Zayden arrived at the northwest border wall of the empire half an hour after he left Teira.
His journey was slightly slowed down as there were many people using the warp portals, so he had to wait until it was his turn to use the portal.
After he reached Elwis, a town near the border, Zayden used his movement technique until he reached the border wall.
As Zayden slowly walked toward the gate that led out of the empire’s territory, he thought about his planned journey.
’Using a flying ship, I have to keep flying west, passing through the territory of the Heavenly Sword Pavilion. If I don’t want to attract anyone from the Heavenly Sword Pavilion, I can avoid their territory by flying south first and passing through the territory of the Blue Pearl Sect before flying west, but that would take a longer time.’
’In the end, it’s still better to pass through the Heavenly Sword Valley. I don’t think there will be any trouble there. From the Heavenly Sword Valley, I then have to fly southwest until I reach the border of the Tyron Empire.’
’From the Tyron Empire, I’ll continue flying south until I reach the Ruberin Kingdom. From there, I can continue flying south until I finally reach the territory of the Sky Emperor Sect.’
Zayden sighed.
’It will take more or less seven months, that is, if everything goes according to plan. What a hassle. If only there were portals that connected different factions.’
For obvious reasons, not all powers’ territories were connected to one another through warp portals.
There was no way they would connect themselves to a territory that had a strained relationship with them.
They would only be creating a backdoor that could be used as a way to stab them in the back if they simply built portals connecting each of them.
They only connected to powers that had amicable relationships with them, which was also obvious.
And those territories were usually located near them.
From the border wall, whether he liked it or not, Zayden had to continue his journey using a flying ship.
Zayden passed the check at the border without much trouble. He walked farther from the border and looked toward the west.
"Let’s see. I have a flying ship, but using that would be dangerous, as the ship would give away the Dravenhart family’s identity," Zayden murmured.
He stopped among the lush trees and took a seat.
’Just look if there are any flying ships in any of those storage rings that you took from the Abyss. I don’t believe that there isn’t even one in there.’
His master’s voice sounded inside his mind.
’That’s what I’m about to do, Master.’
He then took out a storage ring from his storage ring before taking a look at its contents.
Zayden widened his eyes as he was astonished by what he saw.
"Heaven, look at all of this wealth." He couldn’t help but comment.
What he saw was tens of thousands of peak-level energy stones, some artifacts, talismans, pills, and a flying ship—the very thing that he was looking for.
’This ring must have been possessed by a ninth-stage cultivator. The number of peak-level energy stones here is enough to create a mid-sized sect or support the cultivation of a ninth-stage cultivator. There is even a Celestial Grade artifact, something that ninth-stage cultivators mostly use.’
Zayden thought.
He couldn’t help but become curious about the other rings.
He then took another ring and looked inside.
He widened his eyes as he was no less surprised than he had been by the first ring.
In fact, he was even more shocked.
The contents were even greater than those of the first ring.
He then looked at another ring, and another, and another.
Each one of the contents really humbled him and made him realize how big the gap between his and his family’s wealth and these people’s wealth was.
Compared to them, he and his family were really piss poor!
"No wonder there are many people who became bandits. Seeing this kind of wealth truly makes many people lose themselves to their greed."
Zayden commented.
"What? Do you want to become a bandit now?"
His master asked in a sarcastic tone.
"Well, if it could help me achieve my goal of revenge, I don’t mind becoming a bandit."
Zayden shrugged.
"I mean, look at the wealth just now. I have never seen that kind of wealth in all my life. With that kind of wealth, it could help me greatly on my journey. Maybe I need to devote myself to becoming a bandit."
Zayden said it in a nonchalant tone.
The dragon felt that he had already made a mistake by asking that and truly speechless.
With that kind of nonchalant tone and expression, anyone who saw him would really think that he was going to change his profession and become a bandit.
"Anyway, Master, were all the ones who came to you in the Abyss ninth-stage cultivators? The contents of their rings are no joke."
Zayden asked.
"Not always, but many of them. I just didn’t count all of them, as I didn’t care about that."
It was Zayden’s turn to be speechless.
The way he talked made it sound as if ninth-stage cultivators were nothing more than weaklings who weren’t worth his attention.
