Dragon Extreme

August, the warmest month in the Arctic.

The sun hung almost eternally at the end of the horizon.

The Arctic research vessel Dragon Extreme moved slowly across the boundless glacier, its bow's piercing icebreaking shriek sounding without cease.

At noon, the temperature rose to minus seven degrees Celsius. With none of the usual howling winds sweeping through, First Mate Zhao Meng notified all expedition members to come up on deck and stretch their legs.

Zhao Meng was Li Weiyi's senior brother. In his early years, he had trained in fist and palm techniques at their sect for six years, then joined the navy and rose step by step to the rank of field officer. He had abundant seafaring experience. This time, he had set out with the research vessel and was responsible for personnel management, hull maintenance, and other matters aboard ship.

Having been cooped up in the cabins for days, everyone was excited to reach the deck.

Some spread their arms and breathed deeply, some shouted at the top of their lungs, and some picked up uncleared ice and snow from the deck and hurled it into the distance.

The accompanying reporters were recording material for their broadcasts.

The meteorological researchers released weather balloons.

"Pure snow startles a thousand miles; layered clouds darken the nine heavens."

"The earth seems a night of bright moon; the mountains resemble a morning of white clouds."

Among the seven or eight students who emerged from the cabin with Professor Xu, one short fellow had been stirred by the scene and recited poetry loudly before everyone. Clusters of white mist spilled from his mouth. No one mocked him or felt awkward; they all shared the feeling, their spirits soaring.

To be selected for a polar expedition while still in university naturally added a bold and brilliant stroke to one's life résumé.

Li Weiyi sat alone on the stairway at the stern, utterly out of place with the laughter, horseplay, and towering ambition on the other side.

His features were refined, his nose bridge high, and his lips were slightly cracked from the cold. He had only just completed his freshman year and was far younger than the master's students Professor Xu led.

From the collar of his thick orange cold-weather suit, he took out an ancient ornament hanging around his neck. He stroked its patterns, and longing surged up within him, bitterness and grief flowing across his face.

This ancient ornament was called the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish. It was the Chan Sect master's token, said to have been passed down since the time of King Wen of Zhou.

Its two bronze fish joined head to tail, forming the imprint of a taiji diagram.

The carved fish scales were clear, but one fish eye was missing.

The fish eyes of the two fish represented the Lesser Yin and Lesser Yang within taiji. The one that remained was faintly green, the size of a bean, and made from an unusual material—like jade, like stone, like bone, steeped in ancient charm.

The old sect master had said it was the Dao Ancestor's brow bone.

Two months earlier, as the old sect master lay dying, he had passed the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish to Li Weiyi, who had thus naturally become the Chan Sect's new-generation master.

Having lost his parents at a young age, Li Weiyi had grown up with the old sect master, as close as grandfather and grandson.

The old sect master's death had struck him hard.

At the time, Zhao Meng had happened to return to the mountain to visit his master. Before dying, the old sect master entrusted Li Weiyi to him. Seeing Li Weiyi trapped in grief and unable to pull himself out for days, Zhao Meng suggested taking him out to clear his head.

Only after boarding the research vessel did Li Weiyi learn that the place his senior brother was taking him to unwind was the faraway Arctic.

"Weiyi, thinking about the old sect master again?"

Zhao Meng walked over from the deck.

He stood a burly one meter eighty-six, with a square face, large ears, and a thick beard. Combined with the already bulky cold-weather suit, his arms were as thick as pillars, and he carried the masculine bearing of mountain and peak.

Li Weiyi swiftly gathered his emotions and raised his head, revealing a pair of clear, bright eyes. "Senior Brother, you don't need to worry. I'm fine. It's already been two months. Anything can fade and be accepted with time."

His heart was strong enough to face life's wind and snow alone. He was not someone who liked passing his negative emotions on to family and friends around him.

"That's good."

Zhao Meng dropped down beside Li Weiyi, took out a cigarette case, drew one out and lit it. "Talk to everyone more. Don't bottle everything up alone. Want a puff?"

