Wang Sheng’s strength had already reached a significant level; although he hadn’t fought with that enigmatic Master of Destiny, wasn’t the Master of Destiny gone?
Without the Master of Destiny making a move, he was quite confident in defeating a Great Grandmaster.
He had confirmed with the White Lotus Spirit King, who was a top-tier Great Grandmaster in his own right. If he could overpower the White Lotus Spirit King, it meant that other Great Grandmasters wouldn’t pose much of a threat to him.
Thus, he could consider visiting the royal library.
“Let’s set off after Da Bai and Yun Xiao have completed their evolution!”
His source of news was people from the Three Great Families. Since Jiangyuan City had opened up, the flow of information had been quite smooth. Coupled with the presence of Martial Artists, the delay in news from the Three Great Families was generally about three days.
Wang Sheng had also received news during the days he had taken off.
Originally, he was quite anxious, but then, after a huge upheaval occurred with the Rebellion Army, they were directly blocked by royal forces.
Seeing that the Rebellion Army couldn’t break through, they turned around and occupied several prefectures near the Imperial City, then prepared to develop slowly.
This was a very good strategy.
As long as they could stabilize the situation, it was much smarter than recklessly pushing forward.
“Build high walls, store abundant food, crown yourself king,” these nine words were practical anywhere.
The cities occupied by the Rebellion Army had completely surrounded the Imperial City. If they just dragged out the time, the royal family would eventually lose without fighting.
Of course, whether it was planning to exhaust the Imperial City or aiming to launch a direct attack after some development, neither could be accomplished in a short time.
Therefore, Wang Sheng was not in a particular hurry.
So he planned to take his time heading to the Imperial City, collecting books along the way and taking a detour to Tai Mountain to take care of the little prince’s matter.
Unless he received news of the Rebellion Army attacking again, he would go directly. With his current speed, it wouldn’t take long to rush from Shuzhou to the Imperial City; half a day wasn’t needed, so he was confident.
Eventually, Wang Sheng returned to Qingshan Village, then sought out the village chief. This time the trip would be a bit long, so he still needed to inform the old man to avoid complications later.
“Are you going on a long journey?”
Village chief Zhou Zhengwen wasn’t surprised and didn’t even contemplate stopping him.
He had always known that Qingshan Village couldn’t hold back Wang Sheng; the fact that Wang Sheng had stayed so long and taken such good care of everything was somewhat unexpected to him.
Wang Sheng raised an eyebrow, discerning the village chief’s implication.
“I’m just going away for a short trip; I will return.”
He didn’t plan to leave for good.
With the progress bar’s existence, it didn’t matter where he was, so why not choose a familiar place?
Hearing this, the village chief felt a bit awkward, but also a sigh of relief inside.
“In that case, do you want to take a few people with you?”
The village chief didn’t have any ulterior motives; it was just a subconscious thought. After all, when Wang Sheng was in the village, all the miscellaneous matters were organized by the village chief.
Wang Sheng initially wanted to refuse, but after some consideration, he said, “There’s no need for the others; I’ll take the twelve students from the academy.”
Although the twelve academy students benefited from his care, a True Dragon couldn’t be raised in deep waters. With his current strength, he could protect some people, and it would be good to take them out for experience.
To read ten thousand books, to travel ten thousand miles – the two have always complemented each other.
This journey would provide experience for both the academy students and himself.
He wanted both the books and the journeys.
“Alright, I will have them prepare.”
Although the village chief was old and hadn’t cultivated, he knew that being led by Wang Sheng was a tremendous opportunity for those children, a most fortuitous chance.
“There’s no need to force them, let them follow their own will.”
“They will be willing.”
Everyone in the village was clear that the biggest opportunity was Wang Sheng himself; no one would refuse this.
After talking with the village chief for a while, Wang Sheng got up to leave and then found Yue.
“Do you want to come along?”
Yue shook her head, saying, “I’ll pass, just hoping that when you, Lord Wang Sheng, come back, you can tell me some news about the Valley Master.”
Her current status wasn’t particularly suited to go out. Several Overlord Level forces had not given up on looking for her and Xing.
Especially after the Valley Master caused that incident, the Overlord forces were even more eager to find them, whether overtly or covertly sending out many people.
She had a premonition about this, so unless absolutely necessary, she wouldn’t go out.
Besides, since the Valley Master had passed away, whether she went out or not made no difference to her.
Wang Sheng didn’t insist. Since Yue didn’t wish to go, that was fine; she could stay and guard Qingshan Village.
A Grandmaster Level Martial Artist guarding a small mountain village was indeed more than adequate.
Time passed, and soon, everyone in the village knew that Wang Sheng would be away for a while. At first, it caused a bit of a stir, but soon things quietly settled down.
About a week later, Wang Sheng felt that both Da Bai and Yun Xiao were emanating a powerful aura.
“Have they evolved successfully?”
They had broken through smoothly and effortlessly, without risk of life and limb.
“Roar!”
“Chirp chirp chirp!”
The two spirit beasts, having been silent for over a year, were now naturally excited by their evolutionary breakthrough.
“Quiet!”
A single command from Wang Sheng startled them both.
Da Bai and Yun Xiao immediately ceased their noise because when he shouted, he unconsciously used his own imposing aura.
