Voyage With The Pirate King

He wanted to join him but he was worried interfering now when it wasn't an emergency might screw things up so he could only stand by his side and take care of him.

Ji Yao on the other hand found himself in a dark space once more but this time they weren't any bright stars like before. It was just blank emptiness. While he was looking around in puzzlement he saw a familiar face, a face he had only seen once.

It was the old lady who came to his dreams before but this time she was sitting down in front of a table pouring out some tea like she was expecting him.

Her two long braids hung on the side of each of her ears and her grey hair flowed like a gentle waterfall shimmering under the moonlight.

The saffron coloured symbol on her forehead was still as eye-catching as before giving him a great sense of familiarity. "Sit," she said as she placed the pot of tea on the table before raising her head to look at him.

"If you came here to tell me to let go of Rui Fei then don't waste your time. It's not going to happen," he said before sitting down with his legs crossed. He placed his sheathed sword across his thigh under that woman's observant gaze.

With skinny wrinkled fingers, she reached over and picked up the hot cup of tea. Her hands were trembling the entire time but luckily the tea didn't spill over. She placed the cup in front of him as her gaze shifted from the sword.

"Why waste my energy trying to convince you when you have made up your mind? It's your mother you need to be worried about Ah-Yao," she said placing her elbows on the table leaning forward, "I am more worried about these keystones you have gathered and still gathering."

Her face was wrinkled but he could still see the relation between her and Qilin Hao. She was obviously related to him but who was she? "Do you know what would happen if your mother gets hold of those keystones?... You want your father back but if your plan fails and she gets her hands on them do you know what the result would be thereof?"

Ji Yao felt like he was being admonished by an elder as he sat there staring at the steam coming from the cup in front of him. He had never thought his plan would fail nor did he think of the consequences. But why did he have to sacrifice himself for others? Why did he have to be without a family to protect others? He was a pirate damnit not a hero.

"Your grandfather.... a man so vile that at the mere mention of his name something terrible happens to the person who had the balls to say it," she explained genuinely concerned for him, "if that man walks this land then life as you know it will surely end."

Sensing she wasn't getting through to him she leaned forward and gazed into his eyes before saying, "Don't you care? Don't you care about the people around you? Why not move on with your life? Why not take Rui Fei and continue venturing the sea like pirates should... Your father is in good hands, nothing bad would happen to him."

Ji Yao put his hands under the table as he clenched them into fists. He did believe every word she said but he also believed his plan would never fail. He had to get his father back..... it was his duty to bring the pirate king back home. He had to fulfil his duty.

"I can't remain lucid for much longer but do this old woman a favour and think carefully of what I said. Don't be impulsive and think like a selfless adult..... do you understand?"

Ji Yao didn't even have the opportunity to respond because she vanished on the spot leaving with her table, teapot and cups. The darkness mellowed and the stars he was meant to see finally showed themselves but he didn't move. Her words had cut deep into his soul leaving him sitting there seeming lost. While Ji Yao was questioning his decisions someone was visiting Qilin Hao.

In a spacious stone-walled room with furniture as white as snow but laced with gold patterns, Qilin Hao was asleep in the arms of her husband on the canopy bed. The serene atmosphere was suddenly disturbed when the curtains around the bed fluttered.

The breeze was anything but usual as it stirred up the curtains in a strange pattern. It kept blowing the lace curtain on Qilin Hao's side. The rest of the air remained motionless like what was happening beside Qilin Hao didn't influence the rest of the room.

The fluttering of the curtain abruptly stopped when Qilin Hao suddenly opened her eyes. When she turned her face to the side of the lace curtain she was just in time to see it fall gracefully back in position.

She immediately got up but the person cuddling her couldn't let her go easily despite being asleep like the dead. "Mhm..... where are you going?" he mumbled the question while tightening his hold on her waist.

"To the bathroom my love. I will be back soon," she coaxed him with a kiss before earning her freedom. But instead of going into the bathroom, she headed for the living room. She casually walked over to the decanter tray but instead of pouring alcohol, she poured a glass of water.

Behind her was the old woman that just spoke to Ji Yao but her posture was much more domineering than when she was speaking to Ji Yao.

"Give him back his father," she said causing Qilin Hao to pause for a moment before she placed down the pitcher of water. She turned around with a fake smile and said, "He is my husband and I deserve for once in my life to be happy. The dead surely never understand the desires of the living." She took a long sip of her water but her gaze remained fixed on the elderly woman.

"You know what he is been doing, right? If either you or him open that door you know what would happen. Will you be able to deal with the consequences," explained the older woman almost exploding in rage.

"Grandmother, even in death you are still nagging me. When I summoned an ancestral divine sense to forge a sword for Ji Yao I expected someone ten generations over to become Ya Ya's guardian but it ended up being you. Now I know why. It's because you still want to nag me. You won't rest easy unless you nag me to death.... Well, too late because I am dying already."

The swords forged by Qilin parents for their children weren't only durable and an all-round divine weapon but they were also given their divine sense by an ancestor summoned during the forging ceremony.

The divine sense would at most times not recall anything of their past life but if the conditions are conducive enough something like this would happen and they become lucid.