Cultivation Online

As they got closer to the giants, Yuan could feel their gaze on him, and sure enough, when he looked at them, their eyes were glaring directly at him for some reason.

Yuan wanted to ignore them, but when they got close enough to the entrance of the city, the giants suddenly stepped in front of the entrance, blocking their path.

The Huang Family were quite baffled by their actions. Unlike cities outside the Giant's Continent, the Southern Stronghold did not require for them to pay any entrance fees, nor did they care about your background, so there was literally no reason why they should be blocking the entrance.

"Is there something wrong, Seniors?" Huang Chen, Huang Xiao Li's father, asked the guard in a polite tone.

The guards pointed at Yuan and asked, "Who are you? What is your purpose?"

Yuan raised an eyebrow and said in a calm voice, "I am Yuan, and I am their bodyguard."

The guards turned to look at Huang Chen for confirmation.

"That's right. He's a bodyguard that I hired to protect my family. It was because of him that we— and everyone else on the ship were able to survive a Flying Leviathan and arrive at the Giant's Continent safely." Huang Chen nodded.

"You defeated a Flying Leviathan?" The guards appeared to be surprised after learning about his feats.

The two of them exchanged looks with each other for a moment before stepping out of the way.

"Thank you, Seniors." Huang Chen bowed to them before they started moving again, entering the Southern Stronghold shortly after.

"What was that about?" Yuan asked them.

"I don't know, but giants respect and prioritize one's strength above all else." Huang Chen shook his head.

Once they entered the city, Yuan was dumbfounded by the scenery inside.

All of the buildings in this place were massive and about 10 times larger than the buildings that he was used to seeing, not to mention the amount of giants walking around the city, making him feel really tiny in this place, just like an ant.

Furthermore, he also noticed that the giants in this place really varied in terms of their size. Some of them were only as tall as 4 meters while there were giants as tall as 15 meters.

"You're probably wondering about their sizes, right?" Huang Xiao Li suddenly said to him.

"You're right. I thought all giants were as big as the guards outside, but that doesn't seem to be the case." He nodded.

"It depends on the strength of their Mammoth Bloodline. The purer and stronger their bloodline, the bigger they will turn out to be. In the Giant's Continent, a giant's size is akin to a cultivator's innate talent, so those with a smaller body are considered trash while those with a large body are considered geniuses," she explained.

"If you're surprised now, just wait until you see giants that are as big as a mountain."

Yuan eyes widened.

"As big as a mountain? No wonder why they refuse to leave the Giant's Continent. They won't be able to do anything outside with such huge bodies."

Sometime later, they went to a hotel to settle down. Although most of the hotels there were built specifically for giants, there were also hotels specifically built for humans like them.

Once inside the hotel, Huang Chen gathered everyone there and said, "We will rest today, but starting tomorrow, I will be looking to exchange our treasures with the giants. I will leave two of you here to guard my family while the rest will follow me."

Yuan frowned upon hearing his words.

'I won't be able to protect all of them if we split into two groups. Perhaps I should convince them to go together, but they have a child…' He glanced at the seven-year-old boy beside his mother.

'Maybe it would actually be safer to leave him and the mother here…' He sighed inwardly.

With so many giants walking outside, things could get ugly really fast if they take such a small child outside. After all, he was so tiny compared to some of the giants that they could easily step on him by accident and not even realize it.

Of course, this also applied to the mother, who had the lowest cultivation base besides the child who was still too young to cultivate.

However, there was another issue— the bodyguards.

He wasn't confident in their abilities at all. In fact, they will probably be useless since this trial was countless times more difficult than the last trial, yet their strength remained the same as the last trial. In other words, they were nothing more than burdens.

'Furthermore, these guys…' Yuan narrowed his eyes at the bodyguards, his thoughts unknown.

After Huang Chen finished everything he had to say, Yuan approached Huang Xiao Li with a smile and said to her in a low voice, "Excuse me, Xiao Li. Do you mind if I borrow some of your time? I would like to speak to you in private."

"Sure…" She nodded in a dazed manner, feeling a little nervous about the aura around him.

"Follow me."

Yuan nodded and followed her into another room. Once she locked the door, she asked him, "So what do you want to talk about? Did something happen? You seem a little more serious than usual…"

"Yes… It's about—" Yuan proceeded to tell her what's been on his mind.

Huang Xiao Li's eyes widened more and more with shock as she listened to his words.

"A-Are you sure about that?! Those are some serious accusations!" She exclaimed in a low voice.

He nodded with a serious frown, "I didn't notice it before because I was still inexperienced. However, I am certain about my claims. I don't mind dealing with it right now, but I can tell that you're doubtful, so I am going to prove it to you first."

"How are you going to do that?"

Yuan proceeded to tell her about his plans.

"Seriously…? You want me to…"

"Do you trust me?" Yuan suddenly asked her with a serious expression.

"I risked my life to defend the ship and your Huang Family. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you or your family— I promise." 

"O-Of course I trust you!" Huang Xiao Li's face quickly flushed with redness when she recalled what she tried to do with him right before the Flying Leviathan's attack.

A moment later, she took a deep breath and nodded with a serious expression, "Alright, let's do it."

"Thank you. You won't regret it, I promise." Yuan smiled.

The two of them left the room after talking for several more minutes.

"Is everything okay, Yuan?" Huang Chen approached him shortly after he left the room with Huang Xiao Li.

"Father, I need to speak with you. Mother, you too." Huang Xiao Li suddenly said to them.

Huang Chen looked at them with raised eyebrows, but he didn't ask any questions and followed Huang Xiao Li to another room.

Once the Huang Family was gone, the other guards approached Yuan and asked him, "What happened?"

"Is everything okay? The young lady looked very annoyed."

"I hope you didn't try to confess your love for her just now. You're just a bodyguard. Know your place." The female bodyguard said to him with a mocking gaze.

Yuan didn't take her insults to heart and even chuckled at it, "Don't worry, it's nothing like that. However, it's true that something did happen."

The guards swallowed nervously as they waited for him to speak.

"I would tell you, but I think it would be for the best if the Huang Family told you. It's their business, after all." He shrugged, not willingly to tell them anything.

"Come on! Don't be like that!" Qin Kai, who was the bulky bodyguard that guarded the Huang Family's room with him while they were still sailing, said.

"I don't want to lose my job, so I will have to refrain from it."

"Whatever. Keep your stupid little secret." The other bodyguards shook their heads and stopped bothering him.

Sometime later, the Huang Family finished their little meeting and came out of the room, but Huang Chen and his wife looked really upset for some reason.

This made the guards really nervous, and they all wondered inwardly about the issue.

Huang Chen gathered the bodyguards again and said, "There will be some changes in our plans. I will start exchanging my treasures today, so I want two people to follow me."

He looked at Yuan and his head bodyguard Dong Zhou.

"Yuan and Dong Zhou, you'll be coming with me. Xiao Li, you'll also come with me. The rest of you will stay behind to protect my wife and son. Do not let anyone besides us enter this place no matter what."

"Yes!" They all said.

Before they left, Huang Chen said to his wife in a low voice, "Since we have too many treasures, I will leave half of it with you. If anything happens to us, I want you to take the treasures and go home."

"Don't say something so ominous. As long as you have Yuan with you, he'll keep you safe." She said with a smile.

Yuan left the hotel with his group shortly after.

Once they were outside, Dong Zhou couldn't help but ask, "Sorry if I am being noisy, but what was that about?"

"I will tell you about it in a bit." Huang Chen said.

Dong Zhou has never seen Huang Chen so serious before, making him worried as well.