Chapter 669 - Tempest (IV) (Patreon)

There are many, many, many names I'd give to this rotting thing before coming upon 'Tempest'. No, seriously. This thing looks like it'd sink in a freakin' bath.

It was fairly large, some forty feet long and about ten-ish feet wide at its utmost, with asymmetrical bow and stern, with the latter's end being somewhat longer, sharper, and strangely slanted. Furthermore, it had a warped keel, split decking that looked like it was one wrong footstep away from collapsing the whole damn thing, and sagging mast-step.

The wood itself was pale and splintered, looking as brittle as arthritic bones, with uneven, patchwork caulking sticking out like a sore thumb between planks. It was some kind of a resin, best I could tell, but I'd sooner trust a glass floor than that, to be honest.

All the iron nails were rusting, a touch of which would probably give me tetanus even if I'm a cultivator, while its hull was listing left even when held up by the ropes. I can only imagine that we'd have to even it out a bit by sitting unevenly. The whole thing's held together by a prayer, and instead of being called 'Tempest', it should be called 'A Coffin With Oars'.

"Well," I mumbled. "I always did want to experience sinking at least once."

"Ho ho, she may not look much," no, not much. She looks like literal vaporware. "But she's a sturdy old gal that has taken me across the lake well over a thousand times." oh, an explanation. Finally.

"And she did so without ever being fixed?"

"She broke apart a few times so she has been fixed, don't worry," yeah, he's clearly just fucking with me.

But, fine. If you wanna play this game, so will I.

"Hm. Perhaps the old adage goes for the boats, too."

"The old adage?" he glanced back at me.

"In the world of martial arts," I said. "Fear most the old and the young. Perhaps boats are the same way. The sturdiest ones are the freshly made and the ones so aged they look like they'd wither away upon a touch."

"... that is a strange adage, o' Immortal," he said.

"Is it?" I glanced at him. "In my travels, only the most old and the most young tend to annoy me into sleeplessness. Ah, forget it, forget it. Kids, let's board this divine vessel and sail over."

Everyone jumped forward, gently landing on either side of the boat while slowly balancing it. In the end, the man and I walked onto it at just about the same time, with him taking to the stern and sitting down with a pair of paddles on both sides being jammed into small openings.

Before a minute was up, creaking of the old, rusty pulley system began to cry out like a wounded wolf, while the boat began to shake and stir midair. Looking over the edge, it was... terrifying. It was a far drop, and I'm not actually sure I would have survived it in any of the prior realms. Being in Void Transformation Realm was a bit of a blessing as, even if I couldn't fly for long periods of time, I could still fly.

Nonetheless, as this rickety old thing began to sway, I couldn't help but panic a bit invisibly. It dawned on me that I am currently doing a very stupid thing. Now, it's not as though the track record of my life isn't a who's-who of stupid decisions, but one would think I'd learn after having done so many of them in this world alone. Sometimes I get an idea, and then I pursue that idea to the detriment of life itself. Sort of like now. I'm gambling a lot on the fact that this old man won't just sink us in the middle of the lake, or just sic a bunch of people on us as soon as we land.

It's not as if I gave him a reason to think I'm there to kill him, but that's irrelevant. We're new, and he's probably noticed just how talented the kids are, and is deeply wondering why they'd come to the island. Most of all, he's probably wondering why I insisted he take us. And if he straight-up asked, I don't actually have a good answer. Best I could offer is, 'It doesn't matter; we just need a boat, we can protect ourselves'.

The lowering itself took about half an hour, if not longer than that. Nobody spoke in the meantime, taking in the rather spectacular sight of the lake. On the other side of it were sharp, jagged rocks atop of which, occasionally, I'd see signs of ripped, fluttering bits of clothes, and even occasional smeared, red stains.

As Tempest made contact with the water, the latter splashed upwards and reached us a bit. It was cold--cold, in fact. The old man raised a long stick and disconnected the boat from the pulley system, while beginning to rapidly paddle to create some distance from the protruding rocks that looked sharp enough to cut bread on.

Tempest slowly pulled out and away from the cliff and toward the open waters, whereupon I frowned a bit. Lakes... are supposed to be still bodies of water, no? I tried really hard to recall if there were exceptions, but best I know, short of some underground volcanic or tectonic activity or something, they're supposed to be still bodies of water.

But this one wasn't.

There were waves--and they were rather rough. The old man sailed into the first one directly with the bow, cresting over it as the boat angled so aggressively that we were nearly just fucking vertical. Holding on for dear life, it landed on the other side of the wave and dipped, gaining speed as he let go of the paddles and started pulling the sail's rope, adjusting it.

Yup, there were winds, there were waves, and I wouldn't be surprised if a freakin' typhoon hit his soon enough. Before the boat could even flatten on the waters, another wave came, reaching at least twenty feet. Nonetheless, the old man dove up and over it quite skillfully, though seeing the planks that made up the ship's hull kinda of bend under the weight... can this thing actually endure the trip?

"He's quite good," Shufen said, observing. "I was worried for a moment you became suicidal and decided to drag us all down with you."

"... I should have just left you in that sect," I said, sighing.

"That's mean, Master."

"No, the reason I took you in was to have someone to make money," I said. "But not only are you not making money, you're sucking it up. Even more than the other kids."

"Our bond runs deeper than mere monetary wealth," she said.

"It really doesn't."

"Tsk, fine. I'll help you make some money while we're on the island. Are you happy?"

"I'll be happy when I actually see that money."

"Haah. Anyway, how did you know that he's a good sailor? And don't tell me it's because of that 'old adage' of yours."

"I didn't."

"... eh?"

"I just saw a place we could all board and move together," I said. "I figured that if he sucked, I'd have one of you take the wheel and navigate toward the island." seeing as he's one thousand percent listening to us, I need to keep a consistent story.

"E-eh? You're... serious?"

"Why not? Worst case scenario, we'd just swim back and find somebody else to take us."

"You're insane."

"Each time you call your Master a name, the amount of money you need to make for me to forgive you doubles."

"You're the most divinely brilliant man I've ever met."

"... haah. Just shut up. You're going to give me a headache."

The waves slowly eased, and the boat finally managed to level out on the lake's water. How come, then, that my gut didn't relax at all? Oh, heavens. What kind of a shitstorm will this old man drive us through?