บท 202: Setting Off - Improvement.

Orefine City was as busy as usual, it was mid-day, so the sound of clinking metal combined with rising smokestacks showed off how many people were at work, the streets were busy with adults and children alike rushing back and forth like ants in a nest.

Near the outskirts was a small café that only had an outdoor sitting area, currently there were only four people there as every time another passed, they'd glance over before leaving with a respectful bow, the robes of those visiting currently were well know by those in this city as people you need to respect lest you suffer the consequences.

"Are you done?" Na Xue asked while sitting on a bench, she was holding a skewer of meat that she happily finished off while waiting for the other person to answer.

"Yeah, I only got to speak to one of them though" Shu He sighed lightly as he picked up one of the skewers on the plate and helped himself.

"Hey, that was mine!" Na Xue scowled before grabbing the last two and stuffing them in her mouth.

"I'm paying, aren't I?" Shu He shrugged as he looked over to the other two, Bai Lian was happily feeding Shu Xue some sweet dumpling like sweets. Cultivator's rarely visit mortal establishments, so they don't usually keep mortal currency on them; Shu He had made it a habit to keep some on him though as he enjoys visiting the city every so often to taste some different food.

"By the way, you said that you sorted out a carriage already, where is it?" The pink haired girl hopped up off the bench and began looking around, the café was next to a major road so there were many different carriages passing by already.

"Ah, well…" He looked up at the sky, the sun was glaring down from around the midpoint of the sky "It's about time for them to show, so just wait a bit, okay?".

"Okay~" she grabbed the pouch containing coins, Shu He's coins, and walked over to the shopkeeper to order something else while they wait, Shu He caught a glimpse of Bai Lian glancing over at Na Xue and whispering "Even cultivators can gain weight, you know..." underneath her breath.

Shu Xue was, of course, happily stuffing herself still. Her constitution seemed perfect for such a thing, unfortunately for Shu He's wallet.

Shu He let out a quiet sigh as he watched the hustle and bustle of the street besides them, he had just made a visit to a small group of people, just for the sake of keeping up with acquaintances.

The group was the Crystal Coral Sect members that had came to their sect to take on the Keystone Challenge, he hadn't had much of a chance to speak to them before since they were too busy, even now he only managed to speak to Tao Yan who had succeeded in his challenge, the other two were in closed door cultivation to break through to Balance Attainment, so they could take the challenge themselves.

There wasn't much to be said, Shu He asked him about the Water region since he was a local, especially the Flood Dragon Archipelago since his sect was based there, he received some titbits of information that he hadn't learned from reading about the place which were useful along with a letter of introduction which would be useful if he wanted to visit the Crystal Coral Sect, he then left them a few pills which may be helpful to them before leaving.

'They should be here soon…' he tapped his finger on his cloak as he waited with crossed arms, then his eyes twitched slightly as he spotted a fine carriage with a crest that was a bamboo shoot.

"They're here" He said, waiting for the others to get up before he began walking over to the carriage as it parked. "That's quite a nice carriage" Na Xue commented as she nodded in satisfaction.

"Really? It seems normal to me…" Bai Lian muttered as she tried to discern what was so good about it.

"As expected of Bai clan's little princess…" Na Xue shook her head with a small chuckle.

"Huh?"

"Aren't you a 'little princess' yourself?" one of Shu He's brow rose as she glanced at his senior sister, she said she was from a cultivation family after all, and not a weak one.

"My clan isn't that so lenient that they'd pamper their descendants" A long sigh left his senior sister's mouth that was clearly filled with the many years of struggles she had experienced from her clan.

Shu He shook his head as he called out to the driver of the carriage "Are you from the 'Little Blessings' trading company?". The driver that was tying the horses to a pole turned around and began to inspect Shu He, the white cloak he wore made his eyes glimmer and as he glanced at Shu He's face he asked –

"May I ask your name?".

"Shu He".

A practiced smile became plastered on the man's face as he bowed "So it is Sir Shu, it's good to meet you, my name is Kang Da and I'm here representing the 'Little Blessings' company as you said, I'll be your driver for this journey.

Shu He nodded and bowed lightly in return "I was surprised when I got a response from Xiao Fu after putting in a request for a carriage, it seems he's doing well for himself".

"Yes indeed! The chairman speaks highly of the man that saved his business that day, so I was happy to take the request the moment he mentioned it, or rather if I didn't take it, I was sure he'd come himself" Kang Da chuckled, he had short, finely groomed hair and well-tailored clothes that suited a high-class tradesperson.

