We awoke bright and early the next day, waved goodbye to the kids, and then set off on Ningjing—our girl was eager to get going.

Ninjing wanted to spend some time in the water, the river still being a new experience for her, and I had no reason to refuse. It was an interesting change of pace.

We unfurled her leaf-sail, and got to it, tacking left and right upstream under Seiyu’s direction. There was quite a lot of traffic on the river, but it was so wide here that didn’t really mean much—when a river reached nearly fifty kilometers in diameter at its widest, a boat had plenty of space to maneuver.

For a little, Ningjing acted like a normal ship… before she got distracted by a school of pink dolphins.

Friends? Friends? Funny sounds! Ningjing likes!

Man, she was eager. Like a dog straining at her lead, I pushed the wheel in the right direction.and then with a small pulse of Qi, our girl was off, the wind a bit more of a suggestion than something we had to obey.

Of course, the dolphins didn’t actually like the sudden speed and cheerful approach of our girl, scattering away from her advance instead of splashing around her like they did to the other ships.

The first part of the day we spent in the water, Ningjing tacking left and right, caring little for the river’s current. She wanted to play with the dolphins. The pink river dolphins were pretty cute, but didn't seem to like the ship speeding after them, wary of us.

I chuckled, feeling Ningjing’s pout through our connection.

“They dare, they dare run away from our Ningjing, they have guts!” Bailu fumed, shaking her fist at the fleeing dolphins.

“They dare, they dare! Shall I get them for you? They shall be more agreeable when I catch them!” Seiyu huffed, patting the hull of our sulking ship, and giving the scared animals the stink eye.

Big D just looked like he was chortling from his position on the crow’s nest.

Neither of them were really angry, but instead commiserating with our ship as she did the equivalent of a child crying to their older sibling.

That said, my Storm Wings certainly weren’t above catching a bunch of dolphins for our ship.

“You came at them too fast, hun. They can’t see very well, and you scared them. See how small their eyes are?” I explained to Ningjing brushing up against our connection. Our ship perked up at my voice. “They communicate through sounds. It's called echolocation—one sec… there, you feel that against your hull? That's how they use sound, like those Qi waves you use to check how far away the ground is. Try singing to them. Some things like a happy greeting, some things you have to greet gently.”

Ningjing paused, obviously considering my words.

Big D let out a melodious call, underscoring my point… and the fearful dolphins paused at this new sound.

Ningjing understands!

Her anchor roots shifted and twisted below the waterline… and then a high pitched whistle sounded in the water, humming along to one of the sea shanties we had sung, singing a slightly off-key duet with our own feathered maestro.

The curious dolphins came back. They chattered and squeaked and spyhopped, even though they didn’t have very good eyes, clacking excitedly about this new creature in their river.

Ningjing used her Qi to shoot forwards, and this time, the dolphins followed. They pressed up into our wake, some of them speeding in front so they could catch Ningjing’s bow-wave.

They leapt out of the water and danced, much to our ship’s glee… and then, of course, Ningjing got an idea.

If we hadn’t been cultivators, the sudden leap our airship did would have spilled us all out.

As it was, it was merely a good time—And the looks on the sailor’s faces on a ship we passed were hilarious.

Northwest we went, following the river. The sun was hot, and the spray of the river was just cool enough.

It truly was a beautiful sight. I just took it all in. the massive trading ships, the little fishing boats, and the thousands of little villages, their docks sticking into the river.

Eventually, however, we took to the air again, soaring through the clouds… though this time my subordinates enacted mutiny.

“Captain, we’ll take it from here. You need to spend time cultivating!” Bailu declared, and forced me off the wheel. My subordinate took my greatest joy with a smile on her face… but it wasn’t like cultivating was too bad.

I got to feel the wind in my face, and feel Ningjing beneath me, her excitement and contentment radiating from her. With Big D on my shoulder, I let myself just go, the purest meditation I had ever had. My Qi circulated like a dream, gusting and leaping like the winds, yet steady as the earth below my feet, each mile we traveled seemed to only make it cycle faster.

It got fast enough that I was worried—but there were no hints of instability I could detect. It was just… a perfect cycle.

So I let it flow. The sun crossed the sky, and the light of morning was changed to the glow of afternoon.

There was a pulse of Qi. I opened my eyes, and let out a breath.

“Congratulations, Senchou.” Seiyu said. I turned, to find her on one knee, with her hands clasped in martial salute. Beside her was Big D, also paying his respects.“The Third Stage of the Profound Realm—so fast!”

“Our Captain is truly skilled!” Bailu called from her position. I blushed slightly at their praise. “Let's drink and celebrate!”

Well. We were sailors. Who was I to deny them?’

