Old Master

"Qi Gathering Pills! Genuine Qi Gathering Pills crafted by a 2nd grade alchemy master! Only 100 spirit stones each!"

"Protection charms and escape talismans, the lowest go for 15 spirit stones!"

Vendors and merchants lined the streets of the city Ryker now found himself walking through, hawking their wares to whoever would give them any attention in the hot afternoon sun. After receiving a brief message from Caelus, he was heading northeast toward the Dabang Sect, which would take him through the cities of a few other sects along the way. The sect that this city was associated with was called the Wandering Battle School, a minor sect with less than a hundred members to its name.

Still, even a minor sect like this was influential enough to have a city crop up around it, and judging from the lively streets, it was rather prosperous, too.

"Wonder what all these people are doing here," Ryker said to himself aloud.

From what it looked like, a lot of the individuals walking around were travelers and the like, wearing thick, weathered clothing and carrying around knapsacks and traveling packs. It seemed storage rings weren't as common as he'd thought, since there were an abundance of Qi Gathering and Foundation Establishment cultivators walking around with bags to carry their things.

{Most cultivators wouldn't have a storage ring unless they were part of a sect or were a particularly wealthy or lucky itinerant cultivator,} Bestie explained, reading his thoughts, {The only reason you have so many is because you ambushed those Great Void Sect disciples. Usually, people wouldn't be able to rob so many Soul Wandering cultivators, at once...}

[As for why there are so many people here... they're probably looking to join the sect associated with this city,] Mini C added.

"I guess they just travel around until they find one they can join, huh?"

Ryker recalled the message he'd received from Caelus, though it was more of a note, than anything. The signal Mini C picked up on contained a single sentence, set to broadcast repeatedly: 'Go to the Dabang Sect'.

Apparently there was an entire network of MagiDrones in the skies above the Eastern Region that was broadcasting this signal ad infinitum; definitely a Big C type of solution to try and find someone.

"You think Caelus joined the Dabang Sect?"

[Chances are high. Either that, or he's staying there as a guest, though I don't know enough of the sects to say if that's a possibility.]

{Are you gonna join the sect, too, Ryker?}

"Well..."

Thinking about it, he *was* rather curious as to how these sects operated. They were one of the reasons he'd came to the Eastern Region in the first place, after all, and if Caelus was part of the sect, he might as well join him.

Still, the question, then, was which sect he would want to join. Would the Dabang Sect be a good fit for him?

A sudden shouting from up ahead of him snapped him out of his thoughts, however, and he craned his head above the crowds to get a better view of what was going on.

A crowd of young men and women were surrounding another young man, cornering him against the wall of an upper-class looking establishment and leaving him no room to escape. From what Ryker could tell, they were all in varying levels of the Qi Gathering realm, with the young man being the lowest among them in cultivation.

However, although they stood out quite a bit on the side of a busy roadway, the passers-by simply continued on past them, never sparing them more than a glance, if that. The squabbles of a couple of Qi Gathering cultivators apparently weren't worth much attention, it seemed.

"Hu Long! You've got a lot of nerve showing up at the Heavenly Jade Pavilion!" one of the aggressors yelled, getting up in the face of the young man backed into the wall.

"Is it your business where I go, Ding Yu? So what if I show up here?"

The young man named Hu Long stood his ground defiantly, his hands balled up into fists at his side as he glared back at the larger man looming over him.

His shockingly white hair was tied up into a short ponytail, with his bangs left loose to sweep over his deep, brown eyes. Ryker noticed he had some sort of scar or burn mark over his right eye, giving him an edgy sort of look that he could appreciate.

After hearing his defiant words, the other young men and women just laughed, starting to join in on the jeering, themselves.

"This rat from a forgotten family thinks that he can still enjoy the luxuries in life? Dream on!"

"A second-level Qi Gathering fool trying to act tough? Who do you think you're acting tough, for?"

Hu Long just grit his teeth, his clenched fists shaking, but he didn't let himself lash out at them, in anger. Or, perhaps, he didn't dare.

"Hmph, a lowly trash who doesn't know his place. Are you really still so desperate to see me, Hu Long?"

A haughty, lilting voice silenced the others, and an arrogant looking woman stepped forward, her elegantly-styled black hair and refined facial features at odds with her scornfully twisted red lips. She put a hand on her hips, laying the other to rest on her chest as she turned up her nose, looking down at Hu Long.

"Fu Ling..."

For his part, Hu Long could only look at her with a complicated expression on his face, before he sighed and turned away.

"Believe it or not, my visit had nothing to do with you. Are you really so presumptuous to think that seeing you is the only reason I would come?"

