Prince of Wealth in a Cultivation World

"Young man, head towards the north. That's the way to the mainland. During that period, you will find many establishments like this village." The old apothecary's voice resonated in his mind as Noir headed north.

He had no emotional connection with the village or its people, so he didn't give it much thought and used Phantom Steps.

The first time he used the skill Phantom Steps was when he got off the roof early in the morning, and due to his skill 'Perfect Comprehension,' he didn't have to practice like others to learn it.

Even at his first attempt, he felt as if he were used to the skill. Now, he was using Phantom Steps to cross distances of kilometres in five to ten seconds. Like this, in an hour, he reached a new village similar to the previous one.

Not wanting to attract too much attention, he stopped a little further away from the village and then decided to walk normally.

The village wasn't different from the one he came from. Seeing a food cart on the side of the road, he stopped. "Brother, how much is a bowl of soup?" he asked, deciding to stay for a while and ask about the mainland once again.

"Three bronze for a small bowl and five for a big one. Which one do you want?" the cart owner asked.

"Then give me the big one," Noir replied, acting as if he was taking coins out from his pocket and then gave the five bronze coins to the cart owner, who told Noir to wait as he prepared the soup for him.

"Brother, have you ever been to the mainland?" Noir casually started the conversation to see what he could find out in this village.

"Mainland? Oh, you mean the capital? No, I haven't been there," the cart owner answered while seasoning the soup.

"Why is that?" Noir questioned.

"Well, because it's very far from here, and I don't have a reason to travel to the capital. Are you perhaps thinking about going there?" the cart owner replied with a question.

Noir nodded, and the cart owner spoke with a surprised look, "Why is that? If you don't want to risk your life, then it's better you don't travel to the capital. Don't you know the roads to the capital are all infested with bandits?"

"No, I didn't. I need to go there because I have to meet someone," Noir answered as the cart owner handed him the big bowl of soup with vegetables in it.

"Brother, if you are thinking of traveling to the capital, then it's better you join a group traveling together. Though you won't find them here, if you head north towards that mountain, you'll find a bigger village where people gather as they want to visit other villages close to the capital."

Noir nodded with a sip of soup, but then a question arose in his mind. "Aren't there authorities in every village? Don't these people take action against bandits? And what about the people in the capital, why are they ignoring them?"

"Ssssshhhhhh, brother, don't talk about them loudly." He came closer to Noir as his tone was low.

"They'll ignore those bandits and suck our money if they find even a small fault with us. As for the people of the capital, well, for them, we are non-existent, I guess," the cart owner smiled while warning Noir not to talk about the authorities.

Noir wasn't surprised when he learned that authorities don't care about the people of these villages; otherwise, even after the big commotion in the inn, the authorities remained hidden because they were afraid of confronting the cultivators.

But seeing that they are this bad to even ignore bandits running rampant. "I can see now why Big Huang's village was burnt down by bandits; they killed whole villagers because they knew that authorities weren't going to take action against them."

After finishing the bowl of soup, Noir thanked him and, without the cart owner noticing, he vanished using Phantom Steps and headed straight towards the mountain up ahead where he could find a big village.

"Where did that man go?" the cart owner was surprised, just as his eyes snapped away for a second, Noir, who was sitting close to him, vanished into thin air.

Meanwhile, Noir, oblivious to what happened to the cart owner, began making his way towards the mountain, which was so far away that only its tiny peak was visible to him from where he was.

People were bustling around the village, and without their noticing, Noir left the village. The only person who was aware of him was still thinking about where Noir went without him noticing.

After leaving the village, the number of people became fewer and fewer, but Noir ignored them. He used Phantom Steps until all the Qi in his body was depleted.

Looking towards the mountain, he thought, "I'm not even halfway there, but it seems this is my limit." The day was still bright, so he found a clean place a little away from the route and sat there to replenish the Qi in his body.

Noir began to cultivate, but because of the low density of Qi in the atmosphere, it took him four hours to refill his depleted Qi. Looking at the sun, which was about to set within a couple of hours, he got up and began his journey.

By the time he reached another village, after ignoring a few along the way, he could no longer see the mountain because of the darkness, and he decided to wait for sunrise before he could continue his journey.

The village was bigger than any of the past villages he had ever seen, and it was even more bustling with people than the others. Stopping at an inn that was filled with people, he asked for a drink and sat at a table when the man beside him asked…

"you are also here to see the beauties?" the man was drunk as he pointed towards the stairs. Noir, following his gaze, saw two women coming down from the stairs while they took a table.

Both of the women were wearing veils. One had a shorter build and petite body, while the other was a beauty with a petite body and slender, long legs.

From behind the veil, the woman in front greeted the inn owner with a smile, while the shorter one ignored the crowd and looked at the inn owner with a threatening look. She was obviously unhappy to see so much crowd in the inn.

"What are you staring at?" she then threatened the crowd, her eyes finally landing on Noir, who happened to be looking at them.

[Author's note]

Thank you for your support, make sure to complete the target of 100 Power stones before next Sunday.