Pirate ship
Inside the VIP cabin of the flying ship
Lu Feng, seated on the opulent bed in his VIP cabin, worrying about his impending doom.
The lavish bed large enough for a small famil offered no solace.
He wasn't enjoying the luxury; he was certain he'd been kidnapped.
His escape from the reception disaster had led him straight into the clutches of the ship's crew.
The similarities to countless novels he'd read about pirates trapping unwitting heroes were alarmingly clear.
The overattentive crew, their heads bowed as if in fear of offending him, seemed to confirm his suspicions.
It was a classic pirate ploy: smother the victim with fake respect, earn their trust, then steal their belongings, maybe even their lives.
Lu Feng, who recently reincarnated in this new world, clung tightly to his meager possessions of ten bronze coins and a worn brown robe.
He wouldn't risk his life for them, but he wouldn't go down without a fight.
After all, he was a former support ranker, skilled in combat even without weapons.
He prepared himself for the inevitable confrontation. He refused any food offered by the crew, ignoring their pleading voices outside, their pleas for forgiveness, and appeals to their families.
That's right, he wasn't a righteous guy who trusted everyone!
Lu Feng wasn't naive enough to fall for such tricks.
He knew pirates wouldn't hesitate to betray their word.
Unbeknownst to him, the crew outside was gripped by panic.
The old man, their leader, had revealed that their passenger was a young master of extraordinary origin, a hermit bound for the White Moon Sect. Offending him, the old man warned, would invite the wrath of the Void Chamber of Commerce, an organization with enough power to crush them all.
The captain, a man in his thirties, acted swiftly. He steered the ship away from any potential danger, determined to avoid angering their enigmatic passenger at all costs.
The situation had spiraled wildly out of control. The ship captain kneeled before the cabin, the rest of the crew mirroring his position in a desperate plea for survival.
"Young master!" they cried, desperation lacing their voices.
"Please, listen to us! What did we do wrong?"
"Senior, please let me go! I have a wife and children! I can't die here!"
"Young master, I was inside the ship! I didn't see you!" a crew member frantically insisted.
"It was them; it was them who offended you, not me! Please, let me go!" A woman in the crowd broke down, her sobs adding to the growing discord.
"It wasn't me, it was you!" a gruff voice accused.
"You welcomed the young master and might have offended him!" He pointed an accusing finger at the welcoming guards.
The young captain began to lose his composure.
"Young master, I'm the captain of this ship! Let this lowly servant know which of these imbeciles offended you! I'll throw them out right now!"
He was young, with a life ahead of him, and he didn't want his future cut short.
The crew's reaction was understandable. Who had not heard tales of young masters, capricious and cruel, for whom killing was as simple as picking a flower? They were merely playing for their lives.
However, Lu Feng remained silent, a stoic figure amidst the clamor.
The crew continued to kneel, their faces etched with terror, waiting for the young master's judgment.
If someone witnesses this scene from a distance, they might interpret Lu Feng as an arrogant and ruthless young master, toying with the lives of the crew as a form of amusement.
The crew, mistaking Lu Feng's behavior as an offense, sought to apologize.
Lu Feng believes this is a pirate ship, and Creew is pretending to be harmless.
As the ship journeyed towards the White Moon Sect, Lu Feng's anger subsided.
Reflecting upon the situation, he realized he bore partial responsibility for the predicament.
"I failed to inquire about the ship's estimated arrival time and foolishly boarded the ship without preparation."
Haunted by a sense of regret, Lu Feng feared the crew might seize his cabin and force him out.
They might even break the cabin door! he thought.
However, he reasoned that their greed would prevent them from damaging the valuable cabin door.
Suddenly, Lu Feng felt slight vibrations under his feet, an unfamiliar sensation unlike the smooth flight of airplanes from his former life.
"Could the ship have landed?" he wondered.
Gathering his courage, Lu Feng opened the cabin door and walked outside, despite the possibility of being held captive by pirates.
He believed if he feigned ignorance of their pirate identity and played along, it might buy him some time.
Upon opening the cabin door, he encountered a well-dressed young man exuding authority.
Lu Feng instinctively thought of him as the pirate captain.
"Young master! Please Excpet Greeting from this Lowly Servant!!" greeted the ship captain, still kneeling.
"Hm" replied Lu Feng.
"Young Master, we know your destination is White Moon Sect. We pushed our ship to the limit, covering a day's journey in mere hours," the captain said, a rare sense of pride swelling within him.
He had never before commanded a vessel this swift.
Lu Feng ignored the captain's boasting.
He walked toward the ship's railing. He gazed upon towering mountains piercing the sky, their bases shrouded in a familiar green forest. A stone path, wide enough for two horse carriages to travel.
It was Lu Feng's first encounter with such colossal mountains. He couldn't even discern their summits.
He basked in the breathtaking scenery before turning back to the captain.
"Can we land on the stone path below?" he asked.
The captain hesitated, his heart sinking. The young master's lingering displeasure, coupled with his desire to depart, spelled imminent doom. Today he feared might be his last.
Witnessing the captain's hesitation, Lu Feng's regret deepened.
This vessel, he realized, was undoubtedly a pirate ship.
The absence of cultivators or mortals beneath them in what should have been a White Moon Sect domain confirmed his suspicions.
Only the endless expanse of the green forest remained, the perfect setting for criminal deeds.
"Of course, Young Master. We'll land now," the captain responded hastily, his voice trembling.
The flying ship descended, and Lu Feng stepped onto the stone path.
As he walked away, the captain's emotions cranked. Accompanying a young master was akin to walking a tightrope over a chasm; life hung by a thread.
Lu Feng continued down the path, his gaze fixed ahead. Whether it led to the White Moon Sect or not was immaterial.
His objective was to escape the ship, to put as much distance between himself and those treacherous pirates as possible.
Lu Feng, a newcomer to this world, had twice cheated death within a single day.
The sun still burned, and he had survived two harrowing encounters. As a reincarnation, life was anything but peaceful.
He pressed on, each step carrying him further into the unknown, a new danger lurking around every bend. His reincarnated life, a constant struggle for survival, had just begun.