Chapter 137: Chatting with Drinking Buddies

All this time, An could feel the gray-haired cultivator watching him, even attempting a hidden probe through spirit sense.

But An didn't panic. Surprisingly, he could calmly and without any difficulty read the emotions of this old Golden Core cultivator. Of course, he could only pick up on the surface-level, but that was more than enough.

An's attention was entirely focused on the rusty sword.

Now that he was this close to it, he could examine it without any difficulty, both visually and through its energy.

‘It really is an Elemental Sword... but something’s off about it.’ Reading its Qi, he took another drink. ‘Is my understanding of Qi insufficient... or is there some kind of protection on it?’

Raising his eyes, he looked at his two new drinking buddies.

‘But I can still read it... His body is withered from within, his vitality is almost nonexistent, and the Qi in his dantian is filthy, filled with an enormous amount of impurities.’ Looking carefully at every single stream of Qi emanating from Feng Min's body, An frowned slightly.

‘But why is there no Death Qi? His internal condition is that of a man on the verge of death, yet externally he looks perfectly healthy... Strange.’

Reaching for a full glass among the empty shot glasses and tumblers, An's thoughts were interrupted by the gray-haired cultivator's voice.

“Ho, that's quite a lot of alcohol! Isn't that a bit much for a young man?” He looked at An with a faint smile.

“What else can I do after all the stress we've been through today... I think this is actually rather little.” Turning toward him, An smiled and put on as innocent an expression as he could manage.

“Quite right, quite right...” Raising his glass, the gray-haired cultivator downed it in one gulp and placed it back on the counter.

The bartender quickly approached without waiting for a signal and refilled it.

Nodding to the bartender, the gray-haired cultivator raised his glass and looked at An.

“Tell me... what did you think of the cocktail made from five-year-aged and roasted Shynovian Blackcurrant?”

“Hm? Which one was th-?” An looked first at the empty glasses in front of him, then at the cultivator.

The gray-haired cultivator pointed at the empty one An had finished almost at the very beginning.

“Oh... Hmm, if I remember correctly... Forgive me, after drinking this much, my head's a little foggy.” An put on an apologetic expression and scratched his head.

“Please, please! I wasn't expecting a detailed analysis. I was only hoping you would remember at least the taste and the sensation...” The gray-haired cultivator smiled, raised his glass in a mock toast, and took another drink.

“Haha! Young man-! Please forgive my rudeness, Captain Bongromonte!” Donte the Third, who had been listening to their conversation, decided to join in. Realizing his mistake, he quickly bowed his head and apologized to the gray-haired cultivator before continuing.

“Young man, the drink our esteemed captain is talking about is famous among connoisseurs not only because of its rarity, but also because of its complex flavor, filled with countless subtle notes! You wouldn't believe it, but many people would gladly give up a limb for a single drop...”

The bartender nearly wanted the floor to swallow him as he listened to all this.

This drink, along with several others that weren't even offered to ordinary passengers, had been prepared for An purely out of fear, and because of the throbbing pain between his eyes.

Listening to their conversation, the bartender scratched the spot where the spirit stone had struck him earlier.

“Oh! Who would've thought that such a disgusting drink to my tongue could be this famous... Maybe I simply don't know much about alcohol.” With an innocent smile, An looked first at the fat man and then at Captain Bongromonte.

He was telling the truth. Out of all the drinks he had tried so far, only two, or perhaps three, at a stretch, had actually appealed to him.

The rest were simply too strange. Everything seemed to have an overpowering bitterness and a ridiculous amount of pepper.

Every time he emptied another glass or shot, An felt like he'd been transported back to medieval times, when they used mountains of pepper to hide both the strange smell and the awful taste of everything.

“Ha! Hahoho! I never thought I'd hear an answer like that!” Captain Bongromonte burst into laughter, pounding the table with his hand.

The fat man's expression soured at An's words, but the moment he heard the captain laughing, he immediately joined in, shaking his enormous belly with genuine amusement.

“Brother Feng! Did you hear that? What an interesting kid! Tell me! Haha!” Holding his belly with one hand and Feng Min's shoulder with the other, he tried to drag him into the conversation.

The captain was just about to continue questioning An when he was beaten to it.

An turned toward his two new drinking buddies. “Feng Min, your sword... Isn't it a little too rusty for battle? How do you even let a weapon get into this condition?”

