Cloverleaf

In the next month and a half, the Immortals' Lament mercenary company visited three villages along their path to the main town in the area, Cloverleaf. On their way there they recruited eleven additional members, nine male, and two female, into the company.

Jack decided to stop his recruiting efforts for now, until they integrated the new members into the company and could support more people in the long term.

When they arrived at the second village after Redwood, Xian Kuotian recovered enough to start with physical therapy. Jack had to instruct Bai Maolong how to progress with the exercises that Xian Kuotian had to do so that he didn't hurt himself.

After reaching the third village, Jack started his own therapy. It almost took him the entire stay to feel secure enough on his legs to walk without help. Only in the last day did he do some Moon Step sprints up and down the village as practice.

The new recruits watched the old members with burning jealousy while they trained their martial arts and cultivation techniques. It made them even more eager to learn the new language as soon as possible.

When they passed through the villages they started to meet more and more people on the road the closer they neared Cloverleaf.

The information that Ma Ruiman gathered in the last month told them that cultivators sometimes passed through the town, so the relaxed atmosphere they had on the road until now turned serious.

Jack didn't tell the new members why they didn't want to meet their fellow cultivators, but they figured out that something bad would happen if they did. He didn't want a newbie saying something stupid to the wrong person and endangering them all. The old members knew how to keep their mouths shut at least.

When a trader with a small cart passed them on a road, they found out they only had a couple of days before they reached Cloverleaf. Jack decided to stop their advance that night and had the entire company hide deep in the forest. They had to carry the cart by hand and lead the Kui with a rope.

That night, Jack, Kuang Bindun, Bai Maolong, Ma Ruiman, and old Long left the camp to the care of Shi Furui and sprinted along the road towards the town.

A few hours later, they stopped their advance in front of the modest five-meter wooden wall of Cloverleaf. They would have arrived earlier, but they had to stop a few kilometers away and change their clothes to regular Xiezhi goat wool robes.

Since they came in the middle of the night all of the entrances to the town remained closed. That didn't matter much to them as they charged up and jumped to the top of the wall.

As soon as they landed on the wall, a few voices called out "Who goes there?" and several guards with lit torches ran towards them.

Old Long pasted a sneer on his face as he scolded "Mind your own business, otherwise, your wives will have to look for new husbands in the morning." As he said that, a few daggers with sigils on them floated around his head.

The guards froze in their steps as a middle-aged man that looked in charge stepped out and bowed while saying "Apologies, Immortal. We had eyes but couldn't see. Please enjoy your stay in Cloverleaf."

Old Long snorted, stored his knives, and jumped down from the wall. The rest of the group followed, acting as his attendants and guards.

They took a few random alleys and hid in a dark one-way street.

Four pairs of eyes focused on Jack who said "Let's find the tavern that the villagers mentioned. Meet up back here in twenty minutes."

Only old Long had a bit of doubt in his eyes at the new strange time unit that Jack taught him, but he nodded his head with everyone else and scattered.

Jack jumped on top of a roof of a nearby house and decided to scout out the town's layout. He left the discovery of the tavern that sold information to his men.

Cloverleaf had six main entrances and more than a dozen side ones. The main entrances led to dirt roads that went off into the distance, while the side ones led to small clumps of houses that lay outside of the walls.

Most of the town slept bathed in the light of the two moons, only a few larger stone houses had lights burning in them. Jack studied them for a couple of minutes and saw that in one house the light didn't have the natural flicker of fire, but the artificial glow of a Light Orb.

He took note of the house and took a large detour around it.

When the twenty minutes passed by everyone returned to the one-way street.

Jack looked around at his men and ordered "Report."

Ma Ruiman started speaking first "I found the tavern. They have a couple of big guys guarding the door, but they don't look like cultivators."

Old Long nodded his head as he said "I found it too, but I felt a couple of grade five cultivation base fluctuations inside." He glanced over at Mu Ruiman and added "They might have discovered you."

Mu Ruiman paled a little, but a second later he grinned and said "They're lucky that they didn't leave the tavern to seek me out, I was in the mood to kill some scum."

Old Long snorted in derision while everyone else shook their head.

A second later Jack said "We have to go and check if they have any ties to the Slaughtering Sword School. After that, we can go check out the house that I found." He looked over to Kuang Bindun and Bai Maolong and asked them what they found.

Kuang Bindun found a square that looked like the town's marketplace which had a dozen empty stalls in it. While Bai Maolong ended up in the slums and had to beat up a couple ruffians that looked like they planned something nasty.

