The World Was Vast; Anywhere Could Be Reached in Three Breaths

Chen Qiu wasted no time. Gripping Huang Shikai by the collar with his left hand, he strode toward the cliff edge they had come from. The summoned Vengeful Spirit could only exist for one hour before dispersing on its own.

Nor could it be paused midway.

Huang Shikai's "No Attacks from Behind or the Sides" entry was even more useful than he had imagined. He had to make the most of Huang Shikai's remaining value within the time left.

"Brother Chen Qiu."

Fat Dragon had recovered his senses by now and hurried after Chen Qiu. "You've openly summoned Huang Shikai's Vengeful Spirit like this. Anyone can tell that you possess the ability to turn creatures you kill into Vengeful Spirits and summon them!"

"With so many people watching here, this information will definitely leak before long."

"Then this trump card of yours will be gone. Can a trump card still be a trump card once everyone knows about it?"

Chen Qiu strode toward the cliff edge they had come from, speaking slightly faster.

"Who said this was a trump card?"

"Pick up the pace. Time waits for no one!"

"Heh."

At Immortal-Seeking Gate, the main gate in the western city wall of Heaven-Question Market, the armored guard commander watched Chen Qiu and Fat Dragon's retreating backs. He weighed the few taels of silver Chen Qiu had tossed him in his palm and could not help but grin.

"That brother's a man who knows the rules."

"Interesting."

He tucked the silver into his robes, then turned to the guards behind him, who were staring at him eagerly. He laughed and cursed, "What are you looking at me for? You think I'd swallow this little bit of silver for myself?"

"Get to work!"

"After we get off duty tonight, I'll treat you to some drinks in Windward City!"

"Let's make this clear beforehand. Only one woman each. I'll fuck you if you touch mine!"

"Anyone who orders more pays for it himself!"

Heaven-Question Market did not allow people to remain overnight, except in inns.

Once the inns were full, everyone else had to leave the market.

That was the rule of Heaven-Question Market.

Heaven-Question Market prohibited fighting. Every day, quite a few people came here seeking vengeance. One force seeking revenge was manageable, but once there were too many such forces, even with Golden Core Realm cultivators stationed in Heaven-Question Market, it could not withstand that pressure.

Yet those seeking revenge often spent lavishly in exchange for Heaven-Question Market's protection.

After weighing the matter, Heaven-Question Market had established this rule.

It ensured they did not offend too many forces while still bringing in a decent income.

Not far from Heaven-Question Market, atop the same mountain peak, stood a small auxiliary city filled with inns, taverns, brothels, and the like. It provided lodging for those unwilling to descend the mountain tonight, as well as the merchants within Heaven-Question Market.

In the auxiliary city, however, there was no rule against fighting.

The guard squads of Heaven-Question Market rotated shifts, standing guard every other day. Tomorrow happened to be his day off, so he would take his brothers to Windward City to have a good time—and see what sort of beauty that courtesan from the capital possessed, the one who would not sell herself even for three Spirit Stones.

He would let his brothers feast their eyes as well.

The guard commander's face was piled high with smiles as he happily imagined the sights of the evening. He worked even harder. As a guard of Heaven-Question Market, cleaning up the traces of battle around the market had been his duty in the first place.

That brother had not needed to tip him at all.

But with this unexpected windfall, he could not quite hide the smile at the corners of his mouth.

"Can you fly?"

Chen Qiu hurried all the way to the young man they had encountered at the cliff edge. "Take me somewhere. It needs to be fast. Name your price."

"Where to?"

The young man dressed as a scholar lifted his head, casually glanced at Chen Qiu, then lowered it again. "The world changes fast these days. Is it fashionable now to carry a Vengeful Spirit around everywhere?"

"Feeling hot? Using it to cool down?"

Chen Qiu crouched down and met the scholar's eyes. "I don't have a specific location."

