Chapter 76: Aboard the Flying Ship
After waiting for the staircase to fully extend to the platform, the disciples began climbing aboard with confident strides, even shoving each other aside.
Rising from the ground and dusting himself off, An slowly followed the crowd. He ended up being one of the last to board the ship.
Climbing up the staircase, he was greatly surprised. He had expected to see a luxurious interior, but all he saw was a worn wooden deck.
Everything around looked as though this wasn't a flying ship at all, but a vessel that had lain at the bottom of the ocean for decades, rotting away, until someone had hauled it ashore and merely cleaned the rot off the surface. Stepping onto the deck, he examined the wooden floor, which was so worn it was practically slick.
Turning toward the bow, he saw a massive figure resembling a mermaid, the lower half of an octopus and the upper half of a woman.
Looking around, he headed straight for the stern, toward the rear of the ship. Finding an empty spot, he sat down and leaned his back against the railing.
A few minutes later, after everyone had found their places and finally settled down, several men emerged from the captain's cabin. They wore black armbands and black bandanas. Walking up a small staircase, they arrived on the upper deck. Stopping there, they showed a gesture of respect toward Li Deng and Lua Mou, then immediately set to work.
Flying up to the upper deck and standing on the railing, Lua Mou finally spoke. "Our journey will take just over five days. I recommend you prepare well. On the fourth day, there will be something like a lecture to help you easily orient yourselves in any situation you might encounter inside the Sacred Land." At the end of her speech, she looked into Mo Fan's eyes and smiled slightly, just enough for him to see, but not the others.
Finishing her speech, Lua Mou descended to the lower deck and entered the cabin, following Li Deng.
"Hey! I heard you're a big shot now? You hear that, guys? HAHA!" The moment the door closed, a group led by a bald, muscular man headed toward a group of seven.
"Brother Shepor, keep yourself in check." The moment he heard the provocation, Shepor Dunt, with rage blooming on his face, took a few steps forward, but was stopped in time by Mo Fan.
….
'Though expected, I didn't think something like this would happen the very second we boarded the ship. I wonder if their conflict will escalate inside the Sacred Land itself? Most likely yes, and in the end, after accumulating enough hatred, he'll either cripple him or kill him. Hmm, most likely cripple...' Sitting with his back against the railing, even from about sixty meters away from the center of the deck where the conflict was unfolding, An could see and hear everything clearly.
'Right! They tried to recruit me too. I remember one of those bald guys around him...' Scanning the group that had picked a fight with Mo Fan's group, he noticed among them a disciple who had stood under his formation several times, even once trying to secretly enter his plot.
With a thoughtful expression, An examined the entire group, 'Hmm, only his close associates are fully bald, like him. The others in his group have hair... It's quite amusing to watch. Is he trying to build a sect of monks? Or is he simply bald because of the technique he's training, and to avoid feeling so bad about it, he makes those lackeys shave too, so he won't be so ashamed?' Sitting with a smile, he enjoyed watching the developing conflict.
"Are you Disciple An?" Turning his head to the side, he saw two girls standing over him. The one who had spoken looked at him with golden eyes that perfectly matched the color of her hair. With a warm, gentle smile and features that could easily outshine most of those present.
He immediately noticed she was dressed as a core disciple.
The second, standing beside her, had dark red wavy hair and large green eyes, no less beautiful than her companion. On her chest was the emblem of an Alchemy Practitioner.
The moment they approached him and began speaking, most of those nearby opened their eyes and mouths wide. Without realizing it, they took a few steps back, retreating slightly from An and the two girls.
"Is that Miss Lou?"
"Shh! Quiet! Let's go further away!"
"Miss Lou and Radiant Shine? With their status, what are they doing near that strange guy?"
"We'd better move away, just in case..."
Stepping back, the disciples began whispering among themselves. Though they pretended not to be involved, their gazes never left the trio, afraid of missing something.
An had long sensed that even when they were on the ground, this golden-eyed girl had been glancing at him from time to time. Even when she had deliberately begun walking toward him, he had seen her coming but had hoped, by some miracle, that she would pass him by.
Raising his head, he looked at both of them and immediately lowered his gaze, continuing to watch the conflict that was growing more heated by the second.
The second girl, Radiant Shine, frowned and was about to open her mouth when the first one beat her to it. "I am Lou Emilia, a core disciple. And this is my close friend, Shine Shine, better known by another name, Radiant Shine." After introducing herself, Emilia followed An's gaze to see where exactly he was looking.
"Do you know why only four core disciples were sent to the Sacred Land?" Realizing that this young man before her was simply ignoring them, she tried to start a conversation.
"Most likely because you're the only ones who haven't reached Foundation Establishment, unlike the other core disciples." An replied calmly, not turning his head toward them.
Lou Emilia nodded. "Only core disciples and their entourage have a chance to obtain Foundation Establishment pills." Without taking her eyes off him, she said this slowly and quietly, emphasizing the word pills.
'So direct. No beating around the bush, no schemes?' An averted his gaze and looked at her.
