"Ai," a honey-like voice hung in the air. "Why are you crying baby?"
A young Bohai was crying too much to answer his mother. His wails wouldn't stop, and he desperately wanted a hug from his mom. His hands were stretched out, and his hands clutched nothing but air.
"Ai," Bohai's mother spoke as she picked up her four year old. "Baby boy, did you get hurt?"
His mother's sweet voice soothed the crying Bohai, and he nodded his head silently. He lifted his leg, showing her his scratch on his knee. It was bleeding, and had a few dirt particles stuck in it. He had fallen while chasing after a frog.
Bohai's mother, Lee Lanying, set down him son on a stool; crouching down, she picked up his small leg and blew on it softly. Bohai winced at the sudden wind on his wound, but opened his eyes to watch his beautiful mother heal him. He didn't know how, but whenever he got hurt she would magically fix him. Sometimes, he got hurt on purpose just so he could see her magic. But, he didn't get hurt on purpose today.
"Remember Ai," Lanying soothed, "Water can heal people." As she spoke, she began to magically control a bit of the water from the pond nearby. A fist sized sphere of water came floating towards the two of them. The site made Bohai blossom an innocent and cute smile. "Ready?" Lanying said with a smile. Bohai happily nodded.
Suddenly, the sphere of water fell on Bohai's knee. His leg felt cold, as the water splashed all over his leg. Before the water dried, Lanying kissed the water; making it glint a magical blue. Following her touch, the water began to do its magic; the dirt was removed from the wound, and slowly the cut on Bohai's knee disappeared.
-
Bohai woke up with a sharp pain in his face and his ankles, and an aching pain all over. He was lying down on a comfortable surface. A real bed. Something he hadn't experienced in forever. It was soft, and the blanket was warm.
But Bohai had no time to get excited about the bed, the pain he felt all over was far too great. With a great struggle, he managed to sit himself up. His mother's face lingered in his mind, and he couldn't help but smile while crying. He had forgotten what she had looked like, she had died before he was even five. But, now he remembered. She was beautiful.
As he sat there smiling, Qingling came in with a cup of water. Tan Huizhong had told her that he'd be waking up soon, and to bring him something to drink immediately. So, she did.
As she entered, she saw that he was already awake. She wanted to say something, anything, but her words were stuck in her throat. She had sensed his killing intent the day before, despite her lack of training, and had seen him disappear with her own eyes. And more importantly, she had seen how panicked both Tan Huizhong and Tan Pengfei were when he disappeared. And now, he was crying while smiling.
She hated to admit it; she was scared of him. She left the water besides his bed, while shaking, and scurried away. Bohai hadn't even noticed her come in until the door was slid shut behind her.
Upon seeing the cup of water, Bohai immediately became focused. His mother's words replayed in his head, until something clicked inside of him. He grabbed the water cup, and hesitantly put it on one of his ankles.
The water was cold, but refreshing. However, it felt nothing like how it was supposed to. Not being able to do what his mother could, Bohai couldn't help but frown. Now, the bed was wet too. Out of frustration, he threw the cup against the wall.
When he threw it, a fragment of a memory popped into his mind. Again, it was of his mother. She was showing him a river, telling him that water flows naturally - calmly. To control the river, one has to change the entire course of it.
The memory faded before she was done explaining what to do to him, but it had helped immensely. He tried to stand up, but fell on his face. Instead, he used all the strength in him to enhance his ankles. It barely enabled him to walk, and the pain was terrible. But, he bit his tongue and made his way outside.
The day before, during his fight with Tan Duyi, he had seen a small pond in Tan Huizhong's backyard. He didn't know how to heal himself with water, like his mom did, but he wanted to give it a shot. More so because it would connect him with his mother than healing himself quickly.
The other people in the house watched in silence as Bohai struggled through the backyard; no one stopped him. They watched as he sat himself down in the pond, still dressed. And they watched as he remained still for the entire day. Nobody came to bug him until midnight.
"Brat," Tan Huizhong snapped. He had held back all day, but now he couldn't handle it any longer. No one sat in his pond without his permission! "What're you doing in my pond!" He yelled as he walked towards the unmoving boy.
But as he neared, he almost fainted in shock. He had seen the secret technique of the Lee clan once, sixty years ago. It had been so beautiful, and confusing, that he had never forgotten it. He had wished to see it again before he died, but finding the Lee clan was impossible.
Unlike other clans, they did not stay in the same place. They were always moving around, and from what he knew, their numbers were dwindling. Even still, they were probably the most feared clan out of the five prestigious families.
Since it was nearly impossible to find anyone in the Lee clan, especially someone who could heal with water, Huizhong had long since gave up. Yet, now, he was seeing it happen before his eyes.
Chen Bohai had dunked himself in water, and was still wet from his soak. He had dunked himself eight hours ago however, it would be impossible to still be wet. But the water had lingered on him, and eventually had a tiny hint of blue in it. Two hours after the first hint of color, his ankles were getting better, and his face's swelling was gone.
Bohai had to stay seated in the pond for four hours before he had any clue on how to approach this. When he saw how still the water was, he figured he would take a guess. His dream replayed in his head, and he remembered the sphere of water being completely still too. He estimated that there had to be some kind of connection. Luckily, he had leaned in the right direction.
With immense concentration, and staying completely still, Bohai had managed to keep himself wet for what seemed like an impossible time. He then tried to activate his enhancement technique, but it threatened to dry himself. And he knew he had to be wet for this to work - so he had to try something else.
He decided to focus on his ankles, which were submerged in the water. It took nearly a thousand attempts before he was able to activate his enhancement skill only on his feet under water. Then, it took three hundred seven more tries before he could make it stay in tact. After that, it took hours of not moving for him to start feeling better.
He didn't know how the rest of his body got better when he was focusing on his feet, but somehow it did. What he didn't know, was that instead of activating the enhancement technique on the exterior of his body, he activated it inside of him. It was something he had unknowingly learned working on the Yuan farm, while trying to hide his extra strength from them.
When he activated it on the interior of his body, it had slowly spread throughout his body as he stayed completely still. His body acted as a frame, allowing his enhancement skill to be like the pond he sat in - still. Like his mother had taught him so long ago, if you wanted to control the water you had to control all of it. And what better way to do that than in your own body.
That was how he had began to heal other parts of his body. And if he had stayed out there for a while longer, he may have been able to heal himself completely. But, Tan Huizhong's yelling had interrupted his concentration and immediately everything Bohai had been working so hard on, fell apart.