Sunday, under the bright sunlight, Daoist Ren walked down the streets, his eyes wandering hither and tither. He was looking for something. He blurted out in annoyance, punctuating himself with a sigh.

"Haa, seriously! Why the fuck do I have to work on a holiday."

"This sucks. The others must be enjoying their day off right now. And where do I even find it?"

One hour earlier:

A haggard man who looked to be close enough in age to Daoist Ren explained,

"It was a black cat. It had a very distinguishing white stripe on its tail. I saw it picking up the talisman in its mouth, scurrying away like the dumpster pussy it was. I was occupied at the time so I couldn't catch it.

You need to find it. That talisman was an unfinished product. If it is set off in the city, it can lead to casualties among ordinary people."

"Ehh? At least close the doors when you work. What's the power level around?"

"It can release a move close to 5th stage of Qi Condensation. You need to find it before it can lead to any problems."

It had just been a week since they got into the city guards. He didn't want to refuse any missions since it would look bad on his record.

With no other choice, Ren accepted the task from the amateur formation master and unenthusiastically set out to catch the four legged thief.

Present:

‘Besides, what if the cat dropped the talisman before I reached it?

A black cat with a white stripe on its tail. Huh, maybe I'll wander around for some time and then say I couldn't find it.

But it can reflect badly. Ahhh, I'll just find the cat and take it back, if it doesn't have the talisman, then I can't help it.

But will I even be able to find it?

Oh. found it.’

Right in front of him was a pitch black cat with a white stripe on its tail. In its mouth was a rectangular paper. It walked leisurely as its tail swayed with its steps.

Daoist Ren sneaked up on the cat. Dashing forwards, his hands moved with lightning speed.

Suddenly, the cat's tail stood at its end and it leaped to avoid the grasp. Before Daoist Ren could try again, it leaped at his face with unbelievable speed. Rather than attacking him, it stepped off of his face and clambering onto a ledge.

"Oi! Wait!!"

The cat leaped from the ledges to the roof, Daoist Ren on its tail. Surprisingly, its speed was not worse than his own with his 6th stage of Qi Condensation.

'This is going to be tough.'

Sighing again, Daoist Ren had no choice but to give his all in following behind the nimble cat.

Saturday Evening:

The sun was setting as Daoist Ren, Uncle, Scholar and Rapper Daoist exited from the city lord's mansion which also doubled as a kind of office for the city officials.

"Good thing we have it off tomorrow. What are you guys going to do?"

Daoist Ren asked the others.

"I'm going to paint. It’s been a long time since I did it. Since we get a day off, I'll go create a masterpiece."

Scholar announced with conviction.

"I'll drink

To the brink

From morning, till the sun sinks." Rapper Daoist replied as he waved his hands in a weird way.

"I think I'll just cultivate at home. What about you?" Replied Uncle.

"Me? I'll just sleep lazily. I think it's healthy to remember about the times when we needed sleep."

"See you guys on Monday. I've to go this way."

The group split at a cross road as they all went their own ways for the night. Uncle put his hands into his robes as he walked towards the market while humming an old tune.

After buying a lot of rations. He started buying children's clothes and toys. He purchased a lot of them, all for different sizes and stored them into his space pouch.

Walking out of the market and the lively part of the city, he soon came to the outskirts. There was only a single place which still exuded liveliness among these parts, his destination.

He knocked on the door and waited.

He easily noticed a wary gaze being cast on him from the peep hole in the door.

"Who is it?"

The voice oozed with suspicion.

Uncle knew that he didn't exactly look friendly, so he didn't care. He replied with an awkward smile,

"I want to make a donation."

Just these words were enough for the door to open and the person on the other side to have a welcoming attitude.

After all, the only way they were able to take care of the children was due to donations. They needed as much as they could get. If they had higher funds, the lives of the children would improve.

The one who opened the door was a middle aged woman with a beautiful and gentle face. Only the faint wrinkles on her attractive face gave away her true age.

She looked towards the unexpected visitor and hurriedly welcomed him in. Just from looking at how he was dressed, she knew that they stood no chance even if the man had malicious intentions. Mortals couldn't hope to contend against cultivators.