"Even if you can get pills for your people, which, let's be honest, is almost impossible, why would I waste my time on you when I could join a core disciple's group who's already broken through to Foundation Establishment?" He looked her straight in the eyes.
Seeing him insult her friend, Radiant Shine couldn't hold back. "Do you even realize how you're speaking to a core disciple? Don't forget what status she has and what status you have! You-" Emilia's hand stopped in front of her face, silencing her.
"I can promise that if you stand on my side, I will get you a Foundation Establishment pill, no matter what it costs me."
An averted his gaze from her and began watching the conflict at the center of the deck again. "And I'll repeat myself: I could go to another group and get far more than what you're offering..." He exhaled.
"Even among the four core disciples present today, you're only ahead of one, that bald brute." He pointed at the muscular bald man.
"The other two are much stronger than you and will break through to Foundation Establishment much faster if they have the right resources. I'm sorry, but I truly don't see the benefit of becoming your alchemist errand boy and sacrificing my cultivation for promises that essentially carry no weight. We both understand that your promises will remain just promises." He saw her lower her head slightly, deep in thought, fully aware that he was right.
"And regarding the status your supporter mentioned, since we're throwing cards on the table... I am an official Master Alchemist with cultivation at the Qi Condensation realm. I already hold this status, and it will only increase. And you, Core Disciple Lou Emilia? Your status is so fragile that you know it perfectly well yourself. At any moment, someone could overthrow you, or your own incompetence could be the cause. And then what? What's the point of all this?" Looking at both of them, An's face remained unchanged, but inside he felt disappointment.
'Just by approaching me, without even saying a word, you already looked at me with contempt... So what made you think I would show any respect to you?' All this time, from the moment he noticed them heading in his direction, he had been reading their Qi flows, especially their true emotions, which they concealed on the outside but not within.
"How dare you say that! You have no right!" Just as Shine Shine began to boil over, Emilia's raised hand stopped her again.
"I understand. I apologize for taking up your time." Emilia exhaled and, closing her eyes, said calmly. She turned and headed back.
The moment she turned, her warm gaze turned cold, 'I didn't like his words. I need to put a stop to such things in the future, after we return from the Sacred Land...' Slowly, she walked back through the crowd, her head slightly lowered.
"Ha!" Seeing her leave, Shine cast one last glance at the despicable man. Snorting, she turned and began catching up to Emilia.
'Seems she's not as thick-skinned when it comes to criticism as I thought... Damn.' Continuing to read the energy from Emilia, who was moving further away, he sensed coldness and malice radiating from her. Seeing this, he shook his head, hoping this wouldn't turn into a problem that would come back to haunt him in the future.
Crack! Crack!
Unexpectedly for all the disciples, a vibration began spreading across the entire ship. Several of the men in black bandanas had finally completed their preparations, and some of them ran back inside, through the same doors Li Deng and Lua Mou had entered.
The vibration grew so intense that even the cheeks of the disciples on deck began to tremble. Then a barrier enveloped the entire ship, absorbing all the vibrations, and the ship seemed to freeze, creating the sensation of floating in a vacuum.
Looking around at the barrier, An understood that they were slowly ascending, though he couldn't physically feel it.
"Oh! We've taken off! Look, look!"
"Already? I didn't feel a thing..."
"It's the barrier, it makes it feel like we're still in place."
The disciples near the railing, seeing the ground shrinking beneath them, immediately began shouting and chattering.
'Even the wind is blocked by this barrier. Is that intentional? Because of the strong winds in the sky?' Glancing briefly at the disciples with wide eyes of surprise, he returned to examining the barrier, studying it and its interaction with the environment.
Remembering something, he pulled out his beast pouch and sent a particle of his Qi inside to check on Baldi.
Looking in, he saw the rooster lying in the grass with a full belly and several gnawed fish carcasses nearby, a satisfied expression on his face.
'And here I thought you might be bored in there, I even felt a little guilty for a moment...' Shaking his head, An secured the beast pouch back to his belt.
'Five days of travel... I can only cultivate without pills. As for training, I'm afraid it might somehow attract even more unwanted attention... Sigh.'
All this time, the conflict had been rapidly escalating, almost coming to blows, but was stopped in time by the unexpected appearance of Elder Lua Mou.
An grimaced in disappointment.
'Oh... Is she also part of his inner circle? How does he even find time to cultivate with so much attention around him?' Examining Lua Mou, he noticed the way she looked at Mo Fan.
'I suppose if this were my past life, I might have even felt envy... But in this world I'm in now, this girl with a warm gaze who looks twenty years old could easily be a two-hundred-year-old grandmother, especially knowing she's most likely in the Golden Core realm. Ugh!' Thinking about her cultivation, he immediately looked toward the other side of the crowd, where the two girls had gone and were now standing in their group.
He paid special attention to the second one, Shine Shine, 'She really does resemble that strange examiner, though she's slightly dimmer compared to her sister... or aunt... Again, depends on how old that examiner actually was.' Just remembering Shine Scarlet, the examiner from his test, made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
Shaking his head, he calmed down.
Closing his eyes, he decided it would be best to begin a cultivation cycle.