NFBE Chapter 348 Past events
Chapter 348 Past events
[About ten years ago, in Liyue, at the Cloud Sea.]
The jagged rocks of Guyun Pavilion stand out abruptly, their broken ridges pointing diagonally towards the sky and disappearing into the shimmering sea.
"Legend has it that when the ferocious beasts lurking in the dark depths of the sea no longer remain peaceful in the abyss that has existed for thousands of years, they covet the even more boundless fertile land."
"Peace will no longer be an option in life."
"The cliffs are firm and the peaks are unyielding."
"Defending the city with armor, pacifying demons and suppressing evil."
"The red tassels on the generals' helmets fluttered in the salty sea breeze, and the quenched spears pierced the chests of sea monsters."
“Until the last drop of blood merged into the smoke and waves, the sea god’s giant disc was also stained with the faint glimmer of glass sand.”
"A stone that can conceal jade can illuminate the eight directions."
"Brilliant as the stars in the sky, unparalleled in its brilliance."
"The rock spear pierced through the rainbow, nailing the shadow that lurked in the abyss to the center of the Cloud Sea."
"From that time on, the whirlpools that ravaged the seas could no longer engulf the crisscrossing ships; a lone cloud stood guard, eternally..."
"Stop, stop, that's enough. This boat has been sailing the whole way, and you haven't stopped telling your story for a single minute."
"I think you should give up being an adventurer, Lao Hu. You'd be perfect as a storyteller at Heyu Teahouse."
A slightly helpless voice interrupted the rhythmic storytelling, immediately eliciting a faint chuckle.
The middle-aged man, referred to as Lao Hu, froze, awkwardly scratching the back of his head, while retorting defiantly:
“Hey, can you call this Lord Yan’s business neglecting his duties? This is called… this is called… I mean…”
Old Hu got stuck, and then came a bunch of incomprehensible words, like "Emperor's Fan" and "Twisted Emperor's Fan," which made everyone burst into laughter, and the ship was instantly filled with a joyful atmosphere.
"Alright, alright, once we return with a full load, there will be plenty of opportunities for you to shine at the victory celebration banquet, hahaha..."
In the end, it was the young man who had been joking earlier who stepped in to smooth things over, which finally made the glaring middle-aged adventurer stop.
The cabin gradually quieted down, and the small wooden boat continued its journey, heading straight for their destination: Lonely Cloud Pavilion.
In fact, while the middle-aged adventurer's storytelling had many fictional elements, it was not entirely baseless.
Legend has it that more than two thousand years ago, during the War of the Demon Gods, the overlord of the ocean, the Whirlpool Demon God Oser, harbored ambitions to conquer the continent and led the sea beasts of the Cloud Sea to invade Liyue.
The Thousand Rock Army fought fiercely against the swarming sea monsters. In the end, Oser was suppressed by the Rock King Morax at his peak with a rock spear. Bache fled in disarray, and the sea monsters were routed.
The Lonely Cloud Pavilion, suspended above the Sea of Clouds, is rumored to be the place where the demon god Oser was sealed away.
The ocean currents in this area are exceptionally turbulent, with frequent unexplained undercurrents and whirlpools, resulting in a very high rate of shipwrecks.
Rumor has it that it was the resentment of the demon god Oser that was causing this.
"However, an adventurer who doesn't want to find treasure chests isn't a good Liyue person. We're determined to dig up this Ausel Sea Palace!"
The speaker was a young girl with neat short hair, bright, sparkling eyes, and a light, cheerful tone.
“That guy Osel must have hidden a lot of good treasures. Rather than letting it rot and mold in the dark seabed, we might as well find it and put it to good use.”
The girl seemed unconcerned about the rumors of danger in this sea area, and her words showed little respect for Osel.
According to her, since it is an old relic that has long been abandoned by the times, it is unlikely to cause much of a stir.
"Xiao Kui, haven't I told you to always be vigilant? Have you forgotten the lesson you learned in the Sumeru Desert?"
The last woman in the group spoke. She wore wide-rimmed gold-rimmed glasses, had a serious expression, and spoke in a relatively gentle tone, but the lively girl unconsciously shrank her neck.
"Hehehe... Sister Yun, I was wrong, I was wrong."
The girl, called Xiao Kui, clasped her hands together in a gesture of respect, only daring to stick out her tongue subtly when she lowered her head.
