Disclaimer: In the Mortal Realm, Empire Level powers have Rank 3 Cultivators at the highest, Kingdom Level powers have Rank 2 at the highest and Ungraded Level powers have Rank 1 Cultivators only.
Mortal Realm, Somewhere in the Immortal Pillar Zone, in a spaceship.
For the next week, the couple comprehended the mortal part of their cultivation scripture, marveling at the complexity of it. Indeed, compare to their initial cultivation scripture, this one was easily a thousand times, or even more, complicated, and the only reason that they could understand it to the Peak Mortal Layer was because of their high cultivation level, which improved both their Life Order and their already great comprehension.
The Life Order was the 'quality' that your Body, Soul and Energy corresponded to. Every increase in rank improved the Life Order by one, which made one overwhelmingly stronger than someone at the previous Rank. Ranking up increased the 'quality' for a cultivator, while Leveling up increased the 'quantity'. And the difference between Ranks increased the higher the Rank. If you used an average being without any power as a unit of 1 stone, then an average Peak Rank 1 should be at around 500 stones and an average Early Rank 2 should be at around 10.000 stones, which made a difference of 20 times. However, an average Peak rank 6 should be around 5.000.000 stones, while an average Early Rank 7 should be around 100.000.000 stones, which made it also 20 times. Nonetheless, the difference of twenty times when one can only destroy a car and when one can destroy a continent was definitely different.
Now, a clueless Cultivator might think.”But why can't we just use the name of our cultivation ranks instead of putting number after it?” After which, an Elder of his would answer right away with exasperation in his voice. “That's because cultivators are not the only one that can improve their powers. There are many way to improve one's life order. Cultivating is the easiest for humans, but also one of the most merciless one, since cultivators can die from the lightning Tribulations, other cultivators, and other beings with power. In the end very few can attain the fabled peak, if it even exists. Now, instead of asking questions that you should have known the answer about, go back to cultivate!” The Elder would finish, with anger in his voice.
In the spaceship, Guang Hua woke up when it was time to breastfeed her son and went back to comprehend right after, which let Bai Yue becoming more comfortable with taking care of the baby. After all, as a high level cultivator, and with the little boy never throwing any tantrum, she easily dealt with his needs. Even the smelliest one, although she did not enjoy that one. After a week passed by, they reached an Early Level Kingdom territory, where they planned to take the Official Teleporter to reach their affiliated Early Empire Level territory, where they could either stay or continue on to a more powerful one. Although it could be complicated when you went into great details, when you looked at the surface, it was actually fairly simple, thanks to each rank of organization having one rank weaker affiliated organizations. Since the Immortal Zone was enormous, the only way to link the different territories of their affiliates was to build Teleporters for people and spaceships, the latter being more expensive to traverse, as it was obviously bigger.
What was complicated, though, was the relationship between the similar ranked organizations, since wars were quite frequent and affiliates had to change their allegiance when their liege was defeated. As a result, the relationships between each parties were mostly about benefits, since building trust would be pretty much useless. If one had to change team, then wouldn't it be a tragedy to have to fight against the former ally that you trusted so much? In the wanderer's Realms, the one with the bigger fists would always be right, while the weak were powerless. On the upside, since Bai Yue's restricted Level was at Peak Mortal Layer, then unless they had to deal with a Peak Empire Level Organization power, then no one would stop them. And even if they did have to deal with that kind of power, it would only be a bit bothersome, but nothing life threatening.
After another week of travel, they reached the Planet Capital system of the kingdom, where the Teleporter was situated. Seeing how they were almost there, she woke up Hei Qiang to ask him to give her the control on the AI, after which she let him go back the his comprehension, assuring that she would take care of everything.
Going to the Control Room, she waited until one of the patrol of flying vessels guarding the teleporter stopped her. Once they noticed how high-end theirs was, the team's captain sent a demand for communication through its AI. Bai Yue, with the baby on her knees looking everywhere with his big cute eyes, then accepted the call. “Respectful greetings, I am the this patrol's Captain. I represent the Kingdom to ask your ladyship about what you are looking for in our Kingdom?” Although she was surprised by the scene in front of her eyes, the captain knew that some people were not to be bothered by nosy questions, so she kept a poker face and only expressed what she had to.
The masked woman holding the baby in her arms then replied coldly. “My family and I wish to use the teleporter to reach your affiliated Empire.” Hearing her talk to the female captain, Guang Yang seemed to want to jump in the conversation and said looking to the captain with a cute serious face. “Gah gah. Bah bah!” Although no one could understand what he was saying, his cute gimmicks brought a smile to the two women, however, only the Captain's was visible since Bai Yue always kept her enchanted mask on in every circumstances.
