Chapter 390: Departure
Translated by Kollumceti of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
The carriage finally brought them to a large manor after two hours.
The manor stood alone. There were no other buildings surrounding it and it was built on a spacious, empty field. It was solitary but the atmosphere surrounding it was solemn. There were layers upon layers of experts guarding the area inside. This was where the dimensional teleportation that You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao were looking for was located.
You XiaoMo paid the driver one spirit gem. The driver may have been too excited when he left. The carriage was visibly shuddering as it was driven away, as though it would come loose at any moment.
Ling Xiao glanced at the manor a couple of times. Other than the layer upon layer of guards outside, there were also many experts keeping watch inside. If not for the DuanMu Clan’s acting as a go-between, they may probably had to have forced their way in.
“Is that Dimensional Transportation portal really inside there?” You XiaoMo stretched his neck and peered in the direction of the manor. It looked just like a residence and did not seem like there would be a Dimensional Transportation porta inside.
“There are a few hints of spatial forces leaking out from the manor. There’s definitely a Dimensional Transportation portal inside. Let’s go take a look.” Ling Xiao said as he walked towards it.
Before they could walk in, one of the guards outside suddenly came forward, “Halt. This is the territory of the XiaEr Clan. Come no closer. Otherwise, don’t blame us for using force.”
You XiaoMo immediately took out the invitation card that the DuanMu Clan gave them and passed it to the guard, “This big brother, this is our invitation. Please verify it.”
The guard looked at the invitation and glanced at them with surprise, “Come with me.”
Walking past the manor, You XiaoMo saw a ten meters long and wide stone platform that had been standing for an eon in a place similar to a garden. The stone platform was engraved with densely packed vein-like patterns. The space above it had a slight wrinkle which spread into a circular black hole. A hint of familiar spatial force leaked out from inside the black hole.
This was the Dimensional Transportation portal. The powerhouses from the XiaEr Clan had already surrounded it. The guard was so tight that even a housefly was unable to fly past.
They soon met the person-in-charge of the manor.
When the doddering old man with a head of grizzled hair saw them, his muddy eyes instantly radiated a brilliant light while separately sweeping over them.
“Are you two the people that the DuanMu Clan mentioned? This old fellow heard that there were three people. Why did it become two now? What about the other one?”
Ling Xiao’s expression was tranquil and calm as he replied, “He left already. We are not familiar with him.”
The old man muttered to himself for a few seconds, “Never mind. The XiaEr Clan would open the dimensional transportation portal for the both of you because of the DuanMu Clan’s request. But the fee would come out of your own pockets. I believe that the both of you do not lack this bit of spirit gems.” The old man pointedly stated. He had obviously heard of what they had done at the auction.
“May I ask how much the fee is?” You XiaoMo asked.
“Five thousand spirit gems per person.”
You XiaoMo blinked and thought that he had misheard it. He remembered that the price per person in Bei Dong was lower. Moreover, this was just a transportation from Bei Dong to the Southern Continent, wasn’t this price too high?
“It’s not high.” The old man clearly saw his doubts, “If you fly from Bei Dong to the Southern Continent without taking the dimensional transportation, it would take more than a hundred years to arrive while travelling at the speed of an Imperial Realm expert. The price would naturally be much lower if you were travelling within the borders of Bei Dong.”
The price really did not seem to be that high based on the distance, but it was still outrageously high for most people. It was also because of this that the flow of people to and from Bei Dong was low.
“If it’s five thousand, so be it. When will the Dimensional Transportation portal be opened?” Ling Xiao had lived in the Tong Tian Continent before and he knew how precious spirit gems were. Regardless of whether he did or did not have spirit gems on his person, his brain never contained this word called ‘valuable’.
Seeing that he was so frank and straightforward, the old man stroked his beard and said with a smile, “It can be opened now if you two are in a hurry to leave.”
Truthfully, they had already begun to prepare the Dimensional Transportation portal before the events at the auction had spread. Since someone who was able to pay a bid of ten million spirit gems for the Heavenly Caldron would absolutely not be stingy about five thousand spirit gems.
Don’t think that it seemed like five thousand spirit gems were very little. Actually this was already a large sum to the XiaEr Clan, as even though they were the ones in control of the Dimensional Transportation portal, very few people were able to afford the fee of using it. In fact, this was one of the reasons why the XiaEr Clan would agree to let them use the Dimensional Transportation portal.
The old man brought them to the garden, which was also the location of the dimensional transportation.
He took out an enormous leaf from his magic bag, “This is a boat made from a single leaf of the Eternal Evergreen Tree. This type of leaf naturally possesses a strong sense of spatial force. If you use this leaf when travelling by the dimensional transportation portal, you will be able to shorten your travelling time by nearly half.”
You XiaoMo’s eyes shone and he quickly asked, “How much is this thing?”
A merchant must be crafty. You XiaoMo believed that it would definitely not be cheap.
The old man beamed, “Ten thousand spirit gems.”
You XiaoMo felt that it was really expensive, but he still bought it as the benefit of shortening travelling time by a month really attracted him. Although they were travelling by the dimensional transportation, they would still need three to four months to reach their destination.
