Against The Heavens

The other members of the Tian clan rarely left their wagons, at most coming out once a day to take a breath of fresh air and check their current position. Even when they saw Li Yang, none of them bothered to start a conversation with him, a.s.suming him to simply be a vagabond that was. .h.i.tching a ride out of the Cloud Wilderness, quickly taking their eyes off him.

When he first spotted the caravan, Li Yang had a.s.sumed that the carriages were drawn by normal horses, but it seemed like he had been wrong about that. The caravan never stopped, the horses never getting to take a break and get some food, yet they were still perfectly fine once they reached Cloud"s End city five days later. For them to be able to manage that, they certainly had some Demonic beast blood within them.

Upon arriving at Cloud"s End city, Li Yang faced a small inconvenience, and that was the fact that he was too rich. People who weren"t part of the Royal Dragon Pavilion or one of the larger clans would have to pay a small fee whenever they wanted to enter the city, if they could not pay, they could not enter. Li Yang was a member of the Royal Dragon Pavilion, so if he wanted to, he could easily enter without paying.

But doing so would cause suspicion in Tian Donghu and the other people of the Tian clan that Li Yang had been talking with over these last five days, so he had to avoid that, lest they start asking too many questions. But the problem was that the entry fee was so small that Li Yang simply didn"t have any change that was that small, he mostly only had Spirit Stones and a few higher value coins. Paying the fee with any of those would also cause suspicion in the people of the Tian clan, so he could not do that either.

In the end, he could only put on an awkward smile, scratch his cheek and ask Tian Donghu to pay for his entry into the city. Faced with Li Yang"s awkward smile, Tian Donghu merely let out a chuckle and put in a good word for him with the guards, allowing him to enter the city for free alongside the rest of the caravan. The caravan was heading the same direction as Li Yang, the Royal Dragon Pavilion, so he hitched a ride with them a bit longer, reminiscing about his past life.

He had not always been the Thunder Monarch, the start of his cultivation life had actually been quite similar to how it was now, with him forced to run around and hide or lie. Despite going through it once more, he did not find it annoying, he found it surprisingly refreshing, even nostalgic.

The caravan stopped outside the branch of the Royal Dragon Pavilion, with some of the lower ranked members of the clan packing up everything and carrying it into the building. Tian Donghu did not join the others immediately, turning towards Li Yang and pointing at a circular building that stood a fair distance away from them.

"Listen, Kiddo, I know that you want to join the Royal Dragon Pavilion and make a name for yourself, but I implore you, wait until your strength has grown. That building over there is a library, if you want, I can write a recommendation for you, you should be able to get a job there with that. Just quietly work and cultivate, once you have reached the late stage of the Xiantian Rune realm, then you can think about joining up with the Royal Dragon Pavilion."

Tian Donghu truly did not want Li Yang to sign up with the Royal Dragon Pavilion, as he knew that Li Yang would not even be able to finish the entry mission, he would simply die an unnecessary death. Li Yang had to wait for the members of the Tian tribe to finish whatever they were doing in the Royal Dragon Pavilion anyway, so he pretended to give a reluctant nod of his head.

"Alright, since Elder Brother Donghu is so insistent, I will listen to you."

Tian Donghu"s face lit up with a bright smile as he gave several rapid nods of his head. He quickly took out a piece of paper, writing down a few sentences on it. Once he had finished writing, he cut a small wound in his thumb and used the blood to draw a symbol on the note, folding it up and handing it to Li Yang.

"That"s good, Kiddo. In the future, I am certain that you will thank me."

Li Yang thanked Tian Donghu for the note, and the two split up. Tian Donghu joined up with the rest of the Tian clan people, packing up their items and carrying them into the building, while Li Yang started heading towards the library that had been pointed out.

Once he put some distance between them, Li Yang sent a slight glance behind him, making sure that no one from the Tian clan was looking in his direction, he then vanished into the crowd. He turned away from the library, making his way through the crowd as he headed towards the cheap inn he had used the first time he came to this city.

His plan was to wait for a bit of time, giving the people of the Tian clan enough time to leave the city before he made his move. He rented a room at the inn, letting them know that there was no need to deliver food to him. He then sat down on the bed in his room and closed his eyes, quietly cultivating as he waited for time to pa.s.s.

The evening two days later, he felt that enough time had pa.s.sed, so he opened his eyes and left the inn. He quietly moved through the city, vigilantly scouring the area for anyone from the Tian clan. He had not spotted anyone, even when he reached the Royal Dragon Pavilion, so he guessed that they had likely left.

Just to make sure, he waited around outside the Royal Dragon Pavilion for another hour, but there were still no signs of them. He let out a slight breath and entered the building, giving it a quick sweep to make sure that they weren"t waiting around inside. There were a few people sitting at the bar and drinking, but no one from the Tian clan, so it seemed that they had truly left. Li Yang"s eyes landed on the counter where one could accept missions, quickly heading over. The receptionist, a young black-haired man who seemed like he had just reached his twenties, gave Li Yang a polite greeting.

"Good evening, what can we help you with today? Are you here to sign up as a new member?"

