“Then at last pull the rope though like this for the Binding The South Wind Knot.” Bailu instructed, as we worked through the specialized knots I would need to know, the wind blowing through our hair.

I made to pull it tight, fixing the sail in place, but Bailu tapped the back of my hand. “Not too tight, Young Master. It will decrease the speed of the ship by nearly three percent. It needs some give to properly catch the currents.”

“Yes ma’am.” I said reflexively, her current demeanour so different from her usual that it was jarring and Bailu blinked, before shaking her head.

“No! No Young Master, never call your Bailu ma’am! It's improper!” She scolded me. “Bailu is Bailu, servant, or ‘hey you!””

“Yes, Senior Sister.” I jabbed, and she huffed, but I saw a little smile she couldn’t restrain.

I backed away from the mast and sail, satisfied with my work, and turned to Seiyu.

“The tiller is yours, Young Master.” She said, rising and bowing, and I took my place at the back of the little skiff. Seiyu’s eyes were locked onto me, ready to correct any mistake.

Honestly, when they weren’t getting on my nerves, Bailu and Seiyu were actually good teachers. They were surprisingly patient, and what was better, they had actually listened when I told them to correct me instead of kissing my ass.

They weren’t slave drivers, but they were both exceedingly particular about the functions of a skyship, even though realistically, they didn’t need one. Both of them could fly, and both of them could easily break the speed of sound.

Still, I put it out of my mind as I concentrated on my job. A skyship was mostly like a normal ship. It had a keel, masts, sails, and capsizing could be catastrophic. But unlike a normal ship, this skiff was actually built around a piece of material known as Floatstone—the highest grade of the normally common material, Soaring Heaven Grade, that could support thousands of pounds. It was a fascinating material. Normally, Floatstone had a certain buoyancy about it, and floated at a certain height in the atmosphere. But with some Qi control, you could make it more or less buoyant.

That lesson, however, was for later. Today, I was just learning how to use the three dimensional rudder, learning how to ascend and descend with just what came standard on the ship...something all initiates of the Sect learned.

The skiff we were on was only about twelve feet long, pointed and tapered to cut through the wind…. And with my hand on the tiller, I instantly fell in love with it.

I couldn’t wait to grow my own.

It was an amazing flight, with Big D on my shoulder, and my maids ready to correct any mistake. Big D was no parrot, but he just felt right there, staring majestically forwards, and occasionally shifting on my shoulder. At first I had been confused about what he was doing, but then I realized he was really good at reading the wind currents.

So I started following his shifts.

“You’re a natural, Young Master.” Seiyu praised.

….them complimenting me was normally annoying, but I did crack a smile at that one.

I settled back onto the tiller, the wind blowing, and floating islands passing us by. It would be an hour yet before we reached our destination.

I remember our master called us away, From the blood and the fire of those forlorn days. Bailu began, her voice rising with the wind.

“There she did tell us “you’re ragged and spent!” Then at her orders, to home we went.” Seiyu continued

“Oh, the skies fill with stars, and the wind blows our way. We haul to the south, where the fairies once played. To the springs and the meadows, and those forest glades; We sail to the place where we spent better days.” their voices joined together, harmonizing perfectly.

I sat back to listen as two pure sweet voices started up, to my surprise, a sea shanty. Or would it be a sky shanty?

I didn’t know.

“I remember the dances, the plays and the songs.

The crowds and their laughter as we pushed through the throng…”

I listened to a mournful tale about a war against demons, and the people who had lost their other halves finally coming back to a ravaged home. A victory, but one that felt more like a defeat.

It was one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard. Even Big D remained completely silent, just watching and listening.

I felt tears gather at the corner of my eyes, and as the chorus came around again, I couldn’t help but join in.

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“Oh the skies fill with stars and the wind blows our way…” I started. Both Bailu and Seiyu looked back at me, and smiled.

“We haul to the south, where the fairies once played.”

Their beauty, framed by the sky, took my breath away.

“ To the springs and the meadows, and those forest glades; We sail to the place where we spent better days.” We all sang, our voices carried by the wind, and I felt a bit of camaraderie with the women.

It was almost enough to make me forget that they had gotten in a headbutting competition earlier today.

Almost.

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

Eventually, we arrived at the largest Island of the Archipelago, which was probably as big as the entirety of England… and to the forest that had been mentioned in the scroll. A forest where I could gather “strong seeds” to plant, and grow my ship… or at least attempt to. Honestly, it was probably a pipe dream, but hey, it was something to do.

I swallowed as we beheld the forest.

The Hinggan forest was intimidating. I had seen plenty of old growth, had plied the trails of Algonquin and the rainforests of British Columbia, but just looking at the Hinggan forest filled me with a kind of primordial apprehension.

It was a sea of green—and it didn’t help that I reckoned the trees growing there to be an average of four hundred feet tall.

There was old growth… and then there was this.

We sailed over the forest, until we found a small clearing where we could set the ship down and anchor ourselves.

And then, we hopped off the ship, and stared into the dense forest.

“We’ll take care of anything nasty, Young Master. The Spirit Beasts here are mostly in the Spiritual Realm—but we’ll let anything your level through. Elder Minyan said you need more experience!”