Twenty thousand spirit gems were earned in a moment. The amount was equivalent to the total profits earned by the XiaEr Clan in a year, as after deducting various kinds of expenses, the XiaEr Clan did not earn much spirit gems yearly.
After sending the two off, the old man felt that it would be really good if there were a couple of people like them coming every year.
The theory of the dimensional transportation was different from the theory of the Trans-Dimensional tunnel.
The Dimensional transportation was similar to an immense ocean current as there was an automatic motional force. Even if one stood there and did not move, the dimensional transportation would still send the people inside to their destination. So the whole thing was akin to a steady and flowing ocean current.
You XiaoMo took out the leaf boat after entering the black hole.
The enormous leaf boat let off a faint clean and fresh spiritual energy. This spiritual energy wrapped them up and gave rise to a resonance with the ‘ocean current’-like spatial energy and nearly doubled their speed all at once.
“What is the Eternal Evergreen Tree?” You XiaoMo sat in front of Ling Xiao and turned back to ask him to his face.
Ling Xiao lowered his head, “It is a type of spiritual tree that has survived from ancient times. It only exists in dimensional crevices and its leaves are green all year round. Moreover, it will never wither.”
“So if we go to other realms next time, wouldn’t we be able to use the leaf of the Eternal Evergreen Tree?” You XiaoMo was pleasantly surprise as he schemed.
Ling Xiao smirked, “That’s not possible as the Trans-Dimensional tunnels are unstable. If we use the Leaf Boat, it may possibly bring us to another place. If our luck is good, it would bring us to another realm. If our luck is bad, we may possibly end up in a place full of spatial storms.”
You XiaoMo remembered the time where Ling Xiao exhausted so much of his spiritual power to ward off that spatial storm they encountered in the Trans-Dimensional tunnel. If they really ended up in a place filled with spatial storms, they would not be able to survive.
“I’m going to cultivate.” You XiaoMo was suddenly embarrassed after staring at Ling Xiao, who had been staring into his eyes. He withdrew his line of sight and turned around after saying that sentence. The time he had for cultivation had decreased ever since the incident in the Boundless Sea.
However, he would take some time out everyday to cultivate, so although he was currently still a level eight mage, he was already a high-grade level eight mage. He intended to use this chance to break through the ninth level. He had been having a premonition that something was going to happen, so he had a pressing need to raise his strength.
Ling Xiao drew You XiaoMo into his embrace and rubbed his cheek on You XiaoMo’s head, “XiaoMo, do you want to try it once here?”
“No, I don’t.” You XiaoMo turned his hand over and swatted Ling Xiao’s head. This animal was able to go into heat everywhere! After swatting, he immediately felt fear in his heart, as this seemed to be the first time that he had swatted Ling Xiao’s head.
Ling Xiao used his forehead to softly knock on the back of his head.
The knock caused You XiaoMo to lean forward, but then he was gathered back into Ling Xiao’s embrace again. He wanted to complain, however the hit suddenly knocked a matter loose, “Are you able to undo the seal on the jade drive that the old geezer gave me now?”
Ling Xiao regretfully replied, “I can’t.”
“Why? Didn’t you say that you would be able to do it after three months?”
“Because this husband has been busy with waiting upon the wife.”
You XiaoMo’s mouth twitched, “…I’m asking you seriously.” Furthermore, he did not feel that Ling Xiao was busy with waiting upon him. It was more like he had been busy oppressing him.
Ling Xiao used a kind of ‘you don’t understand humor’ expression to look at him, “That was a conservative estimate. We had always been in a hurry these few months. Where was there time to digest the cultivation bases of those people? There’s still more than half which haven’t been digested. I still need to spend quite a lot of time to do that.”
You XiaoMo touched his chest, “Then it’s fortunate that there’s time now. Let’s cultivate together.”
Ling Xiao immediately hugged him as his eyes brightened, “That’s great, ah, let’s do it together.”
You XiaoMo coughed, “I’m talking about cultivating separately.”
Ling Xiao had a serious expression, “Wife, this lord is more than willing to ride with you.”
You XiaoMo could not get rid of that scene in a moment and his nosebleed nearly sprayed out. Sure enough, this animal was such a scourge, “If you don’t want to cultivate, you can watch me cultivate. I don’t mind.”
After speaking, You XiaoMo ignored him and sat crossed-legged and began to quietly meditate.
Ling Xiao supported his chin with one hand as he looked at You XiaoMo’s face with burning eyes.
After five minutes, You XiaoMo’s eyelids twitched.
After ten minutes, You XiaoMo’s cheek spasmed.
After fifteen minutes, You XiaoMo grimaced and opened his eyes. Flying into a rage out of humiliation, he whacked Ling Xiao, “Are you going to cultivate or not?!”
Ling Xiao laughed so hard that his shoulders were shaking, “Didn’t you say that you don’t mind me looking at you cultivating?”
You XiaoMo glared, “You really believed it!”
Ling Xiao nodded, “Of course, I must believe in what my wife says.”
You XiaoMo frowned, “Then are you going to listen to what your wife says?”
Ling Xiao fell silent for quite a while before he reluctantly nodded, “Listen…”
You XiaoMo directly ignored his reluctant expression, “This is what you said. You better close your eyes now and cultivate. Don’t look at me again.”
“Your husband obeys…”