81 Safe Passage
Jack studied the Clear Water spell's structure for the entire night. He didn't have the transfer of information and experiences that he received in the Endless Cycle Sect this time so he had to do it the hard way.
The spell had three times more connections than the Air Blast spell so it didn't go fast. Thanks to constant practice he could make the Air Blast spell structure in an instant, but he had to study the depiction of the Clear Water spell and make it with strands of his spirit energy one at a time.
He had a lot more practice with maintaining multiple strands, but he didn't know some of the sigils he had to form so he had multiple failures. Just before dawn, when he had the structure practiced enough to form it in a few seconds, he decided to stop and went up to the top deck.
Jack felt a little drained from all of the ordeals from yesterday, but his cultivation and a long habit of little sleep kept him alert at all times.
The officer that gave him the Clear Water scroll came up to Jack when he saw him and led him to the Captain's cabin.
Once the officer knocked, Bei Kuaipo called Jack in and dismissed the officer.
In the cabin, Bei Kuaipo prepared numerous blank scrolls, a brush, a clay pitcher of water, an ink stick, and a grinding stone for Jack. His spirit energy shimmered around the items and held them all down on the table of the rocking ship.
Jack greeted Bei Kuaipo with a bow of respect, and only after he said "Take a seat." did Jack move to the chair in front of which the materials lay ready.
While looking at everything, Jack asked "Are you going to keep everything down like this while I write?"
Bei Kuaipo gave him a shrug and said "I had to improvise. It will only take a tiny bit of my attention and spirit energy to keep everything in order. You just have to use a bit more force and you will be able to move the things I pinned down."
Jack's brows rose in surprise as he grabbed the brush and tried to pick it up. Only after he started circulating spirit energy through his arm did he manage to hold the brush steady without Bei Kuaipo's spirit energy dragging it down.
He looked up at Bei Kuaipo and asked "How much time do I have?"
Bei Kuaipo glanced at the door for a second, before turning back to Jack and answering "I will inspect the ship until midday meal. If you do not finish by then, you can come back tomorrow morning." With that, Bei Kuaipo told Jack to get to work and walked out of the cabin.
Jack stared at the door for a few seconds, then back at the brush in his hand. He raised it up half a meter from the table and saw the thread of spirit energy that connected it to the table stretch with it. While he held it in the air, he looked under the table and didn't see any threads.
He chuckled as he looked at the table's legs and the floor as he thought 'Damned magic tricks.' After a couple of seconds, he stopped and reconsidered 'I guess it would be a pain to have spirit energy threads flying all over the place.'
With a sigh, he placed the brush down and started grinding his ink.
The hours dragged on as Jack filled out three scrolls by just explaining the concept with which the Air Blast spell launches the metal ball without using English. He just started describing the required measurements for the cylinder and metal balls when Bei Kuaipo returned to the cabin and started reading what he wrote.
He had a frown on his face when he read through them all, once he did; he picked up the first one again and started reading from the beginning. When he went through the scrolls for the third time, he finally had a light of understanding in his eyes.
Bei Kuaipo gave Jack an admiring look and asked "Are you sure that you do not want to go back with us? I can negotiate your fee with the Elders of the family for you. I am sure that we can guarantee the safety of you and your company by marrying one of the granddaughters of the Elders to you."
Jack looked at the strong cultivator with wide open eyes and didn't know what to say from the surprise he felt. He blinked his eyes a few times and changed his expression into a more normal one as he stood up, gave a respectful bow, and answered "My most sincere apologies Captain, but I prefer to live a free life. These few scribbles I put down on paper are nothing special where I come from. I will not hesitate to write down all of my knowledge on the subject, but I have to refuse your kind offer."
Bei Kuaipo looked at him for a few seconds, before he shook his head and sighed. He used his spirit energy to store the writing materials back into his Star Bag and said "Very well, I shall honor my deal." After storing the materials, he looked up at Jack and added "I have always heard that the best cultivators do not let themselves get tied down to one place. You can go now and return tomorrow morning."
Jack thanked Bei Kuaipo for understanding and left the cabin.
He saw old Long on the top deck and joined him for a few minutes of observing the churning white water, and then went back down to join his men.
After a simple meal, Jack continued his studies of the Clear Water spell.
He felt secure in his knowledge of the spell's structure so he started learning the new sigils that he didn't know. Unlike what he had with the stolen library, he only had small depictions and short descriptions of all the sigils used.
They spanned from the ones that Jack knew, like the ever-present connecting and severing sigils, and the more rare ones like compression and shape, to ones he saw for the first time like separation and attraction.
It annoyed Jack that the White River family spent most of the space of the scroll to praise their ancestors and their forethought, and only took a third to describe the actual usage of the sigils.
Some of the praise contained little descriptions of the intent needed for the spell, but most of it just droned on about the White River family.
Jack didn't dare to use the spell without knowing more so he had to contain his curiosity and get some sleep after studying long into the night.
When dawn came he returned to the Captain's cabin and resumed his work. Just as he started drawing the required shape of the Air Blast spell needed for the usage of the cylinder, he heard Bei Kuaipo's voice in his ear say "Quickly, store the materials."
With that, the hold Bei Kuaipo's spirit energy had on the things on the table disappeared and they started to tilt to the side with the waves.
Jack had to push his speed as much as he could to catch the ink and shove it in his Star Bag before it spilled. In the next few seconds, he stored the rest of the materials and rushed out of the cabin.
Outside, he saw Bei Kuaipo standing on the prow of the Unbreakable Fortress while he held a golden trident in his hands. The weapon had hundreds of tiny sigils etched on it and they all shone with soft golden light.
Before Jack could even frown, Bei Kuaipo's trident flew out of his grip and rushed into the raging waves of the White River in front of the ship.
A second later, Jack heard a muffled wail come from the area where the trident splashed into the water.
The trident flew back to Bei Kuaipo's arm, with bluish blood still clinging to its three tips.
Everyone on the ship stopped moving as they stared at the spot where the water turned a little blue. A couple of seconds later, a huge alligator-snake-like thing surfaced out of the River and roared at Bei Kuaipo.
It had a head that resembled an alligator, only it had four black eyes and smooth white skin. Its body looked like a snake, but it had a pair of short stubby legs around five meters underneath its head. A round wound bled a couple of meters below its head where Bei Kuaipo's trident took a chunk of it out and dyed it's two-meter diameter body blue.
The thing let out a warbling cry and charged at Bei Kuaipo.
The Unbreakable Fortress started shining as Bei Kuaipo raised the trident up into the air and screamed his defiance at the oncoming creature.
It opened its toothy maw and tried to swallow Bei Kuaipo whole.
Just as it came within a meter of Bei Kuaipo, a net of sigils formed around him and bounced the creature back like it slammed into a brick wall.
Bei Kuaipo used the creature's stunned state to jump up to its head and slammed his shining trident through its skull.
The creature shook a few times, and then its head started leaking blue blood from all of its orifices as it started sinking.
Bei Kuaipo jumped back to the prow of the Unbreakable Fortress and raised his bloody trident up high. The sailors cheered to his victory for a few seconds, and then went back to work.
Jack kept staring at the spectacle until he heard a voice in his ear say "It is fine now, you can go back to your writing. From time to time these Jing pests will bother us so be prepared to catch the writing materials when I need to focus my spirit energy on repelling them."
With a nod of acknowledgment, Jack just turned around and went back to the Captain's cabin. He decided to close himself up and ignore the crazy world outside of the door for the next few hours.
