Chapter - 345 Broken Marriage of the Purple Dress King (8)

Zhang Wuji thought for a while. "This is strange," he said.

"My guess is she will go to the seaside," Zhao Min said, "She will go to the ocean to fetch the Saber. We must precede them; don't let the old malicious granny swindle blind but kindhearted Xie Lao Qianbei."

Hearing her last sentence, Zhang Wuji's blood bubbled up from his chest, "Yes, yes!" he hastily said. At first he agreed to go with Zhao Min to borrow the Tulong Saber just because as a real man his words must worth a thousand gold; he could not eat his own words. But this time, thinking of Jin Hua Popo was about to make things difficult for his 'yifu', he wished he had wings so that he could fly in a hurry and save his 'yifu'.

Immediately Zhao Min took two people to the Palace. She talked with the guard at the Palace gate without going inside. The guard repeatedly answered in affirmative, then turned around to enter the palace. In a relatively short moment he came back out, leading nine steeds along. He also carried a large bag of gold and silver. Zhao Min, with Zhang Wuji and Xiao Zhao, rode on three steeds, while leading the other six steeds behind. By alternating their mounts, they sped up eastwards.

By early morning the next day, the nine steeds were so exhausted that they were unable even to stand. Zhao Min presented the golden medal of the Ruyang Prince, as the highest commander of the entire army, to the local government; they traded the nine steeds and continued their journey. By late evening that day they had arrived at the seaside.

Zhao Min rode the horse straight to the local government mansion. She ordered the magistrate to quickly prepare a strong ocean ship; complete with the helmsmen, the sailors, food and water, weapons and winter clothes. In addition, all ocean ships were to be moved immediately to the south; no other ships were to be moored within fifty 'li's [about 25 km] from that place. With Ruyang Prince's gold medal, how could a lower ranking county magistrate dare not to obey? Zhao Min, Zhang Wuji and Xiao Zhao waited leisurely inside the mansion, eating and drinking wine. Less than a day later the magistrate came back to report that everything was ready.

When three people went to the seaside to inspect, Zhao Min could not help but stomping her feet repeatedly, "Wasted effort!" she bellowed. Turned out by the beach anchored a really big ship with two decks; the decks of the bow, the port and the starboard were loaded with heavy canons. It was a Mongolian navy's battleship.

In those years the Mongolians were trying to send military expedition to Japan; hence they recruited a large number of boat makers. Unexpectedly a major hurricane had scattered the Mongolian navy, resulted in the expedition to the east was postponed indefinitely, but since then the extent of boat making had been declining.

Zhao Min was at her wit's end; she did not expect in order to curry her favor the county magistrate would prepare a battleship for her. By now the food, the water and the supplies had been prepared on board; the other boats had also obeyed the Ruyang Prince's gold medal, they had sailed dozens of 'li's southwards. With a bitter smile Zhao Min ordered the sailors to cover the canons with fishnets, she also had the boat loaded with several hundred catties of fresh fish, to give the impression that it was an old battleship, which was converted to a fishing boat.

Zhao Min, Zhang Wuji and Xiao Zhao three people changed into sailor attire. Using greasepaint they made their faces darker, and then glued some fake moustache and beards; they were not taking any chances. Afterwards they sat quietly in the boat, waiting for Jin Hua Popo's arrival.

This Zhao Min Junzhu's prediction was very accurate; sure enough, that very same evening a large carriage arrived by the seaside. Jin Hua Popo, along with Zhu'Er and Zhou Zhiruo, came looking for a boat. The sailors had received Zhao Min's instruction; they pretended to refuse by saying that the boat was a fishing boat converted from an old battleship, they only caught fish and not interested in taking passengers. It was not until Jin Hua Popo produced two ingots of gold did the captain reluctantly agree to take them aboard. Jin Hua Popo took Zhu'Er and Zhou Zhiruo on board and they set sail immediately, heading east.

On that vast boundless open sea the lone boat sailed to the southeast. During the two days of sailing, Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min looked out their cabin window in the bottom deck. They noticed that during the day, the sun, and in the night, the moon, were both rising from the port side. Obviously the boat was sailing to the south. It was the beginning of winter, the boat had the full advantage of the north wind blowing strong on its sail that they were traveling very fast.

Zhang Wuji and Zhao Min often had some discussions. "My 'Yifu' is on the 'bing huo dao' [ice and fire island] of the extreme north; if we want to find him, then we must sail to the north. Why are we going to the south instead?"

Each time Zhao Min always replied, "This Jin Hua Popo is certainly a strange woman. More over, right now the south wind has not arrived yet, there is no way we can sail to the north even if we want to."

Toward noon on the third day, the captain came down to their cabin to give his report, he said Jin Hua Popo was very familiar of the sea condition around this place; she knew exactly where the sand bar, the reef, and the shallow waters were. She was even more knowledgeable than the captain was.

Zhang Wuji suddenly remembered, "Ah, right!" he exclaimed, "Could it be that she is returning to the 'ling she dao' [spirit snake island]?"

"What Ling She Island?" Zhao Min asked.

"The Ling She Island is Jin Hua Popo's home," Zhang Wuji said, "Her late husband was called the 'yin ye xiansheng' [Mister Silver Leaf]. Ling She, Jin Hua, Yin Ye [Spirit Snake, Golden Flower and Silver Leaf]; haven't you heard?"

Zhao Min laughed mockingly and said, "You are only a few years older than I am, but seems like you are an expert in the Jianghu's matters."

Zhang Wuji smiled and said, "The heretical devilish Ming Cult certainly knows a lot more of Jianghu matters than Junzhu Niang-niang."

These two people were originally archenemies; the groups of warriors under their commands had been engaged in several tough battles. But after several days of living together in a ship's cabin in the middle of the sea, they were unable to restrain from chatting with each other amiably. Also, with Jin Hua Popo as their common enemy, one more day they were together, one more day the estrangement between them was shed away.

In order not to raise Jin Hua Popo's suspicions, the captain immediately went back to the upper deck right after giving out his report. Zhao Min laughed and said, "Da Jiaozhu [great cult leader], I wonder if it is bothersome for you to tell this friendless and unlearned young girl about the power and prestige of the Spirit Snake's Golden Flower and Silver Leaf that shook the Jianghu."

Zhang Wuji smiled and said, "To my shame, I don't have the slightest idea Yin Ye Xiansheng is what kind of person; but Jin Hua Popo, I actually have had some encounters with her." Thereupon he told her how he went to the Butterfly Valley and studied medicine under the 'die gu yi xian' [the Divine Doctor of the Butterfly Valley] Hu Qingniu, how some people from different sects were wounded by Jin Hua Popo until they were in between life and death, how they came to the Butterfly Valley for medical help, and how under Hu Qingniu's direction he cured them all. How Jin Hua Popo contended with Miejue Shitai in martial arts and was defeated, how in the end Hu Qingniu and Wang Nan'gu husband and wife died under Jin Hua Popo's hands. He told her all kinds of emotions surrounding the circumstances. He felt that although Hu Qingniu's character was rather peculiar, his treatment toward Zhang Wuji was not bad. Thinking about how those husband and wife's bodies hung high on the tree, he was unable to restrain his eyes from turning red. The only thing he did not tell was how Zhu'Er grabbed his hand because she wanted to take him as her playmate on the Ling She Island; and how he bit her arm really bad. Why he omitted this part of the story, Zhang Wuji could not explain; perhaps he felt what he did was rather unsophisticated.