I had done it.

The collection of broken beast cores was arduous, but the effort had paid off. Just a month after the incident with the toll collectors, I gathered enough Soul Essence to fill the Eighth Layer completely and advance.

Of course, I wasn’t searching all the time. Not even close. I visited the shops once every week or so, buying the stock they had, which wasn’t much, and otherwise, I was out and about, having fun. Distractions.

You would not believe the kinds of things a shape-shifter like me could do when allowed to let loose. I found a fancy place where you could get all kinds of ladies of the night. Let me tell you, seeing a beautiful woman nearly five meters tall, with curves in all the right places… That does something to a man.

And as I mentioned, being a powerful shape-shifter, the things we did… Would you believe that her biggest turn-on was to feel small? Petite? Her, the five-meter giantess? Something that became nearly impossible since she Cultivated size? Yeah, well, with the ability to alter my shape and grow… Let’s just say that we did many new things and I really enjoyed her company.

But back to the topic of my Cultivation… I didn’t spend all my time having fun, obviously. There were special buildings in The City where you could Cultivate. The Qi density was quite thin inside the metropolis, with all the people draining it and all that… Those special rooms were quite expensive but well worth it to supplement my growth.

You would think that paying Spirit Stones to manually absorb and convert Base Qi into its higher forms was stupid, but it wasn’t. The price you paid was dictated by the time you wanted to stay inside and not by the amount of energy you absorbed. Of course, the average was just barely better than Cultivating with the Stones themselves, but considering the room was constantly supplied with fresh Qi from the Spirit Vein below, the money was well worth it.

I probably got ten times the energy to what I paid, and I had spent a lot of time inside. Weeks, probably. I got my money’s worth, that’s for sure.

Filling up Spirit Stones always wasted some energy as no process was 100% efficient, and you needed Spirit Realm Cultivators to do that. Letting a Golden Core Cultivator do his thing while paying with Spirit Stones, even if he used more than he paid, was still better for the owner. Converting a natural resource into cold hard cash had never been easier. It was a genius strategy, really.

Oh, and of course, those places were directly tied to one of the three Clans. Each of them had their own Cultivation rooms probably. I just visited a few that were well-known and belonged to the Verdant Ironwood Willow Clan. They were masters of Formations after all, so it was logical they would be the best.

The thing was that as I Cultivated, I often felt some strange feeling, like someone was watching me, or was having thoughts about me, a feeling of familiarity. It was hard to describe. It was just a vague feeling I had at the edge of my perception that came and went at irregular times. I could never pinpoint it no matter how hard I tried. It was really frustrating and distracting, especially when it came during my Cultivation. Even with all the other senses cut off, that one remained no matter what.

But, seeing it didn’t lead to anything, besides being mildly annoying, and considering it often lasted just a few seconds to a few minutes, I didn’t bother pursuing it. Especially after it just disappeared from my perception every time I wanted to give chase.

And so, that was that. I reached the Golden Core Ninth Layer without too much trouble. I hadn’t met with Gale or any of his team since we split so that probably meant all was good. I also heard that the valley was officially opened again, and many celebrated because of it.

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I would sometimes just stand at the corner of a busy street, listening to rumors and getting a feel for the city. It was a bit too cramped with so many people everywhere, but if you had money, it wasn’t too bad. It was easy to get a decent place to sleep and get out of the sun and away from the loud populace.

The crowd somewhat lessened during the night, but not by much. There were so many Cultivators everywhere, there had to be millions living in The City. I had probably seen thousands of Spirit Realm Cultivators, and for every one of them, there were a hundred Golden Cores, not to mention Nascent Soul and below. The City was really a massive melting pot for various clans, villages, and towns all around the area.

However, despite being there for over a month, I wasn’t even allowed to check out the innermost layer of The City. The core of the three Clans was completely off-limits to outsiders.

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One could get some reputation as well as money by doing missions for them, and as far as I understood, it was something like getting quests from a guild. The rewards were quite pathetic though, and more often than not the missions were boring and of a physical nature. They were looking for cheap servants, basically. Or laborers. With a promise they would be remembered if they did a lot of stuff for them. Empty promises, in my opinion. Similar to unpaid internships.

It was just something I discovered in passing, and unlike some, I wasn’t so desperate to sell my body, yet.

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The City was really large, and traveling from one side to the other took a lot of time, especially with the crowded streets and flight being forbidden over it. A no-fly zone reached all the way to the slums, making it significantly more time-consuming to travel. But, that also made it quite orderly. Just imagine what would happen if tens of thousands of people were flying in all directions across the sky. It would be a mess.

