Song Qingshu replied with a smile, "Of course not. Any disciple of our Wendao Sword Sect can ride the Merchant Hall's Cloud Boat for free by presenting their dao jade. It's a sect benefit. After all, most people traveling to and from the sect are out on missions; very few are traveling for personal matters."
Xu Xian said appreciatively, "That's quite good."
Ruan Zhong suddenly interjected, "If you weren't a disciple of our Wendao Sword Sect, hitching a ride on a Cloud Boat would require paying spirit stones, and it's supposedly not cheap."
"I heard from the Merchant Hall disciples that in the Central Province beyond the Northern Borders, the Merchant Hall specifically operates Cloud Boats for passenger transport. They make quite a bit of profit every year."
"Of course, they aren't the only ones in that business. The sects in the Central Plains have similar industries. The most famous one is the Immortal Alliance Chamber of Commerce. I heard their business spans the entire Fanzhou, covering everything from food and clothing to housing and travel..."
Xu Xian nodded silently. This Immortal Alliance Chamber of Commerce sounded like a massive corporation.
After a short while, the four of them arrived before a Cloud Boat currently being loaded with cargo.
They saw Nangong Ning chatting and laughing with an elderly man from the Merchant Hall. She turned back and said to the three of them, "The captain said it'll be another half-hour before we set off. We have to wait a bit."
"Then let's board the ship first."
"Alright!"
Stepping onto the Cloud Boat, Xu Xian watched the busy Merchant Hall disciples using spirit control techniques to load and unload cargo. He found it novel, thinking that this must be the technique of Lifting the Heavy as Light and Lifting the Light as Heavy.
One could use spiritual power to control the weight of objects at will.
Although the grade of this technique wasn't high, it was undeniably practical. It was essentially a must-have divine ability for manual labor.
He thought that when he returned, he could go to the Dao Pavilion to learn it.
After all, his current arsenal consisted only of the Green Lotus Sword Song. Furthermore, of the thirteen swords, he could only use one. His repertoire was far too thin. One needed more skills to stay safe when wandering the Jianghu.
Soon, the loading was finished, and the Cloud Boat set sail.
The formations engraved beneath the boat began to operate under the drive of spirit stones, lifting the massive vessel into the clouds and heading straight for the horizon.
Standing on the deck and gazing at the vast sky, Xu Xian sighed with emotion. "This is indeed faster than me flying. I just don't know if it consumes many spirit stones. When I'm rich, I'll get one too."
A Cloud Boat was just like the airplanes from his past life. It might be slightly slower, but its cargo capacity and stability were incomparable to an airplane's. It could even hover in mid-air, fearless of wind, frost, snow, or rain. When necessary, it could even fire spiritual energy beams for long-range strikes. It combined the functions of a helicopter, transport plane, and fighter jet.
During the journey, his three companions sat cross-legged in meditation, not wasting a moment of cultivation. Their diligence was terrifying. Xu Xian didn't stay idle either; he flipped through the mission details while studying a map of the Northern Borders.
He thought to himself that while he was here to coast, he couldn't make it too obvious. As an elder, he still needed to save some face.
Their destination was Yecheng. Located in the Southern Borders of Wendao Sword Sect’s influence, it was one of the cities in the Northern Borders closest to the Central Plains. It was a full four thousand miles away from the sect's mountain gate. If Xu Xian flew by himself, not counting rest stops, it would likely take him nearly two days. But by riding the Cloud Boat, they could arrive by tomorrow morning.
However, the flight path was slightly offset, so he would have to fly a short distance himself at the end.
On the map of the Northern Borders, there were one hundred and eight cities scattered across tens of thousands of miles of intersecting mountains. The further south one went, the denser the cities became and the flatter the terrain. To the north, they became sparser with few signs of human habitation. Thus, Xu Xian boldly speculated that his home should be in the north.
However, the smallest landmarks on this map were counties. He searched for a long time but couldn't find Houdao Village.
Seeing a disciple busy on the deck, Xu Xian approached to ask, "Young man, let me ask you something?"
The Merchant Hall disciple glanced at Xu Xian with a strange expression, acting somewhat indifferent. "Little brother, what do you want to ask?"
Xu Xian also frowned slightly. It seemed this disciple didn't recognize him. This was the first time a sect disciple had treated him as a peer. But it wasn't surprising. Disciples from the Merchant Hall, Shadow Hall, and Supervision Hall were often away and only returned occasionally. It was reasonable that they wouldn't know a rising star like him.
