First Capital

Wind howled, people gasped, and booms echoed inside the Last Bulwark. The entire city now stood apt at attention, watching several Foundation Establishment cultivators fight it out in the air. Each of their strikes dyed the night sky in diverse colors, flashing red and blue and gold. Away from them, escaping at the maximum speed possible, Li Ao kept revolving the pedals of the bicycle.

''I think my lungs are about to burst—''

Zhu Qiu was alarmed behind. He was trying his best to stop his bleeding, all the while turning the back pedals to help increase their speed.

''Didn't you break through?''

''He struck my chest right as I ascended. I can't feel half of my breath after I inhale.''

''Can you hold on?''

Li Ao laughed, then coughed blood out. ''Can? I will!''

''Good!''

The bike flashed past the people on the street, swerving away with the raised wind of its wheels. Their figures blurry, in no time they came to the city gates. Around a dozen guards stood there, ready to act against anyone slipping away in the chaos, and this made Li Ao gulp.

''They are too well trained!''

''Just go past them! We can't let them close the gate!''

Their shout alerted them to the flashing past vehicle. Several of them shouted ''Halt!'' or ''Stop!'' or other generic phrases, then brandished their halberds. Someone started to close the gates atop the battlements.

''Fuck off!''

Li Ao waved his hand, circulated Scarlet Path, and a flame exploded forth in his right palm. Coughing blood again, he pushed forward.

With his thirteenth level Qi Condensation level, the fire ball seemed like a miniature Sun under the night sky. Flames roared into being, blinding the guards, and Li Ao flashed past them. The gate crashed onto their heads.

Li Ao twisted the handle and slid under it.

''Ugh!''

Zhu Qiu almost fell from the bike. Their legs scraped against the ground, drawing long gashes and blood, and a moment later they toppled away. Their miserable roll didn't stop until they were a few hundred meters away.

Rising in the midst of dust, Li Ao sensed an overbearing aura coming their way. He cast a look around and saw Zhu Qiu under the bike, his leg broken.

He took the man up and they mounted the bike again. This time, however, they couldn't accelerate well with Zhu Qiu's situation at hand.

Just as the gates shut and they moved, a sharp scream of wind cut through the air.

''STOP!''

Li Ao gnashed his teeth and poured all his Qi in. His thighs felt like they would burst out of the skin.

A wave of Qi gathered above and behind, and Zhu Qiu's drifting consciousness came back alive at the same time. The gathered strength, his bloodless body, and the screaming wind made him tremble all over.

''Oh heavens!''

The figure behind them was a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator!

''You block it! I will lead!''

Li Ao agreed with the sentiment. Making a sharp turn, he forced the bike to stop and circulated Scarlet Path. Zhu Qiu got on to the front seat, the Foundation Establishment Cultivator almost came over them, and Li Ao struck out.

A fire lance exploded forth, its beam lighting up the sky, and clashed with a golden sword light. The shockwaves spread as rings of golden-red light, blinding to the eye, and revealed the faces of both cultivators. A second later the dispersing force struck the earth. Ground cracked, exploding into large pieces of flying rock and debris.

Right then Zhu Qiu started pedaling and they moved. Escaping the flying debris by breath, the bike flashed past the dust cloud in the sea of moving earth. Li Ao, coughing blood, added his own strength, and together ran away from the site. The opposite cultivator seemed unwilling to pursue further.

As they left the site deeper into the wastelands, Li Ao heard a voice in his mind.

'I'll remember your face, brat.'

''You better remember it good!''

''What happened?''

''The retard sent a Qi transmission,'' Li Ao laughed. ''Just run!''

They disappeared into the night.

*********

In the air, a youth with long black hair remained on his flying sword. He had a luxurious, golden robe, as well as a jade hair ornament.

This Foundation Establishment Cultivator, at the moment, was busy turning livid—since he had quite polished senses, and a 5th-level Foundation Establishment cultivation, he could hear Li Ao's comment very well.

Still, he couldn't restrain the surprise in him. Looking down at his burnt sleeves, he smiled.

'At least an inner disciple of the Two-Fold sect...it is better to not have the blood of my juniors on my hands.'

In the Bai Dynasty, only Two-Fold sect disciples used Fire-based arts. And the potential shown by this fellow, as well as his thirteenth-level Qi Condensation realm cultivation only stood a testament to his good grooming. Even if he wasn't a member of the sect, he had to be the young master of a Grand Clan.

To Bai San, it would do no good to get into the bad graces of an influential power.

'But to call my father a twink—'

When he thought of it, apart from a restrained humor that forced him to giggle, a kind of fury emerged in his heart.

With a flash, he shot at a faster speed than before into the Last Bulwark. He would have to question the troublemakers himself.

*********

After two hours of continuous movement, Li Ao forced Zhu Qiu to stop.

The man's consciousness seemed to go on and off, and he kept muttering in a state of fever. Laying him down, wiping his blood, he saw several black spots appear on the man's left arm.

