Kuang Bindun stumbled to the starboard railing and grabbed it with both hands. His legs shook from the rolling ship as he used all of his willpower to prevent the morning's breakfast from coming up.
The next second, Jack arrived at his side and said "Get ready to move, they're coming." as he raised his cylinder to his shoulder and aimed it towards the sky.
Kuang Bindun frowned at Jack in confusion, but then followed Jack's gaze up towards the sky, and the eight Kung that started their dive at him.
He blanched and tried to use Moon Step, but the rolling ship and his stomach disrupted the flow of his spirit energy and he could only grip tighter to the railing in despair.
Jack saw Kuang Bindun's attempt from the corner of his eye and moved a couple of steps to the right to stand in front of him.
He quickly scanned the deck and saw six sailors aiming their weapons at the diving Kung. A second later, they threw the weapons and Jack aimed his cylinder at one of the Kung that didn't get hit.
With a soft *thump*, Jack launched a metal ball with the Air Blast spell. The metal ball slanted down from where Jack aimed due to the rocking of the ship and struck the Kung under its right flying fin.
Two spurts of dark red, almost black, blood erupted from the large fish almost at the same time: one where the metal ball struck it, and one from its back.
That made the fish twist around the wound and veer off course.
Jack's brows rose in surprise when he saw how easily the metal ball went through the Kung, and he stopped his movement of returning the cylinder back to the Star Bag. Instead, he took it in both hands, spread his legs in a batting stance, started using the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique to strengthen his legs, and waited for the last fish to come from his right.
Half a second later, the four and a half meter monstrosity got to a couple of meters distance from him and opened its mouth as wide as it could.
When Jack saw that the tiny black eyes of the Kung got obstructed by its gaping maw, he pushed all the available spirit energy he could into his torso and arms and swung the Deep Water Iron cylinder with everything he had.
The cylinder smashed into the upper part of the Kung's mouth as it tried to bite into him. Its entire head got twisted to the side from the blow, but its momentum still continued and it slammed into Jack's torso.
Even with the help of the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique and the bolstering of spirit energy, Jack couldn't stop himself from rolling on the deck with the Kung.
It tried to clamp its deformed mouth around his head a couple of times, but Jack managed to use his cylinder as a bar to the movement of its head and dodged it. He earned a few scratches on his body from its shorter fins, but he learned that its slick body didn't have much strength in it to do much more harm than it already did after the initial dive. He only had to watch what it did with its teeth and he felt certain that he wouldn't get hurt.
After rolling on the deck several times, Jack managed to mount the Kung while he used his two legs to nail its wing-like fins to the deck. It tried to raise its body up to bite him, but with the two fins pinned down, it couldn't contort its body enough to do it.
Jack took a deep breath to steady himself as he watched the squirming Kung. He couldn't see any intelligence in the fish, only mad desire for destruction and murder. Even the Kui had more thoughts roaming around their dull eyes.
He sighed and took out a metal ball from his Star Bag. After a soft *thump* sounded out twice, the Kung lay dead on the deck. Only a few nerves fired off from time to time to make its body twitch.
Jack looked down at the mess of the Kung's blood, his own blood, the soft Kung body's slime, and the White River's water that gathered on his torn robe and sighed.
When he looked up, he saw the stunned faces of Kuang Bindun and old Long and the impressed faces of the young man and his two attendants. The rest of the sailors still fought the oncoming Kung, but Jack saw a few strange glances thrown his way.
Jack ignored the looks as he returned the cylinder back to his Star Bag and walked over to Kuang Bindun. He threw one of Kuang Bindun's arms over his shoulders and led his still shaking friend back to the hole for the lower deck.
When he passed old Long he didn't say anything, but he gave him a look that said "Thanks for the help." Old Long didn't look too concerned with the look, but Jack could see a hint of shame in his eyes.
The young man that accompanied them on the deck turned to old Long and said "Your man did a good job out there, too bad that the Kung do not cost anything. They are pretty much useless except for target practice." He glanced at the sickly Kuang Bindun and added "I would get rid of that one, though."
Old Long nodded his head and thanked him for his advice before he followed after Jack down into the hole.