We found a place that smelled good near the river, docked, and headed on into Xing Chun’s Noodle House.

It was obviously a nice place, two stories, with warm wooden paneling, and a fine tiled roof. We headed to the top floor, placed our orders, and settled in.

=========================

“Drink up, Captian, drink up~” Bailu cheered, shoving a bottle to my lips while hanging off my shoulder. I took a draught, to Bailu’s cheer and hiccuping giggle, then took another slurp of noodles that Seiyu had done up for me. Man, she had an eye for the sauce ratios, and this sesame paste was to die for.

“These are damn good noodles.” I said, and Seiyu nodded, bringing her bowl to her lips and slurping down another set. These were damn good noodles. I was warm and happy, and man, I should breakthrough more often if this was how we celebrated. No pretentious shit, just find some place good and get to chowing. Big D was tearing into a bowl of mixed grains and greens, and the window was open to the river, letting Ningjing enjoy the smells while she had a musical duel with a different set of dolphins.

“Are the honoured customers satisfied?” The owner of this joint asked, checking in on us. He had a big grin on his face, and he had been personally serving us our food. He was a very, very nice host… though the reason why was obvious.

We were splurging like hell.

Bailu had three entire jugs of wine empty at her feet—the ones that were three feet tall, used for bulk storage, and the amount of bowls stacked beside Seiyu could only be described as comical.

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I mean, I was no slouch myself. I could have never eaten this much in the Before, but my body was handling it just fine. Still, we were good for it. That was one thing I refused to do. My parents here had been inn owners, and even thinking of pulling a dine and dash made a wave of revulsion fill me.

“Yeah, this is great.” I said with a smile, and the man beamed when I paid off this “round” his eyes staring at my silver with glee.

“Another two jugs please uncle~!” Bailu said with a cheery smile, and the man smiled back before pausing and looking worried.

“We…. only have one more, honoured customer.” the man said with a bit of nervousness.

“That's fine, that's fine~ I’ll take that one, uncle, and then Bailu won’t be any more a bother~!” She simply sang back.

“And I’ll have the congee. Four orders, if Bailu’s done.” Seiyu asked.

The man nodded and went to fulfill our order.

“Heh-heh. It's kinda fun to be able to let our hair down like this! Being exiled is fun!” Bailu mused, leaning back in her chair.

I raised an eyebrow when Seiyu nodded. She noticed my interest. “A fairy of one of the four winds must comport themselves in a certain manner.” She explained. “Bailu wasn’t allowed to drink and I was only allowed four bowls whenever we were officially deployed.”

“Yup, yup~ Bein all cold and above it all is kinda boring.” Bailu grumped, chewing on some smoked squid tentacles. “It's real fun eating in the restaurant instead of on the ship!”

“Well. Eat and drink to your heart’s content—as long as you dont pull a Lin, it's all good. I don't have Miss Flasher around to save me this time.” I joked.

We all laughed at the memory.

“To Sister Flasher, the legendary guardian!” Seiyu cheered.

“Sister Flasher!” We toasted. I made a mental apology to the woman.

It was just a good time… and good company. But there was one concern that I had.

I had to take a leak.

I excused myself from the table, and ambled down the stairs towards where I remembered seeing a public toilet… which was a thing this close to the capital. Surprisingly, it didn’t smell too bad.

“What do you mean, you’re out?! You’re carrying one right now!” A voice snarled, and I paused. The scene took a moment for me to register.

A man who could only be a cultivator, with his fine robe and sword demanded of the uncle in charge of the noodle house. He had his posse with him, three more guys, and all of them looked not very happy.

“Honoured customer, I apologize, but a table has already purchased this jug—” the man tried.

“And I'm sure they won't mind being given the honour of handing that over to a member of the Phoenix Tears Sect.” one of the guy’s lackeys said, his face twisting into a smile. “We victorious heroes just finished defeating a rampaging Terror Beak. Surely you can give up some tribute to your protectors.”

I frowned as the mortal started to flounder. The rest of the establishment seemed to be inching towards hitting the deck. The Phoenix Tears Sect… well they weren’t exactly weak, but neither were they strong. Honestly, the main thing they had going for them was the fact that they were a Phoenix Rest Plains Sect… but these guys weren’t too strong.

A sentiment somebody obviously agreed with because one of the patrons decided it would be a good idea to scoff derisively.

“Who dares?” the main guy demanded, his eyes locking on to the person—a woman—before the sneers froze on their faces.

The lady who had scoffed was really, really pretty. She was wearing a travelling cloak with the hood up, which was just a bit suspicious. Her sword was against the table beside her.

The instant I saw the way she was sitting, my entire body tensed. I had lived at the Soaring Heaven’s Isle Sect for a year. I could tell by the way a lady sat if she was strong.

