Nine-tailed City was a rather fascinating place. On paper, the large city state was ruled by an elected council which in turn chose a City Lord. They were largely responsible for running the city and enforcing laws.

In reality though, the sole sect in the city was the one actually in charge. It was an interesting contrast to what they had seen in Cascadia. The perhaps unsurprisingly named, Nine-tailed sect had been the one’s to settle the land first, with the city forming around them over time.

The part that truly interested Lee, however, was the fact that he recognised the matriarch of the sect. Matriarch Nine-tail, progenitor of the nine-tail fox bloodline and current head of the nine-tail sect was one of the most ubiquitous cultivators on Xenus.

Not only were the members of her race one of the most powerful factions in the world thousands of years after her ascension, but he had also noticed the way the old monsters he had met in his time spoke of her. It was with a level of deference that rivalled Heaven’s Tyrant. Though her legend was currently more modest than it was on Xenus, she had clearly still achieved a lot. Nine-tailed city was considered a formidable power, after all.

The thought of meeting a legend that was arguably even greater than his master excited him, and a part of him wondered if the Foreign Ministry in Lasvania had that in mind when they were planning the journey. He immediately wanted to shove the idea aside as wishful thinking before pausing.

There was no point in trying to underestimate his importance. It was very possible that they had purposely sent him to two of his world’s legends to build some goodwill with him. His presence would likely also help strengthen ties.

They were led to their accommodation in the city, which was about as fancy as he had come to expect. The had a lot more meetings to attend within the next week than they had in Cascadia, so they only had the rest of the day to explore the city.

So, after they checked in to the rooms, he went with Lisa to check out parts of the city. There was a guide assigned to them when they announced their intent, a sharp contrast to the nonchalance they had just left in Cascadia.

The city was fairly interesting. It had the towering buildings that he had come to expect from a large city on Andrea, with wide roads for cultivators who blasted past them on their leisurely walk. There were serious restrictions on flying in the city, like most places with powerful cultivators that he had come across, and personal portals were not nearly as commonplace as they were in Lasvania. Though he saw portal stations that took people to different parts of the city.

All those things were standard though, and the most interesting thing about the city was certainly its people. Few of the people he passed by were human, which was a first for any city he had been to since his ascension. Foxes made up the vast majority of the people he saw, with a combination of other races, mainly wolf variants. Though he caught sight of a few Tremanns too.

Most of the foxes had between three and five tails, which was a clear upgrade from Xenus, where only a single fox had five tails, and she was considered on par with the Dragon Lord as one of the top five Great Lords on the planet.

Nine-tailed foxes generally got stronger the more tails they had, though it was not tied to their cultivation. Nevertheless, a five tailed fox would always beat a two tailed fox at the same cultivation level. A nine-tailed fox was usually unmatched across their cultivation level, easily outclassing all but the purest draconic bloodlines or other supremely gifted bloodlines. It was part of why Matriarch Nine-tailed was so revered on Xenus. There was no one who could come close to defeating her before she ascended.

She was also the only fox in existence with nine tails, though there were currently a few more with eight tails. There were rumours that only one nine tail could exist at a time, but it was not something anyone could actually prove.

They checked out some parts of the city, like a few famous memorials and landmarks. They also checked out the massive statue of a nine-tailed fox in the centre of the city. There were not accosted, even when they asked to see the less opulent areas, likely because there was no abundance of sect members trying to prove their superiority. The members of the Nine-tailed Sect generally always kept to themselves in the nearby mountain.

Lee found it ironic that Emperor Cascade, who was born and raised on Andrea let sects thrive and ruled a society that was most similar to Xenus, while the fox that actually came from their banned sects and tried to make her city somewhat similar to Lasvania.

They finally rounded up their tour after checking out the statue, which the guide had insisted on being the climax of their sightseeing. He was fairly satisfied when he returned to his room and spent the rest of the night pondering on his path of power and the Dao of lightning.

His progress was barely visible, but it existed, and so he kept pushing on. He knew it would be easier to simply wait for the absorber, but he did not want to create a habit of overreliance on it.

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The next day, they met with one of the city officials, and Lisa discussed economic partnership with the man. Something that Lee had little interest in. He would much rather prefer if they could go to meet Matriarch Nine-tailed herself immediately, but alas, they had to follow protocol.

The official ruler of the city was the City Lord, so they would have to meet her and a few council members first. It was frustrating, but that was how it was. So, he suffered though the meetings, silently impressed by Lisa’s ability to converse in fluent diplomatic speak for extended periods of time. The situations where he had needed to do so were some of the most unpleasant he had experienced.

