Chapter 728: Chapter 17: The Death of Tianbao (Part 3) Chapter 728: Chapter 17: The Death of Tianbao (Part 3) “Achoo!” Saint Watson sneezed heavily and muttered, “I’m getting a bit hungry. Hey, what about you?”

As he spoke, he picked up a clump of green, oily algae from the accumulated water, licked it with his tongue, grimaced for a while, but still didn’t dare to take a bite.

Li Yan looked from his nose to his mouth and suddenly raised his hand to fire a huge gun. Devouring Blade smashed into a piece of glass-colored bubble wall, causing ripples to spread, and ultimately fading into nothingness.

Li Yan let out a breath, sat down carelessly in the water, and found his behind getting uncomfortably poked, reaching out to find a bullet casing.

Li Yan shook his head and threw the bullet to one side.

The two had been trapped here for 150,000 heartbeats. During this time, Li Yan tried various lethal methods to break through the bubble wall, including the Seven Great Rows of Guns and Blades, Dragon Mist, Crazy Shocker, and even desperately activated the Soul-Forgiving Water, but to no avail.

This was a massive bubble, thousands of square meters in size, comparable to a small sports field, with scattered human bones throughout. There was just enough water to cover the ankles beneath their feet, and the bubble wall was covered with various brightly glowing algae.

The bubble imprisoning Li Yan and Saint Watson was not the only one. In the pitch-black depths of the sea, there were seven such glowing bubbles, each of different sizes, the largest measuring tens of thousands of square meters and the smallest a few hundred.

A gigantic golden squid lay next to the seven bubbles, seemingly deep in slumber.

Undoubtedly, this was Yan Gong’s true form.

Upon close examination, it seemed Yan Gong treated these bubbles like piggy banks, fish tanks, or display cabinets, even meticulously categorizing and organizing his collection.

Some bubbles were solely filled with gold and silver treasure, Silver Ingots, various gems, porcelain, and woodwork, their gleaming lights nearly blinding to behold.

Other bubbles contained all sorts of stranded warships, from the sharp-bottomed ships of medieval Normans to the latest Ironclad Warships, their complex paintwork and vibrant flags indicating that the bubbles might possess some anti-oxidative magic, or even the power to halt the passage of time.

The largest bubble was specifically for imprisoning fierce and powerful sea creatures. Li Yan’s Pig Dragon King and the R’lyeh Water Tiger were among them.

As for the bubble where Li Yan and Saint Watson were trapped, it was undoubtedly meant for holding humans.

More troubling was that, trapped inside the bubble, even the Water Lord Palace was cut off, and the Summoning Gold Medallion couldn’t be used for an enforced return!

The messages from Earth Endurance were:
“As a fellow Water Lord, your Water Lord Palace is too weak and is being suppressed by Yan Gong’s ‘Seven-Star Precious Pagoda.'”
“An unknown force is blocking Hou Tu’s perception. Unable to prepare for relocation.”

Li Yan felt a bit of a headache; quite unintentionally, he seemed to have found himself on the edge of a cliff.

Unsurprisingly, Yan Gong’s demonstrated strength placed him at the Six Ministries Peak, significantly stronger than Yu Shiqie but weaker than Muni.

However, Li Yan had a strong mental fortitude and did not exhibit an overly pessimistic mood.

There were two reasons for this:
In the past, Yan Gong had attempted to sneak a tentacle through to Heaven Jiazi Nine by hiding inside his own space insignia, ultimately failing. While it was a minor incident, Li Yan remembered it vividly; it was the first time he realized that there were entities in other fruit worlds capable of seeing through his walking identity and even exploiting it.

This also indicated that Yan Gong had a need to communicate with Li Yan and was unlikely to keep him imprisoned with the so-called Seven-Star Precious Pagoda for life.

Second was Saint Watson’s confident demeanor.

Although their interaction was brief, Li Yan was certain that this foul-mouthed old man was not one for self-sacrifice, and while he risked his life to rescue Andre and the Allied Fleet, there might be considerations of sentiment and interest, but it was unlikely that he would have a death wish to perish together with Li Yan.