In panic, he injected a bit of his Qi and forced the man awake.

''Hah! Hah! Hah!''

''Tell me how do you feel—''

On the other side, Li Ao opened the Universal Store and bought a book named Introduction To Poison and Treatments. It cost him a thousand coins.

''What...?''

''Just tell me how you feel!''

Zhu Qiu muttered something, though none of it was any meaningful, then grunted. Blood spurted out of his nose and mouth.

''Zhu Qiu!''

Li Ao swept his gaze through the book, scanning page upon page to look for a particular symptom or treatment. But the use of language confused him. He couldn't understand theory or anything.

Then, he saw a page for first aid.

Quickly, reading the book word by word, he injected his Qi.

''Qi as a thread, sew the meridians close, obstruct the blood flow...''

His Qi stopped the flow of Qi in Zhu Qiu's body, then forced the blood vessels to close. In a moment, Zhu Qiu's left arm swelled with black putrid blood.

''No, that isn't supposed to happen!''

While he panicked, Zhu Qiu came awake from the pain.

''Zhu Qiu—''

''Just cut off the arm!''

Li Ao froze. Then he slapped the man.

''Instead of spouting nonsense, just tell me how you feel you fucking retard! What kind of pain is it? Does it flow, or does it feel clogged?''

''Huh—''

''Just tell me!''

Zhu Qiu spoke in a hurry, and Li Ao swept his gaze again. He found a similar description: a venom extracted from toads, and there was a long list of possible cures and antidotes.

In Universal Shop, he typed in a few of them. A pill called 10 Poison Expelling Pill appeared, and he bought it for two hundred coins.

Slowly unclogging the left arm, Li Ao fed the pill to Zhu Qiu. Bit by bit the medicinal power invaded his body, and as he purged a portion of the poison Li Ao let the blood flow resume its natural state.

Zhu Qiu's breathing turned stable, and his eyes regained their light. Heaving, sweating, but most importantly still living, he let out a putrid breath. Taking a look down, he saw his arm still there.

''You...''

He knew this boy had no knowledge of poisons and such...or atleast didn't before. The pill, however...

But, Zhu Qiu said nothing else about it. Still laying on the ground, he put one hand above, unable to raise the other, and cupped his hand.

''No need, no need. It is my job.''

''You would have done your job even without my arm.''

''Just rest, you dog.''

Li Ao himself remained seated and started meditating. He did a thorough check-up of his body and saw, though he didn't feel it, that both his arms were broken. His ribs seemed cracked and one piece pierced a little hole in his lungs, where air kept escaping at each breath.

Looking for another pill, Li Ao bought a 7-th grade Rejuvenation pill for 500 Coins. His total balance fell to a measly 370 coins after all the purchase. Swallowing it, he kept circulating his Qi and healing his wounds. Zhu Qiu himself had a 9-th grade healing pill that he swallowed.

They stayed out in the open for another hour, resting and composing themselves, then rose and began walking towards the First Capital. The bike was completely out of question in the current circumstance.

''What will we do now?''

''Well...''

Stumbling on his broken leg, Zhu Qiu thought as well.

What should they do?

The events of last night very well could have put them on the bounty list of the government. The chaos caused had been too eye-catching, and with the witnesses none the wiser for the real cause of the commotion could only attribute it to a random bar fight.

Perhaps not. Still, the dynasty didn't pick a right or wrong side in such altercations. Both parties were wrong for fighting, and both would suffer punishment. Such an ironclad rule was necessary for the order and the safety of the ordinary folk.

If the Dynasty gave an inch to those who had the right to fight, how could the populace be spared from the cultivators' devastation? The real backbone of the dynasty were the millions of normal men and women, not the cultivators who most likely had no loyalty to them.

''You can forget using that forged token. Since no one would dare to obstruct a Government Transmission, we can also be sure that they will hear the news in a day or two. Inspections will be tighter.''

Li Ao sighed.

''How will I enter, then?''

''I can get in, make you a new token, a solid one—there are a lot of Zhu Clansmen and allies inside the walls—then get you in.''

''Won't they know your face as well?''

Zhu Qiu stopped for a moment.

''My head must be faulty from blood loss.''

When he saw how Zhu Qiu scratched his beard, an idea appeared to Li Ao.

''Shit, I am a genius.''

''What?''

''Listen, listen...''

*********

First Capital's establishment had a history much deeper than the Bai Dynasty itself.

The city was first established under the governance of a certain Xia Dynasty, an Immortal Clan descending from the higher realms. After their disappearance and a bloody fight for supremacy between their subsidiary vassals, it came under the control of Xu Dynasty. The city, however, suffered greatly under two consequent cataclysmic events and lost half of its territory. Five thousand years after these events, another unknown calamity ravaged the Xu Dynasty and pierced the Realm Membrane of the Six-Fold Immortal Realm.