Li Weiyi gently shook his head. "Senior Brother, what happened on the ship last night?"

Li Weiyi had been placed by Zhao Meng in the security team, responsible for basic safety and order on the fifth deck. Something major seemed to have happened in the lower cabins last night. Running footsteps and shouts had sounded for quite some time, and even the ship itself had rocked several times.

He had wanted to go down and investigate, but had been stopped. The curiosity had remained in his heart ever since.

Zhao Meng said, "Nothing major! They say Laboratory 705 caught fire, but it was put out quickly."

Laboratory 705 was at the bottom of the ship, conducting some secret experiment. Its security classification was high, and it was not under Zhao Meng's authority.

Li Weiyi had heard people mention that armed guards stood outside the laboratory.

"That bunch is mysterious as ghosts and goblins. They won't even let us inspect whether the lab has hazardous or explosive materials. They'd better not stir up trouble." Zhao Meng looked worried and could not help complaining.

They said it was a fire, but the vessel had clearly shaken. They were obviously hiding something on purpose.

The Dragon Extreme was over a hundred meters long and weighed nearly fifteen thousand tons.

What kind of force would it take to shake it?

Remembering why he had come to find Li Weiyi, Zhao Meng's expression turned serious. "Did Xie Jin and the others give you a hard time?"

"No."

Li Weiyi gently shook his head.

Zhao Meng's broad, thick palm landed on his shoulder. "With your senior brother, say whatever needs saying. The more kind and tolerant you are, the more they'll push their luck."

Li Weiyi thought for a moment. "Everyone who can enter the research vessel's security team is an elite chosen through layer upon layer of selection. But I, someone admitted through connections who has only just started university, became a security team member and was assigned to the best deck with my own room. If I were them, I'd definitely be dissatisfied too. So I don't blame them."

Zhao Meng took a deep drag, stopping only when the ember nearly reached the cigarette butt. Thick, choking smoke poured from his nostrils. "What connections? Don't I know your strength? When you were little... I remember you were only this tall, right? When I practiced martial arts beneath the old locust tree, you'd be beside me, grunting and shouting as you swung your tiny fists. Master said my talent could at most reach your knees."

Li Weiyi smiled. "You know how exaggerated Master could be with that mouth of his, don't you?"

"Cut it out! When I returned to the mountain two years ago and sparred with you, I was already no match for you. Seventeen and eighteen are the years when one's physique and vital energy grow like mad. Do you see me daring to challenge you now?" Zhao Meng said.

When it came to martial arts and hand-to-hand combat, Li Weiyi naturally had immense confidence. But remembering what his master had once said—"The martial path, the martial path: only martial remains, and the path is gone. In this age, even martial is nearly gone"—that confidence inevitably suffered a blow.

Only his pursuit of the martial path and his dream of the Transcendent, winding through his mind, had not diminished. Instead, they had grown ever stronger.

In this age that had abandoned the martial path, he was determined to make something of himself.

After thinking for a long time, Li Weiyi said, "My joining the security team was never in accordance with the rules. Senior Brother, don't make things difficult for them. I can resolve it myself."

"You..."

Zhao Meng knew that this junior brother of his had grown up on the mountain and had been a model student at school as well. His heart was too kind, and he did not understand the dangers of the human heart. So Zhao Meng patiently explained, "You were specially recruited by me. Even if you weren't my junior brother, your strength would still fully meet the requirements. That is the rule!"

"The next time Xie Jin and the others cause you trouble, don't endure it. Teach them a lesson directly."

Zhao Meng added, "Come to think of it, this matter has something to do with me too. When I competed for the position of first mate, I had quite a serious conflict with Xie Tianshu. He was most likely the one egging this on behind the scenes."

Xie Tianshu was the second mate of this research vessel, responsible for shipboard security, medical care, and other matters.

A research team member hurried over. "Brother Meng, there's an urgent matter with the captain. He wants you there immediately."

"I've mentioned your situation to the captain. You don't even have to think of yourself as part of the security team. Just treat this as a trip to relax."

Zhao Meng gave Li Weiyi a few more reminders before following the team member toward the bridge.