"Within a hundred li, where is there a place with many ferocious beasts? A lot, but not too many. Preferably not demonic beasts that move in groups—ones with strong territorial instincts. And the strongest ferocious beast there must not be above the Qi Refining Realm."

"Also, it needs to be unclaimed, not under the jurisdiction of any force. Hunting ferocious beasts there cannot violate Great Xia's laws, and no one can stop us."

"Tsk."

The scholar sitting cross-legged on the ground closed the little picture book in his hands. Looking meaningfully at Chen Qiu, he suddenly laughed. "There is. Naturally, there is such a place twenty li west of here."

"It has no name."

"It is a stone cavern at the bottom of a natural ground fissure, several hundred zhang below the surface. There is only one type of demonic beast inside, called the Human-Faced Spider. This is a demonic beast whose cultivation can never break through the Foundation Establishment Realm, nor can it develop intelligence."

"It favors cold, damp environments."

"But it is a colony-type ferocious beast. It reproduces quickly, moves in groups, and rarely goes alone. Moreover, it has an extremely strong instinct to avenge its companions."

"Want to go?"

After pondering for a moment, Chen Qiu nodded seriously. "Yes. How long will it take?"

"Three breaths."

"Three breaths again?"

"Heh."

The scholar laughed. "The world is vast; anywhere can be reached in three breaths."

"Fine, but you need to wait for me there and bring me back after one hour."

"Then give me one Spirit Stone."

The scholar slowly closed the little picture book in his arms and carefully tucked it away. Then, at some unknown moment, the bearded burly man they had met once at the foot of the mountain appeared beside them. Before they could speak again—

The scholar raised his right hand before his face, lightly touching his thumb and index finger while naturally extending the other three fingers. Forming a hand seal, he said softly, "Knock."

The next instant, a keen azure sword trembling without cease shot out from the scholar's coarse linen sleeve. It became a streak of green light and vanished into the clouds in the blink of an eye.

Three breaths later, the scholar seemed to sense something. His lips moved, and his body vanished from where he sat in an instant, leaving behind only a meditation cushion woven from withered grass.

Before Chen Qiu and Fat Dragon could react—

The bearded burly man beside them grabbed both Chen Qiu and Fat Dragon by the arms. The scenery around them immediately spun once more. In less than one breath, when their surroundings stabilized again, they were already standing on a wasteland where the ground was dry and cracked all around them.

"..."

Chen Qiu surveyed the surroundings in disbelief. There was not a single mu of spirit fields, not a single official road, not a wisp of human habitation. It looked as though this place had been abandoned and ravaged by drought for three years.

Looking far to the east—

He could vaguely see an immensely sprawling mountain range wrapped in clouds and mist. That was the Heaven-Question Mountains, from which Heaven-Question Market took its name.

Since they stood on a plain with an expansive view, he could not tell whether the Heaven-Question Mountains were twenty li away. But the distance was certainly not short.

In other words—

They had teleported twenty li in three breaths?

He also roughly guessed the scholar's entry, or perhaps the method of his cultivation art. It likely allowed him to teleport to wherever his flying sword had reached, though Chen Qiu did not know whether there was a distance limit.

First, he sent the flying sword to the destination. Then the scholar teleported there, and the scholar's younger brother brought them by teleportation to the scholar's side.

With such a method—

"The world is vast; anywhere can be reached in three breaths" was no empty boast.

He had wanted to ask Fat Dragon whether a normal Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator's flying sword could truly be this fast. But seeing Fat Dragon beside him, his jaw practically fallen to the ground in disbelief, Chen Qiu more or less got his answer.

"We're here."

Still sitting cross-legged on the ground, the scholar looked at Chen Qiu and Fat Dragon with a rather gentle smile. "At the bottom of this fissure is the stone cavern of the Human-Faced Spiders."

Only then did Fat Dragon, who had recovered his senses, notice that this young man dressed as a scholar seemed to have some ailment in his legs and could not stand normally.