Chapter 75: Under the Sea I
"I'll see you guys later." Sun Zhan said. He looked outside the window of his cab, as he said his farewell. Ye Qin and Wang Tao nodded, as they saw off their friend. Once the cab had disappeared from their sight, the two brothers returned to the academy.
They informed their dorm mates before they left, leaving behind a present for each of them.
In the headmaster's office, they notified him of their leave. The headmaster agreed right away, excusing them from classes until they came back. They then headed off towards each of the nine peaks, speaking to each peak master before they left.
On the Battle peak, they didn't see the old peak master anywhere. Just as they arrived at the exit, and were about to leave, purple lightning flashed before their very eyes.
"I see that you're heading off again." a hoarse voice echoed into their eardrums. It was obvious that the peak master was the one who spoke.
"En, we wanted to inform you before we left." Ye Qin replied.
"No need, I already know. Let me give you a small gift." the peak master added. Suddenly, two flashes of thunder appeared, aiming for their hands.
In the blink of an eye, two wine gourds appeared in their hands. "Thank you." the two brothers thanked, as they left the Battle peak.
Without looking at what it was, they could tell by the fragrance coming off from within. They stored it inside their storage space, as they headed for the Medicine peak, which was also the last of the nine peaks they needed to visit.
*********
"Good luck, I hope you succeed in your journey." the peak master said. His granddaughter by his side, seeing the three of them off.
Ye Qin, Wang Tao, and Long Bing Rong nodded as they left the peak. Outside the academy grounds, they took a cab, sending them off.
Inside the cab, Ye Qin was texting on his smartwatch. On the other side, the person receiving his texts was his father. The texts he sent went along the lines of; 'Father, please tell mother that I may not be able to return for New Years. I'll try my best to return as quickly as possible. Remember to take care of your health as well.'
As he sent messages to his father, Wang Tao could be seen doing the same. "I'm done telling my parents, my dad said that my mom was complaining about it, but there's nothing she can do, so now my dad is feeling her wrath…"
"It must be tough on uncle Wang." Ye Qin replied. "It's pretty much the same for me." he added.
"En, they've been married for decades, it shouldn't be anything major." Wang Tao nodded in agreement.
As for Long Bing Rong, since she had already gained permission, she didn't seem to need to report to her parents. As Ye Qin thought about this, he recalled the image and voices of her parents.
Her father was tall and handsome, while her mother was beautiful. Neither of them had white hair, so he wondered why she did. The question had lingered in his mind for many years, even with her here now, he knew it was best not to ask.
Only when she wanted to, would Ye Qin be prepared to hear her story.
Soon, they arrived. Getting out of the cab, they noticed two familiar people. Guard A and B were on duty, they recognized Ye Qin and Wang Tao immediately.
"You two are back again? So early too, didn't you just return?" Guard A asked.
"Hehe, the more we head off, the stronger we get. After all, the monsters won't wait for us to get stronger." Wang Tao replied.
"You're right about that, I wish you a safe journey. I see that miss Long is coming with you this time." Guard A noticed.
Long Bing Rong nodded. "Well, you should head off now, we won't disturb you any further. Good luck." the two guards said, as they let the three enter.
Inside, the building was as busy as usual. The three of them quickly scanned their passes, as they were warped to the other side, thousands of meters across the Atlantic Sea.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Upon arriving on the other side, the trio walked by the military base, where the soldiers were doing drills as per usual. Walking by, the soldiers who had seen them before glanced their way without saying or waving at them.
After all, they were soldiers, they required discipline and couldn't act out of order, unlike the guards who had a much laxer job. Once they left the military base, by quite a bit, Ye Qin called out the Qiulong and Yinglong.
Wang Tao and himself jumped on, while Long Bing Rong summoned the Dark Star Dragon and sat on its back. The dragons took flight, as the three of them flew far into the distance at maximum speed.
In the vast lands of China, covered in many kinds of natural habitats of many kinds of monsters, three legendary dragons of legends were seen flying together through the skies above.
Two of them were huge eastern divine dragons, while one was a smaller dragon of western tales. One gold, one silver, and a black dragon were soaring through the skies at a breathtaking speed.
Soaring through the clouds, three youths are able to be seen if one watched them from above. Two exceedingly handsome young men, and an extremely beautiful young woman with long pure white hair.
