James woke up late in the morning, it was the most peaceful sleep he had in months.

Now he needs to decide what to do.

First, get as far away from the sect as possible. Second, finds a way to keep his freedom. Third, get strong enough to not worry about the first two anymore

The current objective is to get as far away from the Verdant sect as possible. In other words this province.

The fast and reliable way is to use teleportation, There is a teleportation network linking the big cities in the empire, and Navar is on it. But it is heavily regulated, and the price is very high, he doubts he can afford it.

That leaves traveling the normal way, but that is not simple, because between cities there are thousands of li filled with beasts and horrors, and only the presence of cultivators and the army prevent them from encroaching in cities.

For him, a single cultivator with no backing to travel into another province is almost impossible.

So he has to look for a caravan, preferably one that is already guarded and has an escort of cultivators.

For a big city like Navar, he expected one or two to go every week, he would have to catch a ride in one of those.

Before that, he needs to reach the third level. He is almost at the limit of the second and can do that pretty soon.

James took out some food from his ring and ate it, after that he started cultivating, it was only after the sun had set that he stopped cultivating and headed downstairs.

As usual, the Inn attendant was standing in her place, glaring at a man rattling to her about something, and if looks could kill he would probably be in his grave now.

James headed there, the man kept on talking.

“The beast headed toward me, I swung my sword and split him in half, then I turned to the bear and blocked it with my hand, after that, I killed it using…” The man continued with his ridiculous tale.

No wonder she doesn’t smile at customers anymore, if someone has to listen to that every day, just keeping their sanity is a struggle.

James focused on other conversations.

“I heard that another village not far from here was attacked by a beast tide, thankfully the moonlight sect saved them,”.

“And the man was…”

“The Duke's daughter is now…”

“I heard that the verdant sect is doing a manhunt in the nearby forest,” a man said

James focused on the last one

“Everyone did, they are inspecting anyone leaving the forest, they did certainly lose something valuable” his companion replied

“The strange thing is they said he is at the second level, how the hell did he have access to something like that?” another said

“I don’t know they are not giving any information about him, I heard some disciples mumbling that he isn’t even a part of the sect” the first replied.

“Sir do you need anything” the staff asked James.

It looks like the man speaking to her has departed to a side table.

“Yes I would like to extend my stay for another night, also for dinner I would like to have a double serving and say thank you to the chef on my behalf, it was delicious,” James said as he handed her two more low-grade crystals.

“As you like, do you want it brought to your room, or would you like to eat it here”

“In my room, I have some errands to run for now, though,” James said

He headed outside the Inn, in the direction of the market. When he was three streets away from it, he took a turn and headed for a small house on the corner.

James knocked nine times without any stop between them and waited. After a while, an old man opened the door.

He looked to be in his late sixties or early seventies, wearing a white tunic and holding a can.

“Pardon the delay, I can’t move as fast as I used to anymore,” the old man said.

“No problem at all, you look as young as I remember, can I come in” James said

That was the code the lady in the shop had given him.

“Sure, head in,” he invited James inside the house.

After closing the door behind him, everything about the old man changed, his hunched posture got straight. His face which was filled with wrinkles as if he could die from a single breath, beaming with energy. His cultivation, none existing at the beginning, is stronger than what James could perceive.

James shuddered, that was creepy.

“Follow me,” he told James.

They went to a hidden door that led to a tunnel.

“One mid-grade crystal,” the man said.

James gives it to him.

“Wear these and follow this tunnel. The mask and the robe are linked to a formation, as long as you wear them in this place, no one can know your Identity. And as you know, no violence is allowed inside,” The man said.

He gave James a gray cloak and a tiger mask.

After that, he left James alone.

James took the mask and wore it, he did the same with the cloak and exchanged it for his own.

James kept following the tunnel, and after some time he entered a big underground area, it was filled with people wandering around, probably hundreds, all of them wearing masks similar to James’s.

There were a lot of people presenting their products in the street, there were also some shops as well.

He is planning to buy several things, an item to help hide his identity, information to guide him on where to go, then shadow techniques, and if he could afford them some battle techniques.

