“No way! If it isn’t miss Fan Lia and George Cilin in person!” Leo’s sight was still adjusting when he heard a young woman’s voice greeting them in a mocking tone, “Just how long have you two been away?! Look how big your kid has grown!”
Leo couldn’t yet discern the facial features of the person who spoke, but she seemed to be taller than Fan Lia, although of a similar built to her and dressed in bright yellow robe. She was surrounded by four other young women and from what it looked like they also just arrived.
There was no way George of Fan Lia would take insults lying down and this time George was the one who reacted first, “Don’t worry, Simo! Despite your ugly face one of these days someone will get you pregnant and you can finally start a family. It’s fine if he’s drunk and leaves you embarrassed after sobering up later – at least you’ll have a child to take care of!”
While Simo and her company were fuming and trying to think of a decent comeback, Fan Lia pretended to ignore them and said to Leo, “Sir, please don’t mind her. Simo Fera is from an upstart family and doesn’t understand the ways of the world. Please don’t take it to your heart, there is no need to punish her!”
What George said was a direct insult, but Fan Lia’s behavior indicated that the young boy standing with them was someone important. Of course, she could’ve played a trick, but there was no way to know for sure without a detailed investigation.
“You’ll pay for that!” Simo hissed and left with her entourage while both George and Fan Lin tried keep straight faces, but when she was out of sight the two burst in to loud laughter.
Meanwhile Leo curiously observed surroundings. He already knew this place was called the Grand teleportation hall of the Golden city and had to agree – the long and fancy name was fitting. While the teleportation building in the Sacred Order held only one teleportation platform, from the spot he currently stood at he could count at least a dozen platforms here built neatly in a half circle along the tall white walls. And this place was only for the use of the Golden Hand society! The grandeur of the Golden city George warned him about was nothing to scoff at.
“This was refreshing!” Fan Lin said after calming down, “Alright, enough fooling around! We need to fill the application to send Leo off and report to elder Tillert afterwards.”
She led the way through several more similar halls that held multiple teleportation platforms. The place was quite busy and people came and departed in flashes of light. Each teleportation platform was operated by a person in white robe with a golden palm imprint on it – all disciples of the Golden Hand society.
According to what Fan Lia and George told, the Golden Hand society was the largest artisan sect in the Immortal realm. And creation and maintenance of the teleportation platforms was not the only business they did, in fact, Crafting and Alchemy divisions were much larger than Rune crafting division the two were from. The Alchemy division’s supply of all cultivation resources of Heaven rank and above was over eighty percent of the total the Immortal realm had while weapons and other items crafted by the Crafting division were of the highest quality and sought out all over the world.
The Golden city was not named this way because it had plenty of gold mines or had buildings built of gold, although there were few who actually were such, but because the Golden Hand society was filthy rich. It was the richest organization of the world.
“I’m sorry, miss Lia.” The elder registering Fan Lia’s application said, “Because of the recent attacks it’ll take some time for me to push this through.”
“There is someone who dares to attack this place?” Leo involuntary blurted out.
On his way he had seen quite a few guards and if it was like George said and at least every fifth was a false immortal it would be a complete madness to cause trouble around here, to not speak about attacking something or someone.
“Hahaha!” The elder laughed and confirmed Leo’s thoughts, “That would be insane. There were few attacks on some of our platforms across the world and the security level has been temporarily increased.”
“Arhhh! I hate bureaucracy!” Fan Lia stomped her foot, “How long can it take?”
“A day at most.” Elder said with a shrug, “Of course, if it was just you two, I could approve it immediately.”
“I wonder if the higher-ups even know how the teleportation works.” George snorted when they already were leaving the building, “People only need the platform in order to leave, not to arrive, and even then there are exceptions! If one has coordinates they can travel wherever they want to! Why put restrictions to go to an insignificant mortal world?!”
“I think it has more to do with the political situation rather than actual threat.” Fan Lia said, “Let’s go, it’s not our problem. Leo can stay with you for a day.”
While George and Fan Lia argued who will have to babysit, Leo stared at the view in disbelief. During the past months both locals had told him about this place multiple times, but to see it with his own eyes was a completely different matter.
After leaving the white building the group found themselves on a round plaza made of fine marble. It all would’ve been fine and beautiful, but from here Leo could finally verify that they actually stood on an island floating between clouds. He slowly went to the silvery guardrail and saw a city several hundred yards below, but the most breathtaking part of the view were twenty odd other islands hovering in the sky on different altitudes. Cultivators at the Nascent soul stage and immortals were flying to and from the islands by themselves and on the flying beasts making the whole place look busy like it was an enormous beehive.
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“I guess you’re stuck with me.” George woke Leo up from daydreaming, “Let’s go grab a bite. My buddy works at one of the best restaurants in the city. Your cooking is passable, but, no offense, compared to the food made by master chef its a cow’s dung. You’ll see – after trying Jamie’s art you’ll never want to leave the Golden city.”
