38 Voyage

---

"Hey! Over here!"

As soon as Sieg entered the 2nd floor of the Mission Requesting Pavilion, he heard a familiar voice. It came from Gwen, behind her are three other people who threw curious gazes at Sieg.

He was casually walking towards them when he heard faint gossips happening.

"Why did you invited him? Do you want us to fail?"

"And here I thought it was someone strong."

"You guys! Relax, he's not an Inner Disciple without any reason."

From their perspective, Sieg could tell that they were talking about him but can't hear them at that distance. What they didn't know is that Sieg's senses are sharper compared to people at his level. This was due to him cultivating his soul on par with his ki using the Ancient Heart Mantra.

Despite hearing this, Sieg didn't made any actions…yet.

"I'm here, we can go now." Sieg calmly stated, Gwen nodded at him while the other behind her just sneered. It was clear that they don't think that highly of him.

"Let's go…" Gwen sensed the awkward atmosphere so she walked in front and took initiative. The five of them approached the counter inside the building to get more informations for their missions.

The attendant in there told them that the Luo Clan would be the one's that would tell them more details, he received their badges and recorded that date and time as well as the mission they took. There were no deadlines for any of them to follow so they could go back into the sect anytime. They could also forfeit the mission halfway through but they need to pay merit points depending on the difficulty of the mission.

Gwen and the others nodded and they discussed about their current mission.

"Traveling to High East City would take us about 1 week by mounts of course that doesn't include the fact that there might some disruptions along the way." A spiked hair guy said.

"Right, there also the terrain. High East City is located at the center of a large congregation of mountains. The mounts might need more rest in between, thus extending out travel time." A chubby guy said.

"We can't leave the sect for too long. A big event is about to happen." A yellow haired guy said.

"How about renting a Ferghana Horse?" Asked Gwen, the three men paused and an expression of delight showed in their faces.

"Right! How could we forget the Ferghana Horses! As expected of Gwen, really smart unlike others who don't contribute hmph!" The spiked haired guy said as he threw a disdaining glance at Sieg.

However what he saw infuriated him even more, there nothing but pure indifference in Sieg's face. It even looked like he was about to yawn any second now. He wanted to humiliate Sieg by, first insulting him and then fighting him to show him that him being an Inner Disciple because of a petty tournament won't give him any advantages at all. In fact he wasn't the only one who feels this way towards him, everyone in the sect shares the same opinion.

But it seems that this tactic won't work on Sieg.

As for Gwen, she could just smile wryly. She knew that this cannot be prevented, to be totally honest, even she feels that it's a little bit unfair that Sieg became an Inner Disciple that fast and that easy, however she knew that Sieg isn't a bad person, and it's not like he was the one who arranged the rules and gave the rewards for the yearly recruitment. His luck was just good and that's what she's jealous about.

"You know what? How about we just go now? The faster we finish this mission the sooner we could go home." Gwen being the only mediator of the group suggested. The others just nodded and walked towards the lower part of the mountain.

They went into the animal keep where they could rent Ferghana Horses, and since they don't know how many days it would take to finish the mission, they just left a will promising that they would lay the total amount of money they owe upon returning to the sect, they also agreed that if, for unfortunate reasons, the horse died, they would shoulder a penalty charge.

With this finished, the group rode their horses and went out of the sect. And since the Freezing Sky Sect is located onto the northern part of the City, they just used the northern gates to exit the city and started their travels.

***

3 days later. Night time.

Sieg and company had a smooth journey so far. They would ride their horses from sunrise and rest when it's noon, continue until it's sunset, make a camp then rest for the night. Throughout the journey, the only one who would speak to Sieg is only Gwen, the other's still ignored him like air but deep inside they're about to explode in fury.

Every single time they had a chance, they would absolutely throw an insult to him without fail, but none of these prompted any changes on Sieg's face. They knew that he's not deaf or mute since he would respond everytime Gwen talked to him yet when it comes to them he didn't give any damn. This was like a blatant slap tp their faces, they wanted to humiliate him in front of Gwen so that she would focus her attention to them and not him yet nothing worked so far, hence they could only throw furious gazes at him and wait patiently for a chance.

From their guess, they only needed two more days to reach High East City, this just means that Ferghana Horses are really a superb mount breed.

They horses are nearby the tent they erected as they rest for the night. They gathered some food and fed it to the horses they also made an effort to have them drink water to restore their energies.

They are currently inside a nameless forest, the size wasn't that big and it was relatively according to one them. There's also an obvious path inside the forest that made it easier for them, so they just picked a random place inside to rest.

