Little Fourth

"Are you willing to take me as your master?"

For the next few seconds everything that could be heard on the back of the silver eagle was the sound of the wind passing by.

"Are there many cultivators in this world more powerful than you, old man?"

"Yes there are, both humans and beasts alike. In fact, one of the most powerful creatures currently alive is an old tree that has a very high ranking core spirit." The old man replied whilst sipping his wine.

"Would any of the cultivators that are more powerful than you accept me as their disciple?" Fang Qiu asked next

"All of them would. No cultivator in this world would refuse becoming the master of one of the ten" the old man replied seemingly not worried in the slightest.

"Then why should I accept you as my master?"

Instead of hearing the old man's reply he suddenly heard the old man's voice inside his head. Everything got silent on the back of the eagle for a couple minutes after. Fang Qiu knew the old man was talking to him but the other three thought the old man had no way of responding.

After a couple minutes the silence finally got broken by a determined and strong voice..."Fang Qiu greets master!"

___

A while later on the back of the eagle after Fang Qiu went through the master-disciple accepting formalities he noticed the old man stick his hand…

Fang Qiu got confused seeing the old man do this. "Does master want me to shake his hand? Is this part of the ritual of accepting a master?" He thought whilst slowly sticking out his only hand to go for a handshake.

"Seeing his disciple stick out his hand as if to shake his own made the old man want to slap him into a pancake. Why was every single one of his disciples trying to shake his hand whilst he was clearly asking for an offering. In the past all three of them tried shaking his hand and now it seems that the newest one was just as stupid.

"Why are you trying to shake my hand? Can't you see I'm clearly asking for a gift. What disciple accepts a master without bringing some precious gift." The old man said out loud this time.

"But master, I lived in the forest my entire life, where would I have gotten precious items. I have nothing of value to offer you." Fang Qiu replied with a fawning look.

"Surely as one of the top ten you must have gotten your own lucky encounters and treasures. What do you value most?" Seeing the old man's face light up like that when talking about treasures reminded Fang Qiu of something.

"Don't I have precious items myself? In Fact what in the world could be more valuable than this!" With that, Fang Qiu took out an item from his void storage and placed it on the old man's stretched out palm.

Noticing how his disciple's face lit up after a few seconds of thinking he knew he just hit the jackpot. "Could a treasure given by a top ten ranked individual be anything normal? It surely has to be something heaven defying, something that will change the course of my entire life!" The more the old man thought about it the bigger his smile became, if one looked carefully they would even be able to find a sliver of a tear in the corner of the old man's eye.

Opening his eyes the old man looked down and finally noticed the incredible "treasure" his disciple gave him....

"A drumstick?"

_____

Flying across the clouds on a silver eagle, landmasses came and went yet on the eagle's back things were not calm at all.

Five individuals could be seen on the back of the eagle: a beautiful girl talking to a blind mountain of a man. A golden cat playing with a tiny knee high panda, a fatty secretly drinking from one of the many scattered wine jars. And lastly...an old man in flowery robes beating up a youth using an oversized drumstick. Pieces of meat and grease could be seen flying all over the place before quickly disappearing from view after getting picked up by the wind.

After a while things became peaceful once again, everyone got back to doing their own thing, some were cultivating, one was eating whilst sending imaginary middle fingers with his nonexistent other arm. And the last person was enjoying some great wine whilst unsurprisingly not noticing the middle fingers being thrown his way.

And then there was the cat and Little Black. Somehow the cat managed to steal every single item from the panda's void storage, not that it contained anything other than some bones and meat. Yet to Little Black this was like losing its most precious belongings.

After Fang Qiu asked the others it appeared they were headed to the biggest city on the continent. This city was not part of any empire and was the holy land for anything treasure related in the southern continent, hence the name "treasure city".

It would take a couple of months to get there by "bird", so in those months all they could do was cultivate or talk. Everyone had plenty of food in their storages to survive for this period of time and if they needed more they could land in any cities, kingdoms or empires on the way. Fang Qiu had his void storage and the others had their own spatial rings which were an item that could be used just like void storages of space cultivators.

Over the first few days Fang Qiu also told them about his core spirit and spirit ability. Of course everyone including the old man was interested in knowing. In return Fang Qiu asked the old man why the ability was said to be the most destructive to which he seriously responded: "the star swallowing ability has consumed entire worlds in the past, and it is the originator of blood path cultivation which is part of the evil sects."

Evil sects were something Fang Qiu had heard of before. They were sects that used extreme means to increase their cultivation or used underhanded methods usually with severe side effects like the blood, puppet, ghost, poison and other sects. The most important distinction between good and evil in this world was not made by the spirit someone awakened, but the abilities one cultivated. Hence why Fang Qiu was not considered an evil cultivator even when his spirit ability practically created the blood path in the past. Just like how a rare blood element cultivator might not necessarily be an evil cultivator.

This world was full of wonders and interesting things and Fang Qiu learned about loads of them on the way. Like for instance the diffirent side occupations: formations master, alchemist, healer, diviner and lastly refiner.

Some other things they talked about were Famous cultivators, legendary stories, Famous core spirits, strong skills, and lots of other things. Some information like the skill ranks and skill paths were something Fang Qiu asked about but only received vague responses saying he would learn all about it once they made it to treasure city.

As for why they were going to the biggest city on the continent...

The more urgent matter was that they all needed skills, items and a calm place to cultivate! It would be embarrassing if Fang Qiu, as a dual element cultivator had to fight with his fists without using any actual skills like he did back in the forest where he lost his left arm and got the cut in his nose. And since they were not part of any sects, the only place that had plenty of skills would be the biggest city on the continent: "treasure city".

In fact, this city was the headquarters of the five side occupations and had the biggest auction houses of the continent. If you couldn't find something there you wouldn't find it in any other city.

As for the others, they would use this time in the city to increase their knowledge and maybe find some suitable treasures and skills besides the ones they owned already after following their master these last few months or years.

Yet all of this wasn't the main reason to go to treasure city, according to the old man they had to be in treasure city in a couple of months or they would miss out on a grand opportunity that might change their entire cultivation journey!

_____

3 months later…

Seeing a massive city come into view Fang Qiu knew they had arrived at the biggest city of the continent. The place where he would probably find everything he needed before setting out for future adventures with his senior brothers and sister, and the old man of course.

The old man had already told him about the city the last couple of days. The walls might seem small for a city of its size, but they actually were purely decorative. The real wall was an invisible killing formation covering the entire city! anyone trying to break the rules or enter secretly would be killed on the spot by the formation. Of course for small offences like thefts or injuries the formation wouldn't be activated since it cost a lot of spirit stones to use. But if someone were to kill inside of the city the person would be struck to death instantly, even a divine spirit realm cultivator might be killed if they had no trump cards or excellent defences.

After landing and getting off the eagle they had to get in line just like everyone else, Though Fang Qiu suspected that they could just fly in given their master's status as a divine spirit realm cultivator.

Arrivingn in line Fang Qiu looked at the old man and said: "master, I remember Fatty Zhang mentioning your rules, one of them being that you love bets, so I can bet you for anything if I put up an equal wager, is that correct?

The old man's eyes started glowing upon hearing the word "bet" and even his wine jar started shaking in his hands. "I knew I made the right choice picking you, your three seniors are all sissies, I can count the amount of times they made a bet against me on my fingers." Suddenly realising something he continued

"although to you, that would be twice your fingers....so, what's the bet, little fourth?"