This will cost him a sizable amount, but it should be manageable if he can sell some of what he has.

James headed into one of the stands, an individual wearing a tiger mask and a robe was sitting on the ground, around him various products were scattered, and one of them was a mask.

James took the mask in his hand, it was a simple gray mask that covered the upper part of the face with two holes for the eyes.

“Made of a material that can block Qi, nothing more and nothing less,” the stall owner said.

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That means it can hide his face from many cultivation techniques, it is the basics of what he should get.

“How much for this one” James asked

“One mid-grade crystal,” The man said

“Do you have a better one? Maybe something that helps change the appearance of the user, or their voice at least” James said

“No, I don’t” the man replied

James headed for another stand he kept going around until he found another mask, the same as the last one, but could cover the whole face.

“No special effects if that is what you are looking for, but I can give you some advice for one low-grade crystal,” The individual said.

James nodded his head and handed them the payment.

“Look for a cultivation technique that helps you alter your voice or appearance and combine it with a basic mask just like this one, finding a tool that does all of that is possible, but it will take time and the price is way higher,” they said.

James thought about it, a technique would use his own Qi, but he would have to manage, he didn’t have the time to wait for one of those masks, and even if he did find one here, he doubted he could afford it.

“Do you have any of those?” He asked

“No, I don’t” the man replied.

James kept going until he found a merchant that sold both the technique and a basic mask, he got both for one mid-grade crystal. The first can slightly modify his appearance and voice, and the latter can block qi detection method from seeing through the deception.

After that James headed for one of the big shops, they sell one thing and that is information.

James went straight to the desk and asked the attendant, a young woman at the third level.

“What do you like to buy sir” The woman asked

“Information about any caravan leaving the city in about one or two weeks, and as much as you know about the road they take.”

“No problem sir, we will add which one accepts strangers to travel with them, do you want anything else?” She said.

“Anything networthy happening in the city now” He replied.

“You need to be more precise than that,” She said.

“Well, a beast attack on the surrounding villages, strange activity in the forest, and something about the duke's daughter,” He replied.

“Is that all?” She asked

James nodded his head.

“Well, It will all cost you one mid-grade crystal, most of it for the first request about caravans and their schedules and roads. As for the other's requests, I will just tell you verbally, as we don’t know much about them right now.” She said

James nodded his head and handed her the payment. She took five scrolls from the shelf and handed them to James.

“Those are the five caravans that will be leaving in the next two weeks, their destination, the road they will be taking, and the type of passenger they accept on board.”

James took cursory glances through them, he will need to revise them more carefully and decide which road to take later.

“As for your other requests, there was one beast attack on a nearby village, a delegation of the moonlight sect, who were heading here, intervened and a disaster was averted, three mortals died, and the city sent a team to investigate where the attack came from,” She said.

“Well, any of them pass by that village or its surroundings?” James asked.

“No, none of them will. As for the activity in the surrounding forest, the verdant sect is doing a manhunt for one of their disciple, they said he killed a fellow one, and they are monitoring entry and sortie from the forest, not just close to Navare but to other cities that are bordering the forest as well, it is a big net. They tried to do so in the city gate as well, but the army refused to let them, said it would endanger their neutrality and set a strong precedence.” She said.

James nodded his head. That is a relief, otherwise entering the city would have been way harder.

“There is not much information about him otherwise, the sect has a portrait they show to people, but no one has come forward with more information about him, and according to our sources, most of the disciples didn’t even know he was a part of the sect before the incident.” she continued.

James nodded his head, that is expected, the number of people he interacted with in the sect can be counted on one hand.

“About the duke's daughter, she was accepted in the verdant sect last year with a special attribute and has performed very well since then. Her success has given the duke a lot of political power, and there has been no shortage of suitors coming for her hand since then. The moonlight sect delegation is probably here on a related matter.”

“What’s her name?” James asked.

“Wow, that's a first, where have you been buried, she has been the talk of the province for months now,” She asked.

That was a mistake, he shouldn’t have asked that question, he forgot who he was talking to, informant are dangerous, and just from that question, she had probably guessed a lot about him.

