"Master, I think I found out the location of the tomb!" Seren suddenly said.
And Hong Wei, with excitement building slowly but surely in his chest, couldn't help but lean forward and ask immediately, "And where is that?"
Seren pondered for a moment, scanning the maps once more to be sure, before she finally said, "According to these maps, it should be somewhere around the border between the Xia Dynasty and the Wu Kingdom. That means it lies far to the south of here."
She then added, "It's just that… the distance from here should be no less than twenty thousand li, so it's quite far."
Hong Wei's eyes dimmed slightly when he heard that.
A single li was five hundred meters. That meant the tomb was roughly ten thousand kilometers away.
That number echoed in his mind.
With his current strength only slightly above that of an ordinary person, if he had to walk all the way there… just how long would that even take?
His excitement cooled quickly as a wave of helplessness washed over him.
Should he wait until he summoned a mount character first?
After all, it wasn't like his gacha game lacked animals. Even if they were much fewer in number compared to the female characters, and even the male ones… and among the rarest overall, they did exist.
But as he recalled the tier of those animal characters, he couldn't help but feel a growing sense of discouragement. All of them were incredibly high tier, even more so than Seren herself.
Which meant… the chances of summoning one any time soon were terribly slim.
As that sense of powerlessness settled on him, and his face expressed that.
Seren, who noticed that, spoke up in a timely and reassuring tone. "Master, I could go there alone, retrieve whatever lies in that tomb, and return. There's no need for you to feel disheartened."
Hong Wei didn't respond immediately.
He knew that sending Seren alone wasn't impossible… far from it. She should have the strength and ability to handle such a task on her own.
But if he could help it, he didn't want that.
Yes, he liked when things came easily to him by his subordinates. But not everything. Not this.
He wanted to participate, and exert an effort too, especially when it came to something so important.
This was, after all, the first step in his cultivation journey. And for him, that held meaning. A weight of its own.
A heavy silence settled in the room. And Seren, sensing the conflict in her master's heart and understanding that he didn't truly like her earlier suggestion, gently offered another.
"Then… Master, how about I carry you and fly there myself?" she said softly. "If I shield you with my Qi, you'll be protected, but it will still be a straining and exhausting journey for you. Even so… do you still want to go there with me?"
Hong Wei, who had lowered his head while lost in thought, slowly looked up.
He paused for a moment, weighing the offer carefully.
And then, with his voice louder than usual and filled with determination, he declared without a trace of hesitation, "Yes. Let's go there like that!"
At the side, Shan Mei chuckled quietly at his sudden burst of enthusiasm, her lips curling into a small smile. The other two, however, remained silent, more reserved.
And just like that, the decision was made.
Hong Wei naturally didn't set out immediately. Instead, he planned to prepare everything that might be needed today, and depart tomorrow morning as soon as the sun rose.
But even before that, there were still some matters he had yet to deal with.
Now that the issue regarding the tomb had been resolved, Hong Wei turned to Shen Feiyu and asked, "Okay, the tomb aside, tell me about the cultivation world, the country, and what you found."
For Hong Wei, understanding the general situation held great importance. In a world ruled by strength, knowing the lay of the land was like holding a map before entering a battlefield.
It would naturally allow him to act more carefully, avoid offending forces he shouldn't, and steer clear of places too dangerous to cross, especially for someone who has not even stepped into the cultivation.
Right now, he only knew the name of his town, his county, and the country. That wasn't nearly enough.
Shen Feiyu didn't start speaking immediately. Instead, he took a moment to gather his thoughts and summarize everything he had managed to learn.
"The cultivation world is vast," he finally began. "And the information I could gather from a remote county like this one may not be fully reliable, so please take that into account, my lord."
Hong Wei naturally understood that and gave a simple nod.
Then, Shen Feiyu finally began his actual report.
He started by explaining the current situation of the Xia Dynasty and how it actually held a strong position in the cultivation world.
How it seemed the Xia dynasty had once been even more powerful in the past. However, an unknown incident had occurred, something that Shen Feiyu couldn't uncover the details of, and after that, the dynasty's strength suffered a drastic decline. Only in recent years had it begun recovering.
That aside, what truly piqued Hong Wei's interest was the talk about the cultivation sects.
There were many sects inside the Xia Dynasty, and they operated independently from the country, neither side interfering in the affairs of the other.
Hong Wei was particularly interested in the closest sect from his location, the Azure Cloud Sect. And while "close" was relative, it was still more than ten thousand li away.
Still, he was curious about this sect. Since the Qi there was bound to be plentiful, could he go there along with his people? It was something that would need further investigation.
"My lord," Shen Feiyu added seriously, "I think what you need to be most careful about is mostly the demonic sects, especially the Blood Spirit Hall. They seem to have a strong presence here in the Xia Dynasty."
With that, Shen Feiyu finally finished his report.
Hong Wei nodded appreciatively at the advice, then thanked him before speaking again. "With this mission done, and with you even bringing back a treasure map, you now have one year of free time. Do what you want with it."
He paused briefly, before adding, "Still, if possible, try to raise your strength during this period. Also, gather more information if you come across it. And naturally, if you happen upon any treasures that could help with potential or Qi affinity, be sure to report them."
Was he asking too much, even when he claimed to be giving the man free time?
Hong Wei couldn't help but wonder that for a moment… But in the end, weren't these things simple to do in passing anyway? So maybe it was fine?
"Understood, my lord!" Shen Feiyu responded enthusiastically, before finally taking leave.