40 High East City
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"We're here." Gwen said lightly.
The four people gaze in front of a tall entrance to a city before them. High East City, a city that is built on top the tallest hill in the east.
This hill could almost be mistaken as a mountain, actually give it more time and it would absolutely be one. People could reach this place by going through a 7 kilometer forest, this forest isn't that dangerous really, only the people who roamed inside this forest are considered one.
Gwen nodded to the others as a signal that they should move along, they wanted to back to the sect as quickly as possible to prepare for the next big event that's about to happen. Thankfully the location of the Luo Clan isn't very far from the entrance.
They fell in line amongst the people who wanted to go inside the city. The guards granted them access once he saw their uniforms, this wasn't the first time this happened and it was always been this way really.
After experiencing a smooth access, Sieg and company walked inside the city. Upon entering the city, people started to make some small commotions, it was clear that Sieg and the others were treated as celebrities in here due to their status.
What really separated the Great Blue Carp City from the others is because of the existence of the four sects. While High East City and others have sect as well, those sects aren't really that impressive. If a city have a 2-star sect then they would already consider that as a good omen since others only have 1-star sects while others aren't even recognized as a sect. In front of the Great Blue Carp City which have 3-star sect that came directly from a holy land and have 4 of these kind? The difference is truly laughable.
That's also the reason why Great Blue Carp City expanded in size that quick, as this news roamed around more and more people started to flock over there, hoping to find luck and be accepted into a sect, leaving the other cities almost deserted.
Sieg ignored all of these while his other companions seemed to enjoy this fame. They didn't stop on their tracks and went to the Luo Clan to find out more informations for their mission.
The Luo Clan is located at the western side of the town, this clan could actually be considered as one of the prominent clans inside this city. Their place covered at least 300-350 cubic meters of land.
"Please grant us entrance, we are from the Freezing Sky Sect and we came here to know more about the mission." The chubby guy stepped forward and took initiative to flaunt their status.
The clan guard was startled at first, after he regained his way of thinking, he clasped his hands in front of them and said: "I apologize for this inconvenience, I'll report Your Excelency's arrival to the Clan Head, I ask Your Excellency to wait for a bit." Then he immediately turned around and went inside the clan.
The chubby guy was elated from the way he was addressed and can't help but to lift his chest because of pride. As Gwen noticed this, she scowled a bit, it seems like someone didn't learned their lesson. The spiked haired guy just silently stood there not daring to speak any word at all, while Sieg remained uncaring.
It wasn't that long before the gates of the clan opened and a line of people was shown. They are wearing same color of clothing and at the middle is an old man with a head full of white hair. He looked at them with a smile and said:
"We offer a humble welcome young friends from Freezing Sky Sect, my name is Luo Cao, this generation's clan head. Please, after you…" then Luo Cao gestured the four to walked beside him.
The four people nodded to each other and clasped their hands in front of the clan head showing him respect, afterwards they walked and listened to him talk about his clan, it seems like he was tempting them to stay, but these tactics aren't really effective to them.
After moments of walking, they entered the place where the clan head stays. They sat on a round table and some servants poured them a cup of tea.
"Thank you for this warm welcome clan head." Gwen said smiling.
"No need to mention it Young Friend, it is my duty to be a good host, specially that you're here because of my selfish reasons as well." Luo Cao said while smiling wryly.
For the first time in a while, the spiked hair guy finally talked as said: "Since we are on this topic already, may we please know what are your current conditions Clan Head?"
Luo Cao didn't speak for quite sometime, seemingly struggling whether to tell them or not. The four noticed this but only waited for his response, they all understood that he must be facing a huge pressure being a clan head and he also needs to make drastic measure from time to time in order to preserve their lineage.
"I won't hide from you Young Friend, my clan is facing a dreadful situation and desperately needs your help."
"Feel free to speak whatever is on your mind Clan Head, we will make sure to give you a proper response." Gwen said while comforting the clan head.
"As you might've already knew from some details in the mission we posted, we need a certain Item. My clan have a Ki Manual that came from ancient times, but this technique is brutal and overbearing. One of my ancestors found a way to cultivate this technique safely and everything went fine that way, that was also the time when my clan experience a rise on status."
"However, the previous beast wave did a number to this city. Because of the lack of people, our clan was ravaged by beasts and damaged that item that let us cultivate our ancient ki manual safely. And that item is a Jade Annulus."
"What!" Sieg and the company blurted out unconsciously after hearing the item Luo Cao was referring to.