Captain Bongromonte smirked, realizing that the young man beside him had skillfully redirected the conversation, taking all the attention off himself.

“Heh, I can tell right away that you don't know the first thing about fighting, kid...” With an arrogant smile, Feng Min shook his head as he looked at the sloppily dressed young man who resembled a beggar.

“With a weapon, what matters isn't how it looks on the outside, but what it carries within! Who better than you to understand that... judging by the mark on your neck, perhaps your own nature isn't all that different from my sword.”

An merely smiled, making it clear through his expression that he hadn't understood the veiled insult or the slight against him.

All this time, he had been reading the Qi flowing from all three of them, particularly their emotions, trying to maneuver between them.

“Hm? Oh, my! Young man! How unfortunate, how unfortunate... Life has never been fair...” A flash of greed appeared in the fat man's eyes for no apparent reason, but he quickly concealed it and began shaking his head as he clinked his glass.

Returning the conversation to its proper course, namely An, the captain quickly picked up where they had left off. “And what happened to you, if you don't mind my asking?”

An placed his empty glass down and exhaled deeply.

“When I was still very young, my father's former partner arranged for my kidnapping... In the end, everything went wrong, and I was only able to return to my clan a year later.”

Running a hand over the mark on his neck, An shook his head slightly.

“I tried many times to erase this shame from my neck... But eventually, I realized that it gave me strength. It gave me the motivation to keep moving forward...”

Downing another glass, An continued.

“Even today, one of the ship's workers, who was supposed to protect me, gave in to fear and used me as a shield... But as you can see, I'm here, and he isn't!”

Feng Min gave an undisguised snort.

Unable to sense even the slightest trace of energy from An, he had decided that the man in front of him was nothing more than an ordinary mortal with a big mouth and an inflated ego.

The only reason Feng Min was even bothering to take part in a conversation with this mortal was the fact that they were in the presence of Captain Bongromonte, a Golden Core cultivator who was showing such an unusual amount of attention to this insignificant bug.

Being in this company had already pushed his patience to the limit. First, the obnoxious fat man had started acting like his long-lost brother, and now he had to deal with another person who wasn't even a cultivator.

He simply didn't have the patience for any more of this.

Fat Donte tilted his head slightly, carefully studying An's face while thinking deeply about something.

….

Their peaceful little gathering was interrupted by a cultivator who suddenly approached them.

He was dressed in white, wearing an outfit similar to Captain Bongromonte's uniform. After bowing, he handed the captain a note.

“Hm? Ho, an invitation from Young Master Su... Feng Min, would you be so kind as to accompany me? You're invited as well.”

Standing up from the bar, he looked first at Feng Min and then at the other two. “It was a pleasure being in your company. I hope we'll have another opportunity like this. But for now, please excuse us.”

Feng Min merely nodded to the fat man, picked up his rusty sword, and stepped aside before the captain even finished speaking. He clearly couldn't wait to get away.

Without even giving anyone time to respond, the captain turned sharply and walked away from the bar, leaving only the two of them and the bartender behind.

….

Slightly confused, Fat Donte turned toward An. “Um, I never actually caught your name.”

He received nothing but a strange smirk in response.

The fat man was just about to open his mouth when one of the ship's workers, dressed in a red uniform, approached the two of them and bowed slightly.

“Esteemed guests, the engines will begin an emergency launch sequence in five minutes. We have been ordered to escort you to your cabins. But first, I am required to check your tickets for security purposes.”

Fat Donte immediately took out his ticket and handed it to the guard. “Of course, of course! We understand. Safety comes first!”

An likewise took out his ticket and handed it over.

After checking both tickets and confirming everything was in order, the guard handed them back.

He cast several sideways glances at An because of his appearance and the few drops of blood on his ticket, then bowed again and moved on to the next passengers.

“Well then, please forgive me, but it seems it's time for us to part ways. I hope our paths cross again, and that we'll be able to chat over another glass of excellent wine!” Adjusting his clothes, the fat man tossed three spirit stones onto the bar counter, turned around, and headed toward the enormous doors leading down to the cabins.

An merely raised his next glass in farewell.

Once the fat man had gone far enough, An looked at his ticket. ‘VIP Suite, C25-A.’

Raising his head, he looked at the bartender. “Hey, where's VIP Suite C25-A?”

The bartender pointed toward the door opposite the one the fat man had taken. “S-sixth floor, right wing.”