However, the lesson from last time was clearly not light, and as the ship docked, her expression gradually tightened.
The four-person adventure team was disembarked by the boatman, who then rowed away from the troublesome place.
If it weren't for the generous reward, he wouldn't have risked coming to such a dangerous place as Lonely Cloud Pavilion, a place that boatmen feared to even mention.
Fortunately, thanks to the Emperor's blessing, the trip went relatively smoothly.
All he had to do was come to pick him up three days later as agreed.
But the boatman never imagined that three days later, he would see a sight he would never forget.
The adventure party heading to Lonely Cloud Pavilion suffered an unprecedented defeat.
The young couple in the adventure party never came out of the sea palace, leaving behind only half a bloodstained backpack.
The remaining middle-aged man had lost an eye, and blood covered half of his face, making his expression extremely ferocious.
As for the woman the girl called Sister Yun... if that body can still be called human.
The woman's bare forearms and thighs were covered with strangely shaped scales with sharp edges, resembling fish yet not quite, glistening with a sticky, eerie sheen as the rain washed over them.
Her once brown eyes were now almost entirely rolled back, like a fish overturned on the beach by the waves.
The boatman was terrified and turned to flee, but under the middle-aged man's persistent pleas and the lure of double the reward, he finally acquiesced and allowed the two who had escaped death to board the boat and return home.
Along the way, filled with fear and curiosity, the boatman hesitated for a long time before finally asking the man about his experiences in the sea palace.
However, the man known as Lao Hu remained tight-lipped about it, though the fear in his eyes almost overflowed.
Adhering to the principle of "better to avoid trouble than to get involved," the boatman, though itching to inquire further, gave up the idea of asking any more questions. After all, people in their line of work have their own rules.
Strangely enough, as they approached Liyue, the "fish-like" symptoms on the women's bodies began to lessen, and their scales became so faint that they were no longer visible.
As soon as they reached the shore, Lao Hu hurriedly left with Sister Yun, leaving behind a bag of Mora as a promised reward.
The boatman knew nothing more about what happened after that, assuming that the two had gone to the clinic and would never see each other again.
The boatman smiled as he weighed the heavy mora bag in his hand; he'd have something to talk about next time he drank with the boatman.
However, this time, he was wrong again.
Five years later, when the boatman had become an old boatman and was about to retire, his two old friends came to visit him again.
He recognized the man wearing the eye patch at a glance; he was the leader of the adventure team that had suffered a crushing defeat at Guyun Pavilion years ago.
Although the woman beside him was wearing heavy makeup from the Chunxiang Kiln and was completely covered up, the boatman still managed to identify her by the faint traces of scales around her eyes.
The woman was also holding a baby, who was wrapped in swaddling clothes and sleeping soundly, breathing evenly and deeply.
Apart from the faintly visible scales on his hands.
The man made his intentions clear: he wanted the old boatman to take the helm again and return to Guyun Pavilion, following the route from five years ago.
In response, he offered an unimaginable price.
The old boatman hesitated. On the one hand, he was old, and Guyun Pavilion was extremely dangerous; a slight mistake could result in the destruction of the boat and the loss of life.
On the other hand, he also needed a sum of money so that his son would no longer have to make a living from the sea like he did.
Looking at the sleeping child in the swaddling clothes, the old boatman looked at the woman again and understood the pleading in her eyes.
He sighed deeply and finally accepted the deal.
The boatman chose a calm day to set sail. In addition to the family of three, he also brought a group of mercenaries they had hired, making a total of more than twenty people.
It's likely that the tragic death of their companion at Guyun Pavilion years ago left these two survivors with painful memories.
They rented a large ship and traveled smoothly, just like the four-person adventure team's arrival five years ago.
However, just as the ship approached Guyun Pavilion, the weather at Yunlaihai suddenly changed, the sky turned as black as ink, and a torrential downpour began in an instant.
The boatman was terrified and almost immediately turned the rudder to return to port. However, just as Liyue Harbor gradually came into view, a wave as high as a city wall suddenly appeared and crashed heavily onto the ship.
After the rain stopped, the Liyue General Affairs Department sent people out to sea to search, but they could not find any trace of the ship that had ever existed.
……
The yellowed document was gracefully retrieved by a white-gloved hand, and a soft laugh suddenly came from the darkness.
“Very good, Krobor, that’s him.”
……