A single gray tower stood among ten mountain ranges. To call it a tower was an insult seeing as the tower was larger than the ten mountain ranges put together. This tower was Polar Lotus City, the wealthiest and largest city in all of the Northern Domain. At different heights on the tower large slabs of stone protruded to allow entrance to the different zones of Polar Lotus City.

Currently a Rainbow Crane landed onto the 8th platform of Polar Lotus City. Wu Jilong and Lu Deyang dismounted from the bird and walked towards the entrance of the tower. Behind a stone counter stood a young woman.

“Welcome to Polar Lotus City! What is your reason for coming here today?” the young woman asked with a flushed face. Wu Jilong studied her carefully, or so she thought. He was actually appreciating the robe she wore for its masterful thread work and superb use of color and patterns.

“We have come to purchase goods in the Polar Merchant Row,” Lu Deyang said.

Still under Wu Jilong’s gaze the young woman lowered her head, after a minute of fumbling around behind the counter she produced two pieces of lotus shaped jade. “These are your proof of admittance into Polar Lotus City, if you lose them at anytime you will be forcibly ejected by the tower. If you have any questions I would be more than happy to answer them!”

“We have no questions,” Lu Deyang replied coldly as he entered Polar Lotus City. Wu Jilong however walked to the counter and gazed deeply into the young woman’s eyes causing her face to turn even redder.

“Where did you purchase this robe?” Wu Jilong asked.

“I already have a husband! But it is my duty as a representative of Polar Lotus City to make our guests happy, if it is your wish,” she said. Due to her own perverted delusions when Wu Jilong mentioned her robe she started to strip, completely ignoring his question.

“Where did you purchase this robe?” he asked again, his voice much colder this time. The young woman’s face turned even redder (if that was possible) she ducked under the counter and pointed south with her finger. “I-i-i-in the Polar Merchant Row there is a shop called the Divine Thread’s Tailor, the fat man who works there he made it for me.”

Without offering any thanks to the perverted girl Wu Jilong walked away and entered Polar Lotus City. Once he entered Lu Deyang rushed over to his side. “Wu Jilong, where would you like to visit first? The grand-master alchemists of Polar Lotus City are famous for their high grade cultivation pills!” Lu Deyang said with a clear tone of respect.

“Only a fool would take a pill to help with cultivation. Do you truly believe these clowns you call grand-master alchemists can refine the enlightenment of cultivation into pills? Who am I kidding, of course you would,” Wu Jilong sneered.

Lu Deyang was a cultivator who like many other cultivators in the Grand Peak Continent relied on the pills from alchemists to make breakthroughs. Hearing himself be called a fool and the alchemists he held in regard called clowns Lu Deyang was furious.

“What do you mean? The pills alchemists produce allow cultivators to breakthrough the bottlenecks of cultivation they face. For what reason do you mock them? What right do you have to mock them?” Lu Deyang asked not caring enough to hide the disdain in his voice.

“What was your name again?” Wu Jilong asked. It should be said that Wu Jilong has an exceptional memory but he can’t be bothered to remember the name of such an insignificant cultivator.

“Lu Deyang! Lu Deyang! Lu Deyang!” Lu Deyang screamed his face completely red from anger. Having Wu Jilong ask his name for the fifteenth time was the final straw. Some days he even had asked for Lu Deyang’s name more than once.

“For what reason do I mock them? What right do I have to mock them? 5,000 years ago I taught cultivators of the Grand Peak Continent alchemy as a joke! They are nothing more than clowns meant to be mocked. Cultivation is about enlightenment, only a child would believe taking a pill can grant enlightenment. The difference between true cultivators and fools is that of the heavens and the earth,” Wu Jilong said.

Lu Deyang wanted to speak out but how could he? Wu Jilong was an existence that Lu Deyang couldn’t comprehend.  The more he thought about what Wu Jilong had said the more it made sense. Lu Deyang and Cao Peng were both cultivators at the peak of the Earthly Understanding Stage yet the difference between them was that of the heavens and the earth. The reason for this? It was none other than the fact that Cao Peng never used pills to break through while Lu Deyang did.

Lu Deyang always thought it was only Cao Peng’s talent that made the difference but now he knew it was the fact that his own cultivation was the culmination of a 5,000 year old joke. Who knows how many cultivators had their Qi ruined because of this joke. Lu Deyang felt the need to be alone, he made up the excuse of buying Wu Jilong a ring of holding and left after giving him a sack of gold coins. Wu Jilong put the coins away and walked down the pathways of Polar Lotus City’s 8th level, hundreds of people moved about in all directions wares and goods in hand.

Peddlers set up shop in the plaza to sell their magical goods, these peddlers were alternatives to the large shops and were only frequented by poor cultivators. Large magical beasts pulled caravans filled to the brim with magical goods towards the larger market houses of Polar Merchant Row.

Finally Wu Jilong came to find The Divine Thread’s Tailor. The building had complex carvings along its stone arches which were supported by stone columns carved into the shapes of dragons.

