"I'm thinking of something… round-ish," Kenki, now better known as Kaito, says.

"Is it a stone?" a boy going by the name of Yuto answers.

"Maybe?"

"Maybe? What's that supposed to mean." Yuto questions, feigning exasperation. He's too bored to feel any kind of real emotions at the moment.

"How large is it?" Naoe chimes in from the side, equally as bored.

"Bigger than I am"

"Does it glow?" she continues with her questioning.

"Yep" Ken answers. Giving up he lays his back on the hard wood of the caravan. Naoe is incredibly good at these, he'll give her that.

"A moon" she states, lightly raising her fist in the air.

"Yep"

"Ugh" Naoe lets her arm fall, she doesn't bother slowing it down so it hits the wood with a resounding thump. "We need a new game" she dejectedly looks around the insides of the caravan. It's a hellscape of groaning and sprawled bodies, like they've been infected with a deadly virus.

There are ten other kids beside Naoe, Kenki and Yuto. And they have long since given up playing.

"We can always try the sticking game, Naoe" Ken suggests.

"What's the sticking game?"

"It's the game where I stick my stick in your hole. I've heard from several trusted sources that it is quite entertaining"

That manages to force out a chuckle out of several kids, including Naoe.

"You better not. We barely convinced the guards to unlock our chains after months of begging" One of the other girls says.

"That's true but if we're forced to stay here for another one or two months I might end up taking him up on that offer"

"Gross"

Kenki does a fistpump.

A few of the former street rats look around confused, obviously unaware of the vulgarity of what's being said.

The cart jumps as it hits a stone. This is just one of the reasons why their travels had been so unpleasant.

"How long have we been on the road, Kai?"

"Four-hundred and twelve days." He relays. The statement is followed by a collective groan from everyone present. "Are you certain that you cannot tell us where we're going?" Yuto asks.

"Yes, this is information that can kill you just by knowing it."

"We're very good at keeping a secret under wraps, you don't have to worry about it getting out."

"You'll find out what I mean when we get there."

That response again. Yuto heaves a heavy sigh, trying to pry that information out of Kaito is like trying to squeeze water from a stone. Completely impossible.

Suddenly, the cart stops and murmuring could be heard coming in from the outside.

"Who's on watch duty?" Someone asks, whispering. Glances are exchanged, it's obvious that nobody has cared enough to keep track.

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"I'll check it out." Ken declares as he crawls to 'the hole'. It's a little something they'd stealthily carved out that allows them to see the outside world. It had been done by using Ken's copper coin as a little chisel to shave away the wood. For all intents and purposes the caravan is a prison, there are no windows here.

Ken presses his face against the wood, checking out what's happening through the small hole.

'I see a massive Attack on Titan-esque wall' Ken immediately perks up, some hope seeping into his heart. Now that he thinks about it, when he really concentrates he can feel a sort of faint pressure surrounding his body. Sadly he cannot see any inscriptions on the walls, maybe they're too far away to be properly seen, maybe they don't glow like he's used to. The Qi sealing manacle on his wrist should be evidence enough that inscriptions don't necessarily give out light.

His reaction hadn't gone unnoticed by the rest of the group

"What is it?" Yuto asks him, a trace of excitement in his words.

"I think we've arrived."

===========================

The door to the caravan is unlocked, letting the sunlight illuminate its insides. It's something that's happened hundreds of times by this point, the guards would let them out, feed them and allow them to do their 'business' before promptly locking them up once more. Three times every single day, once in the morning, once at noon and once at night.

This time however, it is different.

The one who greets the group of children is hands down the most beautiful woman Kenki has ever seen. Holding a statuesque physique covered by a revealing and vibrant red kimono with not a single blemish on her skin. Her blue eyes scan everyone before landing on him.

"There's a natural here."

"Really?" A male voice calls out from nearby. Leaning in from the side, he takes a look inside. His shiny red hair reflects the light of the sun right into Ken's eyes.

"Nice hair, brother" the man calls out, doing a finger gun with one arm and winking at him "Linlin here adores cute little boys like you, you better be careful or she's going to eat you up."

The man is kicked in the chin so fast that it all appears like a blur to the kids. He's sent soaring through the air, landing a couple of meters away from his original position.