The two spirit beasts felt as if a primordial beast had frightened them, and they shivered in fear.
They were certainly no match for whatever they sensed.
Thus, the sense of empowerment they felt after their evolution disappeared in an instant. In this place, they would always be insignificant.
“Roar~”
“Chirp chirp~”
They both called out softly, then came over to rub against Wang Sheng as a gesture of appeasement.
“Alright, get ready. In a few days, you will come out with me.”
He was waiting for Da Bai and Yun Xiao, naturally wanting to bring both of them along on the outing.
Da Bai was the best mode of transportation, and he had already asked the village chief to have someone build a “tiger cart.” When the time came, Da Bai would be the power behind the “tiger cart.”
As for the strength of Da Bai and Yun Xiao, with his current prowess, he did not need to test them to know clearly.
They were roughly equivalent to Ninth Grade Martial Artists, a level of strength that was inconsequential to him, so he did not pay too much attention to it.
He valued the functionality of the two spirit beasts more.
“It’s still a bit too big.”
He was speaking to Da Bai, who was almost five meters long and immensely huge. Although it was not unusable, he would naturally prefer it to be smaller if possible.
Da Bai: “?”
Is it not good to be big?
For the vast majority of spirit beasts, the bigger, the better, the stronger the strength.
“It’s okay, it can still be used.”
Now that Da Bai and Yun Xiao were ready, Wang Sheng also prepared to set out.
The twelve from the school would all accompany him on an indefinite period of traveling and learning.
With him there, the parents raised no objections; they all agreed.
The desire for one’s children to succeed is every parent’s wish.
If given the chance, no one would pass it up.
Because of the “tiger cart,” the departure point was not at Qingshan Village but at the original location of Qingshan Village.
Although the three counties were now stable, the villagers had no intention of returning.
It wasn’t just that they did not want the hassle; more importantly, Qingshan Village had too many things they could not part with.
In the year 539 of the Great Zhou calendar, in May,
Wang Sheng led the twelve students away, heading in the direction of the Imperial City.
The village chief and others bid them farewell, watching the “tiger cart,” pulled by Da Bai, slowly departing from the site of Qingshan Village.
The parents of those children found it hard to let go.
Even though they were Martial Artists, they were only twelve or thirteen years old, with the youngest being just ten.
The village chief, on the other hand, was very open-minded.
“Let’s go back. They will return. With Yun Sheng there, there won’t be any problems.”
…
The tiger cart was large, and including Wang Sheng, it did not feel crowded even with twelve people.
At first, the children were somewhat nervous, but they were quickly captivated by the scenery outside.
It didn’t take long before they began chattering and soon got excited.
Only Liu Jian’an was a bit more composed.
“Uncle Wang, where are we going first?”
Wang Sheng, in the village, was also of the uncle generation.
He vaguely remembered Liu Jian’an used to call him Brother Wang, only to start calling him uncle at some point.
Of course, he didn’t care about the formality of titles.
“First to Jiang Yuan City, then out of Shuzhou!”
This was the route Wang Sheng had planned in advance.
He definitely wanted to go to Jiang Yuan City to see if he could obtain some legacy books there.
“Jiang Yuan City, huh? It’s hundreds of miles away, I’ve never been that far before.”
Liu Jian’an couldn’t hide his inherently childlike nature, his tone revealing curiosity.
He was originally from Lijiang Town, but he had never ventured that far either.
Hearing this, the others gathered around.
The more bold Wang Lingwei directly asked, “Uncle, are we just going to ride there in the cart?”
After saying this, Wang Lingwei immediately regretted it.
Because she saw a mischievous smile on Wang Sheng’s face.
“That’s a good question. Indeed, we are going by cart, but it’s me, not you.”
With that, he used his Divine Thought to toss out some objects, with a set appearing in front of each of the twelve.
“Put these on.”
All of these were weighted items, made of Blood-forged Steel and weighing hundreds of pounds.
The twelve put them on in a daze.
Then, with a thought from Wang Sheng, he threw all twelve of them off the “tiger cart,” saying, “Since we are out here for training, let’s start directly from here. Set a small goal: run and reach Jiang Yuan City by nightfall.”
“? ?”
Wang Lingwei, looking at the gradually departing cart, regretted being so talkative.
However, there was nothing to do but follow.
Thus, a miraculous scene unfolded on the road—a massive cart moving slowly ahead, with twelve young faces chasing after it.
In fact, many people saw this spectacle on the road, but no one found it strange; it seemed like a normal occurrence.
All twelve were Martial Artists, and they could withstand this level of training. Moreover, Wang Sheng was not stingy with restorative elixirs, so the group indeed reached Jiang Yuan City before nightfall, and they entered and settled in the city without any issues.
This scene astonished Liu Jian’an and the others.
They could enter with a giant tiger over five meters tall, how come those people didn’t even show a hint of curiosity?
Was this the confidence of a big city?
Impossible!
The rest were also filled with curiosity, so during dinner, Wang Lingwei, who was closer to Wang Sheng, asked,
“Uncle, why aren’t they at all curious about Da Bai’s presence?”
Wang Sheng smiled faintly, thought with his Divine Thought, and said, “Go look at what Da Bai looks like now.”