Salt Breathing Tribe

As Minos said that, he gave Rubella a couple Nux Stones, enough for her to stay in Underwood City comfortably for at least a few months.

"Wait master, where are you going? I want to come!" Rubella couldn't help but shout out as Minos walked away.

"As I've already said, where I'm going next could be dangerous. You are still a mortal, so it's best if you stay here for now."

"Master, I can still help you!"

"If you want to help me then use the Twelve Beast Movement Tome and breakthrough to the first Life Lock as soon as possible. Only then will you truly change from my apprentice to my partner." Minos finished.

Rubella wanted to say more, but Minos's eyes were frigid, so she quickly swallowed back her words. She knew he was right, so internally, she decided to dedicate more time to cultivating, so she wouldn't be a burden anymore.

Seeing as Rubella wasn't saying anymore, Minos left without another word. While he could have used the two Blood Honey Wine's he had left to help her quickly breakthrough, possibly even reaching the Fourth Life Lock, there were a few problems with that.

First of all, it was a waste to use such a potent treasure on the early realms, rather they were much more efficiently used at the later realms when things got harder. Of course given Minos's talent, he didn't have the luxury to wait, but Rubella was different.

Secondly, power from thin air was often a bad thing. It takes time and discipline to master power as it comes along slowly, time you won't have if you get everything all in one go.

It was important to temper Rubella's reverence and control of power, such that she will master the power, rather than the power mastering her.

With those considerations, Minos decided to let Rubella struggle through the early stages herself. Once she's proven that she's capable of utilizing her power properly, Minos can consider giving her the Blood Wine Honey.

…

Minos bought a horse and quickly left Underwood City. The journey wasn't an extremely long one, but it was still better done on horse then foot.

The Underwood Mountain range wasn't very dangerous near the outer and middle reaches, but as one got deeper, the demonic beasts became exponentially more dangerous..

While it was rare to find demonic beasts of the mid-stages of the Mortal Renewal Realm near the edge, it became a common sight deep inside.

It's said that the depth of the ranges even contain Inner Heaven Realm demonic beasts. So this journey, while short, was anything but safe.

Minos had to constantly keep his guard up, trying to take the safest route to reach the seaside. Fortunately with his memory, he could quickly compare between the map in his mind and reality, finding the most optimal route.

The journey was a slow one, Minos took no risks, so he played it safe by taking the longer, less dangerous roads.

Suddenly, the earth started to slightly shake, a massive roar echoed from ahead of Minos. The birds quickly took to the sky, as if to escape the impending danger.

The earth continued to tremble, as beasts ran from the depth of the forest, heading towards Minos's location. Minos couldn't help but curse in his mind as he thought of countermeasures.

Beast-tides came in many different forms, weak beast-tides were actually quite common, and naturally as name goes, they weren't much of a threat and would be dispersed not long after starting.

Strong beast-tides on the other hand, could be quite dangerous. While these beast-tides similar didn't tend to reach towards Underwood City, they were still a massive threat to anyone who was in the Underwood Mountain Range.

Finally, catastrophic beast-tides were so strong that they spilled out from the mountain range, wreaking havoc on any nearby cities. These beast-tides were exceptionally rare, but everytime they happened, they usually ended in thousands of casualties and countless Nux Stones worth of damage.

While Minos was no demonic beast expert, based on noise alone, this was likely a weak beast-tide, which was good news amongst bad.

While it would still be dangerous given how deep Minos was in, it was as good as things got. Minos reached towards his spatial ring, pulled out a levitation talisman and slapped it on his horse.

The horse started to flail around as it suddenly levitated off the earth, but with a strong grip from Minos's legs, it calmed down.

As the horse got higher into the sky, Minos looked down at the small beast-tide as it caused chaos amongst the trees and foliage.

Almost like a wildfire, as it spread, it demolished everything in its wake. Minos couldn't help but be caught in a slight trance as he watched the destruction unravel.

While he was mature for his age, he had never seen such a massive scene before, and he couldn't help but contemplate.

