.
'I'm alive!' Zhao LanFeng thought with a flow of relief.
She woke up and immediately realized that she was tied up to a pole or boat.
The bright light assaulted her eyes, and she quickly squeezed them shut, as her memories rushed into her mind.
'That strange aura!' She began to mentally feel around for the dangerous aura that had attacked her in the restaurant, but there was no sign of it.
'What was it? Or who was it?' She wondered.
Still, she relaxed, satisfied that it was absent.
She continued some light meditation to check the internal state of her body, and the first thing she checked was an internal lotus seal, which disguised her as a man...
The thing was, everyone assumed that the Late Eastern Dragon had a son, but the opposite was the case.
Her name wasn't even Zhao LanFeng, but Zhao LanFen!
LanFen had two names from as far as she could remember, and though 'LanFeng' could also be considered too feminine for a man, it worked once people saw her face.
Once they realized that the 'man' was 'pretty faced and slight of build', they accepted the name as 'his' parent's sense of humor, and didn't look too closely!
Besides, her mother had raised her as a man, so everything from her speech, to her mannerisms, to her carriage, was manly!
In addition, she always wrapped her chest with thick, layers of rigid gauze, and even lightly padded her shoulders with more of it, which made her top region appear broader than it was.
The Lotus Seal had been a gift from her master, so no one would identify her as a woman by examining her wrists.
Martial artists got injured a lot, and a common habit was grabbing one's wrist to read their pulse, flow of blood, qi, breath and general vital health.
But any experienced cultivator would also be able to tell other basic things, like the essence of a person's core, or if they were male or female.
"LanFen, now that you want to become a martial artist, there's no way you wouldn't be discovered, so I will give you this seal." Her Master had said, as he performed several hand seals, which had formed a beautiful lotus-shaped seal.
"This seal will cause a disbalance in your natural Yin energy, making it resemble Yang.
"I also added a mild suggestion spell, which will make anyone around you assume you are male, once they think about it..."
After he was done, the seal had split in two, and then each half embedded themselves into her wrists.
The seals suggestion spell was what had affected Meng ZhuGuo, Lu FengHo, and the disciples, whenever they had wondered if she was a woman.
The spell was designed to make any 'doubter' feel like they were being ridiculous, and that LanFen was certainly a man, but her master had made the spell so mild and harmless, that it slipped under even the most guarded cultivator.
It wasn't too much to say, that without her master's seal, she would have been discovered long ago!
At present, LanFen sighed in relief.
'The Seal is intact!'
Now, she had to find a way to escape...
.
.
Being tied up in the middle of the sea, surrounded by enemies, wasn't something that LanFen would usually worry about.
But this time...
After checking her general condition, LanFen realized her spirit energy had been temporarily blocked. She could still feel her *Dantian in tact, but her meridians were blocked with a seal, so she couldn't mold any Qi.
*Dantian- Spirit Core/Golden Core/Cultivation core etc - An Inner core, believed to be somewhere behind the navel region, built and nourished by years of cultivation. Without it, the martial artist is thought to be useless.
The seal blocking her meridians wasn't too powerful, and she was already destroying it to regain her qi, but the process was too slow, and might take up to ten days!
As if that wasn't enough, they had also seized all her hidden talismans, taken her qiankun pouch, and then bound her with spirit-binding ropes, which slowed the process even further...
'Isn't this like 'binding a caged tiger'?! Did they have to go this far?!' She complained in her head.
But she grudgingly acknowledged that she would have escaped too easily, if they hadn't taken all these measures, so she sighed in temporary defeat, then opened her eyes again, drawing in a fresh, crisp breath of air.
She suddenly felt the irritating urge to spit, as the taste of stale blood filled her mouth, but she forced down the sensation, while quietly cursing her captor.
'That foul, 'surprise attack' specialist! I thought no one could be as shameless as I am!'
After swearing to give him a beating, if she ever got the chance, she finally looked around.
She noticed that her thick black outer cloak had been found draped over her, and her bamboo hat had been placed back on her head, so her top half was shielded from view.
This meant she could quietly study her surroundings, without alerting anyone, and she was grateful for it!
She looked around and recognised that they were on one of the larger seas in Xin Dao, precisely the Shio waters, which connected the East, North and Western regions in some places, but also linked to the vast ocean, which led to foreign lands.
The scenery around was immensely beautiful, with high walls of rock, decorated by snow and fog, and clear blue skies that seemed to defy the wintry air.
Next, LanFen turned her attention to the others on board, and she noted there were seven other people on the boat with her. Across from her was Meng ZhuGuo, who was still nursing his sore chest, and she wondered if she had hit him too hard.
'Still! How could he carelessly jump into a fight like that?! The bruise would be a reminder to never underestimate anyone else!'
Her eyes roamed, counting four disciples and one rower, who paddled using cultivation to speed up their journey.
Following their boat was another boat, and on it stood the two other cultivators, the remaining four disciples, and another rower, bringing their number to seven as well.
The cultivator she had defeated, seemed to have recovered from her attack, and he was in a lighthearted conversation.
But the one which caught LanFen's attention, was the person he was talking to.
The Leader. The one who had 'defeated' her.
'Handsome!' was LanFen's first thought, as her eyes appreciated his now exposed face. He was pale and fair, with a slim nose, and thin lips that somehow fit his tendency to give sharp responses.
He did have a natural scowl, which made him seem unapproachable, but with such a tall and handsome appearance, LanFen was willing to bet that ladies still chased after him anyway!
But at the moment, she had other worries. 'Tch! If I want to escape, this person will be the most dangerous obstacle!'
She was mentally plotting her next move, when her gaze dropped to his long, flowing robes.
The thicker outmost robes were night-blue, with a bold silver dragon embroidered to weave around it, and his inner robes were white...
But what pulled LanFen from her thoughts, were the outer robes. 'That symbol is...?'
The sea blue outer robes were patterned with white sweeping swirls, with the bottom and edges lined with embroidered swirls, and a rather familiar water symbol.
'The Shuǐ Clan?!' LanFen received a mild jolt, and her eyes darted to his hair, which was neatly held up in a fan-like bun at the top of his head, but LanFen was more interested in the silver hair accessory that held the bun in place, and she frowned, noting the intricate insignia on the accessory.
Her irises dropped to his chest, and she noticed he wore a small, beautiful jade pendant, which was in the shape of a water dragon.
Even if she didn't recognize the hair accessory, LanFen knew only one person with that particular necklace.
'Shuǐ ChénLín!' She concluded, and then she glanced around at the others, wondering why she hadn't noticed their robes before...
But then again, when so many clans began to chase after her, she had stopped trying to identify where they were from.
'What a small world.' She shook her head.
She had met Shuǐ ChénLín when she was seven, and now she understood why he was so surprised, when they had fought. 'He was probably wondering how I managed to cultivate.'
However, LanFen's memories of meeting Shuǐ ChénLín weren't exactly pleasant, and they had long lost their importance.
So she shut her eyes and turned to her own thoughts.
'How do I escape this place...?'