Even though it was illegal for cultivators to mistreat the normal populace in Sungon city. The cultivators were still favoured knowingly or unknowingly in matters of conflict.

This was the reason why any normal person was extremely respectful to cultivators. Uncle dressed like the stereotypical cultivator, so he was very easy to tell apart.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

As he looked towards the small children happily playing in the yard of the orphanage, it put a smile on Uncle's face.

He was an orphan himself, however, his conditions had been much grimmer than these kids in the orphanage. He didn't want any kid to go through what he had personally experienced. This was the reason he donated to orphanages when he had the time.

Inside a room, he was welcomed by the other adults who were managing the facility. Their faces instantly took on a favourable look as the middle aged woman explained the situation.

After some pleasantries, Uncle took out all the rations that he had procured as well as the toys and the clothes. He had only brought the best of the best.

After all, he was a cultivator. These purchases didn't make any difference to him. However, he knew the difference they could make for the kids.

Watching all the stuff that he was taking out from his space pouch, the woman and the other people present had to wipe the tears in their eyes. They had never expected him to donate so much.

"Sir cultivator, we are very thankful for this. Your donation's today will definitely let the children eat better and have a happier life. If you have time, please join us for dinner this time."

Uncle didn't have much to do, so he agreed.

In the hall of the orphanage. Around 40 children gathered. Their ages ranged from as young as 3 to as old as 13.

They were obviously curious of the new presence in the room. A bold 5-year-old boy ran towards the middle aged woman and grabbed her dress as he asked her.

"Auntie… Auntie, who is this new uncle?"

The middle aged woman picked up the boy as she replied to him while smiling.

"He's a very kind person, he is going to eat dinner with us today."

Around half the children along with the adults sat around a long table while the rest of kids sat around smaller round tables.

Looking at the food served to them, exclamations filled with awe left the children across the room.

"Oh! Is this meat? Is this thing meat? I thought we only get to eat meat on the founding day."

The oldest of the orphanage, a girl of 13 suddenly had tears falling out of her eyes. She said as she gulped down the mouthful,

"This is the best thing I've eaten in my whole life." Since the ingredients provided by uncle were top of the line by to mortal standards, the food was bound to taste good.

"Don't tell me...! Is the institute going out of commission or something? Is this the reason we get to eat such a lavish meal as our last?"

"Haha, it's not like that. The reason we get to eat such delicious things today is because this kind sir has donated enough food for the whole year. He's the one you should thank."

An old man said as he pointed towards uncle.

The children had good manners and knew how to treat someone who had helped them. All of them faced towards uncle and chorused as they bowed.

"Thank you very much."

This gesture made Uncle a little awkward but he was pleased to see the children happy.

The food was really good. Uncle liked it. Although it couldn't compare to the food cultivators ate. Which was made from ingredients filled with Qi and could even help in their cultivation. It was much better than what he had to eat when he was a kid.

This was food that he would even kill for when he was a kid. And it wasn't as if he hadn't killed for food. The food he got was still worse than the one he was having right now.

After the dinner, while the adults and the older kids took care of the utensils. Uncle accompanied the young ones to play.

A little kid who was showing him the interesting stones he had picked up suddenly said to him.

"Hey! you know."

"What?"

"You know, tomorrow is fun."

"You mean tomorrow will be fun. Why is that?" Uncle asked him as the kid talked to him while playing with the rocks.

"We get to see magic tomorrow!!"

"Magic?"

"Yeah!! Big sisters and big brothers said it will be very fun. They said magic shows are very good and..and.. they are just super good.

uncle should also come to see it. It will be very good... I know it.. big brothers won't lie to me."

Hearing someone talk about the magic show. The other little kids also started talking excitedly.

"Yeah! Magic show is fun!! You can see too!"

"Have you seen it before? Is it so good?" Uncle asked the kids.

"No! But it's very good. Auntie and grampa also said it'll be good.. so it will be good."

'Magic show huh... this reminds me when I sneaked in to see the circus without paying.'

