Book 3, Chapter 228: Fierce Wave

Book 3, Chapter 228: Fierce Wave

When Chen Chuan woke up on the sixth day of the New Year, he found that the memory medicine’s effects had kicked in again, as he had been relaxed over the past few days.

This time, he saw the woman with light brown hair again. She had her arms crossed while talking to someone else.

The man was obviously a company executive by the way he carried himself. He had a stern expression and seemed to be warning but also trying to persuade her.

Chen Chuan didn’t know where the place was, but it seemed like they were on some plank road. Red lanterns floated in the sky. Sometimes, Chen Chuan even heard fireworks being set off.

When he looked around in the dream, he wondered whether the memory was from the New Year. It would explain why it had resurfaced at this particular time.

His mother was leaning against the fence and ignoring them. She did occasionally hear the woman’s frustrated voice, though.

After a moment, the woman came storming over. The company executive looked like he wanted to chase after her, but his mother took a step forward and stood in his way. The man did not try to go forward again. Instead, he turned around and left.

His mother then started talking to the woman as they walked to the side of a cliff. Chen Chuan couldn’t recognize the place, but he did commit the name of the mountain to memory so that he could check after going back to Central City.

At that moment, their conversation caught his attention.

In the previous memories, the two women said many things to each other, but they never mentioned anything about their background. This time, the woman said that she wasn’t going to go back to the company.

Chen Chuan pondered over this. By the looks of it, she was some company’s executive, while his mother was her security guard. He wasn’t sure which company it was, though.

When he remembered the black card his parents had left for him, he had a feeling the two of them were related.

While Chen Chuan was thinking, he heard the occasional fireworks outside.

After taking a look outside the window, he got up. Instead of wasting energy guessing, he figured that he would get more clues as more memories resurfaced.

Once he got dressed, he went to take a shower. Since he was going to visit Cheng Zitong today, he had to leave early.

***

While the Great Shun Republic was celebrating the New Year, Gong Zhanxin, the successor of the royal family ruling over the island families, went to Two Coins Isle. Due to a request from Ferris Wheel, he was there to visit Fierce Wave School’s headquarters.

With a few retainers and Skyhigh Cult members following him, he walked into the school. Many disciples in martial arts uniform watched them.

An hour later, Gong Zhanxin walked out of the school and said to the Ferris Wheel representative waiting outside, “Master Fenghe said yes. He’s going to send Jiancheng Sheng. The boy is his favorite disciple of the current generation.”

The Ferris Wheel representative was skeptical. “Favorite? Shouldn’t he be sending his best?”

Zuo Gangying, Gong Zhanxin’s retainer, snapped at him. “Mind your words. The man standing before you is the successor of the Gong family and the one currently in charge of the family’s affairs.”

The company representative bowed. “Please forgive me. I meant no disrespect to you and your family.”

Gong Zhanxin didn’t mind. He remained as elegant as ever as he smiled and said, “You’re doing this for the sake of the company and for the well-being of the island nations. Our goal is the same.”

“Thank you for your understanding.”

“In the beginning, I also wanted Master Fenghe to send his best disciple,” Gong Zhanxin said.

“Why didn’t Master Fenghe agree to it?”

When Zuo Gangying glared again, the company representative apologized and bowed once more. “Please forgive me, Mr. Gong. I’m just a little worked up. The target this time is quite different. We’ve failed once, and we don’t want you to go through the trouble of visiting Fierce Wave School again.”

“Thank you for your consideration, but while we have some influence here, we don’t control Fierce Wave School completely. The school is willing to show us respect to fulfill its promise, but I can’t make any decisions in their place,” Gong Zhanxin said without reservation.

“You can’t make Master Fenghe change his mind?” the company representative asked after some thinking.

Gong Zhanxin shook his head.

“I understand. I’ll report to the company.” The company representative then left.

Zuo Gangying turned around with a hand on his saber. “Mr. Gong, that company representative was far too disrespectful. They’re the ones who need you to speak in their place, so how can they be so rude to you?”

Gong Zhanxin seemed to be taking this in stride. “Isn’t it obvious? If they really respected me, why would I need to come here because they asked me to?”

He then turned around to look at Fierce Wave School and said coolly, “Even the school is using the Gong family as their scapegoat. They’re not as loyal as they appear to be.”

Zuo Gangying hissed in anger, “These traitors...”

“You don’t understand, Gangying. All the island nation locals who managed to survive through the old era and are living good lives now have blemished reputations and shame on their backs. Even we are the same. Truly loyal people no longer exist,” Gong Zhanxin lamented with a sigh.

***

Once the Ferris Wheel representative returned to the ship at the harbor, he sent a telegram, and the headquarters soon received an update.

After careful analysis, they believed that Jiancheng Sheng would do just fine, because theoretically speaking, he was the best candidate Fierce Wave School could send right now.

Some of the older disciples of the school were either famous or had entered the merged space. The former would be closely monitored the moment they entered the Great Shun Republic, while the latter were tied down by missions, so they would have trouble trying to come back.

Jiancheng Sheng was different. He wasn’t famous, but not because he wasn’t strong. Ever since he made substantial progress as a martial artist at fourteen years old, he started challenging famous people all over the island nations with an alias. This was rare, because most island nation martial artists who wanted to become famous used everything at their disposal to reach their goals, including fighting using their own name.

