Chapter 1: Dragon’s Apex
August, the warmest month in the Arctic.
The sun nearly in an eternal posture, crouching at the end of the horizon.
The Arctic research vessel Long Ji Hao slowly advanced on the endless glacier, the bow’s piercing ice-breaking sound incessant.
At noon, the temperature rose to minus 7 degrees, unlike the usual raging cold winds. First Mate Zhao Meng notified all scientific expedition team members to go to the deck for some activity and fresh air.
Zhao Meng was Li Weiyi’s senior disciple brother. He had trained in fist and palm for six years in the sect early on, later joined the navy, and step by step rose to field officer, with rich navigation experience. This time he set out with the research vessel, responsible for personnel management on the ship, ship hull maintenance, and such matters.
Having been cooped up in the cabin for several days, everyone was very excited upon arriving on the deck.
Some spread their arms wide to breathe freely, some shouted loudly, some picked up uncleaned ice and snow from the deck and threw it into the distance.
The accompanying reporter was recording broadcast material.
Meteorological researchers released a radiosonde balloon.
……
“Sudden snow startles a thousand li, massed clouds darken the nine heavens.”
“The ground seems like a bright moon night, the mountains like white clouds at dawn.”
Among the seven or eight students who walked out of the cabin with Professor Xu, a short one was moved by the scene and recited poetry aloud in public, exhaling puffs of white mist. No one mocked or felt awkward; everyone empathized, high-spirited.
Still in university and selected to go on a polar scientific expedition, their life resumes naturally gained a bold, heavy stroke.
Li Weiyi sat alone on the stairs at the stern, out of place with the laughter, playfulness, and boundless heroic spirit over there.
His features were handsome and clear, his nose bridge high, his lips slightly cracked from the cold. Having just finished his freshman year, he was much younger than the master’s students led by Professor Xu.
From the thick orange-yellow thermal suit collar, he pulled out an ancient ornament hanging around his neck, stroked the patterns on it, and longing surged forth, bitterness and grief overflowing on his face.
This ancient ornament was called the “Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish,” the Chan Sect sect leader’s token, said to have been passed down from the time of King Wen of Zhou.
It was formed by joining the head and tail of two bronze fish into a Tai Chi Diagram seal.
The fish scale carvings were very clear, but one fish eye was missing.
The two fish eyes were the lesser yin and lesser yang in the Tai Chi. The remaining one was slightly greenish, bean-sized, with a very special material, like jade, like stone, like bone, rich in ancient charm.
The old sect leader said it was the Dao Ancestor’s brow bone.
Two months ago, when the old sect leader was dying, he passed the Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish to Li Weiyi, and he naturally became the new sect leader of the Chan Sect.
Having lost his parents since childhood, Li Weiyi grew up with the old sect leader, as close as grandfather and grandson.
The old sect leader’s death was a great blow to him.
At that time, Zhao Meng happened to return to the mountain to visit the master. On his deathbed, the old sect leader entrusted Li Weiyi to him. Seeing Li Weiyi trapped in grief and unable to recover for days, Zhao Meng suggested taking him out to distract him.
Li Weiyi only learned after boarding the research vessel that the place his senior disciple brother was taking him to distract was the distant Arctic.
“Weiyi, thinking of the old sect leader again?”
Zhao Meng walked over from the deck.
His 86-meter burly figure, square face with big ears, thick bushy beard, plus the already bulky thermal suit, made his arms thick as pillars, like a mountain or a peak, full of masculine vigor.
Li Weiyi quickly composed his emotions, raised his head, revealing a pair of clear bright eyes: “Senior brother, no need to worry about me. I’m fine. It’s already been two months. Anything can fade and be accepted with time.”
His inner strength was great; he could face the storms of life alone and was not one to transmit negative emotions to those close to him.
“That’s good.”
Zhao Meng plopped down beside Li Weiyi, took out a cigarette case, drew one out and lit it, saying: “Interact more with everyone, don’t stay cooped up alone. Want a puff?”
