HEAVEN SWORD DRAGON SABRE Book 2 of 2

The Hopes Of Four Women On The Boat Part 3

Xie Xun felt as if he was in a dream; but this time he could not help but believe. "Lao Tian Ye [Heaven, God] has eyes, Lao Tian Ye has eyes!" he repeatedly said.

Suddenly they heard the sailor on watch shouted from the stern, "The enemy ship pursues!"

Zhang Wuji rushed toward the deck and saw on a distant a large ship riding on the wind with five sails open, coming fast toward them. In the dark night he could not see the ship's hull, but the five large white sails were clearly visible. Zhang Wuji looked for a while; he noticed that the enemy's ship was lighter; they were closing the gap rapidly. He was anxious and was at a loss. If it was only the Persian Three Emissaries, then he could fight them inside the cabin. Because of the space limitation, they might not be easily collaborating with one another. Thereupon he moved Zhao Min and Yin Li to the side, took the two big anchors on the deck, and placed them on the middle of the cabin as a barrier, forcing the Persian Three Emissaries to fight one on one.

As he finished the preparation, suddenly a loud explosion was heard; their ship violently leaned sideways, followed by the seawater rise up to the sky and splash into the cabin.

"The enemy ship fires their cannon! The enemy ship fires their cannon!" the sailor on the stern loudly called out. Luckily the cannon missed its target and landed on the water.

Zhao Min beckoned Zhang Wuji and in a low voice said, "We also have cannon!"

Zhang Wuji remembered and immediately rushed to the main deck, ordering the sailors to take away the covers of the cannon and load it with gunpowder and iron cannonball. They lighted the fuse and 'Bang!' the cannonball flew out. These sailors were Zhao Min's warriors in disguise; their martial art skills were not weak, however they knew nothing about artillery or naval battle; the cannonball landed in between two enemy ships. Column of water rose up several 'zhang's to the sky, but the enemy's ships were not even swayed. Fortunately, as the enemy saw that they also have guns, they did not dare to get too close.

Not too long afterwards, the enemy ship fired another round. This time it hit the bow and immediately their ship caught fire. Zhang Wuji busily directed the sailors to draw water to fight the fire. Suddenly he saw the fire had reached one of the upper deck's cabins. With both hands carried two buckets of water, he kicked the cabin door open and splashed the water to extinguish the fire. Amidst the smoke he saw a woman lying on the bed. It was Zhou Zhiruo. She was completely soaked.

Zhang Wuji dropped the buckets and rushed in. "Miss Zhou," he hastily asked, "Are you all right?"

Zhou Zhiruo's head and face was wet; she looked really miserable. She was extremely stunned to suddenly see Zhang Wuji appear. She tried to move her hands, 'clink, clank, clink'. It turned out her hands and feet were shackled in iron chain by Jin Hua Popo. Zhang Wuji rushed to the lower deck cabin to fetch the Yitian Sword and cut away the shackles.

"Zhang Jiaozhu," Zhou Zhiruo said, "You ... how come you are here?"

Before Zhang Wuji could reply, the hull suddenly shook violently. Zhou Zhiruo's legs were still weak and she fell into Zhang Wuji's bosom. Zhang Wuji busily reached out to help her up. By the flame light from outside the window Zhang Wuji saw on her pale face two streaks of blush; embellished by little drops of water, she looked so beautiful and elegant, just like narcissus in the morning dew.

Zhang Wuji calmed himself down and said, "Let us go to the lower deck cabin."

Two people barely went out the door when they felt the ship was spinning. Turned out the enemy's cannon just now had not only hit the rudder and smashed it, but killed the helmsman and threw him down the sea as well.

The captain was anxious, he personally loaded the cannon, with the hope of sinking the enemy ship. He kept pouring gunpowder down the gun barrel and packed it solid with an iron rod. Turning around the cannon's mouth, he lighted the fuse. 'Bang!' Suddenly the air around them turned red as the explosion shook the sky, pieces of steel and iron flew everywhere. The cannon exploded and killed the captain and the sailors standing nearby; their flesh and blood scattered everywhere. It was because the captain wanted to utilize the full power of the cannon that he put several times the amount of gunpowder than necessary, so that the cannon exploded instead.