Locating Elder Mo did not take long. After all, he was always present in the Arts hall. Sometimes Wu Guang even wondered if the Elder even moved while inside the room, as every time Wu Guang saw the Elder in the same pose and near the same weiqi table.

After some greetings and a few questions about Wu Guang's situation, Elder Mo explained the matter about the duel. It turned out that the challenger was no one else than Wang Yong from the 'Leaf Shadows Sect'.

Wu Guang had not interacted with him more than during the provocation that took place on his first day in the Port District, so he was pretty surprised. But this surprise lessened after hearing the reason.

"Like I was telling you, he has challenged you because he feels that you are related to the disappearance of his relative. So you can either accept the challenge and clear your name, or go and explain everything to the Wang family"

"I thought that the situation with elder Wang Boqin's disappearance was solved"

"You could say it like this, but to say the truth, the Coastal Hill City Lord simply made everyone forget about investigating. And Lady Shenlan is close to the 'Leaf Shadows Sect', but not to the Wang family, so she turned a blind eye to all this"

"Then..."

"They don't know anything except that you left while being followed by him. But Wang Yong, or to be exact his family, spun a story about you tending him a trap and killing him with someone's help. They obviously don't dare to accuse the Sect, but you... are a simple disciple, they think that they would be able to pressure you. The duel isn't a deathmatch, so neither win nor lose matters. Most probably they only want you to come and then question you"

"That's just plain stupid. Even if I accept the challenge and then lose, how could they question me? That's only possible if they intend to capture me. In such a case, then my freedom would be logically something enough for me to start talking"

"Yes, I thought the same. And it was confirmed after I saw where do they intend the duel to take place"

"Hoh?"

"The Qiu Family City's arena"

As Wu Guang heard the location for the challenge, he understood what was Elder Mo getting at. Wu Guang was considered a simple inner disciple, so even if he was accompanied by someone, it would be no one stronger than a common inner elder. The Qiu Family lands were located at the far south of the island, and to reach them, Wu Guang would need to travel through the 'Flowing Leaves City' and pass near the 'Leaf Shadows Sect'. Basically, he would enter their grounds. If something happened to him in there, even the 'Three Hills Sect' would not be able to investigate earnestly. At least not without risking an incident that could lead to conflict.

Refusing the challenge was an option, but it was an option that Elder Mo did not want to voice. Wu Guang was supposed to become their hero and he was also an outstanding disciple. If he cowered from a challenge, which was not even a risk to his life, he would be a laughingstock.

Wu Guang actually did not think about refusing either. Even though his rational mind knew that it would be dangerous, he was still a real cultivator. Plus, how could he make himself appear as a coward?

In short, the question was on how to guarantee his safety.

Elder Mo mainly had the same train of thought, and so they spent some time discussing it. In the end, it was decided that Wu Guang would accept the challenge. The right to set the time was left for him, so the Sect would announce that the duel would take place in a month. Wu Guang did not want to rush his training, but on the other hand, this was a perfect opportunity to both cultivate and then fight an opponent of similar strength. After all, Wu Guang would not reveal his mind power or other advantages, and battle with his pure cultivation.

With everything decided, Wu Guang left the Arts Hall and started quickly finishing the matters he had to before entering seclusion in the forbidden 'Earthfire' training zone.

Lang Juan was staying at the residence that the sect gave Lang Zheng. She also was considered his personal disciple, and so it could be said to be logical. Unfortunately, when Wu Guang arrived, she was in closed-door training. Still, he managed to meet with Lang Zheng. Although the silent expert was someone who most of the people feared, Wu Guang had interacted with him for a few days previously and found out that if you were not his enemy, then the fear was absolutely unneeded.

Relying on this, Wu Guang informed him of his intention to open a store in Blue Tree City and sell different items useful for mortals and cultivators alike. As for usage, Wu Guang meant mainly things that would either save, protect, or help them during hostilities. From there, Wu Guang explained that he would like to sell things from the Clans as well. Lang Zheng only asked one thing, which was why the Clans merchants should do so.

Thankfully, Wu Guang had long thought of the need to convince people from the Clans and so shared his own point of view

"If an invasion starts, the Wildlands would be at first the safest place. Still, as the Eagle Kingdom gets closer, you will be forced to shut off and defend the boundary pass. In such a case, the clans would be unable to trade, and I know that at least a third of the necessities are currently brought in. Most of your grain is also bought, as no Clansman is a farmer"

"Continue"

"If the Clan's merchants increase their trade right now, they would both be able to sell most of the stock they have and also have enough money to buy more of what you import. One store is obviously not enough, but it's a good reason to add my store to the increased amount of trade they will be doing right now. After all, I doubt that your people, and especially the merchants have not thought of the same thing" Wu Guang finished and looked Lang Zheng straight into the eyes.

