Lin Qiao and Zhou Dongmei were the names of the seniors that hailed from the Thunderball Hall. After he showed them a glimpse of his aptitude they were eager to add him to the juniors of their sect.
"Take care Rong'er!"
"Ah… yes, goodbye father…"
They were now ready to leave. Luckily the two didn't want to stay for even a day longer in this small city. Thanks to this he would be able to finally leave. The bad part about this was that he was now stuck with these two Martial Grandmasters. He felt that he could take them in a fight but not like he wanted to start one here.
'The journey to their sect will probably take a bit.'
He believed that these two were probably traveling on foot or in some kind of caravan. With this in mind, he could sneak away during the night. With his techniques that could hide him in the shadows, it would be easy to just leave.
Zhang Dong also did not have any malice towards these two here. They were just doing their job of picking up new recruits from the smaller clans. There was no reason for him to cause them harm.
'If I vanish during the night, they might just think that some beast took me away while they slept and not look into it too much…'
Dai Rong was still someone from a smaller clan. Even though he was like a prince here, outside the city he would be nothing special. If he vanished and his body was not found, no one would really bother to look into it. It was just how this world was set up, danger lurked everywhere and junior members were prone to disappearing.
"Junior, let us depart, we will instruct you on the way there."
"Yes, Senior."
It felt strange to bow his head to this random lower sect elder but he needed to do it for now. The group of three left the White Tiger Clan main house. The original young master's body had not been discovered and they were in the process of going into the treasure room. He was in the clear as now with the sect members around, no one would bother him in the slightest.
This didn't stop the White Tiger Clan members from following them all the way through the city. They also made a loud scene as they wanted to know that a member of their family had made it into a prestigious sect. With this their reign over this area was secured, no clan would be able to do anything about it out of fear of retaliation.
'Wish this ends fast… also where are we going… this isn't the exit gate from the city…'
He expected to go towards an area where there were caravans, maybe there was another group of junior sect members outside waiting for them. These two also weren't at the core formation level so the ability of flight should have not been something they were capable of.
Instead of the gate that led out of the city, they climbed up some kind of building. It was quite high and reached up to a hundred meters. On the top he found something interesting, it was a boat that was anchored to the building. Why was it anchored? Because it was floating around and even the wind here made it move from side to side.
"Junior you look surprised, this flying treasure is one of the many wonders you will learn to accept at your new home!"
Lin Qiao proclaimed while acting quite proud. Zhang Dong was more surprised by the fact that this item was given to these low ranking elders than the flying boat itself. It was quite small, the size of a bass boat with only four seats.
He could feel some kind of item inside of it, probably making it float. Compared to the Argonaut 1 that he created, this looked more like a toy. The man looked to be quite proud of this little thing as if it was a great treasure.
"Surprised? Ah yes, Senior…"
The woman didn't say much, she just quickly jumped up onto this boat and took a seat. She took out a large umbrella to cover up from the sun and it seemed that she was ready to go. Zhou Dongmei gave off the vibes of that unapproachable jade beauty, even this man that was here with her was continuously glancing at the good parts.
"Get on junior, we must hurry back to the sect!"
Zhang Dong looked behind him, some White Tiger Clan members were there. Dai Rong's father looked quite proud. He even started feeling bad about stashing his son in a room without a cultivation base.
When he left this spot this man would never see his son ever again. Though he knew that it was also this man's fault for bringing him up like this. Even if this world was affected by some sort of programming there were ways to change it.
His own family members from the Zhang Clan changed their ways. The two disciples that he brought up could have ended up as haughty young masters but instead, they treated people as equals. The only one that he couldn't really change was his grandfather that continued to 'grow' the family even if he told him not to, many times.
He hopped onto the small boat that looked more like it was meant for fishing trips and they blasted off into the sunset. The boat was not as fast as a flying sword would be, but still much faster than walking. He could tell that Lin Qiao was inserting his Qi through his legs into this boat to move it around. The rest was done by the item itself.
