NOVEL NEXT Chapter 8: EIGHT
It had been five months since he had arrived at the Hidden Serpent, he now looked ahead of him and saw two great, white mountains that seemed to be floating on the ocean but in the middle of them was a foggy passage. In his hand he held an albino legless ant. In the months he had been observing it he had noticed that both the foreign will and Heaven`s will seemed to stay away from the False Seal gu. While his aperture had been separated into two parts, one where a purple gold color was mixed with his blossom silver primeval essence while the other was mixed with a black color. However, after he had refined the False Seal gu worm, and it settled in his aperture a new section had been created around it. Pure silver primeval essence.
'I should look for a lot more Rule path gu worms. Maybe I should even walk down that path.' his thoughts wandered as he felt around himself. He was infinitely close to gain a Master level attainment in the Heaven and Human paths. While in the new unknown path that had invaded his aperture, he was close to becoming a Quansi-Master at it without knowing whatever it was. When they were close to the Great Palisade, he placed the False Seal gu back in his aperture and prepared for what was to come.
Anan Bing appeared for the first time to the five crew members in the five months they had been sailing. He had flanked Miss Eryue on the left and on her right was a grey eyed man. His black hair was flowing along the wind like a feather in a storm. He seemed to have gotten bigger but he still looked the same as he looked when they were in the clan. However, it looked like something had changed, first he now had a small beard that was framed perfectly and in his eyes there was something foreign. A small dot that kept moving inside those grey eyes. He looked at his son for a moment and smiled. While Tian Zheng was looking at his father, he too was being observed. Tian Ho noted how his son`s skin had changed. It seemed to have been covered by a faint caramel paint from being baked under the harsh sun for months, he had lost the aura of a cold young master and taken on one of a cold beast which hid madness inside. Even his eyes had changed, they now had an edge to them. He used a wisdom path gu worm he had to project his thoughts to his son`s head and gave him instructions for when they would separate. He also instructed him of a place he could escape to when this all was over. "Make sure you are far away from the Great Palisade and the ship, and don't come looking for me after this is done. Goodbye son."
As the instructions stopped and the faint goodbye hung between the two, the giant like Anan Bing who seemed to have grown larger finished giving empty instructions and threats. The three vanished and points of light shot towards the peak of the Great Palisade. The three crewmembers pulled the gu worms they had used to build the ship and as they entered their apertures, the ship slowly grew smaller and weaker. When they were finished, the ship had grown to only accommodate three people while its sides had grown brittle to the point of being broken by one medium sized wave. They didn't talk to each other but jumped in the air, flying towards the Great Palisade.
Yi Chen was about to jump in the opposite direction to head to his inheritance but stopped when he felt a hand hold his shoulder. The grip was as tough as iron and he couldn't budge. "What do you want- "He turned around but the words were caught in his throat when he saw the water turn a small disturbance in the water. He turned to Tian Zheng and saw his eyes trained on the water. He slowly turned and saw something, a shadow. It looked like a fish but was too large. It was slowly circled the vessel before it also stopped and turned what Yi Chen thought was a head towards them. He saw as the shadow dived downwards. He turned towards Tian Zheng and saw as his hand started growing golden before a golden flame with black spots formed in his hand. Yin Chen saw this and instantly knew what would follow. He activated a series of gu hurriedly and a spear formed from lightning formed in his palm.
"Get ready, its coming and it's not alone." The deep but soft voice from Tian Zheng reached Yi Chen`s ears causing his muscles to grow tighter while his jaw tightened. He turned to the water, and saw as many points of darkness grew closer and his grip onto the lightning spear tightened. He looked around them and saw as the shadows increased. "Our primeval essence won`t last long enough to kill them." He warned Tian Zheng but his voice died in the air before reaching him as a loud sound, like a whistle accompanied by the first fish beast breaking from the water.
It had a flat head with many teeth that had been arranged to look like a grinder. They were small but many. Its body was unnaturally streamline and at the end of its tail was what looked like a ribbon. Before he could even think of throwing his spear, he saw as a small point of golden fire shoot towards the fish and a small hole appeared on its stomach. It fell inside the water and sunk to the bottom. "They are called Ribbon Sharks. Don't touch the water until the nest is dead or else I will be collecting your parts." Tian Zheng couldn't believe that the knowledgeable ginger boy had tried to jump in the ocean without making sure that there wasn't anything waiting for him.
