Beyond the Timescape

Chapter 78: Zhang San Makes an Investment

To most people in Seven Blood Eyes, that night was no different than usual. But to others, it was a very different night. Among those others, the reactions included...

... sighing on a dharmaboat, envious of extraordinary people.

... stewing in fury and rage, vowing to chop enemies into mincemeat.

... leaning back casually in a chair, a mountain of fruit seeds piling up off to the side.

... sitting bitterly in an inn, feeling incomparably flustered and anxious.

In some cases, the way to decide if a person was acclimating to a new situation wasn’t to look at their demeanor or bearing. Instead, you looked at how people reacted to them.

Those who were envious were the disciples in Harbor 79. Those who were furious were the Merfolk cultivators. The one with the pile of fruit seeds was the Captain. And the one who was flustered and anxious was Patriarch Golden Vajra Warrior.

Regardless, as the light of dawn spread out over the lands, it obscured the various reactions. It was like the poem that spoke of the dragon-fish dancing through the night. The next day, that energetic, sleepless night resulted in exhaustion. [1]

As shafts of sunlight poked through the damaged exterior of the dharmaboat and landed on Xu Qing, he opened his eyes. The sunlight revealed the sparkle in his eyes which, like the rising sun, held endless optimism for the future.

I wonder if sunrise on the open ocean will feel like this.

Thinking about such things, he got to his feet. He had a lot to do today.

First he went to the Violent Crimes Division to request time off to go out to sea. It wasn’t a complicated process. Seventh Peak disciples didn’t always stay at port; since their cultivation was linked to the sea, it was only natural for them to leave. After going through the various procedures, he was granted forty days of leave. If he came back early, he was required to report in. If he came back later, he would have to work overtime to make up the difference. After finishing at the Violent Crimes Division, it was still early, so he decided to head to the Sixth Peak shops. After all, it seemed unlikely that what happened last time would reoccur.

However, after arriving, he looked around at the shops and hesitated. As he did, he realized he’d just received a voice message on his identity medallion. It was from the Captain.

“Xu Qing! Did you forget about something?”

Xu Qing stared at his identity medallion in shock, trying to figure out what the Captain was talking about.

“Never mind. I’ll just be frank. You owe me 500 spirit stones, Xu Qing. When are you gonna pay me back?”

Glaring, Xu Qing responded with a single sentence. “It’s 100 spirit stones.”

“Alright, fine, fine. I’m not gonna haggle. 300 spirit stones, okay? Now, when are you gonna pay me back?”

Xu Qing didn’t respond. Instead, he took out the bamboo slip with the names of his enemies carved onto it. Finding the Captain’s name, he scratched out the question mark after the name.

“Hey, why aren’t you saying anything? I saw that you requested time off, you brat. Are you going out to sea to avoid paying me back? Ah, whatever. The open sea is dangerous, and you really have to make sure your dharmaboat is upgraded. I want to make sure you don’t end up dead and my 500 spirit stones completely lost. Therefore, I have to remind you that if you want work done on your dharmaboat, you should go see Zhang San!”

Zhang San? thought Xu Qing. He hesitated.

The Captain, meanwhile, seemed very excited to talk about Zhang San. In fact, he went on to give more details, explaining how Xu Qing should act around Zhang San, what he should say, and other things. Finally, he ended his message.

Xu Qing stood there for a while thinking. Then, feeling a bit surprised at himself, he went to the Transportation Division. Upon arriving, he found Zhang San squatting atop a pile of cargo, smoking a pipe and looking very relaxed. Occasionally, he would shout some orders to the workers under his command.

When he caught sight of Xu Qing, his eyes narrowed slightly, and then they glittered.

“Yo! Shouldn’t you be at work now, Junior Brother Xu? What are you doing here?”

As Xu Qing neared, he noted how Zhang San was squatting on the pile of merchandise. Without hesitation, he hopped onto the pile. This time, before Xu Qing could worry about maintaining some distance, Zhang San shifted to the side to make sure there was some space between the two of them.

Xu Qing looked at him for a moment, then squatted down.

Smiling, Zhang San noted Xu Qing’s handsome features that would drive the opposite sex crazy. After muttering to himself for a moment, he said, “Squatting is pretty comfortable, huh?”

“Agreed,” Xu Qing said with a nod.

“So. What’s up?”

