Chapter 1 War Drums

Dong, dong, dong—

The sound of war drums reverberated across the lake.

Fan Zong's navy advanced in force, heading towards the Qingpo Lake's central sandbar. Before long, they approached the silent reed beds.

The main force didn't dare venture blindly into the reeds. Instead, they sent out small, fast boats to scout the way and set the reeds ablaze.

Soon, raging flames erupted, as if a sea of fire covered the lake. The fire spread rapidly inward.

On the advice of his strategist, Du Ying, Fan Zong didn't intend to use his weaknesses against the enemy's strengths. His navy had many warships, which were difficult to maneuver in the complex waterways and vulnerable to ambushes. So, he wanted to burn down the reeds that obscured vision, forcing Chen Feng's navy out of hiding, and then advance steadily.

Not long after the burning began, dozens of small boats suddenly emerged from the reeds on the flank, where the fire hadn't fully taken hold. Carrying a band of pirates, they rammed into the outer perimeter of Fan Zong's navy, engaging in boarding actions.

White waves surged on the water's surface, and *shui gui* (water ghosts) approached Fan Zong's fleet underwater, trying to bore holes in the ships.

However, Fan Zong's navy was also skilled in aquatic warfare. They released their own *shui gui* to counter, while simultaneously firing arrows and closing in on the attacking enemy ships for boarding combat.

Fan Zong's fleet formation was divided into inner and outer layers. The inner layer consisted of various warships, the main force in naval battles. The outer layer comprised a large number of light, fast boats used for reconnaissance, raids, interceptions, and so on. At this moment, it was the outer layer that was engaged in combat.

After fighting for a while, the dozens of pirate ships were no match. Taking advantage of the fact that they hadn't been completely surrounded, they steered their boats to the side, trying to circle around and escape into the reeds from another unburned area.

Just then, dozens more small boats emerged from the other flank, harassing Fan Zong's navy, repeating the same tactic, but they were quickly repelled as well.

Fan Zong's scouting boats didn't pursue them relentlessly. Du Ying realized that the enemy intended to lure them deeper into the reeds, so he ordered the pursuing teams to be recalled, feeling there was no need to take risks.

The two raiding pirate groups retreated back into the reeds after their defeats.

With two minor victories, the morale of Fan Zong's navy slightly improved.

Seeing this, Fan Zong snorted.

"Heh, that Chen Feng may be brave, but his soldiers are nothing more than that."

But those pirates were following us not long ago, and Chen Feng only took over a few days ago…

Du Ying coughed lightly, not wanting to state the obvious at an inopportune moment.

Soon, a portion of the reeds was burned away, revealing the layout of the waterways. Shallows were scattered everywhere, making it difficult to navigate even without the obscuring reeds.

When the fire reached a certain distance, it stopped advancing. Fan Zong and Du Ying observed carefully and realized that someone had tampered with the reeds.

It couldn't be seen from the outside, but now that a portion of the outer reeds had been burned, they could see that the inside of the reed beds had been artificially cut, creating a vacuum zone that blocked the fire.

To continue burning the reeds, they would have to enter the complex waterways and get close to continue setting fires. The remaining reeds still covered a large area. In their opinion, more artificially cleared areas must be hidden within, all to prevent their navy from burning the reeds in one fell swoop. The enemy had obviously guessed they would use fire as a weapon.

"Petty tricks."

Fan Zong snorted, quite disdainful.

Using such clumsy tricks to lure his army into the complex waterways was underestimating him too much.

"Indeed, it seems this Chen Feng is a brave man but lacks strategy."

Du Ying also stroked his beard and smiled, his tone mocking.

This kind of trick was too common. He suddenly felt a little relaxed, feeling he had overestimated Chen Feng.

This man was fierce, but not a schemer.

Fan Zong quickly gave the order to keep the central army stationary, sending a portion of the outer scouting boats as a strike force. Armed with fire arrows, they entered the complex waterways and fired from a distance, igniting the reeds, quickly starting another fire.

