Sage wasn’t sure what had actually happened. Guan Zhenyan did something to him and it spurred him on to create an island in his Spiritual Sea. The three guests left the room to leave Sage alone in his cage. He immediately started to examine what had happened inside his Spiritual Sea. If Guan Zhenyan left some sort of hidden trap behind, it would be better to find it sooner rather than later. He very carefully examined every inch of the small island that had come into being within his Spirit Sea. It was quite simplistic, little more than a rock with a flat top jutting up out of the water. It was only a few hundred yards wide, but when he moved his consciousness to it, he felt more stable.

That island seemed to embody the state of mind he’d achieved earlier, the focus and clarity he’d achieved could be easily summoned up just by thinking of that island. After a thorough check, he didn’t find anything foreign, but he had little knowledge to go on. He could only do his best to search it and hope that he wasn’t compromised. That said, the longer he focused on the island, the more he felt his conviction deepen. No matter what came up against him, he would continue to push forward. Even if he never reached the peak, he would always strive to improve, to evolve into a better version of himself.

A few days later, the foxy woman returned. She had a squad of a dozen many armed minotaurs behind her. The two in the front held a large pile of chains, and they looked at Sage like he was nothing more than a large snake and they were the exterminators. Worse yet, they were probably right. From what he could feel, each of the four eyed beastmen were at the same level as him, having just broken through into the fifth rank. Sage hadn’t had any time to sit and peacefully contemplate the nature of the world, he’d been on the run for the last few years. His physical body had improved quite a bit, but these beastmen looked nearly as powerful as he was and there were a dozen of them to deal with.

“Relax. That dreadful fellow paid a heavy price for your ransom. We’re just going to hand you over to him, so please don’t put up a struggle. I’m sure he doesn’t want to receive you in a half-dead state, especially since you already look so very pathetic as it is.”

She couldn’t help herself from sinking in one more barb. Sage thought about his odds of escape and decided not to put up a fight yet. There was little chance of him getting past all those guards, and even if he did, where else could he go? Could he travel through another huge kingdom again? Would he even have any chance without any knowledge of what was to come or where he was even going? Compete with all the native beasts without even a map? It was pure folly. Even in the Dou Kingdom if he got the attention of the royal family, there was no way he could escape, the County Prefects who had been after him were nothing compared to the royal family. If he now had the attention of the Shou Empire, there was no way they could let him get away, since that would impinge upon their reputation.

He took his chances with being taken into custody. The six armed and four eyed minotaurs with bronze skin surrounded him carefully and wrapped him up in chains. They sealed his limbs to his body and then chained his coils together. Their thorough work ensured he couldn’t do more than flail about, the chains blocked him from undulating in the correct pattern to move about, and they even muzzled him, leaving him only enough room to barely speak.

The gang of monsters lifted his body up onto their shoulders like they were pallbearers and carted him out of the cell he’d been trapped in for a month. They carried him outside and up to the side of a large ship, then they tossed him unceremoniously into a hole on the deck and he landed into a net, one that was slowly lowered into the hold of the ship. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but then he saw humans. They walked up to his restrained body and threw more chains over him, securing him to the floor so he wouldn’t be able to damage anything if he flailed around. Treated like little more than cargo, he didn’t bother to speak to the people, instead waiting to see where things would go. About an hour later, he felt the ship start to move. He felt motion in the wrong direction and only then realized the ship was a Flying Ship. It surprised him that there were humans doing business with the Shou Empire, but then again it probably made sense. A nation of beasts and a nation of cultivators probably had a lot they could trade. Even without taking into account the trades of raw materials for finished goods, they probably had plenty of locally unique resources they could swap for.

The trip by Flying Ship was just as safe as the last time he’d flown in one, though it was many times less enjoyable being trapped in the cargo hold instead of free to enjoy the view from a cabin. He took stock of his condition and sent out his Twin Soul to observe the ship. The chains they’d tied him up with weren’t as simple as they looked, carrying some property that prevented him from extending his Spirit Sense more than a few feet away. They were also exceedingly strong, even when he struggled with his full strength they didn’t seem to budge or give at all. The Twin Soul was only just barely able to squeeze out between the chains, and as it traveled around the ship, Sage thought it looked quite like a trading vessel. Of course, all of the crewmembers were cultivators that seemed to be at least level 31, but otherwise it seemed like any other merchant ship.

The Twin Soul couldn’t enter a few of the rooms in the Flying Ship and it made him curious what was in them. Given their size, it seemed likely at least one of them were rooms related to the Flying Ship’s ‘engine’ and other important features. He tried to investigate each of the shielded rooms, but was suddenly interrupted. He felt a pressure on his mind again like he’d felt in the cage.

“Stop messing around. Just sit tight, the trip will only take a few weeks. I already paid a large sum to get you out of there. Don’t waste my effort by getting hurt while snooping around.”

The voice of Guan Zhenyan was transmitted directly into his mind and Sage figured the man might be inside of one of those shielded rooms. Not wanting to get in trouble, he did as the man said and brought his Twin Soul back. He made sure to stay far away from the shielded areas and just let the Twin Soul peek outside the ship to have an idea on where they were heading.

Wow!

He’d known they were flying through the skies, but only after paying attention to it did he realize how fast they were moving. They were so high up that it hadn’t seemed like much, but when the Twin Soul carefully examined the ground for signs of where they were and where they were headed to, that’s when he could properly gauge their rate of motion. This Flying Ship was many times faster than the one that he’d taken long ago in the Holy Flame Sect. They had to be going many times the speed of sound, yet the air around them was perfectly calm. After paying careful attention he caught sight of a few landmarks from the Shihu Kingdom. They passed right over Holy Flame Province and before long the Shihu Kingdom was left behind as they flew in a southwestern direction. On a map, they’d already left the Dou Kingdom behind long ago, since it was to the north of Shihu Kingdom.

Where are we going?