Chapter 45
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Amidst a large flow of walking traffic, a diverse group of people walked up to the massive gold Sunrise City gates.
This included around ten military-garbed soldiers (several of them holding unconscious cloaked bodies), one beautiful-looking black-haired military general, one friendly-looking old man, one large strong-looking middle-aged man, one pudgy blue haired boy, one tomboyish red-haired girl, and one short black-cloaked figure.
The red-haired girl and the blue-haired boy had their heads up, mouths gaping.
Sunrise City. It was beyond their wildest expectations.
Huge, evenly paved streets that stretched beyond their vision. Grand, towering buildings that lined each side of the street. Humongous crowds of chattering people traveling each and every way.
They had heard rumors about the city, but hearing about and actually seeing were two completely different things. With their pitifully small breadth of experiences in Bindan Village, how could they have imagined anything this grand? Their eyes wandered back and forth at the scenery in front of them, having trouble focusing on one thing. Street after street… every direction they turned, it seemed to go on forever. Just what they saw in front of them was at least several times larger than the Bindan village central square!
“Holy crap…” Finn gawked, his eyes bulging. “Just the sight is giving me shivers!”
“Right!” Alivia agreed. “I would never had imagined it could be like this!” She had never experienced anything like this in her life, definitely not with her grandpa in Bindan village.
“You think so?” Captain Janor chuckled, enjoying watching the two kids’ exaggerated expressions. She knew that for them, the world was expanding in front of their very eyes.
Everyone else had more muted responses. Although Sunrise City was definitely big and grand, they were more experienced and had already seen similar sights. Not to mention Zairen - as a former migrant medical Saint, he had seen countless glorious cities.
“Alright,” Captain Janor laughed. “Here we are. You guys have a place to stay?”
“I have a place here,” the governor replied.
Everyone looked at him in surprise. He had a place here? Did he come here often? It seemed that he truly wasn’t as simple as he looked.
“Great!” Captain Janor nodded. She was a bit surprised that the governor had a place since living places were notoriously expensive, especially for someone who came from a remote village.
She looked around and smiled warmly. “Well, I guess this is it then… we’ll part at these gates. It was nice to meet you all. Even though you’ll probably be safe as long as you’re in the city, you should still be careful. From what I’ve heard, the Dark Mask is very unpredictable and could possibly still try to pull a move here.”
“Wait,” Zairen spoke up with his fake awkwardly raspy voice. Hopefully, it would be the last time he would have to use it. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small jade bottle and held it out. “I know it’s not much, but I wanted to thank you for accompanying us all this way and helping us out. These are some simple injury-healing pills.”
He truly meant it. She didn’t have to help them so much, but she did. Furthermore, without her, he wouldn’t have been able to gain a voice-changing method. He felt that the pills were kind of a low-quality gift but at the moment didn’t have much else to give her.
“Injury-healing pills?” Captain Janor’s interest was piqued and she didn’t hesitate to accept the gift. Taking a sniff from the bottle’s opening, she sighed a satisfied sigh. There was no doubt about it - the thick, rich medicinal scent meant that it was something good. “Thank you. As for helping you guys, there’s no problem; I was only doing my job.”
Although medicinal pills couldn’t be considered rare, they were heavily sought over and always seemed to be in short supply - ones that could expedite body healing were especially valuable. Even if she couldn’t use them, they were symbolically a meaningful gift, and would likely sell for large sums of money. Captain Janor didn’t mind receiving them at all.
“You know what?” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small seal, extending it out toward Zairen. “Here’s my seal. As a captain, I have some authority around here. If any time you’re in trouble, show this to any soldier around and they will make immediate arrangements to help you.”
Accepting the seal and looking down at it, Zairen let out a breath. The seal was a circular piece of fabric that seemed to be made of some sort of felt. However, upon closer inspection Zairen could sense that the material wasn’t so simple. On the seal itself, an incredibly intricate design of a red-scaled dragon with obsidian-black eyes breathing fire was knitted in the center.
