A few days after the events of the outer sect competition I was ready to move my things into their new home.
I made my way to the bottom of Myriad Petal Peak where two stalwart guards stood alert. They both nodded at me as I approached and gave me no trouble as I made my way up to the top of the peak.
The peak’s surroundings reminded me of an amalgamation of all of the rest of the peaks’ unique features.
Flowing waterfalls for flowing petal peak, hanging bells for quivering petal peak, fires ablaze on sconces and bonfires for rustling petal peak, and so on. It made for quite the sight as I trekked up to the top of the peak where the patriarch was waiting for me. Standing next to the patriarch was someone I didn’t recognize.
“Ah Astra, It’s good that you’re here. This is steward Li. She will be taking care of you and any of your needs while you stay here on myriad petal peak. I will be overseeing some of your training, but as you’re aware, the blooming violet sect prides itself on producing seedlings that can grow on their own.
The sect prefers that its disciples face adversity as proud cultivators and grow through the many trials and tribulations they may face on their journey of cultivation.
That being said, I will provide you with pointers or advice should you ask it of me.” He told me as way of introduction, pointing to the kind looking woman next to him as he spoke.
“Are we the only people on the peak?” I asked him. He nodded.
“It has been many years since I last had a disciple of my own, I’m glad I can take another young disciple under my wing.” He said.
“What happened to your last disciple?” I asked.
The patriarch smiled at me wanly before answering.
“I’d prefer not to talk about that if possible, young Astra. It still hurts this old man’s heart.” He said. I nodded and accepted his words.
He then left me with steward Li, a nice middle aged woman with her hair tied in a tight bun. She wore plain sect robes and reminded me of all of the other servants of the sect.
“Steward Li, can you lead me to my room please?” I asked. She nodded.
“Of course, mistress.” She said. Mistress huh? I could get used to that but it also gave me an icky feeling. I was conflicted.
“For now, please don’t call me mistress, call me Astra instead!” I told her. She looked conflicted but relented.
“As you wish… Astra.” she said. I smiled at her. We were going to get along just great.
We walked through various courtyards on the peak, each brimming with the various types of qi before reaching one that seemed to be overflowing with the various types of qi. I looked at the area with my qi sensing glasses and my vision exploded into a riot of colors.
All the colors of qi I was familiar with were present and mixing together in a beautiful arrangement of flowing colors.
I followed steward Li’s direction and she led me through the massive building that would be my home now. I’d definitely have to find a way to bring Jia, Ji, and Cassandra up here sometime. I had an entire house worth of amenities, and frankly way too much space for just myself.
I splayed out on my large bed, bouncing as I landed on the soft bedding. Shimmer joined me, playfully bouncing on the bed.
I unpacked my belongings, placing the small antique cat on the bedside table.
I sat down in a comfortable position on the bed and began cultivating, Shimmer sitting in my lap. I brought in the elements and cultivated for a few hours, knowing I was close to being on the cusp of the golden core realm.
Being able to cultivate all of the elements at the same time increased the speed of my cultivation six fold. It wasn’t enough to get me to the highest stage of the foundation establishment realm, but I made good progress. It would only take me a few months cultivating here to reach the next stage which was encouraging.
After cultivating for the day and playing with Shimmer I decided to go out and explore the peak before it got too dark out.
I explored as much of the peak as I had access to, saying hello and greeting each servant and steward I encountered. After I had my fill of wandering I made my way back to my home and continued cultivating. Shimmer eventually got bored and stopped me from cultivating so I decided to head down from the peak and go find Jia.
I made my way onto flowing petal peak, and though it took some time, I found where Jia was currently working, doing her chores for the sect. She was currently manning the entrance to the body cultivation building so I waited for her shift to be up and she led me to her new house.
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It was nothing compared to the veritable mansion that I lived in, but much better than our old room. She sat down on her bed and Shimmer padded over to her and laid in her lap.
“How is myriad petal peak?” she asked me. I thought about it for a moment.
“It’s nice for cultivating, but I’m going to miss you and everyone else on flowing petal peak.” I told her, and I meant it. I had made such good friends during my time at the sect.
We talked about various things until Jia suddenly got a serious expression on her face.
“I want to go on another mission, but just the two of us this time… err three of us.” She said before looking down at Shimmer in her lap and correcting herself.
“Sure, what kind of mission were you thinking about?” I asked.
She looked away with a sheepish expression.