'Perhaps this is the truest reflection of the world of cultivation, danger and destruction. Praying to not be caught up in the storm, but not having the strength to escape it, ultimately being destroyed by the very thing you worshiped.'

'Was the pursuit of power a noble one? No! Power is but a means, an end to a cause, it is not my master, nor my god, only my tool. I will rule over my will like a god, and master my destiny'

'This may be a reflection of the cultivation world, but it will never be the whole picture. For where destruction lies, creation is not far from sprouting. Let me be both the destroyer and creator!"

Minos thought to himself as he felt a new resolve from within him. His entire being seemed to be cleansed, and his confidence was further strengthened.

He didn't want to be a destroyer, but he will destroy those who stand in his way. More than that however, he will be a creator, forever leaving his name in the history books.

While Minos was a realist, he was still a child, one who always had aspirations and ambitions that didn't match his age. If possible, he too, wanted to leave a legacy which he could forever be proud of.

As the beast-tide calmed down, Minos also came back from his thoughts. The Levitation Talisman was replaced with a weaker one to allow the horse to slowly descend back to the earth.

Soon enough, the horses' hooves were touching the ground once more. Minos looked around at the havoc left behind, further strengthening his resolve. With a slight tug, he got the horse moving, not looking back at the destruction any longer.

…

The rest of the journey was uneventful, and Minos's choice of taking the long roads paid off, of course, the price being night had already come and Minos had to call it a day.

Fortunately he was already out of the Underwood Mountain Range, reaching the beachside. This place was simply known as Underwood Beach Range, and it was relatively safe.

This was also near to where the Salt Breathing Tribe lived, and since Minos still didn't know how the village treated outsiders, he decided to camp alone for the night.

The night quickly passed and as morning came, Minos finally headed towards the tribe's location.

It didn't take much more walking before he found a few wooden huts built up on the sandy beach. A few wooden piers were built reaching out into the Endless Ocean, with boats alongside them.

Naturally more interesting than the architecture were the people themselves, who were pointing towards Minos curiously as they talked amongst themselves.

The people were a dark color to fight off against the seemingly ceaseless sunlight that constantly bombarded this part of the Alephora continent.

In contrast to Minos's pale sickly skin, they were completely opposites, which the Salt Breathing Tribe themselves seemed to notice as they watched on with curiosity.

The language they spoke was naturally a foreign one to Minos's ears, but with his intelligence, he quickly hypothesized the meaning of some of the words they seemed to speak more often.

Minos kept his distance as he watched on, he naturally didn't want to seem aggressive, so he waited patiently for the person in charge to come out.

Fortunately his wait didn't last long enough, soon a large man followed by a few tribesmen on both sides came out from amongst one of the larger huts.

The tribe's people didn't wear much given the heat, and their skin was plastered with intricate red tattoos that seemed to tell all sorts of stories and legends.

"Traveler, what have you come here for?" The tribe leader said in Alora, the common language of the Alephora continent.

"I don't come with any ill intent, I would just like to borrow a boat." Minos said.

"Unfortunately, I cannot meet your demands. The rules of our tribe state that one must create the tools in which they want to use, and while you are a foreigner, you must still follow our laws."

"Is there any way to make an exception? I can naturally pay if possible." Minos responded.

"No can do" The tribe's patriarch remained firm in his resolve.

Of course for most cultivators, if they couldn't take it peacefully, they would take it by force, but Minos never operated by the norm. Since he was in other people's land, he would operate with their rules out of respect.

Minos was never a violent person, if there was a peaceful resolution to a problem, then he would always choose it, of course if there was danger, he would also be quick to destroy it.

"Very well. Then how should I create my own boat?" Minos asked, giving in to the tribe's patriarch.

"Inkus here will teach you. But all the work must be done with your own hands, so don't try to cheat." The patriarch said as he patted the shoulder of the young man to the right of him.

Minos accepted as he followed Inkus to the back of the tribe. Inkus didn't speak Alora, so the two could only communicate via hand signals.