Just as Jack started walking down the stairs, he heard a voice in his ear say "Come to my cabin tonight." He stopped moving for a second, and then continued as he recognized the voice of the commanding officer of the Unbreakable Fortress. On the way down he kept repeating 'S*it, s*it, s*it...' in his head.
When they entered their quarters in the ship's cargo hold, a wave of vomit-smelling air smacked Jack straight to the face. Accompanying it, moans and soft sobs added to the atmosphere of gloom in the dark space.
Jack took a step back when he saw Kuang Bindun start swallowing, and got clear just in time before he vomited to the side of the hold. He cursed and took out the Light Orb out of his Star Bag.
The light illuminated the pale faces of the Immortals' Lament and the other passengers. Some of the other passengers looked like they took the rolling of the ship without much issue, but a lot of them looked sick. Whether from the ship or from the smell, Jack had no idea.
He looked over his men and saw that most of the cultivators still looked fine, they had a bit paler complexion, but they held on. In comparison to them, all of the normal people looked sick. Jack figured that Kuang Bindun only got sick because he went up to get him for help.
With a deep breath, Jack entered the hold and started helping his people out. Old Long suggested renting a room when he got Jack away from the rest of the group for a few seconds, but Jack just stared at him and ordered him to take out the water he saved up and go help their men.
After a few hours of taking care of the sick, Jack had a quick meal of dried meat and bread, changed his dirty clothes, and tried to read something. An hour later, when he decided that he couldn't take the moans and smell anymore, he stood up and walked back to the top deck.
Old Long had long ago gone up on his own, and Jack forbade everyone else from going up until they felt certain that they could stand the movement of the ship.
When he got up to the top deck, Jack took in a deep breath of fresh air and let out a long sigh of relief. He looked around the deck and saw the sailors washing the dark blood of the Kung away into the White River.
On the port side of the ship, old Long stood alone and watched the churning river. Jack started walking over to him and wondered at the golden material that the White River family used. He couldn't feel his foot slip even for a bit on the wet surface.
Old Long gave him a nod of greeting and continued his study of the waves as he said "I never knew that a river could grow this vast." He turned to look at Jack and continued with a chuckle "Our Tranquil Lake now looks more like a Tranquil Puddle."
Jack nodded his head in agreement and said "We would call this a sea back where I come from. I have no idea how large the source of all of this strange water must be."
Old Long just shook his head in wonder and continued to study the waves.
Jack looked back towards the East, and could still see the silhouette of the White River Outpost in the distance. He did some quick estimations of their distance traveled and concluded that the Unbreakable Fortress could only travel between thirty and forty kilometers per day in the rough waters of the White River. Taking that and the thirteen days that the bald sailor told them the trip would take into consideration, he could only wonder at how this enormous river was created.
After a couple of hours of standing around the top deck and wasting time, Jack and old Long went back down to the hold and spent some time with the Immortals' Lament.
The stink and condition of the people didn't improve much, but they started getting used to it the more time they spent there.
Jack tried reading again, but even with the sickly Yin Ping's help, he couldn't find any information about the material that the White River family used. They had gone through almost all of the scrolls that Yin Ping found that mentioned special materials, and still had no luck. Yin Ping suspected that the Endless Cycle Sect either didn't know about it or that they didn't want to reveal it to their disciples.
Hours later, when he figured that night started falling, Jack excused himself and went back up to the Light Orb illuminated top deck.
When he did, the officer that allowed the Immortals' Lament entrance to the ship, walked over to him and said "Follow me, the Captain ordered me to bring you to him."
Jack nodded his head and followed in the wake of the officer while a few sailors gave him strange glances. Once they reached the cabin in the back of the ship, the officer knocked twice on the door of the cabin and waited.
A couple of seconds later, the Captain's voice shouted out "Send the boy in!"
The officer had surprise flash on his face for a second, before he turned to Jack and motioned for him to enter the cabin.
Jack opened the door and entered a simple room that held a neat bed, a large table with six chairs, and a few pictures on the walls. Even with all the rocking of the ship, none of them moved even a bit.
Jack looked at the handsome face of the seated Captain and bowed down while he clasped his hands in greeting.
When he straightened up, he asked "How can I help you, Captain?"
The captain gave him a crooked grin in return and said "You can start by giving me that weapon you have."