“I didn’t have anything in mind, but we can go pick one out!” She said, much more excited now. She got up from the bed in her excitement, much to the chagrin of Shimmer, and we headed to the mission hall.
We both looked through some missions, but none of them piqued my interest and would be suitable for Jia and I to do on our own.
After some more time searching, Jia came over to me and handed me a single mission paper.
I read over the mission and smiled.
Mission: Escort a VIP from Cheng Lian city to Lu Bian city on the western continent.
Difficulty: Medium
Description: a VIP client has requested the blooming violet sect send an escort to assist them in returning to Lu Bian city on the western continent.
Requirements: A team of at least two inner sect disciples
Rewards: Five thousand sect points and a tier three treasure from the treasure pavilion for each participant.
“This looks great, Jia!” I said. We both walked over to the administration table, signed up for the mission and went to Cheng Lian city. We went to meet with Jia’s father first as the escort mission wasn’t meant to start until two days from now.
It wasn’t technically shirking our chores because we were already registered for the mission, at least that’s what I was telling myself.
Before dinner with Jia’s father, we decided to first take a bath. We showered and soaked in the relaxing waters of the bath for a while, trading guesses on who the VIP client was.
I had my money on the buxom concubine of the city lord of Lu Bian city while Jia thought It would be a frail young master from one of the bigger families in Lu Bian city.
As we were soaking and relaxing in the baths, I was reminded of something elder Chin had said when I was brought in for disciplinary action.
“Oh! I almost forgot!” I said, scaring Jia.
“What?!” She asked, still unnerved from my sudden outburst.
“Elder Chin said that I had stopped their plans of killing you with the qi devouring python. He wanted me to kill you during the outer sect competition so Cheng Lian city would be destabilized and it could be taken over by the church. That probably means they’re still planning something in the city. We should probably tell your dad about it.” I told her.
She nodded her head after calming down from the fright I gave her.
“Yes, that’s one of the reasons I wished to come to Cheng Lian city for this mission, so we could tell my father the church may still have machinations involving Cheng Lian city.” She told me.
“That makes sense, well what are we waiting for?” I asked her before standing up and going to the antechamber to the baths to get dressed. Jia followed me soon after. We got dressed in identical robes to the last time I was in the city lord’s manor and went to the dining room.
We sat down for dinner with Jia’s father and regaled him with the stories of our various adventures since leaving Cheng Lian city for our missions.
He could be quite the emotive man when he wanted to be and he laughed, cried, and cheered throughout my retelling of events, much to Jia’s chagrin.
After we had finished telling him our versions of the stories, mine was much more embellished than Jia’s, I decided to bring up what elder Chin had said to me. I told Jia’s father the whole story of what happened with elder Chin and he fumed at the knowledge that the qi devouring python was intended to kill Jia.
He again thanked me for helping to uncover and thwart the plot by the church of the one true dao and relayed to us the information he had gathered on the church in the city.
“From what my spies and informants could gather, the church has made its roots in the underground of the city.” Jia’s father said.
“Their hideout is in the sewers??” I asked. Jia’s father chuckled and Jia put her head into her hands.
“No Astra, they aren’t literally under the city, they’ve intertwined their operations with the various criminal organizations and gangs littering the city is what I meant.” Jia’s father said. I blushed and had the presence of mind to look away from the gazes of both Jia and her father in my embarrassment.
“As I was saying, the church has its roots in the underground but does operate within the city in a traditional capacity as well. Many of my informants have told me that acolytes of the church openly preach to the masses and participate in philanthropic activities in the city. The church is seen as a positive by the majority of the city, and as such it will be difficult to root them out. I’m more concerned about what their next plans are within the city. If you two have time, while you’re within the city can you go around and investigate the church?” He asked us.
We both smiled and nodded.
“Of course we’ll help out! We do have a day before we need to meet our client for our next mission.” I told him. He smiled at us both.
“Thank you both, I appreciate any information you can find about the church and their plans in the city.”
“You should issue an official request to the sect to look into the church in the city. I’m sure there are plenty of disciples who will want to exact some amount of revenge on the church after what happened a few days ago.” Jia suggested. Her father thought about it for a few moments before relenting.
“Yes, you’re probably right, that is a good idea.” He said.
We chatted for a while longer about our next mission before it was time for bed. One of the servants led me to my guest room in the manor and I fell asleep thinking about what the church could be up to in the city.