Li Weiyi gently shook his head and asked: “Senior brother, what happened on the ship last night?”
Li Weiyi had been placed by Zhao Meng in the security team, responsible for the basic safety and order of the fifth layer cabin. Last night, it seemed like something major happened in the lower cabins, with a bout of running footsteps and shouting, and even the ship hull shook a few times.
He had wanted to go down to check then but was stopped, and curiosity had lingered in his heart.
Zhao Meng said: “Nothing major! Apparently the 705 laboratory caught fire, but it was quickly extinguished.”
The 705 laboratory was located at the bottom of the cabin, conducting some secret experiment, with very high security level, not under Zhao Meng’s responsibility.
Li Weiyi had heard people mention that there were armed guards outside the laboratory.
“Those people are so secretive, and they won’t even let us check if the laboratory has any dangerous or explosive items. It better not cause any trouble.” Zhao Meng looked worried and couldn’t help complaining.
It was said to be a fire, but the ship hull had clearly shaken, so obviously something was being deliberately concealed.
The Long Ji Hao was over a hundred meters long, nearly 15,000 tons heavy.
What kind of power would it take to shake it?
Thinking of the main reason he came to find Li Weiyi, Zhao Meng’s expression turned serious: “Are Xie Jin and the others giving you a hard time?”
“No.”
Li Weiyi gently shook his head.
Zhao Meng’s broad thick palm patted his shoulder, saying: “With your senior brother here, say whatever it is. The kinder and more tolerant you are, the more they will push their luck.”
Li Weiyi thought for a moment: “Those who enter the research vessel security team are all elites selected through layers. And I’m just a connected person, just started university, yet became a member of the security team, arranged in the best cabin layer with my own room. If I were them, I’d definitely be dissatisfied too. So, can’t blame them.”
Zhao Meng took a deep drag, the burning line approaching the tip before stopping, thick choking smoke erupting from his nostrils, saying: “What connected person? Don’t I know your strength? When you were little… I remember you were only this tall, right? When I was practicing martial arts under the old locust tree, you were humming and laughing beside me, swinging your little fists together. Master said my talent was at most up to your knee.”
Li Weiyi laughed: “You know how exaggerated Master’s mouth is.”
“Don’t come with that! Two years ago when I returned to the mountain to spar with you, I was already no match. These two years at seventeen and eighteen are when the body and vitality grow fiercely. Look at me now, do I dare proactively admit defeat?” Zhao Meng said.
In martial arts and fists, Li Weiyi naturally had great confidence, but recalling Master’s words “Martial Way, Martial Way, only martial remains, no way exists. In this era, even martial is almost gone,” that confidence in his heart couldn’t help but be somewhat frustrated.
The martial way pursuit and supernatural dreams lingering in his mind not only did not diminish but grew even stronger.
He was determined to make a name for himself in this era where the martial way was abandoned.
After thinking for a long time, Li Weiyi said: “Me entering the security team is still against the rules. Senior brother, don’t go making trouble for them. I can handle it myself.”
“You…”
Zhao Meng knew his junior disciple brother grew up on the mountain since childhood, was a good student in school, too kind-hearted and ignorant of the world’s malice, so he patiently explained: “You were specially recruited by me. Even if you weren’t my junior disciple brother, your strength fully qualifies. That’s the rule!”
“Next time Xie Jin and them trouble you again, no need to endure, just teach them a lesson directly.”
Zhao Meng added: “Speaking of which, this matter has some relationship with me too. During the competition for first mate, I had a not-small contradiction with Xie Tianshu. This is probably him stirring things up behind the scenes.”
Xie Tianshu was the second mate of this research vessel, responsible for security and medical affairs on the ship.
A scientific expedition team member quickly ran over: “Meng bro, the captain has an urgent matter and wants you to come over right away.”
“I’ve mentioned your matter to the captain. You don’t even need to think of yourself as a security team member; just treat it as coming out to travel and relax.”
Zhao Meng instructed Li Weiyi a few more words before following that team member to the bridge.