But Zayden wasn’t surprised in the slightest. His master’s power was something that was beyond this world, after all.
But then, something came to his mind, which made Zayden smile.
"Master, if you can easily kill those ninth—"
"I know what you want to say, and no, can’t do."
Zayden was stunned.
"Why? If you can easily kill those ninth-stage cultivators, you should also be able to kill more of them even though you are in a different place, right? You are more mobile now."
Zayden asked.
"The moment you pulled me out, your existence became bound to me. Since that day, I cannot just do whatever I want as if I were alone. If I do something, you might have to bear something far beyond what you should have to bear."
His master said solemnly.
"Do you know why I said you will have to fight against the Heaven if you become my wielder? My existence in this universe is something that the Heaven does not want. Since my appearance in this universe, the Heaven has already tried to punish me or, at the very least, banish me from the universe."
"However, the Heaven, which has its own laws and its own rules, cannot just pick me up and throw me away like someone picking up a pebble from the street and throwing it away. The Heaven also cannot simply send the strongest heavenly lightning to obliterate me."
"I will have to trigger something that makes the Heaven react. The chance that the Heaven must already be waiting for."
Zayden’s heart trembled.
This was new knowledge to him.
He knew that his master’s origin was from somewhere far away.
Somewhere outside of this world.
But to think that even his master’s origin was much grander than he had thought.
Even the Heaven did not want him?
Just how great was his master’s origin?
"Now let’s return to the problem of why I simply cannot kill someone as freely as I did in the past. At this point, you more or less should already be able to guess where this conversation is going. If I do whatever I want, the Heaven will have a chance to make its move, and you will be dead."
Zayden felt that something was lacking, but his master had already answered it for him.
"If you ask why the Heaven still hasn’t made its move despite me already killing many people in the Abyss, well, I’ll tell you a secret. The Abyss could be said to have been my safe haven before you pulled me out."
"I’ll tell you one fact about the Abyss. When I came to this world, which also caused the Abyss to be created, my body automatically created a giant natural formation upon impact. A formation that protected me from even the Heaven’s peering sense."
"That formation could be said to be my domain, and that formation covered the Abyss. So the Abyss is a place where I could act much more freely without being detected by the Heaven."
"However, the moment someone pulled me out, that formation was also undone. That was also the moment when I was unleashed upon the world and became ready to guide anyone who wielded me."
"And that also means my existence can now be detected by the Heaven. The Heaven’s influence covers everything in the sky and on the earth. Though, I don’t know the limits of the heavenly laws in this place, which is the point that would make the Heaven decide to make a move against me."
"It might make a move if I do something even slightly harmful. Who knows? I can’t help but imagine that even at this moment, the Heaven is still just waiting for a chance to send down its punishment. Like a cat waiting for a mouse to slip up. And that quite irritates me."
"So it’s much safer if I don’t do anything harmful, don’t you think? The Heaven cannot do anything to me if I don’t do anything that crosses its limit."
Once again, Zayden was speechless.
’Master, are you comparing yourself to a mouse?’ he thought to himself.
Hearing someone talk about the Heaven as if it were some kind of troublemaker was truly something else.
But then, Zayden couldn’t help but frown deeply.
"Wait, if that is the case, then how am I supposed to use you, Master? Doesn’t that mean that I cannot use you?"
"No, it would be different if you were the one using me. I cannot say much now because of your limited comprehension of karma laws, but to put it simply, as long as you are the one using my power, the Heaven will lessen its punishment."
The dragon answered.
"Well, although I said that, you will still experience the Heaven’s wrath because of your connection to me. You might experience much stronger heavenly tribulation. It could mostly kill you instantly if you are not prepared."
"But hey, let’s look at the positive side. As long as you can face the heavenly tribulation and survive, you could become much stronger than ever. You will be multiple times stronger than any of your peers."
Zayden’s lips twitched.
"Wow, thank you, Master, for your positive and supportive words. I’m really touched and become much more eager to grow much stronger."
He said it sarcastically.
The dragon wanted to burst out laughing. He just liked the look on Zayden’s face right now.
"Well, it looks like our conversation ends here for now. Someone is approaching you."
The dragon said.