196 Jinxed

Yao Jun had given the carving of the fourth channel quite some thought already, settling on carving the channel in his left leg. There were two main reasons why he settled on carving the channel in his leg, rather than in one of the places that would let it draw out more power.

The first reason was the time constraints. He only had around three months, and there was no telling if he would be able to spend all that time in uninterrupted cultivation, it also wasn't certain that three months would be enough to carve the fourth channel if he tried to carve it in a difficult place.

The second reason was the current strength of his body. When he carved the third channel into his spine, it brought his body to the breaking point, nearly shattering it. Even though he had strengthened his body quite a bit since then, he was not certain if it was enough. And because of that, he settled on carving the fourth channel in his leg, which would be faster and safer than choosing one of the tough locations like his skull or through his organs. Carving the channel into his soul was out of the question, as his soul was still too weak to withstand that strain.

When Yao Jun started his cultivation session, Little Thunder and the others settled down in the room, vigilantly keeping guard, none of them leaving the room. Anyone who knocked on the door was shooed away by Du Xiao or one of the others, no one even allowed to knock on the door more than once, lest they accidentally disturb Yao Jun.

Yao Jun already had quite some experience with carving these channels, so he quickly and smoothly managed to carve the fourth channel into his left leg. After successfully carving the channel, he once again saw the memories of Sword Empyrean Heng Jiang, learning the last of the sword moves he had left behind within this technique. If he wanted to learn any new sword techniques in the future, he would have to create them himself.

After absorbing the memories and doing his best to study the sword move, Yao Jun opened his eyes again, standing up and stretching his body. He had not moved for a bit of time, so his joints released explosive popping sounds. After loosening up his stiff body, he turned towards Ba-Shei and the others, thanking them with a smile as he pulled out a fresh robe and some food from his interspatial ring.

"Thank you for keeping guard for me. How much time has passed, and did anything happen while I was cultivating?"

He had focused fully on carving the fourth channel, so he was unable to sense the passage of time or if anything happened to the ship while he was cultivating. The one who responded to his questions was the black-haired dwarf, Siwang, who quickly shook his head and waved his hands.

"It was no trouble. A little over one month has passed, so we should be able to reach Earthen Peak planet in around one more month. As we have not left this room while you were cultivating, we are uncertain if anything has happened, but the ship has been trembling quite frequently over these last days."

Siwang shrugged his shoulders in a casual manner, but since he was only a little over one meter tall, as well as the fact that his eyes were completely white, it looked rather strange to see him shrug his shoulders like that. Yao Jun rubbed his chin slightly after hearing the response. For an extravagant ship like this to tremble, it was clear that something was going on.

But since Siwang and the others had put defending Yao Jun over investigating, he could only check with someone who might know a bit more. He quickly scarfed down the food he had taken out, washing it down with some cold water, before he changed into the fresh robe and headed for the door, giving the others a quick warning.

"Guess I'll go check with Gideon and see if he knows if it is anything to worry about. You guys can move around freely as usual, but be prepared to return to the Gate at any time. If there is anything I have learned since I started cultivating, it is that I rarely get to actually spend any long stretches of time in peace, someone's always gotta come around and ruin it."

Ever since he started cultivating, the longest he had ever gone without any trouble appearing was the five months he had spent with Guo Luo after they returned to the Grand Quan continent. He missed those days dearly, those days where there was no fighting or killing, where they could calmly and peacefully wander around and sightsee.

But even that peaceful time was quickly cut short by the appearance of the hidden realm where he acquired Zhuanxu and Zhuyin. And right after that, he had been tossed through space and ended up being thrown into the war between the World Tree Clan and their enemies. Without him noticing it, it had already been more than a year since he left his own planet and was thrown into the wider universe.

Little Thunder and the others quickly nodded their heads upon hearing Yao Jun's warning, following him out of the room. Zhuanxu and Zhuyin followed Yao Jun, but the others left with Du Xiao and the others who could take human shape, returning to enjoying themselves on the ship. They did not need to worry about their funds, so they could feast as they pleased. Thanks to them, Yao Jun had even learned that there was a brothel aboard this ship, with Ba-Shei frequenting it quite a bit.

