Dragon's Soul: An End's Beginning

by Tony Tran

  “Ah, here is the room we prepared for these two young ladies.” Yan li said as he opened a door.

  The room that was prepared looked very simple but had all the necessities that one would need for a long voyage. A large comfy bed, a dresser, and a table was used to decorate the room.

  Yuying and Ai walked into the room and thanked Yan li.

  “Lad that will be your room right there down the hall.”

  “Oh you shouldn’t have. I going to stay with my two wives anyway.” Zhang said as he walked into the room where Yuying and Ai were.

  The two girls stared at Zhang after he had said that they were his wives. Dazed and confused, they did not say a word and simply just stared at him. However, Yuying was the first to snap out of the dazed state and walked up to Zhang and put her arms around his arm.

  “Yes there won’t be a need for another room, my husband will be staying with us.”

  “Is that so. Then I won’t be bothering you any longer. If you need anything, please come and find me or the captain. I bid you a good day.”

  After bidding Yan Li farewell, Zhang shut and latched the door.

  The instant the door closed Yuying grabbed Zhang’s collar.

  “What’s the big idea huh?!”

  “Wait wait wait”, Zhang whispered.

  Then he lifted his hand and a large bubble of essence was formed. Xin Tao taught Zhang how to create a separate space from the world around him using the Underworld Heart. In this space, sound would not be transmitted outside and made it a perfect place to talk when one did not want anyone to eavesdrop.

  Zhang gestured as he walked into the bubble. And soon Ai and Yuying followed into it.

  “I believe it would be best if all three of us stay in the same room. I don’t know why, but I don’t have a good feeling about the captain of this ship. He seems too willing to help. Although it might do him some injustice but we aren’t sure if this ship is safe for us to stay.”

  “Brother you could be right, it’s easier to deal with demonic beasts than it is to deal with people. At least you know a demonic beast is out to get you, unlike people who would greet you with a smile but are ready to slit your throat the second you turn your back toward them.”, Yuying said

  “If anyone asks, we are married and for our honeymoon, we had gone on a trip but ended up stranded at sea. But it is best not to talk much to these people, at least for now.”, Zhang added

  “Ok brother.”, Ai agreed.

  After the conversation, the bubble of essence disappeared. The trio began to make themselves at home in the room. The bed was big enough for all three of them to sleep on however, Zhang opted to lay the many furs they had on the ground and sleep there while the two girls slept on the bed.

  As a man, he would not allow them to sleep on the ground as he slept on a bed so this was the only solution. Well unless they let him sleep together, however that was not the case.

  Just when they had gotten themselves comfy a knock was heard coming from the other side of the door.

  “It is time for supper, come to the mess hall down the hall to the right.”, a voice said.

  Zhang, Yuying, and Ai had not experienced a true proper meal in months, so they were all excited and departed from the room for the mess hall very quickly.

  The ship's mess hall looked very much like a tavern. There were drunk sailors singing and dancing while the other sailors cheered. Although it was a merry environment, Zhang couldn’t help but feel vigilant. All the men in the mess hall gave him this weird feeling. They also all looked somewhat creepy.

  Also, because when Yuying and Ai had walked into the room, everyone’s eyes were glued onto them. Some of the men that were dancing on top of tables even tumbled down as they lost their footing due to not watching where they were stepping.

  The men on this ship had never seen two beauties that were this beautiful in their entire lives. And being on a ship consists of only men for months on end did not help at all. But now, in front of them was not one but two world class beauties that could make kingdoms go to war for them.

  How could they not stare? Some of them looked like hungry wolves who was seeing a pair of lambs in front of them.

  Lips were licked, and a few couldn’t walk with their backs straight.

  Zhang seeing this put his arms around the waists of Yuying and Ai. After doing so, he walked with them to where the food was being distributed.

  When he walked down the rows of tables many hateful glares were locked onto Zhang. However, it would be better for the sailors to hate him than to start hitting on the girls.

  The trio were guests on this ship, and Zhang did not want to hurt anyone for being impolite to Yuying or Ai. By showing that they were his, a majority of the sailors would back off and would not come looking for trouble.

  After getting a couple dishes, the trio picked an empty table in a corner to have their meal. Yuying and Ai’s faces had hint of pink on them thanks to Zhang.

  Before they could start their meal a sailor walked up their table. The man looked around 30 to 40 years old. He had a long black beard, a mustache and stood two heads higher than the rest of the sailors. Various scars could be seen etched on his boulder like arms.

  “Why don’t you two ladies ditch that boy and come eat with a real man. And maybe after, papa can show you a good time.”, the man said with a grin on his face.

  However, his words were completely ignored. The trio began eating and did not even pay attention to him.

