already had his bow in hand. It would have been better if they could avoid conflict, but since this was happening they would simply have to annihilate the opposing group. Anton had already picked his target… and it wasn’t any of the enemy cultivators.