They advanced a short distance, stopped, burned for a while, and stopped again. The strike force went deeper and deeper, becoming increasingly distant from Fan Zong's main force.

During this time, pirates under Chen Feng occasionally emerged from the reeds to harass the strike force.

Because Fan Zong's strike force had severed much of its connection with the main force and couldn't encircle and block the enemy in the complex waterways, they were at a disadvantage and suffered considerable losses.

But these casualties were insignificant to Fan Zong. He didn't plan to risk moving the central army, but instead sent waves of scouting boats to continuously support the strike force. After all, they had a significant military advantage and weren't afraid of fighting.

This stalemate lasted for quite a while. The reeds were set on fire a dozen times, burning away almost all of them. Only then was this terrain advantage broken, and they could roughly see the entire battlefield.

However, Fan Zong and Du Ying were quite surprised.

This vast reed bed didn't hide many ambush troops. Besides the pirates who were constantly harassing the strike force, there were no other ambushes, contrary to their previous expectation that Chen Feng's main force was hidden here.

Roughly speaking, there were only about two thousand enemy pirates actually harassing them on the lake.

Although they could now drive straight in and head directly for the water fortress at the heart of Qingpo Lake, Fan Zong didn't give the order for a moment, his expression suspicious.

"Where are the other enemy troops? And Chen Feng hasn't appeared either. Where have they all gone?"

Du Ying felt a sense of foreboding. "Could it be a feint? Does Chen Feng have other plans?!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Fan Zong's camp on the distant shore suddenly burst into flames and chaos.

Everyone turned their heads to look, only to see an army emerge from nowhere, attacking the camp.

And Chen Feng, who had originally appeared on the lake, was also on the shore, leading the charge. In the blink of an eye, he broke through the main camp.

"Not good, it's a feint to the east while attacking the west!"

Du Ying exclaimed anxiously.

Although their fleet was taking the water route, the land camp was equally important. Not only did it store a portion of their supplies, but it also controlled the key points of the waterways.

Qingpo Lake had several inlets and outlets, most of which were narrow and difficult for large ships to pass through. Only two wide waterways were suitable for navigation: one inlet and one outlet. Fan Zong's navy had come downstream from the inlet.

The land camp controlled both the inlet and the outlet. If one of them was taken, they would lose half their escape route. Fan Zong had naturally stationed a large number of troops here, but they were no match for Chen Feng, like giving away free points.

While the inlet camp was being attacked, the outlet also had problems. A large number of logs were floating down the river, crowding together and temporarily blocking the waterway.

"This Chen Feng deliberately showed himself on the lake, making us believe that he was ambushing us in the lake, but it was actually a feint. He secretly ambushed an army on land, misled us into fighting a bunch of reeds, and then somehow sneaked onto the shore to attack our land camp, wanting to cut off our retreat and trap us like turtles in a jar."

Du Ying said anxiously.

"Even if he traps us in the lake, what can he do? We have the advantage in strength. We can just take back the waterway pass."

Fan Zong was surprised but not panicked.

In his opinion, his fleet was the main force. On the lake, Chen Feng's troops couldn't resist his navy at all.

Although their retreat was temporarily cut off, the main force was safe. Taking back the pass wasn't difficult, and they could still retreat. Wanting to use this method to trap him was wishful thinking.

But just as Fan Zong gave the order to return to the camp, he suddenly saw Zhou Jing single-handedly break through the camp, ignoring the fighting troops and jumping straight into the water.

"What… what is he doing?!"

Fan Zong's doubtful tone suddenly rose, his eyes almost popping out.

Whirr, whirr, whirr—

A line of water surged at an extremely fast speed towards the fleet. It was Zhou Jing swimming underwater, incredibly fast, like a straight torpedo.

Zhou Jing naturally wasn't relying on swimming. His current energy attributes were good, and he already had some foundation in martial arts aura. Although he was still far from flying through the air, using it in a medium like water had the effect of a jet sprint, and it was stealthy.

