The Heavenly Wandering Sword
Chapter 31
The ship that Li Jian was on was on its fourth day of the journey. So far, it was something he quite enjoyed. It reminded him of his time as a youth, always staring at those fishing boats but was never old enough to have a place on them. As each day had passed, he found himself coming to more of a quiet acceptance. There were a lot of feelings that he had thought himself free from ever since his ascendance but in the time that he has spent in the mortal world, he seemed to be re-learning them bit by bit. Perhaps the Tianchao country would give him time to wander the mortal realm peacefully, to wait for Baiyang city to forget about his actions.
“Passengers, please get under deck. The storm is getting worse and worse.” One of the crew members called out. Li Jian took one last look at the sea, he noticed that the waves were becoming more and more violent the further out they went. He followed the other crew members under the deck and headed towards where the passengers were housed. A series of naval bunk beds were build into the walls of the room, as well as a series of bamboo mattresses on the floor. He sat down on his mattress and smiled. Who would have thought that being on a ship again would remind him so much of his time spent as a youth? Sitting on the mattress, he could feel the ship being unnaturally shaken. After an hour, nothing had changed, in fact the waves had seemed to get even worse. Some of the passengers had began to lose hope when the crew suddenly called out. “There’s land! We found land!”
When the ship made it to the port, it was a strange one that the crew was unfamiliar with. “Do you think we went too far east and not enough north? This doesn’t look like Tianchao.” One of the crew members said to the other when armed guards began boarding the boat. What was surprising was that none of the guard were human. “In the name of Empress Suyan, prepared to be inspected.” The woman in charged of the armed guard force barked out. The crew held up their hands nervously as the Captain of the merchant vessel stared around in confusion. “Honoured guardswoman, I am truly sorry I do not know where we are. We had hit a storm but we were meant for Tianchao, I’m afraid I do not know where this is.”
The woman in silver armoured stared at the Captain for a moment. She apparently did believe him before nodding. “This is the Kingdom of Yao. You are in the ports of the Witch Elf Empress, Her Majesty Empress Suyan.” Some of the crew looked at each other. “Kingdom of Yao? Where the hell did we go?” Li Jian looked at the woman. She had s light purple skin with ears that were much sharper than a human. She also seemed slimmer in build with an almost unnatural beauty to her. Her eyes were also dark purple, much more different than what the others were used to. He remembered something about the Witch Elves. They had their own deities, not in the Heavenly Palace but rather in what was known as the Divine Hunts Ground. The Divine Hunts Ground held the deities of the Witch Elves, and they rarely interacted with those of the Heavenly Palace. He had met messengers of course, and relations were generally courteous between the Heavenly Palace and the Divine Hunts Ground.
The human crew were detained for a short time while things were clarified slightly. Li Jian took the time to stretch his legs. He was informed by a stern-faced Witch Elf guard that if he wandered too far, he might be arrested. He nodded in acceptance before checking out the various vendor stalls that were by the docks. Of course, there were copious amounts of fresh seafood, but he wanted something that was a bit less neutral. He finally found a nice vendor stall set up by an older yet still oddly dazzling Witch Elf woman. “Hello young miss, how much for a fruit pastry?” He asked politely. The Witch Elf looked at him for a moment before blushing and grinning. “Young men nowadays, all know how to speak so well. 4 Spirit stones. We don’t take human coinage here.” He nodded and handed over the four small stones before taking the fruit pastry that she offered him. He examined the outer layer, it seemed to be a very flaky light pastry. He could detect the strong scent of fruit coming from it.
When he bit into it, he was very very surprised. The pastry was extraordinarily light while the taste of fruit was intense. It was a sweetness almost like honey but with a burst of apple and sour strawberry. He devoured it quickly before looking at the woman sheepishly and holding out another four spirit stones. She battered her eyes at him as she handed him another one, which he quickly devoured again. He patted his stomach satisfied and bowed towards the Witch Elf. “Young miss, your talents match your beauty.” He left the vendor blushing to herself and slightly fanning her blushing cheeks before taking a look around. It seemed that a variety of fruit pastries or fruit based desserts were popular as street fare which was a nice change in many ways from the more savoury type of street stalls he was used to.