I barely managed to keep myself from letting out a cowardly yelp when Seiyu said that.

Instead, I took a breath, steeled myself, and started marching. I had no idea what I was looking for… but I had a feeling I would know when I found it.

All four of us set off into the forest.

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

I sucked in a breath as I ducked under a massive slashing claw, my body already having quite a few cuts over it. The Stonecleaver Badger, which looked like a deranged, bipedal wolverine roared with fury, its eyes mad and focused on me.

“Watch your footwork, Young Master!” Bailu advised from where she was standing off to the side, Big D in her arms. The rooster looked like he wanted nothing more to jump into the fight… but this thing would have killed him instantly.

The walk had started out pretty nice. At first I had been tense, but that tension had bled away with just how unbothered the girls had been, just treating this like a nice walk through the forest.

Bailu had a bottle of wine in her hand, while Seiyu made mochi with her bare hands, instead of the mallet that was normally used.

Occasionally, however, one of them would disappear for a moment, there would be a surge of Qi, and then they would reappear just as abruptly, without a hair out of place.

The hours had gone by as I picked up seeds, and examined them. The scroll had said a man would know when he picked the right seed, and none of them had appealed completely to me so far. There was something about them… So I carried them with me, looking for a place to plant them later.

That had lasted until I found a spot in the forest where the sun shone down more than other places. It wasn’t quite a clearing, and in the middle of it was a large hardwood tree on a small hill.

Stupidly, I had decided that this was a great way to go— the tree was a teak tree, historically used to build ships—only for the small hill to turn out to be the visible part of a Spirit Beast Den.

The Stonecleaver Badger had not been happy to have me tromping up to the tree. It was a Spirit Beast in the Profound Realm, so instead of Bailu and Seiyu just disintegrating it… Bailu had plucked Big D off my shoulder, and said “Kick its ass, Young Master!”

Seiyu had just smiled, nodded, and left me to it.

So now I was locked in a life or death battle while two women cheered me on. The Spirit Beast was fast, and took a couple of my punches. While I had hurt it, it only made it angrier, its swings becoming wilder.

Honestly, my heart wasn’t completely in the fight despite the danger. I had intruded on this creatures territory… but if I ran, I would risk exposing that I wasn’t Minyan’s son. A powerful cultivator wouldn’t hesitate, and just kill the beast.

Its eyes suddenly gleamed, and I threw myself out of the way as it made an exaggerated slash—and energy blades leapt off its claws, cutting through the tree that had been on top of its mound.

I grimaced as the old hardwood toppled, slamming to the ground, and the badger shot after me, snarling and frothing.

It this kept up much longer, more trees would fall… and the Badger was dead

It was dead either way. Either by me, or if I actually got into a pickle, Bailu or Seiyu would destroy it.

I sucked in a breath, and looked for a moment. Soon, the Stonecleaver overextended, its strike shattering the ground around us.

I got into the stance Gramps had taught me, and braced.

It was a simple punch. Probably the simplest of punches.

From the foot, to the leg to the core to the chest to the arm to the fist. The thing I had practised every day since the old fart had taken me in.

The effects were a bit more than I had been expecting. My fist slammed home into the Spirit Beast's chest, and I felt its ribs shatter under the impact as the bones were driven into the Spirit Beast’s heart, lungs, and stomach.

It blinked, seeming confused, as blood splattered out of its mouth. The confusion lasted only a moment, before rage once more entered its eyes—but I pulled back, reset myself… and ended things with a sickening crunch.

A rooster crowed, and the girls cheered.

“A well-refined punch, Young Master!” Seiyu praised.

“Good job on that opening!” Bailu enthused.

Part of me was exhilarated—but another part just felt sad.

“Our Young Master will have a great core to refine tonight.” Seiyu praised.

I sighed, and frowned at the wrecked clearing, and cut down tree.

A fight that had lasted maybe thirty seconds had destroyed so much. Bailu had already ripped open the Spirit Beast’s chest and removed its core, cleaning it off with some water.

She handed it to me with a smile. I took it, and rolled the small orb around in my hand. I frowned at the corpse of the creature, and then back at its den.

“Young Master?” Bailu asked, as I entered. Thankfully, there were no cubs or anything in here.

Then, I walked out, and picked up the corpse.

Bailu and Seiyu just seemed confused about what I was doing, as I placed the Spirit Beast back in its den, and collapsed it. Then I pressed my Qi into the ground, stimulating growth.

A poor repayment. But a repayment nonetheless.

“Bad luck to leave such destruction in your wake.” was all I said.

Bailu and Seiyu both had unreadable expressions on their faces as I collected a seed from the tree.

This one still didn’t feel quite right. But something about it… I reached into my pack,a nd pulled out two other seeds. One of maple, and one of Oak.

Maple for a mast. Hard oak for the keel. Teak for the rest.

I picked up and looked at the Spirit Beast core, before nodding.

And a core, to help them grow.

There was a shift… and then I knew I had the right things.

We ended our expedition there for the day…. But I had an odd feeling we were being watched, as we left the forest.