“Thank you.” Zairen met Captain Janor’s eyes with gratitude. His words weren’t empty - he was very appreciative of this gift. It basically meant that he had Captain Janor’s backing!
“Of course,” Captain Janor smiled back. After giving a thumbs up, she glanced into the sky and realized it was getting late. “Well then… I should probably get going. You guys can take it from here. It was nice meeting you all.”
“You too!” Everyone from Bindan Village hastily greeted her back.
“Bye!” After a final wave toward at all the people from Bindan Village, Captain Janor signaled her soldiers and turned around. Her soldiers quickly mobilized, neatly following her, and they traveled through the giant gold gates together, quickly disappearing in the crowd.
As they walked away, Lenny seemed like he was shocked. He implored his captain: “Captain, how could you give your seal away to a total stranger? You don’t even know his identity! Don’t you know how many people would do anything to receive that seal?!”
“What’re you worrying about?” Captain Janor laughed and jokingly knocked her fist heavily into Lenny’s head, causing him to recoil. “I just have a good feeling about it, like it will greatly benefit me later. What, are you doubting my decision?”
“N-No…” Lenny quickly said, lowering his head and laying his hands over it protectively. Inwardly, he couldn’t help but curse his captain. Even though it was a “joking” hit, it still hurt!
“Black Cloak…” Captain Janor couldn’t help but smirk. “What a funny guy.”
Meanwhile, unaware of what Captain Janor and Lenny had said, Zairen took one final look at the seal Captain Janor had given him before pocketing it and sending it into his interdimensional space.
“Alright.” The governor beckoned everyone over. Looking around, he examined where they were, and after identifying a route, pointed in a direction. “I’ll take you to my place.”
Compared to how beat-up and injured he had seemed earlier, he seemed much better, able to stand and walk around on his own.
Although he didn’t let it show on his face, the governor himself was completely amazed at this, and almost couldn’t believe how fast he had recovered. He had no idea how this could be the case - just an hour prior, he had been completely unable to walk. Furthermore, by now, his pool of spirit energy had been almost completely replenished! Usually, his spirit energy would take a full 12 hours to naturally replenish!
He remembered that when Zairen had saved his life, he had been given several innocuous pills that he had swallowed without much thought. Thinking back on it… was it because of those pills that he had recovered so fast? The governor couldn’t help but gulp. What kind of crazy pills could heal him so quickly?
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“Alright, here we are,” the governor presented an old and dusty wooden door that was against a plain white wall.
Clearly, from the door’s condition, it was very old and hadn’t been touched in a while. On it were the numbers 916 - the sixteenth place on the ninth floor. Everyone had to climb eight set of stairs to get there.
“This is it?” Finn couldn’t help but scowl, clearly a bit irritated. Having lived in a mansion his entire life, he had been accustomed to luxurious living. However, this place was clearly just a small section of a single floor of a dirty-looking large plain building, no fancy thing in sight.
To get to this building, they had to travel very far - Sunrise City was just too big. They even had been forced to pay a fare to ride a large floating spirit boat over to a more broken-down area of the city until they got off - it wasn’t feasible to walk such a long distance. Then, they still had to walk for another half a mile.
At the time, Finn and Alivia had been absolutely dumbfounded by such a boat. How was such a huge thing flying? It seemed completely incomprehensible, and was a huge culture shock. Zairen had also been intrigued by such a boat. Although he had definitely seen many ground spirit vehicles used as public transportation before, he hadn’t often seen boats. Each boat was a spirit item run by a spirit energy formation embedded with spirit stones on its bottom side.
Along the way, Zairen had also spotted numerous people who emitted a strong aura of spirit energy, which had made him suck in a breath. So many strong people, just wandering around casually! He had forgotten the feeling. For certain, it was a completely different environment from Bindan Village.