They each sat on top of a dragon, and silently looked downward through the clouds, and down below to the ground, as though they were searching for something. This continued for hours, with nothing catching their attention.
Blasting through the skies, they passed through the area in which they had been through before, almost completely ignoring it. Only after a few hours of flying, did they come down to the ground for a break.
The break didn't last long, just twenty minutes later, the three youths took the skies again and continued heading forward. When they took off, hidden lifeforms under the ground slowly resurfaced once they had left the area.
In the sky, a certain young man in particular crossed his arms and closed his eyes. The wind blew his hair, as he slowly appeared as though he was becoming one with the wind. Sitting on its head, the dragon below flew at a pace that wouldn't affect its master, letting him peacefully journey through the sky.
This continued for a few days. Only short breaks were taken in between each flight, otherwise they would continue heading forward without stopping. After a few days, they finally arrived at their destination. Heading inside a cave, the three youths moved the stone door, arriving in a world full of sea life.
The three youths passed through, sealing off the entrance, as they entered the world of the seafolk. There, they could breath as though on land, while still requiring to swim. Surrounding the two young men, familiar fish they had seen when they arrived previously got close to them.
"We will visit the king." Ye Qin said. The fish nodded, understanding him, as they started swimming off in a certain location. Wang Tao and Long Bing Rong swam behind him, as the three headed for the kingdom of the seafolk.
*********
"Welcome back. I see you have brought a companion along with you this time." the deep voice of a male seafolk welcomed. A huge mermen sat on his throne, facing his visitors. Beside him, his wife and daughter sat quietly without uttering a word.
"Your majesty, we came back to continue exploring the ruins, and solve your problem as well. How is the situation with the Northern n kingdom?" Ye Qin asked respectfully.
"I thank you for your offer, but I believe we seafolk should solve our own problems ourselves. You are guests, and shouldn't get involved, I do not want to delay or endanger you."
"As for the situation, it's not improving. The Northern kingdom has allied with outsiders, preparing to launch an all out war against the other kingdoms. Soon, war will erupt between the two sides."
"If I may add, I remember you spoke of wanting to repair the relations between humans and the seafolk. What better situation can this be done, than by being allies in war?" Wang Tao replied.
The mermen king looked at Ye Qin and Wang Tao. His expression was serious, and looked at them with a soul piercing gaze. Suddenly, his mouth curved and a smile was struck.
"Bwahahahahahahahah!" He burst out in laughter, without paying attention to his image as a king. "You're right, then I will agree to this alliance. From my estimate, they will be attacking in a month at earliest and two months at the latest, you can join in the battle if you make it back in time. I won't blame you if you don't make it, considering the amount of ruins; who knows how long it will take to explore them all." the king said solemnly.
Ye Qin and Wang Tao nodded. "Well, you can stay here before heading off if you'd like, what do you think?" the king asked.
"We'll take your offer, thank you, your majesty." the two brothers replied. "Good, then the rooms you used previously will be opened again, another room will be prepared for our young lady guest here."
Leaving the throne room, Ye Qin, Wang Tao and Long Bing Rong went into their rooms. Inside, Ye Qin lay on the bed on his arms. As he was thinking to himself, he slowly drifted asleep.
"Leave now! Before they arrive, we will hold them back."
The fuzzy scene of a dark figure speaking was seen. A single sentence was spoken, as a woman took flight into the air and soared across the skies, in the opposite direction. Her body turned into a beam of light and disappeared in an instant.
The dark figure who spoke, was obviously a man. His features couldn't be made out. Another dark figure stood beside him, they both stood side-by-side, as a weapon appeared in their hands.
Holding it by their sides, the two dark figures faced the opposite direction, where two women had escaped far into the distance. The two dark figures awaited the arrival of their enemies, which numbered over a hundred.
"You cannot escape, neither will the women. If only you had followed my desires back then, now this is all I can do. Do not blame me." a voice was transmitted from thousands of kilometers away.
In an instant, a figure appeared in the skies opposite the two dark figures. It was obvious that the figure was the one who had spoken to them. Behind him, hundreds of figures, all wielding great power appeared by his side, pointing their weapons at the two dark figures.
"Enough talk, let's do this." one of the dark figures spoke. His aura surged, as his sword was held by his side, flying straight to the enemy. Following him, the other dark figure pointed his sword forward.
