The Nine Cauldrons Book 7:The Northern Sea Continent - Chapter 4: A Dangerous Negotiation

Book 7 Chapter 4 A Dangerous Negotiation
Across the vast territorial waters, hundreds of thunderwhales encircled the tungsten wood vessel. Even Teng Qingshan himself felt his heart rise to his throat after being gazed at by countless thunderwhales!
Seeing this, Teng Qingshan frowned.
"Ask the King of Thunderwhales what it wants!" Teng Qingshan said.
Despite the countless number of thunderwhales encircling the tungsten wood vessel, not a single one of them launched any powerful attacks. Through this, Teng Qingshan was able to tell that there was a high possibility that they had ulterior motives. Otherwise, the few hundred thunderwhales could have probably destroyed his tungsten wood vessel in less than a second.
"Alright." Li Jun immediately turned around and stood on the bow of the ship as she emitted roaring sounds towards the distant King of Thunderwhales.
After the King of Thunderwhales heard Li Jun’s roars, it stared at Teng Qingshan with eyes as big as a car tire, radiating a sense of superiority. It then emitted a roar back towards Li Jun. "Hou~~ Hou~~". Yet, Teng Qingshan couldn’t understand the fluctuating sound of the roars.
He could only look at Li Jun who was beside him.
The moment Li Jun heard the subsequent roar, her face turned grim.
“Hou~~~”
The thunderwhales, which dotted the sea around the tungsten wood vessel, let out a terrifying roar, as though they were responding to their king! Each one of these thunderwhales was not any smaller than the tungsten wood vessel, not to mention the size of their vocal chord. If hundreds of them were to roar at same time, it would be as if a hundred thousand thunder rumbled through the sky.
Teng Qingshan couldn't help but feel nervous. The situation didn’t look very good!
"What did this fella say?" Teng Qingshan hastily asked.
Li Jun’s face was filled with worry as she hastily replied, "Big Brother Teng, the King of Thunderwhales just said that not only did you disturb it when it was cultivating at the bottom of the sea last night, but you also wounded it! That was a capital offense! Today, it brought along its kin to sentence you to a trial!
“A trial?”
“Bullsh*it!”
Teng Qingshan’s eyes beamed coldness as he stared at the King of Thunderwhale. He then growled deeply, "Little Jun, let the King of Thunderwhales know that I was using a rod yesterday, but now I am holding onto a Godly Spear! This is an extremely powerful Godly Weapon.... If I had used this Godly Weapon yesterday, then this King of Thunderwhales would have died already! Tell it that!"
Li Jun was startled by what he said.
A counterthreat?
"Isn't that a bit too much? Wouldn't this upset the King of Thunderwhales? It IS the King of thunderwhales after all." Li Jun said with worry.
"Don't worry." Teng Qingshan looked at the distant King of Thunderwales, "Being able to reach the Golden Dan of the Innate Realm and become the King of a pod of thunderwhales could only mean that it’s extremely intelligent, unlike other stupid and easily provoked demonic beasts. You just need to tell it what I just said!"
Li Jun hesitated slightly but still trusted Teng Qingshan.
After pondering for a while, Li Jun roared back to the King of Thunderwhales. She completely sugarcoated what Teng Qingshan told her, but the meaning behind it was very clear—We're not to be trifled with! If you cause us great trouble, both sides will suffer!
Li Jun was in the middle of roaring when suddenly—
“Houuu~~”
An angry roar resonated throughout the horizon. The roar came from the King of Thunderwhales, whose golden eyes were filled with anger. It seemed as if it was about to go crazy. The few hundred thunderwhales surrounding the tungsten wood vessel immediately started roaring furiously!
"Walalala~~~" Even the waves swayed uncontrollably.
The tungsten wood vessel also started to shake. Even Li Jun had to hold on to the railings to support her balance.
"Big Brother Teng, this guy went mad!" Li Jun anxiously said
Teng Qingshan frowned: "He's mad already? Isn't it as intelligent as humans? It can't be that easily enraged, right?" Teng Qingshan remained calm as the King of Thunderwhales acted as if its dignity had been looked down upon, which made it extremely angry.
