We walked through the dockyard, steward Xiang leading us around to places of interest. A lot of the clothes people were wearing in the city reminded me of home on Setria 9. A lot of sleek lines, form fitting clothes, and a general modern feel.
Because of these clothing preferences, we were getting strange looks from the people around the city. Many people shied away from us when they saw our robes. People shuttered their windows as we passed and I even heard one kid scream when they saw us.
“Hey Xiang, why does everyone seem afraid of us?” I asked the man. He looked a little uncomfortable at the question.
“That’s a bit of a sore point, I’m afraid. The western continent is not as… accepting of cultivators in the general public as Cheng Lian city is.” He answered.
“Why’s that? I asked. In answer to my question a loud voice called out over the crowded street.
“Make way! Disciples of Sword Dao Palace coming through! Make way!” The voice called out. The people walking the street got out of the way as quickly as possible and within seconds, the only people left in the street after a few seconds was our group and another group further down the street. Steward Xiang paled at the sight of the group and tried to direct us to get off of the street, but neither I nor Jia moved.
One of the members of the other group noticed us and whispered in the ear of another of the men.
“MAKE WAY. DISCIPLES OF SWORD DAO PALACE COMING THROUGH!” He yelled even louder this time. I covered my ears.
“Stop yelling! It’s really annoying!” I shouted back at the group
All of the remaining sounds of the street died out at my words and I looked around in confusion.
“What?” I asked. I looked to the other group in the street only to see the man who had yelled growing redder in the face.
“You! Worm! Bow down before the great cultivators of Sword Dao Palace!” He said as he approached our group. I looked at Jia and she looked just as confused as I was. Meanwhile, Xiang was looking at me, horrified, he looked paler than normal.
“Xiang, are you okay?” I asked him, putting my hands on his shoulders to support him as he looked like he was about to faint.
“S-Sword Dao Palace.” he simply said before actually fainting.
“Hey! Xiang! Stay with us!” I shouted at the man, but he was gone, lost to unconsciousness. I laid the man on the ground and tasked Kai with taking care of him.
I turned back to the approaching cultivator and Jia and I prepared ourselves for the worst.
“Worms! Bow down before this master, and perhaps I’ll make your deaths quick!” He said. He unleashed his cultivation and I laughed out loud. He got even redder in the face as I laughed and Jia chuckled.
“How dare you! This young master, Fan Chen, is at the high level of the foundation establishment realm. Additionally I have the pristine jade body and have achieved an acknowledgment by the dao of sword!” He stated, but that just made me laugh even more.
“What in the worlds is a pristine jade body?” I asked him through bouts of laughter.
Instead of getting redder, his face changed and he gained a serious air about him. He unsheathed his sword and struck out at me with it. I yelped and dodged out of the way, materializing a sword of my own. I engaged him in a flurry of sword strikes, but he wasn’t just boasting about his acknowledgment in the Dao of sword.
His skills in swordplay were nothing to scoff at and I was easily being pushed back.
“I’ll admit you have some skills for a worm, but you’ll never be able to beat a member of Sword Dao Palace in swordplay.” He said. That reminded me, I wasn’t just limited to swords now. I made to launch an overhand sword strike that would leave me fairly open to a counterattack once parried.
He smirked at me and I made sure not to change the expression on my face as I swung down and dissipated my sword before it could make contact with his sword.
I crouched down, and in his moment of confusion I conjured two of my qi daggers and sliced at his sword arm with them. I made sure not to injure him too badly, but I wanted to prove a point.
He recoiled back a few yards in pain and I stood up, holding my daggers in the traditional way.
“How dare you injure this young master. It would be your honor to die under my sword. You’ll pay for this.” He said. He motioned backwards to his group and they all approached, unveiling their cultivation as foundation establishment realm cultivators. In response, Jia, who had been watching up to this point, stepped forward and unveiled her cultivation.
The group of cultivators all paled, but didn’t back down immediately. She unsheathed her sword and let her icy aura freeze the ground beneath her, challenging the group.
“Y-you’ve not heard the last of us! You’ll pay for this!” Fan Chen said as he and his group retreated out of the street. Jia sheathed her sword and walked over to Xiang. I followed her and she used a little bit of ice qi to shock Xiang awake.
