After they stop whispering, Gong reaches to her side. From a silk pouch tied to her waist, she pulls out some silk web bandages and a big copper coin for each of them.

As they run off, Gong turns to us.

“It looks like you were right, James. It appears to have been two cultivators fighting over something. Though it looks like it ended relatively quickly.”

She gives me a curious look. “How did you know?”

“I told you, if I concentrate, I am able to know things outside of what I normally could. Though I wouldn’t rely on it too much, as a support.”

She slowly nods her head in contemplation.

Ai and Lin, seem to still be a bit anxious, but have mostly relaxed.

“Alright, then. I guess we can keep going.”

She takes a look back to where the kids had run off to.

Whispering to our little group, she gives a nod in their direction.

“I typically try to stay informed on what’s going on around. These children are really good at staying quiet and unseen, when they need to be. From what I’ve been told, the area we are heading to is clear, so we won’t have to worry too much about being attacked today. Just don’t wander off alone and we’ll be fine.”

Even with the reassurances, Ai and Lin still glance around warily.

It seems that even with their experience in the slums and in dangerous situations, there’s something different about this area that keeps them on edge.

Honestly, it only looks a bit more rundown than their area. I just don’t have the knowledge on what they are seeing, that is getting them worked up.

Gong tries to assure them further, “Once we are in a safer area, I’ll be able to explain more. Okay?”

Still appearing unconvinced, but relaxing a bit more, they slightly straighten up.

As we move through these slums, the area appears to get more and more busier. However, the area itself looks practically stripped down. Almost as if everything of worth has already been removed. All that’s left is the people. Even with the people, I can see in the corner of my eye, a body with a red stripe on its face, being carried away.

I’m not even sure if they are alive.

We make a few turns, going down alleyways, with the only markers that I can see being variations of the “street” signs that we had discovered earlier. It is at times like this, that I am glad that I have my scanning ability. If I were to get lost here, I would have no idea where to go, even if I understood the signs. The only way back, by myself, would be using the shadow trail or its reduced version.

Continuing on, I begin to realize the depth of the mental distress found in the broken people around us…. There are clearly many people (demi-humans and humans) who clearly aren’t in their right mind.

Talking to themselves, yelling, and crying. All of these sounds, form the backdrop of this area.

Surrounded by this, I can’t help but wonder if my ability can heal mental conditions… to allow for mental stability. I attempt to use it on one the people around me. They quiet down, blinking slowly in confusion.

My intuitive scan shows it helps, but I will need to use some in-depth healing to actually permanently fix the majority of issues.

Even then, it seems it will only heal the actual conditions… Any habits or external oriented issues, will likely cause the conditions to reappear.

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It’s a start, though. Better than they might have had otherwise.

With my Healing Constitution, it would be widely beneficial to find a healing-oriented cultivation. If I had that… maybe I could use it as an excuse to actually help people. Openly, I mean.

Admittedly though… I’m scared. I’m scared to even walk through this area. How could I actually go arou-

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahaha”

Malicious sounding, obnoxious laughter can be suddenly heard, echoing over the nearby buildings. A feminine and masculine cry of pain can be heard, just below the cackles. A childlike exclamation of fear emanates as an undercurrent, just below the sound of more adult sounds of hurt.

With this sound, even the mentally unstable demi-humans begin shuffling in the opposite direction of the sound.

On her face, Gong has the visage of a snarling tiger, but with a glance at us, she quickly calms down.

“Follow me.” Her lips tighten as she leads us in the opposite direction.

Okay, seriously. What is going on?

Before I can extend my scan to see what is going on over there, Gong speaks. “If you ever hear that laugh, head in the opposite direction.”

After saying that, she goes quiet. Ai and Lin look at each other, saying nothing. I can see Ai reaching for and holding onto Lin’s hand briefly, before letting go.

Silence fills the space between us as we walk. Whatever happened back there has already passed.

Maybe I should have tried harder. I let the situation scare and distract me. I think in some senses, hearing that laugh and seeing Gong’s face made me… back off.

Damn it.

Relatively quickly, after this point, we reach a small street. All along this street is a variety of stalls. This “marketplace” of sorts differs from the one I had seen when I first arrived in this world. The single biggest difference is the state of the shops.

The shops in the main area of the city were put together well, even if they may have had some subpar goods. Here, the wood holding the goods up seems ramshackle and rough. Some of it even seems rotten of sorts.

This isn’t even talking about the goods themselves. Some items appear even to be on the edge of becoming rotten, if not already in that state. The slightest of scans reveals that this isn’t the appearance of it. The reality is worse.

That’s not to say all of them are like this. There are some that appear to be better off than others. One thing I notice is that the ones that do, have blue or red coloring on them. The ones that appear in this way not only have better goods, but more customers. However, it appears that people that stop by the red shops, don’t go to blue shops, and vice versa.

As I look closer at some of the people, I can see that some have red markings, stripes perhaps, on their faces. Strangely enough, I can’t see any people with blue on. However, as we pass someone, my scan catches that a person has blue band on their forearm, hidden from view.

Okay, seriously. What’s going on here? There’s definitely some kind of differentiating system going on. It can’t be human vs demi-human, because it seems like a mixture are going to either one. No, don’t tell me. Are these gangs?

As I continue to figure this out a group of red stripes faced, human men, start approaching a red colored shop stall. Menacingly.

Before I can see what happens, Gong has already pulled us into another alleyway.

Once again, we continue through snaking pathways for minutes at a time. The closer we get to our destination, the better the area seems to become. Granted, it is still not at the level of the alleyways near the main city area, but still pretty decent.

And thus, we arrive at a larger street. Along this street, I can still see many poorer people. However, this area seems to be much more active, with carriages and people traveling up the road from the right.

This must be one of the major roads. It appears that this is still a dangerous area though, since the people that are traveling through, are taking pains to not look at anyone. There are definitely less demi-humans here, as well. I still see some gang members though around.

But who are those?

Standing on the side of the road, there are women in varying states of undress/dress, wearing yellow sashes.

Do those sashes have some sort of cultural meaning? It’s clear that these women must be prostitutes of some sort.

My intuitive scan provides the idea that this is a way to differentiate them and show they are in a gang.

As I look to Gong, she gives me the look of ‘I’ll explain it later’.

She still says something aloud, though.

“The men with red stripes on their faces are the Vermillion Stripes, stay away from them, if possible. The yellow sashed women are prostitutes, called by what they wear, Yellow Sashes. Be wary of them, but they should be safe. Don’t worry about that now though, we need to focus on this.”

Right, have to follow the plan.

Gong leads us to a pair of buildings on the other side of the road; dingy, but sturdy looking.

The entrance seems to be extra-large, potentially to accommodate a larger clientele. A slight distance away, I can see two large demi-humans standing by.

If I had to guess, these must be the non-obvious bodyguards.

Strangely enough, Gong completely ignores this door. She actually leads us around to the back of the building, where the area is surprisingly cleaner than the building itself.

Sitting there is an attractive, gentle looking, brown-haired woman, who appears to be not more than a decade older than us.