Li Yang gave the youth a quick greeting, bringing out the jade tablet that functioned as his identification and quickly stating what he had come for.

"I want to know which of the closest cities is hosting one of the contests that will let people earn a spot for the upcoming Huo clan compet.i.tion. I am also looking to buy a map of the continent, the price is not really a problem."

Many years had pa.s.sed since Li Yang had roamed the universe as he pleased, so there was a good chance that quite a few things had changed since then. Buying a map of the continent would allow Li Yang to at least be aware of some of the changes. The youth accepted the tablet, his expression growing a bit more respectful when he realized that Li Yang was already a One-Clawed Dragon despite his young age.

He handed the tablet back to Li Yang after checking it, swiping his interspatial ring and taking out a thin book bound in a scaly hide. He opened the book and placed his finger on one of the pages, turning his gaze back onto Li Yang.

"Very well. How detailed do you wish this map to be?"

Detailed maps were hard to make, as they not only listed cities and roads but also useful information about clans and people, as well as dangerous areas. Li Yang was clear on what he wanted, so he did not need to think about his answer.

"As detailed and updated as possible."

Because of the great power cultivators had, they could change the landscape with very little effort, so maps would have to be updated very often, which was one of the reasons they were so expensive. The youth could not help but raise an eyebrow after hearing Li Yang"s quick reply, it seemed like he was quite wealthy. He turned his gaze back to the book, quickly finding the information he was looking for.

"The most up-to-date map we have, which is also one of the most detailed ones, was updated five years. As for the price, it will be 1 Earth grade Spirit Stones."

Now it was Li Yang"s turn to raise an eyebrow. Even for a very detailed map, 1 Earth Grade Spirit Stone was extremely expensive. Spirit Stones were ranked much like weapons, with the grades being Mortal, Spiritual, Earth, and Heaven. 1 Spiritual grade stone was worth an entire 10 000 Mortal Grade, and the growth continued like that, with 1 Earth grade stone being worth 10 000 Spiritual grade! Li Yang had received quite a bit of resource from Jing Yimu, as well as the people he had killed in the Cloud Wilderness, but even then, 1 Earth Grade Spirit Stone was over half of all the wealth he had. But he needed the map, so he could only hand over an interspatial ring, the face of the youth lighting up after he checked the contents.

"Thank you very much. We will quickly create a copy of the map, so please wait a few minutes."

The youth stepped away from the table, walking through the door that was located just behind the counter. Li Yang quietly waited, glancing at the other people in the room. The youth had been professional and spoke quietly, so none of the others had heard that Li Yang had just spent 1 Earth Grade spirit Stone. After about 10 minutes, the youth came through the door again, presenting a small white jade orb. He placed the orb on the counter, putting some Qi into it and causing a highly detailed map of an oval continent to appear in the air above it. He controlled the map with his mind, zooming in on a particular part of the map as he started talking.

"Here you go, I advise you to do your best to keep the map safe. As for the answer to your question, the closest city that fits your criteria is this one, Fire Cloud city. By foot, it should take about 15 days to reach, but if you are willing to wait a bit, we are going to send a caravan with wares to the city in two days. If you hitch a ride with them, it will only take eight days to reach the city."

Li Yang looked at the map in front of him with some wonder. The shape of the continent had actually changed greatly since the time when he was still alive! Back then it had been triangular in shape, not even close to this oval. He quickly threw the thought to the back of his mind, giving the proposition a bit of thought before he responded.

"I see. Alright, sign me up for the caravan."

Hitching a ride with the caravan would save him five days, so there was no reason for him to reject the offer. He might have to work as a guard or help load up the wares, but that was fine with him. The youth handed the orb with the map to Li Yang, producing another book from his interspatial ring as he gave a slight nod, writing down some information.

"Wonderful! Please arrive at the eastern exit of the city at dawn in two days."

Li Yang noted the time and date before leaving the building, returning to the inn where he rented a room. He ordered a few large meals that he could eat with Jinwu and Shenlong and then proceeded to quietly cultivate as he waited for the two days to pa.s.s.

Once the agreed upon time arrived, Li Yang left the inn and made his way to the eastern exit of the city, sweeping the area for any caravans. There was one group of wagons that was currently loading thick metal plates onto their reinforced carriages. The one who seemed to be the leader of this caravan, a curvaceous woman clad in leather armor and who had long brown hair and a large scar over her left eye, waved at Li Yang once she spotted him.

"Are you Li Yang?"

Li Yang made his way over to the woman, who was currently carrying two large straw sacks over her shoulder, giving a quick nod of his head. Once she got confirmation, she tossed the two sacks to Li Yang, introducing herself.

"Good. I am Situ Yanyu, follow me and help me load up the wagons."

Li Yang had expected something like this, so he was not shocked at her words. He followed her orders, carrying the straw sacks, that seemed to be filled with potatoes, and hoisting them onto one of the wagons, which was already half-filled with similar sacks. The wagons were quickly fully stocked with crates and sacks, Situ Yanyu giving everything one last look over before giving the order to set off for Fire Cloud city.