Over the next few days, Yang Kai explored and experienced the scenery and culture within Sea City. With the beautiful seashore in sight hand-in-hand with the natural clean air, this place was a haven for retirement.
Inside teahouses and wine shops, Yang Kai heard many fantastic stories about Sea City. Intrigued by those, he now wished to also find the rumoured mirage.
With such divine atmosphere, Yang Kai nearly forgot about the High Heaven Pavilion. Furthermore, there were also Sects here; not just one or two, too. If someone were to categorise all the Sects within the Great Han Dynasty and include the Eight Great Families, High Heaven Pavilion could only be considered at best a second tier Sect. Meanwhile, the Sects in Sea City varied between the first tier to third tier Sects. Even the first tier Sects here could faintly compare with the Eight Great Families.
(Silavin: I’m not sure if the Eight Great Families have been mentioned before but they are practically the rulers of the Great Han Dynasty with the greatest influence. Do take note of their existence.)
However, these Sects were different when compared to those from inland. They occupied big islands off the coast and mostly received cultivation resources from the islands they inhabited. It was mentioned that the outstandingly talented disciples from the sects, the beautiful soil and wonderful scenery were what attracted disciples.
Even in Sea City, with the exception of the few influential families here, some cultivation disciples would visit. They were probably influenced by the distribution of the Island Sects. Within the islands they inhabit, the Worldly Energy was more concentrated compared to that of the one inland. Thus, the cultivation speed was also faster. Generally, the more talented disciples from the Island Sects would remain on their respective islands except for certain rare occasions. They would send out the weaker or non-talented disciples to Sea City. There weren’t many of them.
Yang Kai saw the prosperity of Sea City when he strolled along its shores, watching the ebbing tides endearingly. He could feel a trace of sensibility that was similar to the whipping technique from the late Old Man Wu. With each mighty wave fluctuation and powerful strike, ebbing and flowing, Yang Kai lit up with a very subtle and gradual awareness. This was a natural force that could not be rushed, just like the waves. Whip strikes come in rapid waves, and when facing something hard, they ebb and flow, retreating only to come forth and strike once again.
After observing the crashing waves, he felt like a door in front of him was slowly opening up. Failing to even consider neglecting such an opportunity, he calmly stood still as a miraculous jolt ran through his mind. Yang Kai’s own personal awareness of martial arts was now slowly fusing with the newfound knowledge that was similar to Old Man Wu’s whipping technique.
Unaware of how much time has passed, Yang Kai seemed to have fallen asleep standing, with the whistling sound of the sea breeze and loud crashes of the water ringing in his ears. When Yang Kai finally opened his eyes again, he had the making of someone who just underwent an indescribable epiphany.
Activating his movement technique, Yang Kai’s whole being started glimmering like a speck of light in smoke. He effortlessly stepped atop the waves approaching the shore, launching himself from one wave to the other without allowing a single drop of water to stay on him. After doing this another fifteen times, he released his Yuan Qi and dropped into the waters. Even though he was now soaked, he was still radiantly smiling. Turning around to face the approaching wave, he clenched his fist.
[Burning Sun’s Three Layer Blast]!
The air around Yang Kai’s fist exploded with three rapid thunder-like peals as his fist coated with three layers of Yuan Qi collided with the wave, creating a huge vacuum beneath the water.
Up to this point, the martial arts awareness that he had gained from observing Old Man Wu and the sea waves had completely assimilated into him. This change was further applied into Burning Sun’s Blast, which produced three layers of strong Yuan Qi on his fist. This caused his strike to become like the wave, increasing the difficulty of guarding against his attacks.
“Genius!” The Old Demon was too shocked for words. A few days ago, he was already stunned from Yang Kai’s capabilities to sense and create his own original martial skill. Within such a short period of time, he had also obtained a deeper understanding of it, improving on his foundations.
[Although it has been a long time since I was alive, just how much has this world changed?] The Old Demon thought as his heart became restless.
Crawling out onto the beach, Yang Kai saw a small little girl with wheat coloured skin and an impressively messy hair looking at him with a silly look. Judging from her appearance, this girl was probably 7 to 8 years old. She had a pair of big, bright eyes and wore homespun clothing with obvious patches sewn onto it. She stood on the sand with her bare feet as her small mouth opened and closed. Since the people who lived by the seaside tend to be exposed to the sun, their skin tone would not generally be white. As such, it was obvious that her skin was healthy.
