Chapter 104: Chapter 104 Where is My Horse?

Translator: 549690339

After Ao Qi and his party arrived at the Wuhuan fortress, the celebration that General Qi Chi had been preparing for six months was finally held successfully and on schedule!

First of all, the fine wines and sumptuous dishes, delicacies from land and sea, naturally went without saying.

The undersea song and dance troupe hired for the performance had been carefully selected and invited from other cities, at great expense by Qi Chi, several months in advance.

In addition, the lodgings for guests of all tribes had also been newly built by Qi Chi, mobilizing Wuhuan’s defensive force over these six months.

The standard of the rooms, layout, and furnishings were all on par with a Starfish-level hotel, ensuring that the esteemed guests coming to Wuhuan would feel completely at home, unable to experience even a hint of hardship.

After such thorough arrangements, almost all the Sea Tribe dignitaries who came to Wuhuan were full of praise for Qi Chi.

They spent their days immersed in the joyous Wuhuan paradise that Qi Chi had created, with no interest or intention to pay attention to any other aspects of the Wuhuan fortress.

This situation truly allowed Qi Chi to breathe a sigh of relief.

As long as these nobles did not discover the current state of neglect of the Wuhuan defense force’s military preparations, everything would be easy to manage.

Though the Sea Tribe warriors stationed in Wuhuan were not many, only three hundred thousand, once the Wuhuan defense force caught the attention of the Dragon Clan’s Prince San, and he sniffed out something fishy, what would ensue could involve tens of millions of Sea Tribe soldiers and a vast, intricate industrial chain to sustain such military might.

That would be too big a matter, beyond what Qi Chi alone, or even the entire Shark Clan, could withstand.

“General Qi!” Wuhuan’s military Advisor Bai Ao approached Qi Chi.

“Advisor Bai, what brings you…”

“General Qi, these past two days, many monsters and creatures of the Sea Tribe from around Wuhuan have been swimming upstream to Ming River territories. I dispatched scouts to follow them yesterday, but they have not returned today. General, this is strange and cannot be ignored.”

Qi Chi, with hands clasped behind his back, said solemnly, “This indeed is unusual and should be taken seriously. However, at the moment, the celebration is at its peak, and our priority must be to ensure its smooth continuation. The matter of them swimming upstream to Ming River can be put on hold for now. Here’s what we’ll do: dispatch a few more people to contact the Aquatic Tribe of Ming River—our distant kin always help in a crisis. Ask them for assistance in a joint investigation.”

“Understood,” Bai Ao acknowledged the order and went to carry it out.

Shortly after, the leader of the undersea song and dance troupe, an Octopus Monster, found Qi Chi.

“General Qi!”

“Leader of the Octopus Troupe, what’s the matter now?”

“General Qi, what is going on with Wuhuan? Why is there a continuous buzzing noise here?”

“Buzzing noise?” Upon listening carefully, Qi Chi could indeed hear it.

He wondered aloud, “There wasn’t any noise in the past few days, how come now… Where is this noise coming from?”

The Octopus Troupe Leader, already with a headache, felt it worsening.

“At first, our troupe thought our instruments were broken, but after searching for a long time, we realized the noise is coming from the distant west. General Qi, I don’t care how the noise came to be, but it’s disrupting our troupe’s performance. You must find a way to block the sound! Otherwise, we cannot continue with our performance.”

Upon hearing that the performance could not go on, Qi Chi immediately said, “I will resolve the issue for you right away! Someone, quickly go and have Advisor Bai open the Protective City Array!”

The shrimp soldier tasked with the order hesitated, “General, you want to activate the array now?”

“Activate it!”

“Yes, sir.”

Seeing Qi Chi open the city’s defense mechanism meant to repel formidable enemies to support their performance, the Octopus Troupe Leader could no longer fault him and could only say, “General, I will go prepare for the subsequent performance.”

“Good, if you need anything, just let me know,” Qi Chi said.

After the Octopus left, Qi Chi let out a breath of relief.

In order to keep the celebration going smoothly, he had sacrificed too much.

He hoped that from then on, everything would proceed without incident.

