The third day at sea began with a subtle change in the air. Li Yuan felt it before the others—the drop in pressure, the wind shifting direction in an irregular pattern, the faint scent of petrichor even though there was no land in sight.
A storm was coming.
He stood on the deck, looking at the southern horizon where dark clouds were starting to gather like ink spreading in water. They weren't yet threatening to an untrained eye, but for someone who had seen thousands of storms in fifteen thousand years, the signs were clear.
Captain Deni emerged from his cabin, his eyes immediately drawn to the same direction. Through his Wenjing Realm, Li Yuan heard a tense intention—not panic, but the heightened alertness of someone who respected the sea's power.
"You feel it too?" Deni asked, standing beside Li Yuan.
"Yes. A few hours from now, perhaps."
Deni looked at him with sharp eyes. "You have experience with storms?"
"A little," Li Yuan answered simply—a gross understatement of the truth.
"Alright." Deni turned and began shouting orders. "Everyone on deck! We have a storm coming! Secure the cargo, lower the spare sails, check all the ropes!"
The crew moved with an efficiency that showed they had trained for this many times. Taren and two other crew members—a woman named Amara with hands full of work scars, and an old man named Kofi who moved with a calm efficiency—began securing anything that could move.
Yara ran to the helm, already knowing what needed to be done without being told.
Li Yuan joined Amara in securing the cargo in the hold. The woman worked with quick, precise movements, not wasting time with unnecessary words.
"Have you been through a storm at sea before?" she asked as she pulled a rope with surprising strength for her slender body.
"A few times."
"Good. Then you know not to panic." Amara glanced at him with a judging eye. "Some new crew members lose their heads when the waves start getting high. The Captain doesn't have time for that."
"I won't panic," Li Yuan promised calmly.
Amara looked at him for a moment longer, then nodded with satisfaction. "I believe it. There's something about you—you have the stillness of a person who has seen worse."
When she said this, Li Yuan heard through his Wenjing Realm a curious intention—this woman read people well, and she sensed that there was more to Li Yuan than met the eye. But she was wise enough not to press.
The storm arrived faster than expected.
The sky turned from blue to gray to black in less than an hour. The wind increased from a gentle breeze to a scream that made conversation nearly impossible. And then the rain came—not drops, but a wall of water that hit the deck with a force that forced everyone to hold on.
The waves began to grow. Two meters. Three. Four.
The ship rose and fell with a motion that made one's stomach turn. Some of the crew started to look green, but they kept working—tying themselves to a mast or a rope to avoid being swept away.
Li Yuan moved through the chaos with an almost unnatural calmness. His consciousness body was not affected by seasickness, and his strength was not diminished by fatigue. He helped wherever he was needed—catching a loose rope, helping Kofi strengthen a sail that was about to tear, even saving Taren who was almost swept away by a wave by grabbing his arm at the last second.
"Thank you!" Taren shouted over the sound of the storm, his eyes wide with a mix of fear and relief.
Li Yuan just nodded and kept moving.
At the helm, Yara struggled to control the ship. Her arm muscles were tense with the effort of keeping the rudder steady as the waves tried to turn the ship in a dangerous direction.
Captain Deni stood beside her, shouting instructions on when to turn, when to let the waves carry them.
Through his Wenjing Realm, Li Yuan heard the intention of both of them—absolute focus, controlled fear, and a determination to get the ship and its crew through this safely.
The peak of the storm came in the fourth hour. Waves as high as six meters hit the ship from all directions. Lightning flashed with a blinding light. Thunder roared with a sound that made the wooden planks tremble.
One of the main sails ripped with a loud sound—the strong fabric couldn't withstand the force of the wind. A broken rope swung wildly, a danger to anyone in its path.
"We have to secure that!" Amara shouted, pointing to the swinging rope. "Before it hits someone or damages the mast!"
But no one could reach it—too high, too dangerous, moving too fast in the insane wind.
