Dual Cultivation God Returns

The next three weeks of the journey proceeded quite smoothly, aside from the occasional encounters with Demonic Beasts, but those are a norm of travel, and were solved by the guards on board.

Traveling at a high speed again now that it did not have to maneuver, the Beast of Burden stopped in three cities along the way.

Each of the cities acted as a regional center of cultivators' civilization for a small group of worlds around it, facilitating trade and other activities between smaller cities and Sects. And each of those cities was distinct, with its own governing faction, as well as local power dynamics of the regional powers.

Yet it was clear that all of these lands were already directly subordinate to the Wei Dynasty, as there was no question about its authority. Not to mention that the level of the cities, in both size of population and prosperity, only got progressively higher, as they got closer to the Wei Dynasty itself, signifying the status of these cities as simply parts of a much broader collective centered around Wei Dynasty.

This gradual approach toward Wei Dynasty was also reflected in the in the increasing traffic along the trade and travel routes. The closer they were, the more Beasts of Burden they saw on the way. But it was especially apparent near the cities, if only one or two of these mid-sized beasts departed and arrived in the city that Wu Long's group started their voyage in, by the middle they saw one or two coming and going to the ports within an hour.

Not to mention all manner of smaller Beasts of Burden, more and more of which could be encountered along these ways, as well as those cultivators capable of flying who were traveling without them, and an even vaster number of those who have yet to achieve Mortal Transcendence Realm and thus traveled on flying treasures like flying swords.

All of these signs built up the expectations, as those always enthusiastic and excited about seeing the wider world like Cao Mei, Luo Mingyu, Song Lingfei and Wu Mengqi, and even those more neutral toward such things.

Part of the passengers changed at every stop, having either reached their destination, or going with a Beast of Burden that went in a different direction.

Thus, by the time they were at the final city before going directly to the Wei Dynasty, most of the people who witnessed the pirate raid were not on board. Not to mention, that unlike in the beginning when half of the lower decks were still half-empty, the vessel was now at maximum capacity with new passengers.

"Tsk, not only are we forced to travel with commoners, we're not even taking the top deck", a young-looking man wearing noticeably wealthier clothing compared to the average passengers, complained, adding with an obvious sarcasm, "what a fun hunting trip!"

"Young Master Rou is too harsh on our host, it is not Young Master Kai's fault the Beast of Burden his family provided was so frail", another man with similarly wealthy-looking clothes shook his head.

"It wasn't frail, we weren't hunting some harmless animals after all, but Demonic Beasts, who are often attracted to their ideal prey, Beasts of Burden", another young man, who was likely being criticized in this veiled way spoke in a conciliatory tone while still trying to preserve dignity, " that's why I wanted to leave the Beast in the city-..."

"And what? Go to the hunting spot without transport? Did you really intend to have Young Lady Shan be inconvenienced this way?", the one who complained first, snorted, making the one called Young Master Kai clearly flustered as one of two young ladies among the group of seven youngsters was brought up.

"Thank you, Young Master Lien, for thinking of me, but I would prefer you didn't use me as a pretext without asking for my opinion. I don't remember saying anything about being inconvenienced", the noble young lady spoke in a refined way, keeping a polite smile.

"Haha, of course, Young Lady Shan, my apologies for overstepping. I just hoped this trip would have been more comfortable for you",

"Young Lady Shan is truly wise and humble"

"Young Lady Shan is very generous"

The young men in the group started praising the young lady, while the other young lady snickered, whispering something into Young Lady Shan's ear at the sight of this scene, which brought a smile to her face.

"Haha, how nostalgic, it's like seeing you in the not-so-distant past", Feng Yi was watching this scene from the top deck, leaning on the hand rails.

"I wasn't so mean spirited, and I wasn't so drunk on that status", Luo Mingyu shook her head, standing upright in a refined pose.

"I know, I just meant someone who the group revolves around, and exists almost entirely for", Feng Yi chuckled with a teasing expression as Luo Mingyu lightly blushed, not finding a good way to refute.

"Mean spirited?", on the other hand, Wu Mengqi leaned a bit further over the hand rails to get a better view of the young lady on the deck directly below them, though they already could watch the scene quite well as the group of young masters and two young ladies were on one of the many open balconies that protruded a bit further than the roofed corridor of the deck, and thus were directly visible from the deck above.

"She's trying to look humble, but it seems that she didn't object when the others petitioned the one whose family owned the Beast of Burden to have it take them directly to their hunting spot, I am sure using the same excuse of her convenience, otherwise it's likely their Beast of Burden would have been left in the city. Besides, there's the deliberate choice of her friend, that doesn't endanger her position and at the same time shows this group has other ladies than her, and therefore shields her from looking vulgar. And despite her act, it doesn't look like she is very happy with the one hosting the trip because of the circumstances they're in now", Luo Mingyu sighed with a melancholic expression.

