The next day, a message from Sarah arrived while I was reviewing formation diagrams in the Core Palace.
"Breakthrough successful. Meridian Opening first layer. Ready when you are."
I set down the crystal I'd been studying and pulled up my contact list. Christine and Emma both received identical messages within seconds of each other.
"Heading outside the city with Sarah Carter today. Meet at the southern gate in one hour."
Christine's response came immediately. "FINALLY! We'll be there."
Emma's took a few seconds longer. "Looking forward to it. See you soon."
If I'd left without telling them, the spiritual beasts lurking beyond American City would be the least of my concerns. Christine would hunt me down herself, and Emma would probably help.
An hour later, I stood at the southern gate, watching the endless grassland stretch toward the horizon. This direction saw minimal traffic compared to the western and northern routes. Most cultivators headed west toward the forest biome where spiritual energy ran richer, or north toward the mountain ranges where valuable herbs supposedly grew in abundance. South offered nothing but flat plains as far as the eye could see.
Which made it perfect for us, who could travel long distances with flying swords before anyone else. Less traveled meant more available treasures.
Sarah arrived first, her confident stride unmistakable even from a distance. She wore practical black cargo pants and a fitted gray athletic shirt that emphasized her slim, toned figure. The fabric clung to her modest chest and narrow waist, showcasing the lean muscle she'd built through regular exercise. Her dark hair was pulled back in a severe ponytail, and sharp brown eyes scanned the gate area with professional efficiency. The only visible equipment was a simple storage ring on her right hand.
"Ben." She nodded in greeting. "Thank you for agreeing to this."
"No problem. I also felt I should take an adventure outside once in a while."
"You won't regret it!" Her gaze shifted past me as Christine and Emma approached from the city interior. "Are these your companions?"
Christine bounded forward with her characteristic energy, her ponytail swinging behind her. "I'm Christine! Ben's sister."
Emma followed at a more measured pace, her altered features arranged in a pleasant smile. The Bone Molding Divine Art had transformed her face completely, reshaping her bone structure into something that bore no resemblance to the famous musician who'd performed in Hong Kong weeks ago. Her body, however, remained unchanged. The petite frame, the curves that defied her small stature, the way she carried herself—those aspects couldn't be hidden by facial reconstruction alone.
"Emma," she said simply, extending her hand. "Em for short."
Sarah shook it, her expression flickering with something I couldn't quite identify. Recognition? Confusion? She studied Emma for a long moment, her gaze lingering on details that clearly struck familiar chords without quite connecting.
"Sarah Carter," she replied. "I run the identity token distribution program."
"Ben's mentioned your work," Emma said. "It's impressive what you've accomplished in such a short time."
"Thank you." Sarah's attention kept drifting back to Emma throughout the exchange, her brow furrowing slightly. "Have we met before? You seem familiar somehow."
Emma's smile didn't waver. "I don't think so. I'd remember."
Christine jumped in before Sarah could pursue the question further. "So where are we heading? Just straight south into the plains, or do you have a specific destination in mind?"
"I was hoping Ben had suggestions," Sarah admitted. "This is my first time leaving the city limits."
I gestured toward the southern expanse. "We'll head straight out for now. See what we encounter. The spiritual beasts in this direction shouldn't be too dangerous for our group."
"Before we go," Sarah said, pulling out her identity token, "we should exchange contact information. In case we get separated."
The tokens materialized in everyone's hands, the bronze discs glowing faintly as connections were established. Sarah's expression changed the moment Emma's information populated on her mind. Her eyes widened, her mouth opening slightly in shock.
"You're... Emma Sullivan? The Emma Sullivan?"
Emma's face fell into an expression somewhere between depression and resignation. Christine burst out laughing beside her.
"I told you she would recognize you!"
"That doesn't count!" Emma shot back, her voice rising with indignation. "She didn't recognize me at all! The identity token gave it away. That's completely different from actually seeing through my disguise!"
"Sure, sure. Keep telling yourself that."
"I'm serious! My face was perfect. She had no idea until the token ruined everything."
I chuckled at their familiar banter. Exchanges like this had become a common occurrence between them.
Emma sighed heavily, clearly giving up on maintaining the charade with Sarah present. Her hands rose to her face, vital energy flowing through her meridians as she activated the Bone Molding Divine Art in reverse. Her bone structure shifted beneath her skin, the changes subtle but profound as her original features emerged. The transformation took perhaps thirty seconds, her jade-like complexion rippling as everything settled back into place.
Sarah's eyes widened further, genuine amazement replacing her earlier shock.