In the beginning, Jiancheng Sheng lost every fight, but after he turned fifteen, he never lost again. Apparently, he rarely met his match even among his peers in the school. Ferris Wheel couldn’t even say that Fierce Wave School wasn’t treating them seriously by sending out this disciple.

A boy of around nineteen years old stood on a reef on Two Coins Isle’s beach. He held the saber by his waist as he watched the waves coming toward him.

His hair was tied into a topknot, and he wore traditional clothes from the old era. His blue robe fluttered in the wind, and his skin was quite rough. His fingers and hands were thick and wide, but there was a certain, eye-catching charm about his face. Determination was burning in his eyes, as if he could win against even the waves and make the tide turn through sheer force of will.

“Sheng, the master is asking for you.”

Jiancheng Sheng turned around and bowed to the retainer delivering the message before jumping down from the reef and walking back.

Fierce Wave School was built on a hill, and its people could hear the roaring waves every day. Two rows of trees with bright red blossoms were planted in front of the gate. As the petals fell, they scattered on the path like spilled blood.

A residential area was built at the base of the hill, right before the path upward. Next to it stood a huge stone with the words

Fierce Wave

carved on it. The words gave off a fearsome air, as if a fierce wave was about to crash into those who read it.

After passing the residential area, Jiancheng Sheng walked up the hill, went past the gate, and entered a corridor covered in wooden floorboards. Then, he reached the exhibition hall in the main building. The retainers lifted the bamboo curtain with bamboo sticks. Jiancheng Sheng removed his shoes and walked on the polished wooden floorboards until he reached the very front of the room. With a traditional bow, he said respectfully, “Master.”

A huge calligraphy scroll with the words

Listen to the thunder

written on it hung on the wall. Sitting under it was Fenghe Shou, the master of Fierce Wave School.

He was a thin man with hair so long that it spilled on the floor. However, he was incredibly tall, and even while seated, he was around two meters tall.

When Jiancheng Sheng stood before him, their size difference made Jiancheng Sheng look like a child.

“I wanted to send you to train at the merged space. You can only learn techniques of the next stage there, but we’ve made a promise to the Gong family: If someone from the main family asks us for help, we need to send an outstanding disciple to serve them,” Fenghe Shou said.

Jiancheng Sheng listened quietly.

“They need us to kill a martial artist from the Great Shun Republic, and I intend to send you to do it,” Fenghe Shou said.

“Aren’t your best disciples Senior Brother Bianyue and Senior Brother Sancheng?” Jiancheng Sheng asked calmly and modestly.

“They weren’t as accomplished as you when they were your age,” Fenghe Shou pointed out.

“But if the goal is to defeat an enemy, shouldn’t you send your best disciples?”

“Among the twenty-one martial arts schools that were established among the island nations during the old era, only three remain. Our strength isn’t the only reason why we’re one of them. It’s also because we know how to choose and make sacrifices.

“If I’m the school’s past, then your seniors are the school’s present, and you’re the future. I’m handing our future to the Gong family, which is the greatest show of the school’s faithfulness and loyalty.”

“I understand.” Jiancheng Sheng bowed deeply to Fenghe Shou.

“I’m allowing you to proclaim yourself as a disciple of Fierce Wave School when you’re there. If you make it back, you can carve your name on the stone behind the school. If you die, your name will be on the sacrifice monument in front of the school.”

Jiancheng Sheng looked up and said earnestly, “Please listen to the sounds of the future in the school, then. I will come back alive with the name of the school far more renowned than before.”

A retainer walked in with a pungent-smelling bowl of medicinal wine in her hands. She placed it in front of Jiancheng Sheng.

“Drink it,” Fenghe Shou ordered.

Without any hesitation, Jiancheng Sheng picked up the bowl and drank it all in one go. After just a moment, his body started growing numb all over.

When he swiped at his skin, he saw the calluses on his hands start peeling off. Even the coarse skin on his body and face peeled off layer by layer to reveal smooth, fair skin.

In just a short while, he became a beautiful teenage boy. This was how he was supposed to look, though he had become younger by a couple years.

The determined glint remained in his eyes, but even those close to him would have a hard time recognizing him now.

“The Great Shun Republic has never recorded your physiological data and you used an alias when you fought against people, but they could still figure out who you are or recognize you.

“I gave you the Fair Infant Wine, which Ferris Wheel gave to us. It can make your skin as smooth and tender as a newborn baby’s. You will now enter the Great Shun Republic while looking two years younger than you really are.

“You don’t need to bring anything with you. The people from Ferris Wheel will prepare everything for you. Just take your saber and the techniques I taught you.

“You can go now.”

“Goodbye, Master.”

Jiancheng Sheng bowed to Fenghe Shou respectfully before standing up. With his hand on the saber, he walked out. As he passed by the stone with the name of the school on it, someone called out to him. “Hey, kid.”

When he turned around, he saw a lame old man with messy hair and disheveled clothes standing behind him. He was Fierce Wave School’s guard. Jiancheng Sheng bowed to him. “Sir.”

“Reputation is something only the living care about. Come back alive. Don’t go dying out there,” the old man said.

Jiancheng Sheng didn’t give him an answer. He just bowed again before walking steadily to the ship anchored at the beach.