70 Ancient Outpost

As Jack walked towards the floating city it started to rain. He found a rock outcropping to hide his things under and went out to wash away the filth that gathered on his body from the trip.

The rain lasted for several hours, so he neared the large collection of earthen huts gathered on the edge of the canyon in front of the floating city at dusk. Jack didn't want to use Moon Step on his approach in the case of possible hostile observers.

Light traffic went to and fro the large collection of huts using the main road and Jack joined it.

The closer he got to the huge city walls, the more in awe of them Jack found himself. 'At least forty meters, if not fifty. Who would build something like that, and why?' he thought as he entered the outskirts of the hut town.

He saw almost naked people lying in the spaces between the huts. They looked like nothing more than starving animals as they glared at the passersby. Jack found quite a few of them staring at his bulging sack with hunger.

All the awe he had for the glorious city disappeared at that moment. He had seen people starving before; hell, he had starved before, but not to this extent and in front of such opulence.

Jack still felt an admiration for the people that built the city for the feat they accomplished but held the ones running it in contempt.

'Why do these people stay here? It wouldn't take them long to reach more fertile lands where they could feed themselves.' He thought as he started seeing nicer earthen buildings the closer he got to the wall.

Almost everyone around him turned to one of the side streets and went to one of the earthen buildings; only a few people went towards the floating city with him.

Jack could feel spirit energy fluctuations from over half of the people that walked near him; the others either didn't have any spirit energy or had a higher grade than him.

When they left the hut town's winding streets, the road continued onwards for around a hundred meters, right to the end of the canyon's cliff.

A lot of people already stood in the open space with carts and wagons filled with goods lined up, waiting for something. Jack ignored everyone and walked right to the end of the road.

In front of him, the walls of the city took up most of his field of view. Jack looked down at the raging white waves and saw numerous chains, with links larger than his little house in the Sect, securing the city to the rock walls. When he focused his sight on them, he saw thousands of tiny sigils etched onto the links. Every now and then, the sigils would flash with a slight pale radiance.

'There's no way that the Endless Cycle Sect or the Slaughtering Sword School ever had enough people or resources to make this.' Jack thought as he looked at the chains to his left and right.

He studied the grey city walls a few minutes, but he couldn't even see people on them, so he turned around and went back to the gathered people on the deserted plot of land.

"Hello, Brother. I am new to this place and do not know much about what we are doing here. Can you help me out a bit?" Jack asked a grade four cultivator that stood to the side of the group as he pasted a friendly smile and clasped his hands in greeting.

The young man looked him up and down and snorted as he threatened "Go away dog, before I throw you into the river. Address your betters like that again and other people will not show you as much mercy."

A few of the grade five cultivators heard his response and their faces turned eager for a good show. Jack considered flaring his cultivation and threatening the arrogant little bastard for a second, but he caught himself in the last moment and shook his head as he walked away. The other higher grade cultivators revealed disappointed looks.

'I can't react like that at every provocation or I'll become like them with time.' he chided himself and went to ask a grade five cultivator who heard his previous question.

This time, the cultivator returned the greeting and explained "We are waiting for the bridge to form so we can enter the White River Outpost. It comes up every ten days or so, and you have to pay out five spirit stones per person to pass."

Jack's eyes widened as he asked "So that is the White River Outpost? I thought that the hut town behind us had that name while this city had a different one."

The cultivator shook his head as he said "That is just the temporary town that forms outside of the Outpost. The people there are hopefuls who want to serve the White River family."

Jack's brows rose in surprise as he exclaimed "I see now! Thank you for your explanation, Brother. One last question, how soon will we be able to enter the White River Outpost?"

The cultivator gave Jack a small shrug as he said "It should not take longer than two or three days. They do keep us waiting for an extra couple of days from time to time, though."

Jack thanked the man for his help and turned back towards the town.

The friendly cultivator called after him "They will not keep the bridge up for long and there is not much comfort among the peasants. You can share my camp tonight if you want."

Jack just thanked him for his hospitality but refused his offer as he walked away. From the corner of his eye, he saw the grade four cultivator studying him with slight fear in his eyes, and he couldn't help but allow himself a little smirk.

When he got back to the town, he started to walk its winding streets while he tried to sense any trace of his men. Jack knew for sure that Shi Furui wouldn't take them into a closed-off city on his own initiative, and they had no forest to hide themselves in, so he would take the Immortals' Lament into this town and wait for him almost certainly.

It took him over an hour of walking through the dirty alleys while scaring away hungry people with his knives to find his men.

