The following day, Qian Yu woke up early as he started training with his spear, awaiting news from Zhao Xieren.

Before long, Zhao Xieren came to see him. “My family’s flying artifact will be here in a few hours so you should hurry and make your preparations,” Zhao Xieren said. Her eyes were a little red and faint circles could be seen under them.

“What? A few hours?” Qian Yu was shocked yet a smile had appeared knowing that she had stayed up late for him.

“They were already on their way. From here to the south part of the country, it will take about 3 days,” Zhao Xieren explained.

“That fast?” Qian Yu was shocked. Normally, travelling from the sect to the middle part of the country where the capital was located would take a whole week without any detours. This flying artifact was easily at least 5 times faster than travelling normally. 

“If that is the case, I need to head out for some preparations. Will there be space for a 3rd person?” Qian Yu asked. 

“3rd person?” Zhao Xieren repeated. “Ah! Of course. We will have enough space,” she remembered Qian Yu’s words from yesterday.

“Alright, thank you for everything,” Qian Yu quickly left the sect. 

Soon, Qian Yu had left the sect and before long, met up with Zhen Yue.

“Master?” Zhen Yue saw that Qian Yu had suddenly come unannounced. 

“Zhen Yue, pack up your stuff, we are going to travel down south,” Qian Yu said as he entered the room.

“Huh? What’s going on?” Zhen Yue started getting all her belongings.

“I think Sun Hong is down south, near the border. There is a lot of chaos down there right now so I’m a little worried,” Qian Yu said as he helped her pack. 

“Do you know the specifics?" Zhen Yue said as she looked at the worrying Qian Yu. 

"No. I’m relying on Zhao Xieren. We’ll be traveling through her family’s flying artifact," Qian Yu shook his head. 

“Do you think it is dangerous?” Zhen Yue started changing clothes upon hearing that. Removing her plain casual shirt and pants, she put on a simple white multilayered dress. From afar, one couldn’t tell the difference between the dress and the robes Qian Yu were wearing.

“Probably. The higher ups want to keep things a secret which only makes it even more suspicious,” Qian Yu glanced away as he held back his desire to pounce on her. 

“That means it could be something worse than the spiritual beast horde!” Zhen Yue exclaimed as she put her hand over the place where she had been wounded. She had completely recovered but she could easily remember the pain as if it was yesterday.

“Sigh, even then, I have to go. I can’t stand by and do nothing knowing if Sun Hong could be in danger,” Qian Yu gritted his teeth.

“Mmm, hopefully nothing goes wrong. Alright, let’s go,” Zhen Yue had finished changing. Quickly leaving the inn, the two headed back to the sect entrances.

As the two found themselves back at the entrance of the sect, they saw Zhao Xieren and a couple of others waiting.

Qian Yu nervously walked up to Zhao Xieren with Zhen Yue by his side. It was the first time his women were meeting others. Well, at least in his knowledge. Little did he know that Bai Jia had already met with Zhen Yue previously and it was their own little secret.

"Is that the girl?" Zhen Yue asked quietly as she stealthy looked at Zhao Xieren.

"Yeah," Qian Yu nodded.

“Her skin is so much lighter than mine,” Zhen Yue couldn’t help but compare. 

“This is the girl who was like your crush at the sect?” Zhen Yue asked to confirm. Her worried face from earlier was replaced with a curious one.

“Yes,” Qian Yu nodded again. By now, Zhao Xieren had noticed their arrival. 

“Welcome back Qian Yu…” Zhao Xieren waved at them. Seeing Zhen Yue with him though, she grew silent.

“My name is Zhen Yue,” Zhen Yue put her hands on top of each other and placed them near her stomach as she bowed. 

It was the first time Qian Yu had seen Zhen Yue bow like that but her motions were fluid, once again reminding Qian Yu of her past as a noble. 

“Zhao Xieren,” Zhao Xieren saw her noble etiquette as she introduced herself in a similar manner. 

“You truly are pretty, sister Zhao. Ah yes, I'm a little older than you but calling me sister Zhen is fine,” Zhen Yue warmly smiled as she said. 

“Ahem, you are much prettier, sister Zhen” Zhao Xieren replied with a forceful smile. Truthfully, she was a little jealous of Zhen Yue, who was more developed than her.

“Shall we go talk somewhere,” Zhen Yue asked Zhao Xieren as she walked forward and grabbed her arm.

“Ah?” Zhao Xieren exclaimed at Zhen Yue suddenly grabbing her. She had grown more bold recently, but that was only with Qian Yu. 

“Come, let’s go,” Zhen Yue started pulling Zhao Xieren away from Qian Yu. 

Looking back, Zhen Yue winked at Qian Yu as he smiled and gave her a thumbs up. Since Zhao Xieren knew about Qian Yu’s other women and was fine with it, the two decided that it was fine for them to get to know one another. 

After a half hour, Zhen Yue returned with a smile on her face. 

“How was it?” Qian Yu asked, wondering how it went.

“Hehe, she’s a nice girl and makes me want to tease her. She reminds me of my little sister…” Zhen Yue said as her smile disappeared.

