Chapter 20

Chapter 20: I Turn a Blind Eye to Your Performance

Rong Shu’s group of three, plus Dai Zhou’s group of four, made seven in total, and the back of an Azure Sky Falcon could not possibly seat that many.

Qin Yuan recalled the Azure Sky Falcon, then flicked his wrist to throw out a ship-shaped flying treasure artifact, saying nothing as the artifact expanded several times over and hovered steadily before the seven of them.

Rong Shu measured Qin Yuan’s flying treasure artifact with a curious eye: it was as large as a regular passenger ship. By contrast, the flying boat she had received from Jun Xiu Ran was only the size of a small wooden skiff.

Qin Yuan lifted his hand and invited Dai Zhou’s four to board first: “Fellow disciples, please.”

Dai Zhou and the others did not stand on ceremony and filed aboard, with Rong Shu’s trio close behind. Once everyone was on deck, Qin Yuan fed several Spirit Stones into the boat’s operating array, then activated it; the flying boat—bulky as a little hill—rose into the air, and in the blink of an eye they had left the ground and sped out through Heaven’s Evolution Sect’s mountain gate.

Midair, the flying boat cruised smoothly. A thin aura barrier arched above it, warding off the harsh headwinds so that those moving about the deck felt no discomfort at all.

Rong Shu edged to the railing and peered down with bright, lively eyes as she did a quick estimate in her head: [At this speed, if we travel without sleep, we could reach Scarlet Sun City in three to five days.] But since Qin Yuan alone was piloting the boat, they would have to stop periodically so he could rest. She lowered her head and counted on her fingers: [Seven days. Seven days should get us to Scarlet Sun City, and then I can find the Alchemists’ Sub-Guild.]

She turned and saw Yu Ruan Ruan chatting with Dai Zhou and the other two, smiling and laughing all the while. Yu Ruan Ruan leaned in, all sweetness: “Senior Brother Dai, you’re just like my three senior brothers, all Foundation Establishment cultivators; that’s so impressive.” Then she pivoted with glowing eyes: “Senior Sister Tao, your skin is so fair; how do you maintain it?” A beat later she trilled, “Senior Brother Wan…” and let the flattery flow.

Rong Shu blinked and suddenly felt the headcount was off: [One, two, three… Senior Brother Lin Dao isn’t here?] She glanced left and right but did not see him anywhere.

The flying boat was laid out in two broad parts, a cabin and a deck, and everyone had started on the deck. [Hmm… I’ll take a look in the cabin then.] With that thought, she told Qin Yuan, who was piloting, that she was going to check the cabins, then turned and slipped inside.

Meanwhile, as Yu Ruan Ruan chatted brightly with Dai Zhou’s trio, she brought up Rong Shu as if in passing, apology tinting her expression: “Please be patient with us along the way. My junior sister and I are out to broaden our horizons, especially my junior sister—she just joined the sect and is terribly curious about the cultivation world.” The implication was that Rong Shu did not know her place and had tagged along shamelessly.

Coupled with Rong Shu’s measly first-layer Qi Refining cultivation that could not help with anything, Dai Zhou’s trio took an even dimmer view of her. When they themselves had been at that stage, they had stayed in the sect and cultivated hard; when would they have had the chance to roam about outside? Thinking that if trouble arose they would be duty-bound to protect a first-layer Qi Refining rookie, the three of them felt instantly put out.

Yu Ruan Ruan, smiling, turned to check on Rong Shu, only to find the girl gone. Where did she go? She had just been here. With her not even present to hear it, hadn’t all that careful shading and insinuation just lost half its effect?

At that moment, Rong Shu had already chosen a small room in the cabin, slipped inside, pulled out her Meditation Mat, tossed it onto the floor, and sat down cross-legged to cultivate. Because she was on a boat without a formation to block others’ senses, she did not cultivate the wind element, but instead worked on the earth element she had just advanced to at the first layer of Qi Refining.

Once she settled into meditation, time slipped away unnoticed. When she finished cultivating, it was already dusk. She stepped out to see how Senior Brother Qin Yuan planned to arrange the night: would they press on through the dark, or moor and rest?

She had just started up toward the deck when the smoothly flying boat lurched. On the stairs, Rong Shu swayed several times, and a hand came from behind to steady her small, tottering frame. She was like a skiff tossed on a stormy sea suddenly finding a Sea-Calming Needle.

“Hm?” Startled, Rong Shu turned instinctively. Meeting Lin Dao’s cool, clear gaze, she froze for a beat: “Senior Brother Lin Dao?” Lin Dao’s expression was indifferent; he glanced at the little sprout of a child, then, once she had her feet under her, released his hand.

Rong Shu snapped back to herself and hurried to thank him, then pointed toward the deck: “Senior brother, shall we go see what’s going on?”

Lin Dao gave her a lazy, nonchalant “Mm.”

When the two reached the deck, they saw that a flock of avian spirit beasts had surrounded the flying boat and were attempting to strike it again and again. Fortunately, the aura barrier remained up, and for the moment the birds could not get in.

Rong Shu had studied the common spirit beasts of the Southern Wilds in lectures on Spirit Gathering Peak, and she had also done a month’s tasks in the Spirit Beast Garden. After a careful look, she identified them as a species called Long-Necked Red Feather Birds. They were social spirit beasts with irritable temperaments who would call out to their fellows at the slightest disturbance to mob any outsider. They migrated periodically; their necks were long—almost the length of their bodies—and their feathers were crimson, like flowing lava, hence the name. She murmured under her breath as she pieced it together: [It looks like the Long-Necked Red Feather Birds are in their breeding season. Is this their nesting ground? Is that why the flying boat got attacked when we passed by?]

What Rong Shu, a beginner, could guess, Qin Yuan, a beast tamer, had of course realized at once. He raised his voice for the group: “These are Long-Necked Red Feather Birds. We’ve likely intruded on their breeding ground. Do not attack them. If you strike one, every last bird will bear a grudge, and they will not stop until one side is dead. Brace yourselves. I’m going to increase the flying boat’s speed and get us clear of this area as fast as possible.”

At his warning, Rong Shu immediately dropped into a crouch and clamped both hands onto the doorframe at the stairwell. Qin Yuan triggered the flying boat’s second-tier operating array: “Accelerate.” The boat surged; the pressure wave it generated blasted the nearest Long-Necked Red Feather Birds back, and Qin Yuan seized the opening to punch through their encirclement.

Everyone aboard grabbed for whatever they could hold, bodies tipping this way and that—Qin Yuan, who was piloting, was no exception. Out of the corner of her eye, Rong Shu caught sight of Lin Dao not far away, and she faltered, startled by what she saw.