Cultivating Civilization - Chapter 82

Jack spent the next couple of days writing down the details on how to use his weapon, while the Jing alligator-snake creatures kept interrupting him. After the third time, he stopped going out of the cabin and just waited for Bei Kuaipo to inform him that he could continue.

When he had free time he would go up to the top deck and talk to some of the sailors to try and get tips for the Clear Water spell. They would talk for hours if anyone cared to listen, but they didn’t have much to add to what the scroll already said. Jack could only curse their blind faith in their ancestors and stop asking.

The method of blind belief might work for them, but he needed to understand what the spell exactly did before he could grasp all of its parts.

After he finished writing down everything Bei Kuaipo wanted to know, he asked him if he could study how the sailors used the Clear Water spell to help him better understand it.

Bei Kuaipo lowered the last scroll that Jack made and sighed. He studied Jack’s face for a few seconds before he declared “I should kill you.”

A cold shiver went down Jack’s spine, but he kept his face calm and responded with “Not if you want to make sure that the information I wrote down works as promised. What if you have more questions and no one who could answer them to ask?”

Bei Kuaipo shrugged as he mused out loud “I could just abduct you.”

Jack returned his shrug with one of his own as he retorted “I could just kill myself.”

They stared at each other for several seconds, before Bei Kuaipo started chuckling and Jack gave a polite smile.

When Bei Kuaipo regained his calm demeanor, he asked “Why do you want to watch the sailors perform the Clear Water spell? You have the scroll already; it explains everything you need to know.”

Jack looked at him for a couple of seconds, before deciding to tell the truth “I look at spells differently than you do.” He pointed at the spirit energy-pinned scrolls on the table and added “As you can clearly see.”

When Bei Kuaipo gave a nod, Jack continued “Where I come from we need to understand the spells much more. This makes them harder to learn and use, but when we do master them we can use them in more flexible ways.”

Bei Kuaipo’s brow furrowed as he asked “How would you make a water purifying spell any different?”

Jack gave him a shrug as he answered “I will not know until I start testing it out.”

Bei Kuaipo thought about it for a few seconds before he stated “You will share your discoveries with the White River family.”

Jack gave him a confident nod as he said “Of course, for a price.”

Bei Kuaipo chuckled as he agreed “For a fair price.” He leaned back in his chair and asked “You are going towards the Haechi Tribe in the direction of the moonrise, correct?”

Jack didn’t hesitate to confirm his statement as he said “Indeed, we are. I am sure that the White River family can find me there without issue.” On the inside, however, he felt cold as he never told Bei Kuaipo or anyone else onboard where they planned to go. He could only curse the damned ship for enabling Bei Kuaipo to spy on them.

‘I’ll have to tell everyone to use English from now on when discussing sensitive subjects. The rookies and non-combat personnel don’t know much, and old Long knows when to keep his mouth shut. I just hope that he didn’t overhear anything too dangerous, on the other hand, if he did I doubt he would be talking with me like this.’ Jack’s thoughts raced as he waited for Bei Kuaipo’s reply.

After a few seconds of thought, Bei Kuaipo nodded his head and said “Very well, I will allow you to watch my sailors when they perform the Clear Water spell.” He paused for a second and added “Just don’t get in their way or one of them might throw you into the River.”

Jack thanked him for his generosity and, after drinking one cup of the strange wine with Bei Kuaipo, left the Captain’s cabin to go back to his people and warn them.

In the next few days, all of the grade four cultivators managed to get used to the rolling of the ship so Jack allowed them to go to the top deck, but only two at a time and with either Jack or old Long accompanying them. Most of the grade three cultivators also got used to the ship, but they didn’t have permission to go out of the hold.

Jack spent every morning observing the sailors cast the Clear Water spell on the crew’s daily drinking water. They would fill a couple of metal barrels full with the white water from the River using metal buckets, and then a few of them would take turns to cast the spell until the water turned clear.

The Clear Water spell’s structure that the sailors made looked like a ball that had a small opening on the side pointed outwards. White River family sailors followed the instructions in the scroll exactly as they were written and made identical balls. Jack couldn’t see any deviation in any of the strands of spirit energy they used to construct it.

After they formed the spell over the barrel filled with white water, the spell would somehow draw out a viscous white liquid from the barrel and trap it in the spell’s structure. Once the structure filled out with the viscous liquid, the sailor would go to the side of the ship and stop using the spell, making the liquid fall back into the River.

