The Aquarines

In 2160 AD, Tark Yuan is 18 years old.

"The sea is surging, river Luo is whistling while we crossing the waves; our life is floating, like the waves are rolling into the ocean."

Every time Tark Yuan sneaked into the eighth realm of the Nine Realmss after sunset, he'd always glanced at the couplets hanging at the door, and felt that there must be a deep meaning in it. Eighth realm is the general altar of the Central Plains Aquarine people, at where all the affairs of the tribes are managed. Here also gathers the top masters of the Aquarine people of the Central Plains. In the past ten years, Tark Yuan has followed the white-haired old man to study the flying Kungfu here, and was well cultivated. This place is located on the top of the eighth realm, with many cliffs and towering ancient trees. It is extremely difficult for even a master of the Aquarine to get involved. More than ten years ago when Tark Yuan was young , he was able to reach here only with the help of the old man, while since three years ago he could reach here on his own skills, come and go freely.

It was past the appointed meeting time tonight, but the old man did not show up. Every time he came, the old man would wait in advance, so Tark Yuan hesitated. While hesitating, he saw a familiar figure flashing out from behind a stone not far away, "Grandpa Master, you..." Tark Yuan was about to speak, when he saw the opposite figure rushed out like a ghost. Along approaching, he stretched his right hand to poke Tark Yuan's Qihai acupuncture point with index finger by Vajra fingering. One was because of shocking by the quickness of his body method and fingering, and the other was too late to respond because of the sudden. As quick as an eye blink, the man already succeeded. Tark Yuan was hit by the poke, and fell backwards. The moment he fell, he glanced at the man and saw that this man was similar in figure to the old man with white hair, but was younger, with gray hair, long gray eyebrows, and a black scarf covering his face. After this person succeeded, he withdrew his finger strength, paused for a while, slowly turned his back and was about to lift away, but the corner of his mouth made a soft "Huh?". The young man poked by him lying "dead" on the ground slowly raised his right arm, pointed it straight at the sky, retracted his four fingers, and extended his middle finger. The man seemed a little surprised, but he didn't say anything. He bounced on the spot, his left hand moved back, and his right hand stretched forward with eagle claws, and the move was as fast as lightening. Tark bends his right knee, kicks the ground with his right heel, and flies into the air with the sixth move of air walking-Survive of Six Tribulations, and he pops back abruptly. Flying into the air is an extremely top ranked flying skill. Based on its own internal strength, it is divided into nine levels, each of which has many changes. The sixth level, so called Survive of Six Tribulations are divided into six moves, which is the method in air walking Kungfu dedicated to self-help at emergency. The six strokes are coherent but can produce thirty-six kinds of physical changes, according to needs. This move when acted by Tark Yuan, has an extraordinary outcome. The Soft Fish Armor not only helped him block this sudden finger, but also made him instantly bounce back and up several meters. Therefore, the eagle claw of the right hand from the man was unsuccessful. But at the same time, a Hidden Dragon's Whisker popped out of his back with his left hand, aiming Tark Yuan's legs straightly. These two moves showed the brutality of the man, and the move would purposely cause the opponent to die. Luckily the distance and speed that Tark Yuan instantly bounced backwards and upwards has been far unreachable. Beyond the attack range of the Hidden Dragon Whisker, a deadly weapon made of pure steel that is as thin as a hair, plus a dragon claw about the size of a fist on its head. It is a big killer whatever it hits.

Tark Yuan managed to escape this instant killing move, but he didn't dare to take the fight rashly but retreated sharply. Although the talents of this man are well, the flying Kungfu is inferior to Tark Yuan's. By the ninth move of air walking "the universal air walk", Tark Yuan managed to fly for several feet upwards, he has already left the eighth realm. As soon as landed, he felt refreshed with the breeze was blowing from all directions. When recalled the moment when he was performing air walking due to the sudden, it feels like that his feet are not landed to any place adjacent to the eighth realm, but was more like being suspended in mid-air several tens of meters above the eighth realm. A place of different...

"Don't look around, you are in the ninth realm", a familiar and old voice rang in his ears, but there was a vague weakness in it, not as loud as usual.

Seeing the white-haired old man sitting in meditation on a rock not far away, Tark Yuan lightly walked to the old man and sat on the ground. After about a cup of tea, the old man let out a long breath and said, "Tark, you are here, come over and let Master grandpa take a look." Tark Yuan approached, the old man stretched out his hand and held his hand and smiled, "It's okay. it is good". Tark Yuan recounted the incident that had just been attacked, and the old man nodded and said, "You have reached the pinnacle of our tribe's cultivation level, and it is even above me. The Soft Fish Armor has specially strengthened on important acupuncture points on your upper body. Fortunately, the man assume that people like us who practice flying Kungfu set Qihai acupuncture point as the key point. If he attacked your head instead straight away, the consequence will be disastrous." Tark Yuan was about to speak, and the old man gestured with his hand, panting slightly. Slowly he said: "Tark, I know you have too many questions, I will tell you the answers you want to know today."

"The ninth realms we are in is above all other eight realms of the Aquarine in the Central Plains. Because it is not connected with the other eight realms, it is actually a floating city suspended in the air. It is a place of the retreat for the best masters of the Aquarine in the past. No further defence is needed here, because even the people whose air walking Kungfu reaches above the eighth level can barely reach this city. And those who have reached the ninth realm, due to the uncontrollable gravity power during the fall, it is also a problem that they can go back safely." The old man paused, then continued, "Aquarine people of the Central Plains have resided in the Nine Realmss for more than 80 years, and with three generations of patriarchs. Among them, the second generation of patriarch Eric Cheng once came to the ninth realm, but disappeared when returning to the eighth realm. It is still an unsolved mystery till today."

Tark Yuan opened his eyes and listened quietly. The old man gasped slightly and continued:

"Let's talk a little bit farther. According to records, about a hundred years ago, we lived in a world with more than 200 different countries. The so-called countries were formed because of more ancient historical reasons, along with different human races and social groups in all aspects of culture and so on." Seeing Tark Yuan confused, the old man explained: "To put it bluntly, it means that a large group of people gathered together because of something in common, another group became another group, so there are more than 200 groups in total.

At that time, human being had developed to unprecedented heights in science, technology and civilization. At that time, our location was a country called "China" with the international code "CHN". About in the middle of the 21st century, this country had taken the leading role in economic, technological, military, and cultural aspects, and was one of the most developed and powerful countries in the world. China, which is where we are now and calling the Central Plains, has a history of five thousand years. During the period of conquest and competition, one after another, in this land, the Han dynasty of two thousand years ago, the Tang and Song dynasties about one thousand years ago, the plains witnessed those dynasties being once the leader in the world. Although the plains has gone through hardships in the last five hundred years, it finally stood on the top of the world again. "