“Elder Brother Zhang, my dharmaboat needs some upgrades.”

Zhang San was stunned. “You need to upgrade your dharmaboat? Who told you to talk to me about that? The Captain?”

Xu Qing didn’t answer the question. He just took out two apples, one of which he gave to Zhang San.

Zhang San accepted it out of instinct, then suddenly seemed regretful. He offered it back to Xu Qing. Xu Qing didn’t take it.

Zhang San smiled wryly, muttered a few more times as he rubbed the apple, and then looked at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing looked back at him.

A moment passed, and Zhang San laughed. “If you promise me one thing, I’ll help you with the upgrades.”

Xu Qing had been paying attention to Zhang San’s wording, and noticed that he didn’t mention helping Xu Qing find someone else to help with the upgrades. He was going to do the work himself. “Say the word, Elder Brother Zhang.”

“From now on, do you mind not staring at my throat? It’s hot today... but it’s giving me the chills.” Zhang San blinked a few times as he looked at Xu Qing.

Xu Qing thought about it for a moment, then looked Zhang San in the eyes.

Zhang San facepalmed and sighed. “Your gaze is really strange. It’s like whatever you look at, you want to hurt. Alright, forget it. It’s not going to be easy for you to change how your eyes work. I’ll help you with your dharmaboat. But I have to tell you up front that I charge a lot....” With that, he hopped off the pile of cargo and beckoned to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing stood, clasped hands, and then followed. Zhang San led him to a warehouse behind the Transportation Division. When he opened the warehouse door, Xu Qing saw a whole host of crafting materials glittering brightly.

Xu Qing was taken aback. The materials were all very high quality, and he even saw seven or eight entire dharmaboats that were in various states of disassembly. Toward the back of the warehouse, there was a half-built Coastguard Division battleship....

There were also watercraft from various nonhuman groups. Xu Qing couldn’t help but gasp at the sight. He felt like he was actually in one of the Sixth Peak shops.

Off to the side, Zhang San looked very pleased with himself.

“What do you think?” he said, clasping his hands behind his back. “Let me tell you, when it comes to Seventh Peak disciples, I might not be the best fighter and I might not have the best cultivation base. But when it comes to working on dharmaboats. Hmmmphh. Most Sixth Peak disciples can’t measure up to me. I have a few dozen warehouses in this area, all filled with my work. Furthermore, no one would dare try to rob me!”

Thinking back to the instructions the Captain had given him, Xu Qing opened his eyes wide and tried to look shocked. Then he asked, “Elder Brother Zhang, are you really a Seventh Peak disciple?”

Zhang San seemed very pleased with Xu Qing’s facial expression. He burst out laughing. “That’s exactly what the Captain asked me. Sadly, my innate talents were discovered too late, otherwise I’d already be a conclave disciple in the Sixth Peak. Now, bring out your dharmaboat so I can have a look.”

Xu Qing’s eyes shone with respect as he took out the little bottle with his dharmaboat in it. Zhang San looked it over, and then without a word turned to start working. But then Xu Qing, after hesitating for a moment, thought back to what the Captain had told him and said, “Elder Brother Zhang San, I feel like my dharmaboat is actually built fairly well. It has many parts that I’ve upgraded to a very high standard.”

Zhang San stopped in place, his eyebrows raised to form an inverted 八 shape. “Fairly well? Very high standard? Are you serious? Forget the materials, the craftsmanship alone is just atrocious. And look at the sides of the boat! Just glancing at the hull on either side you can tell the spirit convergence formation is put in shoddily. That scale was installed wrong, which messes up the boat’s structure and influences the formation. I can tell with a glance that this work was done by some piece of trash disciple from the Sixth Peak.

“Oh, and look at the prow and stern. This is supposed to be a class-six dharmaboat, not a class-one! The emphasis should be on the inner workings, not the appearance! Why make it so eye-catching? It’ll just attract the attention of enemies. Practicality is the most important thing.”

Peering into the bottle, Zhang San said, “Trash. This thing is complete and utter trash. You can’t take this thing out on the open sea. If you do, and you run into a big storm or a large sea monster, then it simply doesn’t have the strength, rigidity, stability, or reliability to keep it watertight.”

Xu Qing felt shaken at how professional Zhang San sounded. Feeling even more respect than before, he clasped hands and bowed deeply.

