Submerged in the cold, clear waters of the Azure Sea, I yield to the gentle currents as I ponder the mysteries of the universe. The sun shines brightly overhead on this fair Central morning, illuminating the waters for kilometres in all directions. Keeping close to the shore, a fleet of massive boats make their way in and out of Nan Ping with maximum efficiency, carrying soldiers and supplies from both northern and southern provinces to take part in this First Imperial Grand Conference. Dozens of meters below my feet, colourful reefs and mossy rocks dot the sea floor, covered in a light dusting of sandy soil brought here by the currents. Fish, crustaceans, and other sea life can be seen scrambling for cover from the horde of voracious quins swimming about, though it does them little good as the furry omnivores devour everything in their path. The younger quins follow in Ping Ping’s wake, entertaining themselves with all manner of aquatic acrobatics while the giant turtle soars through the currents, looking happy as a lipless, shelled lizard can.

While enjoying their antics and the stunning view of Nan Ping’s bay, I can’t help but wonder if I’m wasting my time. Originally, we ventured out to find the Spiritual Plant which almost lured Mama Bun to a watery grave, but after days of aimlessly floating around, we’ve yet to narrow down a general location. I’m not sure if it’s because Mama Bun is too easily distracted or because she’s just really, really dumb, but she seems physically unable to pick a direction and stick to it, moving from one side of the boat to the other in random fashion. Neither Taduk nor Guard Leader are willing to give up yet so Ping Ping, Guan Suo and I are all stuck along for the ride.

Needless to say, Ping Ping does not share my reservations. The big girl loves being out in the water and I can see why. On land, she’s a hulking, ponderous creature, and even though she’s more agile than she looks, it’s nothing compared to how she moves out here. A flick of her legs propels her through the water in a graceful display of sheer joy and wonder as she twists, flips, and spirals about, though how she shifts her bulk so easily is beyond my comprehension. Unable to match her speed, the quins tumble and somersault in the aftermath of her passing, helped along by Ping Ping’s invisible and effortless mastery over water.

Right... that’s why I’m here, to figure out how she manipulates water with Chi, not to quin-watch.

After days of intense study, I’m still no closer than I was when I started, though I am getting better at holding my breath-

-Fuck fuck fuck can’t breathe need air fuck.

Acutely aware of my burning lungs and light-headed dizziness, I feebly claw my way back to the surface. The rope connected to my makeshift harness goes slack and the weight drags me down, adding torturous fractions of a second to my sluggish climb and a frantic voice in my brain screams to cut myself loose from the restrictive harness. Resisting the urge to panic, scream, and give up, I commit to reaching the surface and nothing else as the world slowly dims around me. Upon reaching the surface, I gulp down a lungful of sweet, life-giving air and flip onto my back to steady my breath, feeling my head spin and heart pound as I try to stay calm and not think about how close I came to panic-drowning.

All is well and good until I think about breathing, then things go downhill from there.

Humans aren’t made for the sea, not like turtles, quins, and fishies. There’s no flailing of limbs or screaming and shouting when you’re about to drown; if your body is lacking in oxygen, all that would do is waste your strength. No, the instinctive response to drowning is to panic and flap your arms like a bird, so you can lift your nose and mouth up for air. Not exactly the most effective swimming technique but these are our survival instincts. If you’ve been deprived of air for as long as I was, your muscles are already working without oxygen and soon enough, your brain decides it’s time to shut down and conserve what little strength you still have, a life-saving mechanism which spells death even when just meters below the water’s surface.

Like I said, we’re not built for the sea. No matter how strong a swimmer you are, if you’re a human and stuck in the water, then you’re out of your element.

“Well done Rain my boy.” Taduk’s enthusiastic encouragement shakes me out of my post-panic self-review. “Nineteen minutes and twenty seven seconds, a new record!”