Little Thunder said that Gideon frequented the dining room and the brothel, so Yao Jun decided to first check the dining room for him. His luck was rather good, as he quickly spotted Gideon upon entering the dining room. He was sitting at a table close to the center of the room, sharing the table with three beautiful women, two humans and one who looked like a human but had fox ears and two bushy tails stretching out behind her.

At first, Yao Jun guessed that the girls were other passengers, but he quickly realized that he was likely wrong. All three girls had very low cultivation, not even having reached the 3rd Mortal Earth. For people as weak as them to be on this ship, they could only be part of the crew. Gideon also quickly spotted Yao Jun, raising a jug filled with wine and waving it as he loudly called out.

"Brother Yao! You finally managed to crawl out of your isolated cave! Come, come, share some drinks with us!"

Yao Jun made his way toward the table, sitting down at the opposite side of Gideon. Of the three girls, two sat directly beside Gideon, squeezing their breasts against him, while the third one sat on his lap, feeding him some strange fruit that looked like a pink grape. When Yao Jun sat down, Gideon quickly introduced him to the girls, as well as the girls to Yao Jun.

"Girls, this is Brother Yao, he will be joining the God Hunter Pavilion in the future, so any requests you have can just be taken to him. Brother Yao, this is Avelina, that is Sapphira, and this is Rikilda!"

Gideon seemed to have been drinking for quite some time already, his face a bit flushed, the stench of alcohol heavy in the air. Avelina and Sapphira were the two humans, Avelina being a petite girl with long blonde hair, and Sapphira being a bit taller, just like her name suggested, her hair was a deep blue. Rikilda was the girl with fox ears and tails, both which were the same orange as her hair. The girls looked at Yao Jun with interested gazes, even somewhat flirty, but he simply gave them a calm greeting.

"I am Yao Jun, but you can just call me what Brother Gideon is calling me."

The eyes of the girls landed on Zhuyin and Zhuanxu, which stuck close to Yao Jun. Zhuyin had transformed herself into a slim snake that was covered in scales that were a deep red in color, while Zhuanxu had transformed himself into a palm-sized silver horse with shimmering fur. Zhuyin had coiled herself around Yao Jun's neck, while Zhuanxu stood on Yao Jun's shoulder. They were keeping a vigilant eye on the girls, but it seemed that the girls only found it cute, stretching out to pet the two of them.

Zhuyin and Zhuanxu quickly let out low growls in warning, causing the girls to rapidly pull back their hands, worried that they would get bit. Yao Jun pat the two Demonic beasts to calm them down, telling a quick lie as an excuse.

"Sorry, the two of them are a bit shy around others."

It wasn't that the two of them were shy, but rather that they were too proud to be touched by the girls. Both of them were Divine beasts, a Crimson Dragon and an Ice Kirin, how could they let themselves be touched by just anyone? The girls seemed to accept his excuse, returning to pampering Gideon, occasionally sending flirty glances at Yao Jun. Gideon pulled out a cup from his interspatial ring, filling it with some of the green wine from his jug. He handed the cup to Yao Jun, letting out a slight shudder as he spoke.

"Brother Yao, you need to do something about that maid of yours, the one called Du Xiao. All I did was knock on the door a few times, but she immediately shooed me away, even threatening me. How did your family raise a maid to let her put on such a scary face?"

Truth be told, even Gideon was a bit surprised at how scared he had been of Du Xiao when she threatened him, warning him to not come back until Yao Jun finished his cultivation. She was clearly weaker than him, so why had he been somewhat scared upon seeing her serious face? But how could Gideon know that Du Xiao was a Spider Hive beast that had been given the ability to take human form? Even if she was weaker than him, her poison was still not something he could take lightly. Yao Jun had no idea what sort of threats Du Xiao had delivered so he could only give a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

"What can I say, only if she is strict and scary can she rein in others."

