Book 4, Chapter 16: Surging Tide

The sea breeze howled on the cliff. Occasionally, seagulls flew by. Waves surged underneath and crashed nonstop against the rocks.

Talu’s voice was clear when she told Chen Chuan about the school’s past. Even when she talked about how it fell into decline, she remained spirited and unbothered by it.

“Before the fight, we had already lost our gap for decades, and we can only master one of our unique secret techniques inside a gap. The fistmaster had hoped to defeat the sabermaster from Serene Radiance School and merge the two schools into one.

“Yeah, he didn’t have a pure motive.

“Later, after learning that our gap disappeared, Serene Radiance School didn’t do anything else. We had lost our value to them.

“But things have changed recently. Due to the strange occurrences caused by the gap, Serene Radiance School disciples have shown up, and Gan Guo thinks that they just might do something.

“I’ve been focused on practicing martial arts and don’t really know these things, but I trust Gan Guo. He studied abroad when he was young and served as the assistant to the state affairs advisor, so he’s very insightful.

“He told me that Serene Radiance School should have had plans for us ever since noticing the strange occurrences here, but stayed put because of Ferris Wheel. If they had taken any action back then, Ferris Wheel would have used Windforest School and Fierce Wave School to put pressure on them and make them give up on their spoils.

“Those two schools don’t want Serene Radiance School to get stronger and cause the balance to tilt. That’s why, if they had attacked us back then, they might have ended up with nothing in the end.

“But now, things have changed. Ferris Wheel has collapsed, and the Great Shun Republic’s Ocean Development Corporation and Azure Dragon are busy chasing down the Linacrox Union’s forces of power to take over Ferris Wheel’s remaining assets. They also want to increase their control over the island nations. Once they’re done, they’ll monitor the sabermasters of the three schools closely and not let them do anything.

“Gan Guo tells me that this is a chance for Serene Radiance School, because all the forces of power that can hold them back are too busy to do so. Meanwhile, Yejian Hong—their current eldest disciple—is very powerful. Gan Guo says that he’s likely to use this chance to see whether we’ve actually rediscovered our gap. If he finds it, his school is going to attack us without hesitation.”

Talu turned to Chen Chuan and said seriously, “I said all of this to tell you that you might run into trouble while training in the gap. You need to be prepared before going inside.”

“Thank you for telling me, Talu,” Chen Chuan thanked her with a nod.

Before coming here, Zhuan Liang had told him that the situation of this particular gap was quite complicated and that it might not remain in existence for much longer.

That made sense. After all, whoever ended up in control of the area wasn’t going to let Single Flow School continue possessing the gap.

It was also against the rules of the purity faction to send a martial arts master to stand guard over the gap. While the countries and companies acknowledged the gaps belonging to schools still in existence from the old era, they didn’t let other people occupy them. Otherwise, everyone would do that.

While staring at the waves under his feet, Chen Chuan said, “Since I’ve come here to train, getting rid of distractions is also part of my training. Besides, we’re both part of the purity faction. If something comes up, I’ll face it with you right here.”

Talu grinned cheerily. “Thanks, brother!”

She pointed downward. “The gap is at the depths of the ocean, around four hundred meters below water. Even Third Limit martial artists can’t find it if they don’t know the exact location.

“You might end up causing a bit of a ruckus while training, so I would suggest familiarizing yourself with the place first and doing it at night. Then, come out before the sun comes up.”

Chen Chuan nodded.

He had learned the situation after coming here. While Single Flow School had offered the gap to the purity faction, they were still the ones in charge of managing it, likely due to the fact that they could only master one of their secret techniques in a gap. In other words, Single Flow School owned most of the rights to the place, so naturally, Chen Chuan would respect Talu’s suggestion.

Once Talu gave Chen Chuan the instructions, she said, “Come with me, Mr. Chen.”

Then, she took several steps forward and jumped. Like a white line, she plunged down. Approximately seventy meters later, she landed in the water with a light splash.

Chen Chuan took a look before jumping as well. While in midair, he spread his body and adjusted himself so that he entered the water head first.

Splash!

He continued downward with the momentum of his jump. Soon, he saw Talu and followed after her.

Since he had been trained by He Xiaoxing before, he started breathing with his skin in the water.

