The two week trip went by quickly. We followed the main road toward Dangsu city and only veered off when we sensed people approaching from one direction or another.
We couldn’t rule out the possibility that Silver Tiger went back to the Zodiac mercenaries and would be bringing reinforcements.
We crested a hill in the forest and spread out below us was a sprawling sea port city. The city itself didn’t stray far from the border with the ocean, instead it spread out up and down the coastline. The whole city was probably slightly larger than Cheng Lian city but it was hard to tell when they were such different shapes.
The road to enter the city was bustling with traffic and we seamlessly integrated ourselves into the throng. We weren’t stopped upon entering the city and, as a group, we moved to the docks to find a ship we could charter to the western continent.
The docks in Dangsu city reeked of freshly caught fish much more than the fish markets in Cheng Lian city did. The city itself prided itself on its bustling dockyard district where many of the city’s inhabitants bought fish each day. We asked some of the vendors in the area which shipping companies would be likely to travel to the western continent.
After checking with all of the most popular shipping companies, none were traveling to the western continent within the next month which was a problem. We needed to travel to Lu bian city before the Zodiac mercenaries could find us.
We went to a modest inn in the dockyard district to hopefully pick up on any rumors or make a connection with someone with a ship.
We walked into the inn which still reeked of fish and were immediately the center of attention. Everyone in the restaurant section of the inn turned to look at the newcomers but went back to their conversations or food and drink after catching a glimpse of our group.
“Hello!” I yelled out over the gathered patrons. Jia tried to stop me but I just batted her away.
“Does anyone here own a ship and would you be willing to take my friends and me to the western continent?” I asked, my biggest smile plastered on my face. Everyone in the inn looked over to me and a silence overcame the gathered patrons. I heard a slapping noise to my left and I half chuckled at the awkwardness of the situation. I really thought that someone would speak up.
“Aye girl, if ye’ve got the coin I can take ya.” A man I could only describe as a pirate said from the corner of the room.
He stood up, one leg replaced by a cylindrical piece of wood. His hair was raggedy and reached past his shoulders with braids on their ends. Ornaments of gold and silver were woven into his hair and his large braided beard. One of his eyes was covered by an eyepatch and the other had a scar running across it from temple to nose. He wore clothes I would describe as traditional pirate garb. He clinked audibly as he made his way toward us.
“Me name’s Zhao Li Shen, and I’ll agree to take ye and yer group ta the western continent should ye have the coin fer it.” He said. I couldn’t place his accent but he seemed to be pretty nice.
The murmurs from around the room became louder as their number increased. Whispers of ‘pirate captain Zhao’ or ‘Zhao the whirlwind’ echoed throughout the establishment before Zhao turned around and silenced everyone in the inn with a glare.
“Whaddya say lass? Ya keen on hiring me and me crew to ferry ya?” He asked me. I looked at Jia who looked suspicious.
“Sounds great! Thanks Li Shen!” I told him with a smile. He smiled back and I noticed that a little under half his teeth were coated in gold.
“Great! I’ll meet ya tomorrow at the docks, me ship’s name be ‘The Dread Moon’s Revenge’. Ask around if ye get lost.” He said before leaving the inn, the clinking sound of his departure was a harsh contrast to the silence of the inn. When again everything went silent, the murmurs of the crowd resumed. I looked at my group and they were all looking a little uncomfortable.
“What’s wrong?” I asked them.
“Astra, what makes you think a pirate is someone trustworthy to ask to take us to the western continent?” Jia asked me. I shrugged my shoulders.
“He seemed nice! Plus I bet behind that rough pirate-y outer exterior, he’s a big softy!” I told her. She shook her head and I heard that slapping sound again as she face palmed.
“Well it’s too late to back out now, we should just hope they’re the virtuous kind of pirates.” Jia said.
We asked the innkeeper if he had any rooms, but he was unfortunately full. We made our way through the city looking for an inn we could stay in before entering The Salty Seaman. A medium sized inn a little ways off of the main dockyard piers.