"How did you disguise your face like that?"
"Bone Molding Divine Art," Emma explained, already beginning the process of restoring her disguise. "It's a technique available on the second level of the All Paths Library. Lets you mold your bones to change facial structures completely."
"It's a shame it doesn't change large blobs of fat though," Christine added as she looked pointedly at Emma's prominent chest. "It also doesn't change spiritual signatures, so anyone with high enough cultivation can see through the disguise anyway."
I considered that limitation while following Christine's eyes toward Emma's "large blobs of fat."
In the cultivation world proper, the Bone Molding Divine Art was rather common knowledge. Most identification methods didn't rely on facial or physical structure at all for exactly that reason. Spiritual signatures, on the other hand, remained nearly impossible to change. One of the only ways to alter one's fundamental spiritual essence involved destroying your entire cultivation base and starting over with a completely different technique. Few would ever consider such a drastic measure.
Which meant Emma's disguise would work perfectly on Earth and in the Eastern Region, but would be essentially useless anywhere else.
I pulled a flying sword from my storage ring and tossed it to Sarah. She caught it smoothly, immediately pricking her finger to bind it with a drop of blood. The weapon resonated with her vital energy, recognizing its new master within moments.
For the next several minutes, she and the girls played in the air outside the city, circling around me in increasingly elaborate patterns. Christine zipped past at high speed, her Lightning Step technique making her movements almost blur. Emma followed at a more measured pace, clearly still getting comfortable with flight. Sarah experimented with different speeds and angles, her businesswoman composure cracking under pure joy.
Am I the only mature one here?
Apparently not, because moments later I launched myself upward to join them. The few cultivators near the south gate stopped to watch our impromptu aerial display, pointing and commenting among themselves as we spiraled through the sky above American City's southern boundary.
After Sarah acclimatized to her new flying sword, we aimed south.
The grassland stretched endlessly before us, an ocean of green that rippled in waves beneath the dual moons' light. The spiritual energy here felt thinner than in the city, but cleaner somehow. Purer. Like breathing mountain air after weeks in an urban center.
Christine shot ahead immediately, her competitive nature refusing to let anyone else take the lead. "Race you to that tree cluster!"
She pointed toward a distant grove perhaps five miles out, her flying sword already accelerating. Emma and Sarah exchanged glances before launching after her, their swords cutting through the air with whistling sounds.
I followed at a leisurely pace, content to observe rather than compete. The girls streaked across the sky like comets, their vital energy leaving faint trails that dissipated seconds after they passed. Christine maintained her lead through sheer speed, her Lightning Step technique somehow translating into enhanced flight control. Emma kept steady in second place, her natural grace evident even while navigating three-dimensional space. Sarah struggled initially, overcorrecting her movements and wobbling through the air, but improved rapidly as muscle memory developed.
They reached the trees simultaneously when Christine deliberately slowed to let the others catch up. I joined them moments later, settling onto a low branch while they circled the grove.
"That was amazing!" Sarah's professional composure had vanished completely, replaced by genuine excitement that made her look years younger. "I've never experienced anything like it."
"Just wait until you try combat flight," Christine said, grinning wickedly. "Dodging attacks while maintaining altitude is way harder than just racing in a straight line."
"Please don't give her ideas," Emma muttered. "Some of us prefer not getting attacked on our first trip outside the city."
We continued south after a brief rest, this time experimenting with formations rather than racing. Christine took point position, Emma and Sarah flanked left and right, and I brought up the rear. The arrangement felt natural, almost instinctive, as if we'd trained together for months rather than minutes.
Sarah broke formation first, diving toward the ground with sudden urgency. "Is that a spiritual herb?"
She landed near a cluster of blue flowers growing between scattered boulders. The plants glowed faintly in the afternoon light, their petals releasing wisps of concentrated spiritual energy that created visible distortions in the air around them.
"Frostbell Flowers," I confirmed, dropping down beside her. "Low-grade spiritual herb. Useful for water and ice cultivation techniques."
Sarah's identity token chimed softly as she carefully harvested the plants. [150 Merit Points earned for discovering new spiritual resource.]
"One hundred fifty points for a few flowers?" Her eyes widened at the notification. "That's more than I make in three hours of token distribution."
"Welcome to resource gathering," Christine said cheerfully. "Why do you think Tyler spends all his time in the wilderness? The merit points add up fast if you know what to look for."
We spent the next hour playing a game where Christine would spot potential resources from the air, Emma would identify them using knowledge she'd absorbed from the library, and Sarah would harvest them for merit points. I contributed occasional corrections and guidance, pointing out which plants were actually valuable versus common weeds that merely looked spiritual.