(Silavin: … It seems that people that aren’t white are rare.)
(Skoll: If you think about it, if you live by the sea, and get a lot of sun, you will have a near permanent tan, so being white would be quite rare. Also, in stories like this, they often describe people of beauty as having “jade-like skin” i.e. white and without blemish, setting a standard for beauty.)
Yang Kai smiled at the little girl, trying to play the role of a well-mannered and cultivated human being – portraying that he was a harmless being. As he walked towards her cautiously, he cursed himself for being too indulgent with sensing and failing to notice the presence of a little girl. Perhaps he had scared her.
(Silavin: Haha. The start of the paragraph makes him sound like a pedophile XD Love it!)
Detecting that she was frightened, Yang Kai did not revolve his Yuan Qi to dry himself as he continued to walk.
He stopped in front of the little girl and squatted down. With a gentle voice accompanying his soft smile, he asked, “Little girl, what are you doing here?”
The small girl blinked a few times at him. Within those adorable eyelids was innocence without a shred of impurity. Yang Kai felt weighed down by his conscience. For a man who does evil deeds be it for good or bad, it was almost certain that such a pair of eyes would make a man be consumed by their own guilt.
(Silavin: I swear that I’m really not making Yang Kai sound like he is some kind of paedophile!)
Looking at Yang Kai for a moment, she slowly stretched her hand out to pass him something. When Yang Kai’s vision shifted towards her hand, he saw a grilled fish.
“Is that for me?” Yang Kai asked, his heart filled with warmth.
The little girl gently nodded and forced the grilled fish into Yang Kai’s hand and quickly scampered away, leaving only tracks of her lovely small footprints in the sand. When she was about to disappear in the distance, she turned around to get a final check on Yang Kai, but this time, she unexpectedly returned to his side and tugged on his clothes; pointing to the distance as though asking him, ‘follow me’.
Yang Kai did not resist the little girl. She pulled him forward and he followed along. Though he was unsure of her intentions, her pure and adorable eyes already ascertained her innocence to him.
After walking a short distance, they arrived in front of a crude room. The little girl lifted her arm to point at the room, indicating Yang Kai to get inside.
“Are we going in?” Yang Kai asked. The girl gave a nod. Chuckling, Yang Kai felt like he was walking through the doors of his very own home, though he was nothing more than a guest here.
Before he managed to take his first step into the room, an old man appeared out of the blue. This old man presented himself as ruthless, but his body was fragile as he waddled with an obvious limp.
The old man was taken aback by Yang Kai’s appearance. To prevent any misunderstanding, Yang Kai quickly opened his mouth to ask, “Elder, are you a family member of this little girl?”
The old man gave a smile and beckoned the little girl with his hand, “Xiao Yu, come here-“
The little girl shook her head and made an effort to pull on Yang Kai’s clothes, implying to him to move closer towards the old man.
The old man smiled sweetly while looking at the boy in front of him. “Little Brother, come in. Xiao Yu is afraid that if you stay outside any longer, you will freeze to death. Come in and dry yourself.”
(Silavin: KAWAIIIIIIIII!!!!!)
Yang Kai shoulders dropped. [It’s weird that she only wanted me to come here for this reason alone. Since they’ve already invited me, it would be impolite to reject.]
“Thank you for your hospitality.”
Entering the house with Xiao Yu, Yang Kai scanned the room, only to have his heart fill with pain. This family was a stellar example of poverty. Aside from a bed and the broken cotton-wadded quilt, there was nothing else noteworthy.
(Silavin: Quick! Give them money!)
Coming close to something like this dissipated the idea of the prosperity of Sea City in Yang Kai’s mind. While he was staying in the city, he knew of rich men who could indulge in life’s greatest pleasures freely. At the same time, the abyss of suffering for the two caused alarm bells to go off in his head.
In order to dry his clothes, Xiao Yu quickly went to prepare to light a fire and drew Yang Kai to stand close to the pit of charcoal. Xiao Yu managed to ignite the fire pit but even when indoors, the sea breeze outside seeped through. The wind was strong enough to blow up dust within the room and sparks from the fire. The old man would cough several times whenever the breeze struck.