“W-w-what happened?” He asked when he came to.
“You fainted when that guy from Sword Dao Palace started approaching us. What was up with that?” I asked him.
“It may be best if I explain that over lunch.” He said. We all agreed and found a nearby restaurant to sit down and eat at. We ordered food and let Xiang start his story.
“On the western continent, we have four major sects that rule over the various regions. Sword Dao Palace, Serene Soul Garden, Righteous Fury Sect, and The Golden Buddha sect. The power that controls this region encompassing a rough quarter of the continent and contains Wongye city and Lu Bian city is Sword Dao Palace.
They rule over this region and are the ultimate authority when it comes to the law and doling out punishments. We need to finish our business in this city quickly and then get on the road to Lu Bian city as quickly as possible. Sword Dao Palace will not just let us go now that we’ve angered their disciples. It will take some time for them to return to the sect and request reinforcements, but we mustn't dally for long.” Steward Xiang pleaded with us.
“Are you sure they’re going to cause such a fuss just for a couple of foundation establishment realm cultivators getting in a little scuffle?” I asked him. He shook his head.
“You don’t know how tyrannical and cruel the disciples of Sword Dao Palace can be. There’s a reason that cultivators aren’t looked upon fondly in the western continent, at least not in this region.” He said. I looked at Jia and quirked an eyebrow. She shrugged her shoulders.
“Okay, let’s quickly stop by the Beltigo HQ to learn more about those tests and then we can get going.” I told him. He looked visibly relieved at my answer and we finished eating, talking about the various sights and tourist attractions Xiang knew about that we wouldn’t have time to go see.
We finished our lunch and made our way through the city to Beltigo HQ. We were still getting strange looks from the various people we came across, but luckily we didn’t encounter any more cultivators or trouble on our way.
We all stood in front of the Beltigo HQ and marveled at the sheer size of the building. It must have been hundreds of feet tall with a sleek, metal and glass exterior just like the other tall buildings in the city. Emblazoned on holo screens above its entrance in the air was the word ‘Beltigo’ and a scrolling banner beneath the name of the company read ‘Your one stop shop across the many worlds. Empowering lives. Limitless possibilities.’
I thought the tagline sounded nice, but I looked over to Jia who was frowning up at the building.
“What’s wrong, Jia?” I asked her.
She seemed to come to at me words, startling before shaking her head and looking over to me.
“It’s nothing, just a bad feeling.” She said before stepping forward toward the entrance of the building.
We walked through the automatic sliding doors at the front of the building into a well air conditioned lobby, a rarity on Dou Can. The guards in the lobby gave our group the once over, but, determining we didn’t seem like a threat, they didn’t bother us. We walked up to the front desk where a well groomed and classily dressed woman was sitting primly.
“Welcome to Beltigo HQ, cultivators, how may I help you today?” she said in a tone that seemed fake to me.
“I wanted to get those tests that I saw in that ad about unlocking my hidden potential done. Are they dangerous?” I asked her. She seemed taken aback slightly that I was the one who spoke up first, but she answered regardless.
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“The tests aren’t dangerous, no. You’ll find them to be quite calming actually. We’ll take you back into one of our testing chambers, and once the tests are done, your results will be brought out for you to see!” She said. That all sounded safe enough. I looked back to Jia and she gave me a look that said she wasn’t interested so I offered to get myself tested. I paid the fee and after the woman counted the money I gave her she stood from the desk.
“Very well, follow me please. Your friends can wait here in the lobby and apprise themselves of the refreshments while you wait.” She said.
I followed her back through some metallic hallways that reminded me of Sector S back on Setria 9 and into a white room with a desk topped with terminals and a weird piece of technology at the back of the room that had soft cushions placed within it.
“What’s that thing?” I asked her, pointing to the weird thing I’d never seen before.
She followed my gaze and answered.
“That’s one of our analysis pods. You’ll be laying in there while we perform the tests on you. Worry not, you won’t feel anything while you’re in there and you’re free to cultivate while you’re waiting for the tests to be finished.” She said. I smiled and skipped over to the pod to examine it more closely.
