34: Chapter 34 Digesting the spoils of war and shifting the blame eastward.

The Blue Moon Island Pier was once again incredibly busy.

However, unlike the bustle of hauling chests ashore and dragging warships a few days ago, this time the entire Pier seemed to be set ablaze by a flock of frenzied lightning. Over a hundred Purple Lightning Seahorses were trapped in the Outer Port's shallows by layers of Spirit-Locking Ropes and temporary array nets. At the slightest fright, crackling purple electric arcs would burst from between their manes and tail fins, lighting up patches of the seawater.

Neither the Mortal laborers nor the newly recruited sailors dared to get too close; they could only watch from afar, both envious and terrified.

"Can you really ride these things?"

"When we dragged them back from the open sea last night, I thought the Young Lord had fished lightning back to the island..."

"Cut the crap. Didn't you see Commander Lu's arm got whipped until it turned black, yet he still couldn't stop grinning?"

The discussions near the reef port were kept very low, but they couldn't suppress the excitement.

Those who had gone out to sea last night had already spread the news. The Young Lord, leading a hundred or so men with twenty mystic ice spirit-breaking crossbows, had forcibly snatched over a hundred top-grade mounts from the mouths of the Merfolk in the open sea. To many low-level Dao soldiers, such an event sounded like a myth.

At this moment, the one who was truly the busiest was Su Qingli.

She sat cross-legged on a temporary wooden platform erected in the Outer Port. In front of her lay seven disassembled conch parts, and beside her were scattered scales, joints, and several dark-blue bone plates carved with water-controlling patterns stripped from the Merfolk corpses. The beast-controlling conch she had just brought back from the battle to capture the seahorses in the open sea had been disassembled down to its core array nucleus, and she was currently using her spiritual power to guide and rearrange the fine water patterns.

Lu Changyuan stood below the platform, watching for a moment before asking, "Have you figured it out?"

Su Qingli didn't look up, only reaching out to trace a pale blue Array Pattern in the air. "The Merfolk cannot develop true beast-taming methods. They merely crammed three crude techniques—water-controlling, soul-frightening, and blood-qi suppression—into this conch."

"In anyone else's hands, this thing would at most be used to intimidate the seahorse herds, and over time, it would backfire. But it has one advantage: its foundation is simple and sturdy enough, so it's not hard to modify."

With a turn of her fingertip, the disassembled conch nucleus suddenly glowed with a faint light. In the Outer Port's shallows, a Purple Lightning Seahorse that had been violently thrashing its tail suddenly froze, its thin fins behind its ears trembling slightly, and it actually calmed down for a few breaths.

Lu Hu's eyes instantly lit up. "It worked?"

"Only half-successful," Su Qingli said calmly. "Just because I can temporarily suppress one now doesn't mean I can control fifty at the same time. Furthermore, this thing is, after all, built on the foundation left by the Merfolk. If we don't thoroughly understand it along with the Purple Lightning Seahorse's own lightning patterns, letting you ride them into battle would be suicidal if the herd panics halfway."

Lu Changyuan nodded. "How long will it take?"

"Three days," Su Qingli said. "Give me three days to convert the conch into an array nucleus, and then select the fifty steadiest men from the current hundred Dao soldiers. I can't guarantee that in three days they'll be as coordinated as veteran cavalry, but at least they'll be able to form ranks, charge, and execute short-range retreat-and-strikes without throwing themselves into the sea first."

Lu Hu felt his chest burn with excitement and almost wanted to agree on the spot.

Lu Changyuan, however, was steadier than him. "Select the men first, and don't be greedy."

"Keep the fifty strongest from the seahorse herd first. The rest will be raised in batches in the Outer Port and the western shallow bay, prioritized based on their degree of control. What I want is a blade that can be used immediately, not a herd of beasts that is just for show."

"Yes!" Lu Hu responded in a deep voice.

Once the order was given, Blue Moon Island once again demonstrated the high efficiency that came from being pushed to its limits.

