The Almighty Ring

Jiang Fei slid his hands away from the ever soft bosoms of the beautiful Mermaid Princess Ariel and quickly escaped into the swamp where the village of the Tidehunter Tribe was. Even though he had exclaimed that he wanted to calm the Fishmen, it was merely an excuse to avoid the storm that was brewing ever so violently.

After an hour or so, Jiang Fei managed to calm the Fishmen down and return to the beach. To his surprise, Jiang Fei saw Isabella and Ariel hugging and laughing together.

“What in the world happened? Did someone snap his fingers and end world suffering?”

Jiang Fei was shocked. Before he left, he was sure that Isabella was fuming. He had honestly thought that she might turn into a dragon and gobble up the poor little Mermaid Princess. How was it that the two were so close to each other? They were acting like they were sisters!

“It’s not nice to eavesdrop on girl’s secrets!” said Isabella when she noticed Jiang Fei peeking through a palm tree.

“Ehehehe… Sorry. I didn’t hear a thing,” said Jiang Fei as he laughed awkwardly and came out of his hiding place. He dared not ask anything since Isabella seemed to have calmed down about Ariel. It was best not to disturb a sleeping lion.

“My love, my father is coming for me. We are fighting the Nagas and I must help my father. Please wait for me. I shall come for you as soon as I can!” said Ariel as she kissed Jiang Fei’s cheek.

“Fret not my little sister, I shall take good care of him,” said Isabella before Jiang Fei could even respond.

“You have my thanks, elder sister. Your words give me peace,” said Ariel as she smiled at Isabella and hugged her once more.

At this moment, the waves grow violent for a minute and rows of tiger sharks appeared, forming a line. Soon, an army of Merfolks appeared and a Merman appeared in the middle of the parade holding a large trident.

The Merman was a middle-aged man that looked extremely handsome. The man had aged well and looked extremely manly with his golden armor and the trident in his hand.

“My love, my father is here. I shall take my leave now,” said Ariel as she left. As soon as she was waist level in the water, her legs turned into bubbles and her fishtail reappeared. In a blink of an eye, she swam toward King Elric and waved goodbye to Jiang Fei.

From afar, Jiang Fei could see the two exchange a few words and King Elric glared at Jiang Fei for a brief moment before returning into the sea.

“Hmph. Now that I have made my peace with little sister Ariel, I don’t want to see you simply allowing butterflies landing on your flowers! Understand?” said Isabella.

Jiang Fei nodded.

“Where’s your response?!” Isabella snarled like a tigress.

“Yes, madam! It will never happen again, madam!” cried Jiang Fei as he stood still like a soldier.

“Good!”

“But it’s really not my fault this time… She came to me on her own accord. All I did was cure her with the mushroom…”

“No excuse! You are not allowed to hypnotize other poor girls!” cried the jealous Isabella.

“Yes, madam!” cried Jiang Fei fearfully.

“Hmph!” Isabella scoffed disgruntledly. She knew that it was not Jiang Fei’s fault but who could reason with a girl who was obviously jealous.

“Shall we continue our hunt? We still need a couple hundred more of the Sea Serpent’s Nerve strand,” said Jiang Fei. To be honest, Jiang Fei was madly curious about what the girls did when he was in the Fishmen village. How could the little red chili pepper calm down? What did Ariel do? What did Isabella do? Alas, Jiang Fei would never know since he did not dare to ask her about it. It was still best to leave it at that.

What followed next was dull. Jiang Fei and Isabella continued their hunt. Due to the poor efficiency of killing monsters underwater, Jiang Fei still failed to collect a thousand Serpent’s Nerves by the end of the day.

Jiang Fei logged out at 5 am instead of the regular 6. He did that so that he had enough time to prepare to leave the house before his parents woke up. He could not bear to see his mother crying again.

He placed a note saying that he was leaving and would be back in a week or the longest, a month. He then slowly opened his room door and tip-toed out of the house.

“Ah Fei, are you leaving now?” asked his father as soon as Jiang Fei walked into the living room.

His father was sitting on the sofa, staring at the window all night, not able to sleep.

“Yes,” said Jiang Fei adamantly.

“Alright. I won’t hold you back. Take care and good luck,” said his father. Even though his words were cold and short, it meant a lot to Jiang Fei. His father had always been a man of few words.

