Spells Grinding: From Basic Sparks to Divine Arts

Chapter 291: The General Itinerary

The guest room was tight, bordering on claustrophobic. A narrow bed was tucked into the corner with crisp bedding, a few mundane volumes stacked on the nightstand. In the center of the floorboards, a simple gathering Formation encircled a yellow meditation cushion, designed to pull in ambient Spiritual Qi.

“Not exactly the lap of luxury for a premium ticket,” Qin Lu mused dryly, tossing the books aside after a cursory glance. “I’ll buy something actually worth reading in Qinghua City to kill the downtime.”

Idle time was wasted time. He took his seat on the cushion, closed his eyes, and sank into his cultivation rhythm. He knew the spirit ship wouldn’t launch until every berth was filled; he had arrived early, and he intended to exploit every spare second.

As his technique circulated, the room’s rudimentary Formation flared to life. Ambient Spiritual Qi drifted toward him, seeping through his pores. It was a methodical, filtering process—washing through his meridians, purifying within his acupoints, stripping away the dross until only the most pristine, volatile essence trickled into his Dantian. Cultivation was a relentless cycle of this purification, expanding his reserves drop by drop.

Hours vanished. The deck beneath him suddenly gave a violent shudder.

Hummmmm—

Even sealed in his cabin, Qin Lu felt the colossal weight of the spirit ship sever its ties to gravity. It hovered, suspended for a breathless second. Then, a cascading symphony of array hubs activating echoed through the hull, roaring like a mythical beast waking from slumber.

BOOM!

The stern arrays erupted with concussive force. The massive vessel tore free from the Shuntian City docks, carving a blazing streak of light across the vault of the sky.

……

Leaving Shuntian City behind meant the journey to Qinghua City had officially begun.

Qin Lu had already mapped out the grueling itinerary. The spirit ship would launch from Flowing Cloud Prefecture and carve its way across three massive territories within the Nine Truths Region: Anqing Prefecture, Xinghua Prefecture, and Wudu Prefecture. Its final port of call was Qinghua City, nestled deep within Wudu. The voyage demanded twelve layovers and would consume two grueling months.

Thanks to Liu Sangeng, he also understood the broader roadmap to the Weitian Realm. From Qinghua City, he would need to board a second vessel, cutting through Bagong Prefecture and Lihe Prefecture before finally hitting the Nine Truths Region’s absolute eastern frontier: Jishi Prefecture. That was his ultimate destination—the threshold of the Weitian Realm.

All told, Qin Lu would traverse six prefectures, crossing more than half of the Nine Truths Region’s vast dominion. It was a staggering distance.

As the days bled together aboard the flying vessel, Qin Lu found himself spending more time with Liu Sangeng. The rugged wanderer was boisterous and affable, a stark contrast to Qin Lu’s usual solitary pragmatism. Since both appreciated a good drink, their cultivation breaks often turned into relaxed sessions over small cups of liquor.

One afternoon, leaning against the polished railing of the main deck, Liu Sangeng tipped his chin toward the highest point of the ship.

“Old Qin, you see that cabin up top?” he asked, gesturing to a solitary, watchtower-like structure shrouded in a faint, warding mist.

Qin Lu tracked his gaze. “The resident expert’s quarters?”

“Sharp,” Liu Sangeng chuckled. “That’s Yuan Xuqing’s private sanctum. Rumor has it she’s a peerless beauty, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a soul on board who’s actually seen her face.”

Qin Lu nodded. He’d done his homework before boarding. Yuan Xuqing was the ship’s designated protector—a formidable Golden Core cultivator.

“Honestly, it’s a blessing we don’t see her,” Liu Sangeng said, leaning back with his arms laced behind his head.

“How do you figure?”

“Think about it. If she stays locked up, it means it’s smooth sailing. If a Golden Core expert actually has to step out of her cabin, it means we’ve run into something that only a Golden Core can kill. I’d rather not deal with that kind of danger.”

“Fair point,” Qin Lu agreed, his tone turning clinical. This route was incredibly long. Running into a rogue third-tier Demon Beast in the untamed skies wasn’t just possible; it was a statistical probability. If Yuan Xuqing showed her face, the ship was already in lethal peril.

Looking out over the sprawling deck, Qin Lu changed the subject. “This transport racket is a license to print money,” he murmured, a hint of calculation in his voice. “Fifty private cabins, plus six or seven hundred packed into the main hall. Based on the docking fees, this single run pulls in upward of a hundred thousand Spirit Stones.”

It was a staggering sum that made even his newly lined pockets feel light.

“Well, yeah!” Liu Sangeng barked a laugh. “This vessel flies under the Heavenly Star Sect’s banner. Their Patriarch, Liu Fang, is a Nascent Soul monster. If a sect with a Nascent Soul backer wasn’t pulling in a hundred grand a trip, something would be seriously wrong.”

“Makes sense when you put it that way,” Qin Lu smiled faintly. A Nascent Soul cultivator like Liu Fang commanded absolute authority in these lands.

Waving off the financial talk, Liu Sangeng’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “Anyway, enough about Spirit Stones. We hit a major landmark in two days. You planning to disembark and take a look?”

“What landmark?”

“You haven’t heard? It’s the One Line Sky.”

A spark of recognition lit Qin Lu’s eyes. “Of course.”

He remembered tracing the name across an ancient topographical text back in Wuji Market. He had promised himself then that once he possessed the strength, he would witness the world’s grandest cosmic wonders. But ever since reaching Foundation Establishment, survival and relentless advancement had kept him anchored.

To think this legendary rift was directly on their flight path.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Qin Lu said softly, his gaze lifting toward the horizon, a deep-seated awe stirring within him.