Chapter 5: Iron crow city

The Northern desert has been said to be prosperous since ancient times and it was mainly because of one city.

Iron Crow city!

Within, are hundreds, if not thousands of Small and big clans.

Gu Lin Fang stood at the back of the moving queue and looked at the giant city, somehow feeling his own insignificance.

Under the majestic momentum of that giant city, everything seemed so insignificant.

Gu Lin Fang looked at the city gate facing him with slight awe even though he came from the modern world. He looked far away through the entrance and still couldn't see the inner city wall, There were rows upon rows of buildings blocking his view.

'Iron Crow City, the only major city in the Northern desert that's filled with opportunities as well as suffering, Home to the {Sun desert Faction's} headquarters'. Gu Linfang mumbles as he tries to recollect the necessary information from his memory.

This city was several miles away from the small Gu village at the borders, where the Gu clan was based previously. Although it was called a village, it was as prosperous as a town. This city on the other hand was a Beast, a major Trading Hub and a path that was connected to roads that lead through the mountains range, the Desert and the neighboring Long clan territories.

The Long clan territory is on the other side of the mountains and the said clan is an ally of the {Sun Desert faction}. Indeed, the Long clan alone is powerful enough to contend with a faction that houses several clans to stand strong. after years of fighting and struggles, Both parties work together to control the whole {Northern Desert} territory although you can't say the relationship was entirely harmonious.

Outside the Desert is also controlled by different powerful clans, sects and factions.

While walking towards the City gates slowly as the queue shortened, He looked at his daughter Gu Linju who was absentmindedly playing with the {Plum blossom}Umbrella, it was a green grade umbrella made with a material that looked like bamboo and some other things used to design some flowers onto it.

Don't be deceived by the appearance of this green grade weapon as it's actually a sword and shield made together, perfect for sneak attacks and defense. There's even a spot for inserting enchantments or talismans.

Earlier Both Gu Linfang and Gu Linju had been shocked when he was checking it's features.

The umbrella side was the shield while it's handle was actually the Hilt of a really thin sword that could be unsheathed at any time, almost like a rapier but wasn't.

This made Gu Lin Fang somewhat fascinated but he still chose to give it to the girl as he couldn't see himself walking about with that thing. Just imagine meeting the alleged Boss of a badass organization and see him holding such a weapon...it looks like a scene pulled out of a comedy show to him, although Because of this weapon, He had even decided to give Ju'er special care and groom the girl into sword user, after all this was the last survivor of the Gu clan's 'Lin' line besides and He felt it might be interesting to see.

Speaking of 'Lin' branch of the clan, Now that he's the patriarch, it automatically makes their line the main branch of the clan.

Gu Linfang laughed wryly, on the bright side, he saw what he looked like when they passed an oasis a day ago.

He was now a middle aged man in his late forties, that gave an oppressive vibe just by looking at his face. Black long hair paired with his short beards.

When he noticed how disheveled his hair looked and he brought out his trusty comb and began to work on it. Annoyed, he rummaged through his backpack to find the hair ornament he saw before.

He remembered wondering what the system was giving him, there was clothes, soaps, pots and several other daily necessities.without much of a fuss, he then used the most expensive looking ornament to pack his hair just like he did with the hairpin for Gu Linju.

In fact, in his spatial ring, he actually found one as well but found it much uglier and cheaper than the one given by system.

Now his hair looked like this...

Anyways, along the Journey he had managed to piece together the information and memories in his mind, Most information about the world he was in right now were from the perspective of this frog in the well(Previous occupant of the body) and the common knowledge known by the common people in this parts.

In fact, He knew nothing after the Long clan...One thing was certain though, this game or world, was built similar to earth just a lot bigger, almost the size of the sun, huge.

There were two moons on this planet, one of which he could even see now in daylight the other one only appears at night, this one was milky white and the other one was pale blue.

They spent five days to get here and it was only 26 hours from the games forum, so he relaxed a bit, knowing that he still had over two weeks.

Gu Linfang absentmindedly looked at the slowly moving line and decided to ignore Gu Linju who now wore a cold expression in the midst of other people.

People avoided them, fearing they were from a prominent clan due to their expensive looking attires. Gu Linfang didn't care though, he loved the feeling...If only people knew that they were just members of a down and out clan that dealt on Medicine.

He opened his status and decided to see if there was anything new he could learn.

[Name : Gu Lin Fang]

While at it, he accidentally tapped his name and it stretched.

