247: Chapter 247 The puppets arrive, refugees flood in.

Third day, Chen hour—Elder Wei Changfeng's three-day deadline, not a day more, not a day less—a grey-black military spirit boat without flags flew in, skimming the surface of the water, towards the Outer Port of Blue Moon Island.

The hull bore no markings—even the customary military serial number had been scraped off.

The waves kicked up when the boat's bottom touched the water were nearly half the size of a normal military vessel—the cargo hold was packed with extremely heavy items, pressing the waterline down by nearly two feet.

The spirit boat did not dock at the Pier.

A middle-aged Cultivator in plain clothes poked his head out from the cabin door—his face devoid of any expression—and tossed a Storage Pouch onto the Pier's stone slabs.

The Storage Pouch hit the stone with a dull, heavy thud—the contents weighed at least several thousand catties.

Then, he lined up three jade bottles next to the Storage Pouch—the seals on the bottles bore the vermilion seal of the military logistics Medicinal Pill depot, and the stamp on the seal was not "Allocated"—it was "Scrapped."

The plain-clothed Cultivator did not disembark.

He only said four words—"For Elder Wei."—then the spirit boat turned around and flew back towards the Zhenhai, skimming the water, without any record of entering the port from start to finish.

Leng Feng crouched down to open the Storage Pouch.

The moment the pouch opened, a thick scent of rust mixed with the burnt, bitter smell of ancient Formation ink gushed out—the scent was so strong that He Pingchuan, standing three steps away, sneezed twice.

Leng Feng reached inside—and touched a freezing cold Cold Iron shell.

The surface of the shell was covered in Array Patterns—each line was thicker than his finger, with obvious high-temperature oxidation layers on the edges—this Puppet had been sealed for at least several hundred years.

He turned the Storage Pouch upside down.

The Core Formation-level war Puppet slammed onto the stone Pier—the stone slab sank nearly half an inch.

When the Puppet stood upright, it was nearly half a head taller than Leng Feng—dark golden combat Array Patterns on the Cold Iron shell radiated outward in circles from the core of the chest cavity; the path of the patterns was not the current military standard—it was an ancient Formation from three hundred years ago.

The core drive Formation was in the exact center of the Puppet's chest cavity—Leng Feng looked inside from the seam of the chest armor—a very fine crack on the Array Pattern extended diagonally from the top left corner to the bottom right, the edges of the crack having been repeatedly scorched by high temperatures—that was the trace of nearly thirty percent wear.

Su Qingli came out of the Formation Affairs Room—clutching a Receiving Formation plate in her hand.

She walked around the Puppet twice—pressed her finger on the Spirit Stone slot on the Puppet's back.

The interlocking structure inside the Spirit Stone slot was of an old design—nearly half an inch wider than the current standard Spirit Stone.

She fished a Low-Grade Spirit Stone from her waist and stuffed it in—the Spirit Stone wobbled in the slot, and less than half of its edge was caught.

"Need to widen the adapter plate. It's an old-style Spirit Stone slot—the current standard Spirit Stone doesn't fill it. The consumption for each activation will be nearly twice that of a standard Core Formation Stage Cultivator's spiritual power consumption—Elder Wei didn't lie to us."

She pulled the Spirit Stone out—ran her finger around the inside of the slot— "The slot walls aren't worn severely—that crack in the core Array Pattern was forced open by hundreds of years of repeated thermal expansion and contraction. If the cooling can't keep up, it will continue to crack. Continuous combat for at most half an hour—beyond that time, the core Array Pattern might break at the crack."

Leng Feng closed the Puppet's chest armor.

When it closed, the sealing Array Pattern on the inside of the chest armor lit up—a very faint dark gold—then dimmed.

The sealing Array Pattern was still usable.

Lu Changyuan picked up the three jade bottles from the stone slab.

The bottles were ice-cold—the "Scrapped" stamp on the seal was mixed with dark red cinnabar powder, which did not reflect light in the sunlight.

