Mount Gaoda

The tallest peak of Yinan Empire, Mount Gaoda had become the place where all the top sects compete for supremacy through their disciples. The reason this mountain became the meeting place for all the sects, is actually because the Yinan Empire is controlled collectively by the top sects. The royal family of the Yinan Empire is merely a pawn used by the top sects.

The competition of the sects also became an opportunity for vagrant cultivators from around the empire to meet, there are also rumors about vagrant cultivators being taken in by the top sects. Thus, many vagrant cultivators come's to Gaoda mountain to find opportunities.

A small city has been built on the periphery of the mountain, stalls lined the streets, selling all kinds of goods. Due to the upcoming sect competition, there were many cultivators in the city, many seeking great opportunities to turn their lives around.

On the road leading toward the city some distance away, a young man and a little girl walked. The young man had his back straight, His face looked plain and he looked ordinary, but in his eyes shone determination. The little girl looked to be around 10 years old and looked very cute. The young man and the little girl walked steadily into the city.

"Big brother, is there a reason for us to come here?" The little girl asked curiously.

"Yes, to find the love of my life". the young man replied.

His childhood sweetheart had been taken in by a top sect, since there is a competition being held here by the top sects. There may be a chance that she would be here. Along the way, he had found the little girl with a dying old man in the woods, they seem to have been pursued by evil people seeking to end their lives. He had tried to save the old man but he was already too wounded and died.

The old man entrusted the little girl to him, The old man said that their home and family has been taken over and slaughtered. for the first few days the little girl just stayed silent, but over time, they had become closer. Since the little girl had no home, The young man thought that she may have a chance of being taken in by a top sect. He had checked and she indeed had cultivation talent.

Since he already planned to come to the competition, it's like killing two birds with one stone. They both continued conversing and laughing together as they walked into the city.

---------------------

In the evening a little further down the road where the young man and the little girl had walked. Two men were walking while having a conversation, suddenly, the bush beside them rustled.

"!"

"?!"

the two men were startled, immediately after, a man came out of the bush, his hair had sticks sticking on them, his clothes dirty with dirt, along with his face. As soon as the man saw them he was surprised and elated.

"Fellow Daoist's!, do you happen to know where we are?, is that Gaoda Mountain??" The man that came out of the bush asked them. he pointed toward the mountain in the distance.

"uuhhm, yeah, that's Gaoda mountain" said one of the men.

The bush man was visibly overjoyed.

"Does this road lead to the mountain?" the bush man asked again.

This time the other man talked.

"Yeah just follow this road and you'll find a city and Gaoda Mountain beside it."

" Thank you fellow Daoist's!, I, Li Pingjun will not forget your kindness!, May we meet again!" The bush man promptly left toward the city, practically running.

The two men was flabbergasted, they stood in their place frozen for a while.

The bush man, Li Pingjun, was excited to come by a city after a long time. The start of his journey went smoothly, he went from city to city asking for directions, while using the public roads available. but along the way he tried to take a shortcut.

He got lost because of it! , he followed the rough direction of where Gaoda mountain is for a long time, before finally noticing a mountain in the distance, Li Pingjun proceeded toward that mountain with hope. He didn't know if that mountain is Gaoda mountain, but he had no choice. With the knowledge of a hunter, he had survived eating forest fruits, mushrooms he found on the ground, and hunting the local wild animals.

Thankfully the forest he went through didn't contain any strong spiritual beasts, so he was safe at least. With his cultivation fighting a low levelled spiritual beasts is not a problem. and finally he found the two men. Knowing that he had finally reached his destination he couldn't hide his excitement.

After an incense stick of time had passed, he finally saw the city in his vision. Although it was called a city, it can barely be called one, It's more like a market than a city with buildings here and there. Though, there is still a checkpoint with guards.

As Li Pingjun got closer, the guards noticed him. they looked at him suspiciously.

"Stop!, beggars are not allowed in this place!" One of the guard said to Li Pingjun.

Li Pingjun didn't know whether he should laugh or cry.

"Fellow Daoist's, I am a cultivator, not a beggar!" As Li Pingjun said that he released his 3rd stage cultivation aura.

The guard was skeptical but upon seeing his aura he was convinced.

