Outside a large stronghold brimming with vigorous soldiers on duty, keeping careful watch over every corner, the sound of feet shifting through a dirt road filled with sticks and stones could be heard.
From the sound of things, it seemed like hundreds of people were all heading out at the same time. While this all took place, a young man and his squad of twenty or so members stayed in a single spot.
"From here, to the area marked is roughly a day's walk. I hope you are all prepared." the young squad leader who was obviously, Wu Dong Yi spoke.
"I'm okay." Lin Huang replied.
The other squad members all nodded and flexed their muscles at him. As for the two rich daughters, they neither agreed nor disagreed.
The younger of the two girls, Su Ming stood back as a ring on her finger shined with a slightly bright light. After a few seconds, a large carpet that could fit two people on it appeared in front of her.
The carpet had an exquisite design making it easy to be able to tell how expensive it was. Not only that, but the carpet was also flying in the air.
It was obvious that the carpet was a Magical Tool. Since this is a world of fantasy, of course, such things would exist, right?
"These rich second generation kids are really pampered, having even a Magic Tool used for traveling." Wu Dong Yi thought.
Whoosh!
In front of Ying Yu, a similar carpet too floated in the air. Seeing this, Wu Dong Yi knew what the two were planning.
"Everyone is to get on a Magic Tool so we can head off immediately," he told his squad.
"Yes, sir!" the squadron members replied.
Su Ming and Ying Yu's flying carpets expanded in the blank of an eye, being able to easily fit a dozen people on them just by injecting a small amount of Spiritual Qi.
In the eyes of the other squad members, Wu Dong Yi could tell that they were excited to be able to sit on a Magic Tool for the first time in their lives. Shaking his head, he spoke once again, "You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up later."
The two girls nodded without a word as the flying carpets rose higher into the air and turned into stars in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a cloud of dust in their wake.
Back on the ground, Wu Dong Yi cleared the dust off his body. This was a good opportunity for him to practice his movement art. After all, he hasn't used it very much since the time he had learned it from his wife.
Holding down his helmet tightly, Wu Dong Yi's Spiritual Qi was raised to its maximum as his feet were glowing with blue light. Behind him, small flakes of transparent ice could be seen at the same time.
Taking a step forward, he moved a couple of meters in that single step. Like this, he would be able to catch up to his squad shortly while gaining mastery over the technique.
***********
In the far distance, near a remote location that emitted a strong deathly aura just by seeing it from afar, a group of men on horses wearing bandanas could be seen.
While being horseback, they carried poaches and large cutlasses on their backs. The group that numbered over a hundred were all heading towards a singular direction.
"Boss, we hauled quite a bit this time, I can't wait to get a few drinks when we get back." one of the bandits spoke to a large man who was over 2 meters in height.
"Quiet, something is off about this. There have been too many crows around these past few days, I think something is going to happen. When we get back, tell all our men to pack and get ready to move." the large bandit who was obviously the leader replied slowly.
The bandit who had spoken just before looked around. As he noticed the strange amount of crows in the area, he knew that his boss was right. After following his boss around for many years, he knew that his boss was always right about such things.
If not, how could their group still be roaming around despite many powerful soldiers guarding the borders for all these years? It was thanks to his boss getting them out of such situations ahead of time before things actually happened that they managed to survive for this long.
The bandit got back and whispered to three other bandits with the same colored bandanas as they all went for a single location.
*************
Step! Step!
Whoosh!
The sound of fast movements could be heard. A single man took a single step and traveled a few meters with each step could be seen.
Behind him, a road of ice that was left behind every step could be seen following him like a shadow. If one were to watch him, they would be able to see that his feet were over 30cm's off the ground!
Just slightly below his feet by a few inches, was a road of ice that let him travel at great speeds with every step he took. If this were back on Earth, one could say it was like he was standing on a slide made entirely of ice.
The young man who was moving with incredible speed seemed to be picking up speed slowly every dozen steps.
Even though it was a slight change in pace, it was obvious that there were improvements in the young man's footwork and technique.
While he was moving, the young man could be seen to have his eyes closed off. It seemed like he was practicing even while running!
