A Game of Charades

Wuxian glanced over. 

The clouds gathered slowly, sparking with ominous muffled light.

The artifact weapon on his back seemed to tremble, but Big North didn't appear.

Wuxian continued walking with a solemn expression. Glancing at his south-pointing compass, he was certain that those thunderclouds had gathered somewhere near the inheritance chamber.

While the highest level cultivators would be able to divine changes or sense disturbances in the area, the lower level cultivators like Wuxian, unless extremely close in proximity, wouldn't be able to notice a thing.

However, the tribulation clouds that tended to gather around the birth of an earthly or heavenly treasure or an immortal's breakthrough were hard to miss.

And this was perfectly visible to not only immortals, but mortals too. It was no doubt obvious that even though Heaven had not yet meted out its punishment, all eyes in the region had turned.

'Many thanks, master.'

Wuxian gave a small salute towards the southwest before continuing on his journey.

The Effortless Flow technique was an immortal art and using it on the main road like this would attract unnecessary attention. Not only that, but it would also continue to drain his spirit qi, rendering him disadvantaged in a fight.

So he moved at the pace of a mortal, feigning the fatigue that tended to build up over the course of a journey.

He had a long walk ahead, so he decided to spend his time passively circulating the Nine Revolutions Earthfire technique. At the same time, he did some mental preparations.

'Ideally, the greatest extent of interaction I will have with others will be asking about whether there has been any news about a Liang incursion in the region. 

Based on the response I receive, I will be able to deduce Mian Ji and Xiao Chong's positions to some extent.

If I hear a positive answer, I can assume they've completed their missions successfully. I can then ask where the rumour started from and track their positions from there on.

If I hear a negative… well, that would be for worst. That means that the two did not make it to Zhen trading post and if they did, they were apprehended before they could finish the job.

The likeliest suspects for apprehending them would have to be the Han unit first, the Qin garrison second.'

Having determined his next course of action, Wuxian strode forward confidently. Though he wished to plan further, the truth was, if his two brothers had been captured by the Han, he'd have no leads to follow.

By the time he reached the gates, it had turned to the dead of night. 

As he looked at the gates of the 'trading post', Wuxian felt a burning sense of unease within his chest. Zhen trading post looked more like an imperial city than what it was supposed to be.

Estimating from half a li away, Wuxian guessed that the walls were up to ten metres tall. And they were incomparably wide too, with gatehouses embedded into them at regular intervals.

The gates were completely shut, with armed guards patrolling the walls. Counting the number of lanterns that he could see, he realised that the garrison had quadrupled in size. And that was speaking only of this section of the wall too.

Wuxian withdrew back into the forest, concealing himself behind a large tree.

'This isn't right. I had not been gone for more than a week, it is impossible for the trading post to become such a large city.'

Supporting his forehead with his hand, he felt an ache coming on. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, trying to use his logic to understand the situation.

'The biggest discrepancy was when I spoke with Senior North back in the chamber. He said that Liang had a cultivator army. On top of that, he referred to Liang as 'Great Liang'.'

Fingering his chin in thought, he had difficulty making sense of things.

'Previously, it was not even known whether those myths and tales had any basis in reality, but now, it seems that cultivators are lurking around every corner.'

'And now, the entire trading post has suddenly been converted into a city- and a big one at that. Factoring in the existence of cultivators and that the emperors and kings of different states are able to command them, perhaps it is not an outlandish idea that they could be used to rapidly upscale a settlement…'

"The easiest method to determine how much things have changed will be to look at the flags and banners on the city walls." He muttered.

"Though, it is too dark now. I will look in the morning and decide my next course of action from then on."

Wuxian looked around briefly, realising that he was not very well concealed. He hadn't noticed much due to the darkness, but the foliage here was much more sparse compared to a few li further down the road, from where he had come.

Stretching his limbs, he climbed up the tree, resting on its crown, where its branches split off to form a natural recline.

Laying down, he gazed up at the underside of the canopy, watching the dim rays of moonlight filtering through the slits.

But after a while, he still couldn't fall asleep. He kept on having thoughts about what he should do the following day and how every move he made could go wrong.

Eventually, he gave up on sleeping, deciding to cultivate instead.

He currently had half of his Shen dantian's capacity remaining, though he had probably used a net volume of twice that amount in wood qi on the journey here.

Furthermore, this was all unrefined wood qi. The refined qi was long gone.