Both sides engaged in a fierce battle. Suddenly, the fuzzy scene changed. Some time had passed, the ending of the fierce battle was now revealed. Two dark figures, their hair messy as blood dripped from their bodies and sword.
Across from them, only a few of the enemies remained. Both sides turned into beams of light, uttering inaudible words, as the scene completely disappeared.
Huff!
Opening his eyes, Ye Qin was jolted awake. Looking around, he recalled where he was, while sweat drenched his clothes. It had been since he had such a dream. It was similar to what had happened a year ago, only this time, a different scene appeared.
Suddenly, his smartwatch received a notification. Tapping to open it, he realized it was from Wang Tao. The message read; 'Boss, I had a dream again, just like what happened last year.'
Ye Qin quickly replied, 'It seems like these dreams aren't a coincidence, they seem to be telling us something. Possibly a memory, but not ours. It could mean a couple of things, either a message from an inheritance; or memories of the past…'
Ding!
'Memories of past lives? Even if it were long ago, there shouldn't have been any humans who could cultivate. Unless… there must be a reason why novels had a base, as well as myths. Or, it could possibly be from a parallel universe.' Wang Tao replied.
'En.' Ye Qin answered. That night, the two of them sent a few more messages before heading to sleep. Dwelling without a clear answer wouldn't do them any good, they already had a rough idea of what was happening to them.
If they were right, then they would need to get stronger even faster than they had planned. From a quick analysis, as well as their knowledge from reading novels, it was obvious that something big would happen, something that may affect the entire world.
************
Leaving the seafolk kingdom, Ye Qin, Wang Tao and Long Bing Rong headed off to explore some ruins. Looking at the map, they chose to explore all of the closest ruins they could find.
The three headed hydra appeared by their side shortly. Long Bing Rong glanced at it, before returning to her indifferent look. Ye Qin ordered it to head off to some ruins along with another dragon to make their search faster.
Glancing at Long Bing Rong, Ye Qin moved back slightly. "Erm, you might be a bit surprised." Wang Tao told her.
Suddenly, five magic circles appeared in front of Ye Qin. Each of them were a different color, while a surging powerful aura of suppression and overbearing might was coming from within.
At the same time, five different colored koi fish leaped out from the magic circles. All the nearby sea creatures swum away in fear. Long Bing Rong looked at Ye Qin, then to the five koi.
It seemed like she wasn't as surprised as they thought she would be. "She must have a powerful soul." Wang Tao thought.
The five koi all swam around briefly, as they quickly transformed into twenty meter long divine dragons. The five dragons looked at Ye Qin, he transmitted his message to them, as they all took off in a different direction each.
The three headed hydra followed the fire dragon, since it had the most disadvantaged element amongst the five, it would come as support for the dragon, allowing it to suppress the enemy and clear the ruins as fast as the others.
Next, the Qiulong and Yinglong were called out. The Blackgold Python Tiger and the Tiger God's daughter was also called out. The flame cow stayed within Wang Tao's storage space, keeping it there to produce its special milk.
The Dark Star Dragon, as well as the Ethereal Moon Dragon were both summoned. The three out them rode their partners, heading out towards three different directions at once.
Ye Qin would search the middle few, while Wang Tao searched the right, and Long Bing Rong the left. This way, they would clear out the ruins faster, crossing them off the list.
It didn't take long for Ye Qin to arrive at the first ruins. Entering, the Qiulong and Yinglong shrunk in order to fit inside, they stayed beside Ye Qin as the three of them swam deeper within.
The ruins were somewhat like a cave, just like the others that he had explored. Looking around, it wasn't dark, the walls had stones that were glowing, providing him with light.
As he continued forward, he realized he was in a maze. He wouldn't be able to clear this maze as quickly, the entire place was filled with water, while he could breathe within; it slowed down his speed considerably. Even on the Qiulong, it's speed would also decrease as well.
Rather than wasting time exploring the entire ruins, the Yinglong's power was channeled. It's body was enveloped in silver light, as it along with Ye Qin and the Qiulong were teleported randomly within the maze.
When they arrived, he found himself surrounded by walls, almost identical to his previous location. Even the pathways were in the same place, only the stones were formed slightly different, which meant he hadn't been teleported back to his original location.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Hao_Abao The beginning of a new arc, as well as the next volume!
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