A bit before the dawn of the fifth day, Yao Jun opened his eyes and ended his cultivation. He ate a quick breakfast, took a short shower, and then put on a fresh robe, heading out of the inn. The inn was located not far from the sea-anemone shaped building, so it did not take long to reach it.
Despite arriving a bit before the scheduled time, there were already quite a few people gathered up outside the building, waiting for the ship to arrive. The group of people that were waiting outside the building consisted of all kinds of races, but most of them were the same race as the receptionist that Yao Jun had talked to when he paid for his seat. Standing at the front of the group of waiting people was the blue-skinned girl that Yao Jun had talked to five days ago. When he arrived, she quickly gave him a short bow, beckoning towards the group of people behind her.
"Thank you for arriving ahead of time. The ship will arrive shortly, so I thank you for your patience."
After performing the standard greeting, the eyes of the girl slid past Yao Jun, landing on the four people that were quietly walking behind him. They had not been following Yao Jun when he paid for his seat, so she did not know who they were.
"These four are?"
The four people behind Yao Jun were Du Xiao, Siwang, Ba-Shei, and Little Thunder, all four of his Demonic beasts that could take human shape. He only gave a vague explanation, returning a question to the girl.
"They are my aides. Is it necessary to pay for a seat for them as well?"
There were two reasons behind Yao Jun bringing the four of them out of his God Gate. The first one was that he did not want to keep his Demonic beasts locked up within the God Gate, so now was a good chance to at least have some of them move more freely. The second was that the odds of becoming the target of bandits and robbers would be greatly reduced if he traveled in a group. The girl quickly responded to his question, giving a short shake of her head.
"Only if you wish for them to sleep in a separate room. If you do not mind sharing a room with your servants, there is no need to pay any more than you already have."
As she spoke, she beckoned towards a few people that were waiting behind her. They were followed by people who were clearly servants, but their servants were forced to wait a short distance away from them. Her meaning was clear, quite a few others had brought along servants but refused to sleep in the same room as them.
Yao Jun gave a slight nod before thanking the girl and walking past her. He found an open spot a bit away from the group, taking out a table and some chairs from his interspatial ring, sitting down with Du Xiao and the others. His interspatial ring was filled with different types of food and drinks that he had acquired from the interspatial rings of those he had killed, so he took out a jug of spicy wine, pouring everyone a cup as they casually chatted, occasionally admiring the scenery of the city as well as the massive walls of water.
After a bit more time passed, Yao Jun spotted a man walking around in the group of people, his gaze sweeping the area. He constantly let out a few sighs, his shoulder somewhat slumped. As the man was checking out the surroundings, he ended up spotting Yao Jun, his eyes brightening somewhat as he quickly walked over, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank the gods, I am not the only wanderer here. I am Gideon Harradur, but you can just call me Gideon. So where did you come from?"
Gideon had a somewhat thin body, shoulder-length white hair, grayish skin, and murky green eyes. Despite the man's rapid introduction, Yao Jun did not immediately answer his question, raising an eyebrow as he looked at him, Ba-Shei and the others quickly growing vigilant. Gideon seemed to understand what Yao Jun meant with his raised eyebrow, so he took a step backward, raising his hands and showing his empty palms.
"Don't look at me like I am someone suspicious! I could tell that you were a wanderer like me because of the way you look around, as well as the fact that there aren't a lot of humans on this planet. Can't say I blame you for looking around, this planet truly is stunning."
Yao jun had to admit that Gideon was indeed correct. He had been sweeping the surroundings with his gaze several times, awe-struck by the environment on this planet. He had also noticed that while there were several races that resembled humans on this planet, there weren't terribly many humans around. He gave it a bit of thought, but in the end, he figured that there was no harm in chatting with Gideon, taking out an extra chair from his interspatial ring.
"So that's how it was. I'm Yao Jun, I have spent most my life on the Cloud Ocean planet, so I have never seen anything like this before. It truly is quite spectacular."
Yao Jun could tell that Gideon had a higher cultivation than him, he had probably reached either the Soaring Immortal or Transcended Immortal stage. But despite that, Yao Jun was still confident in his chances to at least stay alive and flee if the man were to suddenly turn on him. As for the Cloud Ocean planet he spoke about, it was a large planet that was detailed in the map he had been given, it housed quite a few large clans and sects.