Without the protection of their Realm Membrane, the Spirit Qi of the world quickly exhausted itself, and further generations only degraded. It was only two thousand years ago that the Six-Fold Immortal Sect fixed the Realm Membrane at a great cost. Now, Bai Dynasty emerged under their control, working with the Two-Fold sect, a lesser branch of the Immortal Sect, to protect the order and restore the world.

While earlier stories were just myths, circulating as night-time curiosities to be told, the latter story was a fact still ongoing in the world. Sometimes, the Six-Fold Immortal Sect would pick Heaven's Children born in the domain to nurture them into pillars of their sect. The First Capital worked as the gathering and assessing place of these Heaven's Children.

The aforementioned candidates now flew over the inspection gate, skipping past lines of guards busy sorting out the incoming traffic. There were a dozen carts at every gate, and hundreds of people kept going in under the watchful eyes of the guards atop the battlements. Inside the gate, separated from the city with a moat and hanging bridge, were towers where true inspections occured.

Li Ao let the guard in front of him lead the way. His steps seemed uneasy, and every once in a while he would shake his shoulders to raise the slipping Zhu Qiu on his back. The man had his face covered in bandages, the blood dried, seemingly one or two days old, and a burnt patch of skin could be seen under their cover. One of his legs was steadied with a wooden block.

After entrusting the token Li Ao gave to another guard, the man had them wait a few minutes. The guard came running back not much later and gave the token back with a nod.

''Do you know where to go, boy?''

Li Ao, now bearing Xu Liao's face, nodded in a hurry. ''My uncle works at Fragrant Grass Store. I'll rush there.''

''...do you know where Fragrant Grass Store is?''

''I remember.'' Zhu Qiu replied in a weak whisper.

''Really?'' The guard sighed and opened the gate for them to go in. ''You, lead these two to safety.''

That being done they left through the raised gate. The assigned guard, a rather cheery fellow named Rui Kang, led them through the heavy crowd of multi-colored people. There were people who wore shirts and coats instead of robes, with weird pointed or wide hats, as well as beasts that flew or fluttered around them like butterflies. In this downtown crowd, even Qi Condensation people seemed to be four or five in ten people, extremely common.

''It is here—if you ever get lost, ask someone the path to Central Square. You can go everywhere from that place.''

''Thank you, brother.''

''No matter, no matter.''

Leaving them in front of the store, the guard disappeared into the crowd. Li Ao raised his head—the store bore a luxurious emblem on its front gate, shaped like a stalk of grass on a mountain. It had four floors, which was the limit of height in the city, and each floor had stained glass overflowing with beauty.

Stepping inside, he saw large racks of herbs and 9th grade pills strewn around in glass panels. An old attendant around forty approached them, looking disturbed.

''Sir, how may I help you?''

''I need to talk with Master Jiao.''

''Uh,'' the attendant showed a sorry smile. ''I'm afraid master Jiao doesn't have the time.''

''Just call him down.'' Zhu Qiu asked, then lowered himself from Li Ao's back. ''Riri.''

''Who are you?''

''Zhu Qiu.''

His eyes wide open, the attendant remained in his place. Then he came two steps forward to caress the bandages and shoulders of Zhu Qiu. ''Young master, are you alright? Do you still have your vision?''

''Just go.''

Freezing at the cold voice, Riri stopped, bowed, then rushed up.

''He was just worried for you.''

Unfurling the bandages, Zhu Qiu shook his unharmed head. ''He is a hypocrite. Don't trust him.''

''Ah. He was worried about 'it'?''

Zhu Qiu nodded. Then he walked over to the counter, where a clerk stood apt at attention. He got a seat for Li Ao to sit and found none other. He took the one under the clerk. They sat in the corner, waiting, until footsteps echoed down the large stairs.

''Why are you here?''

A rather grumpy looking old man descended, followed by Riri. The man wore a bright red robe that trailed after him, patterned with gold, and had a badge tied to his chest which he proudly carried. He was an official, and a member of the court.

''Find us a safe place.''

''You think anywhere is safe for you? And you brought along a stranger!?''

''Find us a safe place.''

Zhu Qiu answered the same, nonchalant, while Master Jiao glared at him.

''You can just stay here.''

''I would rather not give you a heart attack.'' Zhu Qiu smiled. ''Money is no matter. Just find a safe, quiet place for us to stay a few years.''

''No matter? It will be me—the clan paying it all!''

''Are you retarded or what?''

Li Ao felt his tongue twist at Zhu Qiu's outburst. Was this guy imitating his speech?

''You have one job. One job! Just find a fucking safe place until—until the time comes. Do you think you can stay on your two feet with a word of mine?''

''You are just a poor bastard.''

''At least I am surnamed Zhu.''

That seemed to finish the discussion.

Master Jiao turned around, snorted, and left upstairs.

''Riri, do as he says.''

''Yes, master.''

Bowing behind the man, Riri then turned around to bow at them.

''Please be at ease. I will notify you in an hour.''

''Be quick.''

With a soft thud of the door Riri left.

''...you have a interesting family.''

''Shut up.''