That envoy had finally told the truth. It was indeed true that not all those who had ventured into those waters had gone missing, but there were only a couple of survivors, and after making it out of that place alive, all of them had looked much the worse for wear and panic-stricken and kept telling people that there were monsters on the island in those waters, but they hadn't been able to give a detailed description of the monsters and appeared demented.

It had been the king of this statelet who had been the first to have the survivors arrested and interrogated. During the interrogation, one of them had regained part of his sanity and claimed that there was a stone city and a magnificent palace on that island, the likes of which nobody had ever seen before, that there were countless treasures in it, but all those who entered the stone city fell prey to the defensive measures in it and got killed; those who managed to land on the island fought each other to get a bigger share of the treasure, and a lot of them died in the fighting; there were bodies everywhere; some who valued their lives more fled the island, but after leaving the island, they found themselves wreathed in thick fog and unable to find the correct direction; they were trapped in the fog for a very long time and afterward, in order to survive, they started killing their companions; when the last few of them were trying to kill each other, there was an earthquake which dispersed the fog, enabling them to find their way back and saving them from the fate of dying on the sea.

"The envoy said all the others who had come back with that man had gone crazy, that that man was the only one having enough sanity left to speak normally. Right now all of them are locked up in a dungeon beneath the royal palace. Their king, after hearing about the tons of treasures in the stone city, wanted to take possession of them all, so he pretended to cooperate with the monarch of the Fangcun Kingdom, planning to use the latter's men to deal with those maniacs and defensive measures on the island while his own men transfer the treasures. The reason why he doesn't dare join hands with us is because there are too many of us for his men to handle," recounted Yao Yi.

It was exactly what Ling Zhang had conjectured. All the others were indignant after hearing the story.

"This king is such a wily old fox. We would sure as hell be hoodwinked by him had Brother Zhang not thought of this," said Yuwen Jin.

"Right now our first priority is to figure out where that island is specifically," said Ling Zhang as he looked at Yao Yi. "Does that envoy know anything about it?"

Yao Yi shook his head. "No. Their king and the one in charge of the flotilla are the only ones having knowledge of that."

Ling Zhang switched his gaze to Yuwen Tong, who gave it some thought and then said, "We need to find that survivor. Here's how we'll work it out – we get ashore right away instead of waiting until night, and then Brother Zhang and I will pay their king a visit and distract him; Brother Ji and my grandfather-in-law will take that envoy to the royal palace, find that dungeon and bust that survivor out."

Neither Ji Yanlai nor Ji Yin raised any objections, so the fleet slowly pulled up to the port.

...

"Welcome, welcome, Your Majesty. Please forgive me for not having come here sooner to meet you."

The king of the statelet had been startled when informed that the fleet of the Great Wen had docked. Baffled as to why Yuwen Tong had suddenly changed his mind, he had promptly taken some men and come to the port to welcome Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang disembarked from the vessel at a gentle pace, making towards the group of men welcoming them.

At the same time, Ji Yin and Ji Yanlai, pinioning the envoy, had quietly left the vessel from the other side. They were so fast none of those coming to welcome them noticed.

...

The royal palace was not very big. Ji Yin and Ji Yanlai, with their superb kung fu, soon made a circuit of it. The envoy, pinned to Ji Yanlai's side, didn't dare make a sound. Though aware that he was betraying the king, he was too scared to yell for help, knowing that his life was in Ji Yanlai's hands.

The envoy being cooperative, Ji Yanlai and Ji Yin found the entrance to the dungeon beneath the royal palace when Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong, accompanied by that king, were halfway to the palace.

"Thi–This is the place. It's guarded. Nobody can get in without the king's authorization," said the envoy tremulously.

Ji Yanlai snorted and, with a swift wave of his hand, a couple of leaves (nobody knew when he had picked them) shot out and hit the Mobility Acupoints of the five guards outside the entrance, immobilizing all of them.