  “Yuying say ahhh.”, Zhang said as he picked up some food with his chopsticks and guided it in front of Yuying’s mouth.

  Yuying’s face became as red as a beet but she opened her mouth and allowed him to feed her.

  “You too Ai.”, Zhang said with a smile

  “Oo-okay.”, Ai said while opening her mouth.

  The bearded giant of a man seeing this became irritated and slammed his first into the table causing a loud bang sound.

  “Please go away I’m trying to enjoy a meal with my two very very beautiful wives.”, ( >:D ) Zhang sneered at the man.

  However, the man was not going to have any of it and with a twist of his hands, he flipped the table that the trio was using to eat dinner.

  Food had scattered everywhere on the floor creating a huge mess. Pieces of plates and dishes were also scattered everywhere on the ground.

  “Hey kid if you want dinner so bad why don’t you eat it off the ground!! Maybe if you did daddy will let you off. Oh yea I’ll be having a bit of fun with these two beauties later in my room too if you don’t mind. Hahahaha.”, the bearded man said in a menacing voice.

  “What did you say? I’m sorry I can’t understand dogs who only knows how to bark!”, Zhang said while glaring at the man.

  “Still playing the tough guy aren’t you? Let me teach you a lesson and then we’ll see who’s the tough guy around here!”, the bearded man said as he charged at Zhang.

  “You two step to the side and enjoy the show.”, Zhang said to Yuying and Ai and he also charged towards the man.

  He was not sure how high the man’s cultivation was but he was fairly confident that as long as the man was not a level 8 or above, he would be completely fine. Even if the man was a level 8 practitioner, he wouldn’t be caught dead on this ship.

  That was because those who had reached level 8 would almost all be recruited by the kingdoms or empires they were a part of. Level 8 practitioners would be made into commander in armies or recruited to schools to teach and train disciples. There would be no way they’d be on a ship in the middle of nowhere dressed in shabby looking clothes and picking a fight with a someone of Zhang’s age.

  The man swung his fists wildly at Zhang, who was able to dodge them all. In retaliation to the man’s fists, Zhang began jabbing the man with his fingers at various pressure points and meridians.

  His memories from his previous life helped him know where all the pressure points on a human’s body was. Paired with the knowledge with his c
urrent life about cultivation, he was able to temporarily seal a person’s meridians cutting off their essence supply in their body.

  After a few jabs from Zhang, the man could be seen getting weaker and weaker. His punches did not possess the power they had earlier and he began to grow sluggish.

  The bearded man started to breathe heavily and as if he was sapped of all his strength, he fell over and slammed his body onto the floor with a hard thump.

  Everyone in the room was stunned. A man who was three time bigger than his opponent was lying almost lifeless on the ground while his opponent didn’t even have a scratch.

  “Hmph only possessing that much power and you dare to come looking for trouble?”, Zhang said as he stepped over the man’s body and back toward where the food had been distributed.

  Zhang once again took some food and began walking back to where Yuying and Ai were.

  “Let’s go and eat in our room, else another dog might come and try to bite us.”, he said as he began walking towards the hallway.

  But as Zhang was walking out of the room, he felt a cold presence watching him from afar. However, when he turned back to look he could not tell where this presence was so he began walking once more.

  Once the trio had returned to their room, Zhang used the Underworld Heart to seal the door. The door would become one with the wall and wouldn’t be able to be opened.

  This was a precaution in case any unwanted visitors were to come in at night. One could never be too safe, especially in a ship in the middle of the sea with a group of strangers.

  The trio began eating their meal and chatting among themselves late into the night until Yuying and Ai had fallen asleep.

  Zhang however, would not go to sleep. He sat on the floor and began meditating, he channeled his essence and circulated it within his body. This was to strengthen his body by soaking it with essence.

  As Zhang sat on the floor meditating, he heard what seemed like people running around in the hallway. At first, it was only one or two people but soon Zhang would not be able to tell how many people were running around in the alleyway.

  However, after a while he could not hear anymore footsteps from the hallway.

  That was when the door to the room began shaking. Someone was trying to get into the room. Luckily Zhang was still awake and the door had been sealed or else who knows what could have happened.

  Zhang walked up to the door as it continued to shake. He then placed his hand on the door and released the seal.

  That was when the door shot open and a man charged into the room wielding a gleaming sword.

  The instant the man saw Zhang he swung his sword.

  Chapter 14: Cornered

  The man lunged at Zhang with sword in hand. However, before he could even get close to Zhang a blade suddenly entered through his back and ran straight through his heart. The man dropped his sword and used both hands to hold onto blade that was stabbed into him. Moments later, his legs buckled as he lost his strength and slumped onto the ground.

  Behind the man stood Jian Wei with bloodshot eyes and beside him was Yan Li together with a small group of men.