Gideon sat down on the chair that Yao Jun placed in front of him, taking out a cup from his interspatial ring and pouring himself a cup of the wine that Yao Jun had taken out earlier. After downing the cup in one go, he glanced at the massive walls of water, letting out a deep sigh.
"Aye. I have been here for a little more than a year, but the sight of it still shocks me. I can only imagine what that grand battle looked like."
Gideon spoke casually, but his words caused Yao Jun to stop in his track, putting down his cup again. He could not help but glance at the massive walls, his voice tinged with shock as he spoke.
"Grand battle? This cracked ocean wasn't created naturally?"
It was easy to guess from Gideon's words that this cracked ocean wasn't a natural occurrence, but Yao Jun failed to understand how a living being could crack an ocean covering an entire planet. Gideon was in the process of pouring himself another cup of wine, but his hands stopped moving after he heard Yao Jun's question. Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow, looking at Yao Jun with surprise.
"You haven't heard the story already?"
Even if Yao Jun was new on this planet, he couldn't really be that new, right? But Yao Jun quickly proved that he was indeed that new, scratching his cheek in a slightly awkward fashion.
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"I haven't been here very long, and I've been staying in my room at the inn the entire time."
Yao Jun had been on this planet for five days, but except for the time he spent on getting to the city and buying a seat for this caravan, he had spent all the time inside the inn. Since he was not going to stay on this planet for too long, he had not seen a need to wander around the city. Gideon quickly filled up the cup with wine, downing it and speaking out in a loud voice.
"That's no good. When you come to a new place, you gotta walk around, take in the sights, sample the cuisine, learn the history, taste the ladies!"
When he ended his sentence, he leaned a bit closer to Yao Jun, whispering out the last words with a wink and a grin. He expected a similar reaction from Yao Jun, but all that met him was Yao Jun's disinterested expression, so he could only shrug his shoulders and lean back, starting his history lesson.
"The history of the planet is like this. Many many years ago, this planet was in fact called Endless Ocean planet, I'm sure you can guess why. A Demonic beast was born on the planet, a very normal Vortex Shark. But the Vortex Shark managed to survive through countless battles, feasting on the flesh of untold other monsters and cultivators as its strength grew greater and greater. In the end, the beast somehow mutated and became a Horrid Beast. The Frozen Soul Monarch heard about this new Horrid Beast and came to take it as his companion beast, starting a massive battle. In the end, the Frozen Soul Monarch was forced to flee, the Vortex Shark taking the name Horrid Ocean King and becoming the ruler of this planet. Even after all these years, the aftermath of that battle still remains, the time laws of the Horrid Ocean King forever freezing the shattered ocean."
Yao Jun actually knew about the Demonic beast known as a Vortex Shark, as they also lived on his planet. They were the same type of Demonic beast as Little Thunder, the very common variety. Gideon had explained how the planet became the way it was, but one of the terms he used cause another question to pop up in Yao Jun's mind.
"Horrid Beast? Is that a different type of Demonic beast, or is it a grading?"
Yao Jun knew that different places had different gradings for Demonic beasts. On his own planet, for example, a weak Demonic beast was called a Vicious beast, the next step was Demonic beast, then Massacre beast, then Desolate beast, and finally Primordial beast. But these gradings were mostly only used by the weakest of cultivators or normal people who didn't know better. Most others simply called them Demonic beasts and talked about their strength in terms of cultivation levels. Once again Gideon raised his eyebrow in surprise, clicking his tongue and waving his finger at Yao Jun.
"You don't know about the Horrid moniker? You really need to travel around a bit more and ask around, staying ignorant is no good. The title Horrid is only given to two different type of beings. The first is Demonic beasts or people that can be considered embodiments of disaster and carnage, causing oceans of blood to flow wherever they go. Examples would be the Horrid Poison King and the Horrid Soul Collector. These beings are often hunted out of fear or for revenge, so only the truly mighty get to keep their titles for long. The second type of being is Demonic beasts that either evolve or mutate into something brand new, gaining control over an element that greatly strengthens them. Examples would be the Horrid Ocean King, which mutated and gained control over the laws of time, or the Horrid Phoenix Prince, which forcefully evolved itself and gained control over the laws of earth."