An stood up, nodded, and headed toward the indicated door.

The bartender suddenly froze.

Only then did he realize that this passenger had been on the ship for over a month and had just asked where his own cabin was.

“T-that's none of my business! None of my business!” The spot where the spirit stone had struck him suddenly started throbbing again.

While rubbing it with a cloth, he used his free hand to wipe down the bar counter, desperately trying to distance himself from the whole situation.

….

Six guards in red uniforms stood before the enormous doors, checking tickets once again.

After showing his ticket, An passed through the doors and began descending.

After several flights of stairs, he saw a sign marked with the number six. It was made of black and white wood, decorated with waves and ships beneath the floor number.

Turning right, he slowly walked forward while sensing the Qi through the doors, trying to determine who or what was inside the VIP suites.

When he reached door C25, he sensed a single person inside.

A cultivator, but only at Qi Condensation.

Holding his ticket against a small metal lock, he heard two clicks. One from the lock itself and another from the door.

Opening the door, he heard a man's voice.

“Miss Luami, how wonderful to see-” The man's voice cut off when he realized that the person who had entered wasn't a lady at all, but a young man in a disgraceful state of dress.

Frowning, he grabbed the short sword hanging from his belt. “Who are you? How dare you enter the suite- Pfft! Ag-AH!”

Before he could finish, he clutched his throat. A thin hole had been punched straight through it.

Thud!

He collapsed onto his knees, clutching the already blackened wound as it began to spread. His eyes bulged as he stared at the young man.

Looking at him, An suddenly took a step to the side, casually moving around the falling body.

He waited until the corpse had completely decayed and the remaining black mass had shrunk to less than a drop.

Then he erased every trace of it and finally looked around.

A large hall made of white stone. Four rooms: a bathroom, a living room, a kitchen, and a bedroom.

Everything was decorated in soft white tones. Paintings depicting various living landscapes covered all the walls.

Studying the paintings, An could see an entire, three-dimensional world moving inside each canvas. “Is this powered by a formation?”

Reading the Qi, he realized that the formation itself was serving as the power source.

The paintings only looked alive because of the illusions, each one telling its own story.

With a snap of his fingers, every painting in every room burst into flames and turned to ash in an instant. ‘I hate illusions...’

Patting the beast pouch, An immediately released Baldi.

The creature emerged with enormous eyes, looking around in confusion.

“This will be our new home for a while... You can pick whichever room you want.”

“Bawk? Bawk?” Tilting his head, Baldi held both wings out in front of himself.

“Eh...” Taking out several second- and third-rank fruits, An wrapped them in Qi and placed them on a small table against the wall.

“Cluck!” Raising his wings, the bird ran toward the table and, with one swift motion, snatched up all the fruits before taking off.

Wobbling from side to side, he disappeared into the room that served as the kitchen.

Watching the ball of fat and sensing his undisguised greed whenever food was involved, An shook his head and looked toward the bathroom.

Entering the room, which was made entirely of ceramic, he immediately noticed a huge bathtub, large enough to resemble a jacuzzi.

Turning on the water, he began sorting through the bottles and containers placed above the tub.

Finding several that looked like bath salts, he tossed them into the water.

Activating his Qi, he created two masses of energy, one with the Fire element and the other with the Water element.

Shaping each into a half-sphere, he positioned them in the center of the room, almost touching one another.

The temperature in the bathroom quickly rose, along with the humidity, as the two energies struggled against each other.

Having created a perfect sauna, An tossed his clothes into a corner and lowered himself into the foamy bath.

Running his thumb over the white ring, An thought to himself. ‘The ticket lists a departure point and a destination... But I have absolutely no idea what either of those places is. And why is this ship transporting so many people across the Beast Lands...?’

He sank into the water until everything below his nose was submerged.

‘According to the information I found in the sect, trade routes between sects, or even between their cities, don't pass through these lands... But the fact remains that this enormous ship, carrying thousands of passengers, is traveling directly through the central region of the Beast Lands. That's very strange...’

Relaxing until his entire body sank to the bottom of the enormous bathtub, he continued thinking.

‘But the fact remains that this ship follows a route straight through the heart of the Beast Lands, and they clearly have permission to do so... Well, while we're traveling, I can finally take some time to rest and continue studying runes... Besides, this ship clearly has plenty of places where I might find something new and interesting.’