The good news though, was that the other two dantians had remained untouched and could be used for circulation at will.

Wuxian decided that he would try and reach Foundation Building as swiftly as possible, thus he began refilling and refining the wood qi in his Shen dantian.

By the time the sun had risen and the birds were singing their birdsong, Wuxian had fully restocked the pure wood qi within his dantian. On top of that, he had circulated the Nine Revolutions Earthfire art five times.

Actually, he had long since fallen asleep. The moment he finished filling his Shen dantian with pure qi, he had passed out due to exhaustion. 

Waking up to the sound of bird song and distant murmuring, Wuxian was gripped with a sense of alertness. Grabbing a hold of the Northern Dark Edge with one hand, he crouched on top of a branch and peered down.

The road was bustling with traffic. Farmers with oxen pulled their carts full of produce along. A group of youths wearing sets of armour and stowed weapons strolled along. A carriage pulled along by a pair of donkeys which seemed to be a part of a merchant caravan passed by as well.

There was also the occasional pedestrian too, perhaps on a visit to the city to make their weekly purchases.

Seeing people wearing familiar clothing, Wuxian felt energised. He was afraid that when he woke up, he would see people wearing drastically different and outlandish outfits- the sign of a foreign culture.

'Next is to see whether this is the Zhen trading post I am familiar with.'

Though he very badly wanted to just stick his head out of the leaves and sneak a peek at the banners, the scene would no doubt be very conspicuous, especially on a bustling road such as this.

Wuxian slid down the tree, dusting himself off and stretching after arriving on the solid earth.

Carefully ensuring Big North's vessel was tightly wrapped, he summoned the horse-killing-blade from his ring and attached it to his waist.

From what he'd seen earlier, there were martial artists, or perhaps mercenaries heading towards the city. Wuxian decided to disguise himself as a wandering knight-errant, in search of adventures, but also currently looking for a place to wash himself and stock up on supplies.

'I suppose immortals have some sort of spells to wash or clean themselves.'

After all, despite having a stinky mouth and attitude, his master did not actually physically smell bad at all. Not that Wuxian had deliberately gone out of his way to verify this.

Shrugging slightly, Wuxian emerged from the foliage, strolling behind a large carriage.

The carriage helped block out some of the sun, providing him with some shade.

An hour later, they arrived close to the gates. A queue had formed, giving Wuxian the time he needed to inspect the walls.

'That.. Is neither a Qin nor a Liang flag. It's not a Han flag either.'

He withdrew back to the rear of the carriage. Out of everything that he expected, this was near the bottom of the list.

Glancing down at the south-pointing compass, he subconsciously felt that its directions might be slightly off. Then he shook his head.

'Even if I went the wrong way, I could not have travelled far enough to leave Qin territory. Within Qin territory, there are no cities this big near the border either. 

What exactly is going on?'

He considered his options.

'Well, the best way to find things out is to gather information. I might as well enter and find a bathhouse or a teahouse.'

After half an hour, he was called up by the gate guards.

In front of him was a lightly-armoured soldier. He wore strange insignia and his armour was of an unfamiliar fashion. Though it had some lamellar components, there were a lot of smooth metal sections as well.

Wuxian physically dwarfed the man. While the former was tall, the latter was a rather short person to begin with.

The short guard appeared to be flustered. For what exactly, Wuxian was not certain.

"You there! What's your purpose for entering the city?" He barked, pointing at Wuxian.

The accent the guard spoke in felt both familiar yet strange at the same time. It took Wuxian a few moments to understand his words.

Before he could respond, the guard spoke in his strange accent again.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

Wuxian scratched his neck awkwardly. He bent down slightly.

"Hello, I'm here to buy some food and drink and book a room at a teahouse for a few nights."

The guard had a confused look on his face.

"What did you say?" He asked.

"Ah, that was inconsiderate of me, sorry, one moment." Wuxian muttered, crouching down and bringing himself close to the guardsman's eye level.

The guard slapped his leg and let out a sound of frustration.

"Ay, I can hear you well and clear, I mean, your accent! Your accent is strange, I can't understand you very well." He explained, half exasperated, half annoyed.

'Ah.'

Wuxian stood back up, unsure of what to do.

"Ahem. I. Am. Here. For. Shop. And. Sleep." He said slowly, miming as he spoke.

The guardsman shook his head, clearly having difficulty understanding him. Then he gestured for Wuxian to wait there, going off to find his colleague.

