"If you agree to travel with your sealed cultivation, one of us can take you to the nearest city." One of those people suggested.
But hearing that, Minos smiled, shaking his head negatively. "That won't work. How will I be able to protect myself in case a fight breaks out near us during the trip? Besides, it will give you an unfair advantage against me if you decide to act."
"Traveler, this is the only alternative you have. Do it while we are being kind or bear the consequences." One individual with a more anxious mindset said this, increasing tensions in the surroundings.
"Friends, I will just take a different path. I will not pass near your group. What do you guys think about that? Watch me from afar if you wish, but I will not surrender without committing any crime." Minos said as he prepared to act if necessary.
"No, I don't believe his words. He could be someone from the Eastern Empire trying to trick us." One of the women said, remembering her time on the battlefield, where one had to keep one's eyes open even for those wearing the same colors as them.
The situation in these two warring states was dire, and combatants on both sides felt it challenging to trust strange people.
They had many reasons for this, Minos knew. But he was in no mood for it. "Then decide for yourselves. I will leave. But if you stand in my way, we'll have a real problem."
Right then, Minos jumped into the air and flew away, taking this most flashy and risky step to quickly leave the vicinity of that group's camp.
This time, he used his full speed, causing those people who immediately started chasing him to fall further and further behind.
"Damn it! The wretch lied to us!" One of those people shouted.
"He's probably an enemy coming from the Eastern Empire! Alert everyone about his situation!"
"And make it clear that he is much faster than ordinary high-level 8th-stage cultivators!"
The stronger ones shouted while the weaker ones stopped chasing Minos to return to their sect camp.
Minos noticed these people chasing him and cursed in his mind the Elemental Sect, feeling that he would have to leave this state as soon as possible so as not to be tracked down by his many enemies.
'Wretched people! How foolish are you to seek a battle against a peaceful traveler? If it were any other situation, I would kill you all!'
Minos then combined his movement technique with Chaotic Gravity, merging the two techniques until his speed more than tripled. That changed his surroundings, which had a disk shape near his body, to space beginning to distort, as if he were traveling through a wormhole and normal space at the same time.
That only lasted a few seconds before Minos' body completely disappeared from the sight of those individuals chasing him, totally shocking them.
In a fraction of a second, Minos' speed had jumped from that of cultivators near level 80 to that of someone at level 86!
At the same time, he traversed space even while exhibiting 8th-stage cultivation, something extremely shocking!
"How is that possible?" One of them wondered, no longer feeling or seeing anything to indicate that Minos had been there a few moments ago.
"I don't know, but that guy is not normal. The way he ran away was awe-inspiring!" Another person commented as they continued to fly around, looking for signs of their target.
But they would find nothing and soon gave up this futile search to return to their previous camp.
...
Meanwhile, Minos appeared dozens of miles ahead of where he had left, feeling a little nervous after using that fusion.
He had never used it against opponents before, so he hoped it would throw off the people who had seen him acting. But he knew that having traversed space as only a Spiritual Saint was a problem, and he soon altered his appearance.
Now he no longer looked like an overweight, red-haired man. Now he was a tan-skinned man, six feet tall, extremely muscular, and bald.
At the same time, he stopped using the item that would hinder anyone from distinguishing his aura because those people had already identified what it felt like to be near him.
In this case, there was no point in continuing to use that item, and he finally let his ordinary aura show itself.
'In the place I am, few people would have the ability to identify me by my aura.' Minos thought as he landed not far from that city, determined to go through the terrain the rest of the way.
This time he would pay more attention to those in his path so as not to fall into the same situation as moments ago and avoid further trouble that could bring troublesome people to his tail.
At the same time, he would expedite his journey to the Ancestral Sea as much as possible, determined to buy his boat and leave the city ahead.
'When I return to this empire in the future, I will avoid the damn Elemental Sect.' He thought as he saw a small line of carriages, beasts, and people in front of one of the entrances to that city.
Anyone seeing that place from afar would not see any walls separating the city from the forest or beach. All that person would see would be where streets, houses, and property further outside the city were located.
But if one tried to feel the spiritual fluctuations in the surroundings, one would realize that a powerful barrier covered the city's outskirts, and only through the official entrances could one easily enter there.
Because of this, Minos followed the path normally used by local citizens, accepting that he had to go through the local customs office.
So, already dressed differently from his earlier clothes, he joined the people waiting to enter the city.
In that line, Minos would not attract the people's attention in the surrounding area. After 30 minutes of waiting, his turn to go through the guards arrived.
"Next!"
The free guard called out to Minos, causing this muscular fellow to walk over to his counter.
"ID." He said dryly, not caring much to look at Minos.
Everyone entering and leaving the city had to go through posts like these. But if this road in and out involved talking and questioning, the traffic of people through these posts would be hefty. It would be so problematic that controlling people coming in and out of the city would be impractical.
So every citizen of cities in this state had IDs to facilitate their entry and exit from cities like this.
Minos had expected something like this and this. "Senior, unfortunately, I lost mine while fighting with beasts nearby."
That man looked intensely at Minos upon hearing those words, noticing an unusual problem happening to appear for him to deal with.
...