The fifty steadiest Dao soldiers were quickly selected. No one dared to use connections for this, because everyone knew that suppressing the Purple Lightning Seahorses required putting one's life on the line. The chosen group was first zapped by the seahorses in the shallows until they grimaced in pain, and then, amidst Lu Hu's angry shouting, they repeatedly practiced holding the reins, lowering their bodies, skimming the waves, and forming ranks. They trained until they were covered in a burnt smell, yet their eyes grew brighter and brighter.

By evening, Su Qingli finally sealed the dark-blue conch back up.

She had dismantled nearly half of the originally crude and sinister Merfolk patterns, leaving only the core water-controlling pathways and soul-frightening nodes, while adding a new ring of lightning-attracting Array Patterns to the outer layer. Holding the entire conch in hand, it no longer resembled an alien Demonic Weapon, but rather a battle array horn born specifically for sea cavalry.

"Give it a try," she said, handing the conch to Lu Hu.

Lu Hu took it, the excitement on his face almost impossible to suppress. "Me?"

"If not you, then who?" Lu Changyuan said indifferently. "You can't expect me to ride it and take the first fall during the trial."

The surrounding crowd burst into low laughter, and even the atmosphere that had been tense all day loosened up a bit.

A moment later, a long waterway was cleared in the Outer Port's shallows.

Fifty Purple Lightning Seahorses, which had been initially suppressed, were lined up on both sides. Fifty selected elite Dao soldiers stood by the sea, their hands wrapped with Spirit-Locking Ropes and simplified reins, their faces tensed. Shi Jian and a group of Mortal laborers had long since stood guard nearby with medicine chests, nets, and spare wooden shields, clearly prepared to "fish people out at any moment."

Lu Hu took a deep breath and flipped himself onto the back of the strongest Purple Lightning Seahorse.

The beast's spine tensed, and a stream of lightning fire instantly surged up the reins, causing Lu Hu's shoulders and back to shudder. Yet he gritted his teeth and refused to let go, instead squeezing his legs and pressing down hard according to the wave-pressing movement he had practiced earlier.

"Woo—"

The conch blew a long, resonant blast.

The new Array Patterns Su Qingli had added instantly lit up. Streams of fine lightning, as if drawn by the sound of the conch, actually resonated along the seahorse herd. The fifty originally restless seahorses shuddered simultaneously, and then, their front hooves treading the waves, they charged forward in unison.

In the first breath, there was still some chaos.

By the second breath, they had formed a formation.

By the third breath, fifty purple afterimages had almost merged into a single line, shooting out over a hundred Zhang close to the sea's surface.

Outside the reef port, a chorus of sharp, uncontrollable gasps immediately rang out.

This was a pack of true killing weapons capable of carrying Cultivators to tear lines of lightning across the sea.

As Lu Hu bypassed the Outer Port and charged back, the sound of the conch changed again. The fifty seahorses actually forced a curve amidst the crests of the waves, charging toward the wooden stakes ahead with a dense web of lightning. Dozens of black wooden stakes driven into the shallows were snapped and shattered by the lightning and the momentum almost instantly, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

"Excellent!"

No one knew who shouted first, but the Pier suddenly erupted with a long-suppressed burst of wild joy.

When Lu Hu reined in his mount and returned to the shore, a faint scar scorched by lightning marked his face, but his smile was fiercer than ever. "Young Lord, this blade can be used!"

"Being usable doesn't mean you can use it recklessly," Su Qingli said as she stepped down from the wooden platform, her face pale. Clearly, this round of testing the array nucleus had taken a massive toll on her. "Right now, they are only good for short charges, breaking lines, and hunting down routing troops. If you were really to engage in prolonged battles in the deep sea, you would still die a miserable death."

Hearing this, Lu Changyuan was actually more satisfied.

Knowing exactly what they could achieve was the right attitude.

This was true capability.

"Enough," he said indifferently, looking at the fifty elite Dao soldiers who were practically puffing their chests out to the limit. "From today onward, a new battalion is established."

"With a complement of fifty men, it shall be named the Purple Lightning Sea Cavalry."

"Lu Hu shall concurrently command it. Without my military order, no one is to move."

