The ship was not a beauty. It was a beast.
Named the Black Manta, its hull was made of dark, iron-reinforced wood that looked like it had smashed through a thousand reefs. The sails were dyed a deep indigo to blend in with the night sky. It didn't sit on the water; it loomed over it.
Kaelen walked up the gangplank, the salt air stinging his nose. Behind him, Mist City was chaos. The City Lord's manor was still burning, painting the clouds in shades of angry orange.
"Halt."
A massive figure blocked their path on the deck.
It was the First Mate, a man whose skin looked like dried leather and who was missing an ear. He held a jagged harpoon, pointing it at Kaelen's chest.
"We don't take strays," the First Mate growled. "Especially strays that smell like smoke and trouble. Get off."
Bo, panting from the run, hid behind Kaelen. "Excuse me, Mr. Earless... uh, Mr. Sailor! We are paying customers! VIPs!"
The First Mate's eye twitched. "I'll gut you like a fish, fat boy."
Kaelen didn't speak. He calmly held up the Sea Crossing Token he had stolen from the vault.
The blue jade glowed in the moonlight.
The First Mate froze. He recognized the City Lord's personal seal. This token meant "absolute authority" over the ship.
"Where did you get that?" The First Mate asked, his voice suspicious.
"From a man who no longer needs it," Kaelen replied, pocketing the token. "Now, take us to the Captain. Or do you want to swim back to shore?"
The First Mate gritted his teeth, lowered the harpoon, and spat on the deck. "Follow me. But don't touch anything. The sea is bad tonight. She's hungry."
...
The Captain's Quarters.
Captain Vargus was a woman. She was in her fifties, with silver hair tied back tightly and a long scar running from her forehead to her jaw. She sat behind a desk covered in maps, drinking something that smelled like engine oil and chili peppers.
She looked at the token, then at Kaelen.
"You robbed Kaelus," she stated flatly. It wasn't a question.
"I merely collected a debt," Kaelen corrected.
Vargus laughed. It was a dry, rasping sound. "I like you. Kaelus is a pig. I've wanted to throw him overboard for years. But know this, boy..."
She stood up, leaning over the desk. Her eyes were the color of a stormy sea.
"This token buys you passage. It doesn't buy you safety. The Endless Sea doesn't care about your tokens, your gold, or your cultivation. Out there, we are all just meat floating on wood. If a Sea King Beast decides to eat the ship, you die. Understand?"
"I understand," Kaelen nodded. "Just get us to the Black Whirlpool."
Vargus paused. Her expression darkened.
"The Black Whirlpool? You have a death wish. No one goes there. The currents rip ships apart."
"Just get us close," Kaelen said. "I will handle the rest."
Vargus stared at him for a long moment, assessing the danger in his eyes. She realized this wasn't a normal passenger. This was a young predator.
"Fine. Cabin 4 is yours. We leave on the tide. Now get out of my sight."
...
Cabin 4.
"This... this is a closet!" Bo wailed, squeezing his round body through the narrow door.
The cabin was tiny. It had two hammocks that smelled of mildew and a small porthole. The floor swayed gently as the ship began to move.
"Where is the room service? Where are the silk sheets?" Bo complained, throwing his bag of stolen gold on the floor. "I'm a wealthy criminal now! I demand luxury!"
"Luxury makes you soft," Kaelen said, climbing into the top hammock. Rai flew in and perched on the wooden beam above him. "Sleep, Bo. Once we hit open water, you won't be able to sleep."
"Why?"
"Because the screaming starts."
"Screaming? Whose screaming?" Bo turned pale.
"The wind," Kaelen lied—or maybe he didn't. He closed his eyes.
Ten minutes later, the ship lurched.
Gurgle.
Bo's face turned green. He clutched his stomach.
"Oh no... oh gods... the floor is moving..."
"It's a ship, Bo. It moves."
"I... I think I left my stomach in Mist City..." Bo groaned, rushing to a bucket in the corner.
Rettttch.
Kaelen sighed. It was going to be a long journey.
...
Midnight. The Deck.
Kaelen couldn't sleep. The Dragon Spirit Ocean inside him was restless. It reacted to the water element outside.
He walked up to the deck. The night was pitch black. The sea merged with the sky, creating a void of infinite darkness. The only light came from the phosphorescent foam trailing behind the ship.
The silence was heavy. It wasn't empty silence; it was a silence that felt like it was holding its breath.
Kaelen leaned against the railing. He pulled out the Sea Demon's Map.
In the darkness, the red lines on the map pulsed faintly, syncing with the rhythm of the waves.
'Mother...'
He thought of the jar in his spatial bag. The blue eyes.
Anger flared in his chest, hot and suffocating. He wanted to scream. He wanted to dive into the water and boil the ocean until the Eclipse came out of hiding.
"A heavy burden for young shoulders."
Kaelen didn't turn. He sensed Captain Vargus standing ten feet away, smoking a pipe.
"You stand like a man who is looking for a ghost," Vargus said, blowing a ring of smoke.
"I am looking for a demon," Kaelen corrected.
Vargus walked over and stood beside him. She looked at the black water.
"The Endless Sea is full of them," she said softly. "They say this sea was formed from the tears of a fallen God. That's why the water is salty and bitter. It remembers pain."
She looked at Kaelen.
"You have the eyes of a killer, boy. I've seen many like you. They think their sword can solve everything. But the sea... the sea teaches you humility. You can't stab a wave. You can't cut a storm."
"I don't intend to cut the storm," Kaelen said, looking at the distant horizon where lightning flashed silently. "I intend to become the storm."
Vargus chuckled. "Arrogance. But I suppose youth is allowed to be arrogant."
She pointed to the north.
