One incense stick burned to ash, and both ships were safely retrieved.

Wang Cheng announced that for the Blade Mountain trial, Hongyu passed, and Risheng also passed.

However, only Mo Zi’s side was truly happy.

Never mind that Old Master Min Yu’s complexion was somewhat dark, never mind that Zeng Hai and Zhen Luo were somewhat gloating, never mind that the master craftsman judges were somewhat shocked, never mind that Min Song’s team of elite forces was somewhat surprised—just consider Min Song himself.

His skin had originally been fair, but now it was iron-blue. His features had originally been refined and elegant, but now they were crumpled. He had come to Risheng not because he was interested in the shipbuilding trade, but because his talent was extremely high among the family’s descendants, so he was being groomed as the future successor, sent to learn at an important branch business of the Min family. Other things aside, making ship models according to diagrams was one of the tasks he least rejected after arriving here. Among the nine arts passed down by the Min family’s founding ancestor Min Zhen, the carving art was supreme, and to this day no one could surpass this great-grandfather. The ten Water-Pure Pearls were treasures of supreme craftsmanship. He had seen one of them that his grandfather had recovered, and it was indeed beyond compare. But he believed that with his current abilities, by the time he reached his great-grandfather’s age, he might achieve very close mastery.

He was so confident, displaying astonishing talent time and again amid everyone’s praise and expectations. However, today, he had been dealt a crushing blow by an obscure nobody.

Hongyu passed beautifully, Risheng passed barely. Hongyu’s ship model was even more refined than the diagram, and was completely finished from the bottom to the second deck. Risheng, though they also reached the second deck, hadn’t managed to complete the top railing, and the reason was actually that no one had attended to such a simple part. According to Wu Duan, among Hongyu’s five people, three were river gang members, and one person completely didn’t understand ships. And that person called Brother Mo should be the only one who understood. But no matter how capable, how could one person win? No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand—his side had four master craftsmen plus himself, so why would they lose to that side’s completely mismatched group? Brother Mo said they had secret techniques that couldn’t be transmitted outside. What exactly were these secret techniques? For the first time, he had developed curiosity about someone else’s craftsmanship.

Questions followed one after another, but there were no answers, so his mood hit rock bottom.

Old Master Min had said this wasn’t a competition of winning and losing, but a trial to pass. But now, in everyone’s eyes, it had become a contest between Hongyu and Risheng.

A strong desire to win burned within Min Song’s heart, and immediately after the first trial, he proposed proceeding to the second trial.

Min Yu asked Mo Zi, “Do you need to rest a while before attempting it?” Using blades for three hours should have been very tiring.

Mo Zi didn’t try to be tough and nodded in agreement, “Old Master, please give us one hour.”

Thus, each side rested for one hour, without further words.

Entering the second trial—the Sea of Fire—Mo Zi drew a question according to the rules.

After drawing, the group went to the shore of the inner bay at Risheng Shipyard, where they saw buoys marking out a large circle, with people in boats currently splashing oil onto the surface. On shore were two small boats, extremely ordinary sculling boats without cabins or canopies.

“Both teams, listen carefully.” Wang Cheng had each team stand before one small boat. “These two boats cannot sail—they’re missing quite a few important components. These components are at the bottom of the water within the circle, and you need to retrieve them. Each person can only go underwater once. Within half an incense stick’s duration, if you can retrieve five or more items and place them in the boat, you pass. However, there’s one thing you must remember—this boat will be the vessel for passing Ghost Gate. In other words, if you retrieve five items but the boat cannot sail, even if you pass this trial, Ghost Gate will effectively be a failure.”

This trial tested repair, construction, and water-handling abilities. However, for Mo Zi, the Sea of Fire was more difficult than Blade Mountain. Because Mo Zi had injuries. Her external wounds had scabbed over, but internally she was still weak. Going underwater to retrieve objects, she didn’t know if her arm could move properly.