"Oooh... so that's how it is... and here I thought she was just nice", Wu Mengqi chuckled, turning to Luo Mingyu with a wide grin.

"Eh? Weren't you also a noble young lady of a powerful clan? You must've had a group like that around you as well, no?", Feng Yi widened her eyes with surprise. She thought that as someone who knew these types of noble young masters and young ladies, it would've been easy for Wu Mengqi to see through that conversation just as it was for Luo Mingyu.

"Hahaha, in this life, yes, but I always had Wu Long by my side...", Wu Mengqi laughed, as the two instantly realized that his presence by her side alone was enough to push away any contenders just with his face, rather, she likely had a lot of young ladies swarming around her, not for the love of being around her, "And after he disappeared I rarely showed in society. Not that I was ever interested in that ever, as I was always more interested in practicing with the sword much to my family's disappointment. What about you, though? You might've become an Army Commander, and also showed interest in martial way, but there was a time when you also were a noble young lady of a powerful clan, even if it was a military family"

"Heh, I might've been a noble young lady, but certainly with an unusual upbringing. Not to mention Father was rather strict about who I was around. He thinks I don't know, but I heard that since I was around 10 and up until I joined the Army at 20, he met every Young Master who tried to approach me one on one, so I never actually met anyone of them, I guess they didn't pass his standards", Feng Yi shook her head with a wry smile.

"Hahahaha, that must've been one terrifying meeting none of them forgot, hahaha", Wu Mengqi started laughing, picturing young boys meeting the greatest warrior of their country in full intimidation mode in a one-on-one meeting, or rather, an interrogation.

"Hmm? What did we miss?", at this moment, Hua Ziyan, Shen Min and Song Lingfei approached them, coming out to the roofed corridor of their top deck as well.

"Ah, listen to this,...", Wu Mengqi turned to them while wiping tears that came out because of laughter.

The three beauties who originally stood at that spot started briefly explaining the situation from the beginning of observing the group below to the three newcomers.

Meanwhile, on the lower deck, the one who was originally complaining once more raised the theme of their accommodations not being the most luxurious ones available on the vessel, "Even then, to think all other vessels either were fully booked or were of poor standards... and the best we could do is this..."

"I know, right? Haah, but then again, it would have been a pain to wait for a suitable transport"

"Still, couldn't we wait at least a little for a better option to appear? One thing if we could have the top deck, but to be stuck among the unsophisticated-..."

"Shh, lower your voice, I saw members of the Trailing Cloud Sect board this vessel earlier, and they were also complaining about being on the second deck", one of the young masters spoke with a slightly alarmed look on his face, looking around to see if anyone could overhear them on their deck.

"Pshht, a second-rate Sect at best, what of them? My Rou Family doesn't fear them. Rather, if any of their Core Disciples wants a fight, I'll be glad to oblige", the young master who seemed the least satisfied with the situation scoffed at that warning, turning his head.

"Hahaha, it seems Young Master Rou's mad he didn't catch anything notable i this hunt, and is eager to show his strength", another young master snickered, though not adding the most inflammatory '....in front of Young Lady Shan' comment, likely due to some 'gentlemanly agreement' of rules of engagement in front of her.

But even that sanitized comment caused the most complaining one, Young Master Rou, to shoot a furious gaze his way, as that unsaid part was clearly implied.

"Hah, it's not my fault there were only Mortal Grade Beasts in my way... who said it was a good hunting ground for 1st-tier Profound Grade Demonic Beasts anyway?", he fumed.

"It is known to be a good hunting ground for them, the Roaring Beast Sword Sect managing those grounds only clears out the higher-level and higher-tiered Beasts and culls down the number of Mortal Grade Beasts while occasionally even importing low and mid-level 1st tier Profound Grade Beasts if there are too few left, you don't want to run into a high-level 1st-tier, or even worse, a 2nd-tier Profound Grade Demonic Beast while hunting, do you?", the one hosting the hunting trip, Young Master Kai spoke with a slight irritation, clearly reaching limits of his patience.

"Hah, how prudent of you, to leave the Beast of Burden in the city... to only hunt in the safe hunting grounds...", Young Master Rou, turned away while folding his arms on his chest.

"What do you mean by those wo-...", Young Master Kai spoke now with a sharp look, but was interrupted by a loud laugh of several female voices, coming from the top desk.