We walked in and the same smell of fresh and cooked fish pervaded the entire establishment. The salty air of the city was kept at the door and in its place was a mixture of cooked food, spices, body odor, and booze. The raucous laughter of the patrons of the inn brought the whole affair together and I smiled as we entered the establishment.
“How can I help you young lady?” The proprietor of the establishment asked when I approached the bar.
“Do you have any rooms available to rent?” I asked him.
“Sure we do, how many do you need? And will you be needing dinner and breakfast? How about a bath house recommendation?” He asked us. My eyes shone when he mentioned a bath house and it must have shown on my face because he laughed before pointing us to a bath house a few streets over. We paid for the rooms and dinner before heading to the bath house.
We all cleaned up, and made our way back to the inn where we had a hearty dinner and headed to bed. We were all exhausted from the weeks of traveling in the wilderness so being able to sleep in a bed was a godsend.
Steward Xiang and Kai were in one room and Jia and I were in another. It had been an hour since we decided to go to bed but I couldn’t fall asleep.
“Hey Jia, are you awake?” I asked softly to the room, knowing she would hear me if she was awake.
“Yeah. you can’t sleep either?” She asked.
“Yeah. I’ve been wondering, what’s the core formation realm like?” I asked her. I hadn’t asked before because it seemed like an intimate question to ask.
“It feels very different from the foundation establishment realm. Like everything I have done up to this point is now coalesced into my new core. I feel so much more powerful than before too. I also unlocked a new ability, but haven’t had a chance to use it yet.” She said. I perked up at the mention of a new ability. And sat up in bed.
“New ability? What’s it called?” I asked her. She sat up as well and sat on the edge of her bed.
“It’s called Palm of Abjuration.” She said. My eyes lit up.
“That sounds so cool! What do you think it does?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, but I suppose it will create a palm of ice to attack with? I can’t be totally sure though.” she said.
“Well I can’t wait to see it! And I can’t wait to be in the core formation realm either!” I said.
“How close are you to breaking through?” Jia asked. I winced.
“I’m not that close to breaking through to the highest stage of foundation establishment. It takes a while for me to cultivate all of the qi drops that I would need to break through. And I’m not sure when we’re going to find good sources of qi for me to use to cultivate with. Especially metal qi.” I said.
Jia thought for a moment.
“That’s true. Metal qi will be hard to find. At least you should be able to cultivate the others while we travel and be ready to break through once we can find a stable source of metal qi.” Jia said.
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“That’s true! I can cultivate everything I need for the other elements while we’re traveling.” I said. I felt better about it already. I was suddenly feeling sleepy, and told Jia as much. She felt the same and we both tucked in for the night.
The following morning we all got up early. Well most of us. I was still sleeping soundly when Jia woke me up by shaking me by the shoulders.
“Wake up Astra, it’s time to go!” She shouted at me. I put my hands up to my ears and cracked an eye at her.
“Don’t yell so loudly, just five more minutes.” I said. Despite the warm blanket I was covered with, the room suddenly became very chilly. Jia pushed her aura toward me and I yelped and jumped out of the bed.
“I’m up! I’m up! Stop freezing me!” I told her as I got dressed and packed up everything I needed to travel. We met steward Xiang and Kai downstairs where a nice breakfast awaited us. We turned in the keys to our rooms after eating and headed to the docks.
We asked for directions, but whenever we asked someone the location of The Dread Moon’s Revenge the sailors or dock workers would blanch and point us in a direction before hurriedly running away.
After four or so similar conversations we stood below the gigantic prow of an ancient looking sailing ship. Its figurehead was an effigy of a sorrowful woman, wailing. The dark gray, nearly black wood comprising the majority of the ship was covered in barnacles and other sea life near the bottom and weather worn near the top of the ship. The sails had holes in some places, but were mostly whole. The rigging along the outside of the ship looked frayed in places.
Standing at the top of the gangplank, looking like a true pirate captain was Zhao Li Shen.
“Avast ye travelers. Tis common courtesy to ask the captain of the ship before ye board.” He said.