The sailors didn’t mind Jack observing them, and a few even bragged about how they could get a bucket of water safe for drinking faster than their friends could. When Jack asked them why the white water wasn’t safe to drink, they only gave him shrugs and blank stares. They accepted the fact that their ancestors told them the truth and just left it at that.

On the seventh day of the journey, Xian Kuotian managed to break through to the fourth grade of Spirit Accumulation and Jack led him up to the top deck for the first time to celebrate.

“This must be the fellow that just broke through?” The young man that traveled with them on the ship said as he turned towards Xian Kuotian and exclaimed “Congratulations!”

Jack and old Long spent time chatting with the young man and his attendants on the top deck from time to time, but most of the time they stayed in their quarters and kept to themselves. The man with the higher cultivation than them all didn’t come out of his room ever since the first day.

Xian Kuotian thanked the young man with a polite bow and enjoyed the feeling of fresh air on his skin. Jack allowed him to stay on the top deck for as long as he wished for the day; he left old Long with him as old Long didn’t mind watching the waves roll around the ship the entire time.

After he observed the sailors purify the water on the tenth day of the voyage, Jack decided that he couldn’t learn anything else from them. He asked one of the sailors to lend him a metal bucket and got some White River water for himself.

The few sailors he got friendly with leaned on the railing to the side and watched his attempt with smirks on their faces. In their experience, people needed at least a month of practice to get the Clear Water spell to work.

Jack formed the spell’s structure in a few seconds and connected the last strand of spirit energy to it for the first time. As soon as he did, he felt a third of his spirit energy drained out of him in a second. He didn’t know what happened, but a glob of white viscous liquid jumped out of the bucket and entered the spell’s structure.

When he looked down at the gathered liquid in surprise, another third of his spirit energy got sucked out of him. At the same time, Bei Kuaipo’s voice rang out with “What is going on?!” over the entire ship.

The sailors that watched Jack lost their smirks as they glanced over the railing and saw white viscous liquid climbing up the ship’s hull.

Jack didn’t yet know what he did, but he knew something went wrong, so just as the spell started sucking out the last third of his spirit energy, he forced the flow to stop and watched the white liquid splash back into the bucket of clear water.

He took a few deep breaths and stared down as the clear water turned white again in a couple of seconds. With a thoughtful face, he looked up at the strange expressions of the sailors.

Before he could ask them anything, Bei Kuaipo’s voice growled from behind him “What did you do?”

Jack looked back at him with confusion swirling in his eyes and asked “What?”

Five minutes later, after the sailors explained what happened, Bei Kuaipo laughed in Jack’s face as he roared “I never imagined that you would try to purify the whole White River on your first try!”

Jack felt his face heat up as he grumbled “I think that the effect only spread to a small area around me.”

Bei Kuaipo shook his head as he still chuckled for a few seconds before he slapped Jack on the shoulder and said “It was a decent attempt.” His face turned serious soon after as he continued “Even so, I cannot permit you to continue your practice while you sail on my ship.”

Jack’s eyes went wide in shock as he almost stumbled from the slap and asked “Why not?”

Bei Kuaipo gestured towards the vast White River and said “Many powerful beasts live in the White River’s depths. They usually ignore us, but if we make too large a stir with the River they will come after us. I cannot afford to waste the ship’s spirit energy on fighting them off.”

After a few seconds, Jack could only give a reluctant nod and stick to only theorizing on how he could improve the Clear Water spell.

On the eleventh day of the journey, they met the smaller ships that went on ahead of them on their way back. The Captains provided the sailors and passengers a free show as they used their tridents to fly up into the sky and had a short conversation with each other.

Jack could only give them an envious look as his anticipation for the time he could do something like that increased.

On the twelfth day, the sailors spotted land and everyone that could went up to the top deck to stare. A vast barren slab of flat land greeted them. After a few minutes of disappointment, most people went back down to their quarters.

Finally, on the morning of the thirteenth day, Jack found out that they spotted their destination during the night. When a sailor he knew pointed it out, Jack could only chide himself for expecting anything more.

Mud huts and houses greeted him in the morning sunlight. The sailor on his side chuckled at his expression and declared “That is the famous Tribal Assembly. Is it everything you hoped it would be?”

When Jack gave him an annoyed look, he just laughed harder and walked away.

‘Maybe it’s better this way. I doubt I would have much success if they had a grand city built on this side too.’ Jack thought as his scowl slowly turned into an optimistic smile.