71 White River Family

Jack rested for a day with his men, and then led Kuang Bindun, Bai Maolong, Ma Ruiman, and old Long to the clearing in front of the White River Outpost to wait for the bridge to appear.

The rest of the men wanted to go with them too, but Jack couldn't afford to pay so much just for sightseeing.

Old Long once again took over the role of their leader, while Jack acted as his assistant. The other groups of cultivators greeted them warm enough and they spent two days mingling with them.

Jack even had drinks with the grade five cultivator he met before and explained to him that he knew old Long and his people from before so he decided to join them.

During the wait, they found out that the White River family ran everything in the White River Outpost. No one else had the right to live or own property in the city.

A few people told stories of how, throughout the years, various large powers tried to conquer the White River Outpost, but they all broke on its walls. In time people learned to leave the White River family to its own devices.

Even with so many restrictions, a lot of people still came to the White River Outpost because the White River family had one of the few ways to cross the White River and had almost exclusive access to the goods from the other side. When they added their family's knowledge of artificing and sigilcraft to those materials, they made some excellent items that a lot of cultivators yearned for,

Jack noticed a very familiar gleam of greed in old Long's eyes and had to remind him that he couldn't waste any of their funds on the side. They needed the remaining spirit stones to get everyone to the other side of the river and to support them until they found a source of income.

Although he stayed irritable for the rest of the day, old Long understood Jack's reasoning and promised that he wouldn't buy anything without his permission.

On the third morning of their stay in the clearing, trumpet noises blared out from the top of the White River Outpost's walls. When they did, everyone in the camp started packing their things and lining up at the end of the canyon's cliff, with higher grade cultivators at the front.

Old Long's cultivation earned Jack and his men a spot near the head of the line, and they waited with bated breaths for what the others described would come.

Fifteen minutes later, with a large splash in the White River, a square platform made out of a golden metal came shooting out of the water. Four golden pillars held up the corners of the platform whose sides looked like they went a bit over a dozen meters in length.

A second after the first platform surfaced, the second one did, and then the third, and so on. They all aligned perfectly with the end of the road and the large gate on the wall of the White River Outpost.

The gate slid open to the side as soon as the last platform rose up in front of the wall.

Jack saw a quick flash of multiple tiny sigils on the platforms, and in the next moment, all the water that rose with them evaporated into steam.

The rest of Jack's squad stared at the spectacle with unconcealed awe and a good deal of fear.

Kuang Bindun turned to face Jack and whispered in English "How are we supposed to fight this?" His voice had a slight shake in it while he spoke.

Jack looked at Kuang Bindun, and then at Bai Maolong and Ma Ruiman, and saw the same question in their eyes. He glanced at the confused old Long and decided to ignore him for now.

"We will not fight this. If these people had the capabilities that those machines hinted at, the Endless Cycle Sect and the Slaughtering Sword School wouldn't exist. I think that their ancestors might have had them, but they don't anymore." Jack concluded as he watched the expressions on the faces of his friends.

Kuang Bindun's brows furrowed as he asked "How could you know something like that?"

Jack gave a self-mocking little chuckle as he answered "Trust me, when people have that kind of power, they use it. All the White River family ever did for years now is hide behind their walls."

His men still looked skeptical, but at least they lost the fright from their eyes.

Old Long's frown kept getting darker and darker until he couldn't take it anymore and hissed "What are you fools jabbering about? Is it me?"

Jack exchanged amused glances with his friends before he turned to old Long and whispered in this world's language "Yes. Bindun just said that he can't take your smell anymore, old man." with a straight face. The rest of them chuckled and lost the last bit of tension they had in their shoulders.

A few of the cultivators around them looked at Jack and old Long in expectation of a clash, but Old Long only gave a cold snort and turned away from the idiotic young men. He decided to ignore them until they entered the city and left the surrounding cultivators disappointed.

From the side of the White River Outpost, a long column of people and wagons advanced over the bridge. At its head stood people in golden robes, who moved in a ceremonial pace which held back the rest of the people in the back.

The crowd on Jack's side started getting a bit excited, and Jack soon found out that the people in gold came from the White River family to accept new servants for the city.

A large noise started building up in the hut town behind them. Jack and his team turned around to see hundreds of people standing on the edges of the town in wait for their salvation.

When Jack focused on their faces, he saw a raw hunger in their eyes. They hungered for food, shelter, and, most of all, the feeling of warmth that normal life can bring to a person.

