Li Yang and Mei Kongxu didn't linger around in the brothel after they got their hands on what they wanted. Li Yang had no interest in learning about his father's time as a prostitute, and he would prefer to leave the city as quickly as possible so that his left eye could finally stop displaying the vision of the Pristine Tyrant's massacre. He had gotten slightly used to it by now, but it still left a churning sensation in his stomach, and the utterly bored eyes of the Pristine Tyrant pissed him off to no end.

But there were still two things that the pair had to do before they could leave the city, one was to check the public library and the other was to acquire a carriage. They could walk to Dead-Branch Ruin and then to Roaring Valley, but that would turn the five-month travelling period into one that was easily twice as long.

Luckily, both were things that could be done relatively quickly, Li Yang's sluggish pace was the thing that held them back the most at this point. But he persisted in his training, he did see a noticeable improvement after all so it definitely wasn't a worthless endeavour.

It sadly turned out that Lao Qin was right in her conjecture, the public library of the city contained even less information than the archives of the Deepsea King sect. And while that was to be expected, it was still a bit disheartening that a place the person himself had been in the past barely had any records of him. But they had at least gotten their hands on the notebook so they wouldn't leave without any gain.

As for the matter of buying a carriage, it was one that was fairly easily accomplished. The only thing they had to do was pick a carriage that suited their needs and then pick out a breed of horse-type Demonic beasts that were suited for the journey and pace they were planning on keeping.

The carriage they settled on was a standard type, a seat for the coachman and a square wagon completely covered by some arched tarp that would serve as both the roof and the walls. The horses were a bit more special, they were a crossbreed between three different types of Demonic beasts and normal horses.

They had the normal body of a horse, but their eyes were completely golden thanks to the nocturnal Demonic beast that they were mixed with, they also had sharp fangs that allowed them to subsist on both plants and flesh, and a large lump hanging on their neck that allowed them to store water for emergencies. They were bred solely for long journeys where they would have to be on the move more often than not and where it would be uncertain what sort of nourishment would be available for them.

The two had a fair amount of funds thanks to their recent wedding so they splurged and bought four such horses, which were usually referred to as Wild-Wanderer Horses. Some might consider it wasteful to buy four such horses for a carriage that only housed two people, but it would speed up their journey by a bit so they were more than willing to be wasteful.

And so, a little over a day after they arrived in Cyan Cloud city, the two set out once more and headed down the road that would take them closest to Dead-Branch Ruin. Both of them sat in the coachman's seat and oversaw the horses, but it wasn't due to any romantic mood created between them, no it was a much simpler reason.

"No, I think just pulling it back should be enough to stop them. As for turning, shouldn't it be enough to just twist the reins to the side? The merchant said that they were trained to respond to some simple commands, so if worst comes to worst I think we can just use those to make them stay on the road? I think? Maybe? I guess?"

Mei Kongxu rarely ever left her sect and the same was true for Li Yang, so neither of them actually had any experience when it came to steering a carriage. So they both had to stay up front to learn the ropes, especially when it came to controlling the Wild-Wanderer Horses. Luckily, it seemed like the merchant they had bought them from noticed the couple's lack of experience and gave them some older horses that were calmer and easier to control.

And it was indeed just like the merchant had said, the horses responded to certain simple commands. It wasn't enough for any minute control, but just making them stay on the road was simple enough so it at least seemed like they could avoid going off course because the horses decided to just wander off.

And so, the two could travel rather comfortably. The wagon was steady enough that Mei Kongxu wasn't too disturbed as she slept on her multiple blankets and pillows, and Li Yang could sleep while sitting if he needed to so he wasn't really bothered about how steady the wagon was. The horses also only needed to rest about once a week, at which point they would also feed and fill up their water supply, truly convenient beings that were bred solely for wanderers.

And now that they no longer had to walk on their own, it became much easier for Mei Kongxu to fall back into her old habit of sleeping away most of the day. She had done so while they walked as well, but at that time she had been staying up for as long as possible and tried to keep her sleeping hours to a minimum, which was still about 12 hours. But now she could go to sleep the moment she felt tired, and there was no need to try to limit how long she slept. Li Yang had spent a bit of time with her already, but the sheer amount of sleep she got was still astounding to him.

Of course, she didn't skimp out on her cultivation despite sleeping so long, she still made sure to diligently cultivate the moment she finally woke up. Li Yang also had plenty of time to spare now so he made sure to go over the notebook several times as the days passed, not forgetting to also study the array books that his father had gifted him.