Seeing this, Zhang San felt pleased. He enjoyed it when other disciples showed him reverence and admired his professionalism. That was how the Captain had treated him as well, although in retrospect the end result was him losing a lot of spirit stones....

Regardless, he had originally intended to just do some minor upgrades. But after Xu Qing mentioned that his boat was built ‘fairly well,’ it was too much for Zhang San to take.

Zhang San bore Xu Qing no ill will; everything he said was accurate. If an ordinary disciple took Xu Qing’s dharmaboat out to sea, it wouldn’t be problematic. But Xu Qing’s battle prowess virtually guaranteed that he would run into some powerful sea beasts, and go to some dangerous areas. Therefore, a dharmaboat like this wasn’t suitable.

Looking very pleased with himself, Zhang San proudly said, “I can see that you’ve been focusing on durability, so I’ll help you focus on that. We’ll make sure that when you take this dharmaboat to sea, if you get attacked by any huge beasts, you’ll be fine as long as they aren’t in the Foundation Establishment level. And even if you take damage, the boat won’t collapse!”

“Many thanks, Elder Brother,” Xu Qing said somberly, and then took out some spirit stones. “I have 200 spirit stones here. I have some more that I set aside to use when I go out to sea. Is this enough...?”

He had the feeling that 200 spirit stones probably wouldn’t cover all the work.

Zhang San looked at the spirit stones, and then at Xu Qing. Then he thought back to what the Captain had said about Xu Qing, and what he’d witnessed that day in the Sixth Peak shop. He recalled the cry of the dragonwhale the previous night, and the spirit power fluctuations. And considering how happily he’d criticized Xu Qing’s dharmaboat, he swallowed any bitterness he felt and put on a smile. [2]

“That’s enough. You have some great future prospects, kid. I invested in the Captain back in the day, and as for you... I’ll consider it another investment. Come pick up the boat tonight.” With that, Zhang San got to work.

Xu Qing looked deeply at Zhang San, gave a solemn expression of thanks, clasped hands and bowed deeply, then left.

After he was gone, Zhang San let loose a long sigh and scowled.

I screwed up again. Every time I run into these people who are so good at cultivation, I always have to show off my skills. I could just sit around enjoying my work. But now... I have to live up to my own bragging. Wait, hold on. How come the little punk was acting like the Captain...? That said, the Captain is really stingy. He didn’t give me a single spirit stone. Pretended he was broke. The kid is actually a lot nicer than the Captain.

In the final analysis, he was doing this for two reasons. The first was that the Captain had recommended keeping an eye on Xu Qing. The second reason... was that he trusted the Captain’s sense of judgment.

I’m not going to regret making this investment!

Zhang San had started out obscure and unknown. Now he was still obscure and unknown, although he kept it that way on purpose. He was very wealthy, ran the entire Transportation Division from behind the scenes, and was someone nobody would ever dare to rob. And all of that was because he had once helped the Captain upgrade his dharmaboat.

***

After leaving the Transportation Division, a strange expression appeared in Xu Qing’s eyes. Finally, he took out his identity medallion and sent a voice message to the Captain.

“Captain, do you think it worked?”

“Did you do everything I told you to do?”

“Yeah....”

“Hahaha. Perfect. It’s fine. Zhang San is one of us. Plus, he’s rich. But if you think you’re taking advantage of him now, just make sure to help him out later.”

Xu Qing nodded earnestly. Then he took his bamboo slip back out. On one side, he added Zhang San’s name. Then he flipped it to the side with his enemies on it, and added a question mark back to the Captain’s name.

***

Back in the Violent Crimes Division, the Captain was happily eating some strange fruits that couldn’t be purchased in the capital city, and could only be found on one of the nonhuman islands far out at sea. After finishing his message to Xu Qing, he picked up a document relating to a complaint filed against Zhang San. On a recent mission out at sea, Zhang San had unleashed an incredible level of bloody violence, including plundering some nonhuman trading ships. The complaint demanded that Zhang San be severely punished. After reading it, the Captain smiled, then waved his hand, causing the report to crumble into ashes.

As long as my Offpeak friends don’t betray me, nobody will lay a hand on them.

1. The poem in question is by poet, calligrapher, and military general Xin Qiji, who lived during the Southern Song period. ☜

2. The Captain’s words about Xu Qing were in chapter 56, while the Sixth Peak shop incident was in chapter 71-72. ☜

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