I took my cart out of the Blue Fire Sect and walked towards the spot on the map.

We traveled through vibrant parts of the city. Markets decorated with bright cloth filled the streets. The cloth fluttered in the wind like a swarm of butterflies. We passed a section of towering mansions. We happened by a regal temple guarded by golden statues that I could’ve sworn were alive.

After dragging my cart along for an hour, I stopped and took out the map again. I was only one eighth of the way to my destination. I hung my head. An eight hour walk? Really?

I trudged along at a regular walking speed, restricted by the roads. A cultivator would be able to dash across the city unimpeded. For somebody like Chen Wei, getting from the Blue Fire Sect to place I was going took under fifteen minutes.

But me? I had this cart to carry. Thankfully, the Grand Flames City was a beautiful city. I’d been waiting to come out and explore it. The marvelous sights kept me from boredom.

I stopped the cart to check on Hui Ming. Everything on my cart was covered with a sheet, including the Protect holding Hui Ming.

I used wither on the Protect while it was still under the sheet. It dissolved into sawdust. I lifted part of the sheet and poked Hui Ming.

“Hugbuh?” she squeaked.

“Hey,” I whispered, “Don’t come out yet. I’m moving away from my house in the Blue Fire Sect. You’re in my cart of stuff I’m moving. You feel fine and everything?”

“Yes master,” she whispered back, “I think my cuts are healed. I still have a couple internal injuries but they aren’t life threatening.”

I cringed at being called master. I guess I’ll have to get used to it. I am her “master”, after all. If I wanted a servant, I would need to live with the titles.

“We’re going to hide out a good distance away from the two sects. Also, I’m going to call you ‘Xiao Li’ from now on, it’s an alias for you. I need you to stay here because you’re still wearing the same clothes as when we were fighting. Your shredded robes aren’t what I’d call inconspicuous.” I gave her a wooden mask that only covered the top half of her face. “Use this mask if you need to come out.”

I put the sheet back down and continued down the road. This was obviously a bad part of town. Even this city had its poorer areas. The shortest path between the sect and the new house contained a stretch of slums. The buildings around here lost the normal vibrance of the city. Shops were run down, decorative plants were replaced with weeds.

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I was surprised I didn’t get mugged... until I got mugged.

“Hey kid,” one relatively strong looking guy and two of his cronies strutted up to me. “Are you carrying that for somebody else?” He said.

I shook my head. “No, I’m moving across the city on my own.”

“If you don’t want any trouble, drop your cart and leave.”

It was pretty standard stuff. I couldn’t help but chuckle at his cookie cutter lines. “Xiao Li, can you take care of this for me?”

“Yes master.” A blast of Qi and the three of them were smashed into the ground. I flinched for them.

I continued walking according to the path on the map. We eventually reached a building at the edge of the slums. I rang the bell at the gate. A man scurried to open the door. There were three bruises dispersed across his face.

“Hello?” he looked at me warily.

“I heard this house was for sale,” I said. After he opened the gate, I could see how big this estate was. It was quite the plot of land, barren but large. From a first glance, I estimated it was larger than a professional soccer field. This was a lot of space to work with. Perfect.

A relieved smile spread across his face. “Yes, this house is for sale!” He seemed eager enough.

“For how much?”

“Four and a half million shards,” he confessed.

“I’ll take it,” I said immediately. People would normally haggle the price down, but I didn’t have the time to deal with all that. I just wanted to settle down and drink orange juice. “Please let me move in as soon as possible.”

I felt a light tingle on my back, but I couldn’t scratch it in the middle of a conversation. “You can move in right now. We can finish the transaction at the city hall later if you’d like.” he was very accommodating.

I talked with him for another couple minutes, smoothing out the plan for the transaction. He went into the house and left with his wife. They didn’t need to bring much with them, they had already moved everything out.

This house wasn’t as fancy as the last one, but the garden was big enough to compensate many times over. Hui Ming and I were given the keys before we paid. They seemed very eager to please.

My mana had refilled after the eight hour walk. I renovated the garden, replacing their plants with identical ones that were mine. It was tedious but fun. Tedious because of the immense area I had to cover, fun just because it was. Do I need a reason for something to be fun? Of course not.

Hui Ming approached me. “Hm?” I said, “Ooh, you’re all healed! Impressive.”

The combined effect of the high grade medicines and her own prowess were enough to make her injuries heal in eight hours. Granted, she still wasn’t in top form, but she could walk around without feeling any pain. I’d underestimated the power of refined medicine. Each additional cycle of refinement induced miraculous changes in the medicine. Powerful cultivators like Hui Ming could recover from severe injuries under half a day.

“How can I help?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Move the everything from the cart into the house. Choose a room and change into different clothes. Is that mask uncomfortable?”

“No.”

“Please keep it on from now on,” I said.

“Yes master,” she left to carry out my commands. How convenient.

With so much space, I let myself go all out to design my third, and hopefully last, stronghold.