"It seems like we won't be reaching the city today, but I'm already finding it hard to keep my eyes open so it might be time we set up camp here. We can keep moving when I wake up."

Mei Kongxu raised her head as she spoke, her eyelids drooping despite her best efforts to keep her eyes open. The sun that had barely started rising when Li Yang finished his new array had already passed by the highest point in the sky so she calculated that it should be early afternoon by now.

Several hours had passed, yet the two were still in the process of slowly trudging through the forest. As for why their speed was so abysmally slow, the main reason was right next to her. Her gaze slid down and landed on him, Li Yang snorting once and straining to push out his chest when he sensed her gaze.

"This doesn't mean that the plan didn't work, okay? This just means that the plan worked far better than expected, it's a thing to cheer for, okay?"

Li Yang's current state could, in fact, be called rather comical, no amount of defending it would change that. His body surged with energy, fur that looked like it was made from earth defending his hands and feet while the first tail, the sturdy brown one, extended behind him. Not only was he activating his bloodline, but he was also borrowing the power of his first tail to push himself to his strongest state.

But even so, his knees were slightly bent and sweat soaked his body, pouring forth with every step he took. In fact, just raising his foot, moving it half a step forward and then setting it down again took him nearly two entire minutes. Standing still under this heightened gravity was one thing, it was difficult but manageable once he acquired some stability. But moving? Moving was an entirely different matter, he almost fell over every time he raised one of his feet.

He looked quite laughable in his current state, but he didn't have any intention of actually turning off or calibrating the array he had inscribed on his chest. Unless he felt that his life was at risk, he wouldn't turn it off, and the stronger it was the better it was for him. The day he became able to move like normal under this heavy gravity would be the day he altered the array, and it would also mean that he had gotten much stronger.

Mei Kongxu paid no mind to Li Yang's defence and swept her interspatial ring, pulling out two blankets and some pillows. She placed one blanket on the ground, leaned the pillows against the nearest tree and then sat down, resting her back and head against the pillows while covering her self with the second blanket.

"It's your fault that we're still stuck here, so I'll leave guard duty to you... Wake me up if you're planning on getting some sleep."

She debated not adding the last part, but in the end, she went through with it anyway. After all, while she didn't have the same driving desire or ambitions as him, she could at least somewhat understand exactly what he was thinking, and it was at least something worthy of a bit of respect.

Mei Kongxu closed her eyes after she finished talking, and Li Yang was once again astounded by how quickly she could fall asleep, it was practically instantly. He let out a long breath and slowly sat down, crossing his legs as he undid his bloodline and the first tail. The strain his body endured immediately grew now that he purposefully weakened his own state, a stuffy feeling gathering in his chest while his bones creaked dangerously.

He slowly regulated his breathing while closing his eyes, diverting part of his concentration to focus on his own body. He allowed his gaze to wander through his body, observing how his flesh, muscles, bones, and organs were being affected by the strong gravity, observed the force that was a result of their interaction. A bit of his Qi seeped out of his body, gravity around a nearby fist-sized rock reversing and lifting it into the air.

Li Yang used his Qi to bring the rock over to him, stopping it a few metres above him. He then undid the reversed gravity and instead enhanced gravity around the rock, resulting in it plummeting downward and smashing into his shoulder. The force of the impact pushed against the force that the heightened gravity created as it pushed against his body, Li Yang giving it a bit of aid and pushing it into his bones.

Most of the force simply passed through his bones, but a small portion of it was deposited inside of and merged with the bones. This was the basis of the body cultivation manual that Li Yang was currently using, the Heavenly Queen's 1st Star. This body cultivation manual was one of the reasons Li Yang had decided to inscribe himself with this gravity-altering array, the two worked together quite well.

He put most of his focus on his cultivation, but he didn't forget to leave part of his concentration outside his body so that he would know if anything approached them. But they didn't make much sound and neither of them radiated much of a presence so they managed to fly below the radar of the various beings that lived in the area.

The sun quickly moved across the sky, Li Yang halting his cultivation every three hours to give his body a bit of time to recuperate. Mei Kongxu didn't sleep excessively long this time, her eyelids flickering slightly after around 11 hours. Her gaze immediately landed on Li Yang, who was sitting only two metres away from her and was in the midst of his cultivation. She listened to the dull thud of stone hitting flesh for a few seconds, her gaze eventually turning skyward to approximate what time it was.

It was already deep in the night so she couldn't tell exactly what time it was, but she knew that she had woken up on her own so at least 10 hours or more had definitely passed. He hadn't woken her up, and she was confident that he wasn't so careless that he would actually sleep unguarded in a place like this, so it wasn't hard to guess at the simple truth.

"You didn't sleep?"

Even if he wasn't cultivating in such a masochistic way while experiencing heightened gravity, staying up for what close to 24 hours was bound to make most people rather tired. But Li Yang didn't show any apparent signs of exhaustion or tiredness, and his eyes looked like they always did when he halted his cultivation and nodded his head.

"Didn't see a need for it, I'm actually feeling rather refreshed thanks to the cultivation. Now, does my dear wifey want a good meal while sit, or does she want to eat while walking. If you play nice and give me a good 'Aahn' then I'm definitely more than willing to feed you."

He spoke casually, but that didn't mean that he was unaware of the truth. He might be feeling refreshed right now, but it was most definitely just because he was still experiencing a surge of adrenaline thanks to his body fighting to get accustomed to the heightened gravity. Once that adrenaline faded he would probably just collapse into sleep straight away, it would be best to reach the city before then so that they could acquire a somewhat more secure place to rest.

It was uncertain of Mei Kongxu was aware of the same fact, but her gaze lingered on his face for a second before she stood up and put away the blankets and pillows around her. She brought out a few simple sandwiches and started to eat them, gesturing with her chin that she would eat while walking.

Li Yang sprung up from his seated position, or at least tried to, but the heightened gravity just made him fall flat on his butt. He had to stand up quite slowly, adjusting his position multiple times to ensure proper stability. He then activated his bloodline and first tail again, slowly starting to walk once more.

It had only been 11 hours since they last stopped, but Li Yang could immediately feel the effects of his cultivation and the acclimatization of his body. It still took him a good deal of time to take a single step, but he had shaved off five seconds compared to previously so it was a clear improvement, and that alone made the corners of his lips turn up slightly.

Mei Kongxu slowed her pace to match his, and she didn't show it but she sharpened her senses and kept a close eye on the surroundings so that Li Yang could put more focus on controlling his body. They walked until Mei Kongxu once again became too tired to keep moving, Li Yang quietly cultivating as she went to sleep while leaning against a tree.

She woke up, he played around with her for a short moment and then they started walking again, Li Yang not missing too many chances to either chat or tease her. He improved a little every time he finished a bout of cultivation, but even so, it still took them nearly six days to actually leave the forest. Stretching out for a few kilometres beyond the forest was a field of rolling hills covered in light green flowers, a wall-less city serving as the endpoint of the hills.

The city was naturally quite large, it wouldn't be a city otherwise. But even so, even with them being several kilometres away, Li Yang and Mei Kongxu could see the outline of a grand statue standing within the city. That statue was precisely one of their targets, it could be described as a monument to the sins of the Pristine Tyrant, a memorial to the lost and a reminder of the evil that man was capable of.

It would still be a few hours before Mei Kongxu became too tired to walk again so the two didn't hesitate and headed for the city at their slow pace. And as they walked, a dull thumping headache and a stomach-churning sensation of nausea started to slowly fester and grow in Li Yang.