“May my group board your beautiful ship captain Zhao?” I shouted to him from my position at the bottom of the gangplank. He smiled down at us.
“Alrighty ye landlubbers, it’s time to shove off. Get on the ship!” He called out to us. I skipped up the gangplank and apprised myself of the deck of the ship. Kai and I went from side to side of the ship oo-ing and ah-ing at all of the interesting sights while steward Xiang and Jia watched us from afar.
“What’s your job on the ship!?” I asked a bewildered swabbie on the deck.
“I swab the deck.” He said, a confused look on his face.
“That’s so cool!” Kai and I said at the same time. We moved on to our next prey until we knew everyone’s name and duty on the ship. We ran back over to Jia and Xiang and told them all about our findings. Jia was inspecting the ship with Shimmer when we came up and steward Xiang was speaking to captain Zhao behind the wheel of the ship.
“Captain Zhao, your ship is amazing!” I told him with a bright cheery smile. He smiled back at me with that shiny smile of gold.
“Thank ye lass, she’s been in me family fer generations. She’s basically a part of me family.” He said as he fondly patted the steering wheel of the ship. We were about half an hour into our trip to the western continent and I looked around realizing we weren’t docked anymore.
As I looked around, I marveled at the vastness of the ocean and ran to the bow of the ship, standing up on the edge and basking in the sun and salty sea air.
I began cultivating and then laid down on the deck of the ship to relax while I cultivated my spirit. The abundant amount of water qi nourished my reserves in my dantian.
We traveled like this for a few days, the only interesting occurrences were a few attacks by demon beast birds who thought us easy prey. Those nights our rations were supplemented by the deliciously fatty demon bird meat. On average, demon beast meat contained more qi than normal animals which made it taste much more delicious and a borderline delicacy.
On the fifth day of our multi-week trip across the western ocean it was almost dusk, the first set of stars were already coming out and a storm cloud was rolling in. We had already had a few nights of rainy weather, but had yet to experience one of the squalls the captain said the western ocean is famous for.
“When the water and wind qi come together and swirl round each other, they will create a squall that whips up the qi in a violent maelstrom until a storm is created.” He told us one day when warning us of the dangers of the sea.
That sounded pretty cool and I was hoping I’d get to see it some time with my qi sensing glasses. I looked over to the storm clouds forming in our current heading with the glasses and marveled at the sight. The blue water qi and green wind qi were dancing around each other, one giving way for the other and then switching positions. I wasn’t broken out of my reverie by the call of the lookout, Fu Chen.
“Ahoy! Ship spotted, portside!” He shouted. Everyone who wasn’t currently manning the ship went over to the left side of the ship to peer at the approaching vessel.
I could barely even make out that it was a ship from where I stood but sure enough there was something there.
“Keep an eye out lookout Chen! Be they pirates or brigands, if they want to tussle with the crew of The Dread Moon’s Revenge, we’ll show them what we’re made of!” Captain Zhao yelled out to the crew. At his words the crew cheered and I joined them, throwing my hands into the air. Shimmer yowled and Kai cheered as well.
After only an hour elapsed, the ship was completely visible and its jolly roger was emblazoned directly on its main mast’s sail. A symbol with a character I didn’t recognize at its center, twelve golden stars bordering it in a circle presented itself to me and I heard the captain curse under his breath.
“Blast, it’s the Zodiac mercenaries. That monkey won’t get the better of me this time, I swear it.” He said. Jia, Xiang, and I all perked up at his mention of the mercenaries.
“You know that ship, captain?” I asked him.
“Aye lass, that be The Drowned Sorrow. Flagship of the Zodiac mercenaries fleet. Captained by Azure Monkey, one of the captains of the Zodiac mercenaries. He’s beaten me thrice in our last encounters at sea, but this time will be different!” The captain exclaimed.
The stormclouds were almost upon us now and I looked up at them with my qi sensing glasses. Wind and water qi mixed together, but I also saw flashes of lightning qi streaking through the clouds, clear signs of a lightning storm.