"Forgive me fellow Daoist's!, I hope you would not take this to heart, you really just looked like a beggar" The guard said with a wry smile, he continued.

"To enter you need to pay 1 spirit stone as a fee"

"okay, could you recommend me a place to stay?" Li Pingjun gave the spirit stone to the guard and asked.

"there is an inn called Cat's Sleep, it's in that direction, you won't miss it" said the guard.

"Thank you Fellow Daoist" Li Pingjun said and left immediately after for the inn.

Along the way he drew the attention of onlookers, with the way he looked right now, it'd be weird if he were not catching their attention. As soon as he arrived at the inn he paid the 2 spirit stone a night fee for a room and a bucket of water. with the innkeeper looking suspiciously at him, he walked to his room.

The room had a simple formation that ensures privacy, he took off his dirty clothes and washed himself with the bucket of water, it felt very comfortable, after changing his clothes with new ones he fell on the bed and slept like a log. Li Pingjun was weary from his travels.

Li Pingjun slept all the way till dawn the next day. After waking up he took out his pouch of spirit stones, inside there are still 207 spirit stones left, because he got lost he didn't have to pay for food and lodgings, he wasn't happy about this.

As Li Pingjun thought about this, a window popped up in front of him.

_______________________________

Quest

Investigate at least 5 protagonist level characters.

Reward: ????

Progress: 2/5

_______________________________

Li Pingjun stared at the window for a good minute before letting out a sigh of relieve, In his entire lifetime he had only found 2 'protagonists', god knows when he will be able to meet more of them. My ability seems to know why I'm here, and wants to reward me for my efforts.

Li Pingjun remembered the two shi**y couple he met when he was young, he figured that they would be protagonists, with all the drama they made and all. Maybe he would be able to meet them here, who knows.

Li Pingjun started scheming in his head, he would at most be able to use his ability two times in a single day, although he could use it three times, he would pass out with the third use, in this dog eats dog world, he would be taken advantage of if he were to suddenly pass out anywhere. He needed to be efficient in using this ability, he started listing of a criteria for who he should use his ability on.

1. Handsome or Beautiful.

2. Strong.

3. looking unbelievably plain.

4. Outrageous character.

5. Heroic

etc.

Li Pingjun also thought that among the geniuses of the top sect's there's bound to be at least one 'protagonist'. Afterward he left the inn for information gathering, he went to a tea house just across the road. Li Pingjun sat at a corner overlooking all the customers, soon after he began overhearing the customers gossip.

An hour later Li Pingjun left the tea house to wander about the streets of the city. From what he had gathered at the tea house, the competition will start a week from now, and would last for 5 days, after that this place would become deserted again. So he would have a time limit 5 days.

The top sects also let vagrant cultivators join the competition, this helps temper their own sect disciples, at the same time find hidden gems to nurture in their own sects. every year there would always dark horses in the competition that could beat the geniuses of the sects.

Li Pingjun walked toward a part of the city where stalls lined the streets. he silently added dark horses into his criteria.

It only took him a minute to arrive there, Li Pingjun looked at the bustling people and stall owners, looking for people that meets his criteria. As much as possible, he would try to use his ability on special looking people even if they didn't meet his criteria. Of course there's nothing wrong with possibly getting a useful ability he could use.

He walked through the streets and used Cui Yan's ability in a discreet manner, Li Pingjun did not just look at people but also the items on the stalls, there may be some items that others know not the value of.

Li Pingjun observed many people the whole day till night time came but he hadn't found anybody special, he had used his ability twice now, he needed to use it in the morning so that he could use it again later on in the evening.

With it, he got 2 great abilities, one of them being Bear's Strength, and the other Cat's Stealth. The abilities gave him super strength and stealthy feet respectively, although he didn't find any protagonists, he had acquired useful abilities along with a couple of amazing items.

There are less people out and about now as night came, he could only go back to the inn to rest and hope that tomorrow would be more eventful. Although he had thought about staying up all night with the possibility of finding protagonists doing some shady businesses, he wouldn't want to get caught up in some plot that would kill him.

It also seems that the top sects had not arrived yet, so he could only wait for them to arrive before being able to find geniuses of the sects out on the streets. With that thought Li Pingjun went to bed.