5 - Chapter 4.
The carriage pulled up in front of a typical inn located on one side of the village square. On the opposite side was a small manor. On the third side was an open air market, with open stalls. As they arrived people seemed to be rushing around buying a few items and the vendors were closing up for the night.
The people were dressed in simple rough spun cotton and hemp clothing. The colours were either plain or muted. The arrival of an ornate carriage escorted by a group of mounted imperial soldiers in the small village caused everyone to stop what they were doing and gawk.
Even before they had fully stopped and stepped down from the carriage, a portly man left the manor followed by 2 attendants. The man's clothing was obviously of higher quality. Sa Bina assumed he was the local mayor or equivalent coming to say hello. She let Sun Li deal with it. Sa Bina was still not fully cognizant of her status and what that would mean in terms of formality and etiquette.
Sun Li stepped down from the carriage and turned towards the hurrying trio.
“Good evening Cultivator,” the portly man bowed deeply. His followers copied him.
“Rise, I take it that you are the mayor here?” said Sun Li.
“Thank you Cultivator, I am the mayor,” said the man rising, but still keeping a servile posture. “Welcome to our humble village, may I inquire as to the nature of your visit? May we be of any service?”
“Just returning to the capital. No, we are just stopping at the inn on the way back.” answered Sun Li, a touch haughtily.
“Of course Cultivator. By your leave.” replied the mayor and the three withdrew back to the manor.
“I thought he would offer to put us in the manor,” mused Sa Bina climbing down from the carriage.
“He won’t have the space for everyone, it is only a small village. I would have refused in any case.” replied Sun Li. “Shall we?”
They entered the inn together, it was around 3/4s full with the regulars enjoying a meal and drinks. The atmosphere was lively, but not boisterous. The sound died down to a low murmur as the group entered.
A girl in a large apron came rushing up to them and bowed. “Welcome Cultivators, how may we serve?”
“We need rooms for the night for all of us, stabling and feed for our mounts, and dinner for everyone. We would also like an early breakfast. We need to be on the road soon after day break.” said Han Ji.
“Of course, I will make arrangements straight away. Some of you may have to share, we won't have enough rooms. I hope that is not an issue?” replied the girl.
“We will manage.” replied Han Ji.
The girl left to make arrangements. Han Ji, Sun Li and Sa Bina made for one the tables, and the soldiers took another 3 between them.
As they settled down, the crowd went back to their conversations, a lot of it being about them if the looks were any judge.
“I guess a group like ours doesn't come here often?” commented Sa Bina.
“You would be correct. Normally soldiers would travel in a military convoy and just set up camp on the roadside. Cultivators would travel alone or in pairs, not usually in large groups. It's only because we are escorting you that such a group is together.” explained Sun Li. “Its not surprising that everyone is so interested. It's probably the only thing that has happened to this village in some time. We won't seem so out of place in the capital.”
Very soon their meals came out, thick cut venison in a thick gravy, with a side of vegetable and some loaves of bread. The meat was well cooked, but plain. The vegetable lights boiled. The bread was warm, but heavy with a lot of spelt included. Overall not bad fare, but nothing to get excited about.
“Is this the normal bread that is available?” asked Sa Bina.
“Yes, white bread is very rare outside of noble homes. It's very difficult to produce.” replied Sun Li.
They chatted about what they had seen and expectations for the journey the next day. If everything went well, they would reach the capital by late afternoon. Sun Li suggested going straight to the sect, to arrange the token, then go to the capital. It would save a few hours versus going to the capital then sect and back. Sa Bina agreed.
The girl that had welcomed them returned. “We have 9 rooms ready for you, the horses have been stabled and fed. Would you like to pay now or in the morning?” she said bowing.
“We will settle up now,” said Han Ji,
“That will be 1 gold in total,” replied the girl.
Han Ji paid the girl and they were shown up the the rooms on the first floor. Han Ji, Sun Li and Sa Bina had rooms to themselves, the soldiers had to double up in the other 6 rooms.