Although, the captain's expression softened from what happened, she still acted professionally by asking. “May I know your Ladyship's and your family's identities?” Hearing the question, Bai Yue gave her a reply by unleashing a small amount of her aura toward the guards' spaceships. The cultivators inside being only Rank 1 Cultivators, felt as if they were facing a God's might, similar to an insect that could be crushed with a thought, which was realistically possible in view of the difference of two whole Ranks. After making sure that they knew what kind of people they were dealing with, she retracted her aura and said as indifferent as an iceberg. “I believe that as a Rank 3 Cultivator, I'm allowed to use the Teleporter without any question being asked, aren't I?” She phrased it as a question, but the captain in front of her knew perfectly well that if she insisted on questioning her, the masked woman in front of her would make her regret it dearly. After all, she knew that no one could stop beings of that rank in a weak kingdom. Depending on her level, even Empires needed to be careful to not annoy her. After all, Rank 3 beings were not everywhere on the street even in Peak Empires.
Taking a deep breath to calm her fear, she roused her mana to dry the cold sweat soaking her clothes and said with a slight tremor in her voice. “Since your Ladyship is a Rank 3 Cultivator, then you can obviously use the Teleporter. Your Ladyship does not even have to pay anything. Can your Lady ship's spaceship follow ours to the Teleporter?” “Sure.” After answering, Bai Yue cut off the communication and ordered the AI to follow the vessel in front of them. The masked woman immediately put the interaction out of her mind as it was insignificant for her, and started to play with the baby, with a small smile appearing on her face and her voice softening looking at his amusing facial expressions.
While the two were playing, the Captain urgently sent a demand for communication to her commander, which was answered instantly with a smiling handsome man. After seeing the scared look on his subordinates' face, the smile on his face disappeared and he asked in a serious tone. “Tell me everything.” After which she answered, fear lacing her voice. “I was patrolling the Teleporter's area, when I saw a very high end spaceship. Possibly Empire Level technology. I then intercepted it and sent a demand for communication. A masked woman playing with a baby answered me.” Hearing the description of the weird situation, he wondered if she was making fun of him. However, looking at her shocked face, he decided to keep his question for after she finished her story.
“Since she could be someone form an Empire level organization, I stayed humble and asked her only the customary queries. However, when the question about her identity came up, she didn't answer and released her aura on us for a few seconds before retracting it. Commander, you know how sensitive I am to other beings' aura and how I can tell more or less accurately how strong someone is...” She stopped speaking for a few seconds to calm her nerves and then resumed with a voice laced with fear and awe. “I believe that her cultivation base should be at Level 9... Possibly at the Peak...” She finished her speech in a low voice, even somehow doubting her intuition that never failed her in the past, because of how far fetched her story sounded. Indeed, Peak Mortal Layer Cultivators were so rare that, unless you were related to them or at a somehow similar level, you had virtually no chance of interacting with one, no matter how long you lived.
Pondering for a few seconds on the veracity of the story, he thought. “Her intuition has never been wrong before, although it was only on Rank 2 Beings... Could it be as accurate on Rank 3? Well it doesn't matter to us since she doesn't seem vindictive and she wouldn't care about a puny kingdom like us. However, we should contact our kingdom's liege, otherwise we might be blamed for any mishaps, once she arrives over there. Unless, she killed every Rank 3 Beings of that Empire... Let's not gamble.” Having made his decision, he said to her. “I trust your intuition. You should escort her to the Teleporter and I'll contact our liege's Kingdom to prevent any future mishap. You've done a great job dealing with this tense situation. I'll report it upstairs and hopefully you'll get a good enough reward for you to break through to Rank 2.”
Being overjoyed by the news, she put her right hand on her left breast in a respectful salute and said in a calm tone of voice contrasting with what she was feeling inside. “Thank you, sir. I'll escort the Lady and her family to the Teleporter and will report to you once it's done.” Nodding in appreciation for her calm attitude, he replied before cutting the communication off. “Seeing how well you've done the last few decades of your service, if you breakthrough to Rank 2, you have a high chance of becoming a commander like me. So keep up the good work.”
