The villagers in these fishing villages had simple natures, untouched by the pollution of the outside world. They harbored almost no suspicion towards strangers.
For these fishermen, who had never left the sea in their lives, to ignore someone they could help would fill their hearts with guilt.
This guilt could even haunt them for their entire lives.
Under the careful care of these simple villagers, Fang Long’s numerous injuries quickly healed, leaving him as good as new.
...
Having recovered from his injuries, Fang Long, under the cover of night, left the home of the fishermen who had meticulously cared for him for a month, without saying a word of farewell.
Fang Long had never uttered words of thanks, not even a single perfunctory phrase.
This was because, in his understanding, anyone who had seen him in such a wretched state deserved to die.
As for gratitude, for him, a dragon who roamed the seas, it simply did not exist.
This middle-aged man named Fang Long was a pirate captain on the ocean.
He was known for a string of unbelievable and terrifying legends, and an exceedingly fearsome title: "Blood Dragon"!
Even among the many cruel, ruthless, and bloodthirsty pirates, Fang Long was considered one of the most vicious, an unprecedented villain.
He was merciless, taking pleasure in killing, and wherever he went, his hands were stained with blood.
He once made an extremely wild bet with a close friend: to sever the heads of captives with a curved saber within a set time limit, and whoever killed the most captives would be the victor.
Unsurprisingly, Fang Long won.
Within an hour, Fang Long had beheaded one hundred and thirty-five people.
That was one hundred and thirty-five lives.
Wherever Fang Long and his pirate crew passed, they spared no one, regardless of gender, age, or whether they were old, weak, women, or children.
Time slowly passed, and another month went by. Fang Long, with his hundreds of subordinates, launched a night raid on the fishing village of Wuwa.
Fang Long first cast a glance at the low thatched huts not far in front of him. Then, he quietly ordered two of his subordinate chieftains: "This time, we must kill everyone here. Leave no one alive, not even children. Do you understand?"
"Yes!"
The two chieftains replied in unison.
...
"Swish!"
Then, Fang Long resolutely drew his gleaming curved saber with his right hand, pointed at the distant village, and shouted.
"Brothers, wealth and women are before us! What are you waiting for? Kill, kill, kill!"
The hundreds of strong pirates behind him, upon hearing their leader's words, all raised their curved sabers, and a bloodthirsty, cruel smile appeared on each of their faces.
The strong wind whistled past his ears as Fang Long, leading from the front, charged.
In the cold night mist, hundreds of pirates, like demons emerging from the dark, charged at the simple fishermen who had returned home to sleep, at an extremely fast pace.
The sound of hundreds of pirates rushing forward stirred some of the fishermen sleeping in their homes. Sensing that something was amiss, they quickly grabbed their family's shovels and fishing forks and rushed outside.
Seeing the villagers rushing out, armed with shovels and fishing forks, their faces a picture of panic, unable to even coordinate their actions, Fang Long, who was at the forefront, sneered at his subordinates. "A bunch of disorganized rabble. Go and finish them off, lads."
...
"Kill!"
A burly bandit swiftly approached a fisherman, raising his curved saber high, drawing a cold glint in the air.
"Thwack!"
The fisherman only saw a blur before his eyes.
A large head flew into the air, and blood spurted half a meter high from the headless chest.
"Kill!" The pirates who followed behind, like wolves entering a flock of sheep, immediately scattered the fishermen.
The curved sabers flashed with cold light, and fisherman after fisherman fell to the ground in a pool of blood in an instant.
The fishermen, who had just mustered the courage to charge, were dispersed by the ferocious pirates.
In just one hour, the hundreds of strong pirates had slaughtered almost all of the more than a thousand people in the village.
Not only that, after packing up their valuables, grain, and women, they finally set fire to the entire fishing village, reducing it to ashes.
These simple fishermen, only at the moment of their death, realized that they had saved a devil, a devil from hell.
Only then did they begin to regret it, their intestines turning green with regret, but it was all in vain. No amount of regret could help.
Their homes were destroyed, their houses burned, their wives and children killed, everything vanished in the roaring flames amidst the screams.
Black clouds piled up in the sky, and the dry, cold air stung the nostrils as if a hook were lodged deep within.
Every breath was accompanied by a dull exhale, and a thin layer of white frost covered the ground.
A strange stench filled the air. On a tree in the forest hung a row of white objects, and many vultures circled above the corpses, conspicuously visible.