'I imagined it might be difficult to get in… but not for this reason.' 

He wasn't sure whether he should laugh or cry in this situation. In the end, he waited idly for a few minutes before the guard returned with a taller person.

This taller individual wore a slightly more elaborate outfit, with a tall hat and a badge on his chestplate.

The shorter guard gestured for Wuxian to speak to his superior.

"I am here to eat and sleep." He explained simply.

The superior looked at his shorter colleague and shrugged.

"I really don't know what he's saying. I don't think it's barbarian tongue either, I've spent some time in the tribe lands- their speech is more fragmented and guttural. This person speaks smoothly and softly, but the words he pronounces are gibberish." The superior explained.

The two began discussing the matter in a hushed manner. Wuxian contemplated to the side.

'Why can I understand them, but they cannot understand me?'

A few more minutes passed and the people queuing became impatient.

After another moment, a figure emerged from a carriage behind them.

It was a well-dressed man. He wore long green robes, embroidered patterns on his sleeves. He wore a box-shaped black hat, appearing like some sort of official.

Looking at him, Wuxian did not recognise the outfit.

'First the language, now the clothes. Perhaps at the lower rungs of society, people of all cultures dress simply and similarly, while at the top they have more freedom to be creative.'

Despite his musing, he felt a tensing around his heart again. If he really had been transported to a far away place, well, that would be a serious wrench in his plans.

The green-robed man cupped his hands at the guards and then at Wuxian.

"Apologies gentlemen, but my mistress wishes to know why exactly it is taking so long for the queue to move. She has important business in the city and any delay could prove disastrous." He inquired courteously.

The two guardsmen returned the formality, with the superior taking charge.

"Ah, it is mister Fu. You're a learned man- our issue here lies with this fellow. He speaks not a single word of our tongue. Or rather, his accent is so strange that we cannot understand him."

Mister Fu's eyes widened in understanding.

"No wonder, no wonder." He turned to Wuxian, scrutinising his clothing.

"Greetings, friend. Do you understand the words we speak?" He asked kindly.

'Speech will not work. I will have to use gestures.'

Wuxian kept his mouth shut, cupping his fists in a martial salute. The other party had not saluted at all, so it did not make sense for him to greet with this kind of formality- a warrior's salute no less, but Wuxian wanted to use this to gauge mister Fu's reaction.

And indeed, his expression changed in response, a look of recognition emerging upon his smooth-shaven face.

"I see! No wonder! Martial friend, do you perhaps understand our words?"

Wuxian's eyes lit up. He nodded affirmatively.

Mister Fu rubbed his hands, giving off a positive energy.

"Interesting, interesting. Would it be possible for you to translate the words you say? For example, could you please say the word 'sun' in your dialect?" He requested.

Wuxian nodded and obliged.

Mister Fu held his hands together, rubbing his finger joints in thought.

He then turned to the guardsmen.

"I believe he is speaking an ancient language, good sirs. You can hear its similarity to ours. It has the same tonal system, but the pronunciation and assigned tones are slightly different. Think about the emphasis he put on the second part of the word you see…"

The guards were overwhelmed by academic language.

The superior shook his head. "Mister Fu, the way you speak is just as mystifying to us as this barbarian. What do you mean exactly?"

Hearing the word 'barbarian', mister Fu turned red and seemed to become quite angry on Wuxian's behalf. The man in question, on the other hand, was relatively calm. 

It was normal for someone who knew little to resort to common misconceptions like this. For example, 'he speaks a different language and does not understand ours, therefore he must be a barbarian.'

While mister Fu explained the difference between a barbarian and something else- Wuxian had not been able to keep track. After all, though he could understand them, they still spoke in a strange accent. Mister Fu had begun speaking so quickly that Wuxian could barely even keep up.

"-What this means, is that this fellow is likely from an isolated population. We probably have the same roots, but his language developed differently from ours in such a way that he can understand us, while we cannot understand his." Mister Fu explained.

The guardsmen shared bewildered looks. "Is there such a thing?"

Mister Fu nodded, before turning to Wuxian. "Martial friend, take a look at this lieutenant's badge here. Can you read this word?"

Wuxian followed his gesture, looking at the words engraved into the black badge.

It was an unreadable script. But beside it were icy-blue characters floating besides it.

He immediately felt the urge to palm his face.

'Unreliable master…'