After scaring those kids away from the lobby of Beltigo HQ I made my way back up to the meeting room. It was annoying that I was being forced to deal with minor squabbles between young cultivators.

I walked into the sleek metal meeting room and sat down in my chair across the desk from the man in charge of this branch of Beltigo on Dou Can.

“What happened down in the lobby? I felt you release your aura.” Said the man across from me, Artorius Beltigo.

“It was nothing. Just a couple of kids fighting.” I told him. He nodded.

Just then the terminal on Artorius’ desk dinged and he held up a hand to forestall any questions from me. I frowned, but grew more curious when his eyes widened.

“I apologize, Zi Fu, but something interesting has just come across my desk. We recently performed an analysis on a cultivator that revealed something spectacular.

“What did you find?” I asked him.

“We found a cultivator with the Elemental Unity Physique who is cultivating both their body and their spirit apparently.” He said.

My eyes widened at his words, and I jumped up to my feet, nearly knocking over the chair I was sitting in. If there was truly a cultivator with that physique who could cultivate their spirit, I must find them.

I put both of my hands on the table.

“What’s this cultivator’s name?” I asked him. He smirked at me.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I could just give you this information, but what will I be getting in return?” He asked me. I grit my teeth. This Beltigo snake. I knew I couldn’t trust him. But this was the first time I had gotten a clue to my master’s illness in decades.

“Fine. I’ll agree to help you for one year in exchange for the name of that cultivator, but I’ll only help once I’ve fixed my master’s illness.” I told him.

“Or your master dies.” He added. I grit my teeth more but accepted.

“Fine. Or if my master dies. He won’t be dying though!” I told him. He smiled.

“Deal. The name of the cultivator is Astra. She was apparently in here not too long ago.” He said. That name sounded familiar. Then I thought back to that blue haired girl from the lobby and cursed under my breath. I had her right in front of me. I turned out of the meeting room having ended my business with the Beltigo corporation. At least for now.

I flew around the city, not worrying about the significant waste of qi it was, looking for any sign of my quarry. Instead of the blue haired girl or her party, a few hours later I found those kids from Sword Dao Palace. I landed in front of them and the entire group blanched when they saw me. They all bent down in that obsequious way I hated.

“G-greetings elder. What can we do to help you?” The leader of the group asked.

“Where did that blue haired girl go?” I asked. The leader looked a little uncomfortable at the mention of the blue haired girl but eventually relented.

“She and her group headed west when we last saw them, sir. We separated from them then, but they have no honor! They refused a duel with us. Great elder shouldn’t bother himself with such wastrels.” The leader said. I balled up my hand at the mention of honor. What honor would these lower sect children understand?

I left the Sword Dao Palace disciples then and flew to the west. I first went to all of the inns and asked for information about the blue haired girl and her group but none of the inns I checked had heard or seen her. I then checked the carriage rental offices and finally got my first clue.

One of the most popular carriage rental agencies remembered a girl with electric blue hair and her group renting a carriage and heading to the west.

I thanked the man and tipped him well for the information and flew off to the west. I needed to catch them before anything could happen to the girl.