After spending close to two hours practicing, he took a break. He was not exhausted at all. Mortal martial arts were nothing much now that he became a cultivator when it came to expanse of energy. Of course, if he had been powering those moves with his spiritual energy, things would have been slightly different.

He did not.

He enjoyed the feelings of practicing his own art as he did in the past. He had not done so for quite a long time, spiritual techniques taking more importance.

He began to laugh.

It felt good.

To simply practice.

To do what he loved.

He smiled as he returned to the camp. Finally, his mindset was straightened. At least, he believed so. He would try to approach things with the mindset of a challenger instead of a master. This continent was still a dangerous place and that was something he had to understand.

It was not easy for a master to admit his weakness yet this was the way to grow.

After Jin left, a beautiful woman jumped down from a tree not far from where he had trained.

It was Ame.

From the time she left, she did not plan to return to the camp. She did not want to bother socializing with these mortals and weak cultivators. She had gone to meditate at a place a few hundred meters away. But even as she meditated, she kept sensing her surroundings. After all, Jin might be safe from being pursued but she was probably not. To the Church, she was 'worth' something.

And as such, she sensed that the man remained there.

She ignored it at first but in the end, her curiosity got the better of her. She moved stealthily and hide in a tree to observe. With her realm, if she did not want him to detect her, he would not. Regardless of how strong his detection abilities might be, he was too weak compared to her to be able to sense her.

She observed only with a faint hint of curiosity at first but, little by little, as she saw him practice, she was mesmerized. He was not using a single drop of spiritual energy yet his movements with his spear were so graceful. There was deadliness and beauty mixed in every thrust. She indulged in the sight until he left.

Only after he was far away did she jump down.

However, she did not leave and instead began to practice with her own sword. While he had used a spear, the way he moved still gave her some enlightenments and ideas. She practiced earnestly for a few hours before going back to her tent to sleep.

As she drifted off to sleep, her lips pursed slightly.

"While he is weak, he is quite talented"

...

From that day, Jin always took a few hours every time the caravan stopped to practice without spiritual energy. And Ame always observed him as he did so.

One trained his mental state while the other reflected on her techniques.

Both of them were changing as time flew by.

...

Then, they reached the first city on the itinerary. The mother and daughter pair left the caravan and a couple joined them. Jin amiably discussed with the pair throughout. He learnt some more of this continent as he did so.

This time, Ame was a little more open when words were exchanged and sometimes spoke as well.

...

Ren Jing belonged to the Cartel and was a hidden agent of the 28th stage. She was still young at 27 years old and considered quite talented. This time, she was given a secret mission directly by the department head.

Her job was simple: to monitor a guy that was at the 9th stage and protect him from the shadows.

And, according to the head, the best way to hide was to remain in plain sight. After watching from a distance for some time, she realized that the man planned to join the royalty faction as a guard. Since that's what he was planning to do, she decided to do the same.

Today was the day she would first get into contact with her target.

He was using a merchant caravan belonging to mortals to travel. She waited until they reached the third city before making up her mind. It was not hard for her to negotiate for a spot in there, in the same wagon as him.

As she entered, she met him for the first time. He had long purple hair and a dignified expression. He smiled amiably at her and she reciprocated as she went to sit next to the woman on the opposite sofa.

Kaen Ame. She was quite a strong cultivator for someone birthed on this continent and belonging to no factions. She was no match for her though. Her weapons were impressive as well considering the location but it was not worth her attention.

A moment later, someone else entered the caravan. It was bald man of around forty or fifty. He was quite bulky and his face looked ferocious. There was a tattoo on the right side of his temple depicting vertically a word:

穩

定

的

It was quite intimidating. As he entered, she scanned him and detected that he was a cultivator at the 16th stage. As he closed the door behind him and turned around, he greeted the other passengers with a smile and spoke rather loudly: "My name is Song Xun, pleasure to meet you!"

Out of courtesy, the others began to introduce themselves as well. She did not bother picking a fake name and introduced herself as 'Ren Jing' though she hid her identity as a cultivator. As the strongest here, none of these people would notice her ability.

As a trained spy, she learnt that the best fake identity was actually the real one. After all, no one knew her real identity hence she turned it into a fake one.

Some spies used deception but the outstanding ones turned the truth into a deception.

And she was outstanding.