"Houu~" The King of Thunderwhales let out a deep growl as it fixed its eyes on Teng Qingshan.
After the roar sounded, azure rays of lightning permeated throughout the bodies of the few hundred enormous thunderwhales surrounding the tungsten wood vessel. Simultaneously, the sea waters reflected an azure color, and the area around the tungsten wood vessel became a zone of azure lightning!
"Oh no!" Li Jun stared at the King of Thunderwhales and uttered deep roars.
However, Teng Qingshan still remained calm as he reached out his hand to protect Li Jun and immediately prepared to dodge and escape. At same time, his eyes also fixed on the King of the Thunderwhales.
In that moment——
The colossal King of Thunderwhales and Teng Qingshan were staring at each other from a distance of nearly one hundred Zhang.
"Houu~~" After the King of Thunderwhales let out a carefree roar, the thunderwhales withdrew the rays of lightning and thunderbolts back into their bodies. The thunderwhales then stared at the tungsten wood vessel with their cold, pitch-black, and huge eyes.
The King of Thunderwhales once again directed a series of growls toward Li Jun. to which she replied back. A moment later, Li Jun turned her head towards Teng Qingshan.
Teng Qingshan’s heart was filled with rage. His voyage was actually stopped by a group of demonic beasts.
But he had to endure!
The first reason was because of the safety of Li Jun. The second reason was for the safety of the tungsten wood vessel. Teng Qingshan didn't want to swim over a hundred thousand Li in the vast sea by himself. If his determination was strong enough, if he wasn’t worried about wasting time, and if he didn’t mind living the boringness and tiredness, he could swim there.
However, even in his previous life, who would rely on walking to travel around the earth? Not to mention the earth, even those who would walk ten of thousands of Li were very few in numbers, and they only did so to challenge themselves.
Even if Teng Qingshan had the ability to swim a few hundred thousand Li in the vast sea, he still wouldn't do it.
Just holding up the sails on the tungsten wood vessel while drifting towards the north, how comfortable was that?
“What did it say?” Teng Qingshan asked.
"Big Brother Teng!" Li Jun said with a worrisome look, "The King of Thunderwhales just said that with one command, he could have the few hundred thunderwhales unleash thunderbolts simultaneously. Even if you did not die, you would still be badly wounded. A few hundred thunderwhales in the sea is enough to kill you!”
Teng Qingshan's face sank.
"Don't worry, it's not as easy as it thinks. A thunderwhale is about the size of a large ship! With a body that big and me being this small, how are they supposed to encircle me?" Teng Qingshan wasn't worried about that. "Ask what it is they want from me so that we can leave safely!"
Teng Qingshan didn't believe that this pod of thunderwhales came all the way here just to deal with him.
The thunderwhales would also suffer large losses if they were to kill Teng Qingshan. A king of a biological population wouldn't be that stupid, would it? However, that wasn't certain either. Teng Qingshan himself was a human while the King of Thunderwhale was obviously a thunderwhale. Their way of thinking might be different.
"Hou~~ Hou~~" Li Jun stood on the bow of the vessel and emitted roars towards the distant King of Thunderwhales.
Fortunately, she was a master of inner strength; otherwise, she would have to shout her head off for her message to be heard.
"Good thing I brought Little Jun along" Seeing that Li Jun was so hardworking, Teng Qingshan was struck by a thought as he said to himself, "If I hadn’t brought Li Jun with me, I'm afraid I would have to engage in a fight whenever I encounter demonic beasts in this vast and endless North Sea! Demonic beasts and human are constantly trying to kill each other due to not being able to communicate. If they were able to understand each other’s thoughts and requests, then the fights would decrease by a lot!”
Bringing Little Jun in the vast North Sea was probably even more useful than bringing along a Golden Dan innate expert!
A girl and a demonic beast were communicating with each other through the Language of Beasts.
Teng Qingshan glanced: "The King of Thunderwhales’ attitude seems better now."