He unscrewed one of the bottle caps—the medicinal scent escaping from the bottle mouth was extremely faint, only noticeable when sniffed up close—it was not the fresh fragrance of herbs, but a highly concentrated aura of something that had been refined dozens of times until only the core medicinal properties remained.

Rejuvenation Pill—a Medicinal Pill that Golden Core Stage Cultivators used as a second life—had been requisitioned by Elder Wei Changfeng from the deepest part of the military logistics Medicinal Pill depot under the name of "Scrapped."

He screwed the cap back on.

He tucked the three jade bottles into the inner pocket of his sleeve—placing them next to the stack of items that was already bulging the seams.

On the Pier—in the westernmost room of the row of stone houses next to the bulletin board.

Special Commissioner Wei Yuan walked out of the door.

He had changed into a dark grey robe without epaulets—the cloud-pattern sleeve badge of the Inspectorate had been removed, and his sword was still hanging at his waist, but the scabbard clasp was unfastened.

He stood at the doorway for nearly five breaths—watching Leng Feng move the Puppet onto the reef wall—watching Su Qingli back on the Pier, using a charcoal pencil to repeatedly adjust the dimensions on the sketch of the Spirit Stone adapter plate.

Then he turned back into the stone house—and closed the door.

As the door closed, the door hinge ground out a very faint friction sound in the stone mortar.

At the same time—outside the reef wall.

The first batch of refugees appeared on the horizon at the end of the Chen hour.

Leng Feng turned the observation scope nearly forty degrees towards the flank—inside the lens, at least three spirit boats of various sizes were rushing towards Blue Moon Island at full speed.

The largest cargo ship's waterline was pressed to the edge of the gunwale—the deck was packed with people, and large wooden crates secured with thick hemp ropes were tied to both sides of the ship, leaking grey-white Spiritual Plant powder from the cracks in the crates.

The cargo ship was followed by two sampans—the people on the sampans were squatting on the edges, using oars and temporarily dismantled deck boards as oars—the frequency of their rowing was too fast to synchronize, and the two oars collided on the gunwale three times.

Less than thirty miles behind the cargo ship—dark purple mist rose from the sea.

That was the spiritual power corrosion mist produced after the crystal fragments on the Abyssal Beast bone armor corroded the stone walls—the stone walls of four Grade-E strongholds were being corroded simultaneously.

Beneath the mist—the reflections of the bone armor of Late Foundation Establishment Stage Abyssal Beasts covered the sea, spreading from one end of the horizon to the other.

Leng Feng turned the observation scope toward the Pier— "Refugee boats. At least three—the deck of the largest cargo ship is packed with at least two hundred people. The beast tide behind is less than thirty miles away—at their speed of advance, the refugee boats are less than half an hour faster than the beast tide."

Lu Changyuan stood on the reef wall stone platform.

He pressed his hand on the sub-plate of the Killing Array—the blue-white fluorescent light at the sixteen Formation eyes on the sub-plate was stable.

He did not order the Formation to be opened to let people in.

He had Leng Feng stand up the Core Formation Puppet that had just been moved to the foot of the reef wall—the Puppet's Cold Iron shell did not reflect light in the Chen hour sunlight, but the spiritual power pulse of the core drive in the chest cavity diffused outward through the seams of the chest armor—the stone slabs of the entire reef wall were trembling slightly.

This pulse frequency—a Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator could perceive it from over ten miles away.

"Su Qingli—how much material for the spare wooden sheds is left on the Pier?"

"What's left from the last battle damage replenishment—enough to build at least eighty temporary sheds. The shed area in the Inner Harbor is already full—we can only build them in the open space of the Outer Port."

"Move them all out. Commander Cai—take some men to clear an open space next to the bulletin board. Erase the line 'Contribution Point Exchange' under the wartime regulations—and replace it with a larger wooden board."