Mo Zi stepped forward to examine the small boat—it was basically just an empty frame, missing even the bottom boards and bow and stern posts, let alone the oar, pole, sail, mast, and other parts. She had two choices: stay on shore or persist in going underwater. The water skills of the three brothers Chou Yu, Fei Xia, and Shui She went without saying, but they didn’t know the water’s depth or understand every detail of the hull. If she didn’t personally see what was in the water with her own eyes, she ultimately couldn’t feel at ease.

Fei Xia considered Mo Zi’s injury and asked Zan Jin, “How long can you hold your breath underwater?”

Zan Jin answered like this: “I’ve never held my breath. The lake water on the mountain reaches my knees, and I can breathe when I stand up.”

Chou Yu rolled his eyes, wrinkling his nose and brow. “This kid can’t hold his breath, yet dares to say he can swim? Brother Mo, how about just us three brothers go underwater?”

Mo Zi had made her decision and allocated tasks thus: “Zan Jin, you stay on shore and fight the fire to clear a path for us. Fei Xia, Shui She, Chou Yu—you three follow me underwater. Whatever I point to, you take. Two most important points: don’t take the wrong thing, and be fast.”

At the critical moment, Zan Jin wasn’t at all long-winded and nodded firmly in agreement. And Chou Yu said “got it” on behalf of the three brothers.

Min Song and his team were already by the water’s edge, having removed their upper garments, bare-chested with rolled-up pants. Seeing that the tall Zan Jin wasn’t moving and that Brother Mo also wasn’t removing clothes or rolling up pants, they assumed both were landlubbers, and thinking they would definitely win this time, couldn’t help but show triumphant expressions.

However, no one on Mo Zi’s side was watching Risheng’s smugness. Chou Yu whispered something, and before Mo Zi could swat him, Fei Xia slapped Chou Yu’s bare back, making him jump around wildly.

Mo Zi laughed heartily and said he deserved it.

Chou Yu said, “Brother Mo, with today’s competition exposing arms and legs like this, if they find out you’re a woman, you probably won’t be able to marry.”

It was just joking, harmless, but Chou Yu had a point. This shipyard was a man’s world, and a woman mixing among them—reputation and such things shouldn’t even be considered.

But Mo Zi had never considered it to begin with. She came to Risheng to attempt the three trials, wearing short clothes with bound pants, prepared to go up mountains and down into the sea. Seeing Wang Cheng light the incense, she immediately led the three brothers and jumped into the water.

Min Song was momentarily stunned, and as he hurriedly called his people to enter the water, he thought—how can this Brother Mo swim in clothes? Isn’t that restrictive?

As soon as Mo Zi and her group entered the water, they felt the surface above their heads brighten into a sheet of light—roaring flames.

Chou Yu pursed his lips and rolled his eyes—that was him cursing.

Mo Zi shook her head, pointed at the water bottom, and urged him to swim quickly and not waste energy.

The large circle was enclosed by fishing nets. The water wasn’t too deep—seven or eight meters to the bottom. Mo Zi could see various components tied with rope, swaying in the water.

Min Song’s five people moved extremely fast. While Mo Zi was still thinking, they had already grabbed and dragged five items and were swimming upward.

The three brothers weren’t rushed or flustered, waiting for Mo Zi’s instructions.

When Wang Cheng said “however,” Mo Zi had been on guard. Using such a small boat to pass Ghost Gate likely meant navigating waters with extremely high sailing difficulty. Sailing difficulty generally fell into three categories: first, wind speed; second, water speed; third, obstacles. If she needed to consider all environments, the parts she retrieved had to be carefully chosen.

She made immediate judgments, her fingers pointing like lightning.

The three brothers seemed to transform into fish, snakes, and shrimp, trailing bubbles. With perfect coordination, they respectively took the mast, sailcloth, bow and stern posts, leaving the bottom board for Mo Zi.

Mo Zi smiled gratefully.

