The Great Worm Lich

The four corners of the bark house that had its floor covered with furry animal skin were lit by burning brazier. Even though the door and window were tightly sealed with handwoven cloth weaved from tree fibers, the interior was still very bright.

After walking into the house, Yaj felt warm immediately. Then, he saw the two chores men leading her here respectfully kneeled on the ground and said, “Dear respectful Pundit, Merchant Yaj who came from the Green Leaf Mainland has arrived.”

“Oh is Miss Yaj here already?” The black-haired young man sitting cross-legged in front of a short table in the middle of the bark house looking at a weird leather map covered with scales looked up at the female merchant and smiled amiably, “Please sit down.”

When Yaj looked into the man’s eyes, she suddenly felt that his face was somewhat unfamiliar; it seemed to be somewhat younger and more childlike than the face in his memory, prompting her to be stunned. However, when she remembered that her current situation and that it was not the time to be particular about such matter, she smiled as a cover-up, “Sir Lisheng, the caravan waited for you in the Nado tribe for three days but we did not receive any news from you so we had no choice but to leave in regret. Later, when the caravan formed another fleet to sail to the Nutao Sea again, Nado has already been wiped out by another barbaric indigenous tribe that can’t communicate. The fleet suffered a one-third loss and finally managed to escape back to the Sea Haines City. I thought that you must have been killed already but I can’t believe that I’d meet with you once again here in the Wizard Li tribe. I feel at ease seeing you safe and sound now.”

Then, she proceeded to sit in front of the young man.

“When those barbaric slave tribes rebelled together, I also thought that I’d be dead. In order to save myself from being eaten, I grabbed a wooden boat and floated to the sea. I first thought that I’d die at the bottom of the sea but who knows, I was lucky enough to be saved by a merchant ship for the second time. Not only that, look, I managed to get my hand on a treasure from Nado so I guess I can say that it’s really a blessing in disguise.” Zhang Lisheng waved the scale in his hand and said with a smile.

“Is it the nautical chart of the Nutao Sea?” Upon hearing the word ‘treasure’, Yaj’s eyes lit up as she asked him.

“No, no, Miss Yaj. This is not an ordinary item like a nautical chart, but a legendary artifact that can accommodate a different world of another dimension.” The young man shook his head and replied, “Of course, after undergoing years of vicissitudes, it no longer has supreme power and now it can only be used to accommodate some of the ‘little animals’ that are full of vitality.”

The instant his words left his mouth, six to seven short native chores men suddenly walked into the treehouse with a few stone earthen jars. The leader who was empty-handed and had two feathers on his head kneeled on the ground and said, “Dear respectful Pundit, the bugs that we caught yesterday are here.”

“Is it so, Rubok? What a coincidence. I can use this opportunity to demonstrate the amazing power of this Leather World to our guest!” Zhang Lisheng said with a nod and a smile, “That’s right, go see whether Mr. Charlot has awakened or not? Please ask him to see me if he has.”

“Yes, Pundit,” The chores men placed the stone earthen jars beside the short table and then retreated one by one respectfully. Zhang Lisheng had already lifted up an earthen har at this time and opened the tightly sealed lid above to tilt it on the scale on the table.

At once, countless bugs; big ones were as thick as a thumb and while the small ones were only rice-sized small, fell from the earthen jar onto the wooden table and landed on the leather drawn with a map. However, strangely enough, they did not stop but continue to fall and disappear without a trace. Even those bugs that could fly that were flapping their wings, struggling to leave could not escape this fate as well.

Women would always have a natural fear of bugs. With her mouth open wide in bafflement, she watched the black-haired young man continued to pour the jars of various-shaped bugs into the scale. She was not concerned about the magic of the leather map but just felt that it was a little creepy.

However, she did indeed have extraordinary experience after all. When the young man had finished pouring all earthen jars and looked at her, the female merchant forced a returning smile. “This is indeed an amazing magical treasure, Mr. Lisheng. However, as far as I know, some enchanted items that are specifically used to raise summoned beings have the same functions too. If you’re interested in this kind of magical artifacts, I can give you several as gifts.”

“Oh really? But there’s no such thing at all in the mainland where I live,” Zhang Lisheng rolled the scaled leather up to become a belt and tied it to his waist. With an underlying meaning contained in his words, he added, “Thank you, beautiful Lady Yaj, if you can continue to treat me with such kindness, I can guarantee that you and your family will benefit a lot in the future…”

The instant his words left his mouth, a native chores man entered the wooden house respectfully with a mainland old man with white hair following behind him.

“Dear respected Pundit, I’ve brought Mr. Charlot here as per your order.” The native kneeled on the ground as he reported. At the same time, the frowning old man behind him also bowed deeply in respect and greeted succinctly, “Good morning, Your —erm, Lord.”