……
…………
“Did you know, the Arctic Ocean is the North Sea from mythological legends. In ancient times, the earth was a vast wilderness, gods, demons, and demonic creatures warring endlessly. After the Chi You tribe was defeated, the Jiu Li survivors fled into the North Sea.”
“The North Sea is also called Dark North, said to be the entrance from the mortal world to the Underworld. There’s also a saying that only from the North Sea can one reach the true mortal world.”
The group of master’s students led by Professor Xu walked along the passage by the ship’s rail toward the stern where Li Weiyi was.
The short one who recited poetry earlier was a social butterfly, talking endlessly to two pretty female students about mythological stories of the North Sea.
From departure until now, they’d been sailing at sea for over a month, everyone long bored out of their minds. Hearing such bizarre and fantastical stories, plus the endless glaciers before them naturally sparking boundless imagination, laughter and discussion voices were incessant.
A female student with very white skin and round eyes said: “Dark North, I know it! ‘In the Dark North there is a fish, its name is Kun. The Kun is so huge, who knows how many thousands of li it measures.’ Written in Zhuangzi《Free and Easy Wandering》!”
Another female student teased on purpose: “If there really was a fish thousands of li big, even in the Arctic Ocean it couldn’t move around, right?”
Professor Xu and this group of students were responsible for the marine biology research project, as well as extracting Arctic strains and marine genetic samples; the tasks were miscellaneous and heavy.
“Silver stretches a thousand li in vastness, polar day endless eternity. Such magnificent scenery can only be seen in the polar regions. Everyone, let’s take a group photo?”
“Sure, so memorable.”
“Little bro, can you help us take one?”
Li Weiyi looked at the camera handed over by the female student, then met her moon-round eyes, nodded lightly, tucked the Dao Ancestor Tai Chi Fish into his thermal suit, got up from the stairs, and went to take the group photo for them.
“Please take a few more.”
The group of male and female students clustered Professor Xu in the middle, by the ship’s rail railing, striking various photo poses.
“Ka-cha!”
Pressing the shutter continuously…
Suddenly Li Weiyi sensed something wrong and noticed something.
He flipped through the just-taken photos, zoomed in for close inspection, and his pupils abruptly contracted.
“What’s up, little bro?” the female student asked curiously.
Li Weiyi handed the camera back for them to see themselves.
While he gazed toward the distant snow ridge.
The boundless icy snow wilderness, flat earth like cast silver, no grass or trees, shocking and desolate. On the snow ridge several kilometers away, a massive purple-black figure was moving rapidly.
“Bear? Such a strange bear-like creature…”
The female student was very surprised, looking at the photo on the camera.
“Let me see, why is the bear purple-black? Aren’t polar bears white? Could a new species have appeared in the Arctic?”
“Don’t you think this bear is a bit odd? It’s skinny and scrawny, yet abnormally huge in size.”
……
While they crowded together studying the photo, that strange bear-like creature in the distance was charging down the snow ridge toward the research vessel at an extraordinary speed.
Too fast!
Like a car racing across the icefield, each paw landing kicking up chunks of broken ice, even from far away faintly hearing thunder-like pounding footsteps.
“Something’s not right, how can it be this fast?” Li Weiyi narrowed his eyes, realizing the danger.
This strange purple-black bear-like creature had a shockingly large build, four or five times that of an adult polar bear.
Absolutely a new species not on Earth.
In a short minute, it covered nearly two kilometers.
Target clear: the research vessel.
“It’s coming for us.”
Li Weiyi muttered lowly, then looked toward the deck and shouted: “Everyone hurry back to the cabin, danger!”
“Such terrifying speed! Even a cheetah at full sprint might not be this fast?”
Professor Xu and seven or eight young students were right beside, some worried, some panicked.
The research vessel’s broadcast system sounded with the captain’s voice: “All scientific expedition team members please note, immediately return to the cabin. Security team members, please lock the cabin doors.”
“All scientific expedition team members please note, immediately return to the cabin…”
……
Piercing siren sounds echoed through the entire research vessel.