To be given the title of Horrid was considered an honor for many, as it was a sign of their strength and the respect and fear that it brought. After getting everything properly explained, Yao Jun could not help but give a slight shake of his head, sipping some more wine.
"It seems I truly must follow your advice and gather more information."
Looking at how Gideon acted as if the information was common knowledge, it seemed like Yao Jun was truly ignorant. But he could not be blamed, after all, it wasn't long ago that the first learned about all the different cultivation levels. And right after that, he had been dragged into a massive war. His lack of knowledge was quite understandable.
The two continued to chat and drink, Yao Jun introducing Siwang and the others, and Gideon teaching Yao Jun a few more tidbits of information. It was only after another two hours passed that a change finally happened, the group of waiting people raising their heads to the sky. Yao Jun also glanced at the sky, spotting a massive silver shark flying through the air, heading directly for them. His eyes opened wide when he spotted the shark because he could see that the shark wasn't a living being, it was made out of a strange type of metal, kept afloat thanks to several arrays that covered its body. Seeing the expressions of the others, he quickly guessed at what the shark was, glancing at Gideon.
"That is the ship we are going to travel in?"
Yao Jun had seen the flying ships that took part in the battle between the World Tree Clan and the enemy alliance, but those looked more like actual flying ships, nothing like this metallic shark. Gideon's eyes were also on the shark, sparkling slightly as he nodded his head.
"Yup. It was supposedly the Horrid Ocean King himself who asked the Myriad Weapon Sect to forge it. Thanks to that, it has not only extremely strong defenses but also horrifying attack capabilities."
After hearing his answer, Yao Jun could not help but tilt his head slightly. Just how did Gideon know so many different things? It had already gone past knowledge that was gained from just being curious, so he could not help but ask.
"You seem to know quite a few things, you must spend a lot of time traveling around and gathering information."
Gideon took his eyes away from the approaching ship, turning back to Yao Jun. He didn't seem interested in hiding it, so he simply shrugged his shoulders and gave a quick reply.
"I have to, it's part of my job as a Lord Hunter. The more I know, the better my chances of survival are."
Yao Jun knew what a Lord Hunter was, it was one of the ranks granted to people belonging to the God Hunter Pavilion. And since the God Hunter Pavilion was a subsidiary of the Heaven's Secrets Company, information gathering was indeed very important to many of its members.
The shark quickly landed in front of the waiting people, completely blocking off the other streets. Several doors appeared on the side of the shark, silver stairs descending out from the doors. The first ones to board the ship were those who had paid more for their seats, entering the doors that were closest to the head of the shark. While Yao Jun was observing the people who were boarding the ship, Ba-Shei leaned in close and let out a quiet whisper.
"Milord..."
Ba-Shei glanced at the fin located on the back of the shark. Yao Jun gave a short nod, sending a quick glance at the fin. He whispered a short order to Du Xiao and the others, leaning back in his chair and acting casual.
"I know. Just pretend we don't know, there is nothing we can do."
Yao Jun had the Demon God's Gate, there were very few people in this universe that were as sensitive towards Demonic beasts as he was. And it was thanks to that fact that he was able to tell that there was a powerful Demonic beast locked up within the fin of the ship. Gideon seemed to suddenly think of something, turning towards Yao Jun.
"Since you are joining this group to Earthen Peak, are you looking to join the God Hunter Pavilion?"
Gideon couldn't properly tell Yao Jun's cultivation level, but he didn't seem to be weak. People like him joining the God Hunter Pavilion was rather normal. Yao Jun took his eyes off the fin, shrugging his shoulders and not bothering to hide the truth.
"I am considering it, but first I am looking to see if I can buy some information."
Gideon's lips curled into a smile after hearing Yao Jun's reply. Few cultivators looked their age, but he guessed that Yao Jun was more than likely quite a bit younger than him. And if there was one thing Gideon liked doing, it was acting like the respectable elder.
"Well then, let's board the ship and I can tell you everything you need to keep in mind after joining the God Hunter Pavilion!"
Gideon quickly stood up, grabbing onto Yao Jun's shoulder and making him stand up. Yao Jun quickly stored the table and chairs into his interspatial ring, brushing off Gideon's arm and preventing him from forcefully dragging him along, casually following him into the door that was located closest to the tail fin of the shark.