The Martial Unity

"Traveling through the Beast Domain?" Kane raised an eyebrow. "Did the Britannian Empire really make a road through the Beast Domain? That's crazy!"

"Yes, but it does a good job of summing up the Britannian Empire, at last, before the Emperor broke through to the Transcendent Realm," Rui huffed. "Thankfully, the road only goes through Squire-level regions and a handful of Apprentice-level regions. Thus, it's manageable for us."

Most of the regions of the Beast Domain were of the Lower Realms. Thus, Kane and Rui could survive and even thrive in a good number of the weaker danger zones.

Things began getting dicey when they entered Senior-level danger zones, where simply not dying very quickly required being part of the Senior Realm. These zones often contained master-level threats, be they fauna, flora, or the environment.

"We can follow the Pave of Graves to cut short our distance to the Valley of Prisms on the other side of the Beast Domain," Rui remarked. "It will also give us a good feel of what it's like to be in the Beast Domain."

"How far is the Pave of Graves from here?" Kane asked.

"Quite close by, some distance away from the Britannian Empire," Rui replied.

The Britannian Empire was very close to the Beast Domain, which had sprung them into doing something as insane as creating a path through the Beast Domain. The sheer amount of protection that every single convoy in the Beast Domain would require was something that would inflate the prices of any and all goods and services passing through the road beyond any reasonable degree.

It was a terrible investment.

Then again, the Britannian Empire was a Martialocratic Martial Supremacist nation. Thus, it was hardly any surprise when it did irrational things such as this.

"Let's get going," Rui replied. "It's going to take us a while to reach the Valley of Prisms."

The two of them immediately set out for the Pave of Graves quickly, traveling along the border of the Beast Domain.

Although Rui would have loved to just shoot through the Beast Domain and take the shortest possible path, it was dangerous to do so since it would take through the inner section of the Beast Domain, which was where the information of the Adventurer's Guild began failing.

If they ran into a Master-level region, then they were screwed. Rui would rather minimize the risks if they were not necessary.

"So, let me get this straight," Kane began. "We circle around the Beast Domain, heading into the Valley of Prisms to look for clues about where the Divine Doctor was headed after. Then we follow his trail by using the clues we find there with the information from the Beggar Sage, the Adventurer's Guild, and your grandmother's prophecies?"

"Pretty much," Rui replied. "Those are four mutually exclusive sources of information, meaning there is no redundancy in the information that I will get from those sources. That's why having all four will be extremely powerful in finding the man."

The Beggar's Sage gave him intelligence on the Divine Doctor himself, while the Adventurer's Guild gave him information on the Beast Domain. His grandmother gave him information about the future while personally investigating the places where the Divine Doctor passed through gave him information about the past.

"And how do you intend to convince this man to heal your father?"

Rui sharpened his eyes. "By giving him anything he wants. He has powerful connections, undoubtedly, but there are things that only a Sage-level powerhouse can possibly have and procure."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "…The Beggar Sage had said that he was working on treating a patient and had entered the Beast Domain for a diagnosis."

"…Huh?" Kane tilted his head, confused. "What is that even supposed to mean?"

Rui heaved a sigh, shrugging. "However, in a prophecy that my grandmother showed me, broken as it was, he told me that his current patient was more important than all rulers of humanity combined."

Rui had faint suspicions and ideas about this patient, but they were so far-fetched that it felt stupid to even utter them aloud.

"Regardless, if the difficulty is this high, then there are undoubtedly many things that we can help him with, be it procuring things that he needs for his treatment of this person. I don't believe that he would not benefit from our aid."

The Kandrian Empire had an enormous ocean of resources, both literal and figurative, and was among the most powerful Martial Artists anywhere on the continent.

"We also have prophecies," Rui murmured. "I know he's a genius, but surely even he would be tempted by such power. On top of that, his words seemed to indicate that the Eternal Dream Disease that my father is suffering from was a trivial task for him. So healing my father should not be a tall demand of him."

These were the rationales that gave Rui confidence in compelling the man over to his side. Of course, Rui's confidence was based on the assumption that the man had some rationality. Unfortunately, Rui was not too confident in this premise. A rational man did not enter the Beast Domain alone.

He certainly was not the type to spread chaos everywhere he went. Everything that Rui had seen suggested that this person was extremely irrational. A true genius of mind, undoubtedly. But entirely unparalleled in his mental prowess.

"I'll deal with any issues that come up on the fly," Rui remarked, heaving a sigh.

He also had one more card to play: He had been deemed a candidate for immortality, to join the ranks of immortal human sages created by the Divine Doctor, the Beggar Sage, and the Psycher by extracting a being's soul and placing it in a new vessel, allowing them to escape death indefinitely through this process.

He might be able to earn the Divine Doctor's regard more than if he were just another Senior or just a prince.

In other words, the biggest issue was definitely finding him.