Chapter 77

  Upon the World (II)

  Even after riding for almost an hour, there were barely any changes.

  I hadn't grown uncomfortable--honestly, I'll have to see about getting one of these guys for myself because sitting on them felt like sitting on a cushioned sofa compared to the seats of this world--and the world hadn't changed at all, as we were yet to actually leave the main valley surrounding the sect.

  Here and there, small compounds could be seen, and I quickly learned these were the extensions of the sect--some were in charge of processing toxic things, which was why they were doing it here, beyond the sect's walls; some, yet, were stationed here to vet the visitors and deal with the minor, inconsequential things that the sect seniors shouldn't be bothered with, and some were made for the sole purpose of creating missions for the low-level disciples.

  Unsurprisingly, there was nobody who tried to intercept us or follow us like they did with Long Tao--even if they couldn't recognize me or anyone else, it was unlikely that there was a cultivator within the entire region that couldn't recognize Elder Qin.

  Thus, we galloped freely, unbothered by the world.

  As romantic as that sounds, it actually got kinda... boring. I mean, yeah, it's beautiful, and it's nice, and it's colorful, but you know what else it is?

  Constant. Unchanging. Repetitive.

  Within two hours, there was practically nothing new to see that I hadn't seen within the five minutes of leaving the sect. I mean, I knew that the distances were sort of mind-bending, but after two hours on horseback (and it's not like these horses are slow, mind you; I'd honestly estimate that we travelled at like 30 miles an hour, at least) we'd just barely left the outskirts of the sect.

  The valley pulled back, and after a small dip, we emerged onto a long, long, long flat that stretched out in all directions. Far eastward, I could see the forest arise beyond the banks of the river, but westward was just... a blur. I mean, I knew what resided at the far end of them--the Desolate Cliffs where Long Tao went—but as for seeing them from here? Yeah. Turns out, this planet is round, too.

  At some point, Light... dozed off. And I was marginally envious of her pressing her head into my abdomen, not a care in the world.

  Luckily, the village we were supposed to take a break at came into view soon enough. It wasn't a particularly large one; perhaps twenty or so houses stretched on both ends of the river with a bridge connecting them. It was one of the river's narrowest points in miles, just about twenty feet or so between two ends, so it made sense to make it here.

  It seems they were expecting us, as there was an entire welcoming committee hanging on the edges as we strutted inside.

  As Elder Qin accepted the greetings and we dismounted, a bunch of young men led the horses away while we followed the stream toward one of the... better assembled buildings of the lot.

  Most were actually made out of the combination of mud and wood, with straw, grass, and thatch used for the rooftops. I'd made considerations of doing the same when I first began thinking about the housing arrangements on the mountain but chose against it since the technology for something more complex existed.

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  It seems, however, technology existing and being widely spread were two different things entirely.

  We were settled inside a spacious hall, a dozen or so prayer mats surrounding a rectangular table full of drinks and fruits, with a roasted pig as the centerpiece.

  I salivated with expectations, but the scent was... well, minimal. And looking at the color as well as the lack of anything sparkling, I weathered those expectations as quickly as they came up.

  "If you are in need of anything more, please do not hesitate to call for us, Great Senior," the elderly man who seemed to be the village's Chief said to Elder Qin just before he left.

  "Alright everyone, dig in. We'll only stay here for thirty minutes."

  Not one to stand still when offered, I started scooping up every different meal I could see, tasting them all one by one.

  They were... fine. Perhaps slightly worse than the meals the sect's restaurant made.

  Haah.

  My quest for spices continues. I'd asked Long Tao whether he found some while journeying outside, to which he responded by reinstating he'd abandoned everything to come back and warn me. So, I pulled back.

  Speaking of Long Tao, he surprisingly did share everything he found in Elder Zhang's vault. However, we haven't yet fully categorized it all--there was a lot of crap there, honestly. Just the stones alone made up a mountain, with over 30,000 mid-grade Stones. My tiny little spatial satchel was nowhere near enough to store all the crap, so we had to rope Light in and bribe her with a few items to let us store the rest in her spatial ring, which, luckily, was just big enough for everything.

  I was once again a wealthy man, though for how long... eh. Maybe a few months. Dai Xiu, with each new breakthrough, demanded twice as many stones as the stage before, and Long Tao was inhaling the stones like oxygen. And since everyone on the mountain was using Spirit Stone Augmentation, they were able to process Qi from the stones far more quickly, which meant that they were using up the stones just as fast.

  It was all just a big math problem that I didn't even want to try and solve, because if I did, I felt my heart would bleed far too much.

  "Since we have kids with us, we'll have to take more frequent breaks," Elder Qin said. "Which means we'll arrive in about three days, give or take a few hours." Right, I was aware of that. I just wasn't aware of that. God, how cars and planes and trains made things convenient...

  "Master, doesn't our Sect have those powerful airships?" the little Hou He asked with innocent curiosity, and I wanted to high-five the kid immediately.

  Right! The airship! Chockful of arrays and formations, a huge Spirit Stone pit that can take hundreds of people thousands of miles in minutes! Or something like that, at least.

  "We do, actually," Elder Qin replied with a smile. "Blade Resonance, we call it."

  "Why didn't we use it?"

  "Because just to power it up, it costs 100,000 mid-grade Stones. Were you going to supply us with them, Hou'er?"

  "Uh..." the young boy's cheeks flushed as he buried himself back into food while the rest of us had a chuckle.

  "What grade is the airship, Master?" Cao Qiu asked as a follow-up, more so out of curiosity. Damn, these kids were actually reading my mind and asking all the questions I wanted to ask but felt stifled due to my supposed 'seniority'."

  "Ho ho, curious, aren't you? It's actually a low-Sky ancient artifact!" His words seemed to shock some, incite curiosity in others, and leave a blank full of nothing in one--me. I was somewhat familiar with the grades of the martial arts, so hearing 'low-Sky' didn't sound so extreme to me, but maybe it was different for artifacts?

  "Really?!"

  "Hm. It's one of our sect's three True Treasures. The Spirit Sword, the Blade Resonance, and the last one that only the Sect Master himself knows about. My Master, a long time ago, once let it slip by accident that it was probably a Dao Seed!"

  "Whoa!"

  "A Dao Seed?! Isn't that amazing?"

  ... right. What the hell is a Dao Seed?

  It has to be something good because even Long Tao and Hua had sudden shifts in expression, though they went in slightly different directions.

  Long Tao looked genuinely shocked and surprised for a moment, as it was well beyond his expectations... yet quietly understanding.

  Hua's expression, on the other hand, lasted barely a flash; the only reason I even noticed it is because I was paying close attention to these two to gauge how important these things were beyond the scope of this corner of the world.

  It was one of... anger.

  Pure, raw, unbridled... rage.