Having no idea of the conversation that just happened, the Fox's vessel followed the guards' team to the Teleporter where the Captain informed her that since her identity was special, not only did she not have to pay, but she could also be the first one going through it to reach the other side. A small favor that Bai Yue appreciated since that would save them a bit of time. After all, there was only one gigantic round Portal in this kingdom, which was made of Void metal and other rare ores and could only accommodate a limited number of Spaceships every time it was activated. Adding to that the high cost of activation, it was only activated once a day here. With how many rich merchants and nobles wanting to cross it to reach the liege Empire, they may have to wait a very long time before being able to go through it.
Of course, when one of the official informed the people waiting in the queue that they had to let someone else go before them, they became discontent. The merchants among the queue, having reached their current level of power and success, were definitely wily old foxes. As such, they immediately noticed the high quality of the vessel and how a full patrol squad escorted it, understanding that the people inside were VIPs that even the kingdom's representative did not want to offend. Coming up with that conclusion, they kept to themselves without making a fuss. However, not everyone among the people waiting was as discerning. Some of them frankly did not care either way.
In a luxurious spacefaring ship, a group of young looking men and women in beautiful clothes were sharing a meal, among which could be found Rank 2 meat, fruits, alcohol, etc. While they were reveling in the delicious meal and delightful conversation a servant came to report the message, which annoyed them greatly. One of the men, looking like the prince charming in most little children story, with his handsome face, warm smile and princely demeanor, had that same smile disappeared as soon as he heard the news and a cold look appeared on his face. “Did they tell you who it was?” The servant that reported the news said respectfully. “Third Prince, the official only told us that we had to let that spaceship go first. They did not share those people's identities.” Listening to his report, a thoughtful look appear on the prince's face. “Since the officials think that we are from a Peak Level Kingdom, that means those people should be either from a Peak Kingdom with strong cultivation or from a Early Level Empire.” He thought as to him, the possibility of being someone from a higher level Empire was so small, that it might as well not exist. “They are probably here for the treasure. They may even have gotten it. Since we couldn't find it, that probability is very high.” He held his chin with his right hand while pondering. “I should probe them to see if they are powerful. If they are not, I'll just rob them. Since I have my shadow guards, even if they are from an Early Level Empire, I can retreat safely. After all, for the latter, Rank 3 Cultivators are limited and wouldn't waste their time coming in this god forsaken place.” His eyes turned ruthless when he thought about killing people.
A man noticed the change, and asked the prince. “Third prince, may I know your orders?” Being the prince's right hand man, he knew that when the prince looked like that, people were going to die, riches plundered and women played with. If one could see what the two were thinking about, they would discover that their thoughts were the complete opposite of their appearances. They would find cruelty, lecherousness and madness hidden behind their handsome faces.
“We'll probe it. They should be from a Peak Kingdom or Early Level Empire and are probably here for the treasured Item that was supposed to appear in this backwater kingdom. As long as they are weaker than us, we'll rob them, kill the men and capture the women. It's not the first time we did this, so you should know what to do.” He told his servant while a lecherous and greedy smile appeared on his previously cold face, not knowing how big and lethal the mistake he was about to commit was. Hearing what the third prince said, the men in the room laughed lewdly while the women's face showed indifference. Being from powerful and influential families in Empire, they grew up thinking of the people weaker than them as no more than insects that they could play with or destroy as they wished. To be honest, even the women in the room captured a few men to keep as plaything, and since they could control their body with their power, becoming pregnant was not a risk.
Having made his decision, the prince's vessel started to fly towards the unknown vessel.
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Mortal Realm, Immortal Pillar Zone, in the Decan Kingdom's territory, Planet Capital System, in a Commander's Flagship flying around the Planet Capital.
Right after the commander stopped the communication with his captain, he sent a report to the King about the situation. He mentioned how the captain dealt with the situation, and also how thanks to her keen and, so far, always correct intuition, she was able to deduce the approximate power level of the Lady. He added that the information about the Lady being a Peak Rank 3 was not certain, however, it was better to inform their kingdom's liege. That way, if something went wrong on their end, then they could not be blamed for not notifying them. He also added that the captain was an excellent element and helping her breakthrough to Rank 2 could help the Kingdom in having a ready-made and very competent commander.
As soon as the report was sent, he started to whistle a joyful tune while a smile of satisfaction could be seen on his face. However, it did not last long, as he received a report from the female captain telling his commander how a spaceship that was previously waiting for its turn to cross the portal was currently heading towards the Lady's vessel. The problem was that the man in charge of the former was supposed to be a noble from a Peak Level Kingdom, and from what she could tell, almost everyone in it was stronger than her. “I can not stop them, Sir. What are your orders?”