“Yep, this is it.” The governor didn’t pander to Finn’s displeasure, producing a small jade key and unlocking the door. As the door pushed open, the cool air from inside rushed out, and everyone got a waft of staleness.
“So small,” Looking into the apartment, Finn wrinkled his nose.
The place was very plain, having little to no decorations. From what Finn could see, it consisted of one big living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and two smaller bedrooms.
“It’s great!” Alivia exclaimed, her sentiment completely opposite to Finn’s. Not bothering to be polite, she excitedly ran straight into the apartment to explore. Having lived in a small cabin her entire life, this apartment was extremely luxurious!
“See? One person appreciates it,” the governor scolded his son. “Don’t be greedy.”
“Fine…” Finn grumbled. He followed Alivia and walked into the apartment to scope it out.
“He has no idea how much a place like this costs,” the governor mumbled as he also walked forward. As he did, he turned toward Zairen and Grandpa Dinran. “Don’t be courteous, you two come in and make yourselves at home as well.”
Grandpa Dinran and Zairen didn’t refuse, both walking through the doorway into the apartment as well, Zairen stripping his outer cloak off as he did.
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In the end, everyone agreed for the bedrooms to be partitioned equally to the two families: one room for the governor and Finn, and one room for Grandpa Dinran, Alivia, and Zairen.
Since the governor was so large in size and stature, everyone felt that it was fair.
The only thing Zairen felt a bit weird about was that since there were only two beds in each room, and as an elder, Grandpa Dinran automatically got his own bed, he had to share a bed with Alivia.
He had offered to sleep on the floor, but Alivia had refused, insisting that he sleep with her on the bed. In fact, she was excited to share a bed with him, citing feelings of “protective elder sister love.” Not wanting to hurt her feelings, Zairen had no choice but to agree.
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Since they were both small children, they both easily fit.
He reasoned that since they were both small children, it was alright. However, inside, couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward about it.
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Later that night.
Zairen sat on a chair in the kitchen of the apartment, four small pouches and four sets of weapons sitting on the table in front of him. These were the bags and weapons looted from the four masked fighters he had defeated, given to him by Captain Janor.
Everyone else had already went to bed; after a long, eventful day, they were all tired. In contrast, he didn’t feel tired at all. Because he had been so antsy, he had stayed up alone to gauge his gains.
Staring at all of the things in front of him, he couldn't help but let out a breath. He had really struck gold this time! This much stuff… he almost felt guilty. Yet at the same time, he couldn’t wait to see what he had gotten. Robbing other people really was the quickest way to get rich!
He first reached over to the weapons, which consisted of a knife, hammer, sword, gauntlet, and arm guards.
Since he had already seen all of the weapons in action, he had seen first-hand how devastating each could be, but testing them personally allowed him to get an even better sense of their quality. Holding them up one by one, he examined them closely, occasionally channeling spirit energy through them to see how they felt. Every few moments he would rub the weapon’s surface and smile, clearly admiring their quality.
A few minutes later, he had reached his verdict. They were all good spirit weapons, albeit with no elemental attributes, but the hammer, gauntlets, and the sword were a clear step above the rest. He was a bit surprised: Storan, who had possessed the sword, had the highest quality weapon, but was the worst at using it. His specialty had lay in launching spirit projectiles and he had neglected to train the sword.
In actuality, Zairen didn’t have much use for any of the weapons besides the sword, so he was glad it was one of the better weapons - the sword could be used as a lesser replacement for his Shadow Dragon Sword when he didn’t want to reveal it to others. However, even though he probably would never personally use the rest of these weapons, he knew that they could probably sell for high prices. He flicked his hand, and with one movement, sent them all into the interdimensional space in his ring.
Then, he looked over to the four small bags that were left on the table. His gaze turned expectant. He knew that the weapons the masked fighters had possessed were good, but what he was most looking forward to was seeing what was in those bags. Those four masked fighters had all been strong, so it would make sense that they would carry valuable items on them - items that could possibly be priceless to Zairen! He emptied all four of them onto the table in front of him.
