Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 43 Monkey Trick, Star-Pulling Technique

"Senior Brother Wang, did you encounter any accidents on the way?"

Shushu heard from Elder Shen that her senior brother was assassinated by a disciple of the Lu Ban method. Was the assassin caught in the end?

When they met again, Han Shushu's address of "senior brother" sounded much more natural.

Perhaps because there were no elders around, he was noticeably more lively, chattering about his well-being as soon as the two boats approached.

Yesterday, Shen Yuting had already spoken with Han Zechang ("River Rat") and Huang Yuanzhou ("Mirage General"), revealing some information to them so they could prepare in advance.

The commoners' leaders were in complete agreement.

Having survived this assassination attempt orchestrated by the gentry, although they successfully retaliated, they had to admit that the enemy's sneak attacks were unpredictable and that their "weak point" was no longer safe to remain in Yuegang.

There's no such thing as being a thief for a thousand days but not being able to guard against thieves for a thousand days; even with their protection, oversights are inevitable.

It just so happens that Wang Cheng and Han Shushu's skills have both gotten on track, so it's a good time for them to team up and hide away.

Before leaving, Shen Yuting had even prepared to submit a petition on Wang Cheng's behalf. As long as he met the conditions for "pure yang life fire" and burned a stick of incense, his master could immediately begin the ritual.

With the superior-grade talisman and talisman of the Water Craftsman Silver in hand, there is no need to borrow any more talismans from the sect. As long as you wear it, nurture it, and offer it to it throughout the four seasons, you will have the opportunity to open your own lineage.

If things get really desperate, they could even disregard the timing and location, skip the rituals of the "White Water Gentleman," and resort to selling official positions—that might be a way to save the day.

The only concern is that it might have a significant impact on Wang Cheng's future path, so it will not be used unless absolutely necessary.

Now that these two second-generation "friends" have left Yuegang together, they can be considered to be sticking together for warmth, and their relationship has become much closer.

Wang Cheng clasped his hands in a fist salute to Han Shushu, his tone relaxed:
"Thank you for your concern, junior sister. The assassin has long been reduced to ashes by my master."

"If the victim hadn't died so quickly, the mastermind behind the hired killer wouldn't have escaped either."

While deliberately saying provocative things to the mastermind behind the gentry faction, he secretly observed the young man with a monkey perched on his shoulder among her entourage.

But no abnormalities were found on his face.

To ensure that Han Shushu could independently complete a salvage ritual, there were no official officers on either of the two ships on this trip.

The young man with the monkey was obviously not an official.

Wang Cheng's extra attention to him was not because he discovered any problems with him.

Instead, when you look at him, it's like looking at Ah Xiao, the pearl diver, or her master Shen Yuting back then; you can only see very little information about him.

[Rare find: Hou Yong, an eighth-rank cultivator with a pure Yang life force, the vice-captain of the salvage ship "Han Xingfa"]

Reserve officers were playing monkey tricks.

Even without the Four Seas Coin, this information could be discerned, since all the "monkey trainers" had to find a monkey to raise from a young age before being ordained and listed in the ranks.

Many warships also kept a dozen or so "gunpowder monkeys" specifically to transport gunpowder.

If you don't have the resources, use ordinary monkeys for your monkey show; if you do have the resources, use naturally occurring special species, or even find monkey monsters that have gained sentience.

I just don't know which kind of monkey it is with the golden headband on its head.

One possibility for this situation is that one's own strength is too weak; another possibility is that the opponent has a high-grade talisman or other treasure that is good at concealment.

Since it can be seen that Hou Yong is only an eighth-rank scholar, then it can only be the latter reason.

"But everyone in the world has secrets. Just because someone doesn't let me see their secrets doesn't mean they are scheming and have ulterior motives, right?"
That's a bit too much of a double standard.

Wang Cheng could only pay more attention to and be more wary of this monkey performer, and then turned to Han Shushu and continued:
"Junior Sister Han, Master gave me an extra needlework map. Leave the journey to the shipwreck site to me."

"With the 'Zhang Fushun' as the lead ship, you just need to follow behind us."

Han Shushu patted her flat chest and breathed a sigh of relief:
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Senior Brother Wang."

Wang Cheng nodded, climbed to the highest point of the fishing boat, the stern tower, and took out a set of star charts from the pouch of his cloak.

The star-drawing board used to perform the star-drawing technique consists of twelve square ebony boards of varying sizes.

The largest piece is called the twelve-finger plate, and the smallest piece is called the one-finger plate. The size decreases by one finger from largest to smallest, and one finger is about 2 centimeters.

另外，还有用象牙制成一小方块，四角缺刻，缺刻四边的长度分别是上面所举最小一块边长的1/4、1/2、3/4和1/8。

Its function is similar to that of a sextant invented in the West, but it is much more cumbersome to use. After a brief test, Wang Cheng held an eight-finger star-gazing board and observed the North Star, his arm outstretched, his eyes fixed on the night sky.