She was definitely strong.

The idiot squad, however, only saw a pretty face. The main guy swaggered up with his lackeys.

“Oh, a beautiful flower with thorns, eh?” the man asked, obviously going to try and flirt, badly, with a woman who was rather obviously considering using that sword on him.

The owner too looked like he was about to shit his pants.

Man, this had been such a good day, and I didn’t want to end it by seeing a bunch of losers get chopped up. That would just be a drag.

So I interrupted by purposefully hitting the stairwell when I exited it, and let out a contented sigh and a loud laugh, playing up my drunkenness.

“Hey, uncle, Bailu said she's had enough, you can cancel the last order, yeah?” I slurred, a big, dopey smile on my face.

The idiot squad turned again, happy smiles on their faces.

“So, you’re the one that drank all the wine, huh?” The dumbass said, thinking he senses weakness.

“Yup. Uncle has good booze.” I said, my eyes on the actual danger in the room.

The dumbass started to square up, puffing out his chest as he looked me up and down.

Now, I don't particularly like fighting. But one half of me was a dude trained for combat to be his way of life… and the other half was a hockey player.

Needless to say, there was no way I was going to be backing down.

And this lady was good enough to butcher every man in front of her. And the way this altercation was going, I might get a front row seat.

“You can pay for our meal, and this lady here can keep us company.” the man declared.

The woman put her hand on her sword.

Well.

I sighed, walked past them, and opened the door.

“How about we take this outside like gentlemen?” I asked.

Thankfully, they took my invitation.

Their Qi flared as we got out onto the street. All of them, Profound Realm. The main guy started monologuing, but I tuned it out, and set my stance.

“—you can kowtow ten times and beg for this daddy’s forgiveness.” he finished pompously.

Seriously, who talked like that?

Instead, I raised my hand, and beckoned him forwards. Veins bulged out in his face, and he launched towards me, flowing like a river.

Honestly, not bad. Unfortunately for them, my sparring partners were Bailu, Seiyu, and Xiaobao. The guy looked like he was moving in slow motion. My fingers curled into an antler.

The prongs smashed through his guard and took him in the gut.

…man, it was really nice to hit somebody who didn’t just shrug off my best then say it was a good blow with a chipper smile.

“You bastard! Get him!” one of the other guys yowled.

It didn’t help. A kick took his legs out, and a fist like a descending hoof smashed him into the ground, unconscious. The Arts of the Wandering Deer ran roughshod over the men, trampling and goring them.

It felt oddly satisfying. The power flowing through my body, and the rush of victory, when they went down.

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Xieren raised an eyebrow when the wild-looking man walked back into the noodle shop after dealing with the trash. That… hadn't taken long. Mildly impressive, considering what she felt of his Qi.

She was more concerned with the signatures on the top floor, when they had moved to the window, but the two unknown Earth Realms had watched the fight, then gone to sit back down. They felt oddly familiar to her, for some reason, but she had no true care to go and confront them. She was, after all, undercover at the moment.

The man looked at her, and began to approach. Of course, he was going to come to her table, and ask about her, now that he had seen her beauty—the only reason why he had interfered in the first place.

So predictable. If he thought there would be fertile ground after he had “saved” her, he was as much a fool as the others.

The man stopped before her. He was wearing fine clothes in greys and greens, like a forested mountain, and his wind-tousled hair was tied back in a ponytail.

He was actually rather handsome. Tall, and lithe, but the freckles were a bit unfortunate.

And then, he did something unexpected.

He bowed, clasping his fist in martial salute. “This Jin Rou thanks you for your restraint, Miss. Cleaning blood up off the floors is a time consuming process for mortals, and if the wood isn’t sealed right, impossible.”

How observant of him, to notice her strength. But the other part…

“You interfered to stop them from bleeding on the floor?” Xieren asked, amused.

“Yes, Miss. You would have obviously defeated them in an instant, but it's rude to make a lady swat flies… and doubly rude to make uncle clean up his floor, after we drank all his wine.”

Xieren couldn’t help it. She laughed. “I shall accept your reasoning.” she allowed. “Not going to ask my name?”

“A powerful expert giving their name is up to them.” The man stated simply. What a polite one. He reminded her a bit of her cousin. “By your leave?”

“Of course. I shall thank you for... swatting the flies for me.” She said, committing Jin Rou to memory. She couldn’t exactly ask him to join her sect when she was undercover, now could she?

“Yes, Miss.” the man said, and set off back up the stairs. Cheers met his arrival, and laughter sounded out… and then, not much later, he and the two Earth Realm signatures left.

How… interesting.

Shouxian Xieren, Young Mistress of the Sovereign Sword Sect, hoped she would run into the man again.

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