"Let's go inside," said Ji Yanlai before he gripped the envoy by the scruff of the neck and swooshed through the entrance like the wind. The guards, panic-stricken from their sudden loss of mobility, saw two white figures flash past them like ghosts. They couldn't even tell whether those were human beings or not, let alone see what they looked like. Though ghosts were believed to appear only at night, the guards still felt fine beads of cold sweat breaking out over their backs.

This dungeon beneath the palace was used for holding felons, but there were not many guards in it.

Like the palace above, this prison was also small. It didn't even stack up against any of the prefectural prisons in the Great Wen.

Ji Yanlai, playing the same old trick, prodded the Sleep Acupoints of all the guards and, after they limply sank to the ground, had the envoy lead the two of them to the cells where the couple of local pirates who had escaped from the island were locked up.

Several of the pirates got scared and started shouting at the sight of Ji Yanlai and the other two, cowering into the corners of their cells, babbling on in a foreign language neither Ji Yanlai nor Ji Yin understood.

The envoy stammeringly interpreted for the two of them. "Th–They take you for monsters. They're terrified."

Ji Yin inquired, "Where's the one of sound mind?"

The envoy responded, "I'll need some time to find him. It's my first time being here as well."

It was true that the envoy had never had the chance to come here to meet that pirate, for he had been in their company throughout their journey to this country.

Ji Yanlai let go of him. "Find him," he instructed.

Not daring defy Ji Yanlai, the envoy immediately started searching and soon found that pirate in a separate cell.

The pirate warily sized up Ji Yanlai and Ji Yin and then, holding the bars with his hands, babbled to the envoy for a few moments, agitation written all over his face.

"What did you say to him?" Ji Yanlai asked the envoy.

The envoy twisted his head around and started trembling all over as he met Ji Yanlai's gaze, his eyes becoming unfocused. In a monotonous voice, he said, "I asked him if he knows the specific location of the island."

"What's his answer?"

"He does."

Ji Yanlai exchanged a glance with Ji Yin before giving the envoy another instruction. "Tell him we're here to bust him out of this place, that he is to go with us and lead us to that island, otherwise we'll kill him."

The envoy turned on his heel and spoke to the pirate in the same dull voice. The pirate perceived that the envoy, who had appeared normal only a moment ago, was now acting weirdly. He looked at Ji Yanlai, the expression in his eyes turning fearful. At this time, Ji Yanlai casually held the lock on the cell door, gave it a gentle pull and with that the chain broke, which further appalled the pirate who then gabbled something to the envoy.

"He wants to know who you are," said the envoy, being a dutiful interpreter.

"We're from the Great Wen and hold no personal grudge against him. All we want to know is where that island is. Tell him to be cooperative," said Ji Yanlai.

The envoy conveyed it to the pirate, who, after several moments of apparently painful internal struggle, clenched his teeth and walked out of his cell before he said something else to the envoy.

"He agreed," said the envoy.

"We should have him give us the location of the island first, in case anything unexpected happens on our way out of this place," said Ji Yin.

Feeling that he had a point, Ji Yanlai had the pirate tell them the specific location of the island. The envoy translated it in a dull voice, and Ji Yanlai and Ji Yin had to memorize it first. As for whether or not the pirate was telling the truth, they would have to take him back to the vessel to find out.

Ji Yanlai's ears suddenly wiggled. "There's movement at the front gates of this palace. They've come. We need to get out of here straight away."

With that, he and Ji Yin, pinioning the envoy and the pirate respectively, left the dungeon.

They did not unblock the acupoints of the guards at the entrance when leaving. Their blocked acupoints would spontaneously return to normal in two hours, by which time Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong would have departed. Even if the king found out that the prisoner had been taken away, there wouldn't be anything he could do about it.

...

No sooner had Ji Yanlai and Ji Yin left the royal palace than a secret bodyguard of Yuwen Tong's informed the imperial couple of it.