Commander Cai pulled the pipe from his mouth—the tobacco was unlit, and a thick layer of old ash had accumulated at the bottom of the copper bowl.

He glanced at the cargo ship getting closer on the sea—someone on the cargo ship was waving at him—arms raised above their head, the amplitude of the waving so great that the whole person was swaying on the deck.

Commander Cai tucked the pipe into his belt—turned and walked towards the bulletin board.

His right leg was nearly half a beat slower than his left when walking—that was an old injury from slipping and spraining it while counting battle damage in the narrow alley on the flank, which hadn't healed well.

The first cargo ship crashed into the Outer Port of Blue Moon Island at the beginning of the Si hour.

Not docking—crashing.

The bow hit the old wooden mooring pile at the northernmost corner of the Pier—the pile was bent nearly half a foot, and the protective Array Pattern on the bow flashed and then dimmed.

Before the ship had even stopped, people on the deck started jumping off—some Foundation Establishment Stage Loose Cultivators leaped directly over the gunwale using Qi, some Qi Refining stage Cultivators slid down the side of the ship holding Storage Pouches, and some Mortals were pushed up from the cargo hold holding children—when their feet hit the Pier, they stumbled forward at least three steps.

In less than half an incense stick of time—at least three hundred people were crowded onto the Pier.

Some were crying—some were squatting by the stone slabs gasping for air—some were dumping their Storage Pouches onto the Pier—what they dumped out were all fragments of Abyssal Beast bone armor and a few unprocessed deep-sea Ore, which were the only things they had left when they fled from the overrun strongholds.

An old grey-clothed Loose Cultivator with a missing right pinky finger pushed through the crowd—rushing towards the reef wall.

He was blocked by the Sin Battalion veterans with shields.

He pounded the edge of the shields—his fist thudding against the iron plating— "Let us in! The beast tide is behind us—the Grade-E strongholds are all finished! Shark Tooth Reef—the stone walls had already collapsed when we escaped! The thirty-something people guarding the wall are all dead—all dead, do you hear me!"

Lu Changyuan walked down from the stone platform.

He did not look at the old Loose Cultivator—he was looking at the refugees gathering more and more on the Pier.

The two sampans behind the cargo ship were also approaching the Pier—the people on the sampans couldn't wait to dock, jumping directly from the sampans into the shallow water, running onto the Pier while wading through waist-deep seawater.

The seawater was trampled into turbidity—the mud and sand turned up, staining the clear water area at the edge of the Pier greyish-yellow.

Leng Feng turned the observation scope back towards the beast tide.

In the lens—the dark purple corrosion mist had drifted to a position less than twenty miles from the reef wall.

Beneath the mist, the bone spear tips of the Late Foundation Establishment Stage Abyssal Beasts in the front row drew white lines on the water surface—the speed of advance was steady.

"My Lord—the beast tide is less than half an hour away. There are at least two hundred more people drifting towards here on the Pier."

Lu Changyuan picked up the sub-plate from the stone platform.

He walked to the bulletin board—Commander Cai had already nailed a new wooden board next to the old bulletin board.

The board was sawed from a discarded sampan during the last battle damage replenishment—the surface still had grey-white salt stains soaked in by seawater.

He picked up the charcoal pencil—and wrote three lines on the board.

First line: The Outer Port of Blue Moon Island is designated as a wartime shelter zone starting from today—entry requires an entry fee. One catty of Tier 3 Ore exchanges for one person's shelter for one day. One catty of Tier 2 Ore exchanges for one person's shelter for half a day. One piece of verified intelligence on Haiyuan Clan forces of Grade B or higher exchanges for five people's shelter for three days.

Second line: Those unwilling to pay the entry fee—can sign an Abyssal Exploration Contract. Form a team to go to designated areas in the shallow layer of the abyssal vein to collect Ore, 70% of the collected Ore goes to the public treasury, 30% is kept by the individual, and the public treasury share offsets the shelter days. Those who complete the first round of abyssal exploration—the team leader gains long-term shelter qualification, with no limit on days.

