Shi Tianhe spoke truthfully; the Central Region was indeed more dangerous than the Southern Territory.
In the past few centuries, the thirteen nations of the Southern Territory had enjoyed peace through a truce with the ten great demonic sects of the Western Wilderness.
However, the three great dynasties of the Central Region, with their countless sects and intertwined power structures, along with abundant resources and numerous ancient relics and treasures, often sparked all sorts of conflicts and ambushes, resulting in countless old powers being destroyed each year and just as many new powers rising.
In terms of strength, the Central Region was terribly formidable; the strongest entities in the whole Southern Territory and Western Wilderness were but fourth-tier sects with early-stage Heavenly Saint Realm experts, whereas the Central Region housed not only third-tier sects but even second-tier sects with late-stage Heavenly Saint Realm powerhouses!
Truly, they were the elite of the entire Barbaric Wilderness Continent!
In the face of so many Heavenly Saint Realm experts, of course, the numbers of Rotating Pill Realm experts far exceeded those in the Southern Territory and the Western Wilderness, with countless martial artists at the Spirit Sea Realm as well.
Under these circumstances, even the Shi brothers at the late-stage Spirit Sea Realm didn't dare say they were safe in the Central Region. So naturally, they were somewhat surprised to see Ye Chen, at the early-stage Spirit Sea Realm, daring to venture alone into the Central Region.
Yet what Shi Tianhe didn't know was that Ye Chen had actually disguised his aura to appear at the early-stage Spirit Sea Realm for this journey to the Central Region, to avoid drawing too much attention.
If Shi Tianhe knew that Ye Chen was only fifteen years old and already at the mid-stage Spirit Sea Realm, with a cultivation speed unsurpassed even by the countless genius disciples of the numerous sects within the Central Region's three great dynasties, he would probably be utterly astounded!
If Shi Tianhe knew of Ye Chen's true fighting prowess, which was sufficient to completely suppress mid-stage Rotating Pill Realm experts, and even able to contend against late-stage Rotating Pill Realm experts—he had even faced Heavenly Saints in battle—he would likely be completely petrified!
Even though there were many existences in the Central Region's three great dynasties that Ye Chen looked up to, he now had enough capital to venture through the Central Region.
Of course, Shi Tianhe was unaware of all this, and Ye Chen had no intention of enlightening him.
Ye Chen appreciated Shi Tianhe's concern and smiled at him, saying, "Thank you for your concern, Brother Tianhe. I will be cautious on my journey to the Central Region."
Seeing that Ye Chen took his advice to heart, Shi Tianhe was very pleased. He patted his chest and said to Ye Chen, "By the way, Brother Ye Chen, what are you planning to do in the Central Region? If it happens to be on the way for my brothers and me, we can travel together. Not to brag, but there aren't many who dare to trouble us below the Rotating Pill Realm."
Ye Chen smiled and said, "I'm planning to go to the Tai'a Sword Sect."
"The Tai'a Sword Sect?!" Hearing these four words, Shi Tianhe was startled, almost falling from the sky.
As a swordsman, Shi Tianhe naturally knew of the renown of the Tai'a Sword Sect.
That was a legendary third-tier great sect!
The Tai'a Sword Sect had elders at the mid-stage Heavenly Saint Realm presiding over it! Not a single entity in the thirteen nations of the Southern Territory could boast a mid-stage Heavenly Saint Realm powerhouse!
Hearing that Ye Chen was heading to the Tai'a Sword Sect, Shi Tianhe was, of course, astonished beyond measure.
It wasn't just Shi Tianhe who was greatly surprised; his other two brothers, Shi Tianjiang and Shi Tianhai, also exclaimed in shock upon hearing that Ye Chen intended to visit the Tai'a Sword Sect, "Brother Ye Chen, the Tai'a Sword Sect is a true great sect. It's not easy for outsiders to enter.
I heard that even Rotating Pill Realm experts need to submit a visitation request and receive approval before they can enter!"
"Even though numerous sects within the three great dynasties are often wiped out in strife, the third and fourth-tier sects still stand tall across the dynasties, especially the third-tier sects, which are the true behemoths of the Central Region!"
"The Tai'a Sword Sect is among the top echelons of the third-tier sects, and perhaps only the supposedly hidden second-tier sects of the Great Xia Dynasty could surpass the Tai'a Sword Sect head-on."
"Brother Ye Chen, what business do you have at the Tai'a Sword Sect? Don't end up being unable to even enter their gates!"
The horse was covered in hair as white and shiny as snow, measuring seven to eight meters in length, and astonishingly, it also had a pair of huge wings.
A winged flying horse, even though Ye Chen had seen countless demon beasts and Great Demons, he had never seen such a creature!
"Snow Feather Flying Horse! That seems to be a Snow Feather Flying Horse!" Shi Tianhe exclaimed, recognizing the flying horse in the sky.
As Shi Tianhe identified the flying horse, many others at the dock recognized the horse's origin: "This Snow Feather Flying Horse is said to be a Half-Step Demon King level entity, and a unique flying Half-Step Demon King even among the three major dynasties of the Central Region, belonging to the Great Zhou Dynasty!"
"Its rarity is such that it's even comparable to the real Demon Kings of the thirteen countries of the Southern Territory!"
"Who is this, that they can use a 'Snow Feather Flying Horse' to pull a carriage?!"
Amidst the exclamations of the crowd, the divine and peerless flying horse stopped in the sky, and at the same time, a violent gale burst forth from within the carriage, sweeping towards the crowd standing on the dock below.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Quite a few people standing below the carriage were swept up by the raging wind and flung backwards, thrown hundreds of yards away.
In an instant, a large swath of land below the carriage was cleared, leaving it utterly empty!
"Such a powerful presence, is this... could this be the great divine ability of turning breath into wind?"
"Who exactly is inside this carriage?"
Although the Shi brothers stood far from the carriage and weren't swept up by the wind directly, they still felt a razor-sharp breeze slashing past them.
This caused the faces of the three brothers, who were in the late stages of the Spirit Sea Realm, to change.
Meanwhile, Ye Chen, who was standing beside the brothers, narrowed his eyes and looked towards the inside of the carriage.
While others could not see what was inside the carriage, Ye Chen's spiritual sense was extremely powerful. He had seen in the instant the gale burst forth from the carriage that it was the action of a young man in a brocade robe.
The young man, with narrow eyes and thin lips, had a restlessly rolling presence and was evidently a mid Rotating Pill Realm martial artist.
Ye Chen observed a faint sneer at the corner of the young man's mouth as he cleared the ground below with a wave of his hand.
As Ye Chen sized up the young man inside the carriage, and the Snow Feather Flying Horse outside, the other people, feeling the terrifying aura emanating from the carriage, began to retreat, even the two early Rotating Pill Realm martial artists changed their expressions.
At that moment, the carriage and the flying horse in the sky gracefully descended to the ground.
It seemed that the person inside the carriage had cleared the ground below earlier expressly to make room for their own landing.
Such a domineering clearance left many at the dock angry but afraid to speak out.
In the midst of the crowd's anger, the "ferryboat" everyone had been waiting for finally began to drift towards the dock from the Boundary River.
When the ferryboat came into clear view, everyone had already forgotten about the domineering actions of the person in the carriage earlier; all surged towards the dock, ready to board the ferryboat as soon as it got close.
At this moment, a cold voice rang out throughout the dock: "I, 'Wu Quan', don't want to squeeze onto a boat with other people. I'm commandeering this ferryboat. The rest of you, wait for the next one."