In one corner of the town, a group of six earthen huts stood in a clump near each other. When Jack neared it, he already saw a lot of the new recruit standing on guard, while a couple of older members supervised them.

Jack decided to use the coming night to test out their defenses. Using Moon Step, he flashed past the line of newbie guards without any problem while they looked in a different direction; even the old members didn't hear him.

He arrived in the middle of the clump of huts and planned to announce himself, but just before he could do it, old Long's spirit energy-enhanced voice shouted out "Intruder! An intruder is in the yard!"

The entire place went into an uproar. The perimeter guards shouted in panic and charged towards the middle, while the people that rested in the huts ran outside.

Jack looked around himself with mixed bemusement and curiosity at what his people would do next.

Just as every member of the Immortals' Lament ran out with some sort of weapon in hand, Shi Furui exited one of the huts with their Light Orb in his hand.

When people started recognizing the travel-worn figure of their leader, Bai Maolong had already rushed to a distance of just a couple of meters away from Jack.

A light of recognition shone in Bai Maolong eyes, but that didn't make him stop as he prepared for a tackle.

Jack's brows rose, but it only took him an instant to fall into his own fighting stance and welcome his friend's charge.

The clash shook Jack's bones as his feet made furrows in the earth from sliding back. After a couple of meters, he stopped and started pushing Bai Maolong back.

Jack could hear the gnashing of teeth as Bai Maolong tried his all to compete with Jack in strength, but he couldn't get past the barrier of a higher cultivation grade. To pay him back for the unexpected tackle, Jack used Chaotic Hawk Assault for a couple of quick steps so he could ruin Bai Maolong's balance and bring him to the ground.

In one fluid move, Jack sat backwards on Bai Maolong's chest and pulled Bai Maolong's left leg into a kneebar under Jack's armpit. He knew that Bai Maolong could hit his back hard, but he didn't worry since he trusted his friend.

A second later, Bai Maolong cursed and tapped Jack's back in surrender.

Jack laughed and released his leg. As he rose to his feet and gave Bai Maolong a hand to get up he asked "How much is that now?"

Bai Maolong looked sullen as he grumbled "We're not counting, and you cheated. We'll do it again when I get to grade five."

Jack chuckled and said "Anytime, my friend." before the people of the Immortals' Lament swarmed him in their greetings.

Twenty minutes later, when Jack had a change of clothes and a meal put in front of him, Shi Furui and Kuang Bindun started to inform him on how their journey went.

"For around five days we traveled like you instructed, but after that, the forest just ended and we had no place to hide." Shi Furui started talking as he studied Jack's face for any displeasure.

"I decided to risk it and joined the stream of people that followed the road towards the White River Outpost. A few cultivators acted arrogantly on the road and made everyone move out of the way of their wagons, but we encountered no problems with getting here. After that, we rented these huts for some food and waited." He concluded and waited for the reprimand that he thought would come.

Jack just nodded his head and said "Good work. I'm glad that you decided to let the cultivators go. We don't need to cause any problems while we're still in Slaughtering Sword School land."

"We're not." Stated Kuang Bindun and continued when Jack gave him a confused look "This isn't Endless Cycle Sect's, nor Slaughtering Sword School's land. It belongs to the White River family. The entire stretch of land where almost nothing grows belongs to them."

Jack's brows furrowed as he asked "Why would the barkeep from Cloverleaf say that the fastest way out of Slaughtering Sword School lands went through the North?"

His friends shrugged their shoulders, and after a second Kuang Bindun suggested "Maybe he thought that going through here wasn't a good idea?"

Jack looked at his friend and asked "What do you mean?"

Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui exchanged glances, and Shi Furui decided to explain "From what we heard, you can hire a boat from the White River Outpost to take you to the other side, but it's dangerous and expensive."

Jack stopped eating his meal as he gave his friends a serious look and asked "What have you found out about this place?"

Kuang Bindun took over as he answered "Ma Ruiman keeps going out and talking to people, but they don't know much about what goes on inside of the city. Almost everyone here hopes that the White River family will pick them to join their organization in the city. They hold recruitments a few times a year and take several hundreds of people."

Jack's face kept getting darker the more he heard about the place.

"Can't they at least try to improve their living conditions while they wait?" he asked as he thought back on the squalor that he witnessed in the last couple of hours.

Shi Furui shook his head as he answered "The White River floods every few years, no one wants to build a house that will just get destroyed in the future."

Jack sighed and leaned back in his chair. After thinking for a few minutes he declared "We will follow the rest of the people into the city when this bridge comes up in a couple of days. I have to find out how to get us a ride to the other side, and why so many people decided to throw their lives away just for the chance to get in."