He was also thankful for the ability to properly cultivate with only a part of his attention. And so, he continued pondering on his path even during the meetings. He was making progress with his technique even faster than he expected and might be able to properly create it in just a few months.

So, he ramped up his efforts, nearly even falling into a trance at one point, something he immediately reversed. He was not in any position to enter seclusion at the moment.

Lightning is Power.

It was a concept that had taken him to the peak of his old world. That had helped him become the youngest ascendant in history. He wanted to create a new core technique that would stay with his path. He could expand on his path, incorporating more things to it like he had touched on during his ascension. Or he could double down on what he already had. There was no such thing as too much power after all.

He thought of the High Chicken. Though its concept was far too complex to actually be useful to him, he had gleaned merely a tiny piece of it, which gave him the beginnings of insight into his own technique.

From the vague sense he got, the chicken had mastered the Dao of lightning down to minute levels that he wasn’t sure had existed prior to his ascension. The idea of the atom, the smallest particle matter could be split into, was fairly well known among most powerful cultivators. The further subdivisions and the concept of subatomic charges were a different matter.

Lee had found whispers of it deep in the archives of the more esoteric sects, but had understood little then. Now that he knew of it though, the beginnings pf his technique were starting to form in his mind. Attacking the lightning charge on a subatomic level would make him nearly unstoppable, going as far to be capable of disintegrating matter.

The thought left him giddy, as did the general idea of not being so far behind his peers combat. After all, that he did not particularly enjoy fighting did not mean he did not have a competitive streak.

Still, it was all conjecture and assumptions in the meantime. His attempts at even trying to sense charge on a subatomic level has gone woefully bad, and he achieved no results. He did not despair for it though. Instead pondering on the his path and how he would fit his new technique into it.

There was little stretching, but it felt doable to him. The planned technique would be nearly unstoppable after all, which was a primary requirement of his path

So he kept up with his meditations, even when they were meeting with the city officials, only making sure to spare enough attention to catch anything important.

He finally decided to give his full attention when they met the City Lord. The woman was the only High Cultivator in the city, though she had gotten the position before her advancement. She had ruled for so long because apparently the city council thought she was the best and just kept electing her. Even the people still seemed to like her according to what he had heard,

The meeting took his full attention because he believed it would be disrespectful to both her position as a head of state and as a High Cultivator to do otherwise. A decision he regretted not long into the meeting. Most of the surface agreements had been finalised and they were left with seemingly insignificant details that both the woman and Lisa seemed keen on stretching out as much as possible.

Once again he marvelled at Lisa’s ability to communicate so effectively in diplomatic tongue.

When they finally ended the meeting, Lee was both relieved it was over, and excited for what came next. They had finished meeting all the important city officials and could finally go to the sect. The next day was free of meetings, both him and Lisa content to focus on their cultivation before going to the sect.

The Nine-tailed Sect was located on a large mountain that stood tall beside the city. It towered over everything save for the giant statue in the middle of the city. Though they could have easily taken a teleport, Lisa had suggested they walk up the mountain, much to his surprise. Something about the hike being calming.

It took a frustrating amount of convincing before they had gotten the city officials to let them skip the portal and just walk. Their attempts to get rid of the guide the city had insisted on sending were unfortunately futile, even though they had stressed how pointless it was, given the Executor that was tailing them.

Still, even with everything, the walk up the mountain was pleasant and Lisa made for good conversation when they both felt like speaking. He suspected there was more she wanted to say, given the way she stared at their guide, but he left it alone. They could always talk about it when they were truly alone.

They got their in just under an hour, and though they could have made much faster time, they had chosen not to. Instead deciding to just enjoy the journey. The top of the mountain was unnaturally flat, and it had clearly been made so by people.

Up close, he could see the massive sect compound with several buildings that held very powerful spatial enchantments. It was like another city in itself. The style of the architecture was an old style that predated the Wu empire. It was also the style used by the Nine-tailed fox on Xenus.

Seeing it brought a pang of homesickness to his heart. Where Cascadia had been a pale imitation of some parts of Xenus, merely stripped of much of the creativity, the Nine-tailed Sect was like a piece of home manifested in the heavens. He had spent sometime with the foxes before his ascension, and seeing the sect brought many memories to the front of his mind.

He chuckled as he recalled some of the more chaotic parts of that stay. Lisa and the guide looked at him with strange expressions, but he ignored them completely, focusing on the sight in front of him instead.

For the first time in a while, he truly felt like he was home.