“One, two, three,” Sage’s golden eyes passed over the object dotted through the sky in front of him, “Thirty four.”

Finishing the count, he couldn’t help but to whistle softly with amazement. The objects in the sky he was counting came in many different shapes and styles. Some were wide and stocky, others were slim and elegant, a few were covered in sharp angles and pointed plates that made them look ready for war. Whatever the case, it was quite astonishing to see more than thirty Flying Ships all in one place. What was more astounding was that these ships were all flying into the side of what he would call a skyscraper. A massive building that stretched up past the clouds.

At this time, Sage was flying towards this immense structure on the Red Comet, counting the Flying Ships in front of him. While he was approaching he saw some of them enter the huge tower and a few more of them leaving. Since this tower was so large, and he had the vision of a Cultivator, he had been watching this go on for some time. Many of the Flying Ships that were leaving were not the same ones that he saw entering. From his time in the Dou and Shihu Kingdom, he’d come to understand that each of these Flying Ships were worth many tens of millions of Spirit Stones. Only the first rate power usually had more than one or two, and even then it was still quite rare and used as a strategic war asset. He still remembered when his friends had spent a lot just to borrow one to rescue him.

By the time he’d finally become rich enough to purchase one for himself, it was no longer necessary. Why would he need a Flying Ship to carry a few hundred people when he could bring along billions with his Inner World? All those resources were better spent to empower the Lang Clan as a whole rather than to buy a flashy war yacht. Yet, right in front of him there were so many of these huge floating piles of money. It seems he had underestimated the scale of wealth of this place.

The massive tower in front of him was a place he’d only visited once in the past and at that time he hadn’t had much time to properly observe it. Guan Zhenyan had ‘rescued’ him from the Shou Empire where he was basically going to be a very rich and idle slave. He would have had all his freedom completely removed, but anything else he asked for would be provided. Those fellows were planning to use his Inner World as a farm and all his worries of being in danger would be taken away. Rather than become a pampered house pet, he chose to take the risky offer from Guan Zhenyan.

Instead of being a pet, he instead became a lab rat. Guan Zhenyan set a price and as long as Sage could repay it, then he could go free. The problem was that the job he’d have to do in order to earn money was to be a test subject for Guan Zhenyan’s poisons. Worse yet, the man turned out to be blackhearted enough to keep adding additional charges for food, lodging, and every other thing he could think of, as well as asking for even higher prices for Sage to recover his belongings. To escape from this situation, he had to play a trick upon Guan Zhenyan, before attacking and injuring him. He used up years worth of the water created by the Eye of the World, sacrificing the power of his soul to break out of that terrible situation. Since then, he’d had Guan Zhenyan ‘imprisoned’ on the Universe Ring. It was only much later that he found out that the man wasn’t as helpless as he seemed. In fact, he suspected that the ‘prison’ wasn’t ever effective from the beginning.

That cheat must have enemies and he’s using me to hide from them.

The initial attack must have been successful, but when Zhenyan recovered he probably just played along and did not bother to break out. Then again, the other option was that he was at their mercy, but just so happened to have a very good projection technique which he was using to make them feel inadequate and also to spy upon Sage’s activities. Sage wasn’t foolish enough to release the man until he’d confirmed things one way or the other, but at this time he had made a new deal with Zhenyan. The benefits for both of them would be immense, so it would be better if they could use this opportunity to repair their relationship. Or at least that’s how Sage saw it.

While serving as a test subject for Guan Zhenyan in the past, he’d seen many important looking processions come to visit the man. Sage was barely allowed to leave Zhenyan’s property before, so he couldn’t gather any information when he was here the last time. It was only when he was on the run after defeating Zhenyan that he learned much about the place. This was also the same reason he only got little snippets. He feared being discovered and so he didn’t stick around to explore the place. This time, he was here on different terms. When Guan Zhenyan told him where he had to go, Sage was surprised that it was merely to return back to this place: Tianxia Capital.

Approaching this place was not done without any reservations. Sage had no idea of the fallout of his actions so many decades ago. Did they find out what he’d done to Guan Zhenyan? Was this just an elaborate method to make Sage turn himself in? What exactly was Zhenyan’s importance and position among this place? Would there be a wanted poster for Zhenyan or himself?

“Don’t be so jumpy. You barely showed your face and nobody knew your significance. You’ll be just another face in the crowd. You’re strong enough to be qualified to be here now, so as long as you have enough to pay for entry and lodging you’ll be fine. On the other hand, don’t mention my name until I tell you to, got it?”

Guan Zhenyan’s voice was projected to him, entering his ears as a little packet of vibrating Qi so that only Sage could hear it. As he got closer to the huge tower the sheer size of it became far more obvious. From afar the Flying Ships seemed like small boats like the one he was on, yet they were actually hundreds of yards long. He now could also see lines of flying beasts and Magical Tools just like his own at a lower elevation than the Flying Ships. As he approached Zhenyan scolded him again.

“Where are you going? Head down to the ground. You don’t have clearance for those gates.”

“What?”

“Every level of the Tianxia Capital is only open to those with the proper clearance. Since you’re ‘new’ here you can only enter the first level along with all unimportant people.”

Sage had responded with the same voice transmission technique that Zhenyan used. It was among the many techniques for basic utility techniques for Nascent Souls. Sage was not foolish enough to send Guan Zhenyan to the Inner World, and he wasn’t going to send his Soul Clone to the Universe Ring to converse with Zhenyan more directly so they used this method instead. Since he was here to do the man’s bidding, they needed to communicate and Sage was already regretting that he’d agreed to having this guy constantly whispering to him.

Maybe I really should come back in a few decades.