SES Chapter 60 Part 1

Chapter 60

Cao Yanhua screamed in terror and hurled the urn out of his hands. Yan Hongsha saw the urn flying in her direction, her scalp tingling, and she instinctively threw her arms up to block it. Then, in the next instant, she realized—wait, that’s heading toward Old Bang’s direction!

If the urn got close again… could Old Bang come back to life?

Cao Yanhua seemed to think the same thing. For once, his reflexes were fast. At the critical moment, he shouted and grabbed onto the boat railing with both hands, slipped through it, and kicked the urn mid-air with all his strength.

Yiwansan shouted, “Are you two out of your minds?!”

Cao Yanhua didn’t get a chance to respond. His kung fu was lousy—he couldn’t control his momentum. He plunged straight into the water with a splash.

Yan Hongsha turned around to see Yiwansan’s eyes wide with fury, like he was about to devour them both. Not far behind him, the urn bobbed on the surface of the sea.

Feeling guilty, Yan Hongsha mentally replayed the whole sequence: Cao Yanhua threw it—she blocked it—Cao Yanhua kicked it. To someone who didn’t know better, it probably looked like they were tossing a ball around for fun. No wonder Yiwansan was furious. That was his dad’s ashes, for crying out loud.

Yiwansan didn’t even want to argue with them. He turned and swam toward the urn. Cao Yanhua dog-paddled awkwardly, barely staying afloat, and wiped water from his face as he shouted, “Brother San! Be careful! Don’t touch it with your hands—I saw it trying to come out!”

Yiwansan’s hand was just about to grab the urn when he froze at Cao Yanhua’s words. After a moment, he turned and ordered, “Grab a push pole!”

Cao Yanhua understood and scrambled back onto the boat. A moment later, he emerged with a long pole and used it to help Yiwansan slowly push the urn closer.

Yiwansan and Yan Hongsha climbed back aboard, soaking wet. Yiwansan turned to Cao Yanhua. “You’re sure you saw something?”

Cao Yanhua nodded firmly. “It was trying to come out—just like last time when the evil scroll tried to crawl out of Pinting’s body. But this time, it wasn’t shaped like a bamboo scroll. It looked like… a face.”

Just remembering that distorted face that sent a shiver down his spine.

Yiwansan took a length of rope and quickly wove a simple net. He lay flat on the deck and lowered the net through a gap in the railing. With Cao Yanhua’s help guiding it with the pole, he managed to scoop up the urn and started pulling it back up.

Both Cao Yanhua and Yan Hongsha held their breath, crouched beside him, heads lowered to peer at the urn. Yan Hongsha tried to stop him.

“Don’t pull it up too close…”

Typical—always fussing, timid like a little girl. Yiwansan frowned, about to snap at her, when suddenly—BANG—a grotesque, grinning face bulged out of the pearl-coated lid of the urn like it was about to burst out.

Yiwansan’s hand flinched in terror, and the net slipped, dropping the urn into the sea with a loud splash. Luckily, he still held onto the rope.

Yan Hongsha and Cao Yanhua, already spooked once, were oddly calm this time. Yan Hongsha even sounded a little smug. “See? I told you not to pull it up so close.”

Yiwansan ignored her. “Look!”

The urn was floating calmly on the surface again, its pearl-like lid glowing a soft ivory-white.

Yiwansan muttered, “As soon as it hit the water, that face vanished.”

Cao Yanhua suddenly understood. “The evil scroll fears water—it can’t emerge directly!”

The more he thought about it, the more chilled he felt. Back when the scroll was inside Old Bang, it could move around freely by controlling it. But once it was out, it had to find a new host quickly. And just now… he’d held the urn against his chest. If Yan Hongsha hadn’t screamed in time…

Cao Yanhua shuddered.

But now, soaked in seawater, the urn could only rely on its shell for protection. If the shell cracked, water would rush in—and that’s exactly what it feared. It didn’t dare break out.

So what now? Just keep it floating in a net bag in the ocean?

Yiwansan gave him a sideways glance. “Find a basin, a bucket, or a water tank. We’ll set up a basic five-element containment array—wood, fire, earth, metal, water. Might not hold for ten days, but two should be fine.”

That’s when Cao Yanhua remembered something Luo Ren told him before leaving. “My Bro Luo said to have you test the boat.”

Really? Looking around, the situation was a total mess. Both boats were out of commission—if they couldn’t get them working, they couldn’t even get back to shore.

Yiwansan asked, “Does Luo Ren know where Mu Dai went?”

Cao Yanhua replied, “Looks like he figured it out…”

Luo Ren had been certain he’d heard a whistle.

He couldn’t say how long he’d been swimming—the sound was faint, scattered, hidden deep within the fog—but he was sure of the direction. As he pressed on, the whistle grew clearer.

Something floated in the distance. As he got closer, he realized it was a paddle. Luo Ren pushed it aside. What happened to Mu Dai—she even lost her paddle?

No time to dwell on that. Surfacing again, he finally saw it: a small, lone boat drifting nearby. Someone was sitting inside.

He finally exhaled. In that moment, his arms and legs suddenly felt like lead, his body overwhelmed by exhaustion and pain. He told himself, Just a bit more. Just hold on a little longer.

Ten meters… eight meters… five…

Finally, he reached out and grabbed the boat. His muscles spasmed as his forehead dropped against the edge, gasping for breath, arms trembling.

After a long while, he looked up at Mu Dai.

She’d been crying—her eyes were red, and she was clutching the whistle in her hand.

Luo Ren said, “You drifted pretty far, huh.”

It was true. The waves were rough today, and with the fog, visibility was terrible. Judging by the direction the sound had come from, she had drifted an abnormal distance. No wonder his limbs had gone numb from the swim.

“You drifted far.”

Mu Dai replied, “It’s not like I wanted to.”

Then she added, “Come on up.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to; it’s just… his arms and legs were useless now. Climbing aboard felt impossible.

He stared at her for a while, then said, “Can you come down here for a sec?”

“I can’t swim.”