The skies had already darkened as they arrived at Liu Qiang's town.

"Say... I've been wondering this earlier," Xiuying said. "But are we not searching for Hong Ling at all?"

The guardian spirits were silent for a moment.

"The Xing clan must have elders scouring the entire area. If we wanted to search for them, we'd be implicating you." Dian Ying said.

"And it's dangerous too, we're not as strong as Feng Shen." Shi Xin said.

"...I see." Xiuying stopped.

The disciples took a moment to look around.

"Hey!" she suddenly said, trying to change the topic. "I've actually been here before. This is Xiagu's famous Stone Ridge town, isn't it? Haha, to think we're actually from the same country..."

Xiagu was a region famous for having a massive canyon dividing it in half, so deep, the bottom could not be seen from the top. From one side of the canyon to the other, the gap spanned kilometres. Along the sides, hundreds of towns were set up.

When one looked over the edge, they would hear the winds howling and if they were cultivators, they could feel the dense qi flowing out of the depths. All sorts of strange vegetation clung to the walls, and on rare occasions, spirit beasts could be spotted climbing as well.

They were not a common sight, however, as the sects that bore into the walls of the canyon itself would often hunt them down for the safety of the countless mortals that set up town above.

Most of the townsfolk were farmers that specialised in growing various spirit plants, exclusively sold to the Canyon Sects.

Between having the chance to look into a vast canyon dotted with sect buildings and vast fields of flourishing spirit herbs, many of the towns by the canyon were huge tourist hotspots.

"...I guess so." Liu Qiang said, scratching his head.

Huh. And here Mei thought he would just be living in some ordinary town. Maybe this visit was going to be much more fun than she thought!

As they walked through the town, however, she noticed the townsfolk would at times stare at Liu Qiang and whisper to each other, while the chubby boy hastened his footsteps and tried to avert their gazes.

Ah, did word spread that he was a cultivator? Mei remembered being uncomfortable with that as well back home. Though, with how it sounded like there were sects fairly close, she didn't get why they'd pay attention to him in particular.

They arrived before Liu Qiang's home shortly.

His house was fairly normal, the typical accommodations of those well off enough to not be peasants. Though from how it sounded like most of the population farmed here, there was only a thin line between the jobs they had.

"Mom, dad? I'm home!" Liu Qiang shouted as he unlocked the door hastily and barged in. "What happened?"

Mei and the group followed in as he motioned for them to follow.

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"Oh, you're home!" a chubby woman hastily ran over. "And you brought friends too?"

"Mom, what happened?" Liu Qiang repeated.

"I'm not fully sure, your father refused to tell me... If you're looking at him, he's at the Caterpillar Inn, his usual meeting spot," she said. "He said you should look for him immediately upon coming here."

"I-I see! I'll get going then!" Liu Qiang said.

"Wait! Before you go, take this."

His mom handed him a huge box.

"I wasn't sure if you'd get a chance to eat arriving in such a hurry, so I prepared some snacks to take with you."

"Whoa! Thanks, mom."

Mei: ...

The group of friends thanked the chubby woman before rushing out.

Liu Qiang turned back with a sigh of relief. So it seemed the Sect Master really managed to help him cover up the bodyguard incident after all. With the strange looks people were giving him, he was worried word had once again spread since the last visit.

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

In a cozy wooden inn lit by amber lanterns, dozens of burly men chugged from mugs of beer and flasks of wine, laughing wildly. Across the tables, various dishes were only left partly eaten or even spilt all over as they bickered with one another. On the floor, a few empty mugs were left lying around.

Two men locked arms on the table, grunting as they arm-wrestled with all their might. Their faces began to grow red as they strained. Finally, the table was unable to withstand the pressure, breaking into chunks with a loud bang and sending splinters flying.

The men spectating roared with laughter and cheered as the two contestants shook hands with one another.

The innkeeper, a middle-aged man with greying hair sighed as he watched, whispering to a waitress to clear it up.

The Caterpillar Inn used to be particularly obscure, but for whatever reason, one of the commanders of the town's military force took a liking to it. Every month or so, he would gather his men and rent the inn for a day. Since then, with the help of advertising claiming the inn was a favourite of the town's "true men", the inn's popularity soared.

Even so, he could never get used to how rowdy it would get when they rented the place.

"Sorry, old man! We broke something again, haha! Add that to our tab, please." one of the men who arm-wrestled shouted.

He nodded wordlessly.

Honestly, the only reason why he didn't get furniture that could withstand a cultivator's might? He was making a tidy sum off them breaking stuff and paying for it.

Well, not that it was him taking advantage of them entirely. He was pretty sure they actually enjoyed smashing up the tables by "accident". It would probably ruin their fun if he got spirit wood furniture instead.

As the men partied under the guise of having a meeting, a series of knocks came from the door.

"Hey! Can't you see the sign outside? The inn has been reserved!" one of the soldiers shouted.

"Sorry, I'm Liu Qiang! I was called here by my father."

The soldiers in the inn quietened down, looking to a tall man who sat before a table, his burly arms crossed.

"Shan Qiang, it's time to see if your son can live up to your bragging." another man slapped his shoulder and laughed.

A vein bulged on Shan Qiang's head.

Ever since he witnessed the ridiculous growth his son had in the past months, he had been actively bragging to his men. They didn't believe him and instead laughed, calling him a braggart.

He was aware it was just friendly teasing, but it didn't make him any less infuriated.

Years ago, while testing his son's talent, he found to his shock that the little glutton actually had grade 4 talent! A rarely seen cultivation genius!

While it wasn't an ironclad rule, all soldiers were expected to enlist any talented sons they had into the military. Shan Qiang, however, did not want that. Being enlisted into the military, while well paying, would essentially chain him to the town.

Shan Qiang, in his many years of service, had started to dream of travelling all over the world. There was a month of leave where he could travel every year, but it wasn't enough to truly enjoy himself. He didn't want his son to be chained down in the same manner, so Shan Qiang ultimately lied, claiming his son had a perfectly ordinary aptitude.

Now, after years of that lie being spread, he suddenly claimed his son soared to the peak of Qi Gathering in less than a month after being accepted into a hidden sect. It was only natural that no one believed him.

Shan Qiang was perfectly aware of how petty he was being, calling his son over in the guise of an emergency, but he couldn't help it.

He laughed inwardly in anticipation.

Just you wait! Your faces are all going to be slapped!