Chapter 98 - Winding Path
While Ye Chen was still thinking, the old man asked with a glance, “If there is nothing else to discuss, are you willing to save my granddaughter from the Winding Path whirlpool? That is the location of the lost ship, my granddaughter has been trapped in there for nearly half a month now. Even if the food in the ship is sufficient, various other dangers might take place.”
Qu Ming stood up, “Old Man, please be at ease, I will go there for you and bring back Xin Ying.”
“Since there are still some people on the lost ship, we should not delay this any longer, let’s move!” Ye Chen stood up as well.
The old man nodded, “I will go with you, the iron wood vessel is ready to depart.”
On the North-West shore of the Pan Shan Island.
A long, black ship measuring fifteen meters in length and three meters in width was docked at the shore, the surface was shining with a dim light, it had a metallic lustre.
Ye Chen guessed that this must be the iron wood vessel. It was hard as metal and could resist a full-scale attack from a Mortal Realm warrior. The durability was good, it was also able to travel fast against the waves without the need to worry about being crushed by the surging waves.
“Master!”
Twelve Mortal Realm warriors from Qu family stood up in a row and shouted together.
The Old man waved his hand, “You guys should already know Qu Ming. And this is Ye Chen, a disciple from [Sky Cloud Martial School]. He will also be coming together with us to the Winding Path to save Xin Ying.”
Then, he turned to Ye Chen and Qu Ming, “Though their strength is inferior to yours, they are a good at swimming and could even hold their breath for up to a quarter of an hour.”
Ye Chen was surprised. With his current power, he could easily hold his breath for a quarter of an hour, but these twelve people could do the same even though they were just Mortal Realm ninth Stage warriors.
Nearer to the Winding Path, the water current was even more strong and vigorous. Waves of water continuously hit against the iron wood vessel, making a soul-stirring noise.
……………………………………………………….
In the cabin.
The old man said, “The Winding Path is complicated, hidden within are innumerable whirlpools. Without good sailing skills, we can not pass it safely. Most likely, my granddaughter is trapped in the initial parts of the Winding Path. There is a small hill connecting with the lake that forms a flat sandy beach. Therefore, the ship can dock at this shore. Your task is simple, just kill any demonic beasts that approach the vessel to prevent it from getting deviated from the correct track.”
Ye Chen replied, “This is easy, I could fly over with my skill, I could then swiftly get out of the lost ship along with your granddaughter.”
The old man shook his head, “The true dangers of [Winding Path] are neither the currents nor the beasts, its the thick mist surrounding it. You could go alone, but you would easily get lost in the mist unable to get out ever. We can only find a way out by the changes of the flow of the currents.”
“I see!” Ye Chen nodded thoughtfully, he could not treat Pan Shan Island and Gu Shui Lake[Ancient Water Lake] with common sense. These were bizarre and unusual places.
Suddenly, the iron wood vessel shook intensely, as if something was banging against it.
A Qu family warrior rushed in, “Master, three demonic birds are approaching our ship.”
The old man nodded, “We can count on both of them.”
Ye Chen and Qu Ming looked at each other and walked out of the cabin.
On the deck, Ye Chen raised his head and looked up to the sky. Three huge, freaky looking birds were flying towards the vessel. The birds spread their wings up to five meters, the upper part of the wings were armed with a pair of sharp claws. Even though they had not reached yet, the burst of gale made by the wings fiercely shook the vessel.
“[Finger Star, Big Dipper]!”
Qu Ming moved two of his fingers closer. A vague and dim light started to glow at the tip of his fingers. Then, he quickly pointed the fingers seven times at the void and drew a full figure of the Big Dipper.
Splash! Splash! Splash!
Without a minute of delay, the three demonic birds were trapped into a big net that was formed by the Magic of Big Dipper. With several bloody holes on their bodies, the three demonic birds slowly fell into the lake water.
Ye Chen smiled, "Good technique!"
"Just an insignificant technique, it isn’t terrific enough." Qu Ming smiled
At this moment, one of the Qu family practitioners shouted out, "We’re almost reaching the [Winding Path]. All of you hold onto something so that you would not be thrown out of the deck."