Sa Bina bid them all good night and entered her room. It had been a long 2 days since she found herself in this world, and though she had only been sitting in a carriage all day, she was still shattered. Sa Bina decided just to sleep. They had an early start the next day.
Sa Bina undressed and went to bed. She soon fell fast asleep.
Sa Bina dreamt of floating through the clouds, in her dream the clouds were drawn to her, and slowly entered her body, making her feel light and warm. The clouds created beautiful patterns and brightly coloured dreamscapes that she became lost in.
Before Sa Bina knew it, she was waking feeling refreshed and restored. Sa Bina made her ablutions, washed and dressed.
As she made her way down to breakfast, Sun Li also came out of her room. As opposed to the previous night, the inn was empty apart from the staff and her escort. They had a quick breakfast of savoury soup, pan cakes, fried dough rings accompanied by a fermented bean drink.
Fully sated, the group were back on the road as the first light of dawn crested the horizon.
The journey was much the same as the previous day. Sa Bina and Sun Li chatted about inconsequential things just to pass the time. The view hadn’t changed much either, the road still cut through an open verdant forest.
About mid day, the carriage came to a halt. Not expecting any stops both Sun Li and Sa Bina leaned out the windows to see what was going on. There was a tree in the road blocking the way forward.
Sun Li, opened the door and stepped down. “Stay in the carriage, it may be an accident, but most likely its bandits.” stated Sun Li with confidence. “ We will deal with it.”
As she said that a large group of men came out of the forest. They were mostly in rough hemp clothing, and carried simple weapons. At first they came out looking confident, however the confidence seemed to evaporate as they noticed not only the imperial soldiers, but an officer and a cultivator too.
“You have picked the worst group to target.” said Han Ji. “Lay down your weapons, and we will execute you painlessly.”
The group looked uncertain, and a few from the back tried to edge away back into the forest. Sun Li did something the balls of Qi flew at the retreating men, killing them on the spot.
After that things proceeded quickly. The soldiers rounded up all the men, lined them up and executed on the road side. Sun Li proceeded to burn the bodies leaving nothing but ash behind.
“Was that even necessary, they couldn't even put up a fight.” asked Sa Bina.
“Bandits are always executed to the last once captured. If it had been a trade caravan, they may have killed all the people. Don't feel sorry for bandits.” said Sun Li.
After that both were lost in their thoughts as the journey resumed. There were no more interruptions, and the miles sped past.
By mid afternoon, they were approaching the foot of a small mountain chain. The carriage turned away from the main road and started climbing up a road leading into the mountains. Sa Bina looked out of the window and noticed a massive gate set up halfway up the first mountain.
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It wasn't much longer before they were driving through the massive gates. Sa Bina saw they were entering a small town. The buildings were old, but well maintained and looked quite uniform. They passed by a residential portion, then drove through a more commercial area with fixed shops and eateries. People in sect robes wandered around the area, going about their work or frequenting the shops. Again Sa Bina was struck by the cleanliness of the place.
They pulled up outside a massive pagoda fronted by massive red gates. As they pulled up, a cultivator on guard, had a murmured conversation with one of the soldiers and motioned for the doors to be opened.
The carriage entered a massive courtyard front of the beautiful pagoda. Sun Li and Sa Bina exited the carriage.
“Welcome to the outer sect administration hall.” explained Sun Li. “This place deals with any administration in relation to our outer disciples as well people from outside the sect.” turning to Han Ji, she continued. “We should be no more than one bell. Take time to rest and get something to eat. The guards can call someone to take care of the mounts.
She led the way into the hall and Sa Bina followed. Sa Bina looked around with interest. There were a row of counters at the back of the hall with queues in front of them. There was a massive board with flyers posted on it in the middle of the massive hall. A lot of disciples milled around taking a look at the flyers. On the left hand side were another set of counters, but it seemed to be more for trade. The right hand side had columns and corridors leading deeper in as well as a massive staircase leading to the upper floors.