In one area, there were even hundreds of corpses, many of them elderly and children. Nearby were the charred remains of thatched huts, burned to almost dust.
Some corpses had their eyes eaten by scavenging birds, leaving only two dark, empty sockets.
Others had necks that were twice as long as normal due to iron nails driven through their collarbones, resembling the long-necked geese hung by a chef.
A strong wind blew past these corpses, causing them to sway like kites, emitting an eerie creaking sound, as if trying to dislodge the iron nails from their necks.
This was not the worst. Some were headless, with arms, thighs, and entrails scattered on the ground, along with human blood.
This eerie and terrifying scene would make even the most daring person tremble in the darkness.
Only Han Han was spared in the entire fishing village.
Countless tears streamed down, and Han Han cried for a long, long time. Finally, exhausted, he stopped weeping.
Han Han looked up at the still bright sky, and a maturity and weariness unbefitting his age flickered in his eyes.
Recalling the tragic scene three days prior, when his parents died under the pirates' swords while trying to protect him, tears again fell down Han Han's face.
"I, Han Han, swear here today that for the rest of my life, I will kill all pirates on the seas, avenge my parents, and protect the common people of this world from the ravages of war."
"If I break this oath, may I be damned for eternity and descend into hell!"
Han Han raised his left finger to the sky and roared his oath.
In a daze, Han Han seemed to recall his parents' countless gentle embraces, as they repeatedly spoke the same words.
"Our Han'er is destined to become a great hero."
"In the future, when you become a great hero, people will see us and say, 'Look, that's Han Han's parents. Their child has succeeded and become a great hero revered by the world...'"
Clenching his fists tightly, the young Han Han's eyes once again flashed with a hint of resolve.
Enduring the grief in his heart, Han Han took difficult steps forward.
One year, two years, three years, four years, five years, ten years, fifteen years...
With a mind far beyond his years, Han Han managed to survive into adulthood in this chaotic era.
In the process, his hands were also stained with much blood.
Countless pirates who roamed the seas met their deaths at his hands. He kept the vow he had made to the heavens in his youth.
During this time, he also avenged himself, found Fang Long, and repaid evil with evil, killing all of Fang Long's family.
Even after several years, Han Han still remembered Fang Long's appearance before his death.
...
Five years ago.
Fang Long, lying in a pool of blood and still breathing, was somehow able to speak at this moment.
His lips moved slightly, and he asked the young man standing before him, who had killed his entire family with brutal methods: "I have committed heinous sins in this life, and this end is deserved..."
"Cough!!!!"
Before he could finish speaking, Fang Long coughed again, then continued, "But… who are you?"
"Father, mother, grandparents, I have avenged you!"
Han Han thought silently as he looked at the pathetic Fang Long.
...
Seeing Fang Long, who wanted to know the truth before his death and refused to die with unanswered questions, Han Han, of course, would not grant his wish.
"You won't even tell me before you die..."
Fang Long murmured to himself in his dying moments, a look beyond words in his eyes.
"Actually, even if you don't say it, I already know. This is retribution..."
After saying these words, Fang Long's breath faded completely, and his body turned cold...
And after avenging his blood feud, Han Han began his new journey.
In the following years, he assembled an invincible fleet on the seas.
He had a hundred thousand sailors under his command and three thousand warships, known as the King of Han.
Han Han, who declared himself the King of Han, established a maritime kingdom called the Kingdom of Han.
Han Han controlled the vast Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern Seas, with thousands of islands under his dominion. His power was immense, and his influence far-reaching.
Even Wei Sixiu, the Emperor of Wei, a supreme overlord who appeared only once in a hundred years on the vast continent of Jiuzhou, could not defeat him.
Emperor Wei Sixiu was also a formidable ruler.
He had ended years of chaotic turmoil and established a unified great empire.
However, despite Emperor Wei Sixiu's absolute advantage with his million elite soldiers and his dominance over the land, he was unable to deal with Han Han without a sufficiently powerful navy.
...
Han Han reigned as king at sea, controlling the territories of the Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern Seas, making him the foremost figure on the ocean.
On the other side!
Wei Sixiu, the Emperor of Wei, had unified the nine provinces of the Divine Continent and was the sole powerful and prosperous empire on the mainland. Surrounding smaller nations paid tribute.
Emperor Wei Sixiu was the foremost figure on land.
(Recently, I've been reading "Zi Chuan," a widely acclaimed historical political novel, which has suddenly inspired me to write a historical novel. However, this novel is still far from finished, so I can only write a snippet to try it out.)