Lee Finally Buys his Pot

Lee kept his head down as the crowd dissipated around him, and he began walking towards the stall where Song Ning had directed him to.

If he didn't know what he was looking for, he would have otherwise counted it with all the other stalls that were situated here. Children and women called out their wares to buy, waving their arms about with a few, probably the more well off businesses, handing out free samples of food for anyone passing by to try.

There were old women selling candied snacks and dumplings. There were old men selling scrolls, inks, and toys for young children. There was even a flute players, stood up and trilling out songs to an adoring crowd of two toddlers who waved and giggled at each new note, babbling a conversation between each other which only they could decipher.

The path was a well trodden and sturdy one and Lee eventually stumbled upon the stall that he was looking for.

A heavily pregnant woman was stood behind the counter, big heavy pots almost entirely eclipsing her short frame. She had placed out several more decorative plates in the front to attract visitors, most of them painted well with dainty lines creating delicate lotuses, flying kites, mythical dragons and more beautiful flowers. Her strengths with pottery were obvious, with clean, smooth surfaces apparent down the sides of each and every ware that was seen, with nary a bump, or a crack in her work.

Lee awkwardly stood in front of the stall, and placed his hands down on the wooden counter top, waiting without doing much at all. It suddenly occurred to Lee, with a sickening pang to his stomach, that this was the first voluntary conversation that he would be having in days now.

"Um, hello," he called into the dark recesses of the stall.

In almost no time, a woman's head popped out from behind the giant pots that she had stacked up over at one side, and she wiped her hands down on her robes walking over to Lee with a bright smile on her face.

"How can I help you today, good sir?" she asked cheerily, rubbing her hands and her eyes widening.

"Song Ning sent me here. I need to buy a small pot to travel with," Lee explained to her, and felt relieved when he saw recognition light up in her eyes.

He was thankful that she was one of the more competent sales people, and would actually help him, rather then try and sell him the most expensive items that they could.

She nodded furiously and blinked couple of times, before moving to steady herself. She laughed off her apparent dizziness with a small waves, before looking up at Lee.

"Would you like your pot painted or not?" she asked him, jovially.

"No," Lee answered her, scanning her flushed face to make sure that she was alright. She looked as if she was tired, with dark circles heavy under her eyes, as she put a finger to her lips to think.

"How big are you looking for, to carry safely of course?" she enquired, quickly enough.

"Oh, err.." Lee replied, before just miming how big he would like the pot to be. He indicated about the length of his hand, considering that he was really ever going to be cooking for only one person.

The lady seemed to understand him, as she hummed to herself.

"So, what is the pot's main usage going to be then?" she asked, a tone of finality bleeding into her voice.

Lee answered back," Cooking," to her final question, and she gave a small flourish of satisfaction.

"I'll be back in a short while. Don't go anywhere," she demanded of Lee, before she waddled into the back of the store, disappearing out of sight.

Lee lowered down onto the floor, placing his belongings in front of him and digging out his pouch of copper pieces, before pausing and pulling out his sister's as well, just in case. He packed up the items, for the most part, and let them rest at his feet, ready to accept the pot that he was going to buy as well.

He fully stood up, ensuring that everything was where it was supposed to be, and saw the woman, carrying the pot that he wanted, emerge. She carried a plain pot, with no decorations, but slightly larger than Lee had been hoping for.

It was good enough for Lee, and he gave her a smile.

"So, how much is this?" he asked.

"15 copper pieces, with the Song Ning discount," she replied.

Lee was happy to learn that less than one of the money pouches that he had brought out was enough. He counted out the amount with a smile and took the pot.

He packed up all his belongings and began to move away to find the priests.

As Lee turned away from the stall, eager to now approach the monks for a map and a route towards the temple, an hand grabbed his arm and began dragging him away from where he needed to go.

Lee looked over to whoever had accosted him and prepared to yell and pull away from the stranger. It was a man in plain robes, just like him, but only wearing the colour black, as if he was some sort of shady assassin or at least wearing a terrible disguise. His hair and eyes were black too, the only other colour on him being his dark skin.

"Shen sir, it's been so long since I last saw you. You won't remember me, but I once visited you back when you were just a tiny toddler. It's so good to see that you're all grown up, Shen sir. Or should I call you a Wei instead," the man asked Lee, his voice dropping in volume and pitch as he finished his piece.

The stranger knew who Lee was. The stranger knew that he had been lying to the crowd.

If he made a single wrong move, then Lee's life would probably be cut a lot shorter. He had the power to send Lee back home and ensure that he would undergo his marriage. He had the power to turn this entire town against Lee.

He could even blackmail Lee right now, and he would be forced to do the stranger's bidding.

No matter what, he was in an extremely difficult position that would need careful manoeuvring to escape. As soon as he left town, Lee would be fine again.

Lee startled when he saw the peek of silver, gleaming armour, under his black robes, and knew that the man, whoever he was or claimed to be, was a potential threat to his life. Civilians were rarely wealthy enough to purchase armour, and cultivators rarely wore them as well, considering they had their spiritual energy to protect them whenever they were in danger, and the weight of the heavy metal would only slow them down in the fight against monsters.

The man did not look to be carrying any money either, nor had any belongings on himself, not even a sword or a fan. The sunlight reflected off his hair oddly as well, looking as if the light looking as if it was bending around area of... something, maybe energy, that surrounded the stranger entirely.

Lee looked down at where his hand met Lee's sleeve and saw that the energy surrounding the man had pushed into the space where Lee's arm occupied as well. The sudden sinking feeling that maybe, that power and energy could do harm to him, filled Lee's mind, an image of his arm blowing up coming unbidden before his eyes. Lee forced it away and focussed on the situation at hand.

He needed to focus.

Lee said nothing to him, and continued to let himself be dragged forward. He looked over to where they were going and saw a small restaurant with its doors open and a man outside, advertising their spicy noodle special for the day.

"Excellent," the strange man, that apparently knew Lee, exclaimed, with a smile on his face.

He dragged Lee into the establishment, his grip not faltering as he climbed up the single step to enter. He marched straight to the counter, quickly and with ease, navigating through the crowd of servers and clientele as if he were a master, not allowing Lee to be in anyone's path at all.

"I'd like to book a private booth for my new friend and I, please," he announced charismatically to the old lady behind the counter, giving her a beaming smile and a flirty wink.

Lee kept himself from scowling at the strange man that now potentially held his life in his hands, and watched the lady give him a strained smile back and a slip of paper, denoting where they were going to sit.

"Thank you, madam," the man called to her, and dragged Lee to the booth, kept hidden from the rest of the restaurant by plants and a privacy screen.

The man seemed to drop his cheery façade as soon as he sat down, propping his head on his folded fingers, elbows bent on the table and scanned over Lee, the irises of his eyes turning gold, from dark brown that they had been before.

The sheen of his black hair had also dropped, being replaced by an ethereal silver, glistening and gleaming in the light.

Lee gulped, knowing that he was now sat across from another divine being.