Chapter 106 - Treasure Map Fragment

The wooden chest brought by the ants wasn’t very large. It was, at best, thirty centimeters long. Consequently, what was contained inside shouldn’t be very large.

At the moment, the chest was closed by a golden metal lock. Around the lock, there were strange symbols carved on the wood. They were difficult to distinguish because of the soil attached to the chest’s surface. But they didn't seem to have just been made as decoration, and the ants had found no key near the chest. The same was true for them after rummaging through the bodies of the eight pirates

'There is no trace of the key. May their captain have it with him? Or is it another method that opens the key?'

"Lian, take a look at this, please. There are some symbols, and I think it may be a formation." Hei said as he passed the small wooden chest in Lian's delicate hands.

Lian took the chest and looked at it intently, trying to decipher the barely legible lines carved on the wood. Unfortunately, the chest must have been buried for a long time, and the wood itself had begun to show signs of wearing down.

It should be known that formations could be used not only to operate automatic mechanisms. They were also used as seals to immobilize a living being in a limited space. Or to protect something inside another object that served as a container. And the way to break these seals was to understand what types of formations had been used and how they interacted with each other. Then, by intervening on the seal, it was possible to break it eventually. It went without saying that that required a certain amount of understanding regarding formations.

Hei could, therefore, only hope that the seal used on the chest wasn’t something too complicated. The best thing for them was to discover instead that those lines were merely decorative symbols since, in that way, he could directly destroy the lock that kept it closed.

"It's a formation, no doubt." Lian communicated after she finished examining the chest.

“I see, too bad. Do you think you can break the seal on the lock? We don't have the key, and I'm afraid that if I tried to use force to open it, the content inside would be destroyed."

"Yes, I think. It will take me some time, though. It’s okay?"

"Yes, don’t worry. Then, stay here to study the seal."

After entrusting Lian with that task, Hei looked at his little sisters. At the moment, they were still cutting the pirates’ corpses. The ground below had become a kind of red mud due to the amount of blood poured from the bodies.

"Wait, let's move the bodies, or it will be difficult for you to move up there," Hei warned aloud to be heard by the horde of small animals that were currently feeding on the eight men.

They, even if a little angry at having to stop their dinner halfway, still obeyed Hei's order and moved to make room for him. Grabbing two corpses, nibbled here and there, Hei threw them at a dry spot not far from there. Then he proceeded to do the same with the other bodies.

"Well, you can continue."

At his signal, the horde of animals resumed their banquet. At this point, Hei turned to his little sisters, who had once again become stained with blood.

“I'm going to see the artifact ship. You stay here and protect Lian, okay? I'll be back soon. Try to clean yourselves as much as possible with the leaves, or you will have to take a bath."

'Okay, big brother. Be careful.’ Said the two little divine beasts as they went to clean themselves up with the surrounding vegetation.

After warning his little sisters as well, Hei took one of the centipedes that had found the artifact ship. The centipede froze on the spot for that sudden gesture, not knowing what the human wanted from it.

"Tell me exactly where the artifact ship you found is. Don't worry. I won't do anything harmful to you. And I'll make sure to reward you properly. So, don't worry if you don't eat now."

The centipede could only accept. Although reluctantly, it still did what Hei requested and accompanied him to the forest. To some extent, it trusted that strange human. After all, he kept his word and even cut the bodies to help them chew more comfortably.

Thus, a man and a centipede went into the desert island’s forest in search of the artifact ship.

*

Meanwhile, in the camp on the beach, Captain Fu and his men were still enjoying the last remains of the great white shark, sipping some bottles of rum that the captain kept in his cabin.

Unexpectedly, the emergency landing wasn’t so bad. If Captain Fu and his men ignored the damage to the ship, it could be considered as a kind of short vacation from work. After all, even if they were seafarers, they occasionally needed to be on dry land, free from the worry of having to manage their ship.

"Hey, captain. But where did the two young heroes go? I haven't seen them for a while."

"Ehehe! But how? You don't know? If you think about it, you can get there."

“Although young, in the end, they are still a man and a woman. Do you think they're doing it?"

“Martial artists mature quickly. Wouldn't it surprise me if they engaged in sexual activities, right, Captain?"

The various crew members were making rude jokes and comments about the relationship between Hei and Lian. Given how close they were, from the outside, it looked as if they were engaged.

Captain Fu didn’t satisfy his men. But instead, he warned them.

“Stop wasting time with this nonsense and go to sleep. I want you at work tomorrow morning at dawn."

"Come on, don't be like that. Tell us your opinion, captain." His men insisted again, despite having just be scolded them.

Seeing the spirited behavior dictated by the alcohol, Captain Fu couldn’t help but sigh briefly. Then he replied.

“I advise you not to make such jokes. As you know, martial artists can be easily irritable. And those two kids have a cultivation equal to mine. If I had to face even one of them in a one vs. one fight, I doubt I could win."

At the words of their captain, the ship's crew lost the smile printed on their faces. Given the peaceful atmosphere and the alcohol, they had forgotten about it. Instinctively, they started looking around to see if there was any trace of Hei and Lian nearby. Fortunately, they weren’t visible on the beach.

