Cold wind blew in the silent morning of Monday. It was quite as always. Activities in the Xiao Sect don't start till well past seven after all.
The horses neighed softly and let out a huff of breath as it stood in front of the Palace waiting with the coachman and a few guards.
Minutes passed and soon a figure approached the carriage. It was Li Yuan. He had a hood over his head and he casually rotated around a small dagger as long as his hand from his wrist to finger tip.
"Halt!" A commanding voice said once Li Yuan got close to the carriage
It was a guard who had stopped him. Li Yuan took off his hood and the guard got a clear look of his face.
"Sir Yuan, it's you" the guard said
A small smile played at the corner of Li Yuan's lip. He liked that titled. Just because he had business with the King he was actually referred to as Sir.
Before Li Yuan could say anything, he heard footsteps. Walking round the carriage to the other side, Li Yuan saw Xiao Delun, Zhan and Lijuan walking towards him. Behind them was the King and his assistant.
"Greetings" Li Yuan greeted them when they arrived before him.
"How long have you been here?" Xiao Lijuan asked concerned he had been waiting for long.
"I just arrived" Li Yuan replied
"Since you're all here," Xiao Huifen started "... I'll give you some final instructions. Gushing Spring Academy is definitely not lacking of people with talents and different characters. Remember to not do anything that might caught the attention of the wrong people. Don't investigate anything until you've received proper training and further instructions. Understood?"
"Yes sire" the four teens replied
Xiao Huifen nodded
"You'll head out now. It's a four days journey from here to Gushing Glory Country. Li Yuan.." he said and looked at the young mystic affinity awakener. He opened his hand and a metal plate appeared, rotating slowly above his palm.
It had the logo of the Black Diamond Kingdom on one side and the other side had the logo of the Xiao Sect. It was royal pledge which showed that one had a very strong relationship with the Royal family of a kingdom or country or the ruler himself.
With this pledge, Li Yuan's statue will automatically be lifted from commoner to Young Sir. The title Young Sir was only a level lower than Young Master which was the title Xiao Delun possessed.
"...with this, your stay in Gushing Spring University will be much easier and you'll be able to enter some places with Xiao Zhan, Lijuan and Delun" Xiao Huifen and and let the pledge float to Li Yuan
Li Yuan accepted it with a bow.
"Thank you Sire" He said before directly putting the pledge in his storage ring.
Xiao Huifen turned to to coachman and three guards.
"Make sure nothing happens on the way or you'll have your life to pay with" he said
The guard with the highed level among them stepped forward
"We shall see to it that they arrive safely" he said to the king then turned to the young ones "This way please" he said
"Goodbye father" Xiao Lijuan gave her father a hug before entering the carriage
When the were all seated, the coachman hit the horse and it began to move. Just when they were about to drive out of the palace gate, Xiao Zhan heard a voice in his head.
He listened and when the voice was gone, stuck his head out of the window and looked in the direction of the King. He nodded once and sat properly again.
Xiao Huifen watched the carriage drive on till he couldn't see it anymore. He turned around and began walking back into the house.
"Send words to them" he said to his assistant "Tell them they will be arriving soon"
🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁
Inside the carriage, Xiao Zhan and Xiao Lijuan were seated together while Xiao Delun and Li Yuan opposite them.
The carriage was silent for the first few hours of the journey as everyone was rather busy with their thoughts until Li Yuan finally broke the silence.
"You highness" Li Yuan called "Did you really break through Martial Practitioner Stage 4 when you awakened yesterday? I left immediately after I awakened so I did not see you awaken"
Xiao Zhan nodded with a slight smile
"Yes" he replied.
Li Yuan looked at him in awe
"I also heard you awaken an X Ranked talent and several affinities and bloodlines" he said
Xiao Lijuan smiled brightly
"The crystal actually chattered too. Obviously, my brother Zhan talent is one of a kind" she said.
After only a day, her view on Xiao Zhan had improved drastically and after he gave her the mask, she completed trusted him and believed he was really her brother as her father had said.
Naturally, Xiao Lijuan didn't waste any opportunity to brag about him a bit.
"What about you? You awakened a SSS ranked talent" Xiao Lijuan said "And you even have a godly grade bloodline!"
Li Yuan's smile matched her's
"Yeah" he said the suddenly remember some "Oh, has anyone been to Gushing Glory Country before?"
Xiao Lijuan shook her head and Xiao Delun looked at Xiao Zhan
"You travelled a lot right? You must have been to Gushing Glory Country before"
"Oh, yes. Brother, tell us about the places you've been to" Xiao Lijuan grabbed Xiao Zhan's arm excitedly. She had never been outside the kingdom's walls and wanted to know what it was out there.
Xiao Zhan smiled at her and quickly made up an excuse
"Maybe later when we settle down in the Academy" he said "I saw some cultivation techniques in my storage ring and I want to check them out. If possible, I want to learn about one element before we arrive at the University"
"Cultivation techniques? I haven't checked my storage ring yet" Xiao Lijuan said letting go of her brother and began using her consciousness to examine the content of the storage ring. Xiao Delun and Li Yuan did the same too.
Xiao Zhan called out a book from the storage ring. It was a Consolidated Realm cultivation techniques for people with X ranked talent.
Xiao Zhan frowned. There were three cultivation techniques in the storage ring and everyone of the were for X ranked talent awakeners. That was a problem.
•°Detected that host is trying to learn a cultivation technique of a lower talent level than host talent level. Advising host not to as this would cause a setback in his cultivation °•
Xiao Zhan was at lost. During his awakening, the crystal had chattered when it glowed black so everyone declared he had a X ranked talent. However, he actually had a X+ ranked talent.
This was a serious problem as in this world, there was no such thing as a X+ talent!
How would Xiao Zhan cultivation when there was no cultivation techniques for him?
Suddenly, Xiao Zhan remember one of the items he had picked from the numbers that old man made him pick from.
A memory
god help him it was memories of X+ talent cultivation techniques and skills else Xiao Zhan didn't know what he'll do.
Xiao Zhan opened the system and was about to open inventory when something else stopped him. It was the store.
Couldn't he buy and sell things there?
The store opened and as suspected, Xiao Zhan found a row of cultivation techniques of different talent ranks before him.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Xiao Zhan finally relaxed but that didn't last long as his eyes landed on the price of the first X+ talent cultivation technique he saw.
'The fuck? This is robbery!