“Good morning, Mr. Charlot.” Zhang Lisheng nodded to the old man and then pointed at him while speaking to the female merchant, “Miss Yaj, this is Mr. Charlot from Bailile Trading Company of Venis City. He’s an outstanding navigator and a great philosopher. It was him who saved me at sea during his last voyage before retiring. Later, after learning about my bizarre experience, this brave navigator asked to follow me to return to Scorpion Island once again, with the reason that ‘it would be a disgrace for an adventurous navigator to die on a soft feather bed’ to mark a perfect ending to his adventurous life. With no other options, I had no choice but to agree to his request.”

“Mr. Charlot.” After Zhang Lisheng had introduced the old man, he pointed to Yaj in turn and said to Charlot, “This is Miss Yaj from the Golden Velvet Flower Trading of Sea Haines City. She’s the most beautiful and intelligent merchant I’ve ever seen. If I had not had her help last time, I’d most likely have been wandering outside the Nutao Sea and if that had been the case, perhaps my entire future life would have become different already.”

“It would not have been just your life, Lord. If that had been the case, the life of everybody in the entire Green Leaf Mainland, and even the entire Gaia World, would have become different as well…” Upon hearing the young man’s words, the old man murmured in pain and remorseful expression.

Yaj did not hear the meaning implied in the old man’s words. Zhang Lisheng, on the other hand, ignored it as though he was deaf and suddenly asked the female merchant instead, “Miss Yaj, it will be the new year in less than one month so I don’t plan to spend my new year’s eve on this deserted island. I wish to return to the civilized world temporarily by following your merchant ship so I wonder whether that would be convenient for you or not?”

“It’s Golden Velvet Flower Trading’s pleasure to be able to serve you, Mr. Lisheng.” The female merchant would of course not reject such a small request so she nodded and said.

“Thank you so much.” The young man showed a satisfactory smile before giving out his order in a loud voice, “Rubok, bring our guest to pick the goods. Remember, go to the best storage.”

“Yes, respectful Pundit.” The native chores man hastily ran into the treehouse and kneeled as he replied. A pleasantly surprised smile appeared on Yaj’s face as she stood up to imitate the man to a deep bow. “Thank you for your generosity, Sir.”

Then, she proceeded to turn around and followed the native to leave the bark house in excitement.

“This beautiful lady was much more reserved when she was with me last time. Looks like her trading company must have encountered some difficulties, or otherwise, she would not have lost her cool like that.” Watching the female merchant leaving, Zhang Lisheng looked at Charlot and said with a shrug, “It’s fortunate that no matter how big the trouble that she has encountered, all of it will disappear without a trace on new year’s eve. And the price that she has to pay is only to make the right choice.”

“It’s not an easy thing to choose to believe in a foreign tribe’s demon god, oh Powerful Majesty.” The old man looked at the young man and said in a trembling voice.

“Not easy?” Zhang Lisheng smiled. “But I remember that it’s not that difficult for you to obey my orders, Charlot.”

“That is because I was tempted by the devil at that time and believed that the target of your battle is the other islands in the Hellfire Sea so my working for you would only help with the internal consumption of the barbarian tribe’s strength…”

“But I have never lied to you, Charlot. It’s you who underestimated my power and thought that Wizard Li would have perished in a blind expansion, you didn’t expect that the tribe that believes in me could actually control the entire Hellfire Archipelago within a short span of three to four years.” The young man interrupted the old man’s grumble. “Alright, since things have already reached this stage. There’s no use for you to feel remorse anyway. You might as well continue to work hard for me in return for the well-being of the entire mainlander race.”

“I really don’t understand why would you suddenly come to me again in the past few days and I don’t even understand the relationship between an old man like me who has no use or value at all now with the well-being of the entire mainlanders.” Despite having his heart filled with a resentful complaint, in the face of a powerful demon, Charlot still instinctively maintained the respect of a mortal.

“Don’t underestimate yourself, Charlot. You have an extraordinary leadership that is underestimated by everybody.” The young man complimented him. “There area already more than 100,000 mainlanders staying on the Wizard Li Archipelago and there are already 13 towns that have been built. The town that you’re leading is the earliest to build and has received the largest number of residents. Because of this, it has the most population now but the number of deaths and people who go crazy is the least. Having 28,000 mainlanders who can maintain a healthy attitude and live a stable life under the supervision of the indigenous warriors can really be called a miracle. Actually to me, destroying the Green Leaf Mainland is not a particularly difficult thing, but conquering it and gaining the faith of the mainlanders is not an easy task. I need a wise administrator, an administrator who is similar to headman Tugra in the Wizard Li tribe. Even though I’m not a sociologist, I understand that it’s not easy for people to accept being ruled over by a foreign race. Because of this, it’s better for the administrator for the mainlanders to also be a mainlander too. You’re very lucky, Mr. Charlot. I don’t have a long list to choose from and you’re among the best among all, so congratulations. As long as you’re willing, you’ll be able to get wealth, power, strength, and a long life that you can never possibly imagined last time. It doesn’t matter too if you’re not willing to accept my kindness. You have also seen that I have a very harmonious relationship with some powerful merchants and aristocrats in Kattaman City State so it’s not difficult for me to slowly choose an administrator from among them. Of course, if that’s the case, you and your family will have no chance to see the birth of the right person anymore.”