1320 Sailing through the Storm



Hao Ya had arrived in the Southern Continent some 4 months ago and had spent her time away from the palace to not arouse any suspicion. 

She had spent the past 4 months learning some alchemy on her own so that she could have a purpose on the ship on the way to the Eastern Continent that would not immediately arouse suspicion.

She had somehow managed to hide her cultivation base to a degree that Alex couldn't sense through at all, and she also had her face changed to an extent that made her unrecognizable.

Alex had thought she had used some sort of pill to change her appearance, but it had turned out that she was actually using scripts to change it.

When Alex asked a bit more, he was surprised to learn that she had scripts drawn all over her body using Qi, which was giving her this new appearance. Given that the scripts were drawn by a Divine realm cultivator, it wasn't something that would so easily be destroyed either.

Alex was also surprised to learn that it was the same method by which all the Players had different features from what they truly looked like. There were also many other such scripts that the man had put on them before he sent each one outside.

The only difference between that and this was that while he was using some sort of formations or scripts to create the scripts on those players, for Hao Ya he was directly making it himself.

So, it would stick through a lot more than just those 'ready-made' scripts and work a lot better too. It wasn't just appearance scripts that the senior had put on her, but a whole lot more.

As it stood, it seemed that the senior had spent most of the Divine Qi he had managed to gather in the past few decades since he had last spent it all getting rid of the Yang backlash from when he had eaten the fruit.

Alex sat and spoke to Jai Heiyun, but he secretly spoke to Hao Ya as well, who was next to her, acting as her assistant.

"I have no idea," Hao Ya said. "The last time I went there, they didn't even let me see the Emperor, so I don't know how to see him. If only I knew whether it was the Emperor's choice not to see me or the other people's."

Alex nodded in response. That would indeed be quite a bit of help if he knew what the Emperor was like from the start.

If anything, he had to go in expecting a petty emperor who got angry at every little bit of remark he thought of as disrespectful. He had to tread carefully in the future.

On the outside, he talked with Jai Heiyun about how excited she was to go to the other continent and what she was looking forward to. On the inside, he went through whatever plans that Hao Ya had made.

Their plans, in the end, could be defined in two separate points.

One. Find out if the Emperor is a good man.

Two. If he is, ask him to let the Players go. If not, bribe him with something he might want.

Alex was visiting as the king of a Continent, so he couldn't do that, so Hao Ya had to be responsible for it all. She was senior Yang's messenger, and as it was he that screwed everything up, he had to be responsible.

Hao Ya had brought a few artifacts and talismans that the emperor might want. They weren't sure how much it would help, but they had to try with those.

After talking there for a bit, Alex moved on to the other alchemists and talked with them so as to not arouse any suspicion.

After he was done talking, he stood close to the edge and watched the water and islands move past them.

Soon, the sun went down the horizon and as night came on, they saw the clouds fill up the sky, ready to rain. 

Many of the alchemists went back indoors, and after looking around for a while, so did Alex.

He wasn't afraid of lightning or anything, he had fought lightning far stronger than these ones every day. However, he was still aware of the fact that such weather phenomena could cause problems in the ship's concealment, which could attract monsters, so he left the deck for the soldiers and commanders to work freely without having to worry about him.

Alex simply went back into his room and watched the storm from the transparent wall. 

The storm lasted for some time, with lightning strikes falling all around them, but never on them.

Alex had recognized a formation that created a barrier that did not attract lightning at all. It was its sole purpose, and it seemed it was working.

The storm lasted even as morning came around. This time, it started raining hails. The hails pelted the barrier and the side of the ship, but they were small enough that it didn't matter.

Alex saw a cyclone in the distance, and once he even saw two beasts fighting within the storm. Although, he couldn't see what exactly those two beasts were.

He had also seen various other beasts in the many islands that he flew past. The islands were surprisingly large, just as the commander had mentioned them.

There were islands that were as small as just a small mound of land with 2 trees growing on it, but there were also islands that were large enough where the entirety of the humans in the Central continent could live in.

There were other islands that were in clusters, which were named archipelago according to the commander.

Whenever he was above deck, Alex would talk to the commander, trying to understand whatever he could about the ocean.

The commander, whether because Alex was polite, or because he was a king, he always gave a generous bit of information.

"I wonder if there are experts that are living on one of these islands," Alex said.

"There most likely are," the commander said. There was no doubt in the way he spoke, even though his answer itself wasn't a confirmation.

"There are many experts that go missing, who had most likely made home in one of these islands," the commander said. "At least  the ones from the Eastern Continent do."

"Also, I wouldn't really say they come this far out into the ocean, but they certainly will remain in close cultivation in islands that are close enough to the continent so that they can go in if they needed help."

"I see," Alex said. "You really do know a lot, don't you commander?"

"Haha, it's just something I've learned while on the job. I've been in the Scale Legion for quite some time, so it's obvious that I would learn a lot."

Alex nodded after hearing that.

"Scale Legion," Alex spoke. "That's… one of the 5 Legions of the Azure Imperium, isn't it? I tried to find information on the Eastern Continent, but all I ended up with was information from 5 thousand years ago when the teleportation between continents halted."

"I was wondering if the general information about the Eastern Continent I have from back then still applies."