Li Yuan assessed the situation with the calmness that comes from experience. He could jump and catch it—his consciousness body had abilities far beyond a normal human. But that would reveal too much.
But if I don't do something, that rope could kill someone.
The decision was made in a fraction of a second.
Li Yuan ran to the mast, jumped with a motion that—to an observer in the chaos of the storm—might have looked like incredible luck, and caught the swinging rope. The weight almost knocked a normal person over, but he held it steady, then quickly tied it to the nearest hook.
When he came down, Amara looked at him with wide eyes. Through his Wenjing Realm, he heard an intention that was a mix of admiration and a growing suspicion.
How did he do that? That jump... it's not possible for a normal person. And the strength to hold a rope like that in a wind like this...
But before Amara could say anything, another large wave hit the ship, and everyone had to focus on survival.
The storm finally subsided after six hours—six hours that felt like forever to the exhausted crew.
The sky slowly turned from black to gray to a pale blue. The waves decreased from a raging giant to high but manageable swells. The wind changed from a scream to a strong gust.
The ship was still intact—damaged, but intact. No one had died, although Taren had a cut on his head from a fall, and Kofi winced every time he moved because of a strained back.
Captain Deni did a full inspection of the ship, making a list of the damages that needed to be repaired. The torn sail, a few cracked planks, some wet cargo—all could be repaired or tolerated.
"We were lucky," he finally said in a voice hoarse from shouting for hours. "Very lucky. A storm like that could sink a bigger ship than ours."
The crew gathered on the deck, soaked and exhausted but alive. There were tired smiles, nervous laughter—the relief that comes after surviving something deadly.
"Li Yuan," Captain Deni called. "Amara said you saved that loose rope. Good work. Could have saved a life."
"Just doing what needed to be done," Li Yuan answered simply.
But he noticed how Amara looked at him from across the deck—eyes that were not hostile, but full of questions.
That night, after the emergency repairs were done and the watch rotations were set, the crew gathered for dinner—a simple meal of warm soup and bread that had started to mold at the edges but was still edible.
The atmosphere was different from the previous nights. There was a deeper camaraderie—the kind that only comes from facing a common danger and surviving.
Taren raised his mug in an informal toast. "To a hard wave, a harder captain, and stupid luck!"
The others laughed and raised their mugs.
Kofi—the old man who rarely spoke—spoke in a deep, serious voice. "And to the new crew who turned out to not be as bad as we feared."
More laughter, and this time with genuine warmth.
Yara sat beside Li Yuan, her shoulder touching his with a familiarity born from shared experience.
"You were good out there," she whispered. "Calm. Like the storm didn't bother you at all."
"The storm is a teacher," Li Yuan answered—words he had said before, but this time with a slightly different nuance. "It teaches us about what we can control and what we must accept."
Yara looked at him with eyes full of something Li Yuan couldn't fully identify. Through his Wenjing Realm, he heard a complex intention—attraction, curiosity, and something that was perhaps the beginning of a deeper trust.
"You're a strange man, Li Yuan," she finally said—not for the first time. "But I'm glad you're on this ship."
"Me too," Li Yuan answered with simple honesty.
And as they sat together in the swaying lantern light, surrounded by the sound of conversation and laughter from the surviving crew, Li Yuan felt something he rarely felt in his long journey.
Not just an external observation. Not just the role of a mediator or a catalyst. But actual participation—being a part of something, even if temporary, even if he knew he would continue walking when the ship reached its destination.
Maybe this is also a lesson, he mused. That sometimes, to truly understand human life, I have to not only observe but also participate. Not just listen but also share. Not just help from a distance but also stand with them in the storm.
And maybe—just maybe—that is the thing I have missed in the last few thousand years. Too focused on the great mission, on preventing conflicts, on understanding from a distance.
Maybe sometimes, the deepest truth can only be found in the simple things—sharing soup with people who just survived a storm together.
Outside the ship, the sea had returned to relative stillness. Stars were starting to appear in the darkening sky.
And the journey continued—south, towards whatever was waiting there.