Third line: Existing high-grade Spiritual Plant, Spiritual Ore, and Formation Materials can be converted into Contribution Points at market price—following the same path of using Contribution Points to exchange for resources as everyone else on the island. Blue Moon Island does not suppress prices—the rating standards are public.

[part:gemini-3.5-flash]

He placed the charcoal pencil on the edge of the wooden board and turned around to face the hundreds of refugees crowded on the Pier. His voice was not loud, but as the sea breeze blew inward from the reef wall, every word carried to the very end of the Pier.

"Blue Moon Island provides the absolute safety of our Formation's protection. But this safety is not free."

The Pier fell silent for nearly three breaths of time. Then, a massive uproar erupted.

The old grey-clothed Loose Cultivator's hand slipped down from his shield. He stared at the words on the wooden board for several breaths, the corners of his mouth pulling downward. "Our outpost was just breached! All we have left on us are a few broken bones—what do you expect us to pay with?!"

"The deep-sea Ore fragments you brought with you when you fled the breached outpost," Lu Changyuan said, pointing to the pile of items a Loose Cultivator had just poured out onto the Pier—a few dark grey stones mixed in with shards of bone armor. "These are fragments of Tier 3 Ore. They can be found right on the seabed outside Shark Tooth Reef. You didn't forget to pick them up even while fleeing for your lives, which means you know they are valuable."

The Loose Cultivator looked down at the pile of things he had poured out. His lips twitched, but he said nothing.

"I am not asking for the Spirit Stones on your person," Lu Changyuan said, moving his finger away from the wooden board and pressing it against the auxiliary plate of the Killing Array Formation Plate at his waist. "I want you to do one thing for Blue Moon Island: take advantage of the gap in the beast tide to descend into the shallow layers of the abyssal vein. There is far more Ore there—much more than what you salvaged from the ruins of your outpost. You delve into the abyss, and I will provide protection. Seventy percent of the Ore goes to the public treasury, and you keep thirty percent. You risk your lives for Ore, and I use the Ore to trade for your safety."

The Pier fell silent once more. This time, the silence lasted even longer than before—long enough that the sound of Abyssal Beasts' bone spears paddling through the water on the distant sea could be heard from beyond the reef wall.

Then, the old grey-clothed Loose Cultivator with the missing pinky finger squatted down and picked out the largest piece from the pile of broken Ore he had poured out. It was dark grey, its surface caked with seabed silt, and its fracture gleamed with an extremely faint silver-blue shimmer. He placed the Ore on the stone slab in front of the bulletin board.

"My name is Old Mai Liu, from the Shark Tooth Reef outer harvesting team," he said, standing up and looking at Lu Changyuan. "I've seen the kind of Ore vein you mentioned on the seabed of Shark Tooth Reef. Less than two hundred Zhang deep in the shallow water layer, there is an entire wall of dark grey stone, embedded with this silver-veined Ore. The Haiyuan Clan doesn't patrol that area; their patrol lines are further out."

Lu Changyuan glanced at him. Old Mai Liu—he shared a name with the primary signatory Loose Cultivator of the outer harvesting team. But they weren't the same person. That Grade-E outpost at Shark Tooth Reef had also implemented harvesting permits, copying the very system Blue Moon Island had introduced a few months ago.

"You've been down into those waters."

"I have. Twice. The first time was to scout the location, and the second time I took three people down to chip at the Ore. We chipped off nearly twenty catties, but on the way back, we ran into a Haiyuan Clan scout patrol and lost one man." He turned his right hand over, showing a palm covered in old scars. They weren't cuts from weapons, but thick calluses worn down by long periods of chipping Ore against seabed reefs, with extremely fine stone dust embedded beneath the calluses. "The people at the outpost said this Ore was worthless and no one would buy it. Until today."