In the blink of an eye, the ship suddenly shook, it almost looked like it might capsize. The other Qu Family practitioners had been prepared for this and clung to the things that were stable and held onto them well. Only Ye Chen and Qu Ming were indifferent, their feet were firmly fixed on the deck. Even with the ship shaking fiercely, it was difficult to make them lose their balance.
Qu Ming's body was very flexible, it appeared that he had a very good sense of balance as his body didn’t move at all even with all the irregular movements of the hull. In fact his body was slowly moving according to the movements of the hull, his position changed bit by bit to let his body get used to this. This made Qu Ming to seem relaxed, he appeared to enjoy those movements.
But when he looked at Ye Chen, his eyes narrowed.
Ye Chen stood without grabbing anything to stabilize himself. He was very calm, stable and steady. His body seemed to be part of the hull shaking and swinging, it appeared as if it was impossible for him to be thrown out of the deck.
"A very good Qi skill!" Qu Ming had an extraordinary ability to make discerning judgements, he immediately realized that Ye Chen’s attainments with his Qi skill was very high, and his practice of Qi skill was far too unusual.
With a faint smile, Ye Chen was about to speak. But suddenly, he frowned, "There is a water monster following underwater!"
Ye Chen shifted his body and moved to the edge of the ship, a punch with shining blue light was thrown downwards.
Roar!
[Tiger roar Dragon fist]
The monster swooped down, but the punch continued to drill underwater.
Next moment!
The huge monsters corpse floated up, there were large tub-sized holes on its upper and lower abdomen. Blood continued to flow incessantly from these holes.
Qu Ming looked at the monster corpse and apprehensively said, "The water monster is very good at hiding its [ demonic Qi] and is proficient in stealth attacks, how did you perceive it?" If Ye Chen had not been there, Qu Ming knew that it would have been nearly impossible to kill the water monster in advance. He would have become aware of it only after the monster attacked people and exposed its [demonic Qi]. By then, even though the ironwood ship would still be undamaged, it would’ve definitely been driven off course. If that happened, they would’ve had to expend a great deal of effort in order to get back onto the normal route, undoubtedly wasting a lot of time.
Ye Chen of course would not say that it was due to his powerful soul force which could freely explore any object around him. Thus he literally made up a reason, "Actually, even though the water demonic beast is proficient in stealth with its [demonic Qi] well hidden, due to its huge body structure, no matter how quietly it moved underwater it would still create subtle changes in water flow. Now you know how I found it."
Qu Ming nodded quietly, Ye Chen was right. The larger the body, the higher the water resistance that the body needed to overcome. Nevertheless, Ye Chen‘s perception was just too strong, he could even detect the subtle changes in water flow, it was definitely admirable.
As they went deep into the [Winding Path], the frequency of disturbance of the hull became more and more vigorous. Sometimes it would tilt to the left, sometimes it would jump up all of a sudden and sometimes it was peaceful. It felt like there was an underwater vortex sucking the ship making the hull move abruptly, this could almost make a normal person's heart jump out.
Finally, the ship came near a half-submerged summit.
On the beach, there was a ship docked. The place was full of mist, but it was faintly discernable, with a deathly still atmosphere.
When the ship was just approaching the beach, Qu Ming and Ye Chen with their feets pointed lightly on deck, hopped and flew like two big birds with unbelievable speed.
Clap!
Both of them stood on the deck of the ship, feeling that the atmosphere had changed.
“Xin Ying! Are you there?" Qu Ming finally voiced out.
Whuuuuu! Whuuuuu!
Other than the sounds of the blowing wind, there were no other sounds audible.
Both of them were afraid of missing something, they opened the door and went into the cabin.
After a moment, both of them came out from the cabin.
Ye Chen looked up at the mountain, and said to Qu Ming, "Perhaps they took refuge in the mountain."
Qu Ming nodded, "This is the only possibility. Let’s wait for master and the others first."
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Translated by : Ace
Edited by : Jaggerjakk, Orphire
From XianXiaWorld