Chapter 104: Step Forward
Cheng Qisheng’s attention settled on the Thorn Pirate Group.
For her, this wasn’t particularly difficult.
At this moment, the Thorn Pirate Group was surrounded by Blue Sea people on all sides—front and back, left and right.
From the outside, the Thorn Pirate Group looked no different from an ordinary pirate group.
Just like those pirate groups filled to the brim with Blue Sea people also looked no different from ordinary pirate groups from the outside.
This was the first time Cheng Qisheng and the Blue Sea residents had seen what lay inside the Kansidang Domain.
Raven had ultimately taken precautions. Although she had allowed Ma Yuetian to guard the entrance, she had not permitted her to bring the sea monster into the domain.
As the first batch of Blue Sea people followed the fleet inside, the mysterious veil surrounding the Kansidang Domain was finally lifted at one corner.
It was almost like entering an inner world hidden behind the outer one.
From the outside, it clearly looked as though the Kansidang Key had temporarily slit open a line stretching from the surface of the sea all the way up into the sky.
From the outside, that line looked almost like an extra section of a painting. From a distance, one could even see the expanse of sea beyond it.
But once the ships actually followed that opening inside, the first thing that came into view was a vast expanse of farmland floating high overhead.
Floating farmland!
Most of the Blue Sea residents immediately glued their eyes to it.
Their reaction wasn’t at all unusual. Land was incredibly scarce on Green Billow Star, so even the other pirates who had entered the Kansidang Domain before would have seen the floating farmland first upon coming inside.
Some of the floating fields hung low in the sky, while others were suspended much higher up, divided into large and small sections.
The low-altitude fields floated one above another, forming an incredibly fantastical staircase that stretched all the way toward the largest patch of farmland high in the sky.
Below them, countless ships were moored together, forming what looked almost like a kingdom of ships.
There were also many wooden planks lashed together, with rows of low, barely protected little houses built on top of them. Quite a few people lived there, all of them skinny and gaunt. Faced with so many ferocious-looking pirates, they were trying to use the cramped little houses, which barely gave them any room to move, to shield themselves from the pirates’ eyes.
The Blue Sea residents looked around one by one, studying everything with great care.
Most of the captains accompanying them had been here at least once before, and quite a few wore smug expressions.
For pirates, being able to bring their crews to such a fantastical place to attend the conference was itself a mark of status.
“Now you know how great it is to follow me, right? I can even bring you guys to a place like this.” Some captains took the opportunity to show off in front of their crews.
“Just look around and be done with it. Don’t look like you’re dying to glue your eyeballs to everything up there. You’ll only make us a laughingstock.” Others were more self-conscious and didn’t want to embarrass themselves.
“We’ll be taken up there in a bit. It’s even more impressive up there, and there are people who’ll dance for us.” Those who had been here twice already were thoroughly familiar with the procedure.
Cheng Qisheng silently watched the scene unfold.
The Blue Sea residents weren’t admiring the novelty at all.
They were familiarizing themselves with the surroundings, searching for weak points in the Kansidang Domain so that, once the fighting started, they could locate a breakthrough point as quickly as possible.
She was doing the same thing herself.
After all, this was someone else’s territory.
Although this wasn’t a Safe City, considering that this domain was a unique, independent space, what if Kansidang possessed the authority to expel residents just like the city lords did?
Green Billow Star was vast, and there was no shortage of strange things in the world. It was better to figure things out beforehand.
Sure enough, just as those experienced pirate captains had said, once the pirates entered in batches, they were immediately ordered to disembark from their own ships.
New ships then came to pick them up, carrying them across numerous stretches of sea and delivering them to the various farmlands above.
These farmlands were connected to the ones higher up by ladders. The people of the Kansidang Domain called them Sky Ladders.
Thus, the pirates who had come to attend the conference began huffing and puffing their way up the Sky Ladders.
From a distance, they looked like tiny ants beneath the enormous floating farmlands, human figures scrambling up the perilous ladders.
Even though many pirates liked to boast that they had braved wind and rain, with their heads practically hanging from their belts, they were still somewhat nervous when faced with a situation where one slip of the hand could send them plunging to their deaths.
Some captains inevitably grew annoyed, feeling that their subordinates were moving too slowly and making them look bad. At the same time, they lavished praise on the Blue Sea members under their command.
“Learn from them! Look how calm they are!”
The Blue Sea residents were climbing Sky Ladders that were even less thrilling than those back home. Hearing the pirate captains’ praise, they all broke into honest, guileless smiles.
The Thorn Pirate Group performed just like the others. A group of people climbed the Sky Ladder, with some expressing their fear while others urged everyone to keep it together and not embarrass themselves in front of their fellow pirates.
The Sky Ladders weren’t merely dangerous-looking. They were genuinely dangerous.
As everyone climbed, pirates who occasionally lost their grip would tumble from the ladders.
Some captains felt regret, while others tried to rescue their fallen subordinates, but no one objected to the fact that Kansidang had invited them to attend the conference without even putting a safety rope along the ladder leading to it.
Cheng Qisheng overheard one pirate captain quietly saying to his Blue Sea second-in-command:
“This is Kansidang’s way of doing things. He’s doing it deliberately. He wants it to be difficult for us to reach him when we come to see him. That makes him seem more authoritative.”
On the surface, the Blue Sea second-in-command put on an expression of sudden realization. In reality, he was deeply puzzled.