Within the young man's mind, he was thinking of various things at the same time. Whether it was the situation, or to various other things all happening at once.
"I'm slowly getting closer and closer to the Qi Condensation realm, I still want to hold off on it for a bit longer if I can. I feel like my foundations will be perfect soon enough. Rather than gathering Spiritual Qi to improve my cultivation base, what if I tried to direct it all towards my entire body and refine my dantian even further?"
As he thought of this, the young man began to move at a slower pace, as Spiritual Qi could be seen being drawn to his body at the same time.
Normally, one would need to be in a perfectly calm state of meditation while cultivating, which was done by sitting down and emptying one's mind before doing so. The young man was defying the natural order and logic of this world by running and cultivating at the same time!
After a few hours, the Spiritual Qi that had been gathering around the young man could be seen being devoured at a constant speed. Rather than drawing it into the dantian to increase its quantity, the Spiritual Qi was gathering throughout the body and flowing through each and every meridian in the body before passing back through to the dantian and slowly becoming denser and denser.
At the same time, the young man's body was being refined to a greater degree. Under his clothes, his masculine but neither thin nor large body was getting slightly more toned. The change was minuscular, but the effects he would feel from his body was much greater than before.
A little bit of time after, the young man opened his eyes and stopped moving. He could physically feel that his body had gotten stronger than before, whether it was externally or internally.
"It felt like I had made a breakthrough, but it seems like I didn't enter the Qi Condensation realm while my body is stronger than before. Does that mean that I had done something unconventional and entered a Tenth stage of the Body Tempering realm?" the young man thought.
However, no one else was around to confirm his thoughts. He could only keep it to himself as he felt the changes in his body. Previously, he could channel and use a small amount of Spiritual Qi in his body to attack, now he could tell that the amount had doubled in both quantity and quality compared to before.
The young man knew that he had a mission to finish, now that he has explored his own body a little bit, he began to use his movement technique once again.
*************
Half a day later, a group of soldiers could be seen. Amongst the soldiers, there were six who stood out within the soldiers. Those six were obviously the Squad leaders of each respective squad.
If Wu Dong Yi were here, he would see that the six squads were all gathered in the same place. As for his own squad, they had seen the squads but decided to move on ahead on their own while ignoring the other squads.
"Look, it's the new squad. I'm envious that two of them have such great Magic Tools. As for us, we only have these horses that we had to buy on the way here." one of the soldiers said.
"It's good enough that we have a horse, else we wouldn't have made it here even after an entire day. Just be quiet and eat your rations." another soldier beside him replied.
The six squad leaders all had their own horses that seemed to be a cut above the rest. For some reason, they had all gathered in a single spot, instead of heading for their target.
After a while, Wu Dong Yi passed by and saw the other squads. Slowing down, he went into the group of soldiers to find out what was happening.
"Squad leader Qi Jian, may I ask why you have all gathered here?" Wu Dong Yi asked them.
One of the other squad leaders glanced at him, "Sit." he replied to him.
Wu Dong Yi nodded, he sat down next to the man and noticed a map on the ground with marked places and small pieces which represented people.
After having a quick glance, Wu Dong Yi immediately knew what was happening. It seemed like the bandits had gotten word of their attack on them, and had already moved before their arrival.
The scouts that came back reported to them immediately after seeing the direction they were headed to. Fortunately, the bandits steered clear from the Death Valley itself and seemed to be heading off to another hideout they had made previously.
The map displayed a few hideouts that had been found previously in which were confirmed to have no one in them. As for the unchecked locations, the squads would need to take one or two trips to each place in order to find them.
While the other squad leaders were discussing the situation, Wu Dong Yi was thinking on his own. Looking at the layout and the marked locations, he noticed an irregularity.
From looking at the hideout locations, some were by caves while others were close to lakes. Only one, in particular, was located deep within a large natural hole by a large mountain.
Looking at the formation of the hideouts, he tried to figure out what was bothering him. After a few moments, he perceived something and stood up immediately.
"You guys keep discussing, remember to be alert when you head to the center." those were the only words he told the other squad leaders as he jumped into the air and ran as fast as he could towards the direction of his squad members.