The giant wolf saw the harness in Van's other hand and tried to run away.

Sha!

Van grabbed Blackie's ruff and dragged him back to the wooden carriage. He strapped the wolf securely into the harness without doing it up too tight and hopped onto the driver's seat.

He turned to Ryan and Delphine, "Well? Get on!"

Blackie showed a suffering expression. Van turned to the wolf and scolded him, "Stop acting so pitiful. If this is heavy for you even after I bathed you in body strengthening powder, I will ask some other wolf to come with me!"

Blackie instantly threw away his suffering expression. Instead, he licked Van's palm and acted cute, [You love me the most, Big Boss!].

The other two climbed up and sat in the two seats behind Van and they set off.

_____

As soon as they left Dragon City, three shadows flashed by the city gates.

"They are going to the Blizzard Plains. Now that they have left Dragon City, it is prime time to deal the killing blow!" One of the people said urgently.

"The client said to ensure the kill occurred outside of Cloud River to reduce suspicion. We will wait til they cross the border to Lihnrest."

"Or even further. The more isolated the place, the better!" The third person said, their voice dripping with killing intent.

The trio nodded. Whatever way they ended up going with, one thing was for certain – that kid was going to die!

_____

Five days later, the three humans and wolf arrived at the border between Cloud River and their neighbouring country Lihnrest.

Lihnrest was a very large country with a very small population, mostly concentrated at its borders. Due to its large expanse, its northernmost reaches were known for its extremely icy weather and year-long blizzards.

Van realised that they had been on the road for five days already and grew worried.

[If it takes us a week and a half to travel to the Blizzard Plains, it will take us another week and a half to return to Dragon City. That means I only have a month in the Blizzard Plains.]

Van looked around the border town, "It would be best if we could find a faster form of transport to the Blizzard Plains."

Delphine pointed to a giant fluffy white creature in the distance, "I think we've found it!"

The large creature had a pavilion-like structure on it's back. It was being directed by a person sitting on its head.

The trio ended up paying over a hundred silver taels per head for a ride to the biggest town near the Blizzard Plains. It cost slightly more to bring Blackie on board, as the great white beast felt uncomfortable with him on its back.

____

They disembarked the back of the great snowy beast three days later.

The town closest to the Blizzard Plains was called 'Pollog." It had a population of less than 3,000 people.

However, there was a bigger town about two hours away from it which had a larger population of 20,000 people. This town was known as 'Griever's Fort,' and was owned by a distant relative of the previous King of Lihnrest.

Griever's Fort was the last place that the great snowy beast stopped. From here on out, Van, Ryan and Delphine had to make their way to Pollog and then the Blizzard Plains themselves.

"Final stop! All yez pa.s.sengers should disembark 'ere unless yez wanna go back to the border!"

The trio stood up to descend from the great snowy beast.

As Ryan gripped the soft rope ladder to descend, a strong force pushed him off. He fell the hard earth below.

Van was immediately incensed. He grabbed the offender by the collar and heaved him up, "Apologize, now!"

The young man in his grasp struggled frantically. He managed to free himself and dusted his robes off dramatically, "Who should apologize!? You rabble should be grateful to be stepped on by Cyrus the Great! Move aside, now!"

Van suddenly felt a strong aura approach. He turned a saw a large, rugged-looking man with a scar down his left eye. He was flanked by a large contingent of people – there were probably 50-60 of them.

Van narrowed his eyes; they were all cultivators. Not only that, the leader of the group, Cyrus, was in the 6th level of Qi Distillation!

Cyrus came forwards.

Van and Cyrus locked eyes. Van felt a heavy spiritual pressure push down on him. He clenched his teeth and held his ground.

Cyrus' face was expressionless.

[This ant in front of me refuses to admit its weakness in front of my magnificent glory… how boring.]

Cyrus floated lightly of the great fluffy beast's back and summoned a large treasure in the form of a s.h.i.+p, "My followers. Come aboard."

Excited chatter burst out in his contingent.

"Cyrus the Great is allowing us to board his legendary Spirit-Walking s.h.i.+p? What amazing deed did I perform in my previous life to deserve this?"

"Disciples from the Star-Cutting Sword Sect are really different, hey…"

Van's ears narrowed. Star-Cutting Sword Sect? This was one of the sects he might have to compete against in the Monster Mausoleum!

Cyrus' followers directly jumped from the back of the great fluffy beast to the enormous s.h.i.+p-treasure.

Van went down the ladder and helped Ryan up. The other boy's face was blotchy red from shame and humiliation.

Behind Van, Delphine's was indignant, "By insulting my team, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Cyrus fellow was also insulting me!! No one is allowed to insult me!"

Delphine suddenly recalled her humiliation at Van's hands in the Grand Botanica. She decided to wipe it from her memories.

Van re-strapped Blackie into the giant carriage and the trio set off for Pollog.

____

[That night.]

Van stood up from the campfire and stretched.

"Guys, I'm just going to go to the bathroom," he said as one usually would. With nothing in hand, Van left the relative safety of the camp to pee by a tree.