In the water, he dared to use martial arts aura to a greater extent, making him even fiercer than on land.

Seeing this, Fan Zong's navy was startled. The scouting boats hurriedly tried to intercept him, but they couldn't keep up with Zhou Jing's swimming speed at all. If they happened to be in his path, the small boats would be directly smashed apart, and the soldiers on board would be sent flying far away, falling into the water and flailing.

The fleet's tight formation could only cope with normal armies. In front of Zhou Jing, it was as good as nothing.

He pierced through the formation at lightning speed, suddenly leaping out of the water like a dragon emerging from the sea, landing with a splash on the deck of Fan Zong's flagship.

"Y-you…"

Fan Zong hurriedly retreated, pointing at Zhou Jing, trembling and dumbfounded.

He had heard of Chen Feng using decapitation tactics to scare away government troops, but he thought that Chen Feng wouldn't be as sharp in naval battles as he was on land. After all, how could Chen Feng easily kill his way to his front in the water as if walking on flat ground?

He had been high-spirited, feeling that he had the upper hand in military strength and was in a safe position... But seeing Zhou Jing's incredible swimming speed, and his performance of walking through thousands of troops as if he were strolling in a garden, he suddenly realized that personally supervising the battle was a big mistake.

—It's not that my army is not strong, it's just that the enemy is a god!

Zhou Jing shook his head and grinned. "The old saying goes, 'A common man's rage spills blood five steps away, within three feet, everyone is an enemy.' But wherever I see, I go as I please. The person I want to capture, even with a large army protecting him, is as easy as reaching into a bag!"

The guards and leaders beside him were stunned. Only then did they react, hurriedly shouting to pull Fan Zong away and drawing their swords to surround and kill Zhou Jing on the bow of the ship.

Zhou Jing laughed and charged straight forward, knocking down everyone on the ship with three punches and two kicks. Whether they were ordinary guards or leaders, none of them could withstand a single blow, as if he had entered an uninhabited land.

The surrounding warships were as anxious as ants on a hot pot. They originally wanted to stop Zhou Jing, but could only watch as he easily broke through the formation and performed a head-taking maneuver. Now, they had to hurriedly approach the flagship, trying to board it for reinforcements.

However, before anyone could reinforce him, the fight was already over. The deck of the flagship was covered with people lying on the ground.

Zhou Jing directly grabbed Fan Zong, stood on the bow, and shouted loudly at the surrounding area: "Your leader has fallen into my hands, why don't you surrender quickly?"

His troops were far inferior to Fan Zong's, so he naturally didn't plan to fight a hard battle. He planned to use his superior martial strength to his advantage.

The tactic was simple: first, lure the enemy with misdirection, then cut off their retreat, make dumplings to prevent them from having a way to escape, and then capture the king. In this way, even if the enemy had a large number of troops, their morale would collapse, they would be leaderless, and would fight independently.

However, although he directly captured the enemy's leader, the enemy's army was basically intact, and the chances of them surrendering completely were not high. So, the last step was to use the many pirates he had recruited to surround and attack, reaping the rewards of the battlefield. Although it was a small force fighting against a large force, the enemy had already lost their will to fight, so it wasn't a big problem.

The goal wasn't to cause casualties, but to make Fan Zong's navy, with no way out, choose to surrender as much as possible. After all, his plan was to recruit this army, not to kill the enemy completely, so the fewer casualties the better, and attacking their morale was paramount.

Although there were some deviations, the situation was roughly the same.

Seeing their leader being captured so easily, the surrounding navy was stunned and at a loss, their hearts wavering.

"Our leader has been captured!"

"Brothers, don't panic, he's just one person. Let's rescue our leader!"

"How can this be done by human power? He must be a dragon become refined, retreat quickly!"

"Crap, the enemy is surrounding us!"

Seeing the pirates under Chen Feng also moving to surround them, Fan Zong's navy fell into chaos in an instant.

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