Chapter 31: The World Is Quite Beautiful

With my Late-Stage Golden Core cultivation base, I could have scooped Shen Qingxue onto my flying sword and crossed the distance to her homeland in less than half a day. Ripping through the airspace of three small mortal kingdoms was as easy as turning my hand.

But blitzing straight to the imperial capital would have defeated the entire purpose of this trip.

Cultivation wasn’t just about accumulating raw spiritual power; it was about tempering the mind and experiencing the world. Qingxue had spent months scurrying through ditches and hiding in mud like a hunted animal, her mind completely consumed by blood and vengeance. If I dropped her straight back into the royal palace without letting her breathe, her heart would remain an unstable knot of trauma.

It wouldn’t affect her Cultivation but it certainly would affect her character.

So, after descending from Mount Mystic Cloud, we stopped briefly in Cloudfall City.

I bypassed the ordinary carriage stables and headed straight for the beast-trading bazaar, purchasing two Iron-Hoof Blood Stallions. They were genuine Tier 2 Magical Beasts, equivalent to early Qi Condensation human cultivators. Standing over eight feet tall at the withers, their coats were glossy obsidian, their hooves forged from natural dark iron, and their broad chests housed boundless endurance.

At first, Qingxue’s mount snorted aggressively, stamping its iron hooves into the cobblestones and baring sharp, omnivorous teeth at her. Even without spiritual qi, a Tier 2 beast naturally looked down on mortals.

I chuckled, walked over, and casually pressed my palm against the stallion’s snout. A microscopic wisp of my Golden Core aura leaked through my fingertips, directly freezing the beast’s spiritual core. The mighty warhorse instantly turned into a docile kitten, dropping its head and letting out a submissive whinny.

I caught Qingxue’s narrow waist, effortlessly lifting her light frame into the leather saddle before mounting my own horse.

"Riding a spirit beast requires rhythm, not just reins." I smiled, tossing her the leather straps. "Let your body move with its gait. We aren’t in a hurry."

With a flick of our heels, the two beasts surged forward, leaving Cloudfall City behind as we galloped out into the expansive valleys.

Midday, while our horses maintained an effortless, rhythmic trot along an elevated ridge, I reached into my robes and unrolled a large, detailed sheepskin map across my saddle horn.

"Take a look, little disciple," I called out over the whistling breeze.

The map outlined the colossal pentagonal boundary of the Heavenly Cloud Mountain Range. The five great mountains dominated the outer edges-Mount Mystic Cloud, Mount Taixuan, Mount Crimson Flame, Mount Jade Maiden, and Mount Black Dragon. Encased entirely within the center of those mountain walls lay a vast sprawl of fertile mortal territories, divided among dozens of kingdoms and principalities.

"To reach your Dayun Kingdom, we need to ride through three intermediate nations," I said, tracing a finger across the parchment. "The Great Wu Kingdom, the Iron Valley Principality, and the Seven Lakes Domain. Each spans roughly five to six hundred miles. To mortal peasants marching on foot, it’s an insurmountable journey of months. But with Tier 2 spirit steeds capable of sustaining a cruising speed of fifty to sixty miles an hour without breaking a sweat, we will arrive at your kingdom’s border in just a few days."

If I urged the beasts to run at their absolute limit, they could easily double that speed, but there was no reason to exhaust them.

We kept our pace measured, allowing the warm afternoon wind to wash over us.

Sitting tall in her saddle, Shen Qingxue looked around with wide, bright eyes. The lush green valleys, the roaring crystal rivers cutting through pine-covered gorges, and the majestic, snow-capped peaks piercing the azure clouds in the distance... it was breathtaking.

When she had fled across these very borders months ago, her vision had been blurred by tears, blood, and starvation. She had traveled only by night, crawling through briars and shivering in filthy caves, terrified that every snapping twig was an assassin’s blade. She had looked at this land and seen only a graveyard.

Now, sitting beside me on a majestic spirit beast, dressed in clean, fine traveling silk with a belly full of spirit food, she was finally seeing the world for what it truly was.

"Master..." she murmured, pulling the reins lightly so her horse drew level with mine. "The world is... remarkably beautiful. When I ran from home, I thought the entire realm was just mud, cruelty, and rotting corpses. I didn’t know the sky could look this blue."

She looked at me, her obsidian eyes shimmering with soft gratitude. "Thank you. I understand why you made us travel on horseback now."

I smiled faintly, nodding as I kept my gaze forward.

"The world is two-faced, Qingxue. You should never forget that," I said, my tone relaxed yet serious. "Previously, you only stared at its filthiest, cruellest side, the side governed by betrayal, greed, and slaughter. That side is real, but so is this beauty. The towering peaks, the clear rivers, the tranquility... this is also the world. One face is heaven, the other is hell. An immortal walks between both, and you must never allow either side to blind your eyes."

Shen Qingxue listened quietly, committing every word to her soul.

As the sun began to tilt toward the west, we covered hundreds of miles, deliberately bypassing the crowded roadside towns, inns, and merchant fortresses. I steered our horses off the beaten dirt roads, taking rugged, untamed shortcuts through ancient, shadowy forests and rocky ravines.

It gave Qingxue a firsthand look at how wild and untamed this continent truly was. In many ways, it reminded me of the primitive, ancient wilderness of Earth, yet it was fundamentally different, the flora grew to colossal heights, spirit-insects hummed with faint elemental light, and ancient stone ruins peeked out from beneath thick blankets of moss.

More importantly, I chose these desolate routes hoping to encounter a few stray magical beasts to give Qingxue a demonstration of real combat. And of course, I wanted to check my skills too.