In the beginning, Talu kept turning back to check on him, but as they continued downward and she saw that he was showing no signs of discomfort but looked like he was right at home, her worries left.

None who joined the purity faction were mediocre. The few members she had received in the past were really strong as well, so Chen Chuan’s ease of moving in the water made sense to her.

***

When Chen Chuan and Talu jumped into the ocean, a fishing boat approached a small island near Mistlight Island. All of those who got off looked like native Oceanlanders.

They were dressed similarly to Mistlight Island locals, but due to them being buff and fierce-looking, there was a prominent air of bloodthirst about them.

This was the Surging Tide Squad from the Linacrox Union.

When Ferris Wheel was around, many mercenary groups and special forces from the Linacrox Union visited the island nations to destroy Azure Dragon and Ocean Development Corporation’s harbors and infrastructure, as well as assassinate executives and important members of the companies.

With Ferris Wheel’s protection, they could cause great damage, but once it collapsed, they suddenly found their environment having turned hostile.

Azure Dragon and Ocean Development Corporation found more time to eradicate them, while the informants and gangs who helped them in the past refused to aid them anymore.

The tides had turned against them almost overnight.

Because of it, they were forced to retreat from the main cities and hide on rural islands.

One of them took out a map and cast a glance at Mistlight Island. “Is this the place?”

Another took a look. “Yeah. That’s the place. I checked it with the inspection team last time.”

The Linacrox Union had sent inspection teams and technicians to all island nations and set up biology research labs of various sizes on them.

Last year, they had noticed that the marine life in the area, especially near Mistlight Island, had become vastly different from the other regions. Then, they heard that the place was filled with legends of sea monsters and that rumbling and tremors came from the seabed occasionally.

Most importantly, there was a martial arts school there. With these factors stacked together, they believed that there was a gap in the ocean.

Gaps were incredibly valuable, and stable gaps that had existed since the old era even more so. However, due to various reasons, the search was only ever approved on paper and never kicked off. After losing Ferris Wheel’s support, the search for the gap became a pipe dream.

However, after the Surging Tide Squad heard of the news, they acted as if they had struck gold.

Gaps were incredibly helpful to martial artists. This gap in particular might have been expanded and developed by multiple generations, which meant that the existences inside could highly likely be used by humans. If they could seize control over it, all of them could grow stronger.

Urtik, the Surging Tide Squad’s captain, turned to his squad members and said, “Azure Dragon and Ocean Development Corporation are after our heads, but our higher-ups want us to continue staying on the islands to harass and destroy infrastructure. This means that we’ve been abandoned and need to look out for ourselves.”

He sneered, and his squad members agreed.

As native Oceanlanders, they had never been trusted by the Linacrox Union. Not only did they get promoted slowly, but they were also treated as cannon fodder. They had to look for another way to survive.

Since there might be a gap here, they should find it and occupy the island. Then, they could draw in native Oceanlander squads from other places and develop their own independent power.

“I’ve asked around. There’s a martial arts school called Single Flow School here, but it has long since fallen into decline. The master is a Third Limit martial artist, and she might know where the gap is. We need to capture her alive and force her to tell us!” Urtik continued. His expression turned fierce, and he decided to dangle a tempting promise before his squad members.

“If we seize control of the place and I become a martial arts master, we can negotiate with whoever we want and make them acknowledge us!”

All the squad members became excited. This wasn’t an impossible dream, because Urtik was strong. While he was in his forties, he had the greatest potential among their generation to become a martial arts master. All he lacked was resources.

One of them asked, “When are we taking action, Captain?”

“That’s right. When are we doing it?”

“Patience. Strong winds come here in the middle of July, and they last for around ten days. All communications in the area are interrupted. We should attack when the wind will cover our tracks.

“Until then, we’ll investigate the place properly and get all the groundwork done.”

“It’s just one Third Limit martial artist. Do we really need to be this careful with all of us and you being here?” someone asked in puzzlement.

“The martial arts school has been around for years, so it definitely has a lot of connections,” Urtik said gravely. “There are also a lot of residents on the island. We won’t be able to subjugate them all. If one of them slips away and word gets out, we’ll be in trouble. We only have one chance.

“Let’s hire a few people to pretend to be tourists and sound out the island. Then, we’ll set up a detailed plan.”