Chapter 157: Ransom

Siren Reefs.

Among the hundreds of feet wide reefs, there was only a barren little stone mountain. The sparse seaweed around it had long since been plucked clean.

Inside the originally flat little stone mountain, stone caves had been dug out. The interiors were winding and even featured height differences, designed to prevent seawater from rushing in and completely flooding them.

Whenever it rained, the cultivators would squeeze into the caves to take shelter, only coming out for activities after the rain stopped.

As for drinking water, it was not a problem for cultivators; casting a few water-style spells was enough to collect it.

On this morning, a patch of dark clouds suddenly drifted over, and a passing shower fell within a radius of dozens of miles around the Siren Reefs.

The cultivators cursed the damned weather while squeezing into the stone caves to hide.

The rain stopped after noon. City Lord Gao, City Lord Min, and six other city lords crawled out of the largest stone cave with stooped backs. Without bothering to tidy their appearances, they shouted for their cultivators to go down to the sea near the reefs and catch fish.

Because there were too many captive cultivators here, they had to expend a great deal of energy foraging for food.

Hearing the shouts, many cultivators immediately stepped out, plunged headfirst into the nearby sea to drive the marine fish toward the shore, where other cultivators continuously cast spells to hunt them down.

After more than half a month, they had become quite proficient at hunting marine fish, which could be considered an unexpected blessing.

A dozen miles away, two or three war junks from Ye Village patrolled the area, keeping the nameless reef under surveillance. Those "confined" here were the captured city lords and cultivators of the Ten-Village Alliance.

Some daring cultivators attempted to swim back to their immortal villages through the ocean to escape in this manner.

Upon seeing this, the cultivators on the Ye family's war junks did not stop them; they simply watched from afar.

Soon, after swimming less than a few miles out into the sea, those daring cultivators encountered a large school of sea saberfish, almost losing their lives before managing to flee back with the greatest difficulty.

The cultivators on the Ye family's war junks laughed heartily.

After happening several times, no more cultivators dared to attempt such a dangerous stunt.

In the sea, a cultivator proficient in water-style spells might easily kill a few sea saberfish, but a frenzied siege by dozens or hundreds of sea saberfish would still make them wish they were dead.

Not a single Qi Refining stage cultivator could cross hundreds of miles of ocean to return to their immortal village.

Although the conditions on this reef were poor, at least there was no threat to their lives.

The cultivators could only move within a radius of several hundred feet around the reef, tossing various sizes of hunted sea fish onto the shore, dividing into small groups of varying numbers to process the fish themselves.

Those who knew fire-style spells took turns casting them to roast the fish.

The flames generated by the spells reached extremely high temperatures, and by taking turns, the cultivators managed to cook the fish through, finally getting to eat hot food.

What dissatisfied the city lords the most was the complete lack of seasoning. During the blazing afternoon sun, they poured seawater onto the rocks to dry it and obtain some coarse white salt. Now, the mere smell of fish made them nauseous.

Unless they were starving to the point where their stomachs pressed against their spines, the sea fish were impossible to swallow.

The cultivators from the various villages were busy racking their brains to invent new ways to prepare their roasted fish, but after trying for quite some time, very few actually started eating.

"Look, there's a light war junk in the distance, and it seems to be heading toward us!"

A cultivator roasting a fish looked up, glanced around, and suddenly spoke.

"It must be a boat from Ye Village, coming to check if we've tried to escape. This sea area has long been controlled by Ye Village's war junks; apart from them, no one can get here."

A few cultivators turned their heads for a quick glance, unimpressed, and continued roasting their fish.

Most of the cultivators remained calm and composed, devoting themselves entirely to what they were doing.

Back when they first arrived on the island, whenever a spirit ship from Ye Village's Immortal Island appeared, they would grow very excited, thinking Ye Mo had come to negotiate with them.

However, after enduring more than half a month of repeated disappointments, these people had completely given up hope, their hearts now as still as stagnant water.