His eyes immediately began to shine. Sure enough, these people truly had some good things!
The first thing that drew his attention was a plethora of different grade spirit stones, each shining with a comforting milky sky blue radiance. There were too many to accurately count at once, but he estimated that there were likely around forty low grade spirit stones and around five medium grade. He could distinguish the medium grade stones from the low grade as they were lighter in color and slightly larger. They were more pure, and thus, more valuable.
Zairen knew first-hand how useful these spirit stones were. Not only could they be used in training, they served as a universal currency and also could be used to power a wide variety of spirit items. This was why now, he didn’t immediate absorb their energies into the black stone on his Shadow Dragon Sword. If he needed to, he could always store their energies into the stone later.
The masked men didn’t have any gold, silver, or bronze coins. Clearly, they only carried around the universally used spirit stones for currency.
As he looked around, he also saw several jade scrolls, presumably scriptures for different fighting techniques or arts. Zairen couldn’t help but rub his hands together in anticipation. These masked fighters would probably be carrying around some good techniques! He immediately picked each of them up one by one and input his spirit energy to read through them, seeing what they were about.
Heavy Hammer Art… crush your enemies with powerful hammer strikes. Titan Gauntlet Art… battle like a titan with a gauntlet and arm guards. Quickstrike Knife Art… silently and stealthily pierce your enemies with precise and unpredictable knife stabs. Blurry Feet… movement technique to easily evade your opponent’s strikes. Steady Sword Art… best your opponent with the sword. Shakuo Spirit Bullet Art… create and shoot powerful masses of explosive spirit energy at your opponent.
‘Shakuo Spirit Bullet Art!’ The last technique caught his eye. Most of these arts weren’t that useful to Zairen since he already had the highly advanced and powerful Silent Shadow Art and the corresponding Silent Shadow Sword Arts, but Shakuo Spirit Bullet Art was different, as it was a ranged attack.
‘This art must’ve been what that Storan person practiced,’ Zairen reasoned. He recalled that it had been pretty powerful and threatening - the ability to attack from long distances seemed to be very useful.
As he read further, he discovered that there were multiple levels of the art. The first level allowed the user to just shoot a regular explosive spirit bullet. However, from the second level on, the user was able to not only greatly empower their attacks, but do things like split their spirit bullets in midair to create larger damage radiuses. Zairen marked it down in his mind for later and put the jade scroll back down.
After meticulously going through the rest of the things in the pile, he eventually pinpointed only three other items that had any spirit energy presence: a small intricately carved wooden boat miniature, an unknown small paper seal, and an ordinary-looking jade bottle. Everything else was unnotable.
Zairen first inspected the wooden boat miniature. He could sense a distinct trace of spirit energy radiating from it, which meant it was a spirit item. Curious about what it could be, he channeled some of his spirit energy into it.
With a loud whoosh, the boat suddenly expanded hundreds of times, transforming into a life-size wooden boat! Almost taking up the entirety of the space in the kitchen, it just barely missed crashed through the walls. Zairen quickly retracted his spirit energy. In response, the boat quickly shrank again into a miniature, landing back into his palm.
After a moment of terror and looking around to check if there was any damage to the apartment, luckily seeing none, Zairen relievedly realized what the item was: it was a portable transformation spirit boat. It was similar to the public transportation boat he had rode but smaller and likely faster - it seemed to have just enough room for around six people to ride in it. It was easy to carry around as it would only reach life size when spirit energy was channeled through it, and it was powered by spirit stones that the user placed into the formation on the bottom. In his past life, Zairen had also possessed something similar, but it had been a wheeled grounded vehicle.
Zairen couldn’t help but smile as he put the boat miniature back down. This type of thing was pretty expensive and really useful; when traveling long distances, it could be a lifesaver. During the travel from Bindan Village to Sunrise City, if this boat had been available, it would have saved them a lot of energy and time.
