Nearly two days had passed since Yi Yang and his party left White Fish City.
As they traveled farther along the official road, the fields on either side grew sparse, low hills rose one after another, and the road wound through more bends.
The thirteen riders had been traveling for two days. Even with their exceptional endurance, the Mutant Beast Horses were snorting heavily.
Their hooves struck the hard earth, stirring up dust that clung to the lower edges of the riders' black armor and lent the whole party a weary, travel-worn air.
Yi Yang sat on his horse with his eyes half closed, the true astral energy within him circulating along a fixed course.
The Concealed Breath Formless Art hid his cultivation at third inner qi completion, while to anyone watching, he looked as though he were dozing.
In truth, his mental power had not been idle.
Deep within his spiritual core, the golden-furred monkey sat cross-legged in his sea of consciousness, occasionally scratching an ear with one paw, its tail curled into a question mark.
The numbers on the panel ticked upward.
[Four Symbols Six Directions Saber (Beginner) 6126/20000]
His cultivation was progressing too slowly.
Throughout today's journey, he had kept part of his mind occupied with working through the Four Symbols Six Directions Saber.
Each symbol in this saber art had its own method of channeling force. On horseback, he could only ponder the formulas; to truly advance, he would have to practice with a saber in hand.
The framework of this saber art was immense: the four symbols cycled in turn, with the six directions as its guiding structure. The energy flow of the first move alone, Azure Dragon Emerges from the Abyss, had seventy-two nodes-more complicated than the entire Nine Peaks Saber combined.