Still breathless and drained, I smile and offer a thumbs up in reply while dragging myself back to the skiff using my safety rope. Too busy smoking his pipe to lend a hand, Guan Suo fills the air around him with dense, lingering clouds of chalky, caustic smoke. Lazily holding the other end of the rope in two listless fingers, he pays no attention to my plight or dirty glares, instead staring off into the distance at the southern shore of the bay. This old dude has problems; he dresses from head to toe in dirty rags but smokes from an absurdly extravagant polished-silver pipe, ornately carved with a plethora of adorable red pandas. About as thick as a thumb and longer than my arm, the long-stemmed pipe lends an air of mystery to the otherwise scruffy hidden expert, who holds it like a dignified nobleman who’s fallen on hard times and is trying to puff away his woes.

“Well?” Taduk asks, reaching over to pat my soggy hair, still treating me like an anxious child. Not that I’m complaining, it’s not the worst thing in the universe. “Any new developments?”

“Mm, nothing yet but I’m close, I think.” Feeling well enough to move, I sit up, bend my knees at ninety-degree angles, and rotate them in opposite timing to keep my upper body above the water’s surface. No one taught me this, and considering I named it the eggbeater kick but can’t really say what an eggbeater is, I’ve concluded that this is the first, personally useful piece of information I transmigrated with.

Woo. Success. I’m relevant!

“Come come, you know the drill my boy, speak your thoughts.”

Bored by Mama Bun’s lack of success, Taduk’s taken to helping me understand the mysteries of the Dao. Keeping with the spirit of the Bekhai, he never outright explains anything, only listening to my thought process and asking important questions to help steer me towards the correct answer. As much as I hate it when people respond to a question with a question, it’s actually kinda helpful now that I have some idea of what I’m doing.

Gathering my thoughts from this latest expedition, I paddle over to play with Mama Bun, who stands at the skiff’s side to stare deep into the water with her expressive blue eyes. Wearing a grumpy bunny frown, Mama Bun pounds her little paws and thumps her feet, utterly frustrated after days of failure. Visibly calming as my loving Aura envelopes her, she hops into my arms and I laugh as twenty kilos of hairy rabbit lands squarely on my chest to snuggle with me, the big dummy wholly trusting me to keep her safe in the water. We’ve come a long way since we first met and this floppy-eared bicorn bunny is now as affectionate as Aurie.

Leaning back to get Mama Bun’s belly wet and wash away the milky residue, I smile at my conflicted Teacher and say, “I was looking the different ways things move in the water. Quins sorta wiggle up and down from head to tail, while most fish shimmy from side to side and use their fins to steer. Ping Ping sort of glides through the water using her arms as giant oars and her tail as a rudder, but I think she cheats using Chi, which is why she’s so damned fast.”

“Yes, yes, and what does this tell you?”

Massaging Mama Bun’s chubby cheeks, I shrug and answer, “I dunno... Don’t upset the giant, water-manipulating turtle? She looks like she’s having tonnes of fun though, so I guess I’ve been forgiven.”

As if realizing we’re talking about her, Ping Ping’s beak pokes out right beside me, giving me a minor scare. With eager eyes locked onto my form, I get the feeling she’s waiting for something, though what I don’t know. Sorry big girl, no chi-infused water for you right now. I don’t think I can bind the Azure Sea.

...Or can I? Wouldn’t that be awesome?

“What else?” Taduk asks, patient and on task as always. “The turtle was only a part of your thoughts, no?”

“Hmm...” Paddling over to pat Ping Ping’s beak, the giant turtle snorts in delight and presses against me, sending me careening off into empty waters. Pondering over my oxygen-deprived musings, I come up empty and wait until Ping Ping brings me back around to the skiff before quipping, “That different creatures do things in different ways? Obvious much?”

Still spinning about, Ping Ping brings me away once again, so Taduk Sends, “True and true, but how does that apply to your specific situation? The Mother works in mysterious ways to enlighten us, it’s only a matter of comprehension.”

