When An Fei decided to rely on the advantageous mode of transportation that was flight to return to Jiang’an, she was once again slammed hard in the chest with the reminder that the Shattered Star Continent’s cities and territories were huge.
As she sat atop the handle-less sword, the young girl began to feel rather helpless within a relatively short period of time.
In her eyes, the size of Goeun City matched that of the modern metropolis regions of her previous world.
Though the population may not exactly match due to the comparable differences in architecture and social classes, the territorial expansion of both the modern cities of Earth and the cities of the Shattered Star Continent were rather similar.
“Hey, given from this map, and our flying speed – how long would it take to return to Jiang’an?”
On a certain map of the continent that was transcribed onto a scroll, Goeun City was nothing more than an afterthought accompanied with a small dot of ink. Had it not been for Wen Jiu previously showing her the position of the city on the scroll, An Fei would never had known that Goeun City ever existed.
“I do not know, but it definitely won’t be a short journey,” Xilong commented with a light breath of air escaping through its teeth.
“Since I wasn’t able to tour the entire city, I don’t know its comparisons nor does this map show any direct dimensional markers – but my estimate is that with our travelling speed, you won’t return without at least three years of constant travel.”
“Three… years?”
The young girl’s voice cracked at the thought of having to spend a few years mindlessly travelling through the air simply to return home. An Fei immediately looked down, towards the small structures sweeping by on the ground much below her feet, and her heart sank once more.
She sat atop a certain handle-less sword’s surface at an altitude of three hundred meters aboveground.
Though it wasn’t a relatively high altitude compared to the towering city of Jiang’an and supposedly others as Wen Jiu had bragged, An Fei was confident that no other cultivator of the mortal world could match her current height. Moreover, she was travelling at a steady speed of approximately twenty meters every second.
Compared to her normal walking speed, it was faster by at least several folds, but when sized against the massive stretch of territory she had to cover…
“There’s… really no other method?”
“There’s really no other method – at least, no other method that you can employ at the moment.”
Xilong heartlessly yet caringly squashed An Fei’s residual hopes, prompting her to lower her head while biting at her lips. The scarlet dragon released a faint sigh as it continued to stabilize the handle-less sword from random bursts of acceleration.
In the mortal world – no, in any mortal world that supported cultivation – a semi-permanent state of flight with a speed of twenty meters per second was a dream that many cultivators wished to possess.
Certainly, there existed a plethora of movement martial arts technique that emphasized upon accelerating the speed and agility of the mortal body – and the number of such techniques were boundless as the sea.
Moreover, the maximum speeds an average martial arts technique tailored in this aspect could certainly break the twenty-meter-per-second rule with ease.
But such movement martial arts techniques were sorely disadvantaged in that they heavily relied upon certain types of terrain, and couldn’t be sustained for long…
When they had the option of soaring – ahem, paddling through the air without any prerequisites on the types of terrain it could be utilized, who could resist the temptation?
…if only An Fei could come to terms that a single man’s prowess could never contest against the entire world, alas…
“…I really can’t allow the sword to travel at a faster speed?”
The young girl had been fed far too much hope with the realization of a second chance at life, and the fact that she owned a certain overexcited and neurotic handle-less sword pumped to the brim with divine essence that most certainly – and absolutely – never belonged in any mortal world.
The moment she had expressed her discontent at the fact that she was limited to a sore twenty-meters-per-second speed when flying through the air, the handle-less sword had abruptly decided to break through the sonic barrier in response.
It had taken the heavenly dragon many threats and tears before it could coax the handle-less sword to calm its clearly deficient consciousness and not get its Master slaughtered by the unforgiving laws of the mortal world.
“If you were an Immortal being, then certainly – breaking the speed of sound would not be any problem, nor would spatial superposition alarm the mortal world,” Xilong explained for the umpteenth time with tears in its eyes.
“However – Young Fei – you’re clearly not, ah? Since you’re a mortal – at least, for now – though the <Steps of Underlying Shadow> can certainly protect you from danger, you will be absolutely defenseless before the retaliation from the natural laws guarding the mortal world.”
“Mortal world or Immortal domain, both have a tailored set of natural laws governing their existence. And since these natural laws are comprised of the Divine Script…”
Don’t ever forget, and never try to break them unless your soul could transcend such Authority.
The young girl released an emotional sigh at the implied message, and twiddled her thumbs in dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, An Fei couldn’t help but raise a final attempt.
“I can’t use the <Heavenly Talisman> to prevent the natural laws from detecting my existence?”
“You certainly can use the <Heavenly Talisman>, but what are you going to do with the consequence of overflow? What, you thought that your bare body could withstand traveling at speeds faster than the sonic barrier – how naïve is that?”
“…mu…”
The young girl ground her teeth at the shameless reply from the heavenly dragon, and the handle-less sword flickered with a clearly unhappy gleam of scarlet light.
The heavenly dragon briefly panicked and raised its claws in precaution, only to discover that the previously ruthless and unstoppably heinous sword didn’t break moral order.
…it too seemed to have recognized its lesson, causing Xilong to release a pent of sigh of relief.
–
“Young Fei, are you certain that you don’t want to descend?”
“I don’t want to. Besides, there would only be endless trouble awaiting me if I did so.”
An Fei lazily shook off the heavenly dragon’s cautious inquiry, and returned her attention towards the set of books stacked besides her thigh on the handle-less sword. The young girl picked a random tome from the pile, granting the title and its shimmering characters a bored glance.
“The <Analects> of Kong Zi, dedicated to the proper cultivation of the mortal sentience,” An Fei read out loud with twitching lips.
“It’s not a book on cultivating the virtues and compassions of man, but instead one that develops sentience? Which sentience is it talking about – the definition that Senior Cowen provided?”
There was a brief pause, then the heavenly dragon’s voice could be heard drifting into her ears.
“It… is the same sentience that the <Formation of a Soul> describes, but I’d suggest for you not to read it,” Xilong sternly replied.
“The <Analects> by Kong Zi rely on concepts that have yet to be manifested in the Realm, meaning that there isn’t any truthful value. Not to mention, Kong Zi wasn’t a person of great standing in the Realm in the first place, ah.”
“Why is that?”
An Fei’s brows twitched, and she poked at the simple cover of the bound book with her index finger. The young girl glanced at the taijijian sheathed at her waist, her expression clearly demonstrating that she wasn’t convinced.
“Isn’t Senior Kong Fuzi and Confucianism almost always synonymous with mortal civilization – particularly those of Oriental cultures? From what you said earlier, there’s literally trillions – perhaps even an infinite amount of mortal worlds in the Realm, and a good portion of them have some resemblance towards Oriental culture and founding.”
“Mortal worlds are essentially a sandbox for Immortals to test their ideas,” the heavenly dragon shook its whiskers in derision.
“If a concept has been tested for an unimaginable period of time but has yet to be validated by the Realm even a single time – isn’t it the epitome of being useless –“
The heavenly dragon had yet to finish speaking its words when its heart abruptly trembled, a sense of grave worry striking through its consciousness. Xilong’s golden irises exploded with a scarlet radiance, a Gate of Death manifesting on its inverse scale.
From afar, a spear radiating a chilling aura of solitude and frost streamed directly towards the young girl’s chest from the front.
As the divine anger of the heavenly dragon scorched the mortal world, a certain immortal youth’s lips gradually twitched into a small smile.
“After so long, now finally deciding to reveal herself. Mortal girl, you really were hard to locate, ah…”
