Ning'er listened to her elder brother's words and nodded with a hint of hesitation and helplessness.
Fu Yu watched his old father and eldest son rush off to the seaside, and he also wanted to go.
But he looked back at the two red "囍" characters posted at the entrance of his own courtyard. Today was his daughter's wedding day, and there had to be someone at home.
The sound of horse hooves echoed, kicking up a trail of dust on the sandy road.
As the salty sea air grew stronger, a pine forest appeared in their sight.
"Haha, I can already hear the sound of the waves," Fatty shouted the loudest.
"The long-lost smell of the sea, brother is back."
"Hey, Boss Lan, why are you so excited?"
"How can I not be excited? I’ve forgotten how many years it’s been since I last saw the sea. After this battle, I’ll have to talk to Xiao Niu Fu and ask her to allow us to come here and bask in the seaside sun twice a year."
"With Xin Ci's personality, she’ll definitely agree, and she’ll even provide food and lodging."
"That would be even better, we all like eating the provisions exchanged from Xiao Niu Fu."
The group rode their horses forward, chatting and laughing, reaching within a hundred meters of the pine forest. They heard a sentry in the forest call out loudly, "Who goes there?"
The captain immediately said sternly, "We are Fu Xin Ci's senior brothers, here to see Qi He."
The old soldier on guard heard that they were from Fu Xin Ci's sect, and his eyes immediately lit up.
Fu Xin Ci alone could crush many Japanese pirates, so with her five senior brothers, wouldn't they send all the Japanese pirates to their doom?
One of the old soldiers pursed his lips and continued to stand guard, while the other couldn't hide the smile on his face. He led them immediately to the other end of the pine forest.
Near the pine forest by the beach, Qi He, holding a telescope, was closely monitoring the large ships with numerous masts on the sea, ready for battle.
"Damn, this time my brothers and I will get to fight to our heart's content."
Qi He heard Fatty's voice and thought he was hallucinating. He turned around abruptly and saw that it was indeed the captain leading five people. He immediately grinned broadly, his white teeth shining even in the shade of the trees.
"Hahaha."
"Don't laugh yet, Qi He. We agreed beforehand, you have to let us brothers fight to our heart's content in this battle."
Qi He tilted his body and pointed at the dense large ships on the sea, saying understandingly, "Will these be enough to satisfy you?"
"Almost."
Hearing the captain's words, the soldiers stationed by the sea could barely hide their surprise.
The group who had been to the capital before were fine, having seen the skills of the captain and his two brothers.
Those who hadn't been there started to have their doubts.
However, thinking of Fu Xin Ci's capabilities, her senior brothers shouldn't be any worse than their junior sister, so no one spoke.
However, as the captain casually swept his gaze over them, their eyes were filled with anticipation.
Xiang Tong glanced at the captain, then pointed at the receding tide on the beach with regret, "If only I could level up again, I could handle this myself."
Lan Tianyao: "Hey, bragging doesn't cost you anything, but you can't brag like this. If you burst, we won't have glue to fix you."
Xiang Tong gave him a look of contempt for a frog in a well, then looked at the captain.
"Long Teng, who goes first between us?"
"I won't fight you for it this time, you go first."
"Tch, brother has the advantage of heaven, earth, and man today. See? The sea gives me infinite strength."
After saying this, Xiang Tong remembered the years of the apocalypse. "These little dwarfs are far from being as formidable as those monsters."
He wasn't satisfied with just talking, his hands were itching. He now desperately wished for those Japanese pirates to disembark.
"With this lineup, as long as there is water, it's my domain."
Fatty glanced at Xu Jiacan and grumbled, "It's so infuriating, don't you have any ideas to push Xiang Tong into the water?"
Xu Jiacan: "Brother, your brain is working. Do you really want to fight a lightning-element ability user in the water? Are you sure you're not sending yourself to your death?"
Fatty: "Damn, I forgot about that."
"You can forget the most important thing. You're even more amazing than Xiang Tong."
"You don't need to mock me. If we don't fight soon, you'll forget too."
"We fight at most twice a year, and sometimes we're lucky to get one fight."
"I really miss the battles of the past."
"You actually miss the inferno of Old Dragon City?"
"No, I don't."
"Then what are you babbling about?"
The captain, however, didn't have time to pay attention to their bickering. He was looking at the large ships on the distant sea and discussing with Xiang Tong.
"When do we make our move?"
"After their feet leave the wooden boats."
"Yes, that's best."
"That's right, even if the tide recedes, the sand will still be wet. It's perfect for me to strike."
Lan Tianyao couldn't stand being ignored by these two.
"What can I do?"
"We'll cooperate later," the captain said, outlining his plan.
"How do we cooperate?"
"After Xiang Tong electrocutes them, if any are still breathing, we'll both go in. I'll freeze them for a bit, then you’ll burn them with fire."
"Holy hell, are you two trying to let those Japanese pirates personally experience what 'ice and fire duality' is?" Fatty said, then lowered his head and looked around.
"What are you looking for?"
"A small stick."
"What do you need a small stick for?"
"To poke around and check, in case any aren't completely dead. That would be endless trouble."
Fatty clearly remembered what Xin Ci had said last time.
"Hey, what Fatty is saying is important. Everyone needs to pay attention to this later."
"Don't worry, we'll follow up with the killing blow."
"Qi He's idea is good, but you need to warn your subordinates that we can only truly rest easy after cutting off the heads of the Japanese pirates."
"Yes, Mayor Xiang's reminder is indeed correct." Qi He would definitely remember.
After speaking, Qi He handed the telescope to Xiang Tong.
Xiang Tong did not refuse, took it, and looked in the direction of the sea.
The tide was slowly receding, and he could clearly see the people on the large ships.
On the leading large ship, a Japanese pirate wearing only a loincloth was holding a monocular telescope and looking this way.
"Damn it, these sons of bitches are looking for death."
Xiang Tong was furious. After returning the telescope to Qi He, he told them all to retreat.
He wanted these bastards to never return.
"Retreat?" Qi He was a little confused. "How can we retreat?"
"That's right, on the battlefield, how can we retreat?" The soldiers thought the same as Qi He.
The captain couldn't reveal too much about ability users, so he gave Qi He a simple explanation: "Except for Mayor Xiang, everyone else should stand back. Be sure not to stand in any wet or damp areas."
"Oh."
Everyone understood what the captain said. Qi He led the way and took three steps back, his feet landing on dry ground.
When he looked back, he saw that the captain and Fatty and the others had retreated even faster than he had.
He waved to his companions, signaling them to retreat to the same line as the captain and the others.