"What's the matter?" Wang Tian asked. A day had passed since Wang Tian had won Chaos Mode, and the three were boarding a flying boat towards the Capital. Currently Su Wu was resting his head on the rails of the boat as he looked out at Red Ridge City.
"Nothing, I am just wondering if the others are alright." Su Wu replied before turning around. It seemed he still felt some responsibility for them as their Senior Brother. "They should be fine, they're stronger than you think." Wang Tian said, clearly confident in his statement. 'After what we went through I am sure they'll be fine in Red Ridge.'
Wang Tian then took a walk around the flying boat. He had never been on one before so it was quite the experience for him. The boat itself was made out of wood and from what Wang Tian had heard was actually a Yellow Grade Artefact.
This had surprised Wang Tian greatly, after all he knew how expensive Yellow Grade Artefacts were, and for one this size it must have been quite expensive. 'Then again I heard these are owned by forces outside of the Kingdom, I think its owned by Harmonious King's Travelling Agency.' Wang Tian pondered making his way to the front of the ship.
There Wang Tian looked towards the horizon, it felt like he was finally going to see a greater world. While Red Ridge was definitely bigger than Skyward City it didn't feel like Wang Tian was challenged at all. He wanted to test his limits, and the Capital seemed like just the place to do that.
'I wonder when this will activate as well.' Wang Tian mused as he looked at the token Yan Mei had given him over a month ago. It hadn't changed at all, and frankly Wang Tian was surprised by its durability. 'Thankfully I didn't lose it, otherwise I might have been chased down by that girl's clan one day.'
Nonetheless he still couldn't figure out the token. He had tried to insert his Qi into it but nothing happened when he did so, and the word "Water" was still plastered on it. 'Does that mean there's a fire token or something?' Wang Tian still didn't really understand but he knew one day everything would fall into place.
The journey upon the flying boat continued without much trouble. Wang Tian diligently cultivated during this time trying to push his cultivation towards the 9th Layer of Qi Refinement as quickly as possible.
Mu Feng had likewise been cultivating and finally managed to breakthrough into the 8th Layer. He had already been a step away after entering the Spiritual Lake, so it was no surprise that he would breakthrough.
Days passed and everything had been going smoothly, every now and again the boat would make a stop at a city to take more passengers.
Just like any other, this day too had been peaceful, until someone began to cause a ruckus on the flying boat. "Who's shouting so loudly?" Wang Tian mumbled. He was taking a rare break from his cultivation and now someone was shouting and disturbing his peace.
Wang Tian then tried to ignore the man, but he continued getting louder and louder. Eventually Wang Tian had enough and decided to see what was going on. Following the sound he eventually found a crowd which was circling a two men and a woman.
"How dare you stain my Young Master's robes! How are you going to repay him!?" One of the men, who looked to about 50 and was bald shouted towards the woman. 'So this is the bastard who's been screaming his head off.' Wang Tian was extremely annoyed by his demeanor.
It was just some robes wasn't it? For a man called Young Master he was too poor to have a spare? Wang Tian then soon realised something after looking at the woman. '.....Don't tell me he's trying to..... some people are really deplorable.' Wang Tian shook his head in annoyance.
Just as Wang Tian was about to make a move a familiar figure rushed through the crowd and stood before the woman. "Have you no shame? Here, you can buy some new robes." Su Wu declared while tossing them a bag filled with Gold Coins.
'Did this fool just toss out 100 Gold Coins?' Wang Tian was stunned by what Su Wu had just done. That was their hard earned money after all, and he just wasted it on some robes. Wang Tian would've just beaten them up and been done with it.
"D-Do you think this enough to buy my Young Master new robes? What do you think he is a stable boy?" The old man stuttered before flying into a rage. His so called Young Master who stood next to him also looked displeased.
Hearing this Su Wu's expression immediately soured. "I see its not the money you're after." Su Wu replied before releasing his aura. Instantly a pressure descended on the surroundings as the very air warped around him.
The crowd was stunned by Su Wu's cultivation base, but the old man and his Young Master didn't seem very impressed. "Hmph! You think being in the Essence Condensing Realm makes you qualified to provoke me!" The Young Master declared before he too released his aura.
Seeing this the crowd was stunned once again, even Wang Tian rose a brow at this display. 'He must be making his way to the Capital for the selection.' This was the only possibility that made sense to Wang Tian. But this also led Wang Tian to another thought.
In his view Essence Condensing cultivators had been a sort of grand goal to achieve, something only true elites possessed, but now this random cabbage was one as well. Wang Tian immediately felt even more annoyed than he did before. 'After this I am going to cultivate with all my might, otherwise this is just an embarrassment.'
As things seemed to have reached a boiling point the woman was cowering in fear behind Su Wu. "What did I do to deserve this." She muttered as she tried to get away. "You think you can leave?" The old man said as he too released his aura to lock the woman in place.
"Heh, is this all the Azure Tree Kingdom is worth?" A voice sounded from another place. 'Why is Mu Feng getting involved now.' Wang Tian sighed in annoyance. Immediately the crowd's attention focused on Mu Feng.
"Senior Brother, lets go, if you delay here any longer Sect Master will get annoyed. It won't be too late to send people after these guys later." Mu Feng continued as a devious smile rose on his face. "Who do you think you are!?" The Young Master raged at Mu Feng's complete disregard for him.
"Idiot who are you to talk with me? Were you not disciplined properly? Aren't you like 27 years old, you aren't much of a "Young" Master are you? Scratch that you're not even a Master, you're 27 years old yet only in the 1st Layer of Essence Condensing. If I were you I'd commit suicide out of shame!" Mu Feng scolded him as he let out his aura in the 8th Layer of Qi Refinement.
While it was not nearly as impressive as Su Wu's, Mu Feng hadn't released his aura to get ready for battle, rather it was meant to be an indication. If they had any semblance of intelligence they'd infer from what Mu Feng had said that they had some kind of backing, and Mu Feng's cultivation would only further corroborate that. After all a 14 year old in the 8th Layer of Qi Refinement was nigh peerless within the Azure Tree Kingdom.
Immediately the old man's mind raced. 'We've kicked an iron plate here.' He thought as he began to sweat profusely. Luckily he hadn't caught the confusion on Su Wu's face as he exchanged glances with Mu Feng. 'I got it now.' Su Wu understood Mu Feng's plan a few seconds later.
"I understand Junior Brother, but as Sect Master has always said exterminating evil will allow one to attain enlightenment." Su Wu declared emphasizing exterminating. The old man felt a chill hearing that.
On the other hand the Young Master was about to start a fight. "We apologise!" The old man pleaded while putting his hand on his Young Master's shoulder. "If we fight with them it won't end well for us. They might even be part of the Selection, its not worth it." The old man whispered trying to calm down his Young Master.
Fortunately it seemed as though the Young Master wasn't completely brain dead so the argument ended there and then, the old man even gave back the 100 Gold Coins which meant that they hadn't suffered any loss.
On the other hand Wang Tian felt somewhat useless. 'Despite his lower cultivation Mu Feng managed to turn the situation around. Unlike him I rely on brute force and clearly mine was lacking today.' Wang Tian sighed.
He was no saint, he could barely be considered an okay person, but he still felt like he should've done something. Thing is if he went up with his 8th Layer cultivation base he would've just been laughed off, but Mu Feng had managed to use his age along with cultivation base to turn it into a strength.
'Cultivation is the foundation, but sometimes force isn't the only way.'