Yang Kai and the old man sat on the ground, silent about their lack of chairs.
“Little Brother, are you a cultivator?” the old man placed Xiao Yu on his lap.
“What makes you think so?” Yang Kai was caught off guard with the question. After all, he was presently restraining his aura. No cultivator of the True Element Boundary and below should be able to notice it. This was of course with the exception of those who practised Spiritual Awareness, cultivators in the Immortal Ascension Boundary. He would have never guessed that this old fisherman was capable of telling he was a cultivator.
(Silavin: *Facepalm* you will understand why…)
The old man seemed to giggle under his breath as he smiled. “Little Brother, you’ve been standing still on the beach for several days now. How is it possible that an average person could endure something like that?”
“For several days now?” Yang Kai felt his heart constrict for a second. The last time, he was not able to feel time pass. Once again, it happened; he was unable to sense his surroundings. He realised that if he were to ever again engage in such deep comprehension, he would need to find a suitable hiding spot in case someone were to take the opportunity to attack him.
“Xiao Yu went over to check on you every day. If that wasn’t the case, do you think that this old man would dare to allow you to enter this room?”
(Silavin: My GOD! Can I keep her? I need to keep her! Come on!!!!!!!)
“I’m not a bad guy…” Yang Kai awkwardly reassured with a smile on his face.
(Silavin: Fucking Bullshit!)
Whilst they spoke, Xiao Yu looked at the grilled fish in Yang Kai’s hand and points at it.
“Mhm! I eat! Xiao Yu is really clever!” Yang Kai took a bite out of the fish. Although it was already cold, it was still quite fresh and tender. Yang Kai nodded repeatedly while saying, “delicious.”
(Silavin: She sure is!)
Xiao Yu grinned.
(Silavin: / is it bad for me to say that I wish to take her home?)
(Skoll: He’s over here officer.)
(Silavin: I plead innocence!)
By the time he had finished sucking every last meat out of the fish bones, his clothes had dried. Yang Kai thought for a little and hesitantly asked, “Mister, why is Xiao Yu not speaking?”
The fisherman’s face immediately turned depressed as he gently stroked Xiao Yu’s head, “It is not that she is mute, but due to a certain incident that happened to the family, she is no longer willing to speak…”
Yang Kai sighed. He had guessed that Xiao Yu was mute due to an inborn illness. If that was the case, he could possibly find a way to treat her. However, he had not expected that she would be unwilling to speak. [If it is a knot within her heart, we would need to untie the knot to cure her. Elsewise, she would never open her mouth again…]
Seeing that the old man was not willing to further talk about the matter, Yang Kai refrained from probing to avoid bringing up unpleasant memories.
“It seems like it is getting late. Little Brother, if you don’t have a place to sleep, you can stay over for the night.” The old man stood up while trembling as Xiao Yu hastily supported him.
“Thank you for your hospitality.” Yang Kai stood up and bowed.
Since the room was small and there was only one bed that the old man and Xiao Yu shared, which Yang Kai slept on the floor. The howling gales of the sea breeze kept him awake.
[In my three years of living at High Heaven Pavilion, I had it hard enough. But compared to these people, could my experiences even considered to be suffering? Even if the old man is a fisherman, could he actually bring in fish every day to eat and support the two of them? ]
Midnight clocked in and Yang Kai heard footsteps approaching from the outside, abruptly waking him up. Before his visit, Yang Kai looked for traces of other people living close by, but there was only the pair sleeping right now. It was already a surprise to hear others walking about so late at night, but what’s more astonishing was the fact that the footsteps indicated that the people approaching were cultivators!
In the dimly lighted room, the sleeping old man suddenly sat up. When Yang Kai took a glance, he noticed a look of panic and despair on the old man’s face.
Silavin: Sorry guys =.= was busy. Martial Family will have a bulk upload later this week. Martial Peak will probably take some time due to problems occurring on luffy’s side of things (broken laptop, stolen phone while overseas). Next week will probably not have any chapters being uploaded from me since I’m going to fly to Japan to live my weeaboo dream of anime booby mouse pads and other weirder things – you should not pry too much into that. If you’d like to get the latest updates, you can join our discord channel. Once again, sorry guys.
As for those worried about Qiandian, we will wait to see how things go first.