If you wanted to establish greater authority, shouldn’t you rely on displaying greater force and stronger abilities?
By making people climb ladders and fall to their deaths to demonstrate authority?
Old Eighth simply couldn’t understand it.
“We’re pirates, so fine, but do their own people travel around like this every day? I’ve noticed that a lot of the people working here are terribly thin. They clearly don’t have much strength. Wouldn’t they be even more likely to fall to their deaths than we are?”
The pirate captain laughed.
“How could they be the same as us? They’re nothing but lowly slaves. If one falls to their death, just replace them with another.”
The Blue Sea residents silently counted down the days until these people died.
They really wanted to start fighting right away, but they still hadn’t reached the highest floating farmland and hadn’t fully figured out the Kansidang Domain’s defensive measures. For now, Old Eighth managed to hold himself back.
The so-called Kansidang Conference was actually just a matter of spending an entire day letting everyone in.
Once inside, all those people had to huff and puff their way upward.
Because there were so many people, and the arrangements within the Kansidang Domain were far from seamless, it wasn’t until nightfall that everyone finally gathered on the highest floating farmland.
This particular floating farmland was truly enormous.
Cheng Qisheng made a rough estimate. It had to cover around 20,000 mu of land.
Unlike the other farmlands, which were used for growing crops, this one was clearly the largest and should theoretically have the most fertile soil. Yet not a single crop was planted on it.
Instead, an enormous and magnificent “Imperial Palace” had been built across it.
The fertile earth had been used as the foundation beneath the palace, and this entire vast area belonged to Kansidang as his private domain.
The “Imperial Palace” wasn’t merely extravagantly built. It had several thousand servants alone.
Down below, the people living on wooden platforms were starving, their faces gaunt and sallow, each of them looking like little more than walking sticks.
Inside the “Imperial Palace,” however, food was piled everywhere.
On Green Billow Star, where plants and animals were scarce, the food prepared for this single meal alone was enough to feed several million people.
The pirates immediately lit up with excitement. It was hard to say whether the free food was one of the reasons they were so eager to come to the Kansidang Domain for the conference.
All the pirates were arranged in the very center of the “Imperial Palace.”
There were dense ranks of guards stationed nearby.
At the very top of the “Imperial Palace,” a large platform extended outward. If nothing unexpected happened, Kansidang would probably appear there—much like an emperor in ancient times appearing atop the city walls to inspire the people below.
The pirates didn’t care about that at all. Their attention had been completely captured by the enticing aroma of the food.
If not for the guards watching them from all around, the pirates would have already rushed forward and started stuffing themselves.
But Kansidang seemed to be deliberately teasing them. The food had already been laid out, and millions of pirates had already gathered, meaning the conference could technically have begun that morning. Yet even by nightfall, this uncrowned king of the pirates still hadn’t appeared.
Anyone capable of becoming a pirate obviously wasn’t going to have particularly high moral standards. After waiting for so long, some of them began muttering complaints under their breath.
The moment one of them finished speaking, a guard immediately stepped forward and, without hesitation, drove a sword straight through his chest.
The man had even been a pirate captain. He had only obtained his key this year, however, and this was his first time attending the Pirate Conference.
When the body hit the ground, the whispers that had begun circulating around them instantly fell silent.
The Blue Sea residents all put on innocent, well-behaved expressions. Along with the handful of genuine pirates around them, they first displayed looks of shock, then promptly settled into obedient silence.
After a while, a pirate captain who clearly wasn’t surprised anymore murmured, “He does this every time.”
Kansidang was determined to become the King of Pirates. But given Green Billow Star’s environment, it was impossible for him to keep every single pirate under his control.
So his way of establishing his authority was to select a few examples to kill and intimidate the rest on the day of the Pirate Conference.
Usually, the pirates who got singled out were those attending the conference for the first time. Those who had been here several times, or the more cautious pirates, would keep their mouths shut even if they were made to stand around waiting like criminals. They might curse Kansidang in their heads all they wanted, but they would never say a word aloud.
The Blue Sea residents remained silent, merely putting on fearful expressions as they observed the number of guards around them.
Not that many.
Only a few hundred thousand or so.
They had been disarmed when they entered, but the Blue Sea residents had already precisely located the position of Kansidang’s armory.
Besides, weren’t weapons everywhere?
For example, the guards were standing so close to them. The firearms and ammunition in the guards’ hands might as well already be their own weapons, right?
After waiting for another hour or so, Kansidang finally arrived.
Just as expected, he was dressed extravagantly. He held a scepter that he had apparently acquired from who-knows-where, and with a strong sense of ceremony, he slowly emerged onto the high platform, looking down at the pirates below.
His very first words dropped a bombshell.
“There are rats who have infiltrated our conference.”
Everyone immediately became alert.
Cheng Qisheng had been keeping her attention on the Thorn Pirate Group the entire time. Sure enough, she saw every member tense up.
Above them, Kansidang’s gaze also drifted, seemingly casually, toward the Thorn Pirate Group.
“Gentlemen, aren’t you going to step forward on your own?”
The obedient expressions on the faces of the Thorn Pirate Group members transformed into hatred.
They abruptly stepped forward.
—Rustle!
Millions of Blue Sea residents stepped forward alongside them.
Kansidang, who had been standing above them with an expression of absolute confidence: “……”
The fewer than one thousand genuine pirates remaining behind them stared on in bewilderment.
