Seeing the young girl in his room, Qin Zheng frowned. "How did you get in?"

"I have the key."

"Give it to me."

"No way," Ye Jiao stuck out her tongue. "I'm keeping this key until you move out. Anyway, here's some night snacks for you."

"You come here just to deliver them?"

"We end the dinner without having any dessert, so I decide to bring some of them to you," Ye Jiao shrugged. "Anyway, I'll search for the s.h.i.+p tomorrow with Master. You can try to gain more information."

"Got it," Qin Zheng sat down and pulled the plate filled with fried potato. "You should return back to your room."

"Ok. Good night, Qin Zheng."

"Good night."

…

The next day, Ye Jiao spent the entire day with her master to select a s.h.i.+p for them to travel. Once they found a suitable one, Zhan Jing directly bought it with a pouch filled with gold coins.

Ye Jiao couldn't imagine how rich her master truly was.

"Master, don't you need to hire people to drive the s.h.i.+p when we're going to the island?"

"There's no need for that. I can drive it well."

"I see."

As they walked on the market, Ye Jiao could feel the earth suddenly shake. People were no longer able to stand properly as the shaking turned even bigger. The building also started to shake and several stalls were upturned. It was a complete chaos in the city. At the same time, people were struggling to find a way to avoid the falling ruins.

Ye Jiao was also unable to stand properly. She crouched on the ground to make her center of gravity lower as she covered her head with her hand to protect it. After a good half a minute, the shaking finally stopped with a lot of destruction in the city.

"They have never repaired the building, have they?" Zhan Jing shook his head as he saw the broken building not far from them.

"Master!"

"Are you alright, little la.s.s?"

"Yes," Ye Jiao stood up. Thanks to the earthquake, she was pushed around the city. "What's that, Master?"

"That's the signal that the island has appeared," Zhan Jing said calmly. He bent down and picked Ye Jiao up to his shoulder. "It's going to be a little dangerous, so it's better if you stay there."

"M-master?"

"Even though they already build everything by taking the earthquake into consideration. It's truly poorly built," Zhan Jing commented while ignoring Ye Jiao's call.

Around them alone, there were a lot of buildings that were destroyed. It was not hard to see that the entire place was wrecked beyond repair along with the deaths of numerous people on the street. Disaster at this degree was already more than enough to cause a catastrophe.

As soon as they finished talking, the city shook once again. This time, Ye Jiao could see a ma.s.sive volume of earth was coming from the direction of the lake, hitting the large wall that covered it. Some water managed to pa.s.s through, flooding part of the street and sent some unfortunate ones washed with it.

Ye Jiao held her master's hand tightly in fear that she would fall. However, no matter how bad the shaking was, Zhan Jing stood firm as if there was nothing at all. Looking at the ground around her master, she could see that they were in perfect condition.

Her eyes widened. "Master, are you…?"

"I'm earth elemental," Zhan Jing said as a matter of fact. He controlled the area around his legs to make sure that they didn't receive any damage.

"But Master, can't you just let me down and protect me from a distance?"

Zhan Jing's eyes flashed. He sighed slightly. "I need to control it deep enough to make sure that it won't move. With my current power, it's not enough."

Seeing the sad light on her master's eyes, Ye Jiao felt a pang in her heart. She didn't know why, but it made her pained. She didn't want to see him look so sad, so she raised her hand to his cheek, making him raise his head to look at her.

"Jiao'er?"

"Master, don't be sad. You'll become much more powerful again in the future," Ye Jiao said with a rea.s.suring tone.

Zhang Jing smiled. He messed up Ye Jiao's hair. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

The shaking stopped and Zhan Jing walked on the broken street to the wall. It was still standing st.u.r.dy in his place because it was made to face the sudden increase of water volume from the lake. Several people were around her, but Ye Jiao paid no heed as her eyes were locked on the island located at the center of the lake.

On the clear water of the lake, that supposedly has nothing on top of it, now has a beautiful island in the middle. From this distance, it looked so small with green and brown color covering the entire place. There was also faint mist around the island, making it look mysterious.

"It looks small from here."

"From what people say, it's not small at all," Zhan Jing remarked. He put Ye Jiao down. "Do you have a way to contact that Zheng brat?"

"Uhm, letter?"

"…"

Zhan Jing pointed to the hotel where they stayed. "You better call him now to meet in the ort. It's going to be a bloodbath soon."

Ye Jiao nodded her head and started to run. Using the method that Qin Zheng taught her, it didn't take long for her to travel several kilometers and reached the hotel. Compared to many other places, it was in far better condition. As she was about to go up, she saw Qin Zheng standing in the lobby.

"Qi… Zheng Ge!" Ye Jiao called.

Qin Zheng looked at the young girl with arched eyebrows. "You sure take your time to fetch me."

"I was looking at the island first."

"Let's go. We're going to be late."

"Late?" Even though Ye Jiao didn't understand, Qin Zheng didn't waste any time to explain as he dashed out. Ye Jiao quickly followed after the young man as they headed to the port.