Chapter 323: Contemplation (1/2)

As the meal progressed, no one spoke more about the transaction that was made between them.

They began eating and focused on chatting. Murong Jing was open about living on Treasure Island and the life in the Sea of the Enchanted.

All the families that resided on Treasure Island lived of piracy. The family leaders and their elders rarely attended the looting, but most of their ordinary members did.

Each family owned many ships, and if one were to insult the Treasure Island, the entire group of pirates in the whole Sea of the Enchanted would gather together to deal with the outside influences with their massive fleet of experts.

As long as it was a power struggle amongst the pirates themselves, no one else would step in, but as soon as it involved outsiders, they would all band together as a tight ball of dynamite, ready to explode at any moment.

Xue Wei was surprised to hear that although they were pirates, they were all so protective of one another. It was not something he had expected to happen, but it made him smile and feel that they were indeed worthy of befriending.

After the meal, Murong Jing excused himself. He had to gather a few friends and then go hunting for Old Man Bai. He was not willing to let the old man survive after making a deal with Xue Wei.

Xue Wei, on the other hand, returned to the Thousand Treasure Pavilion together with his friends. When they arrived, they found that a delegation of experts was present. All of them were from the Thousand Treasure Pavilion, and they seemed to have been waiting for quite some time.

Xue Wei frowned when he saw them, his body turned taut and his eyes alert. Why had such a group of experts decided to come to his courtyard? He could not remember having done anything to insult the Thousand Treasure Pavilion.

”Young master Xue,” one of the people who had been waiting for him stepped forward and cupped his hands as he bowed deeply.

”We are sent by the supreme elder of the Thousand Treasure Pavilion,” he introduced himself. ”We are here to hand over your winnings from the auction. Please be at ease; every single essence stone is within this storage treasure.”

The man reached out and gave a bracelet to Xue Wei. It was a high-grade storage treasure, and it needed to be a high grade one to fit the sheer amount of essence stones that had been stuffed into it.

The Thousand Treasure Pavilion would usually charge five thousand low-grade essence stones for these high-grade storage treasures, but when they considered the sheer quantity of essence stones they had taken as a cut for selling these pills, they felt that it would be too petty also to charge him for the storage treasure.

Xue Wei unceremoniously kept the bracelet. He did not even look within it to see whether or not the storage treasure contained the many stones that he had been promised. Instead, he stored it away in his own treasure instantly.

Seeing his actions, the eyes of the elder who had spoken turned surprised. He would never have expected that Xue Wei would trust them so much, or be so casual about wealth.

The elder smiled wryly when he realized that they had looked down upon this person before. He was not just an alchemist; his personality was also outstanding. He would become a legend in the future - if he were allowed to grow.

After this, they quickly excused themselves and retreated while Xue Wei and the others entered the courtyard. Xue Wei could not help but feel uncomfortable.

Ever since he had seen Old Man Bai, he felt as if a poisonous snake was lurking in the darkness, readying itself to strike.

Although he was nothing for Murong Jing if he teamed up with others, the truth was that he was a genuine Saint ranked cultivator, and Xue Wei could be killed with a slap of his hands.

Xue Wei clenched his hands. He needed strength! Even now, his own power was not enough for him to save himself.

It was not only Xue Wei who thought like this, but his companions were also equally uncomfortable about their lack of strength. After reaching the Sea of the Enchanted where, although Saint ranked experts were not the most numerous, they were still much more common than they had been on Yan Dalu.

The further towards the center of the world they came, the more outstanding the geniuses and their cultivation bases became.

”Tianyi?” Xue Wei called out, and Bai Tianyi turned around, looking at the contemplating Xue Wei.

”What is it?” he asked frowning, not sure of what weird thoughts his friend had suddenly thought up.

”Why is it that the closer to the center of the world we come, the stronger the experts are?” Xue Wei voiced his concern to the only person he thought might be able to answer the question for them.

Although Bai Tianyi looked like a child, he was without a doubt the wisest of them all. He had lived the longest and experienced most. He would be the only one amongst them who could answer this question.

”This was the case before too,” Bai Tianyi said as he shrugged his shoulders. ”Back when the world was one single continent, the outskirts were all filled with weaker experts while the center was the world for the martial artist.

”I am not sure as to why, but the closer to the center you get, the denser the soul energy and the heaven-and-earth essence becomes.

”There has to be some reason behind it, but we don't know what it is. It has been like this for as long as I've known. The geniuses of the central province were also much more heaven-sent than the geniuses of the outskirts.

”One's future accomplishments were often determined by birth and where one began their lives. Even if your talent was outstanding, if you were born at the outskirts of the continent, or now in the outer border continents, then you had no chance to compete against the other geniuses.