“It’s a bit…” Shao chose his next word very carefully, “inauspicious for the headquarters of a group of cultivators.”

The structure was little more than a wooden cube with a slightly slanted roof. There was some indication that the building once commanded a modicum of grandeur, but those days were clearly long passed. Green-tinted glass once sat in the windowsills, but those windows were little more than jagged shards of viridian crystals now. Some of the windows were destroyed by the tireless march of grandfather time. Most of the windows were shattered by human hand, however, as could be seen by the countless discarded rocks that littered the ground. The building told the tale of an era more accepting of foreign influence and that selfsame era’s abrupt end.

“No one would think to look for us in an old abandoned building,” Xiahou Ren said with a shrug. “We’ll just be here for one more day, anyway.”

Ren opened the front door to the structure with an old brass key and held the door open for Shao to enter. All told, the building was about twenty-five cun on each side. Though it wasn’t nearly as large as Patriarch Guanyu’s home, it was certainly larger than the Yang Lin family home.

Shao entered the building to the sound of glass crunching under his feet. If not for his immensely thick skin, he might have been concerned that some of the glass would puncture his shoes and cut through his skin.

“Please pardon my intrusion,” Shao called out into the empty space within the building. He rested his iron staff against a nearby wall and looked around.

To his left, a staircase rose up to the structure’s second floor. Beyond the staircase was a door that led to a living space or kitchen. From the area beyond the door, a voice called out.

“Oui. Je suis là.” The unseen interlocutor spoke in a language that Shao had never heard before. He was concerned for a second that the unseen man was reciting an incantation for an attack, but his concern was allayed by Xiahou Ren’s response.

“Paix, Louis. Nous avons un nouveau membre.” Ren spoke in the foreign tongue like it was perfectly natural.

A man appeared at the structure’s far door, but Shao had never seen a man like that before. He had pale skin and yellow hair, and he wore a golden earring on one earlobe. The foreign man wore plain hanfu robes, but they seemed out of place on him. The foreigner held a thick leather book in his hand, and his expression was a bemused smirk.

He gave Shao a cursory glance before saying something in the tone of a joke. “Vous massacrez ma langue avec votre prononciation.”

Xiahou Ren let out a loud bark of laughter. “I know, I know.”

Just as Shao started to become concerned that they were talking about him without his knowledge, Xiahou Ren started to speak. “Yang Shao, this is Louis. He’s from the Silver Hawk continent, as you can see. In terms you are familiar with, Louis currently follows the Path of the Winged Serpent, and he’s a six-star Lianqi.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

As Xiahou Ren spoke, Shao could just barely make out the sound of a faint echo emanating from Louis’s earring. The echo had the cadence and intonation of that strange vowel-heavy language.

“Ravi de vous rencontrer, Yang Shao.” As Louis spoke, he gave an overly-formal bow, and Shao hesitantly reciprocated.

“Can he understand us?” Shao asked.

“Yep. His earring automatically translates Sino-Altaic to his native Franconian. It doesn’t translate his words, though, so nobody but me can understand him.”

Shao wanted to ask if “Sino-Altaic” was the language they were speaking, but he decided that would make him sound like an idiot. He would just assume that was the case and hope for the best.

“It’s nice to meet you… Lu Yi?” Once the words left Shao’s mouth, he knew he had pronounced the name wrong. Louis grimaced at the mispronunciation, and Xiahou Ren chuckled.

“His name is pretty tough to pronounce if you’re not used to Franconian. You can just call him ‘Straw’ like everybody else.”

“Straw?”

“Yeah, on account of the color of his hair.”

Footsteps sounded from the upper floor, presaging the appearance of the fourth member of Xiahou Ren’s team. A teenage girl who was probably a year or two younger than Ren and Shao slowly walked down the stairs. The girl wore cultivator robes that were dyed gold. Her medium-length black hair was tied up in a tight ponytail, and the unnatural angle of her nose made it clear that it had been broken several times.

The girl bore several visual indicators that she had fought many fights without consistent access to healing pills. One of her ears was swollen considerably, and discoloration around her left eye made it clear that she had been struck there some time in the last week. The visible signs of injury on such a young woman unsettled Shao.

“And here’s the final member of our team, Liu Tang Mei. She’s a five-star on the Path of the Golden Cicada.”

“I’m Yang Lin Shao. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He bowed his head in greeting to Liu Mei. Silently, he hoped that she was in the same boat as him, and she couldn’t speak Franconian like Xiahou Ren.

“Yeah. Pleasure.” Liu Mei spoke to Shao in a clipped tone that wasn’t necessarily offensive. Her way of speaking struck Shao as unaware rather than rude. It was as if she had never learned the correct etiquette when meeting a new person. She directed her next question at Ren. “What’s his deal?”

Shao frowned as Xiahou Ren explained. “He’s a seven-star without a Path.”

“That’s impossible,” Liu Mei said, clearly asserting that Yang Shao must have been lying. Her tone was not one of shock but rather one of complete disbelief.

“He’s definitely a seven-star, at least. I checked him myself,” Xiahou Ren said with a shrug. “Show some respect before you cause him to lose face.”

“Fine. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, honorable Yang Shao.” Liu Mei spoke respectfully, but she clearly found the words distasteful.

Shao decided he liked Straw and Liu Mei. They were both outsiders to the politics of cultivator society, and, thus, they all shared a certain kinship. All three of them would have difficulties integrating into Shigong Temple, he knew. Together, perhaps they could survive.