"Well, then. Go to sleep and stop drinking, you good for nothing guys.” Captain Fu ordered everyone to go to bed. As for Hei and Lian, given their strength, he wasn't worried that something would happen to them.

After all, weren't they on a desert island? There was no way that someone was in this place forgotten by everyone.

*

Hei had finally reached the artifact ship. It wasn't big, at least compared to the ship he was currently traveling on. It was only about ten meters long and had only one large sail. For ten men, it must have been a little tight, but luckily there were only four of them.

In addition to the sail, a black flag hung on the mainmast. Inside the flag, there was a crimson red skull dripping blood from its sockets. It was the flag of the crew that the pirates were affiliated with.

Without delay, Hei boarded and began to check every corner of that ship. Apart from various bags containing gold and first-level spirit stones, there was nothing else of value. The only exciting objects were a series of detailed maps that accurately illustrated the system of surrounding islands. In one of these, a desert island in the middle of the ocean had been marked with an x.

'So they used these to navigate. Lian and I know nothing about maps. If we wanted to travel on our own, we would have to hire someone as a navigator. Uhmm... not that I like the idea very much.’

After looking at the maps, Hei's gaze settled on the ship’s power system. Being an artifact ship, the ship was capable of generating a boost through the consumption of spirit stones. In that way, it could travel faster than regular ships, even without wind. Due to the small size, the artifact ship had to be quite fast when compared to other ships.

When he finished exploring, Hei came out again. At that point, he sucked the entire ship into its Secret Dimension. Fortunately, all he needed was to make the Heart touch what he wanted to send it inside the Secret Dimension. It was, of course, also possible to suck a person or a spirit beast.

The problem was that without the authorization of the living being that he wanted to transfer to the Secret Dimension, that wasn’t possible. At least, from what his little sisters had said when they tried to enter the Secret Dimension through the Heart.

He also tried to insert the Heart inside one of his space rings while his sisters were in the Secret Dimension, but it wasn't something possible to do. When a living being was in the Secret Dimension, the Heart couldn't be contained in other objects like space rings. So he couldn't use it as a way to escape. At least one of them had to remain outside and protect the Heart.

"Then. How about going back?” Hei turned to the centipede on his hand.

All this time, the animal had remained motionless on his hand. If it weren't for some slight movements from time to time, one might have thought it was dead.

Feeling finally that the heavy assignment was over, the centipede nodded slightly before freezing again.

Watching its behavior, Hei chuckled and hurried back to Lian and his little sisters again.

*

"How's it going?" Hei asked Lian once he returned to them.

“Good. I just finished figuring out how to break the seal. Now I open it, just give me another couple of minutes."

"Okay. Nice work, Lian. Thank you."

Hei stroked Lian's head gently and then left her to work quietly. Then he put down the centipede that accompanied him and rewarded it as he had said.

"Here, this is to thank you for your help."

Hei poured several drops of spirit honey onto the ground, near where the centipede was. The small animal curiously observed the honey, instinctively perceiving that it was very nutritious. Without delay, it went to taste it and noticed his body getting stronger and stronger. The other nearby animals also saw the honey, but with Hei nearby, they didn’t dare do something that might disturb him.

Tick! Thud!

Like a slight thud, the lock that kept the chest closed fell to the ground, and finally, the contents inside could be revealed. Inside there were two sheets. To be precise, one was a letter and the other, the fragment of a map.

To the one who is reading. I don't know how many years have passed, but during my time, I was known as Pirate King Hae Seong. The map fragment that you found is a part of the map that indicates the position where I hid my treasure. There are a total of seven fragments hidden at specific points in the Forgotten Ocean. Find all seven of them, and my treasure will be yours.

It was what was written in the letter contained in the chest. Hei reread the letter a few times, but the name Hae Seong was unfamiliar to him. To be safe, he passed the letter to Lian, but she didn’t know who this person was as well.

“It is probably someone that lived long ago. Besides, we have always been on Rainbow Island. Let's see the map."

Hei took the yellowed map from the chest. The quality of the paper was excellent, and thanks to the chest's protection, it had been preserved until today. However, there were still some traces of the passage of time.

The map showed a section of the sea with some islands, but it was difficult to understand what precise point it indicated. After all, Hei did not know how the islands in the Forgotten Ocean were arranged. The back was more interesting. There were, in fact, several symbols of what appeared to be part of the design of a formation.

'If someone familiar with maps comes into possession of various fragments, even without collecting all seven fragments, I think it is possible to decipher the approximate area of the treasure. Yet in the letter, it is explicitly written that all seven fragments are needed. That the symbols on the back of the fragments are a necessary condition to access the treasure?’

Without mulling over to speculate, Hei stood up.

"Lian, Ye, Xing. We come back. We are done here. Captain Fu and his men must have noticed that we are missing. They won't go looking for us for fear of disturbing us, but at the same time, we can't stay all night in the forest here. We will take the opportunity to take a night bath and then straight to bed, okay?"

"Yes!" Said the three of them at the same time.

So, Hei led his little sisters and Lian back into the thick vegetation in the direction of Captain Fu's camp.