Zixin and his two friends were sitting in Elder Wei’s office, each a steaming cup of tea before them. He remembered how it had felt to come in here the last time. Everything about the room had seemed so large and overwhelming.

Now on second look, it actually seemed rather cozy to him. There wasn’t much besides a large desk, a fireplace and a metric ton of paper, stacked up in and on bookshelves, laying in piles and laying around loosely. He wondered how the Elder could find anything within this chaos.

Zixin took a sip of his tea. He didn’t have much experience with it, but he immediately knew that this one was exceptionally good. It tasted amazing and it actually felt like it refreshed him and removed his exhaustion. It was too hot for his taste though, so he started blowing it.

Elder Wei had been off to the side, sifting through some of the documents, and had just found what he was looking for. Taking out a scroll, he came over and put it on the table, alongside two more he had located before. Then he sat down opposite them and looked them over with a friendly smile.

Zixin couldn’t help but notice how his impression of the room seemed to have morphed to accommodate the way he felt about the man. Back then, he had been an enigma and a force of nature. Nowadays, Zixin knew him to be a good and caring person.

For a moment, he had been worried that the meeting with Qiao might bring out the part in the Elder that had punished him for his minor misstep all that time ago, but Elder Wei had proven that fear to be unfounded. Whatever part that had been had remained buried and he had remained his friendly and just self that Zixin had come to admire, even before the descendant of an enemy family.

“Is the tea to your likings?”

Zixin and Chonglin nodded, Qiao hesitantly following along.

“Great. Now, I mainly wanted to talk about Chonglin’s training schedule during the travel, but I figured I’d show you a little something first, so you can appreciate what we’re doing.”

He unfurled the first scroll. Zixin had expected text but what greeted him instead was a delicate drawing of a sailing ship. On the side, there were sketches of the layout and several interior spaces.

“This is the Celestial Tidebreaker, the largest ship of the peninsula, build to fit over two thousand people. It’s our sect’s flagship and the vessel we’ll use to travel to the site of the tournament. We’ll spend tomorrow traveling to our sect’s harbor by foot and arrive there in the evening. We’ll board it right after and set sail in the morning, accompanied by several smaller ships.”

They had already known they would travel by ship. Zixin had never been on one and was quite nervous about it, hence Chonglin’s constant teasing. Elder Wei unfurled the second scroll.

“This is a map of the peninsula. We are here, the harbor is over there.”

He pointed on several points on the map.

“We will sail along the coast all around until we arrive at this point. This is where we’ll lay anchor, it’s only two days march from there to the Parting Clouds Sect where the tournament will be hosted.”

The third scroll was unfurled.

“This is the surrounding area. This map doesn’t have the tournament grounds on it, since they will be specifically constructed for the occasion, but they should be around here somewhere, right between this city and the sect. Zixin, you’ll be staying at the city alongside most of the members of the sect. Chonglin, Qiao, as participants you will receive housing on the tournament grounds.

“The tournament itself will take place over the course of ten days, and we’ll spend around two weeks each on traveling back and forth. It’s not the fastest method of transportation, but traveling with this many people is a logistical nightmare on its own.

“Now, to get to the training you’ll be doing. I’ll personally oversee it and help you prepare as best as I can. There’s dedicated room for combat training on the ship, so we’ll be able to make optimal use of your time on there. We will focus on…”

From then on, the discussion drifted into the specifics of the training routine Elder Wei had drafted up for Chonglin. Zixin paid close attention, since he might be able to pick something up for his own training, so the time drifted away and before he noticed, an hour had already passed.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

After they parted with Elder Wei, they spent the remainder of the day training according to his suggestions, Qiao only heading back home long after the sun had set. Exhausted as he was from the day of hard training, Zixin fell asleep as soon as he hit his bed, drifting into a deep, dreamless sleep.

…

Qiao’s eyes opened with a realization: Today was the day!

She’d returned even later than usual so she hadn’t been able to sleep all that much, but all tiredness immediately vanished at the thought, replaced by excitement and, for the first time, nervousness.

She’d never left the sect before and now she’d suddenly not only travel beyond her place of birth, but actually outside of sect territory as well. And she’d do so with her friends!

Every time she thought that word, a little tingle of warmth spread though her chest. She’d never had friends… who knew what she’d been missing out on! She could only hope that her grandfather kept himself busy with his recent problems because she was certain that he wouldn’t take well to this.