The fifty elites simultaneously dropped to one knee, their chests burning as if set ablaze, and shouted their acceptance of the command in unison.

As their voices fell, the spirits of everyone on the entire Pier seemed to soar.

Blue Moon Island finally had its first true mobile maritime blade.

As night fell, Leng Feng also returned with his men from the boundary of the open sea.

He placed a barbed dart stained with dark brown blood and half a tattered flag of the Blood Shark Pirates on the table, his voice as quiet as ever: "As the Young Lord commanded, the corpse of the Merfolk leader and several mutilated bodies of their elites have been dumped at the boundary of the open sea. We fabricated old wounds, chaotic blade cuts, and traces of Explosive Talismans, making it look like the work of the Blood Shark Pirates."

"Our men withdrew cleanly, leaving no trace of Blue Moon Island."

Lu Changyuan looked up. "What about the Merfolk?"

"They have already given chase," Leng Feng said. "I watched from afar. They first found the corpses and the tattered flag at the boundary, and then the entire tribe erupted into chaos. The dozen or so Merfolk at the very front have already followed the blood trails and driftwood all the way toward the reefs where the Blood Shark Pirates frequently operate."

Hearing this, Su Qingli breathed a sigh of relief.

With this step successful, Blue Moon Island would at least gain some breathing room.

If the alien race and the pirates had a fierce clash first, they wouldn't have the spare energy to probe toward Blue Moon Island in the short term.

Lu Changyuan, however, did not show much self-satisfaction. He merely tossed the half-tattered flag into the charcoal brazier, watching it slowly curl and turn to ash.

"We buy whatever time we can."

"Before the beast tide, the more chaotic this sea is, the more advantageous it is for us."

After speaking, his gaze fell back toward the Training Ground.

In the night, the fifty Purple Lightning Seahorses were still treading the waves back and forth in the Outer Port's shallow bay, occasionally dragging trails of purple-white electricity behind them. The Sea Cavalry Battalion had already begun practicing their first round of formations. Although they were still far from experienced, their speed and momentum were already completely different from the Blue Moon Island of a few days ago.

Lu Hu walked over quickly from the Training Ground, his forehead covered in sweat, but his eyes shining with excitement.

"Young Lord, we have the Sea Cavalry Battalion now, but their armor is too poor."

"When we tested the charge against the wooden stakes just now, the lightning web was indeed generated. But if we truly encounter high-tier sea demons, our men's leather and scale armor won't be able to withstand the backlash and bites at all."

Su Qingli also nodded. "We have the mounts and the mobility, but without armor that is sufficiently hard yet flexible, this Sea Cavalry Battalion can at most be considered a swift blade, not an iron blade."

Lu Changyuan did not speak.

He naturally understood this point.

The Purple Lightning Sea Cavalry could elevate Blue Moon Island's maritime slaying capabilities by a large margin, but if they were to face the fierce sea beasts in the beast tide, without complete sets of heavy armor and spears, they would still be too vulnerable.

Right at this moment, the heavenly secret jade slip deep within his Sea of Consciousness warmed up slightly once again.

Lu Changyuan's eyes flickered slightly as his Divine Sense sank in.

In the next instant, a light trail more solid than the last lit up directly on the sea chart in his Sea of Consciousness, pointing straight to the deep sea east of Blue Moon Island.

[Two hundred miles east of Blue Moon Island in the deep-sea trench, a Tier 3 deep-sea cold iron ore vein has been discovered.]

[The ore vein can be used to forge heavy armor, spearheads, and crossbow components.]

[Current guardian: One Late Foundation Establishment Stage sea demon commander, with over a thousand sea demon followers.]

As the three lines of words met his eyes, even Lu Changyuan fell silent for a breath.

The first two lines were treasures.

The third line was a mountain that weighed down so heavily it made it hard to breathe.

He looked up, watching the newly formed Sea Cavalry Battalion on the Training Ground, but the corners of his mouth slowly curved into an extremely cold arc.

"The armor has arrived."

"It's just that... it doesn't look like something we can bite off on our own."