Next, Zairen reached over toward the small paper seal. Inspecting it, he noticed a small formation design that resembled a gust of wind inscribed on the surface of the paper.
‘Speed seal!’ Immediately recognizing what the slip of paper was, he became elated.
Zairen had used these seals many times in his previous life. It was a one-time-use item that, when channeled, would allow the user to greatly increase their speed for a short period of time. It was incredibly useful for chasing or fleeing, and had even saved Zairen’s life a few times. Unfortunately, or fortunately for Zairen, whoever had possessed this seal originally had likely been so surprised by Zairen’s counterattack that they didn’t have time to use it.
Although this particular seal wasn’t necessarily the highest quality, any speed seal was very hard to acquire, and to Zairen, incredibly priceless!
With a smile, Zairen finally moved on to inspect the third item, the inconspicuous jade bottle. Examining the outside of the jade bottle for a few moments, he identified it as ordinary jade. Then, he carefully opened the lid and peered in, glancing upon a small blue flower.
‘No way!’ Zairen almost instantly exclaimed out loud. ‘Dove Flower…’
It was just one treasure after another! Breathing in again and smelling the familiar scent, he involuntarily shook with excitement.
Although a bit underdeveloped, the small normal-looking blue flower was actually a Dove Flower! Zairen had recognized it instantly, having used it many times in his previous life. Used as a core component of many high-level medicine recipes, every part of the plant - flower, stem, roots - had varying and incredibly versatile usages. Zairen’s entire herb collection so far had been almost entirely composed of common herbs, so he couldn’t help but become excited to finally have access to a rarer one.
Zairen smiled. He had really gained a lot this time! Not only did he receive spirit stones and a new spirit energy technique, but also several valuable spirit items and even a rare high-quality herb! He was pleasantly surprised at the quality of items those masked assassins had carried - there was no way he could ask for much more. In a good mood, he took a final look at all his gains and then with a wave of his hand, sent them all into his interdimensional space.
Now, he quietly got up onto the kitchen table and sat down in a meditative position. A moment later, an eerie and shadowy atmosphere permeated in the air - the trademark of the Silent Shadow Art. It had been a while since he had actually sat down and trained, since he had been unconscious for so long, so he was eager to pick up where he left off.
“Interesting technique,” a female voice suddenly rang out.
“Huh?!” Zairen was shocked. He instantly dispersed the shadowy atmosphere around him and stood up. This whole time, he hadn’t detected anyone around!
“Idiot, it’s me. I’m speaking inside your head.”
It was only then that Zairen realized that it was Madam Sue’s voice, directly inside of his consciousness!
“Madam Sue... How… how are you doing that?” Zairen was flabbergasted. He had never heard of anyone speaking telepathically directly into someone’s mind.
“I imprinted a consciousness seed onto you,” Madam Sue said nonchalantly. “So now, as long as something doesn’t block the connection, we can talk like this whenever.”
Consciousness seed...? Zairen paled. When had Madam Sue planted this ‘consciousness seed’ on him? He hadn’t even noticed!
He suddenly recalled that after passing out in the interdimensional space, he had been unconscious inside there for a long while - she must have taken the time to imprint the seed on him then. But… installing this on him when he couldn’t give consent…. wasn’t this a breach of privacy?
Such an awful person! But Zairen could only grumble in his mind. He wouldn’t dare to speak out against Madam Sue, who he knew could easily extinguish his life with a single finger.
“Silent Shadow Art, isn’t it?” Madam Sue continued.
“You know the Silent Shadow Art?” Zairen exclaimed, throwing the consciousness seed issue out of his mind. His eyes widened exaggeratedly.
“Of course I know it,” Madam Sue replied mysteriously. “It’s a darkness affinity art. A powerful one. No wonder you had confidence in yourself.”