"Jade Annulus, this is rare type of stone that could only be found in a mining ore right?" The chubby guy asked.
"Not just any mining ore, Jade Annulus could only be found inside a 'Medium-Grade Mining Ore', which is a rare sight even for our sect." The spiked haired guy said with a solemn expression on his face.
Gwen also couldn't help but add: "Most of mining ores like this are protected by a Demonic Beast as well."
Sieg said nothing since he already knew all of this, he wasn't expecting that this clan needed a Jade Annulus to safely cultivate their technique. He also understood the reason why they wanted to personally give out the additional informations, because if anyone see that they needed to hunt for a Jade Annulus, little to no people would come. Disguising is at as B-ranked mission or above is only a bait, this mission is already an A-S ranked mission already.
"I offer my deepest apology if I offended these Young Friends, I never intended to keep things hidden from you and I'm also at a difficult situation." Luo Cao said, he bowed in deep apology towards Sieg and company.
As Luo Cao saw their faces, he can't help but to feel sad, the situation isn't very optimal right now. Three people are hesitating while the other one is just sitting there with a blank look.
"N-no need to worry Young Friends, this one isn't asking your help for free. Here take a look." Luo Cao then showed them something that lightened up their expressions.
It was an 'orb-like' object, it was bright red in color and was pulsing with an intense ki energies.
"Demonic Beast Core!" The chubby guy blurted out, he can't help but lick his lips in delight as he saw this, Gwen and the spiked hair guy was also deeply tempted.
Demonic Beast Cores could ensure that they would breakthrough to the next realm since it could provide support for anyone's cultivation until Heavenly Foundation Realm. If they could add a Foundation Condensing Pill, then their breakthroughs are a guaranteed success already. However, despite this tempting rewards, there's still a bit of hesitation in their faces.
While there's a guarantee that they would receive a Demonic Beast Core, the clan head only have one based on their guesses, so there was the problem of who's going to have it after they finished the mission. Let's not even talk about getting the rewards, they needed to face a Demonic Beast in order to be successful in this mission. It had to be known that Demonic Beasts are already at Mortal Foundation Realm, a beast like this could completely thrash this whole city as it pleases and escape if it wanted to. Knowing that they have no gurantee of surviving against an onslaught of such a beast, they don't even know if it's alone or not! So how could they easily give the clan head an answer?
"That not the only one Young Friends, I'm willing to give at least 3 Demonic Beast Core to you, 4 Bright Sun Pills and some gold. I only ask Young Friend to please consider this old man's selfish request." Luo Cao held nothing back anymore and laid all of his cards on the table.
As Sieg heard this, he couldn't help but to think that the Luo Clan's crisis runs deeper that what they could think. It is not easy to dish out these specific amount of rewards just to hunt for an item. It might seems that the request is incredibly easy but it is incredibly dangerous. Knowing this, Sieg couldn't help but to ask the clan head:
"We understand and is deeply moved by Clan Head's sincerity, there's just one thing that this young one wanted to know. Do you perhaps, know a place where a Medium Grade Mining Ore is located? If you do know one then it would greatly alleviate some of our worries."
Luo Cao was stunned for a moment, he looked at Sieg in surprise and gratitude and said: "Yes young friend, we did our research already and prepared a map in case anyone accepted our request."
Sieg sighed in relief, he looked at Gwen and asked: "I'm in, how about you?"
The rest were dumbfounded by how fast Sieg gave an answer, this goes specially true for Luo Cao. For him, Sieg was the last person he expected to accept the mission, he kept on glancing on everyone and based on Sieg's expression, he guessed that there's no way he's going to accept the terms. But he was clearly mistaken.
Gwen hesitated for a bit and finally said: "I'll try my best, but if my life is in danger then I could only apologize to Clan head." She bowed and answered truthfully.
Luo Cao felt a bit emotional and said: "No worries, no worries, this old man will totally understand."
Now it was Gwen's turn to look at the other two. The chubby guy and spiked hair guy looked at each other, from the time that they knew the full details of the mission up until now, they felt nothing but hesitation, they even have thoughts on just storming out of this place and going back to the sect to calmly cultivate, seeing how Sieg answered without hesitation and Gwen agreeing with a condition placed them in a weird position.
They don't want to be tagged as cowards but also wanted to keep their lives, so in the end, they made the same condition like Gwen and agreed.
Luo Cao was deeply moved by this and they even kowtowed in front of them: "This Old Man would forever be thankful for this Young Friends. This old man would remember this favor regardless of the result."
