Chapter 360: 209, Red Dust Pavilion, establishing the will between heaven and earth, that little princess (5k2 big Chapter)
「Half a year later.」
Outer Sea of the Wangchuan Sea.
A three-story Sea-Crossing Flying Boat was docked on the coast of Golden Swallow Island, its long boarding ladder lowered.
Xu Xing and Wu Miao boarded together, stepping onto the Shanhai Sect’s Flying Boat. They then casually sat cross-legged on the deck, waiting for the vessel to depart.
There were five classes of tickets for the Sea-Crossing Flying Boat. The first-class tickets provided a private Cultivation Room, a Dan Chamber, and a daily supply of Spiritual Feasts. The amenities for the remaining classes decreased progressively.
The fifth-class ticket, known as the "Five Armor Ticket," only permitted one to sit on the Flying Boat’s deck, without even a private room for meditation.
"This Daoist friend, traveling with his spouse... yet he only buys a Five Armor Ticket. He’s too stingy..."
"However, tickets from the Wangchuan Sea to the North Wilderness are hard to come by. A single ticket costs more than 300,000 Spirit Shells... I reckon those two must have emptied their purses..."
As cultivators boarded the boat one after another, they whispered and conversed in low voices when they saw Xu Xing and Wu Miao near the railing. As many of them spoke, their gazes carried a hint of disdain.
Traveling alone with a Five Armor Ticket would be one thing. Saving money on a journey was nothing to criticize.
But to travel with one’s spouse using Five Armor Tickets was undeniably shabby and invited ridicule.
After all, a fourth-class ticket for two, which included a cabin, cost less than thirty percent more than a single ticket...
Moreover, Wu Miao, this Female Cultivator, possessed a rather distinguished temperament.
"Senior Brother Xu, it’s all my fault for causing you these misunderstandings and getting you implicated," Wu Miao apologized when she saw this.
Xu Xing’s identity on Huge Mastiff Island had been very successfully concealed; no one had detected anything unusual about Xu Xing, the Hundred Treasures Pavilion’s Outer Pavilion Elder.
But because of her "willfulness," the identity Xu Xing had so carefully constructed was ruined in an instant.
Now, because she had to return to the Starfall Sect to inherit the position of Sect Master, Xu Xing, a Dao Pill Daoist, had no choice but to accompany her on the Sea-Crossing Flying Boat with a fifth-class ticket.
"It’s just a fifth-class ticket. This humiliation is nothing," Xu Xing shook his head, indicating that Wu Miao needn’t be concerned.
The fifth-class ticket for the Sea-Crossing Flying Boat was roughly equivalent to a standing-room-only ticket on the trains of his past life. Strictly speaking, there was no such thing as a "fifth-class ticket" per se.
The reason he and Wu Miao had purchased "Five Armor Tickets" was that they could be bought on the Black Market.
Furthermore, scrutiny of a cultivator’s identity and qualifications was much more relaxed for "Five Armor Tickets," making it easier to pass through undetected.
Based on the results of several Fate Deductions and a conversation with Ruan Baimei half a year prior, Xu Xing had a general understanding of his current predicament...
The Flying Feather Immortal Palace had not issued any warrants for him, either openly or covertly.
However, his identity was awkward; he effectively had an "illegal status" with the Flying Feather Immortal Palace.
The danger stemmed from the various other sects and factions, rather than from within the Flying Feather Immortal Palace itself.
Small and Medium-sized Sects coveted the legacy he carried.
The Mingquan Sect, while not caring for his legacy, sought to use his identity to stir up trouble and retaliate against the Flying Feather Immortal Palace.
Therefore, after this recent conflict, there was limited benefit for him to remain in the Wangchuan Sea.
Of course, the primary reason was that the Brocade-clothed Man had leaked his identity.
Although he and Ruan Baimei had killed all the Sea Bandits who besieged Wu Miao, the Brocade-clothed Man was a veteran of the Jianghu. He had taken precautions beforehand and exposed their identities.
He could no longer remain at the Hundred Treasures Pavilion branch in the Wangchuan Sea.
And as for going to the North Wilderness...
The North Wilderness had not yet been touched by the influence of the Flying Feather Immortal Palace. It lay to the north, far from both the Flying Feather Immortal Palace and the Mingquan Sect, so his safety would be somewhat more assured there.
Furthermore, his cultivation could advance through dual cultivation with Wu Miao’s Profound Female Physique.
Although the improvement wouldn’t be as dramatic as the first time, the cumulative benefits over time would still be considerable.
Moreover, the Starfall Sect’s Blessed Land... was of crucial importance to him.
He needed to begin managing it sooner rather than later.
"Since Senior Brother Xu doesn’t mind, then I can be at ease," Wu Miao nodded slightly. She then began to follow Xu Xing’s example, closing her eyes tightly and not wasting a single moment of cultivation time.
The Shanhai Sect’s Flying Boat route from the Wangchuan Sea to the North Wilderness followed the Fengxi River.
The Fengxi River originated in the North Wilderness. They simply needed to travel upstream.
The scenery is unchanged. I wonder, was Ouyang Pan’an triumphant in the mortal world back then, or did he meet with despair...
「A little over a month later,」 the Sea-Crossing Flying Boat had traversed the inner and outer seas of the Wangchuan Sea and arrived at the estuary of the Fengxi River.
Xu Xing opened his eyes, looking down at the scene below the boat.
The vista was just as he remembered.
The magnificent Fengxi River flowed from north to south, emptying into the purple Wangchuan Sea. At the confluence of river and sea lay numerous Lu Continents, like yellow jade ornaments adorning a jade belt.
It was exactly as it had been over a hundred years ago when he had taken a Sea-Crossing Flying Boat to Purple Magpie Valley, utterly unchanged.
No wonder East Huangzhou is called East Huangzhou...
Xu Xing gazed towards the Tianyun Mountain Range, which bordered the Fengxi River.
These mountains were veiled in white mist, their peaks layered and stretching into the distance, vast and boundless, strongly resembling the unfurled wings of a phoenix in flight.
The estuary of the Fengxi River formed the beak of this phoenix.
After the Sea-Crossing Flying Boat entered the Fengxi River, it made several stops en route.
At these stops, some cultivators boarded, while others disembarked.
"Scholar Su?" Xu Xing sensed a familiar aura and opened his eyes, looking towards another part of the deck.
This was a rugged-looking, bearded man dressed in a White Scholar Robe, holding a white paper fan.
He looked coarse and bold.
"Senior Brother Xu... you know him? Su Che from the Daoist Sect?" Wu Miao asked in surprise.
The Daoist Sect was located in the central part of East Huangzhou, far from the Flying Feather Immortal Palace.