Awareness dawns on me as I consider the question and I fall silent and circle about, deep in thought. I’ve been super conflicted over an issue lately, namely the discrepancies between advice given by Tenjin and what I’ve read in Elder Ming’s journals. The former told me he doesn’t control fire but rather makes his Chi behave like fire, while the latter bonded actual water and controlled it with his Chi. Two opposing schools of thought and even though I tried both methods, neither one proved successful.

Maybe that’s what the Mother or the Heavens or whatever is trying to tell me: To each their own. I can’t swim like a fish or fly like a bird, so how can I copy Ping Ping or Elder Ming’s method of controlling water? I must find my own way along the Martial Path.

In fact, I’m starting to suspect ‘path’ is a misinterpretation on my part. Individually, that’s what the words Wu Dao (武道) mean, literally martial or military path, but there’s a deeper meaning to the word Dao. It could mean path, or way, or route, but in a more metaphysical sense, it translates loosely as a doctrine, principle, or even science, a general, loosely defined concept you learn only through experience. In even more abstract terms, the Dao can be considered the underlying natural order of the universe, an evident yet ineffable understanding of the underlying essence which makes up reality as we know it. The Dao symbolizes everything in the world and as Martial Warriors, we draw upon our experiences to seek enlightenment in the Dao.

None of which helps me in any way, shape, or form, but it’s worth pondering.

What is my Martial Path? Why do I seek strength? To survive. To protect those I love. To live life free and unfettered, doing as I please wherever I go. I used to think these were small dreams, but now I see how absurd they really are. To be beholden to no one, I must stand above everyone, else I will always be threatened by things like social constraints and military obligations. I fight the Defiled because if I don’t, they will raze the lands and turn the world into a waking nightmare. I bow before the Legate because if I don’t, he can have my life snuffed out with a wave of his fan, not to mention the lives of all those I hold dear. If I had strength, true strength, absolute strength, then they would have no choice but to bow before me, but I am nothing but a weak and powerless mortal in a world which venerates the strong and capable.

Having rested and played with Ping Ping for long enough, I give Mama Bun a kiss on the nose and bring her back in the skiff before submerging myself underwater once again to clear my mind and ponder the Dao of Water.

After several days of intense study, all I have to show for it are pruny fingers, but I am nothing if not persistent. Look on the bright side, if I had the Blessing of Fire or Lightning, I’d be setting myself on fire or flying a kite in a thunderstorm.

Besides... I can totally manipulate water. Waving my hand in a small circle, my frantic efforts are rewarded with a miniature cyclone of water. Deriving more pleasure than I should from the childish game, I press both palms together and squeeze hard, inwardly laughing as a jet of white water materializes from the pressure. Psh, who needs Chi? I’ll just become really ridiculously strong and muscle wizard my way through it. It won’t matter how I form a tidal wave as long as I can form one. All that’s left is to figure out how strong I gotta be to accomplish it and my Dao is set.

Muscle wizard, Ho! Dazzle my enemies with the glorious beauty of my athletic, well-oiled brawn, I will become Super Beefcake Rain. Dun dun dun daaaaaaaaa!

...

I think these repeated bouts of oxygen deprivation may have given me permanent brain damage.

Refocusing my attention on more pertinent matters, my stomach drops as I take in my surroundings. Suspended in perfect stillness, Ping Ping and the quins all face the same direction, off to the west behind me. For one long, second, the quins hold their positions and glare in challenge at some unseen threat, their playful twirls and relaxed smiles replaced by clenched claws and bared fangs. Then, as one, they scatter and flee, swimming with all speed towards the safety of land, though their eyes still glow with unbridled fury and naked rage.

Only Ping Ping remains behind as she moves to interpose herself between me and the threat, blocking my view with her body. Fear and curiosity drive me to dive below the titanic terrapin in hopes I might catch a glimpse of whatever sent the quins running.

Eyes going wide with terror, I immediately regret my decision.

Thankfully, I’m already underwater so no one will notice if I piss myself.