"Have you heard or seen anything in your own visions about this particular phrase? She wrote it so boldly so it should have been pretty important to the Pristine Tyrant."

Mei Kongxu also read the notebook occasionally when she wasn't sleeping or cultivating, but it didn't contain much concrete information so what they could glean was limited. But the phrase she pointed at was repeated multiple times throughout the notebook so it seemed like Lao Qin's ancestor heard the Pristine Tyrant repeat it multiple times. Li Yang had read the book multiple times so he could guess what passage she was talking about without turning around as he sat on the coachman's seat, shrugging his shoulders.

"I've only heard something similar twice. The first time was during the very first vision I saw, but I'm not sure if the one who said it was the Pristine Tyrant. They spoke about nine lifetimes to conquer destruction, and nine lifetimes of failure. The second time was back in Cyan Cloud city, the Pristine Tyrant I saw in my vision muttered about being naive enough to think that a matter as small as this one could lead to grand destruction. If I were to hazard a guess then I'd say he was trying to acquire the law of destruction, or maybe something that could at least stand on the same stage as that law."

The particular phrase that Mei Kongxu was pointing at was quite short and simple 'He kept muttering about this not being enough to reach destruction, he had to go higher and become grander to conquer destruction.' The law of destruction was truly one of the universe's peak laws, acquiring that law, or even something equal to it, was about as difficult as scaling the heavens.

As for why a man who looked so bored was trying to acquire such a peak law, Li Yang didn't know and didn't care. If it was the hunt for that peak law that made him so bored then it was a worthless hunt, and if he was already so bored from the start then it wouldn't change even if he got his hands on said law, so it was equally worthless. Truly a waste of a life, those were Li Yang's honest feelings after seeing the most recent vision.

"Destruction... An uncontrollable force that does nothing but harm everything and everyone around you. I heard those words in one of my visions in the past, it actually pops up quite frequently so I think the person in those visions has quite close ties to that law. It's a bit too coincidental to be... well, just a coincidence. We can probably expand our search to include people who once had the law of destruction, we might find something."

With Li Yang's most recent vision, both of them were clear-headed enough to figure out that his visions most likely were tied closely to the Pristine Tyrant. The things he heard and saw might just be the memories of the Pristine Tyrant, the only unexplainable parts were that the first vision he had seen featured a man who didn't resemble the Pristine Tyrant, as well as the fact that he oftentimes heard different voices.

So they also had to admit that it was likely that Li Yang's visions didn't just stem from one source, there might just be multiple people involved in it. As for Mei Kongxu, they hadn't really found anything about the source of her visions, but they were already starting to mentally prepare for the fact that she too might have visions stemming from multiple sources. But before they could move along those trains of thoughts, there was another matter they would have to take care of right now.

"What do you say, Wifey, were you expecting to actually encounter people like this on our journey?"

The road they were currently travelling down was lined by a large plain on the left and a forest filled with tall trees on their right. And there was currently a group of five people rushing towards them from the plain, Li Yang could detect the very faint scent of burning wood so he guessed that they might have been resting around a campfire when they coincidentally spotted their wagon and decided to make their move.

Mei Kongxu poked her head out of the wagon and looked at the five people rushing towards them, her pupils turning sharp as she swept her gaze over them. And after she finished inspecting them, her usually cold facade turned even colder.

"No, anyone who dares to try to be a bandit in the territory of a sect is either incredibly strong or incredibly dumb. And these people certainly don't fit the bill for the first option."

The two had already left the territory of the Deepsea King sect a while ago, they should currently be in the territory of the Fiend's Heart sect. As was the norm with the territories of the sects, anyone found to be engaging in marauding and banditry would be hunted down by the sect in charge of that area, they had to provide a safe place to live for their disciples and citizens after all.

The five men stopped the wagon, three stepping into its path while two approached it from the side. None of them spoke, but their bodies were visibly tensed, a certain dangerous atmosphere radiating from their bodies. But even with that atmosphere, Li Yang was as casual as ever as he rubbed the back of the nearest horse with one hand, pointing at the palms of the five people with his other hand.

"Bandits? No, they're not bandits, at least not in the traditional sense I guess? Look at their hands, they've got callouses at the base of their ring finger and index finger, and five small holes on their palms. Those marks belong to the Bloody Sword King's Canon, so I'm guessing that they're disciples from the Blood Sword sect who are out on a mission, they probably just saw us as an easy chance to acquire a small bonus. They should be able to leave fast enough to not be caught by the Fiend's Heart sect so they probably felt that there was nothing to worry about."

