The streets of Moonlake City were crowded to the extreme. Merchants, messengers and beggars, elderly, adults and children, wealthy and poor, overfed and starving. The houses varied anywhere between large, luxurious mansions and rundown shacks. There was a constant noise that made it impossible to talk at normal conversation level.

At some point, Qingge had retreated into the carriage, just so she could hear her own thoughts again. That was important because she had much to think about right now. She had naturally known of the cities size but she hadn’t truly thought about what that size meant for her group and their task. Combing even a tiny part of this city would take weeks of coordinated effort and this already difficult endeavor was made infinitely worse by the fact that everyone was interested in them. On their entire way through the city, they couldn’t ender a street without immediately having hundreds of pairs of eyes rest on them.

This would make conducting a proper investigation infinitely more difficult as they would undoubtedly be talked about wherever they went. To make matters worse, they suspected at least part of the cities leadership to be involved with the smugglers in some way, simply because of the scale of the operations. If these people began to suspect that they were being investigated, they would immediately start covering their tracks.

It took Qingge a while to order these thoughts and another one to start formulating a coherent plan, but at some point, she had one up and running. In order for it to work, she would need to do some convincing though.

“Elder Wei?”

The elder didn’t respond. He seemed to be lost in thought, motionlessly staring out the window.

“Elder Wei?”

The elder almost seemed to flinch, noticeably catching himself.

“Sorry, I was lost in thought. What is it?”

“I know you are here for business off your own, but would you mind lending us some assistance in our task?”

A week ago, Qingge would never have found the courage to ask him something like this directly, neither would she have dared to repeatedly call for him. Even now though it still felt immensely wrong but she had grown confident enough around him to act like this, since she deemed it strictly necessary.

“How can I help you?”

“Well, I believe our investigation is going to be strongly stalled if word about our goals here gets around.”

“That is reasonable enough. How would you have me counteract that?”

“Could you… If it doesn’t bother you too much… Could you visit the city’s prince with us and make up some reason why you are here that doesn’t touch on our mission? We could then introduce ourselves as your entourage and thus draw attention away from ourselves.”

“Hmm… How would you proceed then?”

“We would organize ourselves some alternative clothing so we can’t immediately be identified as part of the sect anymore. That way we could move without too much attention.”

This plan was highly unusual for cultivators of their standing. In fact, it was probably offensive even just suggesting something like this to an elder of the sect which’s members didn’t want to be known as such. That was without the part that required that elder to openly lie about their purpose in public to lesser. Cultivators weren’t necessarily opposed to lying, as long as it benefited their purpose, but they certainly were opposed to being thought off as liars. Despite that, Elder Wei didn’t seem offended by the proposal in the slightest but instead seemed thoughtful. After a while, he answered.

“It’s not a bad plan, but it would severely restrict you in your investigation nonetheless. While it is true that moving as members of our sect will alert your targets, moving without a background will limit the questions people will be willing to answer you severely and might even get you caught up in unnecessary conflict.”

Qingge didn’t retort. Not only were the things he said very much true, it also wasn’t her place to press him if he didn’t want to act this way. Just as she was trying to think of an alternative, Elder Wei spoke up again.

“I have an idea. You see, while I’m not nearly as well connected as the pillar families, I do have some ties to rather powerful families in this city. Among them, there are some that I have a very high degree of trust in. Well go ahead with your plan regarding the visit to the prince but I’ll contact that family in order to forge false identities for you. We’ll see about the specifics, but we’ll make you into some nobles hailing from a distant city who are not to be trifled with but also harmless to the smuggling ring. That way you can go about your investigations without any problems. Does that work?”

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“That’s… Thank you for going so far to help us, Elder Wei! That sounds absolutely perfect.”

“We’ll go ahead with it then. Guard Yang, please direct us to the prince’s palace.”

…

Bingwen Luó or, as his full title went, Prince Governor Bingwen Luó of Moonlight City, was a powerful man. To be exact, he was the most powerful man of the most powerful city far and wide, at least by his measure. Adding to that, he was an accomplished cultivator, having reached and completed the elusive realm of Soul Realization. On top of all that, he had ties to one of the most powerful sects in the realm, the legendary Lunar Peaks Sect, strong ties, as he had once been a member of this mighty force before leaving to fulfill his duty as his family’s new head.

In the time since, the once fierce warrior had admittedly grown quite the impressive belly and shed his previously intimidating look for one more fit to a man of his statue, but that had done nothing to minder his prestigious strength.

At the moment, the grand Bingwen Luó was fulfilling one of his many important duties which came in the form of eating a luxurious meal and holding light conversation with important officials of the city. Bingwen Luó was a man who took his duties very seriously and so his first reaction when one of his butlers interrupted him was one of irritation.