"We are entering the zone of the Sirens tomorrow. If you hear singing... don't listen. If you see a beautiful woman in the water... don't look. And whatever you do, don't show fear. The beasts can smell fear like blood."
"I have no fear left to give," Kaelen murmured.
Vargus tapped her pipe on the railing. "We'll see. Get some rest. You'll need it."
She walked away, leaving Kaelen alone with the vast, uncaring ocean.
Kaelen looked down at the water. Deep below the surface, he saw a faint, blue glow moving. It was huge—larger than the ship. It passed silently under the hull and vanished into the deep.
A Leviathan.
Kaelen felt a shiver. Not of fear, but of excitement.
His Abyssal Dragon Scripture was hungry. The energy of this sea was dense, wild, and chaotic. If he could absorb it... he could open the Second Seal of the Void Cauldron.
"Eat or be eaten," Kaelen whispered the law of the wild.
He sat down on the deck in the lotus position, ignoring the cold spray of the waves.
"Void Cauldron... Absorb."
Invisible threads of energy extended from his body into the ocean. He didn't take much—just sips of the dark, cold Qi rising from the depths.
As the energy entered his body, his Spirit Ocean churned. The black half of his ocean roared.
This was his training ground now.
...
Three Days Later.
The calmness of the departure was a distant memory. The Black Manta was now in the thick of the Endless Sea. The sky was perpetually gray, and the waves were the size of small hills.
Bo had lost five pounds just from vomiting. He was currently lying on the deck, tied to the mast with a rope so he wouldn't roll overboard.
"Kill me..." Bo moaned. "Just throw me in. I accept my fate as fish food."
Rai was hopping on Bo's stomach, pecking at a button on his shirt.
"Get off, you flying rat!" Bo waved his hand weakly.
Kaelen stood at the bow of the ship. He was practicing his sword swings.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
He wasn't using Qi. He was just swinging the black sword against the resistance of the heavy sea wind. 10,000 swings a day.
"Captain!" The lookout in the crow's nest screamed. "Fog! Whispering Fog ahead!"
Captain Vargus ran to the helm. Her face was pale.
"Turn the wheel! Hard starboard! We must go around it!"
"It's moving too fast!" the helmsman shouted.
A wall of thick, white fog was rolling toward them across the water. It wasn't normal fog. It moved against the wind. And inside the fog, there were shapes.
Silhouettes.
Ghostly ships. Giant tentacles. Weeping women.
"It's an illusion fog," Kaelen said, stopping his practice. He felt the air grow cold.
"It's not just illusion," Vargus drew her saber. "The fog manifests your memories. If you get lost in it, you never come out. Everyone! Tie yourselves to the ship! Close your ears!"
The fog hit them.
Instantly, the world turned white. Kaelen couldn't see the Captain. He couldn't see Bo.
"Kaelen..."
A voice whispered in his ear.
It wasn't Bo. It wasn't the Captain.
It was Varian.
"You failed, brother," the voice sneered. "You died like a dog. And now, you dragged a fat thief and an old bird to die with you."
Kaelen stood still in the white void. He knew it was an illusion. But it felt incredibly real.
"Look," the voice whispered.
The fog cleared slightly. Kaelen saw a vision.
He saw Mist City in ruins. He saw the Silent Lake Manor burning. And he saw Uncle Hwan lying in a pool of blood, clutching the wooden dragon carving.
"You left him," the voice laughed. "You promised to protect him, and you ran away."
Kaelen's heart stopped.
Logic told him it was fake. But the heart... the heart is easily tricked by fear.
'No... Uncle is safe at the Pavilion...'
"Is he?" The vision shifted. He saw Jiara laughing, handing Hwan over to the First Elder for a bag of gold. "Merchants sell everything, Kaelen. Even loyalty."
Kaelen's grip on his sword tightened until his knuckles cracked. His breathing became erratic. The Soul-Rot Poison residue in his blood flared up, triggered by his emotional instability.
"Give up," the voice soothed. "Just lie down. The sea is warm."
Kaelen's knees buckled. The vision of Hwan dying was too vivid. It attacked his deepest insecurity—that he was a curse to everyone he loved.
Suddenly.
Screech!
A sharp pain pierced his earlobe.
Kaelen gasped, snapping his eyes open.
Rai was sitting on his shoulder, biting his ear hard. The little hawk was flapping its wings furiously, screeching into the fog, challenging the illusions.
The pain cleared Kaelen's mind.
He looked around. The vision of Hwan faded. He was back on the deck of the Black Manta.
"Get out of my head!" Kaelen roared.
He channeled his Supreme Solar Body.
"Sun Flare!"
A burst of golden light exploded from his body. It acted like a lighthouse in the fog.
Hissssss!
The fog screamed—an actual, physical scream—and recoiled from the golden light.
The white wall dissipated around the ship, burned away by Kaelen's Yang energy.
Captain Vargus and the crew were on the floor, clutching their heads, trapped in their own nightmares. When the light hit them, they gasped, waking up.
Bo was curled in a ball, sobbing. "I didn't eat the last dumpling! I swear! Don't eat me!"
Kaelen stood panting, sweat dripping from his face. He stroked Rai's feathers. The bird saved him again.
"Status!" Vargus yelled, shaking off her nightmare. "Is everyone alive?"
"We are alive," Kaelen said, his voice grim. "But we are not alone."
He pointed to the water.
The fog had cleared, but it had revealed what was hiding under the fog.
Surrounding the ship were dozens of pale, humanoid creatures with gills and sharp claws. Sea Ghouls. They had used the fog to get close.
And they were climbing the hull.
"Battle stations!" Vargus screamed.
Kaelen drew his black sword. The reflection of the ghoul's eyes danced on the blade.
"Finally," Kaelen whispered, the predator taking over the grieving son. "Something I can hit."