“Please dad, stay at home and spend more time with mom,” said Jiang Fei as he tried his absolute best not to cry.

“Yeah, yeah… Why do you think I’ve been working my ass off this whole time? It was all for you. Now that money means nothing to you, I can finally rest and spend my time with your mother. It’s been ages since we went out for a date. I wonder if I still have the skills to charm her…” said his father before he chuckled to himself. He had finally admitted that he loved his son very much and worked with his blood, sweat, and tears for him. As a result, he had forsaken his mother and it was about time to pay back the time lost at work.

“I’m sure she would be charmed by you. I mean, she did marry you in the first place!” said Jiang Fei as he smiled.

“Hmph.”

Jiang Fei walked toward the door and before he left, he turned back and said to his father, “Thanks for everything that you have done for me. I promise to come back stronger than ever.”

“Just go,” his father replied holding back his tears as his voice trembled.

Jiang Fei nodded and left. As soon as he did, Jiang Fei’s mother came out of her room and sat down next to the father.

“Has he gone?”

“Obviously,” the father replied.

Jiang Fei’s mother was crying uncontrollably. While Jiang Fei’s father sat in the living room all night, thinking about the things he could have done for Jiang Fei, Jiang Fei’s mother was in her room, crying the entire night as she could not bear to let her son go out into the dangerous world. Even so, she remained in her room. She, of all people, knew that if Jiang Fei saw her crying like that, he would never leave the house ever again. That was why she hid in the room. It was time for her son to spread his wings and fly. It was about time for him to grow stronger, not shackled to her and the father.

After leaving the house, Jiang Fei went to the highest floor and into Han Tianyu’s house.

Like always, Jiang Fei did not bother to knock before entering his house. Even the guard did not bother to stop him as Jiang Fei was a frequent visitor.

“F*CK!” cried Han Tianyu as he got into his fighting stance. Even though Han Tianyu was not as strong as Jiang Fei, he was still a martial artist. Jiang Fei’s movement was so quiet and he was genuinely startled when he entered his room.

“Yo! Had a heart attack yet?” Jiang Fei joked.

“Oh f*ck… One of these days, I’m sure I’m going to die in your hands…” said Han Tianyu as he tried to regain his breath. He picked up the shirt on the table and wore it before sitting next to Jiang Fei.

“So, what brings you to my room in the middle of the night?”

“I’ll be heading back to my master’s place for some time. I’m here to ask you a favor. Take good care of my parents. Give my father a relaxing job so that he can spend more time with my mother,” said Jiang Fei.

“Is that it?” asked Han Tianyu.

“Is there anything I can do for your family?” he added.

“Here,” said Jiang Fei as he handed over a small bottle.

“These are the pills that I have mentioned before. There are four of them. I expect you to handle the rest,” said Jiang Fei.

Jiang Fei had 0541 make the pills the night before. It worked the same just as the Grand Restore Pills and the Evil Purging Pills; a concentrated pill form of a potion.

Han Tianyu got up to his feet as soon as he had the bottle. He opened the bottle and gave it a sniff, only to find it odorless. He had thought that legendary pills would have given off some kind of scent, either bitter or sweet. The pills that Jiang Fei made were extremely effective. There was no reason to check its authenticity.

“Right. I will take my leave now. I’m already very late to meet my master.”

Han Tianyu quickly raced across the room and placed the bottle in a safe box under his desk. After that, he returned to Jiang Fei’s side.

“Rest assure that I will take care of your parents when you’re gone,” said Han Tianyu as he placed his hands on Jiang Fei’s shoulder.

“I’m counting on you,” said Jiang Fei.

“Why do I get the feeling you’re going to be gone for a really long time?”

“Well, you’re half right about that,” said Jiang Fei before brushing off Han Tianyu’s hands and leaving the room.

“Should I send you off?”

“Nah, get naked and go to bed. My senior is coming to get me,” said Jiang Fei.

“Alright, godspeed then.”

Jiang Fei left Han Tianyu’s house and looked at the early morning sky. It was still a long time before the sun rose from the horizon and the stars in the early morning sky were shining brightly. Jiang Fei took a deep breath and said to himself, “Time to hunt for some ship fragments!”