Upon entering Divine Thread’s Tailor Wu Jilong was met with the pleasant scent of lavender and wine. Tapestries of fine silk hung from corner to corner inside the building. In the back corner of the room an overweight man wearing a floral robe stood needle in hand. It must be said that from an early age Wu Jilong had a deep love of all things beautiful. Nature, battle, art, and many other things in the world all had their own potential for beauty.

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Once the overweight man spotted Wu Jilong his beady black eyes shone with extreme concentration as he tried to imagine a robe that would compliment Wu Jilong’s appearance. “Hello! Though I am usually quite confident in my ability, I don’t think I will be able to make a robe fine enough for you!”

“Your needlework and use of color and patterns are all exquisite. I wish to wear a robe made by you.” Wu Jilong said.

“You flatter me! Each robe is one gold coin, do you have any requests?”

Wu Jilong took out the pouch of gold he had gotten from Lu Deyang. “The designs are up to your own discretion,” he said. In seeking out the overweight man’s shop Wu Jilong wanted robes made from the creativity of this master tailor.

“How many do you want sir?” The overweight man asked.

“50.”

…

Hours passed and Lu Deyang came to find Wu Jilong much to his dismay. Wu Jilong took an olive green ring of holding from Lu Deyang. With a simple gesture of his hands 49 robes disappeared. Wu Jilong had long since changed out of his faded robe into a white and black robe with hundreds of hearts embroidered everywhere.

With nothing left to buy Wu Jilong and Lu Deyang prepared to leave Polar Lotus City when something one of the peddlers was selling caught Wu Jilong’s interest. It was a small white egg no larger than a chicken's, however, from the bottom of the egg a pitch black stem was firmly planted in a broken clay pot filled with snow. “What is the price of this egg?” Wu Jilong asked.

The filthy peasant looked up from the stale bread he was eating. “50 gold coins,” he said.

“You dirty beggar who would pay 50 gold fo…”

Wu Jilong produced 50 gold coins and put the egg away in his ring of holding. Outside Polar Lotus City Wu Jilong and Lu Deyang sat on the back of the Rainbow Crane who was preparing to take off.

“What was that egg you bought?” Lu Deyang asked.

“A formless beast egg. Depending on the Qi used to nurture the egg any type of magical beast may be born,” Wu Jilong said. Formless beast eggs were truly a rare phenomenon, even a dragon or phoenix can be born from a formless beast egg as long as the Qi used to nurture it is good enough. How these eggs came to be in the world was a mystery that even Wu Jilong was not certain of.

After an hour of flying Lu Deyang leaned in next to the Rainbow Crane and whispered a command softly so that Wu Jilong wouldn’t be able to hear it.

“Why are we landing?” It was all for nought, Wu Jilong was able to hear Lu Deyang’s heartbeat from afar how would he not be able to hear his whispers from a few feet away? Compared to humans and most magical beasts Wu Jilong six senses were far more evolved.

“There is something wrong with my Rainbow Crane which I want to examine before forcing him to fly for too long,” Lu Deyang said.

Fool, I don’t even need to listen to your heart to know you're lying. Wu Jilong thought. Not a second after the Rainbow Crane landed Wu Jilong jumped off distancing himself from Lu Deyang who held a heart shaped blade in his hand and emitted visible killing intent with a sinister smile on his face.

“I have never used a knife before but against an arrogant cripple like yourself I don’t even need to use my Qi!” Lu Deyang roared.

Lu Deyang rushed towards Wu Jilong, the Bewitching Mind Blade extended in his left hand ready to pierce Wu Jilong’s heart. In the blink of an eye blood ran down the blade but it was not Wu Jilong’s rather it was Lu Deyang’s. Just before Lu Deyang had reached him Wu Jilong dropped to the ground, using his arms to push off the ground he delivered a fierce kick towards Lu Deyang’s wrist.

Using the momentum of Lu Deyang’s suicidal charge Wu Jilong broke Lu Deyang’s wrist forcing the blade towards his heart. Because Lu Deyang used no protective Qi the blade easily passed through his chest to pierce his heart. From the twitches in his muscle fibers and the movements of Lu Deyang’s eyes Wu Jilong was able to tell what kind of attacks Lu Deyang would use before he used them.

But more than anything else it was the fact that Lu Deyang held the knife straight out like a lance telegraphing his intentions. Lu Deyang’s claims of never using a blade before were clearly not a lie, because only an idiot would use a blade in such a manner. Even without Qi Wu Jilong was confident against such a poor opponent, his battle experience against Devas was not just for show after all.

“The spawn of a farmer dares to try and control me? This Bewitching Mind Blade isn’t worthy of being used by me!” Wu Jilong exclaimed as he threw the blade away into a half thawed river. Wu Jilong was present when the Cao Clan Founder created the Bewitching Mind Blade but Lu Deyang and Cao Peng had no way of knowing this. With a simple chant Lu Deyang’s eyes turned into empty pools of darkness, he was now the under control of Wu Jilong.

“Take me to the Sect of Five Corners then cripple your cultivation and become a meal for this Rainbow Crane,” Wu Jilong ordered.