The sect itself does have carriages that disciples can take out, however they're expected to return them, and since Shu He was planning to journey overseas where he can't bring a carriage, he decided to rent one out with a driver so they could return on their own.

Xiao Fu was the merchant he met when he first left the sect, he came under the attack of a group of bandits, seemingly under a planned assault though Shu He didn't learn the full details.

It seemed that Xiao Fu had taken advantage of that event and propelled himself, creating a trading company under the Trading Guild named 'Little Blessings' which impressed Shu He.

Shu He looked the man over, his eyes glimmering gold as he saw through him; This man was also a cultivator, but he was only at the Blood Enhancement stage, it was still enough to deal with the average bandit of course.

"It seems Xiao Fu is investing in more than normal trading" he smirked a little as he made an offhand comment, Kang Da also grinned in response.

"The chairman is good at seeing the value of things after all, after he saw you, he couldn't help but want to dip his hand in to the honey pot".

"Just tell him to be careful".

"Of course!" The man chuckled "We'll be resting for an hour before we leave, you wish to travel to Sunnyside, correct? We picked the best horses; we should be able to get there in just under three weeks if everything goes to plan".

"That's good enough, we'll wait in the carriage then until we leave".

"Please do, if you have anything else you need, please ask".

And so, the group of four boarded the carriage.

…

It had been a few days since they had set off from Orefine, unfortunately there was only so much one can do on a carriage so after they had chatted enough, they had reclused in to cultivating mode, the carriage was silent other than the sound of horse shoes clacking against the dirt and the smooth rolling of well-oiled wheels.

They journey had been quiet so far, and hopefully all the way, so Shu He had begun playing around with techniques that wouldn't put the others at risk, Shu Xue had returned to her beast form as she nestled down on the seat next to him, the carriage was quite large, so it wasn't cramped at all despite there being four of them.

*Shhhh* Shu He held his hand out with his palm up, above it rotated five different objects, a bundle of vines, a spark of flames, a bundle of earth, a shimmering ball and a large droplet of water. They gently span in a circle like a baby's mobile; however, the movements weren't all equal.

The vines were a verdant green and full of life, the water was fresh but spilling, the fire was bright but unstable, the metalling sheen was weak, and the earth was crumbling. This was a technique devised for one purpose, to give an estimate for a person's elemental compatibilities, it wasn't as accurate as the 5-element formation test, but it could be used as a simple yard stick.

Of course, most people ignored this technique, it wasn't as if one's compatibility usually ever changed, the only reason that this technique is used is because the cultivator can't access the 5 elements formation test.

But for Shu He, it was important, in the first place his initial test was scuffed because of the surge of golden qi, he estimated that all of his compatibilities would be a stage lower than what was shown back then.

But now… it was different, before he had reached the first heaven of the 'Nine Heaven's Divine Body' technique, he could barely form the earth ball or metallic sheen, but now, although it was weak, he could do it!

His three other elements have made improvements as well, when he uses any wood element technique it feels easier to perform and consumes less qi, this is all clear evidence that his compatibilities had increased!

He was elated, this meant that if he continued with this technique, he could potentially command all five elements at full power!

Maybe he could even reach the fabled 'Divine' rank…

He stared deeply at the five lights as he put the brakes on his imagination.

'That's a long way away, even for the second stage I need to reach 'Seed Creation'…' he closed his hand as the five objects dissipated, they weren't material just illusions created by the technique.

"I only just remembered, but you didn't have any low mortal rank elements in your test, did you?" He looked up as he heard Bai Lian speak, her eyes were fixated on the space where the five objects just were before she looked up at him "That's rare, I don't think I've heard of anyone like that".

"Neither have I, though I can guess why" Na Xue reached in to her robe as she pulled out a tincture, taking a sip from it as her face became slightly flushed like she had been dying of thirst until the tincture quenched it.

Bai Lian looked at her in confusion "What is it?" she tilted her head as she looked back to Shu He, her eyes questioning whether she was missing out on something.

Shu He's eyebrow twitched, he couldn't help but feel that his senior sister was pushing his buttons on purpose, how would Bai Lian react if she found out he was feeding her his blood?

He'd definitely rather keep it a secret, if possible.

'This is going to be a long journey, isn't it?' he leaned back in the chair as he tussled the feathers of the only one fast asleep in the carriage.