"So, senior sister, are we still far?"
"Don't worry, Ba Ke, we should be in range of the Void Hurricane before the end of the day, and we'll still have around a day and a half to prepare ourselves"
"That's… good"
"Good, indeed"
"..."
"..."
Baotian… was undoubtedly having an extremely awkward, unpleasant moment. Zi Moyan was, too. And that was absolutely normal, after all: they had just lived for twenty-five years together, in the same house, with their memories obscured, and when Baotian finally woke up, their first interaction was… It was…
"Senior sister, do you think we can go faster?"
"Me? I can. But junior brother is a bit slow. Unless you let me drag you with me, we won't be able to speed up much. And I don't think you want to hold han- oh, that's right, that was an option as well"
Zi Moyan sighed as she watched him use a liter of blood essence to create a thin rope tying their wrist:
"I must say, that really seems like a waste" she said. "You always struck me as someone who wouldn't waste resources made from people's lives"
"I'm not wasting it" Baotian replied. "I still need to train with the bow before we enter the Void Hurricane, so I plan to reuse it"
"I see, that's… a smart method"
"Thank you, senior sister"
And so, they resumed flying, this time at a faster pace, and tied to each other. This somehow got worse.
"Junior brother, please make a bit more efforts, I can't just drag you all the way by myself"
"Ah, surely"
And as the sun was settling down on the horizon, they finally arrived in the range where they could see the famous hurricane.
"Great dao, what is this!" Baotian exclaimed.
"It's the first time I see one too, and I didn't imagine it like this either. That's… If it's only a category one, I understand why everybody is making such a big deal about these. If the treasures inside are proportional to the way it looks, are we really sure that no Core Formation cultivator will cede to greed and enter?"
Baotian shook his head:
"That's something I learned while in the Liu clan. Apparently, it's a direct decree from both the three nations' royal families, and even the leaders of the demonic path have agreed with it apparently: to leave a chance to those without background to obtain the resources to develop correctly, every Void Hurricane has its access restricted to cultivators of the corresponding level: category one is limited to Qi Building, category two to Core Formation, category three to Nascent Soul and so on. Cultivators who break this rule are submitted to severe punishment, which often is death penalty"
"Death penalty for invading juniors' playgrounds?" Zi Moyan repeated, shocked. "Even for the demonic path, that would be excessive. There must be some kind of secret reason behind that, right?"
Baotian shrugged:
"Likely, but if there is, either our clan was not informed or the Liu patriarch wasn't interested in sharing it with us" he said. "Either way…"
He recalled the blood essence, and took out the bow artifact:
"We still have a bit of time, so let's get to training!" he declared. "I can't wait to try my new Golden Owl Bow!"
Zi Moyan frowned:
"Ba Ke, just to be sure, the name was indicated somewhere, right?" she asked.
"No, I just thought it would be fitting since we won it defeating a golden owl"
"Oh. I see, junior brother. What a. Great. Choice"
"...
You know, senior sister, if you look down on me that much, you will just end up with a neck ache"
"Thank you for your consideration, fellow cultivator Ba"
"Please don't act like you don't know me… whatever, let's just try and see what a bow at the grand perfection Qi Building can do"
Using a little bit of the blood essence he had taken out, he created a small blood projectile, and placed it on the bow, injecting a bit of additional spiritual energy as well. The results were immediate: the moment he released the bow's string, the spiritual energy turned into a very thin film that enveloped the blood projectile, allowing it to fly through hundreds of meters before finally dissipating, without losing any power until the last few meters.
"Hoho… it seems like you got something just fit for you, junior brother"
Baotian smiled, already preparing another shot:
"Yes, it seems so" he replied. "So let's get used to it some more, and then take a good rest before the main event, does it sound good to you, senior sister?"
"Yes… that sounds good"
And just like this, in what felt like mere fleeting moments to them, time passed. Still, there was around an hour before the earliest prediction for the Void Hurricane revealing its first openings. Zhang Baotian and Zi Moyan, as demonic cultivators, were staying as discreet as possible.
But suddenly, something peculiar happened. Numerous righteous cultivators parted ways, allowing a relatively young cultivator at the mid stage Qi Building to pass, followed by two grand perfection Qi Building cultivators that seemed full of respect for him. The youth, with a noble face and wearing the clean, sober white uniform of the Divine Storm Sect, barely spared them a glance.
"Look, it's one of the six geniuses!" a righteous cultivator shouted. "The youngest of them, Wu Leihao!"
Indeed, the cultivator was none other than Wu Leihao, the exact same one who had joined hands with Hanchen's senior brother to kill him!
"But why is he here? Not only is he both the genius that the Xuanhe kingdom dotes on the most, he is also the heir of one of the top three sects even among the Ten Grand Sects! He would never be left lacking any single thing, so why is he taking risks and coming here?"
Though only one of the people present asked this question out loud, it was on the mind of all of them. Wu Leihao had only become one of the six geniuses in the last few years, and so he was still shrouded in mysteries.
But in fact, that was precisely because he had only become one of the six geniuses recently that he was here: the cultivator who had talked first was right, he was not here for resources, but to gain enough reputation to stabilize his status as a genius!
'Every other member of the six is at least in the Core Formation realm, I must use this Void Hurricane to prove myself!' he thought.
And happily, heaven granted him just the right gift to do this.
"Wait… look, the young master of the Divine Storm Sect is approaching the Void Hurricane!"
"This is insane! Why are his guards not stopping him! He's flying to his death!"
Ignoring all the screams around him, Wu Leihao calmly kept approaching the hurricane until he was in range and extended his arm in front of him.
"Activate, Wind Tyranny Royal Physic!"
Under the power of Wu Leihao's Earth talent, the unbelievable happened: the winds of the Void Hurricane split, forming an opening large enough for a person to enter.
"Now!" he shouted before entering through the breach.
One of his guards followed him as the other immediately put himself in front of the breach, blocking the entry. Upon seeing this, past the initial shock, every gathered Qi Building cultivator, demonic and righteous alike, began to roar in furor: it was simply too shameless!
"Wu Leihao, you dare!"
"You're courting death!"
"If I don't give you a beating today, my name isn't Nah Jeu!"
"I will make you drink this punishment wine myself, Wu Leihao, you bastard!"
But even though they quickly gained the advantage over the guard, by the time they would overwhelm him, the opening would have already closed, making Wu Leihao's plan a success.
Just then…
"Hey look! What is that!"
All the cultivators turned their heads, to see that a fiery blood spear had managed to get past the guard's defense. And, dragged by the spear with a blood rope tying them to it, were none other than Baotian and Zi Moyan!
Baotian, using the Golden Owl Bow with his usual ingenuity and fast thinking, had managed to get them past the guard!
"Senior sister, now!"
"With pleasure!"
Using a fire spell, Zi Moyan created an explosion behind them, shortly increasing their speed and stopping those behind from following them. Right after that, the opening in the Void Hurricane closed back, forcing the remaining cultivators to wait for one more hour before entering.
Even then, along with Wu Leihao and his other guard, two more people had managed to enter: they were Zi Moyan and Zhang Baotian!