She had chosen flat bottom boards, which could use their natural buoyancy to surface faster. But the closer to the surface, the hotter the water temperature, and the harder it became to paddle with her left arm—she even began to feel burning pain at the injury site.

As far as her eyes could see, she happened to see the three brothers gracefully breaking through the sea of fire, but she didn’t have such good skills. Just envying was useless. She wanted to flip the board over her head to block the heat, but feared the fire would burn the board, and she truly hurt too much to exert that much strength. For a moment, she only felt oxygen was scarce.

Just then, an extremely large human-shaped bubble was suddenly thrown down from along the shore.

It turned out to be Zan Jin. He swam forcefully toward her, then dragged both the board and the person upward. At the water’s surface, channeling all his power, he struck out with one palm, and the water exploded skyward in a shower, scattering flames in all directions.

The shipyard workers on shore couldn’t help but cheer loudly.

Meanwhile, the three brothers were already waiting at the shore. Before the oil fire could gather again, they pulled the two up.

It was truly an extremely brief moment, yet it was a critical juncture. One step later, she might have been scalded by flames, or the board might have burned up, and the third trial would have been impossible.

Min Yu watched these five people’s seamless coordination and felt his entire body’s blood boiling along with them. As if seeing his younger self and the incomparable tacit understanding he’d experienced with his companions. He had almost forgotten this kind of passion born from life itself. In contrast, though Risheng’s five people were all the shipyard’s most capable workers, they were like scattered sand, each looking out for themselves, resulting in people being scalded or ship parts being burned when coming ashore. Perhaps, having been in high position for so long, he had overlooked the most important spirit.

A good ship absolutely cannot be built by one person alone!

Mo Zi lay on the board, coughing up water violently, gasping for fresh air—still alive.

Shui She patted her back, asking if she was alright.

She smiled bitterly, facing the sky, using the back of her hand to wipe away the water covering her face. To tell the truth, she couldn’t lift her left arm anymore.

Shui She looked and saw dark red spreading from beneath Mo Zi’s shoulder. He quickly called Fei Xia, who knew some medical skills.

Zan Jin couldn’t hold his breath, but in danger he accepted the mission, relying entirely on a burst of courage and eagerness to protect his master. Therefore, he had also inhaled quite a bit of water and was currently sprawled on the shore, being randomly slapped by Chou Yu.

Seeing Shui She call Fei Xia, only then did he properly get up and gather around Mo Zi.

How could Mo Zi allow Fei Xia to examine her injury in front of so many strangers? Gritting her teeth, she said to wait, and actually forced herself to stand up. She separated the four people, gasping heavily as she stepped forward, straightened her spine, and called out loudly to Min Yu and Wang Cheng.

“Has Hongyu passed this Sea of Fire?”

That voice, word by word, struck everyone’s eardrums, ringing out powerfully.

When Min Song surfaced, he had scalded both arms and was lying on a clean board while Risheng’s physician urgently treated him. Hearing Mo Zi’s clear voice, he quickly sat up to look. He only saw her face pale as paper, seemingly bleeding from beneath her shoulder, yet her expression was so resolute, her eyes like two small suns, unyielding. Behind her, those four people followed step by step, drenched but completely uninjured, relaxed yet carrying a protective intent. But his team—five people with four injured—was truly a miserable sight.

Risheng, in the second trial, still lost to Hongyu!

However, this time, Min Song felt no indignation. He stared fixedly at Mo Zi, his mind echoing the words of the family’s old master—there are people beyond people, and heavens beyond heavens.

Wang Cheng, together with two other judges, conducted inspection and announced that Hongyu passed, and Risheng also passed.

However, everyone present understood in their hearts that Hongyu had won more impressively than Risheng, and especially, one could not underestimate this leader.

Some who liked to gamble actually secretly started an unofficial betting pool on whether Hongyu could pass the final Ghost Gate trial, and whether Risheng or Hongyu would lose.