Chapter 323
Chapter 323: 323
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 .
"You are the same . " Bai Tianyi looked at Xue Wei . "Although your talent is heaven-defying, and although your advance is rapid, you can only just be compared to some geniuses of the central region . If you were not an Azure Dragon, it would be deadly for you to travel around like this . "
Xue Wei looked at Bai Tianyi, and his eyes had turned solemn . He knew that Bai Tianyi was not lying, so although he had been quite proud of his own achievements, it seemed that he had been complacent . He was still nothing when compared to the rest of the world .
Sighing, he looked up towards the ceiling, feeling slightly apprehensive . He never questioned his decisions and now was not the time to do it . He just felt resigned . Life was so fragile .
"Don't look so sad," Bai Tianyi said . "We are living life to the fullest," he continued .
"Although we are not heaven-sent geniuses, we are still able to traverse the world . We are seeing things that most people would never get to see in their entire lives . We are lucky as we never go hungry and we are able to chase our dreams and our goals, never looking back, never backing down . "
Xue Wei listened to Bai Tianyi's words, and he felt more and more invigorated by listening .
Bai Tianyi smiled wryly when looking at Xue Wei . Although Xue Wei was the core of their group, he was also the one with the most pressure on his shoulders .
When they encountered problems, it was Xue Wei they looked to, to solve them .
When they needed something, it was Xue Wei they looked at to get what they wanted or found a way to get it for them .
Xue Wei was always in charge of their living expenses; he had to make sure that they could afford not only the regular costs but also have resources to cultivate their energies as fast as possible .
It was no wonder that he sometimes felt lost and unsure of his path in life, but at moments like these, his friends proved that they were indeed worthy of being considered good friends .
They would encourage him, support him, and calm him . It was these friends who were the reason that he had not given up on life yet, and for them, he would do anything .
Thinking like this, Xue Wei smirked . So what if he was not a genius comparable to the geniuses of the central region? He was able to work harder than anyone else!
Even if he was not a talent, he was a hard worker, and he believed that everything would be possible if he just tried his best . In case it ended up not being enough, then there was nothing to do about it, but he would be able to die without regrets because he did his very best . He lived strongly and never backed down!
The more he thought like this, the stronger the aura around him became . He was filled with excitement and energy, his face, which previously had been slightly listless, was now blossoming with a brilliant smile .
Bai Tianyi smirked when he saw this, and he felt much better now than he had before . It was good to see that Xue Wei had refound his faith in himself .
"Let us rush to the Saint realm!" Xue Wei exclaimed and smiled as he went up the stairs towards his own room . "Call for me if Murong Jing arrives . The delegation is leaving in nineteen days, so until then, focus on your cultivation!"
The King, or Jiang Yingyue as she was called now, had decided not to follow the delegation any longer . She was going to stay with Tao Wu and the pirate group .
But apart from her, the rest of the delegation had planned on continuing their journey, and it could not be delayed for too long .
They were currently stuck on the island because they had sold the blood ship . But they had commissioned another ship which was being made right then and there .
The blood ship had provided them with an outstanding number of essence stones, and they had bought a ship that was infused with formations and inscriptions .
It was going to be able to utilize the wind in the air to increase its speed . It was going to be unable to burn, and it would be still even during high seas and storms .
Because of the many inscriptions and formations, the creation of the ship was going to take a long time . This was also the reason why the delegation was still residing on Treasure Island .
In these nineteen days, Xue Wei needed to refine pills for Tao Wu and Murong Jing . Nineteen days had to be enough .
When refining pills, Xue Wei was cultivating his spiritual energy . It required spiritual energy to refine pills, and the more difficult it was, the more spiritual energy one would gain .
So it was beneficial for Xue Wei to refine pills, but he did not have an unlimited amount of resources . The price for making a two-colored Rainbow Pill was simply unexpected, and the previous five pills had almost exhausted his supply of resources .
He still had ingredients for the one colored rainbow pill, but the two colored rainbow pills were costly, and he could not help but fear the price of the three colored rainbow pills . If the price continued to rise like this with each of the recipes, Xue Wei started thinking that the seven-colored Rainbow Pills would end up exhausting a whole continent for resources .
Unless the ingredients changed with time, then he could only fear that it was impossible to make a seven-colored rainbow pill .
With this in his mind, Xue Wei went into his room and began cultivating his Qi while waiting for Tao Wu to send the ingredients his way .