The Ye Family Immortal Village had no intention of letting them leave at all.

The cultivator who spotted the war junk lost interest, lowered his head to look at the roasted fish in his hand, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, took a bite, chewed a few times simply, and swallowed it whole.

"That ship doesn't look like it's just passing by. It's coming right over!"

After a moment, someone cried out in surprise.

This time, everyone was finally stirred into action, turning to look at the light war junk. They saw the vessel sailing straight toward the reef where they were stranded.

"They're finally here!"

"Dammit, I thought the fellow surnamed Ye intended to keep us imprisoned forever!"

"How could that be? We're worth quite a few spirit stones; how could he bear to lock us up indefinitely?"

The war junk slowly approached, and some sharp-eyed cultivators even spotted Ye Mo standing on the deck, flanked by Ye Village cultivators clad in full sets of crimson fire-sword armor.

The city lords immediately discarded their fish and perked up.

The water near the island was relatively shallow, and the war junk stopped about thirty feet away from the reef.

Ye Mo had no fear of the ship being hijacked; all the cultivators on board wore complete sets of spirit sword armor, and those bare-handed "captives" were no match for them.

Besides, after starving for over half a month, even men of iron would have lost all strength to fight.

The eight city lords led their men to the edge of the reef, gazing longingly at Ye Mo on the bow of the ship, though for a moment they didn't know what to say. Ye Mo had undoubtedly come to negotiate, but begging for mercy was something they could not bring themselves to do.

Standing on the deck, Ye Mo swept his gaze over City Lord Min and the others, then smiled faintly, " esteemed city lords, I have prepared spirit rice, fresh vegetables, and spirit beast meat for all of you. I'm sending some people ashore right now. Let's finish eating first, and then we can talk."

Upon hearing this, the city lords and their subordinate cultivators on the island all had their stomachs growl uncooperatively.

Under the eager and expectant gazes of the captives, a small boat was lowered from the war junk, loaded with copious amounts of fragrant spirit wine and beast meat, and headed toward the reef.

The cultivators instinctively rushed toward the spot where the small boat was landing.

"Step back, everyone! How am I supposed to land if there's no space? No need to push, there's plenty of food for everyone, every person gets a share!" shouted the Ye Village cultivator operating the boat.

This remark instantly made the city lords and captive cultivators on the reef flush with embarrassment.

How humiliating!

Still, they couldn't entirely be blamed.

Anyone who spent over half a month on this island eating nothing but fishy-smelling fish meat day after day, stark white and completely devoid of seasoning, would probably lose all regard for their dignity as well.

The Ye Village cultivator landed, taking out barrels of food, along with stacks of porcelain bowls and chopsticks.

The city lords and their subordinates received their food, consciously retreated to the side, and began to devour it ravenously. Across the entire island, nothing could be heard except the sounds of frantic chewing and praises of delight.

On the war junk, Ye Mo, Chang Fei, Gao Jian, Tu Nu and the five guards, along with the rest of the followers, looked on in dumbfounded astonishment.

"It's only been half a month, and they've been starved to this state?"

Mo Ling felt a pang of sympathy, covering her mouth as she spoke in a low voice.

"Who told them to team up and attack our immortal village? Serves them right."

Wang Hu suppressed a chuckle.

After the eight city lords had eaten their fill and rested for a while, they were successively invited aboard the Ye family's war junk to discuss the matter of their ransoms with Ye Mo.

Having lost a battle and become captives, paying a ransom was only natural.

The moment spirit stones were mentioned, the eight city lords instantly regained their energy and became shrewd, engaging in fierce bargaining with Chang Fei.

It took a full day to settle the ransoms. Based on the severity of their involvement and the number of subordinates they commanded, the eight city lords were required to pay between ten thousand and twenty thousand spirit stones to buy back their freedom.

City Lord Min, who had instigated other immortal villages to oppose Ye Village for a second time and had broken the initial agreement first, was forced to pay the maximum amount of twenty thousand spirit stones before he was permitted to leave.