Gu Lin Fang:

Age : 93 , Mother Gu wu Bai (Deceased) , Father Gu Lin Tang (Deceased), Brother Gu Lin Gang (Deceased), Wife Gu Li shen(Deceased), Daughter Gu Lin Ju (Alive)...

A child prodigy of two clan members of the Gu Clan, your mother died from poisoning during an enemy attack, your father was the alchemy elder member of the clan, He brought you up till he also died during the war with the Lu clan members, you were already 14 years old at the time.

Swearing vengeance on the enemy, you dedicated your life to making poisons. You barely interacted with the rest of the clan giving them the impression of a stoic type. You took over the clan's alchemy division after reaching the age of 30 and your arrogance became visible to all. At that time, Your cultivation level already exceeded your peers being at the Auroras core realm.

After reaching the Auroras core realm, due to your wild nature, you made a plan and managed to wipe 76% of the Lu clan that took your parents away from you with a vicious poison you concocted, earning you some reputation for the clan and the name 'Raging Serpent'.

Afterward, your patriarch wedded off his last daughter to you, hoping to improve the chances of getting a genius and tying you closer to the clan.

At the age of 76, your wife birthed you a daughter, on the very day you broke through to the peak of the Auroras Core realm which in turn managed to increase your receding life span from old injuries, saving you from death's door.

Seeing it as a blessing, you secretly doted on your daughter even though you barely interacted with anyone.

As long as she asked, you did everything within your power to fulfil her request. This led to constant quarrels between you and your wife.

Due to several circumstances, your clan was then attacked by the Wu dang sect, Lu clan and the Wu clan members, almost destroying it.

During the incident, you managed to break through to the Nascent soul realm and escaped with your daughter despite being poisoned.

Now you are presently headed for Iron Crow city as agreed with the patriarch, should in case something happened someday.

Updating...]

'Oh? I get something similar to a biography huh...' Gu Linfang raised his eyebrows in surprise, then He smirked after reading through his bio.

'Wait...the Gu clan was meant to regroup here?...do I base here? ...no, perhaps leave a branch here and then find a spirit vein to develop on or snatch one...well let's leave that thought for later.'

"Lu clan...That should be the remnants of the old one, I'm guessing they allied with this Wu clan to attack after the Wu Dang sect people left", He fumbled around system and found that the other things could be expanded including him being able to see stats such as HP and the like, there was even a handy GPS like thing that let him search for things. So he searched for Wu Dang sect and it showed him the direction that it was. he looked at just how far away their Sect was from the city and couldn't help sighing, wondering why that fool would come all the way out here to see his sweetheart all of a sudden.

'Stupid MCs'.

He then tried searching for the Lu clan and the other but it couldn't be found...

'right, that would have been to easy...if they could be found that easily, I'm guessing Wu Dang sect only worked because it's like a general knowledge', His brows were furrowed in contemplation, 'This is why I always adhered to the rule of zeroing out enemies...clan annihilation is frowned upon but so what?...oh! Looks like I can search for resources as well!'.

"Halt!!" A guard yelled out suddenly, drawing his attention.

"2 low grade spirit stone!" He called out rudely, making Gu Linfang raise an eyebrow.

His fellow guard looked over with a shocked expression before rushing over and quickly yelled at the guard from earlier, "Are you mad?!! What's wrong with your manners!??".

'okay?!' Gu Lin fang was at a loss for a second.

"Senior, forgive this fellows rudeness, he's new on the Job but...Senior, this little one only wanted to carry out the rule stated by the City Lord so..." The guard apologized while sweating profusely.

This made Gu Lin fang amused as he said calmly, "I'm aware, have this...".

'cute, trying to threaten me with the city Lord, like he cares about you' He thought while sneering at the guards, anyways, This was something the previous Gu Linfang always did when he came to sell pills to the merchants here before going into seclusion, this 'city lord' mentioned is the one selected to represent the faction in this city, so his words represent the faction's decision.

He handed over the spirit stones before stepping in through the gate without delay.

"Thank you, Senior!" The two Guards called out from behind, sending him off.

This made Gu Linfang raise an eyebrow, when the old him came before they were not this polite.

In fact He could hear them speaking, "how can you be so reckless, it's obvious that they were Nobles!".

The other guard paled as he stuttered,"this...how come I didn't think of that, but...I honestly didn't see the senior, I was talking to the girl, it's almost like he just showed up as you shouted, as I saw the young girl approaching the gate without a horse or carriage, I concluded that... This...I really didn't see the senior!".