Thanks to the efforts of the undersea song and dance troupe, even though the waters outside Wuhuan City were turbulent, inside the city shielded by the Protective City Array, peace and joy reigned supreme.

After several rounds of drinks, with the variety of dishes having passed, numerous intoxicated noble ladies and gentlemen began to leave.

Leveraging his Nascent Soul cultivation level and the formidable constitution of a shark, Qi Chi was able to remain clear-headed despite persuasions to drink from a group of people.

Watching the guests gradually disperse, Qi Chi smiled with relief. The most challenging first day of the celebration had finally come to a close successfully.

In the following days, these people would remain in Wuhuan City, but there certainly wouldn’t be such large-scale banquets anymore.

The most difficult days had passed, and from now on, every step would be a step upwards.

Just when Qi Chi finally decided to breathe a sigh of relief, a soldier hurried over with a report.

“General, there’s trouble, many of the Lord’s horses are missing outside!”

“What? Whose mother died?”

Shocked, Qi Chi wondered how he would explain to the various tribes of the Sea Tribe if the nobles caused a casualty on his watch.

“No, not that, the horses are gone, the mounts are missing.”

“Oh.” So it was just a matter of something being lost, a minor issue. Qi Chi once again exhaled a long breath of relief, “Lead me there quickly!”

Outside Wuhuan City, Qi Chi and the others passed through the Protective City Array and arrived at the newly built parking lot outside.

The parking lot had already gathered quite a crowd, mostly made up of onlookers, with a few who were without horses.

From the seahorse-drawn carriages of Ao Qi and his niece, it appeared that the nobles of the Sea Tribe generally preferred to use seahorses as mounts, but not exclusively; many nobles liked large shrimp, giant jellyfish, and other such sea monsters to pull their carriages. In any case, these were creatures that, though transformed into monsters, still had low intelligence.

The parking lot was a new construction in Wuhuan and was built outside the city, unprotected by the Protective City Array. If the noble lords’ horses were mischievous and had not been secured properly, and had run off on their own, it would indeed be challenging to locate them in the vast sea.

Moreover, even if someone were sent to look for them, there was no guarantee they would be found.

Qi Chi simply decided not to search and directly had those who had lost their mounts come to him to take count. He would compensate those who should be compensated with money, and plenty of it! If a new mount was needed, he would provide one, and it would be of good quality!

With such a generous approach, this brief “missing horses crisis” was safely and uneventfully resolved.

Although the loss of the horses was a bit strange, Qi Chi didn’t give it much thought. For him, at that moment, as long as the festivities weren’t in danger, everything was negotiable.

Ao Qi observed Qi Chi silently from the side. This Shark Clan general was decisive and acted with swift determination; he had a powerful way of handling matters, with every move carefully planned to ensure the smooth operation of the festivities. Indeed, he was an exceptional talent of the Sea Tribe.

However…

Compared to Qi Chi, who was a pillar of the new generation of the Sea Tribe, those other nobles who could even lose their horses were quite embarrassing for the Dragon Clan to speak of.

How could they govern the ocean properly when mingled with such insects and worms!

Ao Qi couldn’t help but feel a tinge of worry for the future of the Sea Tribe.

After all, if it had been him, Ao Qi, and he lost his mount, he would not have the face to make a fuss and end up having Qi Chi compensate him.

But no matter what, his eldest brother would be the future Master of the Dragon Palace, so it would be best to leave such matters for his brother to consider. It didn’t concern him much, the third son of the Dragon King.

Ao Qi approached his dragon carriage, opened the door, and said, “Lian, it’s time for us to get on the carriage and head back to the hotel.”

No response.

Ao Qi: ?

“Lian?”

“Ao Lian!”

“Ao Lian!!!”

Shit!

Ao Qi’s eyes widened as he belatedly realized that he hadn’t seen Ao Lian for some time.

Which meant…

He had somehow lost the only daughter of his elder brother, the current Commandery Princess of the Dragon Clan, the future Princess, his adorable niece…

Ao Qi swallowed hard in silence.

At that moment, his hand holding the carriage door was shaking.

It was all over!