She’d thought the same about Elder Wei, but that assumption had been based off of her knowledge of her Family’s patriarch. Who knew Elders could be so different…

“Oh my! Good morning, Young Lady Qiao. You’ve awoken early today, was your sleep disturbed by something?”

“Good morning! Nothing to worry about, I’m just excited for today’s events.”

Qiao smiled at her maid.

“I understand. Let me help you get clothed.”

“Thank you for your assistance.”

Once she was in her robes, Qiao stepped out of her room. Lifen was already waiting for her outside.

“Good morning, Young Lady Qiao.”

“You’re already here?”

The old woman smirked.

“I figured you’d be up early today. It’s a big day after all.”

“It is.”

Qiao gave her head maid a quick hug

“When exactly do we depart?”

“One thing at a time. First, it’s time for dinner. You didn’t think I’d let you leave in an empty stomach, did you?”

The two started making their way downstairs.

“Your luggage has been packed and brought down together with the rest of the family’s. It will be brought to the ship along with your track, but you’ll have to take care of it yourself while you’re on there, since the majority of servants will travel on the other boats.”

“I think I’m old enough to learn how to dress myself.”

“I’m sure your talent won’t forsake you on that. Now, what do you want to eat today?”

…

A massive trek of cultivators was marching northward in one long, continuous line. Even from her elevated position standing on the side of a hill, Qiao couldn’t make out the end of it. Thousands of carts full of luggage were drawn along the road together with the track. In total, around three thousand members and disciples of the sect were joining in on this trip, in addition to about a thousand mortal servants. It was a true sight to behold.

As one of the contestants, Qiao was positioned right at the front of the line along with the elders and senior sect officials. They had walked all day, starting from the late morning. For the mortals, the exhaustion was probably terrible to deal with, but to Qiao this was one of her easier days. She had mostly just been enjoying the nature and relishing in all the new things she was seeing.

Every small village they crossed was a curiosity, every hill she hadn’t climbed a breath of fresh air. Right now, she was even more excited than before, because they were just about to reach their destination. She had heard from somewhere that they would be able to see it once they were on top of this hill. She quickened her pace, skipping over the last couple dozen meters in a hurry.

And see it, she did. Qiao’s eyes widened as the humongous ship that had to be the Celestial Tidebreaker came into view. She’d known the ship would be big, but this was massive. Calling it a ship was underselling it: this was a swimming palace! It was hard to imagine how something of this size would be able to move at all, much less sail around half of the peninsula.

The harbor was surrounded by a small town of people singularly dedicated to caring for the sect’s fleet. Qiao couldn’t even make out the individual buildings from the distance she was at, yet this colossus seemed to tower over the surrounding area like a misshaped mountain.

It only got more impressive the closer they came. There were many more ships docked besides it, each huge in their own right, but they all seemed like tiny row boats by comparison. By the time they had reached the harbor Qiao couldn’t see the masts anymore, as they had disappeared behind the ship’s towering bulk. It was a humbling feeling to stand before something this mighty.

“It’s… incredible!”, Chonglin, who had been walking close to her exclaimed.

Qiao could only nod along in silent agreement, her words betraying her.

“Do we have to… enter that?”

Zixin sounded more fearful than awed. Qiao couldn’t even blame him, she understood where he was coming from. This thing had the feeling of a massive sleeping beast, best left alone

“I see you’re appropriately impressed.”

Elder Wei had closed in on them.

“The Celestial Tidebreaker is a true marvel of craftsmanship and architecture. Not to mention the whole thing is one large artifact, inscribed with thousands upon thousands of individual formations working in harmony to make it a true fortress of the seas.

“You know, this thing could withstand the attacks of most Dao Contemplation Realm cultivators. Even the patriarch or I would have to do our utmost over an extended period of time to break through its defenses.

“It has offensive capabilities as well, though not to the same extent. In times of war, we equip its deck with enchanted siege-weaponry. Manned by a crew of Dao Attunement cultivators, it gives us not only unrivalled control of the sea, but also allows us to attack strategic targets on land from a distance.

“It’s one of the greatest treasures our sect possesses and the pride of all water cultivators we have. Now come on, we should get on board. You’ll be able to choose your rooms that way.”

And so they went, climbing a ramp and making their way into the belly of the beast.