“The left is for completed bounties and buying directly from the sect. Only those with a sect token can use it. The back is the administration counters.” explained Sun Li, “The jobs board posts tasks that disciples can complete to gain crystals and contribution points. The offices are and other functions are either upstairs or deeper in the building.”
Sun Li lead Sa Bina to the counter with the shortest queue and it wasn't long until they were stepping up the the counter.
“How may I help you?” asked the counter attendant in a voice that had repeated the same question thousands of times.
Sun Li presented a gold badge, the badge depicted a mountain in the background with 4 stars on it. “I need to see the elder. Elder Ja Son should have left instructions.”
The attendant’s attitude changed 180. Suddenly he couldn't be helpful enough. “Of..Of course Core Disciple. If you would wait a moment. I will notify the elder straight away.” He rushed away presumably to summon this elder. His comment and then Sun Li’s badge caused a lot of people to gawk at the 2 with most wondering what a core disciple was doing in the outer hall.
A little while later a positively elderly man came out followed by the attendant that had rushed off. “Ah little Sun Li. How have you been? You haven't returned to the outer hall in some time.” said the elder with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “Is this the wayward royal I have heard about from Ja Son?”
Sun Li bowed to the elder. “Yes elder. I am sure Elder Ja Son made you aware of the details. If you would be so kind as to add my payment of a tier 3 stone as well it would be appreciated.” said Sun Li.
“Of course, of course. I will make a note of it.” said the elder. “Wait here while this boy brings everything that was agreed. It;s a good job we had some notice, otherwise we wouldn't have had time to prepare the token. Ja Son just told me the details of the agreement and rushed off without letting me even check what we had ready.”
“Greeting Sa Bina. You certainly managed to fluster our Elder Ja Son. Well done, it's good to see the quality of the younger generation is still improving.” cackled the elder.
Sa Bina bowed to the elder with a wide smile. “Thank you for your kind words elder. Elder Ja Son seemed a touch out of practice. I may have taken advantage of that fact quite shamelessly.” Sa Bina had a feeling that he was no ordinary elder, and that he would appreciate her cheek.
“Yes well that's what happens when you spend all your time cultivating and don't spend enough time interacting with the new generation.” laughed the elder.
The attendant returned with a small box and handed it to the elder. The elder opened up the box and took out 2 items and a document. He handed the document to Sa Bina. It was written in a character set she did not recognise. However, as she stared at it, wondering how she would deal with this, there again was the feeling of something clicking into place. Suddenly she could read the document.
Name Sa Bina, Rank Royal, Family unknown.
1 x storage ring (fifth realm)
60 x tier 4 spirit stones
1 x tier 3 spirit stones
1 x iron identification token
Received and accepted
Ah so a receipt for the items. Made sense they would have to keep records.
“May I see the items elder?” asked Sa Bina.
“Good good, never sign until you have checked the agreement has been met.” approved the elder.”Before you can use the items you will need to bind them to you, the ring has been increased as realm, as we didnt have the lower realm one in stock. Do you know how to bind items?”
“No elder.” replied Sa Bina.
“Just a drop of blood on the items will do the job. If you were a cultivator injecting your Qi would have the same effect. Once bound, only you can use the items.” replied the elder.
Sun Li gave Sa Bina a small pin and the elder handed Sa Bina the ring and token. The ring was a simple band with no ornamentation, It looked like it was silver. Using the pin Sa Bina pricked one finger and smeared the blood on the ring. The blood disappeared into the ring and Sa Bina felt a connection form with the ring. She slid the finger on her ring and focused on it.
Information entered her mind about the contents of the ring. It had the spirit stones as well as a small bottle counting 10 light green pills.
“May I request you change the tier 3 spirit stone for metal currency elder? I am not sure I wish to flaunt that much wealth. Also I don't know when I would get the opportunity to change up the coins.” requested Sa Bina, while also raising her eyebrow to indicate a question to the elder. He had not mentioned the pills, so Sa Bina didn't want to announce it. It was also why she hadn't mentioned the tier 4 stones at all.