“My prince, I have important news.”

Bingwen Luó grunted.

“What news could possibly be important enough that they can’t wait until I’m done eating?”

“These news, I’m afraid my prince.”

Grumbling at the witty retort, Bingwen Luó fully turned his attention away from the heavenly honey-glazed swan on spirit-herbs that lay before him towards the butler.

“Fine, what is it?”

“A group of cultivators from the Lunar Peaks Sect has arrived in the city. They are currently making their way towards the palace.”

Now that did get his attention.

“A group you say? An entire group? By my ancestors… How long until they are here?”

“Roughly half an hour I would say.”

If multiple cultivators came together, the business they had here was sure to be truly important. Bingwen Luó reached for his handkerchief to wipe away the building sweat. Then he resolved himself. He wasn’t just anybody, he was Bingwen Luó. He could handle this. Breathing in, he started hurling instructions in all directions.

“Gentlemen, the dinner is over. Get yourself into your finest clothes, I want all of you in the throne-room in fifteen minutes at the latest. Butler, bring me my festive robes alongside my sect-token. Servants, hurry and clean this table up. Someone inform the cooks; they are to prepare the finest meals they can. Spare no costs but spare time, the first course has to be ready in at most thirty minutes. Has anybody seen my children? I want them in the throne room as quickly as possible. And find me the minister of finance. He should still be in his room, tell him his illness is no excuse today. I need him with me right now. Where’s the herald when I need him, he needs to be instructed immediately. Get the petitioners out of the main hall, they can whine to me about their problems some other time. Is anyone dealing with the guard…”

It was a chaotic thirty minutes but when all was set and done, Bingwen Luó was seated on his throne and everything in the room was in proper order to receive high guests. To his right stood his two children currently at the court, followed by his staff of advisors. To his left, the city’s ministers were lined up. Further down on both sides stood his honor guard, forming a corridor and behind them were the lower courtiers.

If Bingwen Luó had been any other prince governor, him being seated would be a gross breach of conduct but the fact that he had left the sect when he was already a senior member combined with him governing this city and being the host meant that, in his current function, he socially outranked other senior members. As such, being seated was appropriate. Were he to visit the sect or just meet them on the street, things would be different but knowing the ins and outs of these functions was one of his strong suits.

Just as everything was ready, a servant appeared.

“My prince, they have arrived!”

“Well what are you waiting for, let them in!”

The servant retreated and only moments later the voice of the court’s herald sounded.

“Our esteemed guests hailing from the revered Lunar Peaks Sect are welcomed with great joy by the honorable Prince Governor Bingwen Luó of Moonlake City, patriarch of the grand Luó family!”

With this, the doors swung open and the guests began entering the hall. Leading the procession was a rather young-looking woman and while looks didn’t mean anything in the world of cultivators, the cultivation that Bingwen Luó could feel from her confirmed that she couldn’t be particularly old, as she was still in the core formation stage.

Her position in the procession, her confident steps and the fact that two guards in the Soul Realization Realm shadowed her however, made it abundantly clear that she was nonetheless an important figure.

Maybe the daughter of an important member of one of the pillar families?

Next up came a large and fierce-looking man who Bingwen Luó could immediately feel to be in the Dao Attuning Realm. Perhaps the leader of this group, the man was flanked by several other cultivators, all in the Soul Realization Realm. However, before Bingwen Luó could start analyzing the man’s complexion further, his heart dropped.

Behind the man, donning an incredibly calm and unreadable expression, hands clasped behind his back and carrying himself with an otherworldly grace and purpose in his steps, was an old, man with long white hair. Bingwen Luó didn’t need to look at his beautifully adorned special robe, didn’t need to feel the man’s unfathomable cultivation.

Because he knew the man. Liu Wei, the dancing flame of the north, had already been an accomplished elder back when Bingwen had entered the sect as a young boy, over a hundred and fifty years ago. He was famous throughout the lands for his genius, for forging his own path with the Dao of Fire, for his peerless skill in combat. His recent ascent to the eight stage of Dao Contemplation only added another layer to this fame. And this man, this living legend stood before him now, had visited Moonlake City in person. And Bingwen Luó had received him while seated!

In all his time governing this city, in all his life even, Bingwen Luó hadn’t made such a colossal blunder! He wanted to throw himself to his knees before the elder, beg for forgiveness for this conduct, but it was like he was petrified. No muscle in his body obeyed his command and so all he could do was remain seated there, waiting for his judgement.

“Best greetings, prince Luó.”