Leo had flown before or rather – the sect master of the Voodoo sect and his father had carried him, but now when George grabbed him by the upper arm and rapidly descended towards the city Leo felt an incredible excitement. Flying was so cool! He immediately decided to spend every single free moment cultivating until he reached at least the Nascent soul stage.
All the fighting abilities or elemental affinities suddenly lost their appeal, because the freedom he experienced was thrilling and addicting at the same time. Of course, currently his freedom depended on George’s iron-tight grasp, but Leo’s imagination was vivid enough to allow him to savor the moment to the fullest.
The Golden city turned out to be a fancy version of Sacred Order’s main square. Every street here was built in marble and every house looked as if it was a palace. There was not a single speck of dust anywhere to not speak about dirt. Even the many ranked beasts belonging to the residents and guests didn’t allow a single hair to fall on accident, to not speak about taking a sh*t anywhere.
“Is Jamie in today?” George asked when they arrived at a white four storey building covered in blooming red flowers.
The sign at the entrance indicated the restaurant named ‘King’s kitchen’ was full, but the casual question forced the receptionist to nod with a forced smile. The city was full of ‘VIP’s’ and the top three storeys of the restaurant were solely reserved for the people who didn’t need to make a prior reservation.
“Please tell him George Cilin has arrived.” George said, but the receptionist waved his hand defensively.
“No need, sir Cilin! Members of your family can go directly to the third floor. You’ll find …”
“Sure.” George interrupted. He obviously knew the protocol, “I actually want to meet him if he has a moment.”
“To come from a wealthy background plays a huge role in the Immortal world.” George explained to Leo who wondered more about the fact that instead of simply flying up they currently were taking the stairs, “Of course, if one becomes a true immortal they will be on a completely different level. Table for three.”
The last part was meant for the waiter who politely guided them to one of the free tables. For a completely ‘full’ restaurant having three quarters of tables empty seemed a bit strange.
“Three?” Leo asked.
“Ye, if we’re not quick enough Fan Lia will run over to freeload.” George explained.
“You, damned bastard!” Suddenly a shout over the whole floor provoked a wide smile on George’s face, “Where the hell did you disappear without a warning? And who is this?”
A tall and handsome youth, dressed in light blue suit walked over to their table. If not for the outfit and unalike facial features, he was almost George’s copy.
“Jamie, this is Leo, Leo – this is Jamie you’ve heard so much about. The second best cook in the Golden city.” George immediately introduced while Jamie sat down on the free chair.
“The second?” Leo involuntarily asked.
“Yea!” Jamie carelessly replied, “King is the best and I’m the second best.”
“Who’s the king?” Was the next question.
“The owner, obviously! And my master!” Jamie answered in surprise, “Where did you find this one? He doesn’t seem to be the brightest.”
“You won’t believe me, but this boy saved me from starvation!” George laughed, “At first he was a complete newbie, but after a couple months practice his food didn’t seem to be much worse than yours.”
“We’ll see about that!” Jamie laughed back as if accepting a challenge, “What do you want?”
“Your choice.” George shrugged and the youth in blue suit swiftly disappeared.
“You’re in for a treat!” George confidently said after waiter filled his glass with wine, “To taste the food prepared by a Nascent soul stage cultivator and a master chef at that will scar you for life.”
And it was as he promised. After a while waiter brought over several dishes and even though Leo had no clue what they were or how to properly eat, he felt like swallowing his tongue every time he put a spoon in his mouth. All the praises he had heard during the time he cooked for Fan Lia and George now seemed more like insults pointing out the lack of his skill.
Other patrons watched him eat with scorn and disgust. This restaurant hadn’t seen hillbilly who had no clue how to properly use tableware in a long time, but Leo didn’t care. The food was too delicious and he would soon leave anyway.
George, of course, also didn’t care. First of all because he knew the kid was from a mortal world and secondly – there was no one on this floor who would dare to say anything to him.
While they ate Jamie returned with a book in his hand. He patiently watched the two eat and when they were finished without expecting any compliments passed the book to Leo.
“This is my best work yet.” He said pointing at the book, “You won’t find any recipes inside, but the principles I developed that should be followed while preparing food. You don’t have to become a cook to use that knowledge – trust me, even if you learn one tenth from it, it’ll change your life. Take it as my thanks for taking care of this guy.”
“That’s not ‘thanks’!” George laughed, “You’re just spreading your name!”
“F*ck you!” Jamie snorted in return, but slightly bushed as well. Clearly George knew him too well, “Fine, I’ll give you something extra!”
He left and returned with two bottles of wine.
“This is a very good stuff, you’ll see!” Jamie said.
“Uhmm … I … I can’t really drink.” Leo felt torn. He could guess how good the Firewater was that these guys drank, but after Noel’s warning he didn’t want to risk and drink it before the age of eighteen. The old man might be from the corrupt path, but he was an expert nevertheless.
“He’s not drinking until the age of eighteen.” George explained with a shrug, “Something to do with his cultivation, I don’t really understand.”
“Ok, then drink when you want to. This stuff won’t get bad.” Jamie said and turned to his friend, “So, how’s Fan Lia doing …”