Lu Changyuan picked up the Ore from the stone slab. It felt nearly twice as heavy in his hand as it looked. In the morning light, the silver-blue veins extended from the fracture deep into the core of the stone, the threads at the ends of the veins finer than hair—this was the typical texture of deep-sea Cold Iron Mine.

"Old Mai Liu, form a team with the people who escaped with you. For the first batch of abyss-delving, I will mark three Ore vein coordinates for you. Leng Feng will lead you to the entrance of the safe passage. You will go into the water this afternoon and return with the Ore before tomorrow evening. Once you return, everyone in your team will have their city entry fees waived and will directly receive temporary Blue Moon Island protection plaques."

Old Mai Liu took the Ore back from Lu Changyuan's hand. He glanced behind him. Among the Loose Cultivators on the Pier who had escaped on the same boat as him, at least seven or eight were his old partners who used to harvest seaweed and chip Ore together at Shark Tooth Reef. These people were squatting by the Pier, drenched to the bone, their faces covered in a grey crust of seawater and silt—yet their eyes were all fixed on the piece of Ore in Old Mai Liu's hand.

"I'll go," Old Mai Liu said, stuffing the Ore into his shirt. "But I have one condition. There is a female Cultivator in our team—she's at the Late Qi Refining Stage and over seven months pregnant. She can't go into the water. Let her stay on shore, and the island's people must not touch her while I am away."

"Pregnant women and children under ten years old are exempt from the city entry fee."

Old Mai Liu nodded. Then he turned around and raised his right hand toward his seven or eight old partners squatting on the Pier, the thick calluses on his palm gleaming a waxy white in the sunlight. "Old Zhao, dig out that Ore vein map you drew on the reef wall last time. Old Wu, go ask that legless Formation Master on the cargo ship if he's willing to lend us some underwater lighting talismans—he might still have some in stock."

The Pier fell silent for a few breaths. Then, some people began to move. Not everyone—most were still waiting and watching, squatting by the Pier while clutching what little belongings they had left. But Old Mai Liu's group of seven or eight had already begun to gather in a circle near the bulletin board. Old Zhao pulled a piece of old cloth, wrinkled from being soaked in seawater, out of his Storage Pouch; on it, several crooked Ore vein markings were drawn in charcoal. Old Wu squeezed toward the cargo ship on a limping leg, shouting as he went, "Formation Master! Is the Formation Master still on the ship? We'll help you carry your talisman paper Materials—just lend us a few underwater lighting talismans first!"

Lu Changyuan called Commander Cai over to the bulletin board and told him to record Old Mai Liu's name on the first page. Commander Cai opened the registry and wrote three words in charcoal at the top of a new blank page: Abyss Exploration Team. Then, he wrote a line of small characters underneath: "Primary Signatory: Old Mai Liu, Loose Cultivator of Shark Tooth Reef. First batch of abyss-delvers—team of three to ten people. Entering the water this afternoon."

Far from the Pier, at least two more refugee boats were rowing toward Blue Moon Island. Behind the boats, a dark purple corrosive mist had already spread to within fifteen li of the reef wall. Leng Feng turned his observation scope toward the east. Through the lens, the vanguard of Foundation Establishment Abyssal Beasts had already contracted from a fan-shaped skirmish line into an assault Formation, with the tips of the bone spears in the very front row all pointing toward the reef wall.

He lowered his observation scope and buckled his scabbard clasp.

"Commander Cai, get the first roster of the Sin Battalion up onto the reef wall. Fully deploy the outer Sword Net—before the refugee boats enter the harbor, not a single Abyssal Beast is to be allowed within five li of the reef wall."

A fierce gale blew from the direction of the reef wall, causing the new wooden board on the bulletin board to lean back slightly. Under the sunlight, the three lines of charcoal writing on the board gleamed a very faint greyish-black—the bottom of the first line had already been dried by the sea breeze, the charcoal dust seeping into the old grain of the wood that had been soaked in seawater.