Gideon could only accept Yao Jun's explanation, sulkily drinking his wine and eating the grapes that were handed to him. Yao Jun drank some wine and ate some roasted meat, waiting a few minutes before he swept the dining hall with his gaze and brought up the reason he had come to find Gideon.

"So Brother Gideon, why is it that everyone seems to be so on edge? And why has the ship been trembling so much recently?"

Yao Jun found that the people sitting in the dining hall were a bit tense, sometimes glancing at the ceiling or walls of the ship as if they were worried about something. Gideon's face immediately sobered up after hearing Yao Jun's question. He smiled at the three girls, giving them a quick spank and sending them on their way with a wink and a click of his tongue.

"Hop along now little bunnies, I'll come to find you again later."

The girls were quite tactful, each of them giving Gideon a quick kiss on the cheek before standing up and leaving, heading deeper into the ship. After spending a bit of time watching the girls leave, Gideon turned back to Yao Jun, his expression sinking slightly as he spoke in a hushed voice.

"...Did you know that going from the Shattered Ocean planet to Earthen Peak planet is supposed to only take about two months? Yet this trip we are on right now has already taken a little over two months, and we are still about a month away from the Earthen Peak planet. Do you know why it is like this?"

Yao Jun had in fact wondered about that question earlier, but he hadn't bothered thinking about it since it was unlikely he would find an answer on his own. before Yao Jun got the chance to say that he had no idea, Gideon let out a slight chuckle and started talking again, chugging down more wine.

"Sorry, dumb question, if you knew, you wouldn't be asking me. The reason is quite simple, between the Shattered Ocean planet and the Earthen Peak planet lies one of the rare Hollow Wastes. Now if there was just a Hollow Waste there, we could have just flown right through it by relying on Spirit Stones and the arrays aboard this ship, but a rather famous group of bandits have acted suicidally and turned the Hollow Waste into one of their bases, assaulting anyone who tries to travel through it, forcing us to travel in a circle around it."

Gideon made a short stop in his sentence, pointing at some of the more tense people in the dining hall. As he pointed them out, it became clear that the weaker their cultivation, the more nervous they were. After making sure that Yao Jun understood, he continued talking.

"The reason people are looking so on edge, as well as the reason the ship has been shaking so much, is because we are currently skirting around the edges of the Hollow Waste and have faced frequent attacks by bandits. Most attacks are easily dealt with by the arrays on the ship, but the longer we spend here, the bigger the chances are that we get spotted by the main group of bandits and suffer a large scale attack that the ship won't be able to handle on its own, forcing everyone to leave the ship and fight to defend it."

Gideon finished his explanation and let out a sigh, downing the rest of his wine and pulling out a new jug. He had a rather high cultivation, so he was able to drink wine like this without having to worry too much about ending up drunk. He expected Yao Jun to share a sigh with him and drink some wine, but all he got was a tilt of Yao Jun's head as well as a question.

"What is a Hollow Waste, and why is it suicidal for the bandits to take up base there?"

Yao Jun had never heard about these Hollow Wastes, Arthurius and Leylan either forgetting or not bothering to tell him anything about them. Gideon nearly choked on his wine after hearing the question, quickly letting out several coughs and looking at Yao Jun with a dumbfounded expression. He started saying something, but quickly raised his arms in defeat.

"You don't... Know what, forget it, I'm just gonna stop questioning it. You gotta tell me what family you are from, it seems I need to have a serious word with your parents about how little they have told you about the real world."

He had chatted with Yao Jun a bit already, and it had already become clear that Yao Jun was a sheltered child who was lacking some common knowledge. Gideon dried up the wine that splashed around when he started coughing, taking another swig before he started his explanation.

"A Hollow Waste is an anomaly, an area that shouldn't exist. They are spread around the universe, no one quite certain about how many there actually are. Some people believe that they were first born in the distant past, after gruesome battles, but if anyone knows the truth, they haven't made it public. Hollow Wastes are unpredictable, as all kinds of strange phenomena can manifest within them."