“Captain, that squall is turning into a lightning storm!” I told him before returning my sight to look at the approaching ship. I noticed some strange movement at my periphery and noticed a weird disturbance in the water qi far in the distance within the storm. It was coming from the same direction as the ship so I guess there was some type of water cultivator on their ship messing with the qi in the area.
As the ship approached, I noticed it was moving quite quickly, most likely due to the influence of that water cultivator I suspected was on their ship. They’d be upon us within the next few minutes at the speed they were traveling.
“Ahoy Captain Zhao!” A voice from the other ship called out. They were much too far away for someone’s voice to travel this far normally so he must have been enhancing his voice with qi to project it farther.
“Hand over the Zhou boy and the two girls and we won’t kill your entire crew!” The man shouted at us. Captain Zhao looked to us and tightened his grip on the wheel of the ship.
“I’ve agreed to ferry these people to the western continent. I won’t allow you to take them while they’re under my protection!” Captain Zhao shouted back.
“A pity, that. I was hoping you’d be able to keep sailing these seas to keep it interesting around here, but alas, you’ll need to die here too then.” The man shouted from the other ship.
Without any warning, the ship charged forward at a speed belying its size. They were upon us within a minute and pulled up beside our ship.
“Men! Leave no prisoners!” The man who had shouted before yelled over the din of the approaching storm. The wind was growing more wild, whipping my hair to and fro. We had taken in the sails when we saw the storm approaching, but the wood of the ship groaned in consent under the ministrations of the approaching gale.
The man who had yelled was a tall, skinny man wearing ocean blue robes. He had thinly trimmed facial hair that reached nearly the middle of his chest coming down from his chin and he looked cunning. Emblazoned on his chest, over his heart, was the same symbol that was on his ship’s mast sail.
As the men on the opposing ship used gangplanks or swung on ropes over the ocean and onto our ship, Jia and I sprung into action along with the crew members currently stationed on the ship’s deck. I heard explosions coming from below deck and assumed that the cannons were being used to their utmost against the enemy ship.
I summoned my swords and attacked the closest mercenaries to me, doing my best to help out any of the crew that were in trouble in their fights. I sent my one remaining sword to the space between ships, cutting through the gangplanks with ease with the sword of wood and metal.
A whirling slice of water qi hit the sword and sent it flying, forcing me to dissipate it. I looked over to the man in blue robes. He must be none other than Azure monkey. Rain started to fall from the clouds above and the wind whipped it around in all directions as we fought the mercenaries. I cut down another man before a yowl from Shimmer alerted me of a slice of water launched at me. A shield of fire manifested in front of me and I held the sword of fire and water out to absorb the blow but I was still pushed back several feet.
Azure monkey was at least in the middle stage of the core formation realm which meant that I would be hard pressed to fight him and win alone.
“Azure Monkey, your opponent is me!” Captain Zhao yelled out over the cacophony of the storm and fighting. His voice was clear and rang in my ears. I looked over to see him floating in mid-air above the ship, a whirlwind of wind below him. He charged at Azure monkey who was forced to put up a barrier of water to deflect the captain’s charge.
With the captains fighting I returned my attention to the enemies still boarding our ship. I ran over to intercept the latest batch of enemies, but they were all near the highest stage of the foundation establishment realm. I flooded my body with qi, using my body cultivation to give me an advantage, but I was still outnumbered.
Between skirmishes with the group I looked over to see Jia dancing through groups of enemies, cleanly slicing through them with her sword, icicles protruding from their bodies. With the whirling wind and rain she was more than in her element in this fight.
I cultivated as I fought to keep my reserves of qi high but I was running out quickly. Each time I was forced to block an errant gout of elemental qi or a projected technique my qi reserves dwindled. I was nearly down to a quarter of my qi when a bolt of lighting struck down, hitting the main mast of our ship. The fire it created was quickly put out, but it didn’t bode well for the durability of the main mast.
Just then, the whole ship shook, throwing everyone off balance. Over the edge of both of the ships, long tentacles larger than a house rose up from the deep and latched themselves onto the ships.