'It's more similar to the flying boats from the magic world than from here…'
In his empire, it was hard for anyone below the core formation level to use such a thing. Most sects didn't even bother to create small flying vessels like this one. It was better to just use all the resources to create a large one that could transport more people. Here on the other hand it seemed that the resources to make the boats float were easier to come by.
Now, this was a problem, he hoped that they would be traveling by something else. Maybe even camp out in the woods at night where he could remove himself from the equation. Now he was sitting next to the haughty-looking jade beauty. She did not talk and the man called Lin Qiao was quite the reverse.
He continued to babble on, explaining how lucky Dai Rong was for being accepted as a trial disciple. Yes, he was only a trial disciple; it was possible to get kicked out. From the explanation given, the young prospects would need to go through some kind of boot camp. Their physical capabilities would be tested, the ones that gave up or couldn't keep up would be thrown out.
'Should I just go there and quit mid way…'
The idea to remain with these two all the way till they got to the sect was tossed away rather quickly. He had already taken too long, he was afraid that the more he hesitated the more problems would spring out along the way.
'I bet that when I get there, it will be even harder to leave…'
There were probably elders that were at the core formation level of power there. Escaping would become hard and the days could continue until finally, a chance was there. He knew that new disciples were looked down upon and not trusted. It wouldn't be far-fetched if they all were forbidden from leaving the sect for many years as a test of loyalty.
'The guy is slightly stronger than this girl… I should take him out first…'
They continued flying and they were now far away for him to act. Previously he thought that he needed to reach the core formation level for him to be able to travel. Now, on the other hand, these two gave him the item that he desired.
Even though he didn't want to steal from people that didn't cross him, this was a dire time. If he returned home and regained his might, he would reward this small sect with some treasures.
'If I knock them both down, they won't be able to follow me…'
The plan was easy, he would just toss the two down from this flying boat. They were strong enough to survive the fall and then could return to the White Tiger Clan city for help. He would also need to take away their communication jades to be on the safe side. If they contacted their sect he might have found himself getting chased before he could change his appearance.
They didn't seem to suspect anything, a good palm strike to the man's back should put him out of commission. Then only the woman would remain, if he acted fast they should not be able to react in time.
He leaned forward while bracing himself, his muscles contracted as he was about to deliver the first hit…
'Huh… what now?'
Before he could go through with his plan he felt something, there were other people moving their way. All of them possessed similar cultivation levels to these two people and he had a sinking suspicion as to why.
"Lin Qiao… Fairy Dongmei, Are you returning as well?"
A boat with two more Thunderball Hall elders moved closer to them. Instead of one trial disciple on that boat there were two. The two boats moved next to each other and Lin Qiao started talking to the man that called out to them.
'Fuck… can I take four of them?'
He was sure that he could knock these two down that were close to him. The other two would be a problem though. At this moment in time, he didn't really have any aerial capabilities. They would sourly give chase the only thing he could do was to destroy the other boat.
Then another problem arose, they would notify their sect members. All of them would swarm to this place. There was nothing but open fields and nowhere to hide. If this pair of elders was so close by, there could be more of them.
'Does this mean…'
Unless he defeated them in an instant it was very likely that he would involve himself in some silly chase. Then if they fetched a cultivator that was at a similar strength as a core formation elder, he might be done for.
Before he could make a decision he felt another power source approaching. Soon one, two, and three more flying boats appeared. Each one carried a Martial Grandmaster level of cultivator; it didn't seem like stealing the boat was an option anymore.
They traveled for about a day, in the end, there were fifty of those small flying boats. Some were larger and carried more trial disciples while most were the same size as the one he came on.
Soon they arrived at the meeting spot, the Thunderball Hall was starting to appear on the horizon. Lightning and thunder greeted his arrival and a large white snow-covered mountain. On it he saw some kind of large tower, the lightning bolts constantly hitting its tip.
'I guess… I'll have to rethink my strategy again…'