Travelers on the road must have some skills to protect themselves. The ability to listen to the wind and observe the clouds was Kaedehara Kazuha's ace in the hole.
The wind could carry a lot of information.
For example, Himura Kenshin's suppressed sword intent, or the smell of alcohol on Captain Beidou... as well as a special fragrance that seemed to have been picked up from Lady Ningguang.
And what Kaedehara Kazuha was best at was discerning from this information whether there were enemy ships or traces of sea beasts in the distance.
The sea breeze carried a faint, fishy smell. This smell wasn't like that of fish, but rather had a somewhat sticky feeling, like a giant octopus from the seabed.
But if it were just an octopus, that would be fine.
Because with the strength of the Crux Fleet, they could definitely turn a giant octopus into octopus balls for the dinner table.
The problem was... the aura mixed in this wind was too dangerous.
It was so dangerous that Kaedehara Kazuha couldn't help but tremble.
The last time he had this feeling was at the martial arts arena in Inazuma City.
Could it be...
"Kazuha! What exactly is going on?"
Beidou had already climbed up to the crow's nest using the ropes. Her brows were tightly furrowed as she asked with a grave expression.
When Xu Liushi had just approached her and told her to change course, she thought the man was joking.
But after he said it was a message from Kaedehara Kazuha, she could no longer remain calm.
To date, the youth had made seventeen predictions, and almost every time, he had perfectly foreseen an approaching storm, saving the fleet from countless losses.
For him to say this meant he had definitely discovered something.
"There is something dangerous on our course."
Kazuha pointed directly in front of the fleet and said with great certainty.
"Must we change course? If we take a detour, it might disrupt our original plan. If so... even with the ample resources we've prepared, we might run out before we reach Inazuma."
Beidou said in a low voice.
She wasn't joking. Charting a new course wasn't as simple as turning the rudder.
It required the navigator to carefully plan and arrange, avoiding reefs and the territories of certain sea beasts.
The amount of work involved was immense.
"The wind tells me many things, but this time... the wind itself is trembling because of that thing. Other than danger, I can't piece together much useful information."
Closing his eyes to feel it again, Kaedehara Kazuha said with absolute certainty.
Beidou could also clearly feel this.
Normally, the sea breeze, whether fierce or gentle, basically blew in one direction.
But this time... the wind was in complete chaos.
"Change course! Prepare for battle!"
After noticing the anomaly, Beidou acted even more decisively than Kazuha had imagined.
Not only did she have the navigators begin planning a new route, but she also had the combat personnel prepare for battle.
Because she had already realized that the danger Kazuha spoke of was likely not a natural disaster, but... some kind of living creature.
Whether it was a sea beast or something else, Beidou would certainly not be afraid.
Because she had once slain a so-called sea beast with her own hands.
Almost every person in Liyue knew of the fame of Captain Beidou of the Crux Fleet, and they loved to talk about her in their leisure time.
Even the storyteller at the Heyu Teahouse, besides telling tales of Adepti and Archons, would occasionally tell stories of this captain.
There is a phrase passed down in Liyue and Inazuma: "Its fins roil the dark sea, its tail touches the distant mountains."
Fishermen learned this phrase from the shore and sang it over and over. The tune spread far and wide, becoming a well-known sea shanty.
And this sea shanty, Beidou used to hum often with her crew. But from a certain point on, she never sang it again.
Because the "great fish" in the song, with fins that roiled the dark sea and a tail that touched distant mountains, named Haishan, had died at her hands.
Haishan was in the sea.
It was like both a fish and a dragon, as massive as a nightmare, as powerful as a god, capable of creating waves dozens of meters high with a single light strike.
Those who made their living on the sea would inevitably encounter Haishan.
Beidou had wanted to see it since she was nine, hoping to cut off its head. She had challenged Haishan many times, all ending in failure.
Until that one time, she sang the ballad she had been listening to since she was in swaddling clothes for the last time, shouldered her best greatsword, took her most skilled sailors, and went straight for this great sea monster named [Haishan].
The clash was immediate, the battle thunderous.
This battle lasted for a full four days.
In the storyteller's tale, she trod upon giant waves, with the blue sky above her head.
Like an Adeptus, she fought with Haishan for more than four days.
In reality, only her crew understood how difficult it was for them to defeat Haishan.
The Crux Fleet brought only its elite members and used cannons, harpoons, supplemented with bows and arrows, just to barely restrain Haishan.
Beidou fought with the captured Haishan, whose four limbs were bound, for several hours, and even as night fell, no winner could be decided.
Fortunately, Haishan was only powerful at night; the daytime provided them with enough opportunity to catch their breath.
At dawn on the fifth day, the first ray of sunlight shone on Haishan's face.
Beidou struck.
This strike, splitting clouds and shattering the moon, like a mountain and the sea, completely severed the fish-dragon's head!
And it was at that moment that a bolt of purple lightning descended from the heavens. Beidou's God's Eye, in this very special way, landed before the blood-soaked Beidou.
This purple lightning was the best gift the gods could bestow upon one who had conquered mountains and seas.
Because of this event, Beidou also had a very fine nickname.
The Dragon King.
But compared to this nickname, the people of the Crux Fleet still preferred to call her Captain.
The news of danger on the course ahead quickly spread throughout the entire Crux Fleet.
But apart from the merchants traveling with them, no one feared this so-called danger.
Could anything be more dangerous than Haishan?
But as time passed, the so-called danger gradually appeared before everyone.
Dark clouds covered the entire sea, with occasional rumbles of thunder coming from within. The rumbling sound was less like thunder and more like the low roar of some giant beast.
The entire sky seemed to have been split by something, half black, half blue.
The terrifying scene even made some of the more timid ones wet their pants in fear.
"What in the world... is this thing?"
Standing on the dragon-headed prow at the front of the Alcor, Beidou felt her scalp tingle.
Within those dark, inky clouds, one could occasionally see a part of a creature's body inadvertently revealed. But even this small revealed part was enough to show how massive its body was.
Even Haishan, which they had slain with all their might, was nothing before this colossal beast.
This thing had completely transcended the category of a "beast" and could even be described with another word.
A Demon God!
The dark clouds also noticed the presence of the Crux Fleet and, with rumbling thunder, were sweeping towards them.
And there was only one thing Beidou could do.
"All hands, prepare for battle!"
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[A/N: Whoever though that they wouldn't encounter anything worse than Hashan must have jinxed it]
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