“I don’t know how much longer we can keep her alive. An hour maybe. Maybe two. We cannot wait for the storm to be over when we have the cure for her right there.”
“I’ll go,” Tara said. “I’ll do what I can to help her.”
Alex looked toward the young man and could see fear in his eyes. And yet, the fear hadn’t stopped him from taking the next step.
“No,” Alex said and turned toward the chief. “I heard you can breathe underwater for a long time.”
“For nearly 10 minutes, but it will be much less during the storm since I will need to exert myself physically much more than during a normal day in the ocean.”
“It will be fine,” Alex said. “You won’t have to do much at all. Since we will be heading very deep into the ocean, the storm won’t affect us at all.”
“What about Mili?” he asked.
“She will be with you. I will need you to keep her there long enough for her to absorb enough Yin,” Alex said.
“But she can’t breathe underwater.”
“I will handle that. I will surface from time to time and bring her the air she needs. Alright, we should head on over now. The faster she absorbs Yin, the sooner she’ll live.”
Alex quickly took Mili into his arms and brought her out. As he did, he saw the group of people that were still there, all of whom were surprised to see Alex carrying her.
It was raining hard outside, the winds picking up speed and buffeting everyone all around. The sky rumbled with thunder and lightning. It was going to be a big storm. And yet, these people stood around outside.
Everyone began questioning what Alex was doing, but the chief walked out behind him. “Everyone, return to your huts right away. You do not need to wait around here.”
“Where are you going, chief?” someone asked.
“Why is Mili outside? She should stay with her mother and sisters.”
Alex looked to the chief. “We cannot waste any time.”
The chief nodded and ignored the people, heading over to the shore.
The ocean waves were powerful during the storm, reaching as high as five meters even this close to the beach. It was even larger in the back.
“We should stick to the shore. There is a deep spot over there,” the chief screamed over the splashing waves, getting his words across.
“No!” Alex shouted back. “Yang infects all the water on the surface. To find Yin, we must go deeper. Over there.”
He pointed further into the ocean.
“We’ll drown,” the chief contested.
“I won’t,” Alex said. “Trust me. I know what I’m doing. If you think something has gone wrong, just leave me behind and return with your daughter.”
“I will,” the chief said.
Alex smiled. He explained what the chief needed to do while in the water. While going to the depths with his daughter, he needed to hold her mouth and nose so that she didn’t accidentally swallow the water. He could not let her drown.
As long as he stopped her from doing that and kept her in the depths, Alex would handle everything.
The chief nodded and tried to take his daughter, but Alex shook his head. “I’ll hand her over once we’re over there. Otherwise, she will swallow water while you’re swimming.”
“How will you get her there then?” the chief asked.
Alex grinned. “I’ll run.”
The chief didn’t understand what he meant at all.
“Go. I’ll be right along with you.”
The chief hesitated for a bit but did as told in the end. He jumped into the ocean, swimming against the strong current, going as far as he could.
Alex held on to Mili and looked at her pale face once more. Her face was drenched at the moment, and he couldn’t tell if it was sweat or rain, perhaps both.
“If you can hear me, just hang in there, okay? I will heal you. I promise.”
Then, he ran.
Alex dashed forward at such a quick speed that, even as turbulent as it was, the water tension didn’t break beneath his feet. Both the force with which he stepped and the speed at which he ran made it so that the water was essentially just another surface for him to run on.
He jumped over incoming waves, stepping at their highest point to propel himself further inward.
The chief noticed him running past and could barely believe what he was seeing. Never before had he even heard of someone running above the water, let alone seen it.
The two arrived around the same time, with Alex now in the water, floating as he kept the girl above water. He pointed below and shouted, “Go. I’ll follow.”
The chief nodded through the strong water and quickly swam downward.
Alex waited until the next wave passed before looking for the moment when the girl exhaled. He immediately took in a deep breath, closed her nose, and breathed everything into her lungs through her mouth.
Then he closed her mouth too before diving down.
Alex was a little worried about descending to the depths of the ocean too quickly and kept his senses on the girl. However, because she had body cultivation as well, she was more or less alright.
He arrived at the bottom and found the chief waiting there. He handed over the girl and told the man to keep her mouth and nose shut.
Hearing Alex’s voice in his mind nearly caused the man to let out all of his air right then and there. He stopped himself from doing so but couldn’t stop his eyes from going wide in shock.
As Alex handed the girl over, he sensed how restless she was. That would indicate when she needed to breathe again. For now, it appeared that she could handle herself for a minute or two.
He didn’t have to surface just yet.
Instead, he just stood by and felt the Yin within the water. Even this deep, the amount of Yin in the ocean was surprisingly not that much.