Old Mai Liu squatted next to the bulletin board and spread Old Zhao's crumpled Ore vein map on the stone slab, weighing down the corner of the paper with a piece of broken Ore. There were four marked points on the map—two in the Outer Sea of Shark Tooth Reef, one near the shallow entrance of the Dragon Burial Trench, and one marked with a question mark. "I didn't finish scouting this area last time—the undercurrents were too strong, and the sampan couldn't dive down. But there is light at the bottom—not from seaweed, but emitted by the Ore embedded in the stone walls itself."

Leng Feng walked past behind him and glanced at the map. Then he squatted down and drew another circle with his finger next to the question mark. "Here—less than three li west of the entrance to the Dragon Burial Trench's safe passage. Last time, when I floated up from twenty-five hundred Zhang, I passed this spot. There indeed was light reflecting off Ore on the stone wall. The depth is less than three hundred Zhang, which is nearly two thousand Zhang shallower than the main Ore vein on the seabed."

Old Mai Liu looked up at Leng Feng, noting the dried streak of blood on his left shoulder, the salt frost on his armor plates from being soaked in seawater and then dried in the sun, and the handle of a Formation Flag bulging from the inside of his belt. Then, he picked up the charcoal pencil and wrote two characters next to the circle Leng Feng had drawn: Confirmed.

In less than two hours, at least seven or eight lines of notes had been added to the bottom of the new wooden board on the bulletin board by Old Zhao using charcoal. The Abyss Exploration Team Formation rules: three to ten people per group, led by at least one Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Stage; the abyss-delving area extends about sixty li outward from the shallow entrance of the Dragon Burial Trench; the entrance to the safe passage is marked by Leng Feng; underwater lighting equipment can be borrowed from the Formation Affairs Room (pre-deducted from contribution points). Commander Cai opened another registration column next to it, with the heading "Abyss-Delving Registration." Beneath it, at least four teams had already signed their names. Most of the signatures were crooked—some had pressed a thumbprint next to their names instead of writing, while others drew their customary marks after their names, such as a circle, a vertical line, or a cross.

Old Mai Liu's team occupied the first line. Seven members—all former subordinates from Shark Tooth Reef. Departure time: the hour of Wei (2:00 PM) today.

Lu Changyuan stood in the Chart Room, looking through the stone window at the Loose Cultivators squatting on the Pier to draw maps, Commander Cai registering them page by page with an unlit pipe in his mouth, and the new wooden board on the bulletin board leaning back slightly in the sea breeze. He reached into the inner pocket of his sleeve, where nine items were stacked. He nudged Special Commissioner Wei Yuan's Jade Slip aside; beneath it, on Commander Tie Zhan's military order slip that read "Defend to the Death," the ink had already been dry for nearly four days. He turned the slip over and wrote three words on the back in charcoal: Abyss Exploration Team.

Then, he folded the slip of paper back up and pressed it beneath the very bottom of the Jade Slip.

On the Pier, Su Qingli handed the third draft of the Spirit Stone adapter sketch to Leng Feng. The adapter was modified from a copper piece of an old Formation Plate—the copper piece was cut to the standard width of a Spirit Stone, and a dark copper alloy guide strip was welded onto each side of the copper piece, with the ends of the guide strips bent to match the curvature of the old-style Spirit Stone slot. The bending angle of the third draft was nearly half a degree more than the first two drafts. "Half a degree is just right—any more and it will jam, any less and it will be loose."

Leng Feng inserted the adapter into the Spirit Stone slot on the back of the Puppet. This time, the Spirit Stone locked in snugly. The sealing Array Pattern around the slot lit up the moment the Spirit Stone clicked into place—the light was stable, extending from the edge of the slot deep into the Puppet's chest cavity. The pulse frequency of the core drive array inside the Puppet's chest immediately jumped up a notch, sending a subtle vibration through the stone slab from the soles of his feet to his knees.

The Core Formation Puppet stood up.