Delivering the spirit stones also took time. Five days later, the trusted aides dispatched by the various city lords finally returned one after another, handing the ransoms over to the Ye Family Immortal Village.

"If any of you haven't signed an agreement with me and still harbor thoughts of seeking revenge, by all means, do not hold back—feel free to strike. However, the ransom for your next defeat will be far beyond the paltry sum you paid just now," Ye Mo said with a smile after receiving the ransoms and bidding farewell to the city lords.

With unsightly expressions and various thoughts running through their minds, the eight city lords boarded the fast boats dispatched by Ye Mo and departed in disarray.

Upon returning, all eight city lords temporarily kept a low profile and did not even dare to venture out to sea lightly. This stretch of ocean truly grew calm.

Having forked over massive amounts of spirit stones for their ransoms, they had severely dragged down the development of their respective immortal villages. In the short term, challenging the Ye Family Immortal Village had become impossible.

By this time, the Ye Family Immortal Village had completely grown in power, occupying fifteen sub-islands, collecting over one hundred thousand spirit stones in ransoms from various immortal villages, and attracting rogue cultivators in droves. The remaining nine surrounding immortal villages were now powerless to turn the tide.

Affairs within the Ye Family Immortal Village proceeded in an orderly fashion. Although a vast amount of technology had been purchased, it would take a considerable amount of time for the cultivators to master it.

Consequently, Ye Mo found himself with fewer daily tasks to handle.

Taking advantage of this relatively leisurely period, Ye Mo decided to visit other immortal villages across the Aolai Archipelago.

Spanning a radius of ten thousand miles, the Aolai Archipelago contained three hundred and sixty new immortal villages, and the ten villages within a thousand-mile radius of his own territory represented only a tiny fraction of them.

He wanted to see how other powerful immortal villages were developing.

At the pier of the Ye Family Immortal Village.

Several small fishing boats were returning to port from the distance, while others were preparing to set sail. These boats were even smaller than the light-armored war junks, accommodating only a dozen or so people, and lacked offensive spirit artifacts such as bronze cannons.

These compact fishing boats served as the primary mode of transportation for rogue cultivators traveling between immortal villages and venturing out to hunt marine demons.

The islands of Aolai were relatively close to one another, and the wind and waves were not overly violent, making such small boats more than sufficient for travel.

Dressed in the plain garments of a rogue cultivator and wearing a bamboo hat to shield his face, Ye Mo brought along A Shui, one of the Tu Nu guards, and mingled with a dozen rogue cultivators to board a small fishing boat moored at the pier.

He intended to travel to various immortal villages under the guise of a rogue cultivator, which would allow him to observe more of the true situation.

This fishing boat was bound for the Shen Family Immortal Village, located a thousand miles away. Departing in the morning, it would take roughly a day to arrive.

That immortal village had not participated in the previous conflicts and maintained peaceful relations with the Ye Family Immortal Village.

Stepping onto the fishing boat, Ye Mo ducked into the cabin and found a clean spot to sit down.

There were over a dozen rogue cultivators inside the cabin. Counting Ye Mo and A Shui, only two were at the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

The rest were at the early stage of Qi Refining, dressed in various attire, sitting in small groups with familiar companions and conversing in low tones.

As Ye Mo and A Shui found empty seats and sat down, the boatman outside the cabin raised his voice in a loud cry.

"Everyone sit tight, we're casting off!"

The boatman, a robust middle-aged man in his forties with a full beard, untied the ropes securing the boat to the shore, hauled up the iron anchor with a winch, and hoisted the sails to leave the port.

Leaving the pier, the fishing boat curved in a wide arc across the sea surface and set a course toward the Shen Family Immortal Village.

The passengers on board were all rogue cultivators; some chatted softly, while others closed their eyes in meditation.

After a full half-hour, once the occupants in the cabin had grown slightly more familiar with one another, the chatter gradually increased.