Chapter Text
The person is doing his attack on his opponent. Some of his sword attacks successfully landed on his opponent. Sometimes he also uses a protective shield when his opponent doing an elemental attack to fight him.
The match is still going until someone shouts, “it’s over! The winner is Xie Yun!”
The said person releases his protective shield and kept his sword. He smiles at his opponent and gives him a handshake.
“As expected, your ability is really increasing now,” said someone to the boy named Xie Yun.
“It’s all because of your teaching, Master Chang,” said Xie Yun.
The person that Xie Yun called Master Chang or also well-known as Chen Chang Sheng just gives him a smile. “I only told you everything that I read from martial arts books. Also, my knowledge is still low, I think I’m still not suitable to be called a master.”
“He’s too humble, we all know that he’s the best in terms of knowledge among us,” said the person who become Xie Yun’s opponent, his name is Xuan Yuan, Chang Sheng’s friend.
“See? You are really suitable to be called our master,” said Xie Yun.
“Yeah, yeah, up to you then,” Chang Sheng finally gives up and smiles. “You guys go get some rest, I want to go out for a while.”
“Where are you going? Let me accompany you!” Xie Yun said.
“No. You just finished your practice, you better take a rest, I won’t be long,” Chang Sheng walks and grabs his cloth bag, then he bid his farewell to everyone in the practice hall.
“I wonder where he go,” Xie Yun commented, “I’m about to ask him for a walk.”
“Ah, it’s already the date,” Tang Tang, another Chang Sheng’s friend who is also a teacher in that house, comes up to Xie Yun and Xuan Yuan.
“You’re right!” Xuan Yuan added.
“What date?” Xie Yun stares at them with a confused look.
“Today is the memorial date of Xu You Rong. Chang Sheng always comes to her grave to respect her on this day,” Tang Tang explains.
“It’s been years already, I even managed to let go of Luo Luo, but he still can’t open his heart after You Rong’s death,” Xuan Yuan commented.
“He must be really loved You Rong,” Xie Yun said.
“But it’s time to move on and continue his life, right? He can’t be like this forever. We all needed someone else to love,” said Tang Tang.
“That’s right,” Xie Yun agrees.
“Alright, let’s just hope that some miracle will happen and Chang Sheng could meet someone that he loved once again. For now, let’s just eat, my wife already made some delicious food for us,” Xuan Yuan grabs both Tang Tang and Xie Yun’s shoulders and takes both of them to his house which is located beside Chang Sheng’s house.
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Chang Sheng is still drowning in his own thoughts after putting the flowers and incense in front of You Rong’s grave.
He realized that it’s been several years after You Rong’s death, yet he’s still the only one between the three that doesn’t have a couple. Both Xuan Yuan and Tang Tang already move on and married other women after losing their loved ones.
Chang Sheng let out a sigh. It’s not that he doesn’t want to try, but he’s just afraid that it will not end well if he falls for another person. There’s something that he never tells anyone about the real reason why he didn’t want to fall in love.
Chang Sheng stares at his hand. There’s a faint blue line right on his wrist. That’s the remnants of what happened between him and You Rong that day.
The blue line reminds him of his ultimate failure because he can’t protect the only person that he loved which leads to a curse that he has to carry for the rest of his life.
Chang Sheng doesn’t realize that his existence in that place is already being watched and as soon as he walks away from that place, someone suddenly smothers him and takes him away.
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In another place, a group of people walks down from the huge ship and walks toward a deserted village near the beach.
“It seems like there are no locals living in this place, are you sure we’re going to take a rest in here?” Ji Chong asked to Hae Rang.
“I’m sure. Some parts of our ship are damaged because of yesterday’s huge storm. It will take some time to repair all those parts. Also if there’s no one who lived here, it will be good because we can take a comfortable rest in here.”
“Who knows, the locals might go because this village is haunted,” Moo Chi commented.
“If you’re afraid of ghosts, then just go and stay on the ship,” Hae Rang replies.
“Huh? Afraid? I'm never afraid of anything! It’s the otherwise, those ghosts who are supposed to be afraid of me!” like usual, Moo Chi is always proud of himself.
“There are several houses and rooms that we could use to stay for a while, I suggest we should just spread up and choose our own place to stay,” said Ah Gwi.
“Okay, but don’t spread out too far, we still need to be careful, there might be a thief or bad guys aiming at us,” Hae Rang told everyone and everyone obeyed her words.
“You will stay beside me, right?” Hae Geum asks, but not to Han Goong, she asks those words to Ji Chong.
“Of course, but I also need to stay near Captain Hae,” Ji Chong replies.
“That’s good, I will be more relaxed if you’re beside me,” Hae Geum holds Ji Chong’s arms and smiles happily. She walks past Han Goong while still holding Ji Chong’s arms and smiling at him.
“After what you did to her, she chooses to be closer to someone else that easily,” Moo Chi commented as he stands beside Han Goong.
Han Goong doesn’t say anything to reply Moo Chi’s words. Instead, he chooses to go to a house on the side of the hill.
The empty house is quite big, there are several rooms and it seems like it also has an underground cellar. The house is located around two houses beside Hae Rang’s, so he could still guard his captain from this place.
About what happened between him and Hae Geum, of course, Han Goong is quite upset. It will be a lie if he said that he’s not mad or upset about it. After Ji Chong joins their pirate crew, Hae Geum is closer to him rather than to Han Goong. Sometimes Hae Geum will compliment him and even hug him until finally, Hae Geum said that she likes Ji Chong although Ji Chong didn’t say anything after her confession.
Ji Chong still being nice to Hae Geum after that and that makes Hae Geum like him even more.
Han Goong let out a sigh. After Hae Geum’s confession to Ji Chong, he also takes a distance toward Hae Geum. They rarely talk if it’s not about the situation on the ship. For Han Goong himself, this is his first heartbreak and he decided to not let love interfere with his task of guarding the captain and all of his crewmates.
Han Goong walks toward one of the rooms and decided to take a rest after seeing that Ji Chong already entered the house that is located right beside Hae Rang’s house. He’s about to close his eyes and lay on the bed but suddenly he hears someone’s groan and the sound of a chain. Han Goong raises his head. Trying to make sure that the sound is real and he’s not just dreaming. He just stays quiet until suddenly the groaning sound comes up again. This time he’s sure that there’s someone else in the house where he stays and he will try to figure out who is the person in the house.
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