Chapter 79: To Sea, Hunting the Whale

Lin Qi and Enzo soaked in the tub for a full day and night, absorbing all the medicinal energy from the violet-black liquid until it faded to a thin, pale red. The dreadful healing finally ended. Both young men crawled out of the tub, looking wretched, and with the servants’ help, they scrubbed themselves fiercely.

They washed off the pungent herbal mixture, scraping away a layer of black filth dense and tough as pigskin emerging on their skin. Fresh and invigorated, Lin Qi and Enzo took the Secret Elixir Blackbeard handed them and drank it in one gulp.

Inside the medicinal bath, their horrific wounds had already healed by eighty or ninety percent. After swallowing the potent Secret Elixir, their wounds burned briefly. The last traces of injury vanished entirely without even a scar remaining.

Changing into clean new clothes, Lin Qi settled comfortably on the highest terrace of the Ancestral Residence.

Just like the Green Gem Hotel, this terrace held a conservatory built from huge sheets of glass imported from the Vias Commercial Federation. But here, instead of flowers, it simply contained a round table and a few stools.

Seated here, one could see distant mountains through the glass. Southwest stood a white cliff stretching several miles long and hundreds of meters high, looking like a colossal fortress wall amid the peaks—a spectacular sight.

Blackbeard sat at the table. Fresh from a bath, the bruises on his face had vanished completely—a testament to the miraculous power of a Celestial Knight. Taking a sip of tea, he leaned back in his chair and chuckled, “The winds are favorable. Tales of you two young heroes have spread through Dun Er Ke. This momentum… the mayorship is secured.”

Enzo sat rigidly beside him, sensing the immense strength surging through his body. His Combat Qi had jumped straight from the red level to the yellow stage. Two consecutive leaps in power left him struggling to control it. Beyond Combat Qi, his muscles and bones felt drastically denser. He estimated his raw physical strength had doubled even without Qi enhancement.

That liquid was astonishing! Doubling muscle power—how many years of grueling training would that normally take? Enzo could also feel key barriers within him—blockages once vital to cultivating Combat Qi—had been melted open by the medicine. His Qi training speed would now outpace his peers by leaps and bounds.

No doubt that vat of elixir had been bought at great cost by some Royal Family from The East, meant only for their heirs’ elites. Yet their escort force proved too weak… and Blackbeard reaped an immense prize.

Enzo clenched his fist tightly. Eyes brimming with reverence and gratitude, he looked at Blackbeard.

Blackbeard grinned back at Enzo. He genuinely liked the lad: bold and heroic, refreshingly unpolished. It gave him peace knowing Lin Qi had such a friend. Blackbeard and Ironhammer would all grow old someday. Lin Qi would need brothers of his own around him.

The family could provide Lin Qi many fine youths. But Lin Qi had to draw new blood into the family from outside. Only with continuous new members could the family truly flourish. Stubborn isolation could only lead to decay… and finally ruin.

Lin Qi took a delicate sip of tea. He cleared his throat lightly. “Since the mayorship is secure, dear Father… those two women!”

Blackbeard’s brows knitted sharply. He stood abruptly. “Aha! Those wretched women! How could I forget? I’ll lead the hunt personally! Set your mind at rest, boy. I’ll clean up your mess. Trust your honest father!”

He was about to stride off when Lin Qi sprang up, grabbing his father’s belt. Eyes locked onto Blackbeard, Lin Qi snarled through clenched teeth, “Dear Father, who cares for their lives? The Gold Notes they carry! The jewels! All that wealth upon them! I keep eight-tenths!”

Blackbeard’s face instantly darkened. “At most four-tenths! Think—your old man is mobilizing so many men!”

Lin Qi roared, “May Mother crawl from her grave and strangle you, greedy cur! You cut me so many times! Seven-tenths!”

Blackbeard stormed back, “Ungrateful brat! You’d disturb your mother’s rest over mere lucre? Fine! Five-tenths! My last word!”

Lin Qi suddenly shrieked at the top of his lungs, “Aunt Lili! Dear Aunt Lili!”

Blackbeard sighed deeply. Gazing miserably at Lin Qi, he conceded, “Six-tenths! See how hard your father toils? Consider the men mobilized! Surely they deserve a midnight snack?’

Enzo stared at this unforgettable, utterly unreliable father-son duo bargaining before him. His jaw hung slack, utterly stupefied. Lin Qi and Blackbeard exchanged knowing grins. Thumping fists forcefully together, they bellowed in unison, “Deal!”

Profit divvied up, Blackbeard—who’d vowed just moments ago to hunt down Ya and Ling personally—naturally resumed his seat. Sprawling carelessly, sipping his tea, he declared, “So, you and Enzo head to sea for a few days. Play out there. I’ll announce your wounds were too grave—both recuperating in a mountain villa for better air.”

He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively. “The worse your injuries sound… the more sympathy and praise your father reaps! Pity you’re my son, or if you’d both heroically fallen battling thieves… I might’ve run for Province Governor outright!”

Lin Qi and Enzo’s faces instantly darkened with matching fury. A shame they stood no chance against Blackbeard—or they’d have absolutely pounded him together.

Fuming, Lin Qi rubbed his nose with a disdainful sniff. “Fine. I’ll go to sea awhile. Sitting cooped up here? Or stuck in one of your villas with your gang of thugs? They’d corrupt my pure-hearted, kindly self!”

Pure-hearted, kindly Lin Qi? Enzo shuddered violently.

Blackbeard however roared with laughter. Waving his arm decisively, he settled it. “So it’s decided! The Sea Windmill sails at noon. Perfect season to hunt the Frenzied Unicorn Whale! Stay out on the waves half a month. Return just in time to welcome the new year!”

Enzo’s scalp tingled with dread. Setting sail this demonic season?

The mere thought of the North Sea’s monstrous waves and looming icebergs… made his feet feel weak.

Curse it… Enzo was an outstanding cadet at the Army Academy. In other words—Enzo couldn’t swim!