NOVPUBChen Xi glanced at Taishi Ci, then at Gan Ning; the two men couldn’t be more different in personality. Gan Ning could undertake things that would terrify normal people and even enjoy them, whereas Taishi Ci was much more cautious. His martial force might even be better than Gan Ning’s, and his courage was certainly not lacking, nor his nerve, but compared to Gan Ning, he was much more prudent, with a lot more technical skill involved in his approach.
Chen Xi had no desire to change Taishi Ci’s technique-oriented methods. Each commander should have their own style. To have Taishi Ci adopt Gan Ning’s madcap ways would probably lead to disaster before long.
After chatting casually for a while and catching up on recent events, Chen Xi had a general understanding of the current situation. There were no more river pirates in the nearby area, as all had been captured and absorbed into Gan Ning’s navy.
On the one hand, there was the promise of money, grain, and a good life, and on the other hand, there was death, death, death. After having subdued all the mythical creatures in a few battles led by Gan Ning—well, those not obedient were fed to the sharks—these navy men might still have a whiff of banditry about them, but had now completely pledged their loyalty to Gan Ning.
"Oh, by the way, get the strategist a piece of soft armor. In naval battles, crossbow bolts fly everywhere. Although we’re not afraid, let’s not risk the unexpected," Gan Ning said with a thrill as he recounted how he kicked the disobedient water bandit leaders into the sea to feed the sharks, a scenario he found particularly exciting of late, especially the sharks that swam hungrily behind his ship.
Soon, a soldier fetched a piece of soft armor and passed it to Chen Xi.
"What kind of leather is this?" Chen Xi asked, tugging at it. It stretched quite a bit and seemed very sturdy.
"Sharkskin," Taishi Ci replied with a wry smile. "Gan Xingba is just crazy. Last time, he took me shark hunting. We ran into a shark that was also hunting a Great Kun. Due to certain reasons, Xingba and I ended up killing the shark. A shark that could fight in the air, stronger than both of us, but too foolish, unfortunately."
"An out-of-body shark?" Chen Xi asked with his eyelids twitching. "You killed it?"
"Ate it." Gan Ning replied, stroking his teeth. "The meat was so tough, every sailor got a bowl of shark Tangg. It was quite chewy—a pity we only encountered one. Tasted good, though."
"Indeed, it tasted very good," Taishi Ci agreed with Gan Ning. "After eating, our strength increased somewhat."
"We made quite a few pieces of leather armor from the sharkskin and sent ten sets to our lord. We initially wanted to burn the bones, but they wouldn’t burn, so we made a bow out of them instead which turned out to be quite handy."
Chen Xi tugged at the corner of his mouth; talk about making the utmost use of waste. But it made sense—since the shark that didn’t know training by some fluke achieved Inner Qi Separation, its physical quality must be exceptional. It deserved this outcome. Speaking of which, it seemed quite a few wild animals had turned out to be unique specimens.
[Hmm, looking at this, that Divine Stone must have broken only recently. These people and wild animals with Out-of-Body Inner Qi must have appeared lately as well. Who broke the Divine Stone?] Chen Xi thought curiously.
"Oh, I’ll just take this thing with me," Chen Xi said, pulling at the armor. Its toughness was extraordinary.
"Hehehe, strategist, you have some Inner Qi too. Try infusing a bit of it into this." Gan Ning said proudly, but noticing Chen Xi’s sluggish movements, Gan Ning personally took over, "Killing that big fish got us quite a lot of stuff, well worth it. This thing is really useful, watch closely."
As he spoke, Gan Ning channeled some Inner Qi into it, and then his right hand started to slap rapidly, "It’s truly sturdy, almost on par with Hundred Refined Steel nurtured to the ultimate level."
Chen Xi’s eyes were wide with astonishment. Is this not the sharkskin from an Inner Qi Manifestation? Compared with this, the plan for equipping the Tuntian Soldiers with nurtured Hundred Refined Steel weapons seemed utterly weak.
However, when considering the rarity of such material, Chen Xi could only give up the plan to equip his forces universally with this gear.
"Hmm, didn’t you guys also kill a whale... uh, a Kun? Its skin could be made into leather armor too, right?" Chen Xi pondered, thinking that since whales are so big, if their skins could be made into armor, it would save a lot of trouble.
"That’s possible, but the Kun would need to be strong enough to produce Cloud Qi. Xingba and I specifically sought a leatherworker to research this, and it’s indeed doable," confirmed Taishi Ci, nodding, "But those are tough to handle. The first time Xingba encountered such a mythic creature, half of the entire fleet was destroyed."
"Sigh, and the quality of the skin isn’t as good as this one. The worst part is the sheer size of the Great Kun; its destructive power is far greater than the big fish. When the Great Kun leaps out of the sea and crashes down, it completely obliterates any ship it lands on," Gan Ning said with a bitter smile. After that retaliatory slaughter of a cloud-bearing Great Kun, he never provoked such creatures again.
"What’s most tragic is that after killing such a Kun, there will be lots of big fish following and eating its carcass all the way. The only Kun with Cloud Qi that Xingba killed left just enough skin to outfit a little over a hundred people; the rest was consumed," Taishi Ci also said with a wry smile. A creature that large simply wasn’t worth killing.
"It’s easier to kill the smaller ones, but then the skin isn’t valuable anymore," Gan Ning sighed, "I have to admit, the last time we killed that Inner Qi Separated shark, you should have seen the scene. That Kun seemed only at the Qi Refining to Gang stage, even larger than the first one I encountered, floating motionlessly on the sea surface. The Inner Qi Separated shark charged at it and got swatted hundreds of meters away by a single tail slap, crashing right in front of our fleet."
"After that, Xingba and I killed the dazed shark," said Taishi Ci, his cheeks twitching at the memory. That truly scared them; he came to understand what overpowering force meant. The shark had a very high level of Inner Qi, and the Kun was at the peak of Qi Refining to Gang, yet the Great Kun sent the shark flying hundreds of meters with a single tail swipe.
"Xingba, you didn’t think of killing that one?" Chen Xi raised an eyebrow, hinting that given Gan Ning’s nature, shouldn’t he be rising to the challenge? 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝘱𝘶𝘣.𝘤𝘰𝑚
"Of course I thought about it, but it’s not possible to kill; it’s too big, and it has Cloud Qi, neutralizing most of our Inner Qi. Making a cut bleed is questionable," Gan Ning said expressionlessly.
Chen Xi wiped off some sweat, acknowledging that not many things could scare Gan Ning. It made sense, considering Inner Qi is closely related to innate talent; someone with a weak foundation releasing tenfold energy is completely different from someone with a solid foundation doing the same.
[If creatures like elephants, bears, or tigers achieved Inner Qi Separation, wouldn’t Red Hare become mere food?] Chen Xi thought silently, finding it quite a sad prospect.
"Let’s not talk about those embarrassing matters anymore. We hardly ever come across such beings. Most Kuns don’t have Cloud Qi, and the few that do only have a little. That one with such dense Cloud Qi was simply unreasonable. How can a single creature possess Cloud Qi? Why don’t I have any?" Gan Ning waved his hand in dissatisfaction. The pressure from that gigantic Kun was too much. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your votes of recommendation, monthly votes; your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)
