飞行员和小空乘POP

At night, they rested by the side of the road. They didn't build a camp or make a campfire. A campfire would just attract spirit beasts. They ate ready-to-eat dried food, so there was no need for cooking.

The three adults took turns doing guard duty while the rest slept. This was not needed for Amon because he did not need sleep, but Amon didn't tell them that. He pretended to sleep while cultivating mildly otherwise the aether fluctuation might cause the adults to question him. He slept a little further away to reduce the others from sensing him doing cultivation. Liu Siuni advised him to sleep closer but Amon ignored her. The others just treated him as someone who dislike socializing with others, as was his reputation in the Lin clan.

During that night, he felt a breakthrough in his cultivation. Yet, he sensed he was still at the Peak Strength stage. It also didn't make sense because he just achieved this level only half a year ago. Not possible for him to achieve another breakthrough this fast.

He immersed his consciousness into his energy space. It was the same. He confirmed his cultivation level was still at the Peak Strength stage of the Human realm. No, the breakthrough was not in this energy space. So, he moved to the other energy space. One that he had ignored for a long time. The energy space of the black core.

This black core was larger than usual, it was also denser and emitting an eerie black light.

This black core was the one that had undergone a breakthrough. His cultivation art had not been able to nourish this black core, so this black core had been stagnant ever since Amon found out about it. He could use the normal aether absorption method to send this black core some nurture, but the resulting effect was too little. He had better use of his time by concentrating his growth using cultivation art on his normal energy core, so he simply ignored this black core all this time.

However, ever since his demon body evolved after consuming the Thousand-Year Mandrake, his body had been able to absorb aether passively. Half the aether from this passive absorption went to the black core. Amon simply let it. The amount of aether absorbed in this way wasn't high, but at least it was higher than the normal absorption method without cultivation art. The best thing was Amon didn't have to actively deal with it, so he just let this passive aether slowly nourish the black core.

Now, it seemed to finally show a result.

Amon had also never tapped into this black core for energy. Firstly, because it was too weak. It won't be useful in a fight. Secondly, he remembered what Hei Gong had told him. That every demon cultivator projected particular demon energy. He suspected that if he used the aether from this black core, it will produce the demon energy that Hei Gong was worrying about. That's why he never once tapped into the energy from this black core.

As he observed the strengthened black core, he again felt the influence between the two cores. Now that the black core was stronger, he saw a thread of energy reaching out from the black core towards the space where his normal core was at.

Amon was worried that this black energy might taint the energy core in the other space, he focused his mind to prevent that from happening. But the energy thread seemed to have a life on its own, it avoided Amon when he attempted to grab it. It even increased in speed, as if afraid that Amon would successfully hold it down.

Caught off guard by this, Amon didn't manage to stop the thread before it touched the wall that separated the two energy spaces. Amon saw with worry as the black energy seeped through the wall. He passed over to the other side to see if this thread of black energy caused any problem.

But instead of passing over to the other side, he found himself in an in-between space. There was another thread coming from the space where his normal energy core was at. The thread was thicker than the black thread and they were currently intertwining in this in-between space.

The black energy stayed in this space, it didn't cross over to the space that housed his normal energy core. This was good, this meant that his normal energy core won't be affected by the black energy.

However, he was intrigued by this intermediary space. The two threads from two separate energy spaces had created this one to allow them to mingle. The white thread was currently blanketing the black thread since it was much thicker. They created a ball of energy that was mostly white with some speck of black.

This was not another core, it was simply a collection of energy. He felt that if he wanted, he could harness this merged energy to fuel his arts. Yet, he would have to experiment on it only when he was alone. Even if the black energy was overshadowed, there was still a chance that someone might sense the difference.

Amon deduced if his two cores were equal in strength, the ball of energy produced by their combined threads should be equal in white and black. But he had no way to test this theory because the development of his normal energy space would always be much faster than the black core. None of the cultivation arts that he found was able to cultivate the black core. Not even the ones from the pyramid legacy.

After making sure that this new development of his black core didn't cause disturbance to his normal energy core, Amon left it alone. Letting it slowly grow by passive aether absorption.

*

Four days after they started their journey, they arrived at the first checkpoint station. Lin Siuni informed the youths that there were two checkpoint stations along this road to Qishurg city.

The station was not large, but it had a lodging service to allow travelers to spend the night there. Not many travelers dared to brave the wild, so usually, there were always rooms available.

A shop was also available inside the station where travelers could resupply. Their prices were of course higher than the price normally found in the city. No travelers complained about the price. It was already fortunate if they could find a place to resupply in the middle of nowhere.

Amon counted six cultivators that guarded this station. When Amon asked, Lin Siuni told him that these guards were at least Transformation stage cultivators. There was normally at least one Peak Transformation stage cultivator on each station.

On a bigger checkpoint station of a longer route, there might be a Mystic stage cultivator in charge. At the border of the empire, the border road was usually guarded by a fortress. Inside this fortress was normally at least one Spirit stage cultivator.

'So, the country's borders are guarded by people as strong as Lin Weida? This means the ruling party of the kingdom should have someone even stronger,' Amon thought.

They had to pay using aer stones to stay the night. Lin Siaumau settled the payment. Losing a few aer stones was fine in exchange for a full night's sleep on a comfortable soft bed.

They departed soon the next morning.

*

Another two days passed as they continued their journey. Lin Siuni told the youths that in three more days they would be arriving at the second checkpoint station, then another five days travel to Qishurg city.

Nothing happened throughout their journey. Not even a stray spirit beast. Lin Toru laughed that they might actually make it to the city in the intended time. This way, they had one full week to enjoy the entertainment inside the big city before the royal academy entrance exam.

Just as Lin Toru finished laughing, Amon sensed a killing intent. He was just about to jump to the side when Lin Siaumau suddenly appeared in front of him with a stretch-out arm.

In Lin Siaumau's hand, Amon saw a long needle. Siaumau had caught the needle mid-flight.

'Impressive. So, this is the speed of a Peak Transformation stage,' Amon thought. Lin Siaumau, who stood in front of him, was stronger than Lin Zuyi's bodyguard who he had defeated with much difficulty.

Another issue concerned Amon, out of all the people here, the needle's trajectory was straight at him. Was it a random target or a deliberate one?

Lin Siaumau observed the long needle in his arm. He then uttered loudly, "Who is there? Show yourself!"

Ten people dressed all in black with their faces covered appeared around them.

Lin Siaumau frowned. They were outnumbered. Not to mention the four with them were all inexperienced youths. He hoped these masked people were only at the Strength stage. Otherwise, they would have a problem.

"Who are you, people?!" He uttered. "Do you know that we are from the Lin clan? If you know what's good for you, you should leave before making a mistake you can't undo!"

They didn't respond to Siaumau's words. Instead, they looked at one of them. This one person, who could be discerned as a woman from the shape of her body, simply nodded.

The other nine then rushed forward with their weapons at the ready.