Xue Wei and Hei Gou were both Sky Warriors. In backwater kingdoms like the Vermilion Forest Kingdom and the Kingdom of Heping, they could be considered astonis.h.i.+ng talents, peerless even, but neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou were conceited because of this. 

Both knew that their enemies were of equal or higher strength than themselves, which put pressure on them to constantly improve. 

It had been two weeks since they left the capital. In that time, they had made a lot of progress through the Vermilion Forest Kingdom, but it had been a comfortable journey. 

A few bandit groups had attacked them, but only for every single one of them to end up having their souls consumed by Tianyi.

Tianyi was now confident that it would only take a few more souls before he would be capable of creating his new body. Hearing this, both Xue Wei and Hei Gou were rather curious: how does a sword get a body? 

Although they were curious, Xue Wei and Hei Gou did not bring it up. They would see the body eventually, so there was no reason for them to try and understand it now. 

Some of the bandits they encountered were villainous to the core, and their souls nourished both Xue Wei and Tianyi’s souls explosively, but the majority only provided a fraction of that. 

Xue Wei could feel that his soul had been strengthened significantly ever since pairing up with Tianyi. His spiritual energy was now able to spread to a distance of a hundred kilometer radius around him, and he could launch the Mind Infestation skill quite a few times without getting tired. 

It was a great feeling to not be constantly pursued by the authorities, as well. They were moving at a leisurely pace. Although they had no reason to stay in the Vermilion Forest Kingdom any longer, they had no reason to rush to the center of the continent either. 

They wanted to be as healthy and as ready as possible for when they reached the center of the continent. They were aware that this was the stage where they would reunite with their pursuers, or at least some of them. If they had not gained some strength by then, then they would definitely be the ones who took a bite of the sour apple – they would be the ones who ended up dying. 

They left the Vermilion Forest Kingdom after traveling for three weeks, pa.s.sing through the border into the Great Fire Nation. This nation was rather small and chaotic, but Xue Wei and Hei Gou managed to travel through it in two weeks. After that, they entered the Skyward Empire. 

This empire was rather big. In fact, it took up as much s.p.a.ce as the Heping Kingdom, the Flowing Blood Prairie, and the Vermilion Forest Kingdom together, but it was still not considered as a part of the center of the continent. 

However, it was not seen as a backwater kingdom either. It was in between, a kingdom that had multiple Ordinary Knights and a handful of Earth Knights, and the strongest was a single Sky Knight. 

"I have sensed this for the last few hundred kilometers we've been traveling," Xue Wei mumbled to Hei Gou, "but the density of the energy of the heavens and the earth is truly getting richer with every step we take."

Hei Gou nodded his head. "I noticed it too. Even when my body pa.s.sively refines Qi, it’s at an unbelievable rate. It is even more beneficial than when I poured all my focus into meditation when I was in the Heping Kingdom."

Xue Wei nodded his head. "It truly is like this. I fear that everything will be more expensive now. Even the meals ought to be expensive considering the fact that the livestock and even the very grains they are fed have consumed more of the essence of the heaven and the earth."

"This place ought to be many times more prosperous because of this density in heaven and earth essence. We might have to become robbers to sustain ourselves," he added, sighing. 

They were not even at the center of the continent yet, but their finances had already caused them a headache. In a prospering place, things would naturally be more expensive than they were in a poor area. Although they had killed quite a few bandits on their way, these bandits had been poor.

Neither of them had carried their wealth on them, as they did not have a storage treasure, and as a result they had only managed to scrounge up a few gold coins during their trip through the Vermilion Forest Kingdom. 

Both Xue Wei and Hei Gou were acutely aware of this. They could not help but sigh deeply. 

They knew that the world of cultivation required immense wealth. High purity pills were expensive, and medicinal plants and herbs did not come cheap either, but the two of them even had to consider how much money they had to spend on food. 

It came to the point where they started looking forward to being interrupted by bandits so that they could kill and loot them. Although they were considering robbing people, they still held back. They could kill for their own survival, and neither of them really felt anything when killing a person, but they still felt that they should not kill innocent people unless absolutely needed. 

The border between the Great Fire Nation and the Skyward Empire was vague. There were no checkpoints or anyone keeping track of who went where, so Xue Wei and Hei Gou were not entirely sure when they had exited one place and entered the other. 

They found that the road was desolate at the start, yet the further they walked on it, the more people they met. 

They saw merchants and caravans traveling the same way that they were heading, but most of what they saw involved all kinds of experts rus.h.i.+ng ahead of them. 