'Maybe he was just very excited.' He made an excuse for the ginger, since it was an unspoken not to dive in the water without making sure something else isn`t waiting for you. The next minute was filled with tension so thick it could be cut. The two of them were preparing for a battle, as he had come to realize. It would always be better if you expect the worst, that's why in his mind he had already thought of this as the first battle that Yi Chen had participated in and it was also his first. The two of them waited patiently and in the corner of his vision, Yi Chen saw an outwards splash of water. His spear was released and he did hit one of the Ribbon Sharks but he had failed to notice the one that was closer with its mouth open.
The shark also didn`t see the point of gold, the size of a rock that was shot towards it by the black haired boy. Yi Chen saw the ribbon shark that would have teared his arm out become filled with a small hole and fall on the deck of the small ship. Thankfully he didn't have a panic attack once he realized how close he was to death, like a true warrior he manifested a new lightning spear and threw it in the water. Five ribbon sharks that were close to the surface and in a distance where the current could cause harm to them were electrocuted causing their bodies to freeze up and then sink into the depths. "How many of these fish are there in a nest?" he asked Tian Zheng who had just finished killing two more ribbon sharks.
He paused for a moment before answering. "Around twenty." This answer caused Yi Chen`s mind to create a plan. One that would allow them to kill them at once. "Can you group them together, I will electrocute them at once." He saw as Tian Zheng froze in thought for a breath before he nodded his head. As Yi Chen was preparing a large lightning spear he saw as Tian Zheng leaped from the boat that had sustained some damages. When his body touched the water, Yi Chen saw as the remaining ribbon sharks shot towards him. When they were a few moments from touching his body, the spear was resting on his palm, raised to point at the position of Tian Zheng`s body. when they were a finger distance from his body, he saw as Tian Zheng became covered in the same golden flames. He took this as his que to throw the spear towards the position. He watched as the spear traveled into the water and used the bodies of the fish to move. In a few breaths the only thing that was left was a pike of charred fish and a burning figure in the water. Yi Chen knew this gu, fire man gu. However, he had never heard of one that could survive in water.
It was common knowledge that the lower ranked fire gu could be disabled if you pour enough water at them. It was one of the main reasons that not many fire path Gu masters existed in the Eastern sea. Now here he was, looking as a fire path gu was surviving inside water and didn't seem to have any problem. He watched as the flaming figure swum close to the boat before it revealed the cold face of the user. "What are you waiting for? Get into the water so that we can get this done with. I am very certain that the death of a ribbon shark nest will cause some upheave in the ecology of this area and there is a chance a bigger predator finds us here if we choose to recover." This caused Yi Chen to jump in too, even if that last blast had drained him of a significant amount of his primeval essence. He still jumped into the water. He pointed towards a certain direction and the two boys started to swim towards it.
It had been a few minutes in the journey when Yi Chen started lagging behind. It was bearable at first but as it went on Tian Zheng started growing annoyed. 'Even if you aren't from the Eastern Sea. How do you come to collect an inheritance in the ocean without being able to swim?' Fantasies of leaving the ginger child alone in the middle of the ocean started swirling inside his mind. He was about to do it when a memory came to the forefront, the first time they met and when he had been given a bookworm gu filled with priceless knowledge. He had told him that information path Gu masters had a way to make sure agreements are followed. Even if that very same information was in the bookworm gu he couldn't trust the information, however, a question still stuck with him. 'What if what he said was true and I die because I can`t put up with a small amount of idiocy?' this was the only thought preventing Yi Chen from being left in the ocean or at worse killed and robbed.
The look that he was being given by Tian Zheng proved as much. "Do you need any help?" the child asked, his voice still flat as ever. He noticed that from the moment he had told him about his father`s past, the boy hadn't shown any semblance of emotion to him. Like he had retreated to his shell. 'He did smile when he locked eyed with his father.' That thought wormed into his head as he felt a hand grip his and start pulling him. 'He`s faster than me, even when I'm being treated as a load.' He didn't know if that was an insult to him or not but it still hurt his pride. A child carrying him was faster than he was. Yi Chen put that all in the back of his mind, and started to plan for what was to come.
"In a few moments you will see a small piece of land. Stop there." While his sources said a small distance from the Great Palisade, that was only for someone who was flying. While swimming, it took them- or to be more specific, it took Tian Zheng two hours of swimming with breaks in between to reach the small piece of land. It looked like it was a stone that was peaking from the ocean and while it Yi Chen said it was small, the total size was the same as the Hidden Serpent. It was flat with black, wet sand filled it and at the center, Tian Zheng could see the figure of what looked like a beast.