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“Someone stop that thief!” Someone called out from down the street. Li Jian turned his head to see a Witch Elf running out of a store front carrying a large sack of something, running towards the port. Seeing a large gathering of the silver armoured guards, the thief stopped and quickly held his hand up to his chest for a moment. Li Jian detected a massive spike of spiritual force (massive relative to the ones that mortals had) as a massive cloud of darkness erupted over the area. He easily saw through the darkness and yawned to himself, a bit bored. “I guess thieves like the same tricks no matter what race they are.” He though to himself.
A massive spike of bright light lanced through the cloud of darkness, scattering the dark clouds and revealed the thief. The female witch elf Captain leaped through the air and landed in front of him but the thief seemed to be more powerful. The guard Captain attacked with her spear but the thief rolled around the strike, a dagger appearing in his hand suddenly and truck the Captain in her side. The dagger pierced through a weak spot between the armoured link and she fell to the ground, the dagger still stuck to her as she got up quickly but the damage had been done. Blood had began trickling out of her, a dark deep purple liquid that leaked out around the dagger. The thief grinned and turned, seeing a way to make his escape.
What the thief did not expect was that as he turned to run, Li Jian would appear in front of him and with the tip of his finger, quickly hitting all of his meridians. “Seems like witch elves had one more meridian than human.” Li Jian mused to himself. He could see the 9th meridian just underneath the throat and hit it hard, paralyzing the thief mid run. He looked to see the Captain who was teetering between unconsciousness and wakefulness and sighed to himself. The witch elf Captain was doing her job, she should not die because of it. He went up to her body and examined the wound. Pulling out the dagger quickly, he reached into his storage ring and pulled out a spiritual pill before crushing half of it and sprinkling the powdered pill onto the wound. He then dropped the second half of the pill into the mouth of the witch elf Captain who looked up at him in a groggy confusion.
The Captain was infused with the spiritual force of the pill, her wounds closing quickly as the bleeding stopped almost instantly. “Young miss, please relax. The dagger was poisoned.” He could see the dark poison spreading in her body quickly. That was why she had dropped from a single stab, the thief may not have been as simple as just a thief. He examined her carefully before placing a fingertip on her forehead and sent a sharp force of his own Dao force into her body. The Dao force quickly purified her body, the Captain coughing out dark splashes of the poison as well as the poisoned blood that had been circulating in her system. “You will be fine, just rest for a few days.” He stood up to see the silver armoured guards surrounding him. He held his hand up and grinned sheepishly. “Listen, I hope there’s no misunderstanding, I was just healing your Captain..” 20 spears were levelled at him. “Human, you are under arrest for the unauthorized use of magic in the city limits.”
Li Jian sat in what the witch elves called a prison cell. To him, it seemed far more like a luxurious suite. The walls were painted a nice light green colour, and the floor was carpeted. Even the bed had a mattress made up of a soft but cool plant fiber. His pillow was luxurious, a thick square box that was wrapped in bamboo with a soft plant fiber stuffing that he found quite comforting. The cell doors were a give away of course to the true nature of what he liked to call his vacation suite but at the same time, he did not mind. The guards did not pay him much attention and the meals were definitely of a higher quality than what he would call a typical prison meal. He was given a chunk of grilled fish with rice and cut up slices of a dark orange fruit that tasted ever so sweet. He was offered no tea or wine of course but cool water with each of his meals. He decided that no matter the event, he would wish to stay here for a few more days. Perhaps he would ask for some reading material one of these days.
After a few days, he had managed to get one of the guards to bring him some literature. He would read one titled “The History of the Yao Kingdom.” It seems that he was in the capital city Murk in the Yao Kingdom. It was on a continent far east of the continent he was from. It seemed that the boat had truly been blown too off course, to the far east. The Yao King was actually ruled by three Kings, each representing their vacation. It seemed that a thousand years ago, there had been a bloody civil war between all three sides.
The humans, the demons, and the witch elves. It had just created an impossible situation for any of their people to live so after a truce had been declared, the three sides agreed to occupy the continents together and created a rule of the Three King Dynasty. He flipped through the pages leisurely, enjoying the reading material as he laid back in the rather comfortable bed. His peace was disturbed by the cell door being unlocked and two guards standing there. “The prisoner is to be escorted to his hearing.”