Shi Xian held a decaying animal-skin scroll in his hand, his eyes running through its content with intense focus, as if he was trying to find any hidden message within the contents of the scroll.
His eventual look of disappointment signified a failure to unearth any such secret. He furled the scroll back and placed it on the desk of his living room.
From the top of the desk, he picked up a small, unremarkable-looking leather bag, seemingly a carrier for books. Checking its weight in his hand, he slung its belt over his shoulder and walked out of the apartment.
A large white bear was snoring on his doorstep. The moment Shi Xian's foot fell past his doorstep, it opened its eyes and cast a dubious look at him.
"Master leave? When come back?"
Shi Xian had grown accustomed to the illusory doorkeeper's juvenile speech. With a light, assuring smile, he replied, "I'm heading out to train myself inside one of the microcosms opened by the sect this season. I'll be back in a week. If anyone looks for me, you can just repeat what I said."
The illusion array that had produced this doorkeeper was capable of storing all kinds of information. It could even replicate real-life interactions for such occasions to leave a message behind.
Usually while going out, Shi Xian copied every other occupant of the apartment complex and jumped straight down from the railing of his floor. Today, he chose to take the unused, dirty staircase. What he was most fearful of right now was the possibility of being discovered by any acquaintances.
Thankfully, the staircase was devoid of any disciples of the Ironscribe Sect. Shi Xian's journey from the 50th floor to the rocky soil, and from there to the center of the busy industrial city faced no obstacles.
This city was the only living area on the entire planet. Which was understandable, considering how hostile the planet was to life.
The air could barely be considered breathable. A constant sense of discomfort and disorientation embraced most lower-realm cultivators stationed here.
One could fly around the entire planet once and not come across a single drop of water. Most of the water sources were deep underground, mixed with all sorts of toxic elements that could even cripple cultivators below the peak of the Physique Transformation realm.
The gravitational pull was another factor. An ordinary mortal human wouldn't be able to stand straight and move in any direction without stumbling. Even crawling would be a difficult feat.
The reason why the Ironscribe Sect had stationed thousands of their disciples here was not only to train their physique, but also to modify the planet's environment to turn it suitable for mortals and low-level cultivators alike. The head of this mission, Master Lu, the man who had brought Shi Xian here for medical treatment, was absent right now...and Shi Xian had wasted no time in hatching his plan of escape.
He couldn't afford to wait until he was diagnosed as fully free from mental demons and residual foreign wills of Senior Jin Tuyi and the dragon fused to his soul. He had a deal with the dragon, a contract to be fulfilled. After he had performed his part...
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Shi Xian's steps became lighter in an eager hunger to get the job done.
The hundred-mile expanse of the city was jam-packed with skyscrapers, smoke-spewing factories, constant blaring sounds of colorful vehicles both airborne and underground made for a unique scene that Shi Xian always enjoyed. It had taken him a long time to get used to it, though. Even now as he walked, his heart couldn't help speeding up upon noticing the mile-long structures floating gently hundreds and thousands of meters above, machinery tearing through the air quick as lightning, and the semi-transparent qi-gathering array shrouding the entire city like an upturned glass bowl.
Shi Xian was quick to hop onto a giant mass of unrefined ores being carried over by a levitation array of some sort toward one of the central factories. Fifteen minutes later, he dropped down to the ground upon noticing his destination– a flat, one-storied facility that provided the only real way out of the planet.
Getting inside wasn't a difficult feat. Soon, he was facing an intimidating lady who went through the information in his Identification Keycard like a sect master learning about the worst disciples of his sect.
When her focus finally returned to Shi Xian's face, he could almost see fumes in her gaze.
With a shake of her head, she said in a rueful tone, "I didn't expect master Lu of all people to break the rules like this."
She'd be glad to learn that Master Lu did NOT, in fact, break any rules. Shi Xian had simply 'borrowed' the man's soul signature marker during one of his visits to his apartment.
"How did you even convince him to sign the application? Almost makes me feel this document is forged."
This was a test to see his reaction. Shi Xian understood that and held her gaze, an innocent smile plastered on his face.
"Contact him if you think it's forged. I've got nothing to hide. I really do need to use the transportation array. So please hurry if you're going to send a message to Master Lu."
Much to his fright, she actually took out her emergency contact talisman and activated it right there. Shi Xian felt his nerves go taut as the talisman lit up.
A long moment of silence passed as both of them stared intently at the glowing patterns on the talisman.
"Looks like he's currently unavailable. Probably still inside the region of half-healed space up there," she remarked in a gloomy tone.
Shi Xian let out the breath he was holding.
Just as he had calculated. He knew exactly when Chengqing Lu would leave, and how long it would take him to cross the region where he'd be unreachable from this planet via communication talismans. He had coaxed the information out of the man himself.
"Well, in that case, I hope you'll forgive me for insisting that the transportation array be opened for me," he said obstinately, earning another dark look, not that he cared. This would probably be the last contact he had with any disciples or Elders of the Ironscribe Sect.
Half an hour later, the huge transportation array was prepared once more for long-distance travel. Master Lu's finances would probably receive a small crack with the activation of the array. Shi Xian placed his hopes in that man's honorable character and chose to go through with the plan.
Entering the co-ordinates was a job left to the journeymen themselves, much to his convenience. Otherwise, he would have had to bribe somebody to set the coordinates to NT-NE-Sc7-SS11-P5, a planet that stood right at the edge of the Sundered space separating the two small galaxies, Nocturna and Redthorn.
Qi stormed into the array as Shi Xian felt his body and spirit undergoing a struggle to stay intact. Perception became a messy injection of chaos inside his body and mind as the world around him disappeared.
A moment later, or perhaps hours even, Shi Xian found himself staring at a blanket of darkness marred by colorful distant dots.
Then an unfamiliar face came between him and the view. The man had the appearance of somebody in his late twenties, but that was probably not his true age, judging by the profound severity in his gaze, a feature that Shi Xian had noticed most commonly in his Elders.
"Who authorized your transportation, boy? This isn't the time to send spies inside Nocturna territory," the man said in a harsh tone.
Shi Xian stood up unsteadily and took a look around him. They were standing on a terraformed cosmic rock, it seemed. What delighted him was the view on the horizon. A massive, familiar, greenish planet occupied the sky. The rock was probably very close to it, spinning around the planet in a tight orbit. No wonder it was being used as a common platform to enter and leave the planet.
A heavy palm grabbed onto Shi Xian's shoulder. Quickly turning around, Shi Xian answered the senior in an embarrassed tone.
"I'm no spy, master..."
"Senior Xi shall suffice."
"I'm not a spy, senior Xi. This planet is my home. I was chosen as an apprentice by an expert from the Ironscribe Sect. But due to some...issues within the sect, I have been forced to travel back and settle down here. Is something wrong?"
The senior named Xi snorted. "Half-truths. You're lucky that I'm short on time. Otherwise, your damaged soul might have gotten some extra few scars."
Shi Xian shuddered and lowered his head.
This man had to be an expert above the Dao Genesis Realm, perhaps even close to Sect Master Chengqing Lu himself!
The man loosened his grip on Shi Xian's shoulder and went back to whatever he had been doing before he was transported to this platform. A small tent stood upright not too far away. The man disappeared inside it in a flash.
Realizing that the senior wouldn't be coming out of his tent anytime soon after ten minutes had passed in silence, Shi Xian turned back to the horizon and began to scratch his head, a sudden, unforeseen problem finally registering in his mind.
"How the fuck am I going to reach the planet from here?"