Align the upper edge of the ebony board with the North Star and the lower edge with the horizontal line. If the measurement is less than a finger's width, use an ivory "notch" to make up the difference.

By finding the altitude of Polaris and calculating the latitude of your location, you can determine the route between your current location and your destination.

Long before the invention of the compass, the water officials of China had already used the art of star-gazing to observe celestial phenomena and travel across the four seas to find overseas elixirs for the emperors.

With the development of maritime navigation technology in the East and West over the years, maritime positioning is no longer a difficult task.

Wang Cheng slid his fingertips across the "Needle Path Chart," constantly calculating with his fingers, using the data from the Star-Tracing Technique in conjunction with the "Needle Path Chart" for navigation.

The unit of measurement used during the Dazhao period was "geng," which is different from the modern units of "knot" and "nautical mile."

It is a unit of time used in ocean voyages. A day and night is usually divided into ten watches. At standard speed, each watch can cover about sixty miles.

Therefore, the "Needle Road Chart" is also called the "Road Record", which marks the number of turns between the starting point and the destination.

The time recorded on it is theoretically the time taken to travel from point A to point B at standard speed. However, in practice, there are often errors, requiring the naval strategist and fire chief to measure the ship's speed and then recalculate and correct it.
When people are pushed to the limit, they'll do anything, except solve math problems.

Brothers may betray you, women may deceive you, money may tempt you, and life may make things difficult for you, but math will never betray you; if you don't know it, you simply don't know it.

The same applies to stargazing.

Those who don't know how to do it will find Wang Cheng's actions like reading a book written in heaven; even if you teach them step by step, they still won't understand. For example, Miss Han Shushu pretends to understand and keeps nodding, but her mind is actually blank.

In less than fifteen minutes, Wang Cheng completed the calculation.

"Jia Mao refers to the northeast. According to the standard sailing speed, one watch is sixty li, so eight watches is four hundred and eighty li."

When the angles between the three stars of the North Star, the Canopy Star, and the Lion Star and the sea level are eleven fingers, one finger, and one and a half fingers respectively, that is exactly where the porcelain shipwreck is located!
It will take about a day to get to our destination from here.

He shouted again towards the opposite side:
"Junior Sister Han, keep up."

Seeing that Wang Cheng completed the positioning without much effort, Han Shushu made no secret of her envy for this skill:

"Shushu, I don't have any other problems, except that I'm a little bit bad at directions."

If I could learn Prince Jing's secret and orthodox technique, the "Star-Traveling Technique," my uncle would never have to worry about me getting lost again.

The others on the opposite ship looked at Wang Cheng with awe and respect. The ship captain who could bring everyone home at sea held an exceptionally high position.

Wang Cheng just used the simplest Star-Tracing Technique, which does not require lighting a Heart Lamp or spiritual response; even an experienced sailor could learn it.

However, among the three secret orthodox methods recorded in "The Guide to Sending Off the Wind", there is one called "The Art of Crossing the Ocean and Connecting Stars".

When one cultivates to a high level, one can use the Ziwei Enclosure, Taiwei Enclosure, and Tianshi Enclosure as the center to borrow the power of the stars in the universe, making one's power unfathomable.

They even summoned a celestial being from outer space to descend upon the battlefield, making a cameo appearance as a chosen one of the planes, a show-off!
Among all the unique skills and secret teachings of the thirty-six halls of the Water Class, these are the first-rate methods.

Even Wang Cheng's own son only learned the basics due to his limited understanding, let alone others.

He wasn't in a hurry at all.

"I'll burn incense and present a memorial to Old Wang after I've received my ordination and entered the ranks of officials. I'll come back after I've learned the complete text." (Smacking his lips as he eats.)

He waved to Zhang Wu, and the "Zhang Fushun" began to turn.

The crew took turns on duty without rest, and after traveling northeast for a day and a night, they finally arrived at their destination marked on the compass map on the evening of the second day.

The sea was indeed safe during this period, and we did not encounter any evil spirits blocking our way.

As it turned out, Master Shen Yuting's [Six Lines Money Divination] was very accurate; the sunken ship loaded with blue and white porcelain from the previous dynasty was lying quietly here.

The information gleaned from the tiny scratches on salvaged porcelain pieces is also quite accurate.

With the help of the setting sun, Wang Cheng spotted the underwater seaweed forest located more than ten meters below the intertidal zone of a deserted island.

Every now and then, one or two extremely large, jet-black sea urchins would be going in and out.

Wang Cheng's heart sank back into his stomach, his pupils reflecting the golden-red hue of the sunset.

"The monkey brain and sea urchin cluster, one of the 100,000 kinds of seafood treasures, has been found!"

(End of this chapter)