Mei Kongxu directed her attention towards the palms of the five people and saw that they indeed had the marks he spoke of. She didn't know if he spoke the truth, but looking at the fact that the five people winced at his guess she felt like he was probably correct. And that fact was enough to surprise her, because Li Yang didn't seem like the kind of person to pay attention to such things. But faced with her astonishment, Li Yang simply shrugged his shoulder and smirked in his cocky manner.

"You... actually noticed and know that?"

"Hey, you need a certain level of knowledge to consider yourself a dragon among snakes, I gotta learn at least a little."

Was he speaking the truth or was he tricking her, only he would know the answer to that question, and he had no intentions of giving Mei Kongxu the truth. As for the five people who got a bit greedy after seeing the rather expensive horses he was using to draw their wagon, he really couldn't be bothered to waste any time on them.

"Truth be told fellas, I don't really wanna waste my time kicking around a few pebbles, I'd much rather just keep going about my business. What do you say, would you be willing to be good little worms and just roll off for me? I'd be very thankful you know."

He spoke the words with the utmost sincerity, a friendly warning that these people shouldn't jump headfirst into a painful beating. But it sadly seemed that his good intentions would just go to waste as the five people clad in tight-fitting dark brown leather armour only seemed to become angered by him. The five holes in their palms leaked out a bit of blood that turned into a sword, Mei Kongxu glaring at Li Yang, who in turn simply shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and continued to throw coal into the fire.

"Your tongue really is an annoyance."

"Hey, not my fault that their confidence is so low that the words of a rando like me can irk them. It just shows that their spirit is as lacking as their brains."

The five men quivered lightly at Li Yang's undisguised taunting and disdain, they didn't even bother saying anything and just charged straight at the wagon in anger. Mei Kongxu pulled aside the tarp and stepped out of the wagon, not even bothering to glare at Li Yang as she headed for the two people who were approaching the side of the wagon.

"I'm leaving those three to you. You irk them on, you deal with them."

Li Yang waved after Mei Kongxu and even called out to her in a cheerful voice. 'Good luck, dear Wifey! This husbando believes in you!' His complete lack of tension only irked the incoming people even more, but he ignored their mood as he hopped down from the coachman's seat, which ended up looking somewhat awkward due to the fact that he was using a bit of reverse gravity to lighten the burden his array had on select parts of his body.

"Alright then, Bozos, I'm testing out something, and I've kinda gimped myself, so you're in luck, you actually get to put up a fight!"

His words could be considered arrogant, but that didn't make them any less true. The five people had only carved five runes and were still only in the middle-stage of the Human Rune realm, they each only had a single rune more than Li Yang. And even if he was currently burdened by an array that sealed away his speed, a single additional rune would not be enough to turn these people into any threat.

Li Yang casually picked up a fist-sized rock from the road as he sauntered over to the incoming people, weighing it in his hands a few times before tossing it into the air as the enemies got close. Earthen brown fur started to grow on his wrists and on the back of his hand, as well as around his feet as he activated his bloodline, curling a finger in a challenging gesture with a carefree smirk. His moves were much slower than normal, but he was able to simultaneously use his law of speed and his law of gravity to slightly offset the effects of the array so it wasn't as bad as normally, it would certainly be enough to deal with a few small nuisances. Of course, having a heigthened gravity push down on his arms while a field of reverse gravity pushed them upwards led to some pressure being exerted upon his bones, but it was at a manageable level.

The three people reached him at the same time and slashed at him but he didn't bother trying to dodge, his speed was so severely hampered that it would be a fruitless endeavour. But blocking and deflecting were still perfectly achievable, his wrists flicking as he hit two of the blades from below. The back of his hands hit the two blades and pushed them upwards quite heavily, the swords gliding over his head while the attackers nearly spun around.

As for the third girl, she was the most unlucky one among them. Li Yang raised his knee just as the sword was getting close to him, bending his arm that had just deflected one of the swords and bringing down his elbow. The sword was caught between his elbow and his knee, Li Yang's law of force surging forth and amplifying the power behind the collision.

The crimson sword cracked and fell apart, Li Yang immediately straightening out the arm that had helped to shatter the sword. His fist was pushed forward and embedded itself in the abdomen of the girl. Li Yang stomped down the leg he had just raised the moment his fist reached her stomach, the force of the stomp travelling up through his body and getting amplified by his law of force.