“Well, her name is Debra”

James didn’t show anything on his face upon hearing that name, it looked like the aloof girl had an exciting future ahead of her.

“Thank you, and have a nice night,” James said.

“You as well” she replied.

James left the shop and looked for one that cell cultivation technique, before he found it though he heard a loud noise, James looked to his right, thirty feet from him three cultivators were surrounding a stall owner.

“I said I am not coming with you, a man sold those herbs to me, and that's all I know,” the harassed individual, a woman, and James is pretty sure her voice is familiar.

“We know that, but we just want to ask for some information, after that, you would be free to go,” one of the people surrounding her said.

"I am not going anywhere, if you have anything to ask about, do it here, also I am not giving you any free information you will have to pay for them. Or do you want to break the black market rules? I am sure the enforcers are already surrounding us, and they won’t like what you are doing” she replied.

“What is this about?” a new voice asked.

Five more individuals had appeared around them, they were armed, each holding a sword, and wearing black armor with an eagle symbol in them.

“This matter concerns the Verdant sect” one of the aggressors replied.

Then the man took down his mask.

The two accompanying him did the samel, when James tried to sense their level he was sure of two things, two of them were not in the same stage as him, and the last one was none other than his warden.

One was a middle-aged man with a scar across his face, the other was a female with a cold atmosphere around her, she had an uncanny resemblance to Hymes.

It took all of James's effort not to turn around and go, that would have been eye-catching when all the people around were watching with apt attention.

“For the Verdant sect to send two of the hunting hounds, what did that poor disciple do?” The guard with the eagle Insignia asked.

“It is none of your business, we will be taking this woman for questioning,” Scar Face replied.

“I can’t allow that, we have rules, but you can ask her here, and she will respond, that is as far as I can allow this farce to go. If you want to force this, be my guest, I am pretty sure I can kill two of you, and my reinforcement will arrive before yours does.” The guard replied.

The atmosphere gets so tense that for a moment James thought that they would fight then and there, but at the end, the man with the scar turned toward the stall owner and asked.

“Tell me everything in detail?”

“As I said, a man sold those herbs to me, He bought some weapons and asked about some techniques I didn’t have” The woman replied.

“Did he say anything about a destination?” Scar Face asked

“He mentioned the black market?” she replied.

“His description, clothes, anything we may use to identify him.”

“He was wearing a cloak that hid his frame, and his face was covered, his voice is the only reason I think he is a man,” She said.

“Anything else?”

“His cultivation level was…”

Before she could finish, the man spoke.

“Don’t, other than you we are the only one who knew that and would prefer it to be that way, so if we find that you told anyone anything, you will find the verdant sect after you.”

Then he turned toward the crowd and spoke.

“This is an internal matter of the Verdant sect, anyone who interferes in it will be dealt with harshly.”

For several moments, there was only silence, the first to break it was none other than the guard.

“To think you will threaten our client in my presence”

He released his aura, and James felt a chill down his spine, he was barely able to breathe.

The guard continued

“Leave”

For the second time, James thought a battle would break out, but the verdant sect cultivator left, and the crowd dispersed after that.

James lost his interest in shopping.

James followed one of the exit signs, it led to a shop with a collar symbol on it.

He headed inside, and to no one surprise, he saw many cages scattered around with people in them, this was a slave shop.

There are several of them in the city, after all, selling and buying slaves is legal in the empire. But the reason this one is in this market is many of the slaves found here were made so by Illegal means, or were underage.

One of the shop attendants approached James.

“Welcome Sir, you have come to the right place sir, we have the best product in the market?” He told James.

It took effort not to put a knife in the man's throat.

James didn’t respond and kept going. He followed the signs into a side room, changed his clothes, took the stairs, and left the black market.

The exit was relatively far from the market, and it took some time to reach the inn.

The time was late, but when James entered the inn he found it was as lively as he had left it.

The receptionist was still standing at the counter, listening to a man rumbling about his accomplishment, and she looked as bored as ever.

He nodded toward her and headed for his room.