It was clear that they were in a hurry, whereas Xue Wei and Hei Gou were slowly inching onward, not caring about the hurried expressions of everyone else.

The majority of the people they saw appeared to be between ages twenty-six and thirty-five. They were the ones who had left the army just recently, and now they seemed to all have a common goal.

At the start, neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou had paid them any mind, but seeing that more and more experts were appearing, their curiosity was stirred. 

"Excuse me," Xue Wei stopped to ask a caravan that was coming from behind them. "I can’t help but notice that a lot of experts are rus.h.i.+ng ahead... could you perhaps tell me what is happening?" he asked as politely as he could. 

The merchant was a small, round man. He had a triangular beard on his chin, and he looked a bit like a pig. However, when he heard Xue Wei's question, there was only surprise on his face and not a scoff as one would expect.

"Youngster, you are not from this area I take it?" he asked with surprise. Xue Wei nodded his head. This was no secret; he was really not from the Skyward Empire, so he knew very little about the happenings within the empire.

"There is a martial arts tournament in the Black Iron Fortress," the merchant explained. "The tournament invites everyone below the age of thirty-seven to compete. They are offering some very amazing prizes, so young experts from the entire empire are converging in that place to partic.i.p.ate." 

"One's background does not matter, all that matters is that one is below the age of thirty-seven. There is apparently something that the Black Iron Fortress wants from the last man standing, but no one knows what it is yet."

Xue Wei was pondering for some time. It was risky to stand out in this tournament when he was being chased, and someone might recognize his face, but at the same time, he truly needed some wealth that could support his and Hei Gou's cultivation progress.

"You are worried because you are a deserter?" the merchant asked with a bit of pity on his face. "Why don't you buy a facemask from me? It costs seventy silver, and it will completely alter the appearance of your face."

"In fact, the real price is one gold, but I will give you a discount. I do not approve of young men such as yourself being forced into the army and fighting to your death!"

Xue Wei was stunned. He had only met people who hated deserters so far; he had never met someone who felt sympathy for a deserter. Instead of correcting him, Xue Wei withdrew seventy silver from his purse. This was a significant amount of their wealth, but he saw it as an investment.

While he did this, Hei Gou was quietly standing by the side. There was no reason to hide his face, as no one had been able to see it so far, but many had seen Xue Wei's from when he was in the capital of the Heping Kingdom. 

He had wanted to buy one of these masks before, but doing so could have aroused suspicion. Now, this merchant made things easy for him. 

"Don't wear it yet," the merchant warned him. "If you wear it now, I will know what you look like. That is no good. Wear it later on," he suggested. Xue Wei accepted the thin jelly-like mask with both hands. 

When he was about to leave, Xue Wei cupped his fists and bowed to the merchant. He felt that this merchant was a real hero for a.s.sisting him despite the possibility of them being criminals. As to why, it was not hard to guess.

This merchant was old enough to have a son, but his caravan had no youngsters. It was clear that his son was either in the army now, or he had died. 

Considering how he looked at Xue Wei with sad eyes, it was also rather easy to guess that it was likely the latter. 

As a father, he would rather see his son a criminal than dead. He would rather know that he was living on the run than that he had turned into food for the Fierce Beast hordes. 

So when he encountered two youths that had taken this path, his heart was bleeding for his departed son, and he wished to help at least them to live longer. That was why he a.s.sisted them as he did. 

"This grat.i.tude, I will not forget," Xue Wei said seriously to the merchant. But he just smiled and waved his hand, "Live a long and prosperous life. Then your family will be happy. That is all you need to do."

Hearing this made Xue Wei's eyes sting slightly. He had no family other than his uncle. As to whether or not this uncle would kill him in their next reunion, he did not know, but he still wanted to make him proud. 

Seeing Xue Wei being emotional, Hei Gou sighed. He knew that Xue Wei had a complicated relations.h.i.+p with his family, but he could do nothing about it. 

The merchant misunderstood it as sorrow over being parted from one another and said no more. After a bit of silence, Xue Wei bowed once more to the merchant before he rushed onward, closely followed by Hei Gou. 

The two continued down the road towards the west. They did not know exactly where to go, but they a.s.sumed that as long as they stuck to the road, they would reach the Black Iron Fortress eventually. 

Now that they were running at top speed, more and more experts appeared around them. Many of them observed them curiously, but by now Xue Wei had already worn the mask, making him seem as dull as could be. The one who drew all the attention was Hei Gou and his das.h.i.+ng appearance.