1326 Closing In



Alex flew back up with the old woman looking down on him with a rather angry look.

"Your majesty! We can't protect you if you keep doing this," she said. "You need to stay in the ship where you're safe."

"Uh… sorry," he said.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it," Yao Ning said. "Do you know what would've happened if the beast had gotten you?"

"It's alright," Alex said. "I wanted the Wyrm's body."

"I could've gotten that for you. I was ready to kill it anyway," the old woman said.

Alex smiled as the two of them returned with Yao Ning having a frowning face. After returning, Liang Shufen joined Yao Ning and started scolding Alex. She didn't go overboard with the scolding as Alex was still their King, but the old lady Yao seemed to have no such fear.

Alex ignored most of their words and turned toward the Commander who was finding it hard to believe what had happened out there. 

Old Lady Yao had defeated the beast so easily, and then Alex had even killed the beast himself. He tried feeling Alex's cultivation base, but it wasn't that strong. Was the beast just that weakened? 

In the first place, how did he arrive all the way down there?

"Thank you for your hard work, commander," Alex said.

"Please, your majesty, you're embarrassing me," the commander said. "I barely did anything. It was all you in the end."

"No, no, you might not have won against that beast, but that certainly doesn't mean you did nothing," Alex said. "I doubt Elder Yao could've had such an easy time had you and your men not weakened it so much. Seriously, thank you."

The commander finally nodded. "Thank you for saving us," he said. His men behind him bowed all at the same time as well.

The ship began moving again, and the commander and his men ate some pills to get treated. Alex went ahead and checked the commander a bit to show some concern. The commander was thankful and he was very verbal about it.

The alchemists and assistants came out from their rooms now that the danger was over. They had hidden, praying that they wouldn't die here, only to find out that they had nothing to worry about.

Even Alex wasn't aware of that, so they couldn't be blamed. Alex had been worried that they were going to get hurt too. In fact, he was ready to teleport the entire boat, regardless of what it would cost him to use his dao on that sort of scale.

However, he had only relaxed when he realized that the old woman wasn't phased from the very start. When he had asked her, she told him that she could defeat it if she had to.

That was why Alex had teleported her right in front of the commander at the last moment to save them all.

After things returned back to normal, Alex walked to the bow of the ship and watched the serene water go past them all. 

The ocean below was a brilliant shade of azure, reflecting the vibrant hues of the sky above. The water's surface rippled and sparkled with sunlight, captivating everyone with its ethereal beauty.

There was marine life, not just beasts that lived in the ocean. From time to time, Alex would see regular, coreless fishes jump out of the ocean, moving as quickly as they could toward some unknown destination.

Time passed and soon night came. However, Alex still stayed there, watching the life below. 

The islands flew past him, with hundreds of beasts that he could see even from there. There were volcanic mountains in some locations where lava constantly flowed from the side.

There were waves in the ocean. Most were small, but some reached nearly 20 meters high. Alex watched as one wave submerged an entire island before the water receded enough that he could see the destroyed trees again.

The weather phenomena were a sight to see too. From storm to hail, to rain, to even snow sometimes.

There were also times when the entire sky would turn into a rain of lightning like the Lightning Peninsula from the Northern Continent used to be.

Even more time passed as the people on the ship got used to being on the ship. They lived normally, coming to the deck to socialize when they wanted to, before going back to their rooms to learn and cultivate.

There were beasts that found them from time to time, but none of them were nearly as strong as the Wyrm and were easily taken care of.

Before they knew it, 2 weeks had passed.

The islands in the ocean were starting to get larger now, and the number of strong beasts was quickly dropping in number. They were getting closer and closer to the Eastern Continent.

Alex walked up to the Commander, who was standing in the front of the ship. "How long before we arrive?" he asked.

"Our destination is the Greatwind region of the Silver Kingdom, so I would say about half a day. Maybe slightly longer? We should arrive before sunrise though," the commander said. "We will land near the Blightwind city and take the teleportation formation from there, so we will be reaching our destination soon."

Alex nodded after hearing that. "Half a day huh?" he said. "Then… I will finally be in the Eastern Continent."

Once he arrived, he would have visited to all 5 continents of this realm. Once he explored that continent, there wouldn't be much remaining for him to do in this world anymore.

Suddenly, a massive spiritual sense passed through the whole boat. Something strong had found them again.

* * * * *

In a dark room, a man sat cultivating. His hair was unkempt, his beard scraggly. His hair and beard, along with his mustache covered so much of his face that it wasn't even visible.

He wore torn robes that barely covered him but did great to show off his muscular body. He had forgotten how long he had been cultivating here, just that it had been a while now. 

His eyes opened wide when he felt something. He pulled out a small artifact from his storage bag, that told him something that caught his attention.

The old man walked out of the cave and looked in a certain direction where he tried to find something in the sky against the night sky. He couldn't see anything

So, to help him see what was there, he released his spiritual sense in that direction.

He didn't expect much this time around either. He had been doing this for quite a while now, and he knew what to expect most of the time.

Most times, it would just be a person or two flying to and from the continent. Those were not the thing he was looking out for.

However, when he noticed that what was flying was a ship, his attention instantly sharpened. When he saw that the ship actually had an insignia of the Azure Imperium on it, his eyes narrowed in seriousness.

This was what he had been looking out for. His wait here hadn't been in vain at all. A moment later, the man was already flying into the sky, going after the ship.