Wu Estate, Red City

Three days had passed since Lu Shimming arrived at the place. During these three days, he diligently did his work as the stable boy taking care of the horses as he didn’t want to evoke any suspicions. Not to mention, he bumped into Guard Wang a couple of times, and he sure didn’t seem to give up on the idea of torturing him for answers. At least that's what his face said.

During his stay, he had found out about quite a few things about the Wu Family, and the Red City as well.

“Little Ming..” Suddenly a voice entered Lu Shimming’s ears, and he turned around to see Uncle Li calling out to him, and there was Guard Wang beside him as well.

“The Young Master is calling for you. Follow me..” Guard Wang stated in a cold voice.

“Coming..” Lu Shimming put down the bundle of hay, and swiftly followed Guard Wang behind.

…

“How’s your stay the past few days?” Wu Feng asked as quietly sipped a cup of tea, sitting on the sofa.

“It's been great. I am really grateful to you Young Master for taking me in.” Lu Shimming bowed with a grateful look on his face.

“That's good to hear.” Wu Feng nodded, before keeping the cup down, and raising his head to look Lu Shimming in his eyes.

“..”

“Ummn?” Lu Shimming forced a smile on his face when their stare lasted for a minute with an odd silence lingering in the air.

“I have a task for you.” Wu Feng finally withdrew his gaze as he handed over a task to Lu Shimming. “We need to deliver a bunch of Horses to the Red Auction house for sale. But, the stable boy who was to accompany the merchant had fallen sick. I want you to take his place.”

Lu Shimming could only accept the proposal given his current situation. Besides, he was really eager to get out of this place. He might even find a chance to run away.

“You can use the rest of the day to familiarize yourself with the city, it's not good to stay cooped up within the estate too. You are new here after all.”

Wu Feng was oddly kind, well orthodox people were surely different from the kind of people Lu Shimming had interacted with until now.

Soon Lu Shimming left the mansion, and headed out to continue his day.

“There was no reaction this time..” Wu Feng muttered as he sat there in contemplation. He was wondering if he had hallucinated last time and saw that weird vision. But even if he ignored that, Lu Shimming was still suspicious.

“Guard Wang..”

In the end, he couldn’t help it.

“Yes, Young Master…” Guard Wang entered the room.

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“Send someone to keep an eye on him today, see if he makes any suspicious movements or tries to run away,” Wu Feng spoke as he got up and picked his sword, ready to train.

‘He really is a freak..’ Guard Wang couldn’t help but mutter inwardly. He had never seen Wu Feng free, he was always swinging swords. It was to the point that he had ignored his cultivation.

Sighing, he could only walk away from the place.

…

At around 11 in the morning, Lu Shimming made his way towards the entrance of Wu Estate, where he met Merchant Xu with a dozen horses lined up in their troupe and they left for the Red City Auction house.

Lu Shimming took this opportunity to observe the Red City. Unlike its name which came from the ominous Red River, the city was beautiful and well developed. There were stores lined up all around, and the city was filled with people.

It was one bustling environment.

This was his first visit to a territory controlled by an Orthodox faction, and in this city, the Red Alliance was the overlord. It was formed from the alliance of various clans and orthodox sects, and from the information he had accrued over past three days, the Patriarch of Wu Clan was the current leader of the Red Alliance.

“We are here..”

Without noticing the passage of time, Lu Shimming realized that he was already there.

Merchant Xu got out of the carriage, and soon arranged for the horses to be taken by the people of the auction house to their temporary abode before being auctioned off.

“Thank you for your help, Young Friend..” Merchant Xu smiled as he approached Lu Shimming. He was truly impressed by his abilities to keep the horses under control. This was the first time that the journey had been so peaceful.

Lu Shimming had realized these too. The animal seemed to behave very differently in his presence, and they immediately became submissive with a single touch from him.

At first he was confused, but soon realized it.

They feared him.

After all, it was natural instinct to fear the unnatural. That was what Lu Shimming’s current state could be described as.

