The gentle, rhythmic rocking of the Iron-Wood vessel was a stark contrast to the chaotic, blood-soaked earth they had left behind in the State of Yue. Here, in the vast, untamed expanse of the Myriad Reefs Sea Domain, the horizon was a seamless weld of sapphire water and azure sky, broken only by the occasional cry of a spirit-gull or the breach of a massive, scaled fish.
The morning sun beat down with a humid, tropical intensity that felt heavy against the skin, carrying the scent of salt and brine. While Yue Lingshan remained asleep in the captain's quarters, exhausted from the emotional toll of leaving her homeland and the physical demands of her husband's "comforting" the previous night, Wang Jian stood on the quarterdeck, surveying his domain.