He sighed and turned back to look at the procession from the White River Outpost.

Ten minutes later, when the procession started passing by their column, Jack whispered to old Long "What are their grades? I can only sense a few grade five people."

Old Long gave Jack an annoyed look from the corner of his eye, but after a couple of seconds he answered with "Most of them are grade six, I cannot tell for the eight people in the lead though. They are at least grade seven if not eight."

Jack gave the leaders of the procession a long look before he turned to his men and made sure that they knew to not cause any trouble in the city once more. He couldn't afford to get into any complicated situation while on potentially hostile ground.

Once the whole column of people that came from the White River Outpost crossed the bridge, Jack's side started moving over it.

He gave a last look back over his shoulder at the prostrated masses and the gold-robed cultivators that chose the people they wanted. Only when Bai Maolong pulled on his sleeve did he realize that he stared at them for several minutes while his face kept getting darker.

'Looks like I should remind myself not to cause trouble too.' Jack chided himself and followed their column across the bridge.

When they passed through the fifteen-meter tall gates, old Long had to pay twenty-five spirit stones to the gold-armored guards of the White River family that examined every person and wagon that entered the city.

Once they entered the city proper, a wide worn-out road stood in front of them. It had the similar gold shine that the robes of the local cultivators and the rest of the ancient buildings around it had, but the passage of thousands of people gave it a silver glint over the years.

"How much did all of this cost?" Ma Ruiman asked as he looked around at the wonderful buildings.

"Much more than anyone we know could afford." Jack said and added "Stop gawking and move. More people are coming from behind us."

With that reminder, everyone snapped out of their daze and stepped out to the main street of the White River Outpost.

A lot of people, carts, and wagons moved around them, but not enough to cause jams in the wide street. Most of the people either had cultivator guards or were cultivators themselves from what Jack could see.

As they walked down the street they noticed that all the buildings on it were converted to all kinds of open-air shops. They didn't seem to think that someone would dare steal from them.

From the quick glance Jack gave them, he saw weapons, armors, various artifacts, what looked like simple spirit puppets, cultivation materials, exotic foods, and anything else that a modern cultivator could want on offer.

Old Long grunted as his eyes scanned the shops they passed, after a few seconds he declared "They filled the main street with their wares to grab the new customers as soon as they came in. I doubt there are many stores like these in the other parts of the city."

Jack nodded his head in agreement and warned his salivating men "It doesn't matter to us; we have to go to the other side of the city to find out more information about getting to the opposite shore of the White River."

Just as everyone nodded their heads in reluctant agreement, Jack spotted something familiar and froze. His brows rose in surprise as he murmured "Guys, follow me." and started walking towards it.

The rest of the group took a few more steps forward before they registered what Jack said. By that time, he had already turned to the side and walked up to a glamorous looking armor store.

Before they could catch up to him, Jack approached a gold-robed middle-aged man that stood in the middle of the store and asked "Can you please tell me more about that." as he pointed at a square of around three meters squared of some kind of pale white leather stretched over a wooden frame.

The middle-aged man gave Jack a suspicious glance, but when he saw old Long joining him, he squared his shoulders and explained "That is top quality Haechi hide. It can be used for anything from sheaths for sharp flying swords to excellent sigil-enhanced battle armors. On its own, it can stop a blow from a grade four cultivator's weapon, when sigils are added it can even stop the blows from grade seven or eight cultivators."

Jack gave out proper sounds of admiration before he asked "What price would something like that go by?"

The middle-aged man considered his question for a few seconds before saying "I can sell you this piece for three hundred spirit stones. If you want something special made out of it can go up to thousands depending on the sigils you want etched. The beast that gives us this leather is practically extinct on this side of the River; we have to import it from the wild lands on the other side."

This time Jack didn't have to fake his surprise as he thought about the huge amount of Haechi hide he had in his light blue Star Bag. He tried to negotiate with the man to see how low he could get him to go, and when he went down to two hundred and sixty he stopped and thanked him for his help.

As the group turned around and started heading towards the other side of the city once more, old Long looked at Jack and asked "Did you not order us to not waste our money here?"

Jack gave him a crooked smile and asked in return "Do you remember the large hide I brought with me when I returned?"

Old Long looked confused for a second before his eyes went round in astonishment as he stammered "Y-you mean…"

Jack nodded his head and confirmed "Yep," as a grin spread across his face.