  “Quickly follow me!! We are being attacked!”, he yelled at Zhang.

  Without questioning him, Zhang woke up Yuying and Ai. The trio then followed Jian Wei out in the hallway.

  “Senior what exactly happened?”, Zhang asked.

  “Moments ago after the we had laid anchor, a fleet of ships came out of nowhere and encircled us. So far only one ship from that fleet had boarded ours. We must quickly rally as many men on board as we could and rebel them or we all die.”

  Upon reaching the deck of the ship one could see a mass hysteria of fighting was occurring. The sailors on the ship were fighting a desperate battle due to the enemies’ number of combatants.

  Yan Li grabbed a man who was running to join the battle.

  “What happened why are there so many more enemies!!!”, he yelled.

  “Sir four more enemy ships joined in on their raid and have boarded.”, the man said trying not to stutter.

  The sailors were outnumbered 1 to 4 and were fighting a losing battle. Not all of the enemies’ fleet had even joined the battle, there were roughly six more enemy ships a short distance away just watching.

  “All men fall back!!! Fall back into the lower deck and protect his majesty!!”, Yan Li yelled as he led Jian Wei and the trio back down into the lower deck.

  Slowly one by one the sailors gathered to where Yan Li was and began descending into the lower levels of the ship.

  “The ship had a total of 500 crewmembers if we can gather half of them down in the lower deck of the ship we might be able to hold out for a while.”, Jian Wei mumbled.

  Their group currently consisted of about 50 people in the front was Jian Wei, Yan Li and the trio, behind them was a mass of what seemed to be battle hardened veterans holding the rear. They were currently headed for the mess hall which was the biggest room on the ship. The plan was to enter and barricade themselves inside.

  “Once we reach the mess hell we should be a bit safe, if their objective is what I think it is then they wouldn’t dare to burn this ship.”, Jian Wei said as he led the group through the maze like interior of the ship. Zhang, Yuying and Ai had not said a word this entire time and simply followed.

  However, there was a lingering question in Zhang’s mind. It seemed that the sailors knew what the invaders wanted and that something most likely was on Jian Wei. The current best situation would be to blend into the crowd and not to stick out and if needed, he would grab Yuying and Ai and jump into the ocean.

  Although he couldn’t maintain it for long, Zhang could create a sphere of essence like before and submerge the trio into the sea. The sphere would separate them from the water and allow them to stay under for an extended period of time. Then all they needed to do would be to come back up the ship after everyone had left.

  But this plan would only be used as a last mean of survival because if they used it they’d most likely become stranded at sea once more.

  Once everyone was inside of the mess hall, chairs, tables and whatever else could be found was stacked up in front of the doors. Then rope was used to bind everything into place.

  All of the sailors took up positions around the door with swords and spears raised. Whoever got through the barricade would be met with a wall of blades.

  Due to the dire situation they were in, Zhang decided to use the Underworld Heart and reconstruct the doors to become one with the walls. He made it so the change was subtle that no one was able to see it. He did not want anyone else to know that he was in possession of the Underworld Heart.

  The Underworld Heart being one of the 7 treasures made it unwise to let others know that it’s in his possession. Even if it allowed him to escape harm now, there was a chance that some of the sailors would want it for themselves later.

  Soon cries could be heard outside of the door. Some stragglers were being viciously slaughtered as they tried to make their way to the mess hall.

  Sounds of pleas for mercy and begging was ignored by the invaders and everyone outside were killed and soon silence filled the hallway.

  Everyone in the mess hall had their nerves on end as they stood there in silence praying that no one came through those two doors.

  Suddenly a loud, BANG!!!, could be heard.

  When everyone looked to the direction where the noise had come from, they stared in disbelief. A middle-aged man with a goofy looking grin on his face was scratching his head. He had bumped into the counter and knocked over a bowl. Some of the other sailors wanted to walk over and punch him in the face.

  They were as tense as could be and could lose their lives any moment now and for this retard to startle them like that. However, before anyone could go and beat up the man another loud, BANG, could be heard. This time it was from the twin doors that lead into the mess hall.

  Soon afterward another BANG and another and another could be heard. After a whil
e they stopped and the room once more fell into silence.

  The some of the sailors had a slight smile hanging on their faces. They believed as long as the doors held they’d be safe.

  BOOOOOOOM!!!!

  One of the walls had blown up and pieces of wood were flying everywhere. Some unlucky souls were impaled by a few sharp pieces of wood. A few died almost instantly, while another few were laying on the ground rolling about in pain.

  One unlucky man had a piece of wood stuck in his eye, while another had a long piece of wood sticking out of his knee much like an arrow. Yes, he had what seemed like an arrow in his knee.