“I-, sigh. Don’t worry about it, I’ll become a Martial Fighter soon…” Qian Yu who was initially gonna berate her, couldn’t find it in him anymore as he pulled her into his arms while they silently waited.

Soon, a floating object was seen approaching. As it got close enough, Qian Yu saw that it looked like a simple large wooden boat like the one Qian Yu had used to travel back and forth from the Soba Empire. Of course, it was no way as big.

“How much would this cost...” Qian Yu was speechless as the flying artifact descended. Compared to the one Qian Yu saw, this one was a lot smaller than the flying artifact in the Soba Empire that Qiu Tai used. Nonetheless, it was an impressive sight that Qian Yu managed to witness it a lot closer this time. 

“Bam!” the flying boat descended as it touched the ground. 

“Hehe, my family only has two of these types of flying artifacts and this one can fit about two dozen people,” Zhao Xieren said. 

“Did you have them, Zhen Yue?” Qian Yu glanced over at Zhen Yue.

“No, my family was only a small noble power. We only became a noble family fairly recently and our roots were not strong enough to afford something so extravagant like a flying artifact. For us, there was no need to have one anyways. Only the top powers with long standing and history could have them,” Zhen Yue similarly stared in awe at the flying artifact. 

“Let’s get on,” Zhao Xieren motioned them to get on. The others were already boarding and they were the last ones. 

As they got into the ship, Zhao Xieren brought them to their room. “I’ll get you some brief information on what is going on real quick,” she said before leaving and closing the door.

“Master, this one is truly luxurious. This is my third time I’ve been on one of these flying artifacts but the previous two times were nothing compared to this one,” Zhen Yue said with a smile on her face.

Looking around, Qian Yu noticed that while there was only 1 bed in the room, everything was furnished very well and decorative. A few vases of flowers brought a refreshing smell to the room and the room felt like a regular room, one that he would live in on the land. Every second Qian Yu stayed on the flying boat only further fueled his desire for his own.

“Zhen Yue. I think I’ll be using our future income on a flying artifact,” Qian Yu decided.

“Hmm, it’s very expensive. Even the smallest ones for a few people cost much more than the amount of spirit stones we currently have. We are probably missing a couple hundred spirit stones. Additionally, it costs a lot of spirit stones to power these artifacts,” Zhen Yue said.

“Do you have any ideas on how to make some spirit stones?” Qian Yu asked since they were on the topic. 

“Hmm… Let me think about it,” Zhen Yue started to think. 

The two continued discussing for another quarter of an hour as they waited for Zhao Xieren.

*Clank* Zhao Xieren opened the door as she came in frustratedly saying, “Qian Yu, here is the basic information. It’s not much sorry… 

“I’ll go see if I can find anything else,” she hurriedly gave Qian Yu the scrolls before she turned around.

“Alright, thanks,” Qian Yu accepted the scrolls and started separating them as he handed a few to Zhen Yue. 

Unravelling the first scroll, Qian Yu quickly read through everything before saying, “This one’s just about Sun Hong. It was initially recorded that the cloud was seen a week ago and this was the first event that attracted attention.”

As he finished reading, Zhen Yue summarized another scroll, “Hmm, it seemed like there were a few reports of suspicious looking people from about three to four weeks ago. However, they didn’t register them to be of any importance until the day after the red cloud, Sun Hong’s breakthrough. Did you find out what’s going on though?” 

“Hmm, there actually isn’t much other important information. These scrolls are only about the battles occurring. There’s been a lot of battles actually and a few villages were destroyed as collateral damage, most of them are pretty recent, after Sun Hong had broken through… however, there was two battles that happened three to four weeks ago like you said,” Qian Yu closed his eyes as he tried to imagine what was happening.

“Hmm, so we still don’t know the root cause of everything? What could it be?” Zhen Yue asked.

Taking a few minutes to think, Qian Yu said, “The first thing that comes to mind is an inheritance realm. However, that doesn’t seem the case and it will be impossible to keep the information about an inheritance realm a secret. If they aren’t fighting over an inheritance realm then it could also be a treasure like a rare plant or spiritual beast.”

Zhen Yue nodded hearing his words. Indeed, these were the things that could motivate conflict amongst cultivators the most. 

“I’m more worried about Sun Hong. She originally came here to increase her mastery, so it’s likely that she fought with some other people and was able to break through. I’m sure the battles from three to four weeks ago are related to Sun Hong but I’m not sure about the ones within the last week…” Qian Yu said frustratingly. 

“Aiyah, what should we do?” Qian Yu said as he furrowed his brows.

“Master, let’s just wait for Zhao Xieren to come back with more reports in a few hours,” Zhen Yue said as she looked at the stressed Qian Yu.

“I know but…” Qian Yu continued thinking.

“Master, we will be here for a few days anyways. You should take this time to relax before we arrive,” Zhen Yue realized Qian Yu had been completely stressed out ever since this whole ordeal started. Deciding to help relieve his stress, she got up and went to go sit by him.