"..."

He remains there like a dead fish.

'What the hell is that interaction?' Ken cringes, it's like he's watching two cartoon characters. Off in his peripheral vision, while those two have their backs turned on them, he sees Naoe waving at him and trying to get his attention.

When he turns he sees her mouth the word 'cultivators?' At which he just shrugs his shoulders.

*tsk*

Hearing the clicking of the woman's tongue, he immediately shifts his attention back on the more important matter at hand. She places a foot inside the carriage, lightly rocking it as she enters. Directly making her way to him she grabs his left arm, the one that has the Qi sealing manacle on it.

"How long has this been on?" She asks, her facial expression seemingly one of barely hidden anger.

"A-a little bit more than four hundred days?" The air around them gets a few degrees colder after his words "I see." She says through narrowed eyes before removing the manacle. She doesn't use a key or anything of the sort but it comes right off regardless.

A whistle resounds from the man's lips, he gets up as if he hadn't been kicked just moments prior "Over a year!?" He hops until he's right beside the so-called 'Linlin', his mildy joking expression from before having shifted to one of concern "How's it looking, is his dantian broken?"

'Broken?'

Kenki feels a heat invade his left arm. Qi, he concludes, the one belonging to the woman in front of him. It feels like tiny needles are flowing through his left arm and into the rest of his being, immensely irritating but not painful. The Qi worms its way to the ethereal organ that is his dantian where it begins gently tapping against it.

That's when the irritation spikes into full on pain. The boy feels like someone is scratching at his heart with their nails.

"That hurts" he lets out an involuntary whimper.

"Good." The woman says as all of a sudden she slams her Qi against Kenki's dantian. He feels something inside him break and then…

…and then the pain and irritation completely disappear.

The woman nods to herself with a smile that makes the boy blush. She retracts her Qi and lets go of Ken's arm. His energies begin to cycle through his body of their own accord after that, bringing a deep wave of relief to any limb, organ and muscle they happen to cross. He feels as if he'd entered a bathtub filled with warm water, the tension he hadn't been previously aware of disappearing.

"Who does this caravan belong to?" The woman turns to the red haired man.

"Already on it." He replies, his gaze directed to the book in his arms. He doesn't write anything on it or flip its pages, but its glowing inscriptions are plainly evident for everyone to see.

"Ren Yamamoto, he's the guardian of some city named Ornthar" the man answers after a minute.

"Put him at the bottom of the resource request list. We're at war and he dares to send us some beggars he just plucked off the streets? The way he treated this natural just goes to show that he doesn't care the least bit about properly fulfilling his responsibilities. Look at them" she sweeps her hands over the group of thirteen "They're already supposed to be filled with drive and ambition by the time they get here. Look at the confusion on their faces, they don't even know where they are!" She pinches the bridge of her nose

"Filling them with ambition before they even arrive at the sect can be a bit counterproductive…" the man comments.

"That's the point, it's called cutting off the fat! If they die from that then they wouldn't have made it anyways. It's a standard procedure, and mortals sprout from the ground like grass anyways. We can always get more!"

The red haired man has a wry smile on his face as he listens to his companion, deciding not to comment further.

"Huh…" he lets out a voice of surprise as he focuses back on his book "Linlin, I don't think that I'll be able to drop this Yamamoto fella any further down on the resource list. He's the son of one of the elders."

"Who?"

"Elder Chen."

"Humph!" She crosses her arms. "Have one of your servants transferred to work in my residence, get him to carry a letter containing all of the information of the imbecile responsible for this while you're at it."

The man raises an eyebrow "A letter?" He waves the inscribed book in his hands as if asking her if she's stupid.

"Do you want me to get mysteriously transferred off to some far off corner of the continent?" The red-head's eyes sparkle when he reads in between the lines and makes out her intentions.

"Alright then" He nods before stashing his book and turning around "I'll go and collect whatever information there is on him while I still can." He disappears from his spot, leaving behind what Ken could only describe as an afterimage.

'Linlin' stares off into the distance, most likely tracking the man with her superhuman eyes. She heaves a long sigh before once more facing Ken and the others.

"Follow after me. And don't drag behind."