Off in the distance, an enormous, writhing mass of dark-grey shapes draws closer towards us, like a ball of nightmarish critters skittering all over each other. Shooting towards us like a bullet, the mass engulfs everything in its path as it grows ever larger in my sight. Every now and then, a small burst of movement and colour inside the mass draws my attention, though I’m at a loss to explain why my eyes are so drawn to it. After seeing it a few more times, my brain finally recognizes the tiny bursts of colour as blood and the movement as a feeding frenzy.

Holy shit. That’s a whole lot of carnivorous fishies.

Panic takes over as I race for the surface, aiming for the boat’s dark bottom to warn my teacher while cursing my stupidity for leaving both weapons with the cowardly Mafu. My ears pop and muscles ache as I make my way closer, painfully slow compared to the encroaching horde of gnashing teeth and flailing fins. Close enough now to make out individual creatures, I calmly note the massive discrepancies in size among them, with the smallest about half the size of a quin and the largest easily exceeding Ping Ping in girth and length. Despite this, they all share the same basic physical characteristics, long, sleek bodies with forward facing eyes and sharp, cutting fins on three sides. Moving in an undulating side to side motion which lets them swim at ridiculous speeds, their distinctive dorsal fin is like the sail on a ship, a warning to those in their path. Combine this with their giant mouths filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth, and what I presume to be thick, bite-resistant skin, I easily identify the creatures despite never having seen one in this life, but my mind refuses to accept the obvious conclusion.

I mean... In what hell-hole of a world do dozens of giant fucking sharks have to work together? C’mon! That’s not even fair!

The dark mass stretches out as the forerunners race towards their next meal. Still long seconds from the boat and relative safety, I might as well be kilometres away as my vision fills with the sight of a gaping, cavernous maw and glittering teeth. A powerful spray of water blinds me and my harness digs into my skin, forcing the remaining air out of my lungs. When my vision clears I see a rapidly shrinking shark as I’m pulled to safety, its tail firmly clamped between Ping Ping’s beak. With a twist of her neck, the turtle rips the shark in half and sends the upper half into a spinning frenzy of motion. A mist of impossibly bright-red blood billows out from the dead shark as Ping Ping rockets backwards, her arms and legs tucked as best she can to guard against her toothy foes, the last sight I see of her before bursting out of the water.

Landing neatly in the skiff, a hand reaches out to steady me as I gasp for air and choke out, “Ping Ping. Trouble.”

Stepping off of the skiff, Guan Suo immediately sinks out of sight. Wrapping an arm around my midriff, Taduk pays no mind to my sopping wet body and leaps tens of meters away, carrying me to safety even as a second shark rips the skiff to pieces. Impressive and herculean as the jump was, I fear for our safety as we soar through the air and back down to the water’s surface, knowing a frenzied school of starving sharks lays ready to tear us apart the moment we land.

“Stop wiggling about, Rain my boy,” Taduk says, his voice tinged with amusement as he steps on empty air and leaps back towards the scattered remains of our skiff. “I’m not as young as I once was and you’re much heavier than you used to be. Spare your aging teacher’s back and Lighten yourself a little, would you?”

Gaping like a fish on land, my eyes threaten to pop out of their sockets as Taduk hopscotches about in the air, carrying me under one arm and Mama Bun in the other. His words finally register and I reach for Balance on instinct, Lightening myself to less than half my orignal weight. “Good,” Taduk says while adjusting his grip around my hips. “Now, keep your hands and feet close my boy, I need to land for bit.”

Land? Where? We’re in the middle of the bay!

Before I can point out the obvious, Taduk descends upon a stray piece of wood which used to be part of our ship. In my downward-facing position, I’m treated to yet another front-row view of the insides of a shark's mouth as it surges up to devour the driftwood we’re standing on, but we’re already well and away when the jaws snap shut. Leaping even higher than before, we reach an astounding height of four or five stories high, and I pray we‘re high enough that the sharks can’t reach. Heart pumping with a mix of fear and adrenaline, I scream wordlessly at the ferocious predators lurking below us, revelling in my two near-death escapes in just as many minutes.