It had tubes coming in and out of it from various sides and wires leaving out of the bottom and leading back over to the desk with the terminals. The exterior was all glass and it looked like it might be fun to lay in. I climbed my way up into the pod and waited for them to begin the tests by cultivating.
Before I knew it, the front of the pod closed and I was now trapped inside. Having lived in Setria 9, I wasn’t prone to claustrophobia, so I didn’t mind how cramped it felt. I heard some beeping noises going off but they didn’t bother me or stop me from cultivating.
I drew in the elements around me, noticing that all of the types of qi were a lot more abundant than I expected them to be. I would have to ask Xiang why that was when I got out. I cultivated while the tests were running, and by the time the door to the pod opened again I was a little bit closer to the highest stage of the foundation establishment realm.
When I emerged from the pod, the woman was standing there again, or still? I couldn’t tell. She led me back to the lobby where my friends were relieved to see me. Jia hugged me when I walked up to her and I hugged her back.
“It was kinda fun!” I answered when they asked me about my experience. I turned around when The woman came back with a piece of paper in her hands.
“Here are your results, Astra.” She said with a wide smile. Thank you for testing with us. Would anyone else in your entourage like to be tested?” She asked. I looked around to the others but they all shook their heads. I looked down at the paper and read it.
Name: Astra
Spirit Cultivation: High Stage Foundation Establishment Realm (43%)
ERROR
Body Cultivation: Body training stage
Water: Viscera Trained (0%)
Wind: Viscera Trained (0%)
Fire: Viscera Trained (0%)
Metal: Viscera Trained (0%)
Wood: Viscera Trained (0%)
Earth: Viscera Trained (0%)
Spirit root: Peak level, myriad branch spirit root.
Hidden attributes:
Body: Elemental Unity Physique
I frowned at the last line and showed the paper to Jia. She also frowned so I murmured a question to Text asking about the Elemental Unity Physique.
“ANSWER: No information on the Elemental unity Physique is contained within the inheritance.” Text replied so I decided to ask the nice front desk lady.
“Miss…” I started, she smiled at me and supplied her name.
“Li Mei Ling.” She siad.
“Miss Li, can you explain to me what this hidden attribute means?” I asked her, a slight blush on my face from never having asked her name so far.
“Of course, what is the name of the body type you received?” She asked. I told her and she typed it into one of the consoles on her desk. After a few moments, she turned a monitor around and let me read the information on it.
“The Elemental Unity Physique is one of the rarest hidden body types known in all of the worlds. To date, the number of cultivators recorded having this body type is only in the hundreds. The effects this type of body has on the user is threefold. Firstly: It cripples the user’s spirit root, rendering them incapable of spirit cultivation past the qi condensation stage.
Second: It allows the user to cultivate their body quickly and increases the effects of using body cultivation to augment the cultivator’s physical abilities.
Third: It gives the cultivator enhanced resilience and physical abilities.” It read.
I thought back to when I first received the inheritance. Text had said that my spirit root was crippled due to an injury in the womb, but now this is saying that my special body crippled my spirit root? That was strange.I thanked the woman, turned around, and mumbled my question to text.
“Text, you said that I was injured while in the womb which crippled my spirit root, but is that really true?”
“ANSWER: An analysis of the user’s body was done upon integrating with the inheritance. The crippling of the spirit root happened in utero. That is all of the information that is known.” Text answered.
“So, you just made up the injury part?” I asked.
“ANSWER: According to the information stored within the inheritance, the crippling of a spirit root can only be caused by an injury.” Text said. I frowned at the text, but didn’t press the issue. At least I know why I’m so proficient at body cultivation.
I went back to Jia, Xiang, and Kai and told them what I had learned and Jia’s eyes went wide, and steward Xiang was looking at me with a confused expression on his face.
“That’s why you’re so good at body cultivation!” She said to me like a secret had finally been revealed to her.
I nodded at her. Xiang was about to speak up, probably to ask a question when the front doors opened and a group of cultivators walked in. I looked over and inspected the group. None of the first few cultivators were familiar, but the group of four at the back, led by Fan Chen, were familiar to me. ‘Oh great’ I thought to myself. Fan Chen spotted us then and pointed at us.
“That’s them! That’s that blue haired woman who dared injure a member of Sword Dao Palace!” Fan Chen shouted. Their group turned to us all in unison and I stood next to Jia and gave the group a sour look.
