Train to Sein City

The blue skies stretched outside, soft clouds playfully floating behind each other. The rays of the sun filtered through the window, encasing the room in a warm tone and making Raizel appear even more otherworldly.

Having risen from his comfortable stupor a few hours ago, Raizel sat cross-legged at the edge of his bed cultivating. His eyes were closed as he circulated the Mystical Void scripture. 

The Spiritual Energy within the room was ten times more potent than the one outside the room. It flowed into his body and was quickly converted to spiritual essence. It flowed from his organs into his bones and from the bones into the meridians and from the meridians, Raizel collected control.

Without much effort, he refined the spiritual energy, making it even gentler as it spun rapidly and drops of translucent liquid essence dropped down into his spiritual sea making a full revolution and nurturing his body before returning into the organs…

This circulation continued for several revolutions. Raizel suddenly stilled and let out a foul air.

'Too Slow!' 

He was not healing fast enough. The Southern Seven Swords Energy Absorption was an incredibly powerful formation that siphoned the spiritual energy and even life energy of an entire area directing it to the centre of the Formation. It had turned the Thousand Herbal Forest into a dead forest. 

He did not intend to use it here. The formation he used was a mutation of the formation he had made. It involved placing Seven Flags at seven different locations. 

It redirected a percentage of the spiritual energy to the eye of the formation. The drawback is that the eye of the formation should not be very far from the flags. Hence all Seven Flags were in the Tempest Town. If he could improve the Formation and make it portable, that would be truly great.

He let out a sigh. With this rate, it would be over three years before he returned to full health.

Raizel stood up before he went to freshen up. Donning a pair of black trousers and a pale blue shirt, he left the room and went out. There was a tingling in his spine that made Raizel frown slightly but he decided to ignore it. He will take the day as it came.

Two men dressed in black suits stood outside the door. Raizel gave them a cursory glance as he held the door.

"Good morning! Which talisman would you like to buy?" Raizel asked. If it was a custom order, he would attend to them first before having breakfast and leaving with Peter.

The taller man moved till he stood before Raizel who looked at him. "We came on behalf of the Salvatore family. We would like to talk with you."

A talk can last from several minutes to several hours, Raizel had no choice. "I am busy right now, come back later during the day or more preferably tomorrow."

"What would you be doing right now? We can help you." The shorter man chipped in. He already considered Raizel one of them. It would bring him no harm ingratiating himself to the man.

"I am afraid; it is something I must do alone." He locked the shop and started his way to Peter's house, ignoring the men who trailed behind him.

The Seventh Alley was a lot different from most alleyways. It was a single winding path with a lot of corners. In the first corner was Peter's Shop and just barely out of the alleyway was a beef noodle soup store. 

As Raizel neared the lace, he could smell the scent of the stewed beef from far away. This was one of his major breakfast joint in Tempest town. It also helps a lot that it was the one that was closest to him.

"Raizel, you came a little late today. Come and have some noodles." The Old mundane woman lowered a ladle of rice noodles into the hot soup, the silken strands dancing in and out amidst other soup ingredients. He chose a spot that would let him be in constant view of Peter's shore and began to eat.

The shorter man looked at his partner a little confused, "He is busy eating?"

"Let us invite him to a better restaurant to talk then." But before he could make a move, his whole body stiffens as he froze. He could feel beads of sweat ran down his spine and forehead.

Killing Intent! He watched fearfully as a thin old man with a goofy grin walked past him arriving at the noddle store in a single step.

"Just now?" The shorter man's voice was very low.

The taller man nodded. His face was a little pale. He slowly exhaled before he replied, "Let's go back and report. We can come back tomorrow."

With that, both men turned and left, soon disappearing from the alley.

Peter ignored the rapidly retreating cultivators as he slumped onto the sit opposite Raizel.

"Two more bowls!" He called out to the old woman as he smiled at Raizel. "I knew I would find you here."

Raizel wrinkled his nose. It was early in the morning, Why was Peter already stinking of alcohol.

They finished eating, paid and left the store.

"We will be using the train." Peter told him in advance before they reached the station. Raizel's curious eyes glanced over the different infrastructure before it arrived on the train.

It was really fascinating. The body line of the train was smooth and white with different formations were engraved on it. He could recognize the characters for Accelerate, Stable and Light. He wanted to go closer when a loud chime distracted him. 

"The C98 train from Vino City to Sein City has started to check the tickets. All passengers please take care of your luggage and your children. Entry is from the D5 ticket gate to the E5 ticket gate. Passengers, please begin to board the train. Thank you!" The female voice broadcasted over and over again.

A tall young man checked their ticket and they entered inside their carriage. Their seats were window seats and they moved to occupy them.

"The train would make five stops before we reach Sein City. However, if there is no trouble we will undoubtedly reach the City within two hours."

Two hours! When he was younger, it had taken him much more than that to reach Sein City. The caravan was slower than going through the sword, but both had a duration of over a day. This mode of transportation would really be convenient to cultivators of a lower realm.

A woman soon entered the carriage. Her hair was a ponytail and she carried a little bun that looked so much like her. Her seat was next to Peter, she watched him for a while, hesitated before she finally sat down.

The little girl in her arms lifted her face from the woman's shoulder. Her large black eyes watched everything and everyone curiously. 

"I am Mawi. I am thwee-yeaw-old." The little girl announced suddenly. Her eyes focused on Raizel.

"Three? You are a beautiful young lady already. I am Peter, nice to meet you." Peter beamed at the little girl before staring fixedly at Raizel till he returned the little girl's greeting.

The little girl ignored Peter and continued to regard Raizel with a pout. "So pweety! Do you want to be my new sister?"

Her mother's lip twitched, even as she tried her best not to laugh and covered her daughter's mouth lightly. Peter had no reservation, he burst out laughing, and his continuous cries of 'Sister Raizel' caused him to hiccup. 

Raizel knew he could not change carriage now so he ignored the woman's apologies and Peter's loud laughter with much-practised ease.

The broadcast sounded in the background. "Passengers, welcome to C98 train. Our train is about to start. Please organize your luggage and take your seat according to the number on the ticket…"

The train started and its speed began to increase rapidly. Raizel looked out the window, feeling the tingling in his spine worsen.