“It’s good that you are careful young one. Caution is quality rarely seen in the youth of today. More would do well to follow your example.” said the elder. “Do you know what denominations you would like?”
It seemed this elder really liked to probe people's personalities. He tested her ability to keep a secret and now he was testing her maths and decision making skills.
“I think 90 tier 2 stones, 8000 in gold in 50 gold pouches, 1000 gold in silver in 50 silver pouches and 1000 gold in copper in 200 copper pouches would be great. If the pouches could be slightly different to make it easy to tell them apart, that would be perfect.” replied Sa Bina after a thinking through what she wanted.
Elder nodded to the attendant. She willed the tier 3 stone out of her ring and handed it to the attendant. The attendant rushed away to fulfil her request.
Sa Bina picked up the metal token. It seemed to be made of iron. The token depicted a yellow dragon on the left side and a green mountain on the right. On the back it had her name and age. There was also a line for the royal family, but that line was left blank.
Sa Bina had to prick her finger again, as it had stopped bleeding, and smeared blood on the token. Again the token absorbed the blood and she felt a connection form.
“May I,” asked the elder, when she handed him back the token he examined it then handed it back to her. “Interesting, either your family is not known to our sect, or your family has left this plane.” He had said it very quietly, so even Sa Bina struggled to hear the words. Sa Bina stored the token in the ring.
As they waited for the attendant to return, the elder chatted about what Sun Li had been doing since he saw her last. Finally the attendant returned carrying another ring.
“You can transfer things from ring to ring if you hold both.” explained Sun Li.
Sa Bina took the ring from the attendant and checked its content. Apparently there was no need to bind this one. It was the 90 tier 2 stones, 8000 gold, 100,000 silver and 10,000,000 copper made up into pouches as she had requested. She was glad she had asked for a ring, otherwise she would not have been able to carry so much coin. She mentally tried to move items from the unbound ring to her bound ring. She felt a little pull, then the items moved leaving the unbound ring empty.
“Thank you for your help, elder. May I ask how much this ring is? May I purchase it?” asked Sa Bina, having had an idea.
“That is only a second realm ring. It's usually worth a tier 2 spirit stone. You may keep it.” replied the elder with a smile. “Consider it a small meeting gift from this old man”
“Thank you elder, your kindness and generosity are unmatched.” replied Sa Bina bowing. She was sure that he had also given her the pills, and they were probably some kind of healing pills. She would show Sun Li in the carriage and ask her.
Having finished their business, Sa Bina and Sun Li thanked the elder and left the pagoda.
It took a little time for the carriage and the soldiers to be ready and soon they were ready to depart.
Soon they were back in the carriage and on the way to the capital city.
Sa Bina mused upon her meeting with the elder. It had really given her a lot to think about.
Once they left the town behind, Sa Bina took off her left shoe and put the bound ring on her big toe. The ring resized itself to fit. She then placed the unbound ring on the ring finger of her left hand. Once the rings where in place and had fitted themselves to her she transferred to 2 pouches of silver and 10 pouches of copper to the unbound ring.
“Can never be too careful,” Sa Bina said in response to Sun Li’s questioning look. “Not all of us can fight of criminals if we are attacked. As the elder said, caution is a good quality to have. How long until we reach the capital? Will we have time to visit the bank today, do you think?”
“Maybe, lets see if we make good time. The mounts are rested so it may be possible.” replied Sun Li.
Sa Bina then took out one of the pills that had been in her ring.”Do you know what this is?” she asked Sun Li.
“That's a high quality healing pill. For you it will heal almost any injury, it may even be able to grow back a lost limb depending on the amount of damage. Where did you get that.” asked a very surprised Sun Li.
“I think it was both a test and a gift from the elder. I didn't even get his name.” mused Sa Bina.
“No one seems to know his name, all anyone knows is that he has been the elder of the outer hall as far back as anyone can remember.” replied Sun Li.
Sa Bina put the pill in her unbound ring, and sat back to think through all her interactions in the last day as they sped towards the capital.