Plus, with Yan Gong’s remark, “You two truly have a death wish,” it was clear that Saint Watson, like Li Yan himself, had witnessed the spectacle of ‘Heavenly Mother Crossing the Sea’ and had prior dealings with Yan Gong.

“What do you say, fancy a chat?”

Li Yan struck up a conversation with Saint Watson.

Saint Watson shrugged, “I advise you to accept reality. For the rest of our lives, we’re going to have to rely on each other for companionship in this damn place, surviving on algae.”

Li Yan looked at the old man with vacant eyes.

“Don’t blame me for not reminding you, but I just calculated the quantity and growth rate of the sea algae here. If nothing unexpected happens, we’ll eat up all the algae in eight months. Luckily, this kind of algae isn’t easy to digest, so even after excretion, it can be eaten a second time, although the taste would be…”

Saint Watson shook his head while nonchalantly tossing a strip of seaweed into his mouth, then passed it to Li Yan, “Don’t you want some fresh ones first?”

“What you just ate wasn’t seaweed, but fish jerky prepared in advance and mixed in. You’re saying all this just to throw me off balance, or to trick me into eating that revolting seaweed.”

Saint Watson smirked and threw the seaweed away, “You really are no fun. If it were Ruchika, he’d surely scream in shock and weep like a little doe. Honestly, I kind of miss him.”

“That kid is just an ordinary person. If he stayed on the ship then, he might have been killed by me in passing, or been affected by Yan Gong, and died before being locked in the bubble.”

Saint Watson, munching on fish jerky, said carelessly, “Mr. Pirate, you undeniably have no sense of humor.”

“My sense of humor is very precious, and you’re not a smooth-talking young lady.”

Saint Watson burst into laughter upon hearing this, “Now that’s more interesting.” He then changed the subject, “Do you know the monster’s name?”

“I’ve dealt with it before. But you, now that everyone is in the same boat, all turned into goldfish in someone else’s fish tank, are you satisfied? All for that Andre.”

Li Yan stared at him.

“If I want to leave this place, I can do it at any time,”
“Oh? I’d like to see that for myself.”

“Can’t I spend more time studying the water quality environment and the creatures here?”

Saint Watson and Li Yan both felt a heavy sense of boredom.

Indeed, he had dealt with Yan Gong before, when he first arrived in the Far East. He used drugs and equipment to wantonly kill marine life and deliberately released Jesus, resulting in Heavenly Mother Crossing the Sea. At that time, Saint Watson was not scared but rather delighted, causing quite a stir, managing to fake his death and escape from Yan Gong’s grasp.

However, this time he was caught in a strange bubble, Saint Watson was surprised to find that he had lost the sensation of his precious treasure. The fake death routine might not work again…

Just then, the enormous golden squid finally opened its eyes.

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“I understand Governor Yang’s intentions, and we are willing to cooperate with all the actions of your country.”

Halter wore a reddish-brown wool shirt. He was fair and elegant, with two deep-set eyes that revealed a businessman’s shrewdness.

“That’s excellent,”
Yang Sheng put down his Western teacup, knowing that Halter must have conditions to negotiate.

“However, we also hope that your country will make an effort to maintain the friendship and cooperation between our two sides.”

Yang Sheng’s expression remained unchanged, “The consul may speak frankly.”

Halter held up a finger, “Firstly, when we signed the contract, your country agreed to two conditions.”

Yang Sheng heard this and knew he was revisiting old issues, but simply smiled and said nothing.

“One is to permit the teaching of Jesus’s teaching; the second is to establish a Maritime Customs and Tax Administration, to be jointly managed by us and your country. The treaty explicitly stipulates that the chief minister of the naval government office, oh, that is to say, Governor Yang, invite an Englishman to implement taxation assistance, strictly investigate tax evasion, determine harborage, direct the mooring of vessels, and set up beacons, signal boats, watchtowers, etc. Yet, over these years…”

Halter shook his head, “Your Excellency, you haven’t fulfilled the agreement.”