The captain approached Ming Yue in a happy mood.
"Young one!" he said with a booming voice, "I should thank you for helping us escape. If not for you cutting those damned harpoons, we would not have been able to escape so easily. Hahahaha!"
He gave slapped her on the back before turning his attention to the captured pirates.
"Now if you will excuse me, I need to interrogate these damned creatures."
The both of them followed him, curious as to what he was going to ask.
"Why did you attack our ship?" he yelled out, grabbing the collar of one of the pirates.
"Why should I tell you anything?" the pirate fought back, spitting at his face.
"I see..." the captain dragged him to the edge of the boat and threw him off, his screams followed him on his descent.
"We are currently above a mountain range, the Bog Mountains to be exact", he said.
"I'm sure many of you have heard of it. One of the most dangerous places in this country, filled with wicked creatures. Now we are not high enough to fall to your death, unless you're unlucky. But you will certainly break something and your scent will certainly attract one of these creatures. So, even if you fall to your death, it is a much better alternative to staying alive. I'm sure I don't have to tell you what sort of creatures reside here."
Soon enough, after throwing off three of them, the fourth one gave in and explained everything.
"Please don't throw me over! I still have so much to do in this life!" the pirate pleaded after revealing this information.
"With the opening of the Demon Continent, there is sure to be fighting involved. The leader of the Skulldrop Pirates saw fit to attack more ships since much of every country's military was sent off. There was less pressure when it came to attacking ships so we have been doing just that to any ship we saw. In fact, ever since the demon continent was opened, many bandits and pirates have become much more bolder with their targets. The only fears that we have had were against other cultivators especially those from sects. With the military most out of the way, the martial world had taken their place as peacekeepers, now they put out bounties for their disciples to take as experiential training."
"So it was like that", everyone thought.
No one would think that the Demon Continent would bring about such effects. With the military focused on the Demon Continent, the balance of power was tipped and criminals could roam with much more freedom. While there were sects around, they were not as reliable as the government when it came to keeping order and hunting criminals. The effects were not very prevalent in Red Lotus Country but in the countries closest to the teleportation circles, crime was beginning to run rampant and government power was stretched quite thinly.
Red Lotus Country was near the center of the continent and quite far from the formations. Thus their military was largely intact. But with the other countries where criminals were beginning to gain more power, their influence had spread into Red Lotus.
"Even if their military was still here, it will not be long before they too get sent off", this was the thought that many had and so they have mostly disregarded their presence.
"Traitor!"
"We should have never let you join us!"
The captured pirates bashed on him to speaking and revealing information about them.
"I won't throw you all over but you will all be spending the rest of your lives in prison. Once I get to Rong Lu City, I'm handing you over. But in case I get bored during the rest of this trip, I might throw someone off", the captain grinned wickedly before leaving them.
They all stopped talking. A shiver ran down their spines as he walked away, fully aware that he would do as he said.
The Skulldrop Pirates had piqued Ming Yue's interest and she asked the captain about them during their meals. She had never encountered pirates before and had only dealt with bandits and other criminals.
"Ah, little girl, the Skulldrop Pirates are one of the most fearsome groups of them all", he said.
"Lead by the infamous Skulldrop Plunderer, Zong Liao Tian, they have attacked a great number of ship over the last several decades. Those chains that you cut off are a signature move that they use to capture ships. Capturing them is near impossible with the Skulldrop Plunderer around. His presence as a Sky Realm Cultivator makes it hard to deal with the pirates. Other than the Skulldrop Pirates, there are many other groups: the Red Hand Pirates, Gazing Vultures, etc. Each of them have their own unique tactics and preferences to capturing their victim."
"Anyways, we were lucky that this was just a small fleet from his group. If it were any larger, our escape would not have come so easily. Now then, I should get back to work. Rong Lu City is only two days away!" the captain stood up and left the ship's canteen.
Ming Yue was surprised and thought about his words, pirates in the skies was something she never heard of. It was quite exciting for her to learn all of this. She spent the next several days speaking with the captain, learning more about sky ships and pirates. Li Gang was busy examining the two swords although there have been some peculiar moments of him getting quite touchy with the blades. Hei Yue and Xiao Yin happily ran around and occasionally tormented the captured pirates with the captain.
While there was no physical pain, the scent of fox piss encapsulated them.
"There it is! Rong Lu City!" the captain announced.
Ming Yue looked ahead anticipating the city.
Through the teleportation circles, massive armies have taken control of the areas surrounding the teleportation circles. Constant streams of supplies were sent through. Inside of a military tent, demons and humans spoke with one another.
"Has everything been prepared?"
"Yes general!"
"Alright, according to our intel, Kong Zhi is to the west of us, near this forest. Do any of you have an idea as to what he is doing here?"
"Kong Zhi is continuing to amass an army and he is traveling around, finding ways to increase his power. Very recently, he subdued a Three Headed Hel-fire Dragon to be his mount, but he sacrificed a fifth of his armies to take it."
"Then that means he is currently weak right?" one of the generals said.
"Not necessarily", the demons responded, "He would be weak until the dragon is tamed by him. Once that happens, he can sweep through the continent. A Three Headed Hel-fire Dragon is a fearsome creature. Killing it is an incredibly difficult task."
"Then what can we do?"
"We take it one step at a time", one of the thirteen messengers, Su Yao entered the tent.
"We have to build up our own power in this continent, rescue as many demons as we can before he can get to them. At the same time, we should take this time to slow him down. Destroy his supplies, sabotage his campaign, tire him and his troops. We have six generals here, including me and all of you from the Demon Continent. Everyone should take up a task."
"Hmm, I suppose we should tread carefully. This is unknown territory for us, although for you demon cultivators, you are all much more familiar with the terrain than us. We should plan out our campaign."
Everyone within the military tents agreed and began planning, choosing several strategic points. Of them all, the demon representatives were the most hardworking and equally excited. After such a long time, they did not think that the people of the Human Continent would help them regardless of their differences.
Even though the three continents had lived in peace back then, they were demon cultivators, different from those of humans or beast cultivators. They possessed features unlike that of the other two, a distinct aura and bloodline powers unique to demons.
Beasts have bloodline powers as well but they were inherently different from that of a demons and Humans had no such thing as a bloodline power. However they can gain such a thing by absorbing the essence of a creature of their choice. Such as Qing Lei Jiang, who gained the powers of a dragon by ingesting a drop of dragon's blood.
They had thought that the humans would have feared them or become disgusted with them, but this pleasant surprise was something that gave them hope.