Nerves sufficiently calmed after a bout of wordless release, I ask, “How?”

Double-jumping in the air like it’s nothing, Taduk scoffs and replies, “Don’t you remember? Your illustrious teacher’s lineage belongs to that of the regal king of the skies, a Cloud Chaser Hare. For one such as I, this is no different from taking a stroll along the beach.”

Well... now I know how he made it to Yo Ling’s island and back so quickly. “Teacher,” I ask, trying my best not to hyperventilate or squirm, “Are you secretly strong?”

“Rain my boy, I am a Medical Saint. You think the title so easy to get? If it were, then why doesn’t that good-for-nothing Tokta have the title?” Even though I can’t see his face, I can hear the sneer in his voice, which fades as he sheepishly adds, “It’s not like I kept my skills hidden, you just never asked.”

Shelving the unimportant questions like why was I walking everywhere instead of taking the CCH express, I watch the battle unfold below us. Standing atop two broken wooden boards, Guard Leader proves herself a peak expert of the Bekhai as she skates across the surface in a less impressive yet still gravity-defying feat. Though unable to see how she attacks, clouds of shark blood bloom in her wake as she moves across the water, keeping to the outer perimeter as best she can. One particularly clever and enormous shark leaps into the air on a head-on collision course with Guard Leader, but the enigmatic warrior woman shows no fear as she charges headfirst into the abyss. My heart skips a beat as she disappears into the gaping maw, only to resume once more after she emerges out the other end in an explosion of blood and cartilage.

Holy hell... I can’t believe I once tried to fight her...

The darkening smog of blood obscures my vision as I desperately search for Ping Ping. The sweet turtle could have gotten away with the quins but she stayed behind to keep me safe. I’m sorry Ping Ping, I’ll never judge another animal by its looks again, you affectionate, radiant creature. Just shrink back into your shell and hide away until Guard Leader cleans things up. Fat lot of good Guan Suo is, the dude swims like a rock. He didn’t even have a weapon, what the fuck did he think he was gonna-

Without warning, a massive geyser of water and white clouds shoots out into the air and forces Taduk to leap away. Airborne bodies of sharks both dead and living fly out in all directions as the booming explosion literally shakes the earth around us. Blood and water rain down and once the ringing in my ears stills, so too does the surface of Nan Ping’s bay, calm and tranquil as can be. The muddled waters clear and all I can see are dozens of dead or dying creatures, be they sharks or fish, floating belly up to the water’s surface. Bringing me off to one side, Taduk exclaims, “Look my boy, no need to fret. Safe and sound as can be.”

At the bottom of the sea floor, Ping Ping’s shell sits flush against the dirt, protecting her exposed belly from the sharks' powerful jaws as she does her best impression of a rock. After peering about to make sure all is fine, Ping Ping shoots to the water’s surface and squeaks in delight, craning her neck to watch me as Taduk brings us down on her shell. Standing to one side with a disgruntled frown, Guan Suo repeatedly taps his pipe against his boot, grumbling the whole time about a clog and ruined leaves. Idly picking shark remains out of her clothes, Guard Leader barely looks any worse for wear as she joins us in silence while my teacher lays down on Ping Ping’s shell for a quick nap. Unperturbed as always, Mama Bun wanders around on her own to explore these new surroundings like a curious little child.

Traumatized and overwhelmed by recent events, I plop down on Ping Ping’s shell and stroke the closest spike as she brings us back to shore. “Good girl,” I mutter, unable to find any other words as Mama Bun hops into my lap. “Good girl.”

Judging by the strength displayed by the other three passengers with me, it appears like I have a long way to go before my life becomes unfettered and free.

Hmm... which would be easier: creating an explosive powerful enough to destroy an entire province, or reaching the peak of Martial Strength?

Chapter Meme