The plains gradually gave way to rolling hills, the grass growing taller and thicker as we traveled further from American City's influence. Spiritual beasts began appearing in greater numbers, though most fled at our approach. A rabbit the size of a golden retriever bolted from its burrow when Christine's shadow passed overhead. Something serpentine and scaled slithered through the grass below, tracking our movements without attacking.
"How far south are we planning to go?" Emma asked after we'd traveled perhaps thirty miles from the city.
"I planned to travel at least a full day south," Sarah said, her eyes scanning the endless horizon. "If we don't encounter anything beyond grassy plains by that distance, we can decide what to do from there."
Christine pumped her fist in the air. "Road trip!"
Emma nodded her agreement, already adjusting her position on her flying sword for the long haul ahead. I simply gestured south, taking point this time as we accelerated into serious travel mode.
At maximum speed, our flying swords could push roughly Mach 1—about seven hundred sixty-seven miles per hour. Slightly faster than a commercial plane on Earth, though considerably less comfortable. The wind resistance at those speeds required constant vital energy circulation to maintain protective barriers around our bodies. Otherwise, the buffeting would tear skin and bruise muscles within minutes.
Sarah struggled the most, her recent breakthrough leaving her with limited vital energy reserves compared to the rest of us. She'd push hard for thirty minutes, then drop back to half speed while her meridians recharged. Christine and Emma matched her pace without complaint, using the slower periods to practice formation flying and aerial maneuvers.
I spent the downtime observing the landscape below. The endless grassland remained remarkably consistent, broken only by occasional tree groves and scattered boulder fields. No signs of major civilization, no ancient ruins, no obvious treasure locations. Just nature in its purest form, untouched by human or beast cultivation.
Between racing, games of aerial tag, and frequent breaks to recover energy, we covered perhaps five thousand miles before darkness began creeping across the sky. The dual moons rose on opposite horizons, their combined light painting the plains in silver and pale blue.
"Look!" Christine pointed south, her enhanced vision catching details before the rest of us. "The terrain's changing."
I focused my eyes forward and spotted what she'd noticed. The grassland ended abruptly about ten miles ahead, transitioning into something darker and wetter. Marshland, from the look of it. Pools of standing water reflected moonlight between patches of thick vegetation, and the spiritual energy signature shifted from clean and pure to murky and stagnant.
"Swamp biome," I confirmed. "We should make camp before we reach it. Don't want to be searching for dry ground in the dark."
We alighted in a small clearing surrounded by tall grass on three sides and a cluster of boulders on the fourth. The rocks would provide some protection from wind and wandering beasts, while the open grass gave us clear sight lines in most directions.
I pulled a Detection Crystal from my storage ring, the fist-sized artifact glowing faintly as inscriptions activated across its surface. The moment I set it on the ground, it began absorbing spiritual energy from the air, establishing a twenty-foot detection sphere around our campsite. If anything crossed the boundary from outside, the crystal would vibrate violently enough to wake all of us.
A common tool I sold at Heavenly Forge Emporium for a reasonable thousand merit points. Every serious cultivator who ventured into the wilderness carried at least one.
"Mattress time!" Christine announced, pulling an actual queen-sized mattress from her storage ring and dropping it unceremoniously onto the grass. The thick padding compressed slightly under its own weight, looking absurdly out of place in the middle of the wilderness.
Sarah blinked at the sight. "You brought a full mattress?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Christine patted the surface proudly. "Storage rings have tons of space. No reason to sleep on the ground like some kind of savage."
Emma produced her own mattress moments later, this one with silk sheets already attached. "She's right. Once you have proper storage, there's no excuse for uncomfortable camping."
I added my mattress to the growing collection, creating a rough circle around the Detection Crystal. Sarah hesitated before pulling out a simple sleeping bag, her expression sheepish.
"I didn't think to bring anything more elaborate."
"Take mine," I offered. "I can sleep on the grass just fine."
"Absolutely not." Sarah's professional composure returned instantly. "I'm not displacing you on my account."
"Then we share," Christine declared, grabbing Sarah's arm and pulling her toward the oversized mattress. "Plenty of room for two. Problem solved."
Before Sarah could protest, Emma began unpacking food containers from her storage ring. The aroma of roasted spiritual beast meat filled the clearing immediately, followed by the sweet scent of glazed vegetables and fresh bread.
"I promised to provide all the food," Emma said, arranging dishes on a cloth spread across the grass. "Hope everyone's hungry."