Having come to know that they had got the job done so soon, Yuwen Tong perfunctorily talked with the king for another few moments and then quickly returned to the vessel with Ling Zhang.

"Set sail." Yuwen Tong gave the order for the fleet to unmoor and depart the moment he boarded.

The armada sailed off when the king of the statelet was still wondering why Yuwen Tong, who had previously said he wouldn't visit the palace anytime soon, had suddenly come and then taken his leave after merely exchanging some banalities with him. It was not until the fleet had gone far away that he was informed that one of the pirates in the dungeon was missing.

The guards either had not seen the faces of the intruders clearly or had been put to sleep. None of them knew who had broken the prisoner out.

However, Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang's appearance at the exact time of the prison break was too much to be a coincidence, so the king eventually became suspicious of the two of them, but firstly he did not have any proof; secondly the two of them had already left; thirdly the two of them had an armada at their service, which his men did not stand a snowball's chance in hell of defeating. Furious and anxious as the king was, there was nothing he could do but watch the fleet of the Great Wen disappear from view.

...

On the vessel.

Ji Yanlai and Ji Yin brought the pirate over. The envoy, still under hypnosis, resumed interpreting for the pirate devotedly.

After being informed of the location provided by the pirate, Yuwen Tong unfurled a map, studied it with the others for a while and then had the pirate point the location out to them on the map before they finally reached a conclusion as to where the island should be.

The pirate's legs had been shaking since the moment he had set eyes on this large vessel. He fully believed Ji Yanlai's words now and was very obedient, not daring keep anything back from them. However, his face still registered fear as he talked about that island.

"He said there're demons on that island which kill and eat people, along with countless monsters, that although there's treasure, nobody would be able to get any of it off the island alive; it's a very dangerous place. He doesn't want to go back there. He begs you to let him go," said the envoy monotonously.

The pirate, kneeling on the ground, kept kowtowing to them, manifest horror and panic in his eyes. They could tell that he was not lying.

"Tell him we want to know more about the demons that kill and eat people, and those monsters too," instructed Ling Zhang.

The envoy translated it to the pirate, who haltingly said, "There are terrible-looking monsters on the island which eat people. And there's also a tribe of cannibals. It's those scrambling for treasure who kill people. The whole island is strewn with dead bodies."

"Didn't that island emerge from the sea only two years ago? How come there are living things on it?" Ling Zhang was bewildered.

Theoretically, this island should have been underwater for a very long time before its sudden emergence, and it should be basically uninhabitable after that. Yet somehow a tribe had settled on it already? And it was a tribe of cannibals who seemed to exist only in rumors? And what were those monsters that ate people?

But this pirate did not seem to be lying. He was looking at the others, shuddering, his eyes full of fear.

They asked him why there were living things on that island, but he was unable to give them an answer. Clearly such matters were beyond his grasp.

There was nothing else they could drag out of the pirate, and they had no other way to find out the answer, but it was quite certain that the island was fraught with danger. Yuwen Tong instructed that everybody get ready and do only what they were told to do, that nobody take any rash actions after they reached the island.

The pirate, desperate to leave, had been huddling on the floor in fear all along since he had noticed that nobody on board was paying him any attention, a hint of despair in his eyes.

"That island is a horrible place. If you get trapped there, you'll end up eating each other after running out of food, no matter how many men you bring with you!" said the pirate in a terrified voice, as though some unpleasant memories were coming back to him.

After hearing the pirate's words, Ji Yanlai said, "The fog that the island is wreathed in is probably some kind of concealment Formation. He said the fog had lifted briefly after the quake. I think it was because the Formation was affected by the quake."

Ling Zhang had several times used this kind of Formation which gave rise to fog when functioning, so Yuwen Tong, Yuwen Jin and the others were fairly familiar with it. However, it struck them as somewhat incredible that someone had deployed a large-scale concealment Formation around an island on the sea.

