Ning felt a little awkward talking about children. Not that he was awkward about having some, but rather because he had never even given it a thought.
For some reason, he still thought of himself as a young man, rather than someone who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years.
"What? Do you not want kids?" Ely asked. "It is alright if you don't want to, but I just… never mind."
"No, no," Ning said quickly. "I'm not against the idea of having some kids, but not right now. I don't want to have kids, only to watch them grow old before I get to spend some time with them."
"There is something I still have to do which will make me feel more secure to have kids, and then I will think about it," he said.
"Alright, it's settled then," Ely said. "So, what is this thing you have to do?"
"Hmm… I wonder if I should tell you," Ning thought slightly.
"Why not?" Ely asked.
"It's one of the things I have not told you and I want it to remain a surprise until the last day," he said.
"How much more surprise do I need? It's already a mystery why we are even going to the Baelon city," Ely said.
"This one is definitely worth it, I promise," Ning said. It would be a surprise to him if he could achieve it. For now, he could only hope to be able to one day.
The sun slowly moved west as they flew through the sky. The ship had to stop multiple times to drop off and pick up some more people, which was why the travel was going to take an entire day.
"It's no different than an airplane back on earth," Ely sighed. She was getting bored staying in this one place, waiting for the boat to start moving again.
"Ooh, I don't think you'll be bored now though," Ning said.
Ely flinched a little when all the sound suddenly came back, and she could hear the noise everyone else had to listen to for the entire journey.
"You should have told me you were going to remove the silence before doing it," she said loudly.
"Sorry, sorry," Ning said softly. "But I thought you would want to see this."
8 different masked individuals walked up the boat at once holding swords and spears in their hands.
"What's happening?" Ely softly asked.
"How should I know? They just came here," Ning said.
"But you know everything," Ely said.
"I choose not to. It's boring that way," Ning said. "They will tell us anyway."
"Everyone! Please remain quiet!" the man at the front with a silver sword in his hands spoke. "We are the Nine Marauders. We have taken this boat hostage and alongside it, you all are—"
"Why are there only 8 of you?" Ning spoke up from the middle of the group.
"I told you to remain quiet. We are taking you as hostage today so that—"
"You still haven't answered me," Ning said. "Can it be that your group can't count? In that case, let me tell you that there are only 8 of you, not 9."
"Bastard! I told you to shut up. Speak again and I will gut you like a fish," the man got angry. He even showed off his True Immortal cultivation base to scare off anyone else from speaking.
"As I was saying, we are the Nine Marauders and today you are our hostage. Please do not act hastily, or we will have to kill you all. For now, just hand over your belongings," the man said.
The 7 others immediately moved out from behind him and started taking away people's storage bags.
The group slowly moved from the front to the back. A few of the people tried to resist a little, but a single sword or spear pointed at them made them let go of any storage bags they had on them.
One of the 8 people came up to Ning with a small bag in his hands filled with the storage bags he had taken away.
Ning looked at the bag and smiled. "Thank you," he said as he picked one. "I really needed it. I was quite poor."
The man immediately pulled out a sword. "Bastard! You have played enough. Give your storage bag or you will die," the man said.
"Geez," Ning said as he threw the storage bag in. "Alright, tell me why you are called the Nine Marauders when you are only 8 and I will give you my bag. That's a good deal right? It can't be that you are stupid enough to make such an obvious—"
Ning heard the blade shatter on his body. "—mistake…" He looked at the broken shards of the sword and sighed.
"You are quite trigger-happy, aren't you? Wanting to kill someone just for refusing to part with their belonging," Ning said.
"Y-y-you… wh— how did you?" the man trembled as he fell back in fear.
Ning slowly stood up and walked towards the man that was trying to crawl away. Before the man could get very far away, Ning caught him by his robes and pulled him up.
"Tell me, can you breathe in outer space?" he asked.
"Wh— what?" the man asked.
"Breathe, in outer space. Can you do— actually, you know what? I don't care," he said as he flew 10 meters into the air with the man. Then, in one swift motion, he swung his arm towards the sky, sending the man flying into the stratosphere, going all the way out into outer space.
Ning looked up and even to his eyes the man vanished.
"Whooo… he went so far away," He said before looking back down at all the horrified marauders and passengers altogether.
He ignored the passengers and turned towards the Marauders' leader who was scared out of his mind too.
"Tell me," Ning asked. "Since you just lost a person, you are going to change your name soon, right?"