"Did you know? The Arctic Ocean is the North Sea of myth and legend. In ancient times, the earth was a vast wilderness, and the races of Gods, Demons, and Monsters fought without end. After Chiyou's tribe was defeated, the surviving people of Nine Li fled into the North Sea."

"The North Sea is also called Northern Darkness. Some say it is the entrance from the human world to the underworld; others say that only through the North Sea can one reach the true human world."

The group of master's students led by Professor Xu walked along the passage beside the railing toward the stern, where Li Weiyi was.

The short fellow who had recited poetry earlier was a social butterfly. He spoke endlessly to two pretty female students about the myths of the North Sea.

They had already been at sea for over a month since setting out, and everyone had long been bored out of their minds. Hearing such bizarre and absurd stories, combined with the boundless glacier before them that itself could spark limitless imaginings, laughter and discussion continued without end.

A female student with very fair skin and round eyes said, "Northern Darkness, I know that! 'In Northern Darkness there is a fish, and its name is Kun. The Kun is so huge that no one knows how many thousand miles it spans.' It's from Zhuangzi's Wandering Beyond!"

Another female student deliberately teased, "If there really were a fish thousands of miles long, wouldn't it be unable to move around even in the Arctic Ocean?"

Professor Xu and these students were responsible for marine biology research, as well as extracting Arctic microbial strains and marine genetic specimens. Their tasks were diverse and arduous.

"A thousand miles of silver-white vastness, the endless eternity of polar day. Such magnificent scenery can only be seen in the polar regions. Let's take a group photo?"

"Sure, it'll be so meaningful."

"Little brother, could you help us take it?"

Li Weiyi looked at the camera the female student handed him, then raised his eyes to meet her moon-round gaze. He nodded lightly, tucked the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish back into his cold-weather suit, rose, and walked down the stairway to take their group photo.

"Please take several shots."

The male and female students gathered Professor Xu in the middle and struck all sorts of poses by the railing.

"Click!"

The shutter was pressed again and again...

Suddenly, Li Weiyi sensed that something was wrong. He noticed something.

He pulled up the photos he had just taken and enlarged one for a closer look. His pupils abruptly contracted.

"What's wrong, little brother?" the female student asked curiously.

Li Weiyi handed over the camera for them to see themselves.

He, meanwhile, looked toward the distant snow ridge.

The boundless snowy wilderness was a flat expanse of earth forged from silver, without a single blade of vegetation, breathtaking and desolate. On a snow ridge several kilometers away, a huge purple-black figure was moving quickly.

"A bear? What a strange bear-like creature..."

The female student stared at the photo on the camera, astonished.

"Let me see. Why is it a purple-black bear? Aren't polar bears white? Could a new species have appeared in the Arctic?"

"Don't you think this bear is strange? It looks skinny, yet its body is abnormally huge."

While they clustered together to study the photograph, the strange bear-like creature in the distance was charging down the snow ridge at extraordinary speed, heading straight for the research vessel.

Too fast!

It raced across the ice field like a car. Every time its claws struck the ground, they sent shards of ice flying, and even from so far away, they could faintly hear running footsteps like rolling thunder.

"Something's not right. How can it be so fast?" Li Weiyi narrowed his eyes, realizing the danger.

This strange purple-black bear-like creature was shockingly large, four or five times the size of an adult polar bear.

It was absolutely a species that did not exist on Earth.

In barely a minute, it had run nearly two kilometers.

Its target was clear: the research vessel.

"It's coming for us."

Li Weiyi murmured this, then looked toward the deck and shouted, "Everyone, get back into the cabins! There's danger!"

"What a terrifying speed! Even a cheetah sprinting at full force might not be that fast, right?"

Professor Xu and the seven or eight young students were nearby. Some were worried, others panicked.

The captain's voice rang out from the research vessel's broadcast system. "Attention, all expedition personnel. Return to the cabins immediately. Security team members, lock the cabin doors."

"Attention, all expedition personnel. Return to the cabins immediately..."

The piercing alarm blared throughout the entire research vessel.