Wearing a vest and shorts, Yun Ye watched the merchant ships in the fleet dock one by one. He said to Li Tai, who was similarly dressed, “This is the Kingdom of Java. I’ve heard they’re extremely fierce, so why do they look so docile today?”

Li Tai said expressionlessly, “Java has vast lands and dense population. Their nature is fierce. Men, regardless of age or status, all carry knives and readily kill each other over slight offenses. Thus their military strength is greatest among all foreign nations. Their writing resembles Suoli script, they have no paper or brushes, and carve on palm leaves.”

“The climate is constantly like summer, with rice harvested twice yearly. The people are most filthy, enjoying eating snakes, ants, insects, and worms, sleeping and eating with dogs. Their appearance is dark, with monkey-like heads and bare feet. They worship evil spirits. Those who kill can avoid punishment by hiding for three days. When parents die, they’re abandoned in the wild for dogs to eat; if not completely consumed, they greatly grieve and burn the remains. Many wives and concubines are burned as sacrificial companions.”

“The Javanese recorded in the *Geography Records* are indeed fierce, and we saw this before. But you brought your fleet and slapped to death everyone floating on their sea surface, then dispatched Xi Tong and Lai Chuanfeng with five hundred armored soldiers to breach their royal city. Now the King of Java still hangs on your Princess’s ram. Tell me—how would they dare not be obedient?”

“I’ve already hoisted the skull flag on my ship, indicating I’m a pirate. If they still dare attack me, that’s seeking death. Moreover, that damned king actually dared slap his buttocks at us—did he think having two elephants was impressive?”

“Look, that stone-built royal palace isn’t even as good as Yushan’s pigpen. What’s strange about breaching such a royal city? Since their king liked slapping buttocks, I let him slap to his heart’s content.”

After the long gangplanks were secured, Yun Ye and Li Tai disembarked. Having conquered someone’s country, they should at least visit the imperial city. According to Lai Chuanfeng, it was piled full of stones and timber.

The Javanese people didn’t like wearing clothes, and their curly hair more resembled felt. Yun Ye was also very curious about how those merchants traded with these savages—they seemed to have nothing to offer in exchange. The broken knives at their waists, Yun Ye could snap in two.

“Hahaha, Marquis Yun, battlefield heroics are your forte, but bartering is the specialty of us old fellows. Look at these filthy people—they especially love silk and hemp cloth. Exchanging such things with them is practically wasteful. Just give them glass beads to hold and play with—that’s good enough.”

The old manager of the Feng Family laughed until his eyes became slits. Seeing Yun Ye and Li Tai’s bewildered expressions, he led the way ahead. Walking up to the royal city, he pointed at the main gate and said, “Your Highness, My Lord, please look. This gate is made of the finest ebony. Look—half a foot thick! These are planks taken from ebony trees several hundred years old. The wood is tough and resilient, impervious to water and fire, and produces a metallic sound when struck. Transported back to the Great Tang, a single piece would be worth a thousand gold.”

Li Tai tapped it twice with his knife—indeed it was so. He cupped his hands toward the manager, indicating he’d been educated.

The old manager became even more pleased. He pulled out a small hammer from his bosom and casually struck at scattered stones in the corner. After just a few blows, he chipped off a corner of the stone. He showed the stone to Li Tai, pointing at the greenish substance inside, saying, “Your Highness, look at this jade’s quality. Though its colors are somewhat mixed, taking it back to make hair ornaments would be excellent. The Ocean Heart that Marquis Yun once presented to Her Majesty and His Majesty’s King of Diamonds actually came from here. I hear if we just travel a bit further, we’ll reach the Lion Kingdom—that’s where the finest gemstones are.”

He then pointed at the crooked and twisted main building, saying, “You must never underestimate this building. Though it looks like a pigpen, look at what materials they used. Good heavens! The door pillars are red sandalwood, impervious to insects and ants. The flooring is rouge wood. The roof framework is agarwood—mosquitoes and flies won’t come near. Living in such a building not only keeps out snakes, insects, rats, and ants but also extends one’s lifespan. Your Highness, to be honest, though our Great Tang’s mansions are beautifully built, if we were to trade, a hundred mansions couldn’t be exchanged for one broken house like this.”

Entering the house, they saw it piled full of furs. A large group of pitch-black women cowered naked in the corner. The old manager impatiently drove all those women away—even looking at them once polluted the eyes.

The old fellow chased the women away but plucked the feathers from their heads and displayed them before Yun Ye, saying, “Marquis Yun, look—these are phoenix feathers! Each one is priceless.”

Li Tai’s eyes nearly popped out. Yun Ye pounded his own head—this old fellow’s boasting was really too unreliable. Where in the world were there phoenixes?

The old manager paid no heed to Yun Ye’s mockery. He pulled out a fire starter from his bosom, blew it alight, took a feather and held it over the flame. Yun Ye was astonished to discover that the fire starter couldn’t burn the feather. What was this principle? Yun Ye took the feather over, pulled out matches himself, and personally tested it. Indeed, it wouldn’t burn. Damn, could it really be phoenix feathers?