"There's a Formation on our island as well," said Ji Yin implicitly.

A couple of people couldn't understand why he brought this up, but the others immediately caught on to what Ji Yin meant.

They didn't have to worry about the fog, because it wouldn't be difficult for Ji Yanlai to find a way out.

"Even if the fog is not part of a concealment Formation, I'll still be able to find us a way out," said Ji Yanlai, looking at Ling Zhang. "His Highness could do it as well."

Ling Zhang was astonished. "Me?"

"Your intuition," said Ji Yanlai.

The look in Ling Zhang's eyes flickered as he exchanged a glance with Yuwen Tong.

The Force of Blood in Ling Zhang had been strengthening with the progress he had been making in his internal-energy cultivation, and he was indeed capable of finding a way out by following his instincts, though the process would consume a lot of his mental energy.

Yuwen Tong gave Ling Zhang's palm a little squeeze and said, "So we don't have to worry about how to get out of there."

"Clan Leader, if that's the case, your father should have come out some time ago. How come he's still trapped on that island and you were suddenly unable to sense whether he's safe or not?" Ling Zhang inquired of Ji Yanlai, bemused.

Ji Yanlai pondered for a while and then replied, "I think there's really something very special on that island. I don't know if that thing is dangerous, but considering my father is trapped or mesmerized by it, it is by no means some common treasure. You need to be extra careful."

The last remark of Ji Yanlai's was quite significant. It took Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong only a brief moment to get a general idea of what he meant. The corrupting effect of great wealth is formidable, let alone that of something that had more than just huge monetary value. If some of them failed to resist the temptation and tried to kill each other, things might get ugly.

As this thought crossed his mind, Yuwen Tong summoned the officers and made some arrangements.

...

Even if the fleet kept sailing at full pelt, it would still take them a couple of days to reach the island.

At night, when Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong were alone in their cabin, Yuwen Tong asked him, "Where's that gemstone?"

Ling Zhang was surprised for a moment, then he produced the gemstone he carried with him. There was a patch of milky white substance inside it, but after having it on him for some time, Ling Zhang had felt that the milky white substance had thickened, as though its sentience had been growing.

Yuwen Tong produced his own. When the two gemstones were put together, the two patches of milky white substance started flowing towards each other slowly as though being pulled by some kind of special attraction.

"Keep it with you at all times," said Yuwen Tong.

Though so far he still hadn't been able to figure out the secrets of these gemstones, he had a hunch that they were indeed quite unusual, that maybe these stones would really prove to be lifesavers at a crucial juncture.

Ling Zhang understood what Yuwen Tong meant. "I will. You should keep yours with you too," he said.

Yuwen Tong inclined his head.

"The Clan Leader saw these gemstones as well that day, and I noticed the surprise on his face, which was quite uncharacteristic of him, but he didn't say anything about it afterward. Do you think we should go and ask him if there's anything special about these gemstones?" asked Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong responded, "Him not saying anything about it that day was actually a tacit admission that the words of the envoy from that western statelet were true."

Ling Zhang gave it some thought and felt that Yuwen Tong was right. Now that they'd come to know these gemstones were indeed useful and harmless, there was no need for them to get to the bottom of it.

"We should rest well and recharge in the next few days. That pirate said the island is dangerous. Though we brought some men here, it's inadvisable to let down our guard. Every one of us should prepare some food and water before departure, just in case," added Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang said, "All right. I've been wondering about this for quite some time – that island emerged from the sea only two years ago; it's isolated and the conditions there are poor, so how come a tribe has moved there and settled on it already? And then there are also those monsters. All these living things need food and fresh water to survive. How have they been getting either of them?"

Yuwen Tong said, "There's always something fishy behind an oddity. This island emerged without warning, and then rumors suddenly started circulating about gold and rare treasures strewn all over the island. Now somehow we and the Fangcun Kingdom are both going there. If all this is part of someone's plan, they definitely have some ulterior motive."