The leader of the group stepped forward.
“My name is Xu Meng, is what my junior says true? Did you injure him?” He asked. He was a tall young man with long black hair, similar to Jia’s. His hair was held up by a circlet. His robes were blue white and silver and the symbol of a stylized sword was emblazoned over his right chest.
I stepped forward.
“I did, yes. He attacked me first, just because I didn’t get out of his way, so I taught him a lesson.” I told Xu Meng. He unsheathed his sword, and snarled.
“Injuring a member of Sword Dao Palace without cause is a crime punishable by death. With my authority as an inner disciple of Sword Dao Palace, I sentence you, and your party, to death.” He said before charging forward and unveiling his cultivation as a core formation realm cultivator. Jia intercepted him with her sword drawn and they traded a flurry of blows.
Before the fight could escalate to techniques being used an immense pressure pushed down on all of us from above, forcing most of the Sword Dao Palace party to the ground along with Xiang and Kai. I stood my ground along with Xu Meng, and Jia.
A man floated down from a balcony overlooking the lobby and landed next to the two fighting cultivators. He grabbed both of their swords and ripped them out of Jia and Xu Meng’s hands.
The man looked homeless for lack of a better word. He was bedraggled and looked like he had been traveling through the harsh wilderness for weeks. He wore tattered gray robes with a rope tied around his waist. His shoulder length black hair was unkempt and greasy looking. He has a fair amount of facial hair, but not so much that I would call it a beard. He looked over at me, quirking an eyebrow slightly before returning his attention to the pair of cultivators in front of him.
“There will be no fighting within Beltigo HQ. If you’re going to have your childish squabbles, do it where I can’t see it.” He said.
He took out a jar from within his robes, how did he fit that in there? Then he took a large draught from it. The liquid falling down his face and the reek of alcohol was apparent from where I was standing.
“M-may I ask for elder's name?” Xu Meng asked the man.
“No. Now leave. I don’t have time to babysit a bunch of brats barely weaned off their mom’s teat.”
Jia stared at him with her face scrunched up in a scowl and her hand held out.
The man looked at her for a little bit before looking back down at the sword.
“You’re aware of what this sword is? Do you have a way to deal with its influence?” He asked her. She nodded. He shrugged his shoulders and handed the swords back to Xu Meng and Jia.
“Now get out of here. And don’t start fighting just because you’ve left the building. At least take it to a proper dueling ground if you’re going to fight.” He said, picking his ear and flicking whatever he scraped out of it off.
I looked around to the assembled cultivators and stepped forward.
“Hi! I’m Astra, what’s your name?” I asked the man.
He looked at me, and then at the remaining cultivators.
“Buzz off, Astra. Get out of here, I’m banning you all from the Beltigo corporation for the rest of the day. Now get out before I start getting angry.” He said.
Not wanting to anger the powerful cultivator we all left the building. Once we were outside, we separated back into our two groups and Xu Meng spoke up first.
“To reclaim the lost honor of Sword Dao Palace, I challenge you to a duel!” He said, pointing at Jia.
Fan Chen spoke up then and pointed at me.
“You! Blue haired girl, I challenge you to a duel!” He said. I looked at Jia and we both said ‘No’ at the same time. We looked to Xiang and Kai, motioned down the street, and started walking away from the Sword Dao Palace disciples.
“How dare you deny an official duel! You are without honor!” Xu Meng practically screamed. Just then, the door to Beltigo HQ opened and Xu Meng stopped yelling. Li Mei Ling walked out of the building and spoke in a sickly-sweet tone.
“Dear cultivators, please cease making a scene in front of the building.” she said right before she unveiled her Nascent Soul realm cultivation.
Wow she was powerful for someone manning the front desk! The group of Sword Dao Palace cultivators blanched at her words and began running away screaming about the retribution they would bring upon us.
Li Mei Ling then turned to our group and quirked an eyebrow. We bowed to her and made our way to the western exit of the city.
We found a company that let us charter passage to Lu Bian city, and we hired a small carriage to carry Xiang and Kai safely through the wilderness.
We left the city we had only been in for a few hours and started our multi-week trek to Lu Bian city.