Fu Ling's glare grew cold as the rest of the young men and women exploded into scathing remarks, to which Hu Long just took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to keep himself calm.

The whole time, Ryker was standing off to the side, leaning against the wall with his hands resting behind his head as he looked on in curiosity. It was a bad habit of his, really, to want to hear the details whenever he overheard some drama.

It was, in fact, what got him into trouble the most, back home...

However, before he could get any more of that juicy gossip, one of the women surrounding Hu Long suddenly noticed Ryker eavesdropping, turning to look at him with a stern glare.

"What are you looking at, fool? Don't think you can do whatever you like just because you're in the Foundation Establishment realm! Our families would take care of you in a heartbeat!"

"Woah, hey, I'm not looking for any trouble, here," he said with his hands up defensively, despite him clearly sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. And of course, the rest of the young Qi Gathering cultivators noticed his presence now, as well, with Fu Ling turning to look at him with a furrowed brow.

"Do you have business with us?" she asked, to which Ryker shook his head.

"Uh, no, just passing by..."

"Hmph. Then continue to 'pass by', and leave us alone."

Ryker shrugged his shoulders and kept walking with an "Alright, sheesh..." as the young men and women watched him go with a glare. Even Hu Long was staring at him curiously, now, and their eyes met for a brief moment before Ryker left them behind and continued on his way.

[You need to stop with that habit of yours. No more detours, remember?] came Mini C's stern warning in his head after he'd gotten a fair distance away. Ryker just shrugged and grinned, hands in his pocket as he went to look for an inn to stay the night.

"Hey, I really was just listening, this time!"

{Ryker... You're really nosy.}

"Haha, you weren't curious about what their relationship was? Maybe they used to be engaged, like Meiling and Shuchie."

[I doubt engagements would be broken so often...]

--

Back at the Heavenly Jade Pavilion, a young man stood off to the side of the road, head hung low. It was Hu Long, having been left to his own devices after the others had gotten bored of him not reacting to any of their insults.

'... Damn it. I'm pathetic...'

He felt a hot feeling in his chest that burned up to his neck, but he had nowhere to vent this feeling right now, being a lowly cultivator without even a family to back him up. If only he were stronger...

'Patience, young one. The road of cultivation is long and filled with strife; only those who can endure can ascend to immortality.'

"Master!"

An elderly, crone-like woman began to materialize in front of him, her squat form accentuated by her hump-back and gnarled walking stick. No one passing by even gave the suddenly appearing old woman a glance however, as she was only visible to Hu Long, being a soul fragment contained in the ring on his necklace.

'Don't worry, as long as you can find some resources, you'll be breaking through, in no time. It won't be too late to vent your anger once you've become stronger,' the old crone said to him through spiritual sense telepathy. Hu Long nodded, thinking about his next plan of action, from here.

His 'Master', as he called her, suggested that he find a sect to latch onto so that he may get a stipend of cultivation resources to work with. Just the tiniest amount would be sufficient, so long as he could get his hands on something, which was why he was planning on traveling to one of the more prominent sects to try his luck, there.

Even if he could only become a servant disciple, they would still provide him with a small amount of resources.

As for his master, herself, he had found the ring she was contained in a few weeks ago while going through some of his parent's old belongings to sell. She revealed herself to him and taught him many powerful techniques, claiming to have been an old friend of one of his ancestors.

Now that his family had fallen from grace, she offered to help him get back on his feet after losing almost everything.

He wouldn't have believed it, if he didn't see the power of those techniques she had taught him, himself. Although he wouldn't dare to make trouble with the prominent families in the Wandering Battle School's city, he had tested his strength on the many demonic beasts in the surroundings.

Even demonic beasts that would be hard for a peak Qi Gathering cultivator to fell could be easily killed by his hands!

'Hm, but there was something very strange about that boy, from earlier...' his master said while he was lost in thought.

"Hm? Ah, yes, he was a rather weird individual..."

'No, I meant that there was a very strange energy about him. Also, the extent to which he'd perfected his body refining technique was abnormal; I wouldn't be surprised if he could fight on the level of Soul Wandering experts, despite being in the Foundation Establishment realm.'

Hu Long's eyes widened in shock, looking back toward the direction that strange young man had left in. Was he really that powerful...?

'Well, it was just a curiosity, anyways. You have more important things to worry about, don't you?'

"Yes!"

Clutching the letter of recommendation he had received from the owner of the Heavenly Jade Pavilion, who was a friend of his parents, he set his sights on the road toward the powerful Dabang Sect.