“I would have really asked you to work for me..” Merchant Xu let out a smile on his face as he handed down a pouch of silver coins to Lu Shimming for his pay.

‘I really don’t mind working for you..’ Lu Shimming really wanted to say those words, but held back when he heard Merchant Xu’s next sentence which wiped off the smile from his face.

“But I can't steal Young Master Feng’s people..”

In the end, Lu Shumming bid his farewell, and left the auction house as he roamed the streets of the city. He wasn’t in a hurry to go back, as Wu Feng had already given him his permission to spend his time leisurely.

‘Those look tasty..’ He couldn’t help but gulp down looking at those food stalls, but didn’t dare to eat anything. Because, last time when he ate his meal, it came out of the hole in his stomach. That was one mess, and it really traumatized him a bit.

And, yeah, the dead didn’t need food to survive, it seems.

“Hmmn..” Suddenly, Lu Shimming noticed a figure standing by the side of the road handing out pamphlets to people.

“Amitabha!”

Yup, it was a bald monk, wearing a kashaya, with a rosary hanging around his neck.

At first, he was hesitant to walk over, worried about his identity of the dead being uncovered, but when he thought about it, he wasn’t a normal dead corpse. Yeah, his body was never cold, his skin was not that pale, and he wasn’t decaying as well.

It was as if someone had pushed a pause button on him, from the moment he had regained his consciousness after dying. And, even if he got injured, his body would slowly heal him back to his state, though it took a lot of time.

‘Let’s give it a try..’

”Here..”

As Lu Shimming walked up to him, he too was handed over a pamphlet. It was nothing but just them promoting their path of Spiritualism, and how it was right to give up on worldly attachments and other stuff.

‘Useless…’ The one that people of the unorthodox faction most looked down upon was definitely the monks.

‘Hmmn..’ Suddenly, Lu Shimming’s eyes landed on the last line of the pamphlet.

“Disciple Recruitment?”

“Are you interested, Young Friend?” The monk asked as his eyes lit up with a crazy light in them and he clasped Lu Shimming’s hand as if he would run away. Honestly, it wasn’t easy to find people these days, and the branch of their sect in Red City was specially struggling here due to the presence of Wu Clan which was the major force in the city. Most young people wanted to join them instead of becoming bald.

“Are you going to teach me Spiritual Cultivation?” Lu Shimming couldn’t help but ask, this was something he really needed to confirm his hypothesis.

“T-This..you need to start with the basics firs-”

“Forget it..” Lu Shimming cut him off as he pulled his hand back from his grasp and turned around to leave.

“Wait, Young Friend!” The Bald Monk immediately grabbed Lu Shimming’s shoulder, and he felt as if a mountain had pressed down on him.

“Ah..I apologize..” He immediately released his grasp, realizing that he had used a bit too much of strength and forced a smile on his face.

“So, you gonna teach?” Lu Shimming asked as he massaged his shoulder a bit. He was really inwardly shocked, normal people couldn’t make him feel much of a pain, but this man surely was able to somehow.

It seems that the monks were really a bane for the dead.

But, he still needed to take the risk, after all, he wasn’t particularly safe in the Wu Estate.

“You can get an Advance Meditation Technique from our sect. It is indeed a type of Spiritual Cultivation technique..”

Lu Shimming couldn’t help but look at him suspiciously.

“I am not lying. If you don’t believe me, you can accompany me to the Monastery now.” He doubled down on it. He really didn’t want to lose this opportunity that had come across after a whole week of hard work. And, to be honest, he would be in deep trouble if he couldn’t recruit anyone today.

In the end, Lu Shimming was dragged to a remote location which was somewhat closer to Wu Estate, around the forest area. It was situated at the base of the Jade mountain nearby, and the Red River ran through the side of it

“Here we are..” The monk stated with a smile, as he looked at a half-titled board which seemed to have worn out from decades of wear and tear.

“Monastery of Jade Cloud”