Book 4, Chapter 18: Night Ambush
Book 4, Chapter 18: Night Ambush
Chen Chuan spent the night practicing mental training.
While the quintessence spilling over couldn’t compare to the amount he got when the Gate to Heaven had opened, he didn’t have to fight against any enemies here or worry about anything else.
Even if there were existences vying to come over, the lifeform who occupied the entrance of the gap blocked them off, so Chen Chuan could focus solely on his training.
When it was almost time for the sun to rise, he got out of his meditative state, grabbed the Frost King Saber, and stood up.
Because he had been too immersed in his training, he felt as if only a short moment had passed.
During the training, he could sense his mental energy growing stronger bit by bit, and that feeling was truly addictive. He didn’t want to stop, but he had promised Talu that he wouldn’t train during the day, and she had left him here alone in full confidence, so Chen Chuan wasn’t about to break his promise.
He would come again when night fell.
As Chen Chuan moved back, the feelers in front of him twisted together and shut the hole.
Chen Chuan left the waterproof bag and returned outside with only the Frost King Saber. Once he reached the surface, he climbed up the cliff wall.
The sun had just risen, and golden light lit up the entire island. Thick morning fog spilled out of the forest and blended together with the light and clouds. From the distance, the island looked like it came straight out of a fantasy world.
Gan Guo was waiting at the top of the cliff. The moment the old man saw Chen Chuan, he walked over and said, “Mr. Chen, I feared that you’d stay inside. The guests in the past refused to leave after entering, you see.”
Chen Chuan liked the island itself as well. It could relax the mind. With this effect around, his efficiency would increase if he went to the gap only at night.
Gan Guo watched him for a while before asking tentatively, “Mr. Chen, did you encounter any existences from the other world while you were training?”
“No,” Chen Chuan answered.
Gan Guo’s expression remained grave. “Even so, you have to be careful. Talu ran into them multiple times when she went to the gap, and it required a lot of time to get rid of them. The guests who came before you also ran into some existences.
“There’s a lotus flower seat in Single Flow School. Master Hongfa used it to meditate. It helps you calm the mind and remove all impurities. Would you like to try it?”
At this point, Chen Chuan figured out what Gan Guo was trying to say. Was he worried that his mind had been corrupted while he was down there? Perhaps his lack of reluctance to return to the surface made them nervous.
“You don’t have to worry,” he said.
Then, he produced the pig-dragon jade token Zhuan Liang had given him. Only a few black dots had appeared on it, and they were practically unnoticeable unless looking for them. This was because his second self absorbed most of the corruption.
Gan Guo relaxed a little after checking it. “It seems like I was worried for nothing. Please keep the pig-dragon with you when you train in the gap.”
Chen Chuan nodded and said, “But could you still tell me where the lotus flower seat is?”
Since Master Hongfa had left it behind and it could remove impurities in the mind, Chen Chuan wanted to try it.
“I’ll bring you over,” Gan Guo said with relief.
He brought Chen Chuan through the training ground. The sun hadn’t fully risen yet, but the teenagers had already begun their training with Talu. Upon seeing them, Talu waved at them.
Chen Chuan nodded in response. After crossing the training ground, he followed Gan Guo into a dilapidated building. Part of it looked like it had been intentionally renovated, because under the arched stone wall was a lotus flower seat carved out of jade stone. It was quite old, and Chen Chuan could see many chips on it.
The seat itself was polished until it was completely smooth.
When Chen Chuan got closer, he sensed a faint wave of mental energy. It was gentle and soothing.
That caught him by surprise. Master Hongfa had passed away about eight hundred years ago. It had been such a long time, but there was still a trace of his mental energy around? Or was this someone else’s mental energy?
This was really similar to the comforting feeling he got from the island itself, so he was pretty sure that there was a connection between the two.
He went to the lotus flower seat and sat down on the cushion. In just a while, he saw the black spots on the pig-dragon fade away.
It seemed like the seat truly was useful.
Once Gan Guo saw Chen Chuan sit down and enter a meditative state, he felt much less worried. After stroking his white beard for a bit, he left.
Over the next few days, Chen Chuan trained in the gap at night and meditated on the lotus flower seat during the day. In the blink of an eye, ten days passed, and his mental energy grew substantially stronger.
Since he had sufficient depth of mind, every time he improved, his progress was much faster than that of the regular person.
Gan Guo admired him, since he came to the lotus flower seat every day to meditate before going to the gap to train. He never skipped a day, and nothing could distract him.
