"Motherfucker! Playing god and fooling ghosts! You're the East Sea Dharma King?" he asked, but the soldier's fish-slicing knife in his hand flashed, with myriad blade lights raining down like a heavy storm, the cold air pressing in.
Li Changzhou loosened his finger that was pinching the bullet, flexed his finger and flicked.
Bang!
The sturdy fish-slicing knife broke into three pieces, and he followed through with a palm strike.
The soldier was blasted away, his armor shattered into pieces, and it escaped from his body like an arrow breaking away from its string.
He continued to fly for dozens of meters before falling into the sea with a splash.
"Thud!" The bullet that slipped from his nail fell onto the deck and rolled next to the shoe of a soldier.
"Gulp." The soldiers on the ship let out a synchronized swallowing sound.
"The East Sea Dharma King! Boundless magical power! The Giant Kun beneath the sea! The divine serpent above the heavens!" A few men tied up with ropes shouted hoarsely and cheered.
The man whose leg had been sliced and missing pieces of flesh, for every shout, blood spilled from his leg, yet even so, he continued to chant "Boundless Magical Power" with feverishly fanatic expressions as if possessed.
"...Let them go, and fish that one out of the sea." Li Changzhou instructed the dazed soldiers.
He walked towards the Taishi Chair on the deck and suddenly heard another thud.
"Also," he pointed to the mast, "throw that head overboard, it's bad luck."
Li Changzhou sat down on the Taishi Chair, swung his robe sleeve worthy of 'Boundless Magical Power,' and performed 'Life and Death' and 'Bond Summon.'
The void suddenly opened up like the eye of a demon.
The previously hesitant soldiers began to act, one after another, racing against each other.
◇
"...The red-haired devils (the Dutch) got the news that King's Descendant is coming to take back Treasure Island and ordered all the indigenous people to burn all crops and farmland and to keep an eye on the Han people."
"Burn the crops? What will we eat then?!"
"Let's just rebel! Fight these damned red-haired devils to death!"
"Do you have guns and cannons? If we are to rebel, we should wait for King's Descendant's naval forces to get here, rebelling now is suicide!"
"By the time King's Descendant comes, all the crops will have been burned!"
"Better that than us going now and getting killed, dying is worse than the burning of crops."
"You—"
"Shut up, all of you!" An elderly woman scolded; the big house fell silent.
The old person looked up to the head of the room, where a breathtakingly beautiful woman sat, her eyebrows perfectly arched, skin like snow, dressed in the plain and elegant attire of the Ming Dynasty, a pale blue long skirt.
Yang Qinglan opened her eyes, and like autumn waters, they brightened the room by a fraction.
All the indigenous people held their breath, daring not to have the slightest stray thought, for before them was the embodiment of the goddess Matsu.
Strips of sunlight penetrated through the cracks in the roof and shone upon the group of people, right in front of Yang Qinglan. On the wall, the sunlight shimmered like ripples on water, forming characters.
[Time: April 25, 1661, Spring]
[Location: Treasure Island]
[Backstory: The Dutch have colonized Treasure Island for thirty-eight years, backing their forced Christianization with slaughter and military strength, while the indigenous beliefs face bloody suppression. Zheng Chenggong is now bringing the culture of the Central Plains' Confucianism]
[Character: Matsu's incarnation]
[Main Mission: Before Zheng Chenggong's plan to recapture Treasure Island succeeds or fails, kill the missionary Eunius, kill Zheng Chenggong]
[Extra: Success—The signature of Governor Kui Yi on the surrender document; Failure—Zheng Chenggong dies or returns to Kinmen, Xiamen]
[Hint: Player's 'Abilities' have all been transformed into 'Mana']
Should she kill the missionary Eunius before killing Zheng Chenggong?
Killing the missionary is no big deal, but killing Zheng Chenggong... The Black Card really does represent a player standing on the other side of history.
Li Changzhou's task might be to help Zheng Chenggong reclaim Treasure Island, which means they are opposed again, this time—
The blood of the paired birds inside her suddenly cheered, and Yang Qinglan came back to her senses, looking down at the followers kneeling before her.
"Pretend to comply with the Dutch, keep an eye on Missionary Eunius, and wait for my next order."
"Yes." Without any hesitation or delay.
Yang Qinglan's divinely radiant figure suddenly disappeared, leaving what seemed to be a divine presence lingering in the air.
The devotees lay prostrate on the ground, showing no surprise, only obedient worship.
◇
In the midst of the Biyi Bird's chirping, Yang Qinglan appeared on the deck of the warship.