“Your Highness, they just smell a bit foul—all fumigated by those wretched women. Take them back and fumigate them with incense. After half a month or so, I guarantee the stench will be removed. They’re worth a fortune!”

The old fellow was practically drooling. However, those who’d breached the royal city were Li Tai and Yun Ye—people like himself really couldn’t insert themselves. Though this royal city was extraordinary, they could only drool.

“Give me all these things. I’ll have use for them at Mother Empress’s birthday celebration.” Li Tai unceremoniously collected all the feathers into his leather pouch and looked warily at Yun Ye.

“Look at your pitiful ambition. Having feathers means there are live phoenixes. The King of Java is still hanging on the ram—just threaten him and make him catch a dozen phoenixes. Bringing back a few live phoenixes would be truly impressive.”

The two hurriedly left the palace and gave Lai Chuanfeng an order to dismantle it. The timber above must be dismantled intact. After returning to Yushan, Yun Ye also planned to build such a crooked and twisted house. The meat of a bun isn’t in its folds—who would know such a room would actually be priceless?

The King of Java was brought up. The interpreter very diligently helped the trembling King of Java wipe his sweat, jabbering a long stream of talk with him. Finally, he took out two exquisite pieces of Shu brocade and shook them open. The Shu brocade reflected light, extraordinarily beautiful. The terrified King of Java kept shrinking backward, thinking they were going to strangle him with the brocade.

The interpreter continued persuading until the King of Java finally settled down. Worthy of being a king, he extended one hand, indicating he needed five such brocades. Perhaps feeling he’d asked too little, he extended his other hand as well. Li Tai, intent on obtaining phoenixes, wouldn’t care about a mere ten brocades and promptly agreed.

However, this fellow’s eyes rolled, and he actually raised a new demand—he wanted Yun Ye to help him eliminate his rival, another King of Java, before he’d consent to catch phoenixes.

Yun Ye pulled the interpreter over and asked, “You tell me, how many kings does Java have? From what you just said, there seems to be more than one or two. Exactly how many are there?”

“My lord, Java has countless kings! As long as someone has a castle and a group of followers, he calls himself King of Java. We small folk, when traveling through Java, can only distinguish them by direction—east, south, west, north, left, center, right Kings of Java. You might as well consider them village chiefs—who can say exactly how many village chiefs the Great Tang has?”

Yun Ye and Li Tai exchanged glances and immediately agreed to this King of Java’s request. If necessary, they would agree to all the Javanese kings’ requests. Never mind anything else—just those royal palaces alone would be enough for everyone to make a fortune.

Liu Fang wasn’t unfamiliar with the southeastern lands. When Li Tai took out phoenix feathers to show off, Liu Fang put his chess pieces back in the jar, picked up one feather to examine carefully, then set it down and wiped his hands, saying, “What phoenix? This bird is called the bird of paradise. This old fellow saw them before—they’re indeed extremely beautiful. Their feathers aren’t afraid of fire because they coat their feathers with saliva. Whenever lightning strikes and starts fires, they roll their bodies in the flames to burn off insects on their bodies. A high priest told me this—it’s not wrong. As for phoenixes and such, don’t take that out to embarrass yourself.”

“Having Prince Wei bring a few back to show filial respect to Empress Mother would still be good—those are truly the most beautiful birds this old fellow has seen in his life. The sour smell on the feathers is from saliva, not from being fumigated by those women.”

“I want one of those palaces too.” Li Tai immediately shifted his target to palaces.

“Suit yourself. You also have many subordinates. Just go rob one yourself and bring it back. The interpreter said every petty king necessarily has a palace. Dismantle one, bring it back, and build it yourself.”

Like a child, Li Tai jumped up and loudly called for Liu Renyuan to send him back to the Qingque. He also prepared to deploy troops and have his subordinates help him rob a palace.

Yun Ye returned to his cabin with waning interest, feeling somewhat bored.

Han Zhe walked down from the deck waving a fan and said to the meditating Yun Ye with closed eyes, “This is actually naked and brazen robbery. You relied on sturdy ships and powerful cannons to defeat their defenses and captured the petty king alive. I notice you quite enjoy this feeling of bullying the weak. When I used to walk the mortal world, my thoughts were just like your current feelings—all fools. Yun Ye, come back to the mountain with me. This turbid mortal world truly has nothing worth lingering for. We’ll dine on morning mist and swallow evening fog. Though we cannot achieve immortality, at least we’ll have tranquility.”

“Alas, why do you bustle about daily? You strive to build, they strive to destroy. When you’re the only builder left in the mortal world, chaos will come, destroying your life’s work in an instant.”

“My ancestors weren’t without attempts to make the world catch up with our pace, but found it all futile. You want to pursue your principles from the most primitive places. Yun Ye, you won’t succeed. You’ve seen it yourself—even savage-like kings have the ambition to control everything, let alone the already prosperous Great Tang. You’re destined to fail.”

Yun Ye pulled out a piece of raw jade and placed it on the table, saying, “Han Zhe, what I can do is peel away the stone outside the jade to reveal its true face and place it genuinely before the world’s eyes. Han Zhe, you don’t understand—I love the Great Tang!”