At the front of the ship, Tian Zhu and Bao Wuji stood side by side, watching the landscape fly past at incredible speed.

Although their faces showed no surprise, Aotian was deeply moved on the inside.

‘Such speed… I’ve never ridden anything this fast in my life. And this power comes from me.’ he thought, thrilled.

In reality, the one piloting the ship was Bao Wuji. Even though the vessel couldn’t fully withstand the power of a perfected Golden Core cultivator—even after the improvements made by the elders—with Bao Wuji in control, the speed was practically the same.

Though it pushed the ship a little beyond its limits—which could damage it—with Bao Wuji’s delicate control, it should still complete the round trip as planned without breaking down. And even if it couldn’t, they would have the materials to repair it by then.

The advantage of flying ships was their ability to transport many people without draining the energy of the cultivator piloting them. As long as the ship had high enough quality, it could travel at the same speed as the realm of the one controlling it. The only cost was spiritual stones—but with the high-grade stone synthesized by Bao Wuji, this ship could fly for a long time.

While the ship couldn’t reach Nascent Soul-level speed—even under Bao Wuji’s control—traveling at the speed of a perfected Golden Core cultivator was already incredible.

After a few minutes of flight, Bao Wuji used his treasure radar skill for the first time that day, allowing Aotian to mentally calculate the ship’s current speed, comparing their position to the Black Rock Mountain where they had departed. This also helped him determine their travel route and when to stop to reach their goal.

But when the skill was activated, and he calculated their current position, Aotian’s eyes widened and his main body froze mid-step.

“Aotian?” Rihai called, confused and concerned.

Aotian turned to her with a stunned, bewildered expression.

“Rihai… I think I might have been found by my sect…” he said, still in shock, blurting out a shocking truth without much thought.

“Your sect?!” Now it was Rihai’s turn to be stunned by the sudden revelation.

She didn’t even know Aotian had a sect.

“Ugh! It’s complicated. I’ll explain it to you later. First, let me focus.” Aotian tried to postpone the topic—for now, he still needed to think about how he would explain that to her—and more importantly, he really needed to concentrate.

Closing his eyes and shifting his attention to his avatars, Aotian became more serious than ever.

Not that he needed to close his eyes or focus—but at that moment, he couldn’t afford any mistakes.

All of his avatars focused their minds as well.

‘How could I be so stupid!’ he mentally scolded himself after confirming the information, still dazed.

All of this was happening because, with Bao Wuji’s detection, something surprising was revealed to Aotian.

The distance his avatars had traveled in just a few minutes aboard the flying ship was far greater than he had imagined. It wasn’t just far—it was an entirely different order of magnitude.

‘I’m way too used to thinking like a regular human. I need to remember that I have avatars who can do far more than a normal person, or even an average cultivator. Even if we’re suns of distance apart, with the speed of my more powerful avatars, it won’t take decades, maybe not even years, for them to reach my main body!’ Aotian thought, excited.

‘No, that’s with the ship’s Golden Core-level speed… if Bao Wuji himself comes to get me… no, I have to try. I don’t even know what the top speed of a Nascent Soul cultivator is, but it must be insane! Hahaha! Let’s go!’ he thought, increasingly euphoric.

‘Looks like the days when I’ll be walking sideways through this desert are just around the corner!’

He opened his eyes with enthusiasm—but froze when he met Rihai’s gaze, her brows furrowed. She looked confused, lost, and even slightly downcast.

Aotian couldn’t help but scratch his head nervously.

‘How am I even going to explain this?’

…

Back on the flying ship, Bao Wuji looked at Tian Zhu beside him with an extremely solemn gaze.

“Tian Zhu. This old man has something important to do. I’ll leave the ship’s controls to you,” the elder said simply but seriously.

With a nod from Tian Zhu, he disconnected his energy from the ship and allowed the sect leader to take over.

As soon as that was done, without saying another word, Bao Wuji vanished completely from sight.

The disciples who had seen the scene from a distance were stunned—they were already wondering who that old man was, calmly standing next to their sect leader, a powerful Golden Core cultivator.

And now, with his sudden disappearance, they were only more curious about who that powerful man was and what he meant to the sect.

As soon as Bao Wuji vanished, the ship’s speed began to drop slightly until stabilizing just a few percent lower than before.

But the difference wasn’t very significant.

Since the sect leader had the “Battle Beyond the Limit” bonus, his power was much greater than his actual realm. Still, since he lacked the delicate control of Bao Wuji’s Nascent Soul level, he couldn’t push the ship as hard.

Despite Bao Wuji’s departure, the sect’s plans—which were, by definition, Aotian’s plans—remained unchanged.

With a much higher speed than previously planned, the journey ended up being much faster. Whenever they reached one of the predefined target locations, the ship would stop and drop off the disciples and miners.

If it was a tomb, Tian Zhu would break in with brute force, destroy the existing formations, and leave the exploration to the disciples.

Although spiritual mines weren’t as visible as spiritual veins—which emit powerful mana and reveal their presence—mines still left traces, albeit more subtle, which made them possible to find.

For example, in forests, spiritual wood grows above mines, or in deserts, where spiritual sand traces appear—and so on.

The real challenge was spotting those clues amid the vast continent. But with the coordinates provided by Bao Wuji, it couldn’t have been easier.

The outbound trip, initially planned to take a month, was completed in about five days. That’s how out-of-touch Aotian was with the real distances he could cover in a short time with his power.

…

With the last disciple and workers disembarking, Tian Zhu looked at the elders who remained aboard the ship.

‘Now it’s time for the main course!’

Aotian thought mischievously.

‘Looks like the name of the three devourers will echo again in this cultivation world… although now, there are more than three… hehehe.’

As Aotian’s evil plans bubbled with excitement, cultivators in the region couldn’t help but feel an ominous premonition.

‘Watch out, world—I’m coming!’

————————————————-

Hey everyone, sorry for the shorter chapter and possibly lower quality this time. I’ve been doing a lot of calculations regarding the physics of the world, and I ended up realizing that even distances spanning several suns in diameter are small compared to the power a cultivator can eventually attain. In the end, I kept that concept but shifted the story’s direction a bit.

I spent a lot of time thinking through all this—crunching numbers, reworking the future plot, writing and rewriting tons of words. It drained me a bit and might’ve impacted this chapter’s quality.

Did you know that the fastest fighter jet in the world could cross the diameter of four suns in about 65 days… if it could fly nonstop and without refueling?

And that if you multiplied the explosive running speed of an average human by about 170 times, they would reach the speed of that jet?

Well, we’re talking about a Nascent Soul cultivator here. So, I think we can agree that his speed surpasses 170 times that of a normal human, and since he can fly nonstop as long as he has enough spiritual energy… well, I think you get the idea.

I just wanted to be transparent and explain that the story has now taken a slightly different path from what I originally had in mind. Still, I don’t think that’s a bad thing—some cool new ideas came out of this shift.

With all that said, thank you for reading!

Bye!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep