Kanoru stood on the deck of the ship, gazing at the endless stretch of water.
He heard Yun Feng's voice behind him, asking, "Where are we?"
Four days ago, they had set sail to return to Mori Family territory, but two days into the journey, a violent storm struck.
Kanoru, with the support of Asuna and Mika, managed to create a wind barrier to protect the ship.
Like him, both Asuna and Mika also understood the nature of cut and sound.
Asuna had grasped it two years ago, while Mika achieved it a year ago.
However, unlike him, they didn't deepen their comprehension of nature-sound to explore the inaudible frequencies.
Instead, they pursued their own paths.
Asuna learned from Kanoru how to generate hot wind and chose to comprehend nature-heat, while Mika followed the Mori family's cultivation method to master lightning elemental energy.
Kanoru had tried to convince them to follow his path, but they refused, insisting that they would comprehend different elemental energies to help him later.
The wind barrier shielded the ship from harm, but the violent ocean waves carried it off course.
For two days straight, the storm raged without pause.
Now, with the storm passed, Kanoru scanned the surroundings, his gaze drifting to the sky where the sun shone alongside the blood moon, which had been growing brighter by the day.
By now, the blood moon's glow was so intense that it dyed the entire world in red at night.
Shaking his head, he forced the blood moon from his mind—there was nothing he could do to influence the war situation before reaching spirit realm.
Focusing on the immediate problem, he shouted, "Quiet!"
The large ship, capable of carrying 500 people, had fallen into commotion as the passengers, unable to determine their location, grew restless.
At Kanoru's command, the crowd fell silent.
Turning to the ship's captain, he asked, "Can you tell where we are?"
The captain, glancing around the featureless ocean, hesitated before replying, "Not right now. I'll need to look at the stars tonight to calculate our position."
Kanoru stared at the sun, still in the east, realizing there were many hours before nightfall.
He asked again, "Then what do we do now?"
The captain replied, "First, we need to inspect the ship for any damage."
Kanoru nodded and offered, "Tell us what help you need."
The captain said, "I'll need some wood-elemental warlocks to help repair any damage we find."
Kanoru's eyes swept over the deck and fell on Gu Mingzhu, who had grown from a teenage girl into a stunning woman.
Both she and Asuna had become even more beautiful with age.
Kanoru called out, "Mingzhu, come here."
She walked over gracefully and, once beside him, asked softly, "Husband, do you need anything?"
Kanoru said, "The captain needs help from our wood warlocks to repair the ship if it's damaged. Take some of your team members with you."
Now a Higher-ranked warlock, Gu Mingzhu is the team leader of all the wood-elemental warlocks in their group.
She nodded and replied, "Okay."
Without delay, she went to gather her team.
Kanoru watched the captain and Gu Mingzhu leave.
He then turned to his group members and their families and said, "Except for the team leaders and the two deputy commanders, everyone return to your rooms. Do not worry, I will ensure your safety."
Over the years, as Kanoru's strength grew to become the strongest in the group, he naturally became their commander.
The crowd nodded and whispered among themselves.
Some shouted, "Yes, commander!" before leaving the deck, leaving only the five team leaders, the two deputy commanders, and a few ship crew members.
Kanoru and his group, excluding the crew, walked toward the tip of the ship, away from the crew's earshot.
He glanced at the group and, seeing that everyone except Mingzhu was present, said, "The captain said he'll be able to tell us our location tonight."
Luo Chen, one of the deputy commanders, asked, "How?"
Both he and Asuna's mother served as the deputy commanders due to their strength, which, although slightly lower than Kanoru's, is still just a step away from advancing to the spirit realm like him.
Mika answered, "By reading the stars."
Though Mika wasn't a team leader, she was present as Asuna's maid and also because she had married Luo Chen.
Luo Chen had joined their group after falling in love with Mika.
Kanoru then turned to Hou Li and asked, "You're in charge of the supplies. How many days will they last?"
Hou Li, a burly man with chubby cheeks and the team leader of the earth-elemental warlocks, replied, "The journey from Xinghai City to your homeland takes a week. For safety, I brought supplies to last us ten days."
Kanoru calculated—they had already been sailing for four days, which meant they had supplies for six more days.
Yun Feng, now the team leader of the metal-elemental warlocks, said, "Then we have to find land in six days."
Pan Lian, the team leader of the water-elemental warlocks, scoffed, "Yun Feng, are you an idiot? The ocean isn't without food."
Kanoru nodded and instructed, "Lian, I want your team to hunt food and scout the path ahead later after the captain determines where we are."
Having discussed everything necessary, Kanoru said, "Let's go rest. We'll meet again when the stars are visible."
Everyone nodded and walked away.
During the storm, Kanoru and those present had stayed awake the entire time.
Now, as the others left, Kanoru and Asuna walked together to their room.
At night, they gathered again on the ship's deck, now joined by the captain, the first mate, and Gu Mingzhu.
Yun Feng asked, "Captain, the stars are visible. What can you tell us?"
The captain replied, "Wait, I need to look carefully."
He gazed at the night sky for five minutes.
Kanoru noticed Lou Chen growing impatient, as usual.
He stared at him, but Lou Chen didn't notice.
However, Mika did. She understood what was going on and gently held Lou Chen's arm, preventing him from disturbing the captain.
After a few more minutes, the captain lowered his gaze thoughtfully.
Kanoru, giving him another moment, then asked, "Is something wrong?"
The captain said, "I may be wrong, but I think we're near the Rose Sea."
Asuna's mother frowned slightly. "Rose Sea? I've heard of it somewhere."
Kanoru said, "It's the sea along the western coast of the Sacred Continent."
Yun Feng asked, "How can we be here?"
The captain explained, "It's possible. Athia lies between the Five Beast Continent and the Sacred Continent."
Kanoru nodded, recalling the geography.
The Five Beast Continent was mostly in the northern hemisphere, while Athia was in the southern hemisphere, with 60% of it below the Five Beast Continent.
The Sacred Continent was also in the northern hemisphere, just two days' journey from the northwestern part of Athia.
From Mori territory, reaching the Sacred Continent would have taken a month, but the storm had shortened their journey to just two days.
Kanoru asked, "How far are we from the Sacred Continent's coast?"
The captain replied, "I think we'll be able to see the coast in a week."
Kanoru turned to his people and said, "Inform the others—we're heading to the Sacred Continent."
They nodded and walked away, leaving only Asuna and Gu Mingzhu with him.
Both women clasped one of his palms, their fingers gently entwined with his.
Kanoru gazed ahead as the ship came alive with the crew shouting orders and preparing to head west.
He hadn't asked the captain to turn back because he already knew what had happened to Mori territory after the invasion.
Back in Xinghai City, he had learned that nothing had happened.
The Mori territory, only connected to Athia through two passages, had no nodes, so the Greyrose Circus hadn't attacked them.
He also learned that his parents were safe and his sister was now a mid-ranked samurai.
With no worries about his homeland and the Sacred Continent being closer, Kanoru didn't want to prolong their time at sea.
If another storm struck, he wouldn't know where the waves would take them again.