Holding the map, he asked, "Have you heard of Houdao Village? I don't see it on this map."
"Houdao Village?"
"Yes."
"Never heard of it."
"Ah."
"Is it your hometown?"
"Yeah."
The disciple scrutinized Xu Xian for a moment and explained, "The map of the Northern Borders in your hand only shows counties. Places with a population of less than ten thousand aren't drawn in."
Xu Xian nodded. "I see." He silently tucked the map away, not forgetting to thank him. "I understand. Thanks."
The disciple asked with interest, "Homesick?"
Xu Xian said wistfully, "I suppose so."
The disciple took a wine bag from his waist, shook it at Xu Xian, and invited, "Want a sip?"
Xu Xian refused. "I don't drink."
The disciple clicked his tongue. "Wine is the Lord of Forgetting Sorrows. One sip and all your worries vanish. I used to drink this when I missed home."
Saying this, he pulled the stopper and took a deep gulp, a look of pure enjoyment on his face. He glanced at Xu Xian out of the corner of his eye. "What a pity. Such a sharp-looking lad, but you don't drink. You don't have much of a future."
Xu Xian shrugged. It was true that wine was the Lord of Forgetting Sorrows, but didn't he know that 'drawing a sword to cut water only makes it flow faster, and raising a cup to drown sorrows only makes them deeper'? He didn't intend to stay and prepared to head back to the cabin.
"Get back to your work. I'm heading in."
The disciple resealed his wine bag, hung it back on his waist, and shouted after Xu Xian, "Hey... where are you lot heading?"
Xu Xian stopped and looked back. "Yecheng."
The disciple calculated something in his head and said, "Yecheng... won't get there until tomorrow morning. Fine, I'll ask around for you and see if anyone knows the place."
Xu Xian was stunned for a moment before thanking him. "Then I'm much obliged."
The disciple waved his hand nonchalantly. "Nothing to thank me for. It's just a small favor between brothers..."
After saying that, he went back to his work. Xu Xian smiled and walked away. He thought to himself that the people of the Wendao Sword Sect were indeed kind-hearted and very enthusiastic.
After Xu Xian left, the disciple shook his head and laughed, muttering, "Heh, this youngster looks decent enough, but his eyesight is poor. I'm already this old, yet he calls me 'young man'. Truly no respect for elders."
Xu Xian returned to the cabin, sat down quietly, and began to circulate the cultivation method of the Green Lotus Sword Song. The little book spirit had said that he needed to reach the core formation stage before he could start building the sword tower, the White Jade Capital. At that time, he could switch to a completely different method of cultivation.
According to Shuer, he would use himself as the foundation to build a Heavenly White Jade Capital.
One floor meant one realm, and one realm built one floor.
What did that mean? It meant that once he broke through to the core formation stage, every time he successfully built a floor of the sword tower and unsealed a divine sword, he could use the power of the tower and the sword to bypass the shackles of heaven and earth and directly break through a major realm.
Simply put, he wouldn't need to laboriously meditate and comprehend the Dao. He just needed to build the tower.
In theory, he only needed to build to the sixth floor to become an immortal in the mortal world. To put it even more simply, his future cultivation wouldn't require grinding his life away; it would just require spending wealth. To Xu Xian, this was good news. However, he also knew that the tower certainly wouldn't be easy to build. But then again, no matter how hard it was, he could eventually build it brick by brick. It might not be fast, but it would be steady.
After all, every cultivator knew that human potential had its limits. Some realms could trap a person for an entire lifetime—no path forward, no door to retreat, caught in a state of living death.
But Xu Xian was different. He could break through realms by building a tower; this was a guaranteed path. Therefore, he felt this cultivation method was quite alright.
Night fell. Feeling a bit bored, Xu Xian went out to the deck. He felt the night breeze and looked at the starry sky.
The moonlight was like white silk, the clear glow like water, bathing the mountains in a bright, pure light. This was the ancient world—no heavy industry, no exhaust fumes. The starry sky was clean, the night was bright, and there were even fireflies.
"Little Grand-Uncle."
Xu Xian looked sideways and saw a beautiful face. He asked curiously, "Why are you out here?"
Nangong Ning said softly, "It was a bit stuffy inside, so I came out to get some air."
Rate on N.U.