Previously seeing Zairen fight and easily defeat the masked men, Madam Sue had been shocked at how strong the young boy was. Even though those enemies were completely beneath her feet, she was still completely taken aback by how easily a young child like Zairen had defeated them. Seeing the art he practiced now, she wasn’t as surprised.
Now, she had a different question.
“How do you know the art?” There was a bit of puzzlement in her voice.
Zairen pursed his lips. Seeing that Madam Sue had no intention of explaining how she knew about the art, he didn’t want to either. He couldn’t help but be extremely cautious. The Silent Shadow Art was a secret darkness affinity art that had been passed down his father’s lineage for a very long time. He had never told anyone about it, ever. How did Madam Sue know it?
As he thought, an absurd thought suddenly crossed his mind. Did Madam Sue know his family? But then he shook his head. That was too absurd to think about. This was a completely different continent!
Madam Sue detected his reluctance to speak and surprisingly didn’t push the matter. “Well, don’t mind me then. Continue training.”
Zairen’s face twisted a bit strangely. What was this situation? Was she just going to pop out whenever?
However, he quickly pushed it out of his mind. There was nothing he could do about it, so he wouldn’t burden himself with worry. Regathering his focus, he sat back down. In moments, he had re-entered his meditative training state, the shadowy aura around him reappearing.
He continued to train for another hour before finally deciding to finish for the day.
He was extremely pleased with his cultivation results. Maybe because he had recently broken through again, but his training speed had massively increased once again, and even in this brief one hour period, he had made a lot of progress.
Before going to bed, Zairen didn’t forget to once again input his leftover spirit energy from the day into the black stone on his Shadow Dragon Sword. As his milky white spirit energy flowed into the stone, he casually measured its storage level. Even after using up a lot of the energy stored inside the stone to heal Madam Sue, there was still quite a bit left - he had only used up a bit more than a third of it.
Now that he had a much larger spirit energy capacity, he would be able to cumulatively store much more spirit energy, and furthermore, he had just gained a large amount of spirit stones that he could store in an emergency. He would be very well-equipped in an emergency scenario.
“Shadow Dragon Sword…!” Madam Sue’s voice rang out, this time filled with shock.
“Huh?” Zairen lifted his head, completely stunned. “You… you know this sword?”
“Boy, where did you get this sword?” Madam Sue’s voice seemed to have a threatening tone to it.
Rather than get scared, Zairen couldn’t help but become a bit peeved. This was a sword that had been in his lineage for centuries! What did she mean ‘where did you get this sword’? Did she think he stole it?
“What are you trying to say? My father passed it down to me!” Zairen nearly yelled. “It’s been in my family for generations! It’s my rightful possession!”
“...passed down…?” Madam Sue gazed toward Zairen’s blazing eyes and furrowed her brows. There was a long pause.
“You’re… a part of the Blackwater Clan?”
Blackwater Clan?
Zairen thought for a moment. In actuality, he didn’t know what his father’s clan was, or if he even was in a clan. He had dropped his original surname when he had married his mother.
“Um… maybe? I don’t even know if my mom is from a clan, to be honest,” Zairen replied honestly. “But even if my father’s family took it from someone, it’s already been bound to my soul, so I couldn’t take it back even if I wanted to.”
Another pause. And then, a terse reply. “Alright, whatever. Continue with what you were doing.”
“...Wait!” Zairen turned his voice up. “I have questions too. How do you know this sword? Is it from the Blackwater clan? Was my father part of that clan? Why would she have it?”
But Madam Sue was gone. No matter how many questions Zairen asked her, she didn’t respond again.
‘Geh…’ Zairen was annoyed. She could ask him all the questions she wanted, but he couldn’t even ask her one?
His parents had always been mysterious to him, so he had always greatly desired to learn more about them. He hadn’t seen either of them since he was seven years old, and on his countless travels had never heard of them even once.
Clicking his tongue, he continued to flow his spirit energy into the black stone.
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