The wind blew her strands of hair as sunlight danced through her skirt like petals, leaving the once bustling warship in complete silence.
In modern times, Yang Qinglan could make people walk into lampposts with her beauty; and in ancient times, without the distraction of cellphones and the absence of beauty-enhancing plastic surgeries, she could be mistaken for Chang'e descended from the moon or a celestial maiden come to earth.
Li Changzhou, upon seeing Yang Qinglan dressed in Ming Dynasty attire, immediately wore a smile on his face.
Yang Qinglan saw him too.
Garbed in Weijin-style wide-sleeved robes, his elbow resting on a Taishi chair, a smile on his face—she recalled a line of poetry: Who is that graceful youth, striding so gallantly down the lane?
"Looking quite the part." Yang Qinglan joked with a smile.
"I am but a dog amidst the drifting clouds, unconcerned with the ever-changing affairs of the world, as all slanders are fleeting clouds." Li Changzhou said, seemingly proud and not at all bothered by the analogy.
"Where is Qian Xia?"
"Marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog. Qing Lan, you always call my brother a dog, you're not just scolding him, but both of us."
Yang Qinglan walked over to Li Changzhou's side, and standing in front of the crack, she saw the opening of the "Bond Summon."
Dressed in a red fighter attire, the delicate and handsome features of Li Qianxia stood on the Qing Dynasty ship. A crowd of people with queue hairstyles stared at her in astonishment, as well as at Li Changzhou and Yang Qinglan across from her.
"Everyone, take care~" Li Qianxia waved to the dumbfounded Qing officials, stepped over the threshold, and walked over.
The nearly blind court official pointed a finger, and with a thunderbolt from the clear sky, a snakelike bolt of lightning chased after them.
A tower-like eunuch's hand flipped inside his sleeve, launching a small bomb, no larger than a marble, yet with a force stronger than four or five hand grenades.
"Fire!" A military officer commanded as he drew his bow and shot an arrow.
The Qing soldiers lifted their muskets, bang!
An inconspicuous scholar coughed lightly, releasing transparent bugs that flew out of his mouth and hid among the lightning, small bombs, arrows, and bullets.
That was the drawback of meeting up like this.
Li Qianxia's figure flickered, using "Instantaneous" to appear behind Li Changzhou.
But there was a benefit as well—
Li Changzhou's eyes blazed with a brilliant red light.
His scorching gaze swiftly melted the lightning bolt, destroyed the bomb, and dissolved the arrows and bullets.
Across the portal, hellish wails emerged. The red beam of light, like a hot knife through butter, ravaged unrestrainedly—masts splintered, bodies were burned through, and the warship was pierced, leaving several black lines behind.
The portal closed, and the red light in Li Changzhou's eyes slowly faded.
"Those players sure know how to run fast." He said with a hint of regret.
He wounded two but failed to kill another.
"It's because the portal is too small; it limited your performance, big brother." Li Qianxia pinched her brother's shoulder.
It wasn't a massage, just a habit of her hand resting there when standing behind him, but Li Changzhou still made an expression of enjoyment as if she were indeed massaging him.
"What's your identity?" Yang Qinglan asked Li Qianxia.
"A secret master of the Qing Dynasty, tasked with the mission to assassinate Zheng Chenggong's son, Zheng Jing." Li Qianxia wrapped her arm around her brother's neck.
Yang Qinglan's gaze shifted to Li Changzhou.
Li Changzhou gently patted his sister's elbow that was around his throat, causing the grip to turn into an embrace, with her chin resting on his head.
"Penglai Immortal, Dharma King of the East Sea," Li Changzhou said, "seems like a scammer. What about you?"
Before Yang Qinglan could speak, Li Qianxia sneezed, "Ah-choo! Big brother, why are you wearing your hair long like a woman now?"
Li Changzhou closed his eyes slightly and wiped his face, unsure whether he had been sprayed with saliva.
"It's the Ming Dynasty now, shouldn't we at least look the part?" smiled Yang Qinglan, looking at Li Qianxia.
Li Qianxia withdrew her hand as carefully as if treading on a minefield.
"Dharma King!" Several followers snatched the drowning soldiers from the hands of the others and brought them in front of Li Changzhou.
Li Changzhou glanced at them and asked, "What's your name?"
The soldier glared at him like a fierce wolf, his eyes bloodshot, seawater dripping onto the deck.
"Dharma King is talking to you!" one of the followers slapped the soldier across the face.
Raising his head, the soldier spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Under the banner of the King of Yanping, former Admiral Huang An!"