"I see. I will pass the message" Meeting Wu Guang's eyes, Lang Zheng said with a nod.

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"Thank you. Please pass my best wishes to Lang Juan as well" With this word, Wu Guang took his leave. He knew that the matter was solved. If Lang Zheng passed a message, at least the Wolf Clan merchants would undoubtedly visit Wu Guang's store on their next run.

As for his guess of the Clan merchants increasing their trade, it was by far not a guess. When he was in Coastal Hill City, he already had noticed that a few caravans from the assembly were present in the city. Considering that all the clans usually did not send more than a pair of runs each year and mainly resorted to visiting merchants, this was a clear indication of them increasing their trade. With the only possible reason being the impending invasion.

________________________________________________________________________

Before long, Wu Guang also finished the other pending matter. Which was to receive his personal disciple uniform. Although he was playing it safe and misleading everyone except the ones who knew about his status, he still required the uniform and his real badge to enter the forbidden training zone. In any case, no inner elder was allowed inside, and so there would be no problems.

He greatly liked the new uniform. Being made of rune-infused cloth, with a protective capacity comparable to a peak Spirit realm cultivator, it could be even used to save his life against a beginner Soul realm attack. The pristine white with black details indicating his affiliation to the Enforcers was also to Wu Guang's liking.

Although Wu Guang had a few other matters, he decided to leave them for after the duel, especially the ones regarding potions and getting his hands on some qi storing treasures.

Still, there was something that bugged him, and it was that Li Xia and Lan Yanzhi would be left without a manner to contact him.

He was far less worried about the latter, as she was a decently strong cultivator, but Li Xia was not. And she could be targeted by Du Yang if he suddenly disappeared for a month or so. To remedy this, Wu Guang decided to deal with the issue right now. After changing into his new uniform and putting his real badge on, Wu Guang went to find Elder Du.

Elder Du was a simple inner elder. Not only he was not a part of any of the halls, but he did not have even access to most of the Sect's matters. He was more like an overseer than the Sect tasked with small things. Such a position made him close to a lot of the disciples that intended to graduate shortly. After all, Elder Du had a lot of connections with merchants, and not every disciple had a place where to go after leaving. Plus, most of Elder Du's tasks related to accompanying disciples to outings and solving their questions, which made him even more approachable.

So it's no wonder that Wu Guang quickly located where the Elder lived, and that there were a few inner disciples around the residence.

His attire stood out of the blue colors of the Sect, and so he was instantly noticed. His status was a bit over theirs and normally personal disciples were extremely haughty, so in place of approaching him, the ten or so inner disciples started speaking amongst them in hushed voices.

"Look! A personal disciple"

"What is he doing here?"

"And who is he? I have never seen a personal disciple with black details"

"Black? Would not that mean that he is a disciple from an Enforcer?"

"But, are not enforcers considered outside the Elder-Disciple system?"

"I heard the same"

"Should we ask?"

"Wait, he will introduce himself anyway"

"Oh"

Wu Guang heard all of their words, but he ignored them and slowly approached the residence of Elder Du. The residence was small and was actually built like the two-storied house that Xiao Feng had occupied. Still, its location was on the side that only Elders occupied, and he had a fair amount of land around that could be used for training. This was done so the disciples that wanted to ask questions, spar under an elder's eyes, or try and become a personal disciple did not require the Elder to move.

Obviously personal disciples of a simple inner elder gained almost no benefits, and would only be freer in their Sect lives. Well, their master would also teach them, but Wu Guang really doubted that someone like Elder Du had anything to teach that wasn't freely available in the Sect.

In any case, Wu Guang did not care about these disciples and when he arrived at the door, he directly knocked. A few moments of silence later, Wu Guang repeated the knock and loudly called

"Elder Du, this is personal disciple Wu Guang. I have a few things to speak about with you" Although there was a tinge of courtesy, Wu Guang spoke like an equal. And this was understandable, as being a disciple of a High Elder, which was Zhen Mang's official position, he had no need to bow to anyone below his master standing.

After Wu Guang's words, the door was opened instantly and Elder Du appeared in the doorway. He was dressed in the common robes of the sect and did not have anything except his badge on him. Looking like he was about forty years old, he had a rat-like face with small beady eyes and a slight mustache that almost looked like whiskers.

"Personal Disciple? Could you tell me who's personal disciple is so brazen as to disturb me without an appointment?" As if in contrast with his rat-like appearance, Elder Du's voice was grave and imposing. He had recognized Wu Guang instantly before even opening the door, as he had seen him from afar before.

Still, he thought of him as a common inner disciple, and so was inwardly surprised now that he appeared with such status. He had not found any indication of Wu Guang's specialness during his investigation, and so supposed that this was simply a ruse. In fact, he greatly hoped it was. After all, faking one status was a serious crime in the Sect. And he could use it to attain his elder sister's objective...