The trip was uneventful compared to those in the past. The speed of the Shifting Jade Mountain cut down the travel time drastically, especially when they didn’t bother to skirt around what had previously been danger zones. Despite being so powerful within the most populated parts of human territories, there were places out in the wilderness where herds of Demonics Beasts that reached tier 6 as soon as they hit adulthood roved.
Most of these species were well known enough that maps between the Empires marked their territory. Nascent Souls were rare enough they weren’t likely to travel in groups and even if they did it was possible for some of the largest beast territories to have tens of adults in a herd or pack. It mainly seemed to be a matter of territory and Qi density. More Qi density in the air over a larger territory grew more Spirit Plants, which fed more Spirit Animals, which became food for more Demonic Beasts.
The need to plot a course around these marked territories had gone away once Sage had hit the seventh rank. By releasing his law energy into his surroundings even those large packs of tier six beasts were dissuaded from assaulting them. Only a pack of flying beasts was brave enough to make an attempt and they gave up as soon as Sage knocked a few of them out of the air. Killing them would take quite some time and risk damaging the ship, but they slipped past easily by injuring the fastest of them. Of course, they still had to detour around a few danger zones where tier seven beasts had been spotted before.
Upon entering the Dou Kingdom, he was tempted to use the Merciful Mollusk’s transportation network, but chose to instead look for any changes that might have occurred during his nearly century long absence.
It’s a shame the transfer is specific to each Kingdom and they won’t let you use the Transportation Formation to other Empires or Kingdoms. Maybe I can get clearance now that I'm a higher rank.
Putting that thought aside for now, he was tempted to try to contact members of the spy network, but by this time they had probably changed the protocols he knew of, just like what was taught in the How to be a Little Birdy manual. Instead, they could only do some basic reconnaissance looking at the buildings in the cities as they flew overhead. They couldn’t learn any deep information, but it was enough to get a glimpse of how the clan and sect buildings had changed, and what businesses had grown or shrunk in size. The research teams put this information to good use, updating their databases, but the main takeaway they garnered was the change to the Prosperity Company locations.
They had moved to the edges of each of the cities and were easily picked out by the presence of a tall tower that made for quite the architectural statement and also seemed to be used as Airship Docks. It also seemed they’d put to use his discovery about transparent Gemsteel, and the sight of a single skyscraper in each town was easily recognizable. They were not quite like those of Earth, the concrete and steel frame and glass windows were instead wood frames with transparent metal windows, yet the shape and mostly reflective outer surface gave the same impression. The design was something from the Inner World, and it was almost rewarding to see them set up on the outside. They should have a mall, hotel, restaurants, entertainment, and spa type businesses inside, combining all the Prosperity Company’s offerings into a single building.
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The change was reassuring and it was even more impressive as they entered 10,000 Wave Province. The Prosperity Company buildings were even larger here, but so were the buildings of the Four Major Treasures. At least until they made it to Lionheart Town. The Four Major Treasures were in smaller buildings than when he’d left and the Prosperity Company had a line of buildings along the outer walls of the city. Even as tall as they were, they were still dwarfed by the tree wall that wove through the mountain chain to form the Lang Clan’s home. They did a slow sweep around the city from high altitude before descending and passing over the city in approach towards the huge compound. They had to slow down when defenders made themselves known upon the walls of the mountain sized tree. Only the Lang Clan’s ships could approach the huge wall, others were supposed to dock at the Prosperity Company buildings.
None of the Lang Clan knew the Shifting Jade Mountain, especially since it could change its shape. To help deal with this issue, Sage walked up towards the bow of the ship. He leaned up against the railing to make sure the guards could see him. The vision of Cultivator’s was quite good after all, so he merely had to see if these guards could recognize him or not. Luckily, one of them did seem to take note of his presence and they quickly ran over to speak with the large man that was bellowing something into the air towards them.
After that bit of assistance, the bellowing voice just ordered them to wait for a time and soon more people swarmed up onto the wall. Most notably, Sage recognized a grandchild of his and after the two of them locked eyes for a moment, the girl smiled and left the top of the wall. No others came out to greet them, but the guards on the wall stopped trying to figure out who they were and where they came from. Pulling up beside the dock, some of the guards were about to throw up a rope to tie it off, but Sage waved them away. Guan Zhenyan stepped off the side of the Shifting Jade Mountain and onto the air dock, a long walkway that extended out into the open air. There was nothing that required an Airship Dock to be narrow, only that it had a flat surface for comfortable walking and travel as well as extending far enough from the wall to accommodate large Airships. The docks were like horizontal spikes jutting out from the huge wall with the top of them flattened down. Given how close they were to the top of the wall, they made it look like the crenellations on a battlement, or the points on top of a wrought iron fence.
Sage leapt off from the bow, also heading towards the side of the ship where the Airdock was. He jumped a little too lightly and the distance was a little too far, but he fell way too slowly and landed extremely lightly upon the dock. Then the ship behind him suddenly disappeared and the nearby guards were shocked. Guan Zhenyan walked along with him, off the top of the wall and down a stairway to the mix of spectacular houses among the trees and trees grown into the shape of houses.
As soon as the first servant approached him, he set him a task: give Guan Zhenyan a house. A very private house. With the man out of his hair and off where he wouldn’t cause trouble, Sage finally went towards the core of the Lang Clan in order to reunite with his family.