“I heard that Master Hongfa sat on that seat for ten years to discover the true path. Mr. Chen is young but strong, and he works hard too. It’s no wonder why Mr. Zhuan recommended him to come here.”
Talu nodded in acknowledgement. Any other person would have felt pressured if they saw Chen Chuan training in such a manner and increased the intensity of their own training, but Talu felt no such pressure.
She only practiced martial arts because she liked it, and she only worked hard for herself. It had nothing to do with anyone else, so she wasn’t going to change herself because of someone else.
Suddenly, the wind blew, and it was so strong that it made the stones knock into each other. Gan Guo looked at the sky and squinted. “Strong winds are coming.”
Talu grunted at that. Every year, in the middle of July, Mistlight Island faced strong ocean winds. Fortunately, they were experienced in dealing with them, and all the houses on the island were fortified. The guests would also be persuaded to leave beforehand.
***
The Surging Tide Squad had already figured out the situation on the island after staying around for a few days. Once the islanders persuaded them to leave, they returned to report the situation to Urtik.
“That martial artist is on the huge platform on the mountainside and seldom comes down. We didn’t go up to check to not alert her, but we’ve gotten confirmation from the villagers that aside from her, everyone else in the martial arts school is average.
“There are thousands of residents on the island, and they use a communication method that we still haven’t managed to figure out. It won’t be easy for us to get the entire island under our control.”
“Kenwa refuses to work with us, even though he has so many subordinates. If he brought them here, we wouldn’t have to worry about this,” one man said.
“Ignore that crazy bastard. He thinks that he can ignore Captain Urtik after the higher-ups granted him power, but he’s just a clown. Besides, he’s not really that strong. He didn’t get to where he is on his own either. How far can someone who relies on given power go?” someone else scoffed in disdain.
“You’re right. You can only truly claim the power you got through training. It doesn’t matter how many islanders there are here. We just need to occupy the main port and harbor. Once the storm comes, no one will want to cross the ocean to come here,” Urtik said gravely.
“Captain, recently, we saw many people wandering about the island,” a squad member said. “I think they’re looking for something. Maybe other people are eying the place too, and it’s not just one more group. We might have to face a lot more opponents.”
“Ignore them for now. Prioritize our plan. If they end up in our way, we’ll eliminate them as well,” Urtik declared coldly.
***
Two days later, it was the fifteenth of July, and strong winds howled on the surface of the ocean. The Surging Tide Squad were already in diving suits as they waited for nightfall on the coral reefs closest to Mistlight Island. When night arrived, they jumped into the roaring sea and swam to Mistlight Island.
There were six people in the elite squad, and all of them were Third Limit martial artists. That wasn’t all. They were also skilled in encirclement attacks. Urtik had started training his mental energy too, so an average Third Limit martial artist wouldn’t be able to stand against them. This was the reason why they were so confident in their success.
Around forty minutes later, the Surging Tide Squad arrived on Mistlight Island.
The squad members who had scouted on the island before this had hidden some of their equipment nearby. Once they were here, they retrieved all of them and put them on.
Most of them were armed with crossbows and projectiles. While guns were great, they caused a lot of sound, and at close range, they weren’t as useful.
With their strength, they could massacre an entire village within ten minutes, but they didn’t intend to do that. After all, they planned to occupy this place long-term. If the gap was truly here, they wouldn’t want to leave. Hence, they would need someone to provide them with services and daily necessities.
As long as they got rid of or subjugated the village leader and the people in the martial arts school, they could replace the role the martial arts school played on the island.
Once they were ready, they started moving up the mountain.
Talu was sitting before the lotus flower seat on the platform on the mountainside. After she started mental training, most of the time, she practiced breathing at night instead of sleeping while using the lotus flower seat.
Just then, she sensed something, as if someone had thrown a stone into a calm lake. Something had disturbed the night.
She opened her eyes and stood up while grabbing her staff. At the same time, she jumped backward. The moment she left, a few hastily fired crossbolts landed at her feet.
She swung her staff multiple times in the air to block all the crossbolts and projectiles fired and thrown her way. Then, she heard several people’s breaths around her. They had encircled her and were rapidly closing in on her.
Talu cast them a glance but didn’t intend to fight them. With a flick of her staff, she ran away, because she could tell that she couldn’t win against these people by herself.
The former Talu had also told her that if she could win, she was to fight, but if she couldn’t, she was to run.
“Huh?”
Urtik had considered many possibilities before, but Talu was the successor of the martial arts school. People treated her as their guardian god, so how could she run away before the fight even started? Had she no shame?