Voyage With The Pirate King

"We found the place but since you haven't been painting how would you know if he is coming or not?" said Ji Wen as the corner of his lip quirked up into a smile, "Chew carefully don't choke again...."

He glanced over in Ji Yao's direction with a teasing tone. Ji Yao, who couldn't give a damn about an apple asked, "Where?"

Seeing the impatience on Ji Yao's face Ji Wen couldn't bring himself to tease him anymore. He grabbed the bowl of fruit as he got up. "Come along..... I will show you."

Ji Yao obediently followed behind him. They didn't really have to go far. In a minute or so they reached Ji Wen's study. Ji Wen opened the door and inside was a round table with the largest chart they had available. Qilin Hao was also in the study with her gaze transfixed on a specific spot on the chart.

She looked a whole lot different than when he last saw her. She was dressed in a maroon robe with her hair tied in a high ponytail. Her skin looked healthier and the aura emanating from her body seemed much stronger than before. She might look better but there was something in her eyes that was hard to describe. They weren't exactly lifeless but they had some sort of sadness to them. After five decades of not being under her father's persistent control, she was forced to listen to his every command in the past two and half years.

The blood on her hands and the weight on her shoulders were weighing heavy on her even though she didn't show it. Even Qilin Luse standing behind her with a black bird on his shoulder looked much more stern than before like someone owed him millions.

It seemed whatever Qilin San had busied them with for the past few years had taken a toll on them. Ji Yao's steps paused when Qilin Hao shifted her gaze towards him. For a moment her body froze in place with her hands clutching the side of her robe.

Ji Yao seemed flustered as well. What was supposed to do? Walk over and hug her? It was evident their relationship was still so strained even now. It seemed time hadn't done much to reduce the awkwardness between these two.

To his surprise, Qilin Hao smiled as she beckoned him over. This was her attempt at dispelling some of the tension in the air. Ji Yao nodded his head at the two standing near the wall before stopping next to his mother.

Qilin Hao nervously smiled at him for a second before saying, "You see here.... what do you see?" with a slight tremble in her voice that Ji Yao clearly heard. He looked at her for a moment wondering why she was nervous.

He shook off that question out of his mind as he looked at where she was pointing at. Ji Yao knew the waters surrounding Hyesong like the back of his hand.

It was his playground so of course, he was familiar with the region Qilin Hao was pointing at but there was nothing there.

It was a vast stretch of ocean with no land in sight. So he answered honestly, "There is nothing there."

This answer seemed to excite Qilin Hao so much that her eyes lit up. "Exactly," she said as she snapped her finger at Qilin Luse to bring something. Qilin Luse immediately brought over another chart rolled up into a scroll.

She unravelled the large chart and said, "While your father and I wer-," before pausing recalling the suppression and expansion she had been doing these past few years in the name of the clan. To say she was ashamed wasn't enough to describe what she was feeling.

"The concord wasn't idle and they found this," she continued after swallowing down the guilt choking her throat.

Ji Yao leaned down to take a closer look as he asked, "I thought the concord were protecting their islands," but Ji Wen didn't respond. In fact, a major problem had arisen a few months ago were Qilin Kai's parents demanded an island home to Lady Ching Sei.

Ji Wen blatantly refused their request and thus offended Qilin San. It seemed no one wanted to say it out loud but an organisation like the concord was a threat to the Qilin clan despite their pirate king actively assisting Qilin Hao with the invasion.

Why the concord was a threat was because they have the ability to rally people to their side and stand against the Qilin clan. Though their strength even with Qilin Hao on their side wasn't comparable to the clan it would still be a problem. When people have hope they become a thorn in one's eye.

If it weren't that Qilin Hao had a plan he wouldn't have relented. Thus he called forth the concord to temporarily gather their families on his island as a stance of standing together.

Ji Yao who was studying the chart seriously suddenly got up and said, "This most definitely wasn't there before."

"Exactly," said Qilin Hao before looking at the black bird, "Hei Ying, go and make sure you know who's delegates are kept at bay."

"Delegates?" asked Ji Yao with a cocked eyebrow. He suddenly felt like he was part of a spy theatrical performance with a dash of war.

Hei Ying immediately flew out while Ji Wen explained, "He doesn't trust your mother so he sent clan members to watch us."

Qilin Hao stretched out her arm placing them far apart at the edge of the table as she bit her lips with a thoughtful expression. Clutching the edge of the table she then said, "Have you heard that the enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

Of course, Ji Yao had heard this but he didn't understand where she was taking this conversation. He simply nodded his head with a vexed expression.

"You see..... we know where the portal is going to open tha-," she said but Ji Yao interrupted her saying,

"How do you know that it would even open. The Huishe clan leader personally broke the pillars so what makes you think they will allow anyone to reopen that portal," he said his heart twisting painfully in his chest. What guarantee did they have? What gave them the confidence?

"You.... you are our guarantee. Do you know the difference between your grandfather and Huishe Nan?" she asked as she took slow steps with her fingers pressed against each other. Her gaze locked on Ji Yao she answered the question for him.

"Huishe Nan loves his kids and by extension loves that Huishe cub. After he realises your worth to that cub... he will do whatever it takes to get his hands on you. That's where our advantage lies."

Ji Yao's heart thumped hard against his chest but he still couldn't make sense of it. Why was his mother excited about it? Shouldn't she be declaring war with the Huishe clan?

"You still don't understand... the Qilin clan don't know that.. Given the circumstances, they believe that the portal will never open again but we do," she said before placing her palms flat on the table.