The force travelled into his outstretched arm and was unleashed by a slight twist of his wrist, blood spewing out from the girl's mouth as she staggered back and fell onto her back. Li Yang shook his wrist slightly and glanced at the shattered blood, as well as the two people who had just finished stabilizing their position after the unexpected counter.

"Ah, sorry, I didn't expect the sword to be so crappy that it'd break from just that. Sorry, I overestimated the cultivation manual of your sect, I'll be a bit more careful from now on so that I don't break your precious toys."

Every word only added to the fire that burned in the opponent's heart, it was as if he was intentionally trying to ridicule them and anger them. And perhaps he was, but these people would never know the answer to that question, they simply weren't worthy.

The two remaining men grasped their swords with both hands to increase their stability and attacked Li Yang again, clearly putting a bit more power into their weapons. But each swing was simply met by Li Yang's hands, pushing the weapon up or down, his law of gravity aiding him so that even his lightest hits could redirect the weapons.

These people had definitely put all their focus onto their weapons, aiming to do nothing but strengthen their swords by using their sect's cultivation manual. It would certainly give them a strong weapon, but what use was a strong weapon if it couldn't even properly hit their opponent?

Mei Kongxu was clearly much more pragmatic than Li Yang, she finished her fight almost instantly so she had already returned to the carriage and was observing Li Yang's battle with her usual cold facade. Li Yang didn't bother with her gaze and continued to deflect the incoming attacks, his feet occasionally sliding out to kick out the legs of his opponents and destabilizing their footing. But as they kept hitting him with the same moves again and again as well as their silence and dead-serious expressions, he couldn't help but grumble.

"Ah, do you guys really have to be so boring? I mean, just look at you, not even a hint of a smile. I get that you were enticed by the chance to earn a quick buck, but that doesn't mean you have to be so dull about it. Come on, respond, fire off some jokes, anything other than this droll silence!"

He took three steps back as he spoke, putting a bit of distance between them and giving the two men a chance to catch their breath. The two had already realized that their odds of getting out of here were slim, by now they were just staying in it to find an opening that might let them escape. As such, neither of them bothered to respond to Li Yang's grumble and continued to look at him seriously, resulting in him throwing up his arms in annoyed surrender.

"Bah, fine, suit yourself. You didn't dodge so it's not like there's much point in going on any longer anyway."

The two initially didn't understand the meaning of his words, but they were quickly made aware of what he was talking about. Their swords suddenly became incredibly heavy, smashing into the earth and forcing both of them to bend over since they kept holding onto the weapons. Each time he deflected their hits, Li Yang had inserted a small amount of his Qi, which he now activated along with the law of gravity to drastically increase the gravity around several spots on the weapon.

But that was only the start, as a light whistling sound rang out for a second before a fist-sized rock came crashing down from the sky and smashed into the back of one of the men. Li Yang had tossed the rock up just before the battle, but he had used his law of gravity to keep it in the air, only bringing it down now that the two people had been brought below it.

The man hit by the rock collapsed into a heap thanks to the impact, Li Yang flicking his finger lightly. The force of the impact instantly moved to a different part of the rock when Li Yang flicked his finger, now impacting the side of the rock and sending it flying at the side of the other man's chest. The stone smashed into him and brought with it the sound of cracked ribs, he too collapsing into a heap.

Li Yang looked at the three collapsed people and then spat out a breath of air, seemingly dissatisfied with the performance they had given. He undid his bloodline and turned away, hopping onto the coachman's seat and grabbing the reins. Mei Kongxu raised an eyebrow at his actions, glancing at the three collapsed but still very much alive attackers. But once again, Li Yang simply shrugged his shoulders in response.

"You're not planning on finishing them off?"

"Nope. They're just little wormlings, I'll be damned if I let people like them be my first kill, no way in hell I'm giving them that honour."

He didn't kill because he had an aversion to it, he was just unwilling to let his first kill be some worthless and unknown person. It had to be grand and his target had to be worthy, otherwise, it would just be an utter waste. Mei Kongxu clearly didn't have the same opinion, her law of decay had cleanly ended the lives of the two people that had attacked her after all. But when faced with her cold facade, Li Yang deferred to his usual action and just smirked as he shrugged his shoulders.

"You're probably the only person in the universe who thinks that others should consider it an honour to be killed by you."

"Hey, a snake should be happy if it managed to do something that drew the attention of a dragon to it."