Everyone was on their tents while Sieg was outside meditating under the blanket of the night sky. It's been a few days since he looked for some answers on why he can't use some of his techniques yet up until now, he can't find any answers. This really frustrated him, he worked incredibly hard to learn those techniques, but now they just disappeared in a flash, he doesn't even know the reason why.

The situation inside his body also concerning him. The image of the illusory Moon inside his body is getting bigger, before it was a size of a baby's fist, now this sized doubled, the amount of that 'liquid thingy' at the center also increased. Although he can't feel any threat from any of this, it's really bothering him that he doesn't have any idea if this was suppose to happen or not.

*Hum* *Hum*

"Hmm?" Sieg frowned, he opened his eyes without making any oblivious movements. He just sensed a killing intent somewhere. He closed his eyes and had his Spirit sense his surroundings. "Five, no seven, there's also one strong guy at the back. Must be their boss."

***

Fifteen meters away from them, there were some people who had a blood-stained weapons on their hands. They are ginning maliciously and looking at the tent, some of these people even had an overwhelming lusts on their faces.

"Boss! I really saw a woman! And she is a smoking hot babe!"

"If it is like you said, then I'll let you have once I'm done with a few rounds." A man with a huge body frame said, he licked his lips in anticipation and eagerness.

"Unfair! Let us have a go as well boss! We're in this together right?" One random guy said.

"Right right! This is why were called the Spider's Bandits!"

The bandits discussed as they grew closer and closer to where Sieg and the company is camping.

***

"Wha-what are you doing here?" Gwen was startled, she is a sensitive person even when sleeping, the smallest commotion near her would always make wake her up, and since Sieg literally charged inside her tent without any remorse at all, he woke her up.

"8 people, 10 meters away, prepare for combat." Sieg only said this and stepped outside the tent.

He also did this on the others and it wasn't very long until everyone went outside their tents. Sieg also informed them not to make any movements that would gave them away. He didn't want to alert their enemies so he said that they would gather in front of the campfire like they would just discuss something.

"Hey, are you sure there's someone? I don't feel any presence at all." The chubby guy said.

"Right right! I don't feel any as well!" The yellow haired guy said, seemingly fanning the flames.

"You know if you want to catch our attention, you don't have to do this, just simply kowtow in front of us and say that you're inferior to us then we'll forgive you hahaha."

"Hahaha."

"You guys stop that!" Gwen prevented them, but it seems that this won't work on them, they are really bent on pissing off Sieg.

"Come come little one! Start kowtowing hahaha..."

"Right! Do it in front of I, your father first."

"No! You do it in front of ME first! Hahahaha…" the three guys started throwing off one insult after another, they originally had no plans on stopping but they felt the atmosphere suddenly turned cold in an instant.

For the first time in three day, Sieg finally talked back to them, and what he said made their faces flushed deep red in shame.

"Are you guys really an Inner Disciples? Or 'Good at Sucking Disciples'? Since you guys are 'skilled in using your mouths' then maybe that's also how you got your current statuses, by 'sucking' up to others. If you think that I'm lying about this then go back to your tents and fuck yourselves, that's what you're good at anyways right?"

As Sieg was saying this, there's just cold indifference in his face, he wasn't even paying attention to these people now and just paying attention to the enemy's movements.

Gwen was shocked as well, he never expected that this young man in front of him doesn't mince words. He also didn't give any damn about seniority as well. The three guys were about to explode in fury, their killing intents were soaring up to the heavens, they even took out their weapons and was clearly about to attack Sieg.

Gwen knew that the situation gotten out of hand already and too fast at that. She didn't know if she should worry about the people closing up to them or this internal strife first.

"Good! What gall this newcomer have! Why don't we just follow the rule strength huh?"

"That's right you piece of shit! You just want to grab Gwen's attention you little fucker!"

"We even gave you a chance to make it up to us yet this is what you do? It seems like you wanted to know the meaning of the word 'death' ".

"You guys! Stop this! We're on a team!" Gwen shouted as she tried to stop them from fighting, she clearly knew that this won't help but she was also in a state of panic.

"Stop trying to meddle with this Gwen, we endured the existence of this little fucker for quite sometime already."

"Yeah! No need to worry, we would just educate this pig about 'manners'."

"That's right! At worst, we'll just break few of his bones or cripple him and send him back to the sect, we will not kill him"

Gwen paled, she understood that on this point, she could no longer handle this situation, this made her fell incredibly frustrated.

Sieg however, faced with this threats only smiled and replied: "You want proof if I'm speaking the truth right? Then watch, one of you fucks, will die in three…two…"

"One."

*Xiu*

Along with this whistling sound, was the head of the yellow haired guy.