Empyrean Transvection

Xu's face contorted between greed and desperation, his scholar's composure unraveling like frayed silk. "The dragon's flesh... even preserved... could unlock eternity!" His jade rings clinked as he wrung his hands.

Liu cradled the salted meat strip like a sacred relic, though his twitching eyelid betrayed suppressed laughter. "Such a precious morsel," he drawled. "Why, I'd sooner trade it for..."

"Name your price!" Xu's shout startled gulls from the rigging.

Hailun stirred in Liu's arms, her fox ears flattening even in slumber. The scholar's "harmless" powder had plastered crimson strands across her face, giving her the appearance of a battle-weary valkyrie.

"Your trinket." Liu's gaze locked onto Xu's thumb where twin jade serpents coiled—the summoning rings' glow dimmed but persistent. "The one that calls metal titans."

The old man's gasp could've sucked plankton from the deep. "The 斋殆 Seals? You overreach, pigman!"

"Overreach?" Liu dangled the jerky overboard. Salt crystals sparkled like malicious stars. "Or negotiate?"

Panic flashed across Xu's features. Behind him, Ning Yu's shells quivered—whether from outrage or suppressed admiration, none could tell.

"Master!" A panda helmsman's growl cut through tension. "Starboard horizon! Foam trails!"

Xu seized the distraction. "See? The seafolk come! Without my seals, we're all—"

Liu's laughter boomed across waves. "Old man, your bluffs grow stale. That's no war party." He pointed where sunlight fractured across dorsal fins. "Dolphins. Playful, not vengeful."

The scholar's shoulders slumped. Centuries of cunning met their match in this oafish enigma.

"Very well." Xu's surrender came as a whisper. "But the incantations... they're not mere words. They require..."

"Qi alignment? Star charts?" Liu's grin turned feral. "Teach me. Or watch eternity's key feed minnows."

As Xu began muttering archaic syllables, Ning Yu stepped forward. "This is folly! The seals—"

"—are mine to gamble." The scholar's eyes burned with renewed fervor. "Imagine! Immortality within grasp, yet you quibble over baubles?"

The panda crew exchanged glances. Their master's descent into obsession left brine bitter on every tongue.

Liu leaned close, jerky stench assaulting Xu's nostrils. "First lesson: How to wake metal giants without wetting your robes."

Somewhere below decks, the captive mermaid princess stirred. Her vengeance, when it came, would make the sea itself tremble. But for now, the dance of deception continued—a pigman's swagger against an empire's fading pride.