Chapter 233: End Goal of the Journey
Sam and the group changed their clothes and particularly Sam and Watt, they took off their eye-catching coats and wore some normal clothes.
Yanwu and Sky went to do some scouting now and then and they traveled carefully on foot for three days before they found a proper road.
They randomly picked a direction and started flying over it and after another three days, they saw their first City.
On their way, they avoided any possible encounter they could have with other travelers.
Sam doesn't want any of the info slipping as there is a possibility that the Emperor already took action to deal with him, and he didn't throw the rest of his friends in the dimension because there is a possibility of them is going to be stuck inside the dimension in the future, so he let them have some free reign for a bit.
When the first City came to their eye-sight, Sam and the rest landed nearby and he threw everyone inside the dimension along with him and let shadow mice follow a trading caravan and enter the City.
Now, all he has to do is find out where they actually are and where they have to go from here.
They entered the slums and hid deep inside some abandoned buildings.
Sam came out from there and went into the city.
The slums are the place where a lot of new people enter every day and they could care less about a new face showing up.
Apart from that, Sam wore a cloak around him making and he pretended to be old and weak which made his presence ignored.
After that, he went to work with some shadow mice.
He sent shadow mice to infiltrate the city guard stations and he went towards an inn where the most human traffic occurs.
He bribed a waiter and got all the info he needed.
Right now, he is in a city named the scarlet city and this is a part of the Northern Star Dukedom.
It is not very close to the northern border of the empire, nor was it close to the Northern Star city. It is exactly in the middle of the Dukedom and this city is one of the cities which has nothing special.
The city is named after the City lord's family who got were rewarded with the city when the empire was founded.
After getting some info, Sam went back to the slums and carefully slipped into an alleyway before disappearing into the dimension before reappearing at the old ruined building they are hiding.
He told them everything that he learned and asked them to think of what they think is the best solution to proceed. Even though, there is a high chance that Sam would make the final decision there is no reason to not listen to any suggestions.
By night the shadow mice returned and from what they learned in the city guard station there is no official notice among the citizens claiming that Sam is a wanted criminal by the empire.
Rather, the mice found out that some of the upper echelons of the city guards and the city officials who are discussing a person. Although the mice failed to see any picture of Sam in their position there is some info that made it most possible that they are talking about Sam and that is regarding his professions.
The officials are talking about Sam's numerous professions and they have been ordered by their upper echelons that they should keep an eye on the three professional towers which Sam is a part of and they also noted that they should inform them if there is any young genius who appears inside the tower.
Sam is almost sure that it is about him.
The Emperor already broke all the decorum with Sam and he has no choice but to search and capture him. Because once, Sam escaped and he cannot get his hands on him, then with Sam's potential and talent he would be done for.
But he cannot paint Sam as a deadly criminal before he knew his exact position. He has no evidence and everyone knows that Sam has a deep feud with all the big shots and the public would think that the emperor is extremely tyrannical and in the imperial capital and the three professional towers which Sam has some status in has to side with Sam because of their titles.
Emperor knew that he has no good reputation in the empire but at least he doesn't want to get a bad reputation which the enemy empire can take advantage of.
If Sam really did approach them, they have no other choice but accept and protect him from the empire's allegations, that is one of the reasons the Emperor wanted to kill Sam instantly within the palace grounds.
From what he could tell Sam is a cautious person and plan everything carefully, that is the reason he made a sneak attack but he didn't expect Sam to be this cautious and prepare for this scenario as well.
Sam and the remaining three all sat down together inside the building and started discussing and now they have two choices in front of them.
The first one is to cross the northern border and flee to the neighboring empire and the second one is to play this cat and mouse game with the emperor.
They are in a dilemma because Sam is not that willing to cross the border at least not yet.
Because he made a contract with Jack to tear down the Blackwater nest and find his father's killer and his pride is not letting him accept this.
One could say that a wise man bows down for the circ.u.mstances but Sam believes that a capable man can change the circ.u.mstances for his own favor.
So, that night the group stayed there and the next day Sam made his decision.
They are not going to leave the border yet.
First, they will travel to the southern star Dukedom and check up on Sam's Park. If Sam's guess is correct, unless the emperor is willing to answer to the public and prove that his acts are not of any personal vendetta, he wouldn't openly take charge of the park and also fire the employees suddenly.
At least, this is what Sam would do if he is the emperor's shoes, so to get a better understanding of the emperor's thought process Sam has to look at that place and come to a conclusion and apart from that there is another big reason and more important reason for him to visit that place and that is leaving a message and honoring the words he left behind in the past.
After that, he would think of what to do next.
So, their journey began.
First thing in the morning they left the place with the help of shadow mice and on the way, they stole a map leading to the south.
The map has details up to the imperial capital and Sam can get to the southern start from there.
From the map and the estimated distance, it will take around one month in the shortest route which will lead to the imperial capital, and this time Watt is responsible for bringing there.
But before that, Sam has to give some makeover to Watt. He made his hair silvery white like an old man and added some wrinkles on the face and hands and other exposed his skin. He taught him how to walk like an old man and how to hunch like one.
Why Watt though?
It is because Watt is the only person who is out of the limelight for more than the past month. He was shoved inside the dimension even before their journey to the thunder god temple. So, his presence was completely neglected and it would be sometime before the emperor concentrates on him.
Sam is just being cautious, because there is a high chance that the searches are being done in the southern star continent now, because, the emperor didn't know that Sam himself has no control over the direction the scroll took him.
So, he would assume that Sam went to the southern star where he has the most influence and an extremely profiting business.
And his guess is almost right but the only thing is that Sam is only going there a little later than he thinks.
Watt is now traveling on Falck at a moderate speed and he dressed as an old man. His pace is as if he has all the time in this world.
Meanwhile, inside the dimension, Sam is sitting along with the other two as they are discussing their future steps.
Jack has a small question for Sam and that is.
��What is your final goal from this journey, we could just escape to the neighboring empire and we can take the revenge slowly? We are not on par with the strength of the emperor and apart from that, there are generals, Marshalls, countless Nascent cultivators including Dukes, and also the vast army under their control. And even worse, they have the manpower and the resources to make their work easier. We are completely on different levels. We are against the whole empire."
Sam smiled and said.
"What you said is right, let us forget about the emperor's level for now, since the power level is completely out of our league, it doesn't matter whether it is a Nascent or higher they all can kill us in an instant.
As for what you said about the rest, yes, we are indeed against the whole empire and it is true that they have many resources in their control.
And our end goal of this is also related to that.
Why do you think, the emperor has so much pride that he just attacked me without a second thought, even though all I did was just retaliate against his son?"
Jack and Philip looked at each other and the latter answered.
"Because he was the emperor?" He doesn't sound so sure, because, even he thought that it was kind of stupid. Just because he is an emperor doesn't mean he can do whatever he wants, right?
But Sam's answer proved he was right.
"Exactly, he behaves like this just because he is an emperor. And our goal is to pluck that title off of his head and reduce is head weight so that he can look at the ground for once and let us see how we would react."
His voice was so casual that Jack and Philip even felt that they didn't hear anything clearly.