His colleagues suddenly acted like they didn't know him and this further increased his fear.

'As they say, Dress how you want to be addressed.' Gu Linfang mused while hearing their words, Then Gu Lin ju's voice came from his side, "Father! This city is much bigger than our village, do you think any of our clansmen are here?".

"I don't know for now, but we'll know eventually... after all we were supposed to gather here" he answered curtly, this has been happening for the passed two days, He was no longer feeling weird having her around like in the beginning, though being called father still needed some getting used to. Gu Lin ju was also sensible and knew what to do, how to behave, so he didn't have much problems with her.

Nodding her head, she observed her surrounding in a reserved manner.

"hmm? Could this be what they call an array? I seem. To understand a few, could it be from my profession?." Gu fang noticed some glowing inscriptions and symbols on the body of the old giant wall as he moved. Although curious, he continued on with his steps...

'No hurry!, I'll be in this city for a long time...'

Gu Linfang quickly added, "Come, let's find somewhere to stay in the inner wall".

"Okay" Gu ju says as she hangs the umbrella in it's case behind her back.

He focused on the small bill boards with strange letters he could understand, looking for a place to buy a horse or carriage.

The settings of the city was the typical cultivation buildings which was a mixture of wood, marble and huge cleanly cut stones, mostly stones. The main color scheme of the houses was Blue and brown which was a sight to behold, there were two walls and gates. The one he just crossed was one of them, this was only the residential area for commoners and the slums, though it looked neat, since he was walking on the main road heading toward the second wall.

If He were to branch out at the moment, He would probably see the real face of the slums, as for that?, He wasn't interested for now. His steps didn't falter but couldn't help feeling that the road was much longer than he expected, so he hailed a carriage that took him across the inner city wall easily...

'1 low grade spirit stone...looks like spirit stones are still on the high side as the driver's eyes flashed excitedly earlier, maybe there's another currency' He fiddled with his spatial ring while thinking, Gu Lin Ju couldn't hold her curiosity any longer now that they were in a carriage. She lifted the window curtains slightly to look outside with a flushed expression.

People, caravans and carriages of different shapes or sizes shuttled across the roads and streets. Luckily, Gu Lin Fang called one of the expensive ones though it still felt uncomfortable, he wasn't surprised, after all It was meant to be lacking compared to those ones the clan's used that was covered in different kinds of arrays to increase defense and comfort.

Gu Lin Fang took his time and finally looks out of the window while having an inner monologue, 'How peaceful it looks... luckily I for one with experience as a con artist, it has always known that looks can be deceiving... there has to be something going on underneath this peace'.

Once got into the inner wall, They began looking around until evening before Gu fang finally gave and found the only place on sale right now, He was directed by the carriage driver but first went to check out the inn just in case, and it was full!, He then searched some more before coming here.

It was a medium sized mansion with a well groomed courtyard, The mansion was located on the east side of the city, not far from the inner wall eastern entrance that was facing the commercial district.

Apparently, the carriage driver's distant cousin's brother in law wanted to sell his family house. Gu Lin ju's face was rather interesting when she heard this.

"Senior Gu, as long as you are willing to give me 200 low grade spirit stones...you can have it." An unhealthy looking young man with a neatly combed hair begged Gu Lin Fang once again, they have been Haggling with the price, all the way from 500 spirit stones till it was stuck at 200 and this took 33 minutes of twists and turns, Gu Lin Ju was visibly frustrated.

Obviously Gu Lin fang was aware that the young man was in dire need of money, so he was trying to make the best out of this deal.

Seeing that Gu Lin Fang looked like he was still thinking seriously, the young man added, "There's even a low grade spirit gathering array inside...honestly Senior Gu, You won't regret it... please do me this favor".

"Hmm...fine, since you sound so sincere, I'll just take it as giving a gift to little friend then. here" He passed two hundred low grade spirit stones to the young man and collected the necessary documents, "I won't be seeing you off Young Luo".

The young man referred to as young Luo was still depressed about the sales but he sighed in relief in the end before cupping his fist and bidding farewell. He had a debt on his neck and needed the money to leave the city quickly.

Gu Fang walked into the Mansion with quick strides and observed the full building, He found the spirit gathering array in the basement.

'might have to buy the surrounding buildings as well...hehehe' Gu Lin Fang wore a playful smile on his face before thinking of something.

He hasn't cultivated today so he was eager to try it on the array, but first, He had other things to do...