Feng Zhiming and the two accompanying him arrived at the sandport to find Anissa waiting by a ramp leading up to a ship, she looked stoic as always with a straight posture.

“Well done. I trust you’ve completed the task I gave you.” Feng Zhiming put his hand on her shoulder as he spoke.

She nodded.

“Not to interrupt, but we should leave before the guards realize that we’ve escaped.” Lyra interjected as she stepped on to the ramp leading up to the ship.

“A true feat of craftsmanship.” Ellia commented as he followed her up the ramp.

A small ship around 45 meters in length with only one main mast, it looked ordinary, but the inscriptions on it were simply exquisite, they were far beyond the level of old Wu.

Feng Zhiming could not explain it as he was no expert on spiritual inscriptions, but his intuition told him, both the material of the ship and the quality of the inscription was extraordinary.

As Feng Zhiming and Anissa followed behind the two he took this time to ask her some questions.

“Just how did you manage to hypnotize that man so thoroughly? he was mentally checked out almost in a sort of comatose state.” he spoke via mental transmission.

“Hypnosis? My original plan was to fight my way in and free you, but you shot that down. So I decided to bribe the minister of the city.” she raised an eyebrow as she replied, not sure what else to say.

Feng Zhiming rubbed his forehead as he considered all the possibilities.

It was all so confusing, if the minister was bribed, why was the release so secret and why was the guard hypnotized? He could merely command the guard to free them and it would be done.

He gritted his teeth and frowned.

Something else was going on in this city, but he didn’t have the time to figure out what.

He held out his hand as he thought of something, a crow made of qi appeared on his wrist.

“Tell the second elder that Southaven Spire is suspicious, specifically that there may be a different faction behind it.”

The crow flew away from his wrist and into the night sky, he finally made use of the elder’s messenger technique.

This way he could have someone else investigate the city, while simultaneously letting the second elder know that he had not abandoned his mission and he was still alive.

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“After all, the Heavenly Divine Demon Sect still has its uses.” he concluded his thoughts as he stepped aboard the ship.

One thing was glaringly clear and that was the sheer absence of people.

“Where the hell is the crew?” Lyra asked with a completely dumbfounded expression as she looked to her left and right.

These ships were marvels of craftsmanship, however they needed people to run, depending on the size of the ship they needed anywhere from 10-1000 people.

Every crew member had to guide Qi into an inscription, all in their own unique ways. Every inscription had to be activated and deactivated in specific intervals, not to mention you had to let in the right amount of Qi.

Even Feng Zhiming who considered himself proficient at controlling Qi would be exhausted managing a few of these inscriptions.

“Welcome aboard fellow cultivators, to my ship of wonders.” A woman spoke in a tone that was quite high before jumping off from the mast of the ship and landing before them.

Feng Zhiming looked over at Anissa, a tired expression on his face.

"A ship of wonders?" he sent her a mental transmission.

Anissa looked away trying to avoid direct eye contact.

“By the Dao, it’s just one thing after another.” he thought to himself as he sized up the woman.

She was a spiritual awakener, so quite powerful, however there was nothing else that immediately stood out.

But there was something that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

The only visible part of her was her face which was quite round, innocent sparkling eyes, skin that seemed to almost be made of porcelain, the rest was concealed by a long cloak.

“Greetings I presume you are the captain of the ship.” Ellia extended his hand.

“That is indeed me haha.” she shook his hand enthusiastically, quite out of character for a cultivator.

“Well this ship looks very well maintained.” he said as he surveyed the vessel, it was clean and didn’t seem to have any immediate damages.

“Ever the courteous knight you are? And full of smiles to boot.” Lyra sent him a mental transmission, with an annoyed expression on her face.

Ellia’s face turned white and he nervously chuckled, this was one thing he did not want to deal with right now.

“Ah, allow me to introduce you to our leader.” there was his scapegoat.

He grabbed Feng Zhiming by the shoulders and switched positions with him.

“Nice to meet you, I am Dolly, of the Workshop” The woman had a wide smile on her face as she greeted him.

“Nice to meet you, I am Feng Zhiming, of the Heavenly Divine Demon Sect.”

He shook her hand.

“Not a participant.” he thought to himself as she shook his hand for a little too long.

When she finally let go of his hand she just continued staring at him.

He was used to weird and unusual behaviours, after all he had traveled the world for many years, but this was something he was unaccustomed to.

“Have fun, leader.” Lyra said as she walked away.

Ellia and Lyra witnessed the interesting scene and decided to excuse themselves from the awkwardness, heading into one of the guest quarters below deck.

“We should arrive within a month at most!” Dolly yelled at the two as they descended the stairs.

Feng Zhiming wasn’t used to meeting people with such bubbly personalities, most of them died when they stepped foot on the path of cultivation.

“You know the price of this voyage correct?” Dolly asked as she leaned in closer to him, almost touching his face with her own.