" ….Welcome to the misty village, from the way the two of you are dressing I don't think the two of you are from our Northern continent, or am I wrong? '' the village head asked.
" well.. You are right, the thing is we are lost and I was wondering if you would know the directions to the nearest teleportation formation. ".
He continued " As you can see, we are travellers, however, we are lost and wanted a place to rest for the night if you don't mind. ".
" Travellers, I see people like you a lot, young man, but a word of advice, the mysterious fog of the misty Mountain is impossible to navigate, in the end, you will come back with no gain like the many before you. "
" mysterious fog? "
Would I be wrong if I presumed you came for the misty Mountain? ",
" Not entirely, we are travellers, I'm Alaric, and my friend here is called Charlie, we were on our way when we found ourselves lost, luckily we found this village, we are wondering if you could help us with a place to stay the night and the directions for the nearest Teleportation Formation… "
" Ahhaa, I see, well...a place for the night is no problem as for the directions... I don't know of a teleportation formation, so I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to help with that."
" …oh It's not a problem, but do you happen to have a map or the direction of a nearby big settlement, a city or something of that kind? " Arthur asked.
" a city?..... If it's a city you are asking for... Blue Feather City would be the nearest, it's a medium-sized city ruled by the City lord's mansion... The city is a…. 3-day journey away from the village….. " The village head continued by giving Arthurs the directions to the city while telling them about some points to look out for along the road, like a road known for having bandits and other things
"..... "
Soon Arthur and the village head's conversation diverted to other topics, food was brought and the three people along with the young girl sat down and started eating.
Throughout the meal, the village head's questions subtly investigated the duo's origins but Arthur skillfully diverted the topic while Charlotte was even harder to get information from,
After a fulfilling meal, the duo were led to different but adjacent rooms to sleep.
Charlotte entered the room she was given, and as if the exhaustion from the last two days finally settled in, she laid on
…..
Ka KUUUUUUK!
A loud, jarring and ear-piercing sound exploded near Arthur's ears.
Startled awake, Arthur rolled out of the bed and hit his head. It took him a moment to gather himself and understand what happened.
KU KA KUUUUUUUUKK!
Eyes twitching, he thought " Was that a rooster 🐓? ",
Once, twice and thrice, the rooster didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon, and along with the fact of him being a guest, Arthur didn't want to touch it, so after half an hour of torture, he decided just to spend the rest of the night cultivating.
Sitting in a meditative position, Arthur mused on the low density of spiritual energy in the surrounding area as he started his cultivation.
A while later, after Arthur completed a full energy circular and refined the energy to the purest state,
" It took me longer than expected to complete a full cycle, the energy in the mountain's peak is much purer than the energy in its surroundings at the bottom. Even though the density was...."
....
Hours later
The sun rose and the birds chirped, sun rays sneaked inside the room where Charlotte slept, but the latter was no longer asleep, sitting in a meditative state, energy revolved inside her body and consolidated her cultivation.
Opening her eyes she looked at the sunlight in her skin, feeling its warmth, a smile appeared on her face.
...
Coming out, Charlotte either greeted or returned the greeting of others as she walked to the nearby hut, where Arthur was to spend the night. After knocking on the door a couple of times, she opened it when she didn't get a response.
Arthur was sitting in a meditative state, as his body absorbed the spiritual energy from the surroundings, with more than five hours of continuous cultivation, he exuded the aura of the 5th Order Mortal realm.
Feeling a familiar aura in his surroundings, Arthur opened his eyes,
After a short greeting, Charlotte asked, " Young lord, When do you plan to move? I believe we should return as soon as possible before your lord father sends a group team to get us back. "
Hearing her words, Arthurs went into thought, a moment later he said "....since we left the Myriad Dao realm, I believe at least three warnings were activated, what do you think?..." as Arthur spoke he looked at Charlotte, smiling, he continued,
" With the number of trackers on me, I believe my father and Butler Quinn should have noticed, while my mother will notice once she excites seclusion, meanwhile I believe the Hidden-Cloud guards should have already started moving, "
" That;'s right, young lord, however, that doesn't mean you can waste your time like this, we have to return and heal your hidden injuries before they aggravate more. " She replied.
" That will not be a problem for me, as for you… how far have you recovered? ".
" Around 85% young lord, after waking up in the temple, I used all my energy to heal my injuries, to find that my cultivation dropped to the minor origin realm and with a shaky and degraded foundation, therefore I used a secret art to burn my cultivation and compress it, in-turn that heals most of my remaining injuries and fixed my foundation…", Charlotte replied.
" …And the result was that your cultivation dropped to the Nascent soul realm? ", Arthur continued her words.
However Charlotte lightly, " My current cultivation is at the Extreme peak of Core Formation. "
" The drop in your cultivation is too much! " Arthur said with furrowed brows.
" Young lord, the massive drop is due to the secret art, but we are extremely lucky that our previous act of igniting our cultivation bases didn't leave any permanent effects".
…..
An hour later, Arthur and Charlotte stood at the Village's gate, accompanied by the village head and the little girl who Arthur assumed to be his granddaughter.
After talking with the old man, Arthur managed to get more information about the surroundings and their destination.
According to the village head,
The Blue-Feather city's city lord was an old man in the late stages of the Core Formation realm, the city lord spent most of his time in cultivation while the city was managed by his 5 subordinates from the city lord's mansion, mainly the Vice City lord, the Guards Captain, the Head Stewards, and lastly an unknown mysterious elder.
According to rumours their strength all lies at the Intermediate stages of Core Formation!