Jack blinked at Bai Maolong's proclamation, decided to ignore it, and turned towards old Long to say "You'll have to approach them in the tavern with an offer of doing business if they're not from the Slaughtering Sword School. If they are, we'll do it in a different way."

Old Long did a few calculations in his head and demanded "I want another extra payment."

Jack's eyes narrowed as he retorted "You already got it."

Old Long nodded his head as he said "That was for coming to this town as a scout and cover for you. This one is for the risk I take when engaging those cultivators."

Jack's face turned cold as he stated "You already got paid for this mission. You will not get anything extra."

Old Long looked angry for a few seconds before he sighed and admitted with a sly smile "I had to try."

The rest of the group gave him cold snorts and listened to Jack explain the plan he had in mind.

Five minutes later they left the dark street with confidence in their steps.

When they neared the tavern, old Long took over the leading spot of the group, while Jack moved to his right side.

The two guards at the entrance tried to stop them, but when a knife started floating next to old Long's head, they stepped aside and opened the door.

Inside, a dozen tables stood strewn on the floor, while only three had people sitting in them. Opposite from the door stood the bar and, behind it, its barkeep who gave the new customers an oily grin.

"Welcome, welcome, please take a seat." The barkeep said as he walked around his bar and towards Jack's group.

Old Long ignored him and scanned the room with his gaze slowly.

Jack had already checked the room and saw that three tables had customers. One had a drunk sleeping on it, one had a few shifty characters sitting in a corner, and one had a couple of young men in dark blue robes that stared at them with curiosity in their eyes.

He opened his mouth a little and whispered so that only old Long could hear "Sit next to the cultivators and stick to the plan."

Old Long continued his survey of the room for an extra second before he grunted and went to sit at the table right next to the two cultivators. The rest of the group joined him.

He gave the cultivators a friendly nod and turned to the skinny barkeep to say "Give us whatever these two brothers are having."

The barkeep's eyes turned round for a second as he glanced at the two cultivators that didn't seem to mind the way old Long addressed them before he quickly bowed and said "Of course, Immortals, right away."

Everyone remained quiet as they waited for the drink to arrive. A dozen seconds later, the barkeep brought a little white bottle and five cups and gave them a smile as he said "This round is on the house, Immortals."

Old Long gave him an annoyed glance and grumbled "I can pay for my own wine.", but he didn't take out any money to pay.

The barkeep only gave them an understanding smile and scurried back to his bar.

Jack took it upon himself to pour everyone a drink and old Long led the drinking.

After a couple of rounds, old Long looked over to the two cultivators in blue and said "Excellent choice, brothers." He cupped his hands towards them and said "It is a pleasure to meet brothers from the Slaughtering Sword School; I am old Cheng, a humble merchant."

Both cultivators had surprised looks on their face as they returned the gesture, and the older one responded "Greetings brother Cheng, I am Zahng Dong." He gestured towards the young man sitting opposite him and continued "This is my good brother, Pan Yingnu. How did you know that we're from the Slaughtering Sword School?"

Old Long had a reminiscent look in his eyes as he said "I had multiple dealings with the young ladies from your School in my glory days." He focused his gaze back on the two Slaughtering Sword School disciples and added "And you wear the traditional robes of your School."

They all had a good laugh and chatted about little things from old Long's made up past.

A few minutes later old Long got a strange look in his eyes as he asked "Brothers, I hope that you do not mind my curiosity, but is this not the territory of the Endless Cycle Sect? Are you not afraid?"

Zahng Dong laughed and waved a dismissing hand as he said "The Endless Cycle Sect is history; we wiped them out around fifty days ago."

Old Long's brows rose in surprise as he exclaimed "Well, that is good news! Cheers!" and he toasted to the two Slaughtering Sword School disciples.

After everyone downed their drinks, old Long pasted a confused look on his face as he said "That sure is strange. I could swear that I saw over a dozen Endless Cycle Sect disciples and servants on the road two days ago."

The two Slaughtering Sword School disciples froze for a second before they jumped to their feet. As their chairs slammed down on the wooden floor, Zahng Dong asked "Where? Where did you see them?"

Old Long had a faraway look in his eyes as he said "You know, this old head of mine doesn't work as well as it did in the past. If only I had some spirit stones to help clear it up. Alas, I am but a humble merchant and have very little."

Jack could only stare in amazement at old Long's craftiness as he thought 'This greedy old bastard! If this ruins my plan I will pull his teeth out.'