The belief that they had been created because of some ancient battles was very prevalent, but Gideon didn't quite buy it. After all, to create areas that were as strange as the Hollow Wastes, just how fearsome did the battles have to be? Not even the battle between the Horrid Ocean King and the Frozen Soul Monarch, who were both early stage Heavenly Deities was able to create something close to a Hollow Waste.

"Some Hollow Wastes are completely devoid of laws, basically crippling anyone who enters them. Others only allow Demonic beasts to live within them, any other races that enter them immediately dying and disintegrating. There are even some Hollow Wastes that not only negate all laws but create an entirely new system of cultivation. The most famous Hollow Waste is located deep within the territory of the Primordial Sea clan, it is one such cultivation changing place. The beings born within that Hollow Waste, the Blood-Drenched Hollow Waste, don't cultivate the laws, they can only cultivate by increasing their understanding of the bodies of other beings, forcing them to kill and slowly dissect other living beings to increase in strength."

Gideon knew the story and facts about the Blood-Drenched Hollow Waste and its inhabitants, but as someone who had been born and raised with knowledge about the laws, he was unable to imagine how they could raise their strength through such strange means.

"As for the Hollow Waste located between Shattered Ocean and Earthen Peak, it is called the Gravity Hollow Waste. Not only is it devoid of any Qi, the gravity within it constantly changes, sometimes vanishing in one place while turning so strong in another place that it crushes whatever is located there. Do you see now why people are so on edge? For a group of bandits to make such a place their base, their strength and madness cannot be underestimated."

The Gravity Hollow Waste was one of the tamer Hollow Wastes, but it was still no joke. Just the fact that there was no Qi there made it a dangerous place, as one could only use Spirit Stones to restore their own energy reserves. After hearing the explanation, Yao Jun slowly rubbed his chin, his eyes faintly narrowing as he nodded his head and muttered.

"Hollow Wastes, huh? That is very useful information."

The information about Hollow Wastes reminded Yao Jun of a fact he had almost completely forgotten. Back on his own home planet, people didn't cultivate laws, they were instead granted a power. Some people, like Yang Yuhuan and Yang Long, or the Demon Race and their Soul Beasts, had powers that were completely different from any laws that Yao Jun had heard about. Could his own home planet be located in one such Hollow Waste? Gideon gave a nod at Yao Jun's words, giving him one more warning just to make sure he understood how serious Hollow Wastes were.

"Indeed, make sure you always keep it in mind and don't accidentally wander into one."

After making sure that Yao Jun was informed about Hollow Wastes, Gideon turned his head in the direction that the three girls had left. He leaned closer and gave Yao Jun a wide grin, winking at him as he spoke.

"Now that all the tiresome talking is over, how about you join me and we go find those three bunnies again? They simply LOVE members of the God Hunter Pavilion."

Members of the God Hunter Pavilion were often well-informed and wealthy, they more often than not also had many connections thanks to going on missions all the time. Such people were very desired by women who were too weak to protect themselves or women who like to live a wealthy lifestyle. Yao Jun pushed away Gideon, shrugging his shoulders and standing up.

"As I said, already married. And even if you found them now, you wouldn't be able to do anything. You jinxed us."

Thanks to Little Gray, Yao Jun was very sensitive towards the laws of space. And because of that, he was able to sense that space around the entire ship had been frozen and sealed up, preventing them from moving any further. To freeze such a large stretch of space, it was clear that someone very powerful had come, most likely the bandits Gideon had been talking about. No understanding the meaning behind Yao un's words, Gideon could only tilt his head in confusion.

"Huh, what do you..."

Gideon didn't cultivate in the laws of space, so he was not able to sense that space had been frozen. But before he managed to finish his question, the entire ship trembled fiercely, tables and chairs flung around thanks to the impact. A loud cracking sound rang out, a wide crack appearing in the ceiling above them, the ship slowly being torn in two.