Although he didn’t understand what they were saying, Teng Qingshan was able to deduce a few things through the King of Thunderwhale's eyes and the sound of its roars.
In that moment——
"Hu." Li Jun breathed out, turned to face Teng Qingshan and let out a smile, "Big Brother Teng, the King of Thunderwhales just said that it was originally going to discipline you, razing your tungsten wood vessel with the thunderbolts released by the pod of thunderwhales. If they could kill you, then that's fine; if they can't, then teaching you a lesson would be enough to relieve its anger.
Teng Qingshan was dumbfounded.
If he were to set sail by himself and was unable to communicate with the King of Thunderwhales, then the King of Thunderwhales would begin with putting up a font and then have a pod of thunderwhales to attack him with thunderbolts. It'd be hard to say whether he would die or not, but the tungsten wood vessel would definitely be destroyed.
Striking furiously with thunderbolts, then leaving arrogantly.
In the sea... If Teng Qingshan transformed himself into the shape of a fish, he might be able to catch up to an ordinary thunderwhale. However, up against the King of Thunderwhales, the difference between their speed would greatly differ. Teng Qingshan had seen the shockingly-fast speed of the King of Thunderwhales late last night.
In any case, even if he transformed into a fish by enveloping himself with Innate True Origin, it would still be too rough and simple, unlike the thunderwhale, which had a marvelous body structure.
"Did it list its conditions?" Teng Qingshan asked.
"It said to let it think for a bit. It'll give me the answer soon," Li Jun helplessly said.
Teng Qingshan was stunned, completely dumbfounded: "Little Jun, this King of Thunderwhales would never think that there'd be a human who can speak the Language of Beasts in this sea. Hence it never had any plans to let us do anything. But now, if we don't agree to its terms, I'm afraid it wouldn't let us leave.
"Yeah, all we can do is wait for it to give us its ridiculous conditions," Li Jun said helplessly.
The sea breeze passed by as the sunlight shone over the surface of the sea. A pod of thunderwhales quietly stood there.
Teng Qingshan was standing on the deck, looking at the pod of thunderwhales that surround him. He could only choose to wait. The situation at the moment was very clear...he was at a disadvantage! However, the might of the Reincarnation Spear was enough to make the King of Thunderwhales think twice.
In that moment —
"Hou~~" The King of Thunderwhales issued a roar.
The hundreds of originally calm thunderwhales were suddenly agitated, each one of them starting to let out disorienting roars.
Li Jun was listening to it carefully while occasionally responding with a roar.
"What are its conditions?" Teng Qingshan followed up after Li Jun and the King of Thunderwhales had finished their conversation. Li Jun cracked up a smile: "Big Brother Teng, this King of Thunderwhales does have an important matter that he would like us to resolve, but this matter would take us quite a bit of time. Just the voyage there would take us eighteen days. Of course, it will order a thunderwhale to convey the hull of our tungsten wood vessel and drag it there, so it'll be a fast trip! At its fastest, it would take up to ten and a half days.
Teng Qingshan frowned. He didn't want to waste time on the voyage.
“Where?” Teng Qingshan asked.
"It's a mysterious island northwest of here!" As soon as the words left Li Juns mouth, a smile appeared on Teng Qingshan’s face.
Northwest?
Teng Qingshan wasn't sure of the exact position of the Northern Sea Continent; all he knows was that he needed to drift towards the north. Because of a rainstorm and the possibility of encountering a variety of problem on the sea, the boat would be unable to accurately drift toward the north. Sometimes it headed northwest, then northeast, and then randomly drifted toward north.
The Northern Sea Continent was quite large after all; as long as he can enter the continent, it would be fine.
"An island northwest of here?" Teng Qingshan laughed,"It seems like not only are we not wasting time, it'd be quite the opposite; we'll be travelling even faster thanks to the thunderwhale dragging our tungsten wood vessel along the way! If I can handle the difficulty of the matter, then we can accept it."
Li Jun cracked a smile and mysteriously said: "This King of Thunderwhales also said as long as you are willing to do it, it will prepare gifts!"