He didn't even remember what he saw in the circus. The most vivid memories were of him getting caught in the end and being beaten up by the organisers for sneaking in without paying.

Since it was getting late and the children had to sleep, Uncle decided to go home after he said goodbye to the sleepy children.

While he was heading out, his ears suddenly picked up the conversation between the middle aged woman and the old man.

"The kids will be very disappointed."

"We can't do anything about it. That guy broke his leg, we can't blame him. We'll just have to explain to the children. I'm sure they'll understand."

"They always have no choice but to understand," the middle aged woman replied sadly.

Uncle who was just about to exit the place stopped and went back inside. He just didn't want it to happen like this, he had seen how excited the children had been for the magic show.

'I'm a cultivator, I can do it if I try.'

Coming out of the orphanage and taking the dark street back to his house, Uncle's mind was occupied by the magic that he would have to show the children tomorrow.

Sunday:

'This much should be enough. I should be able to set up a convincing magic show. With my research and cultivation, how can a mortal match me.'

Taking a deep breath, Uncle entered the orphanage.

----------------------------------------

On one of the walls of the city. A young man sat with a canvas in front of him. The scholarly young man looked towards the woman sitting in front of him as he worked on her portrait.

Although Scholar was a skilled painter, he wasn't too exemplary. It still took him some time to make good portraits. While drawing the portraits, he made sure to include some convincing embellishments of the beauty of the subject.

'Haaa, this is like the time when I had to make portraits all day to earn cash for buying books.'

"It's finished,” He handed of the finished work to the lady.

"Ahh, this is so good. You made me so pretty. Thank you very much."

'Of course I did.' he thought, but he said,

"Not really. The painting came out pretty cause the subject was pretty."

His replies were conditioned from fighting for each commission when he needed the money.

Just after he finished refusing the woman's money because he had no need to take it. A family of three stood in front of him and requested for a portrait.

'Oh man. When will this end? Ahhhh.' he thought, but he said,

"Ok, please don't move a lot. I'll draw one out."

Three hours earlier:

'This seems like a good spot for the masterpiece. I'll definitely make it the best one I've ever drawn.'

Scholar was filled with spirit. He felt the motivation today. It made him feel like he could do something really amazing.

Putting his canvas down, he faced towards the outside of the city. He planned to draw the mountain that held the selection exam initially. It stood out much more after the snake fell on it and messed it up, increasing its worth as a subject.

As he was just about to put the first stroke down, his concentration was broken by a voice.

"If it isn't Su Shirong. Painting on your day off."

"Good morning Senior. Nice to meet you here." Scholar greeted his senior at the city guards. He didn't say much more because he hoped he would be left alone to finish his masterpiece.

"How long have you been doing this? Are you any good?"

"Well, I've done it for some years. I think I'm good enough.", Scholar gave out a perfunctory reply.

"Are you? Well then why not warm up by drawing up a portrait of me before you paint the landscape."

Although he wasn't very interested, refusing would be rude so he didn't refuse and started drawing a portrait. And it might even warm him up as suggested by the senior.

After some time,

"Oh!! It came out very nicely. You weren't lying when you said you were good. I think I'll have this framed and hang it in my house."

It was finally time for Scholar to work on his masterpiece.

"Son, are you drawing portraits up here? Will you please draw one for me? I'll pay you." An old voice made him raise his head.

In front of him was a wobbly old man using a cane to balance himself. He looked so old that Scholar felt like he was on the brink of death.

'Old man, how did you even climb the stairs to the top?'

Again, refusing the wish of an old man so close to death would be impolite. So Scholar agreed to draw his portrait.

Present:

'Finally, finally everybody is done. I can finally start the work on my masterpiece.'

Scholar felt like crying. People kept lining up one after the other and he just didn't have the heart to refuse them. Impoliteness was something he hated very much. He didn't want to be a hypocrite by being impolite himself.

Although he could politely turn them away. He still decided to just finish the line instead of doing that. Now there were no more people left for him to draw. Although he was a little tired, it was finally the time to start his masterpiece.