That’s why there were multiple designated Anchors for teleports across The City. I took out a small clay tablet that fit neatly into my palm and was slightly thinner than my finger. Crushing it, a complex energy field enveloped me, and I disappeared.

All eight main sides of the sky had a small open marketplace with the Anchor in the middle, serving as a hub for travel. You could either go there and pay a small fee to be sent to any of the other seven anchors, or you could purchase a clay tablet that served as a one-time-use emergency teleport.

One simply had to crush it, and they would be whisked away to safety. Unless someone waited on the other side, of course. But the markets were public and any sort of conflict there was forbidden. They were usually on the territory of one of the Clans, so that was common knowledge. You could mess with anyone you wanted, but if you angered one of the three Clans, the best you could do was leave The City and never return. To those who stayed, bad things happened.

Anyway, I bought some of those Tabs as they called them so I didn’t have to walk so much. They were really convenient, and apparently, they had a large range as well. They weren’t expensive, but they weren’t cheap either. If bought in bulk of at least ten, the price would be 500 SSS. Anything less and you would pay 600 for each.

I was told that people usually bought just one, went outside The City, far, far away, gathered materials and alchemy reagents, and then used one to return. It cut down on travel time a lot, though it was sometimes risky to push the limits. If a beast jumped you, or if bandits attacked, it often happened that the Tab could not be used. There obviously existed ways to stop one from working, and especially in a place where those things were common, it wasn’t hard to figure out a way to mess with it.

Well, I didn’t care for all that. I just used it as a way to save time if I was feeling lazy.

As the energy dissipated around me, I found myself on a small raised platform. An Anchor. A gentle force pushed me off it, and a second later, another person appeared behind me in a swirl of energy.

I barely noticed the guy as my eyes were locked on a specific spot in the distance. There it was again, that weird feeling. I focused, but it didn’t seem to move like every other time. That was my chance!

I quickly pushed my way through the crowd gathered around the marketplace and made a beeline toward where that feeling was coming from.

I honestly half expected the feeling to disappear like it usually did, but it didn’t, remaining there even as I neared it. Soon I saw a pub, quite a large one as it was in a decent part of town, and realized the feeling was coming from there.

Not knowing what to expect, I steeled my resolve and entered the large building. I stepped through the door into a large room filled with tables and chairs. Absolutely nobody turned as I entered. I was completely ignored, just like the guy before me and the guy after.

I slowly scanned the room. The patrons there were eating, drinking, chatting, and playing dice. It was lively in there. Cultivators of all shapes and sizes were in there, some young, others old. Most were in the Golden Core Realm, but there were a few in Nascent Soul as well as Spirit Realm. But those were the exceptions.

As my eyes moved from person to person, many would detect my gaze and return the stare. I squinted my eyes at a guy and he frowned in return. However, I quickly determined he wasn’t the one I was looking for and continued with my search.

As I walked slowly among the tables, one table in particular got my attention. It was a young guy, suspiciously young and sitting alone, yet his Soul felt weirdly familiar. He was nursing a drink while absentmindedly staring into the distance.

As I approached, he suddenly turned to me and smiled. Our eyes locked, but then his expression stiffened, replaced by one of utter confusion. And then he frowned. That’s when I realized where I knew him from.

[Jackpot.] I grinned internally and sent a strong pulse of Killing Intent at him.

Instantly the table he was sitting at exploded and the drink he was holding spilled on the floor. At the same time, a long metal barrel appeared in his hand and my eyes went wide with glee.

My body instantly transformed and I pounced. The guy fired his weapon while jumping back, but the shot was rapidly formed and I was stronger than before, so instead of piercing my body, it just made a hole in my chest a few fingers deep. It healed almost instantly.

I could see shock and fear on the guy’s face, and a familiar energy enveloped him. He was ready to jump.

[Oh, no you don’t! Disruption!] A pulse of energy shot from my chest and as the portal he was expecting to form didn’t materialize, the guy stumbled and lost balance, falling to the floor. A moment later, I was upon him.

He screamed as I slammed him into the ground, my palm alone bigger than his chest kept him from moving, and a dagger-like claw pressed into his neck. He struggled, but I didn’t let him go.

[Stop... struggling! I just have a few questions for you… my friend. Hehehe!] I then cackled as my eyes began to glow.