A giant flying beast was flying through the skies like it was the sole ruler who ruled the sky.
The best seemed like the Mythical Qilin Beast that Long Chen had only heard about in legends. It had a single horn on its forehead, a yellow belly, a multicolored back, the body of a deer, and the tail of an ox.
Its gentle disposition made it seem like a calm beast, but its mystical aura made it difficult to underestimate.
The giant Qilin easily accompanied all three of them. The envoy was sitting at the front. Qian Yu sat behind her, and Long Chen sat at the end as he observed the beautiful scenery of this new world.
The world seemed to be an ordinary world with nothing much that was different.
They hadn't left the boundaries of Du Liang's Empire, so he only saw the populated area, which was filled with greenery. It seemed to have a good mixture of nature and buildings.
"You seem surprised. Is this your first time seeing a Half-Qilin Beast?" Qian Yu asked Long Chen as she noticed him looking at the beast with great interest.
"Half-Qilin?" Long Chen inquired in surprise.
According to the description he read, this is what a Qilin is supposed to look like. Why do they call it Half-Qilin beast? Is the real Qilin different? He couldn't help but wonder.
"Yeah. Half-Qilin? Did you think it was a real Qilin? Those are mythical and only exist in legend. The closest we get to a Qilin is through this half-qilin beast. It is said to look the part and also contain a fraction of real Qilin's bloodline." Qian Yu explained.
"Unfortunately, that's where the similarities end. Half Qilin looks the part but when it comes to strength, is not even close," she added.
"This girl is right. It looks like Qilin, but there are differences. Also, a real Qilin is a Royal Beast. They'll burn the whole world and die before they accept to become a mount. This thing is no more than a cheap imitation."
Xun also chimed in. Her voice was only audible to Long Chen.
'Does real Qilin exist as well?' Long Chen asked Xun, who appeared beside him.
" Of course, they do exist. But where, that's the big question. Even I haven't seen one personally. I only heard that they exist from some," Xun answered.
'Why do you believe they exist when you haven't seen them? You heard rumors as well,' Long Chen told Xun as he shook his head.
"In any case, even if this beast isn't a real Qilin, just the looks itself are worth it," Long Chen commented.
Qian Yu thought that Long Chen was talking to her. She nodded as she answered. "Exactly. Even Half-Qilin is rare. Only our Qiandi Empire possesses them."
While Qian Yu and Long Chen were talking amongst themselves, the Envoy was sitting in the front, confused.
'Why is the Princess talking to Prince Zen as if he is an idiot who doesn't know such basic things? And why is Prince Zen acting so ignorant?' she wondered as she frowned.
'Are they roleplaying?' she thought as she gave herself an excuse.
The Qilin kept racing through the skies, and soon it left the boundaries of Du Liang's Empire.
As soon as the Qilin left the Empire, Long Chen saw the surroundings change. The mixture of nature and buildings had disappeared. Instead, what remained in front of him was a desert where not a single person could be seen.
Let alone people; even beasts weren't visible.
The Half-qilin kept flying for hours without resting. The conversation between Long Chen and Qian Yu only happens occasionally and about the most random of things.
The Envoy heard all their conversation and kept feeling weird with each passing second. She even started to think that Qian Yu and Long Chen had developed a crush on each other which was making them behave so weirdly.
She still didn't realize that the person she thought to be the Prince of Tricion was someone else entirely.
"How far do we have to go?" Long Chen asked Qian Yu. He wanted to go to Esteria as soon as he could. Unfortunately, he didn't know much about this world. He could only leave after getting to Qiandi by finishing his Trial
" Five days," Qian Yu answered.
"What the heck? Five days at this speed? Just how far is Qiandi?" Long Chen exclaimed in shock. He thought it would take a day or so at best with how fast they were flying.
Travel at this speed for five days? That meant the distance between their current location and Qiandi was millions of kilometers.
He gazed at the envoy who was listening to them with perked-up ears.
To make sure that the envoy didn't hear his next words, he brought his lips closer to Qian Yu's ears.
"Can we just fight here? My promise will be completed, and I'll be able to leave. Let's not waste time with all this trouble," he whispered in Qian Yu's ears.
The envoy saw Long Chen whisper something in Qian Yu's ears which she failed to hear. She could feel her guts turning impatient in curiosity.
"No. The promise was that we'd do it in Qiandi. You must wait even though you're impatient," Qian Yu answered as she rolled her eyes.
'W-what?'
The Envoy heard Qian Yu's response. Her face went pale as she misunderstood Qian Yu's words.
'Do it in Qiandi? Impatient? They not only fell for each other, but they even decided to do that?' she thought as her lips opened wide in surprise.
She couldn't believe that things had progressed so much in only a few days. From what she knew about Qian Yu, this girl didn't even look properly at Pei Zen previously when they were leaving to take part in the first stage.
What happened there? What brought these two so close that they were talking about such vulgar things so openly.
'Cheh, it would be so good if this girl just fought here. She is just wasting my time here,' Long Chen thought as he frowned. Since he had no other choice, he could only nod his head and wait.
With no other option in sight, waiting for five days seemed like the best option. He could try to kill the both of them and run away, but the risk wasn't worth it.
He closed his eyes and started waiting as he cultivated to make sure that his time wasn't wasted.
Time kept passing slowly. Day turned to night, and night turned to day. As days passed, their travel continued. The surroundings kept changing as the desert once again became green. They entered another Empire.
As five days hadn't passed, Long Chen realized that this Empire wasn't Qiandi. As expected, the Half-Qilin didn't stop there and continued flying. It flew straight to the next Empire.
After passing through more than five Empires, they finally reached the Qiandi Empire. Exactly five days had passed when the Half-Qilin started going down. It went down in front of an intimidating-looking place.
"Princess!"
As soon as the Half-Qilin landed on the ground, the guards surrounding the Palace came up in a proper formation. They got down on one knee to green Qian Yu.
Qian Yu ignored the greetings. Instead, she looked at Long Chen and commanded him, "Come with me."
Qian Yu entered the Palace while Long Chen followed from behind. The envoy also walked with them.
Everything seemed normal; however, as the hallway split in two directions, Qian Yu took a different path than the envoy. It forced the envoy to call out Qian Yu. "Princess, where are you going?"
"We are supposed to report to His Majesty," she called out.
"I'll do that later. I have something more important to do now. I am going to the training arena. No one shall disturb me. I'll meet father after I finish," Qian Yu answered as she refused to stop.
'What? She is so eager to have that with him that she can't meet her father now? And she wants to have that in Training arena?' she thought as she stood shocked. She didn't know what to speak.
Her mouth remained open as she watched Qian Yu leave.
*****
Qian Yu was unaware of the impression she had created on the envoy. She didn't know what misunderstanding she had created. It was unclear what her reaction would be if she knew about her thoughts.
Qian Yu took Long Chen to a training hall. She stepped inside with him before she closed the door.
"This is where we will fight," she said as she locked the door. "No one will disturb us."
"Good. After I win, I'll leave," Long Chen let out as he nodded his head.
He created some distance between him and Qian Yu before he pulled out a black rusted sword.
"I am prepared," he declared as he stood calmly with the Sword of Time in his hand.