Chương 70: Inside the Inner Disciple Abodes

"Tug Ogun, are you certain you know who this disciple is?" Sitting on a couch and eating small red fruits, a cultivator no older than twenty-five with blue eyes and short dark grey hair looked at the young man sitting opposite him.

"Senior Brother Hill, you don't need to worry, I've already met him. He'll be a perfect addition to the Moon Swordsmen group!" Scratching his head full of black hair, Tug Ogun looked at his senior brother with sencere admiration through his own foolish eyes." Hmm, if I understand correctly, he's the one responsible for our recent conflict with Sister Lou and her group, isn't he?" Tossing a fruit in the air and catching it with his mouth, Hill suddenly looked with a raised eyebrow at Ogun." Um, yes, yes! Exactly!"

Hearing the question, Ogun began nodding." Hmm, then I trust that you'll be able to handle this. Try to make him join us of his own free will... But if not, there are always other ways. Understood?" ….

"Senior Sister Lou, he's the one who not only ignored your personal invitation, but also created a conflict with that idiot Tug Ogun!" A short and skinny little girl with five pink braids and huge red eyes, jumped around a small enclosure inside which a young woman was sitting on the ground, tending to small spirit beasts that resembled a mix of rabbits and dwarf pigs, piggies with soft snow-white fluff.

"Senior Sister! Are you even listening to me?" Seeing that she was being ignored, the girl ran around the enclosure and crouched down at Sister Lou's eye level.

"Find out everything you can about him. We need to attract him to us. If the situation needs it, you may use force, but don't overdo it... A disciple with Alchemy Master status is worth more than even all this artificial land... We can't afford to miss this opportunity." Her golden eyes partially covered by wavy golden hair, surveyed the vast and spacious lands with meadows, forests, and bodies of water, with a large number of different enclosures, each containing a unique species of spirit beasts.

And everything visible here was surrounded by tall energy walls.

"Understood! Don't you worry! Consider it done!" Puffing out her flat chest, the girl proudly accepted the order. With a stamp of her foot, she summoned an ostrich with four legs, two tails, and huge moose antlers from her waist pouch. Jumping onto it, the girl raced toward the exit at full speed, destroying several neatly kept flowerbeds and garden beds along the way. Raising her golden eyes to the destruction left by this energetic girl, Sister Lou took a deep breath and shook her head. ….

Inside a spacious personal abode, the babbling of fountains competed with the singing of many birds around. In the center stood a huge house with verandas and sparring platforms. In the backyard, inside a veranda set up near the shore of a lake that fed into a waterfall, the sounds of which were muffled by a formation, four people sat and enjoyed tea.

"Brother Shepor, are you sure the information is reliable?"

"Yes, I am. According to what we received, it's him, the tenth one who abandoned us before." Shepor Dunt set down his cup and took out several wrapped sheets, handing them to the others.

"Miss, it seems this is the disciple who was in the alley on the day of our arrival." Holding a sheet in his hand, the man in the dark leather coat with wave patterns turned his head to the girl sitting next to him." Uh-huh... I knew there was something wrong with him when we went through the trial in the Beast Lands... Especially those horrible injuries he managed to survive." Nodding, the girl began reading the sheet." Hm, a single element, I've never encountered such a thing.

However, I remember my father saying something about it, only what exactly was it... Oh! He's only about to turn thirteen, and already at the eighth layer of Qi Condensation, amazing isn't it?" She kept reading, glancing occasionally at the others around her.

"He's a loner, unpredictable, and cold-blooded... reasons that cost him more than a year in the Sect's dungeon." The man in the coat frowned, trying to highlight this information more clearly to everyone around.

"Incredible, isn't it? To spend almost half his time in the dark cage and still reach such high cultivation! We definitely need to take him under our wing! I'm sure he'll be a great asset to our group, isn't it, Captain Scar?" The girl took a few sips from the cup and continue to read.

"Mili is right, we need to get him into our group. He's from the same year as me, and he's already reached Master status. Which means his talent is on par with the famous disciples of the Outer Floating Island." Sitting in the center a young man with black hair and abyss-like eyes placed the sheet on the table and looked at everyone around him.

"Talent is good, Mo Fan. But what about Xia Ji?" Dunt shook his head and asked a question.

"What do you mean? What does Junior Sister Xia have to do with this?" Wrinkling his nose, Mo Fan looked into Dunt's eyes.

"You haven't heard? A few days ago, when Chen Ho was competing with Radiant Shine, Xia Ji crossed paths with this alchemist… In the end, several of her men had broken faces and she herself was in a rather indecent state." Dunt began to recount in detail what had happened in the Alchemy Hall. Listening to all of this, Mo Fan frowned even deeper. Mi Mili just kept shaking her head.

"The rumors vary. Some say she was at fault herself, others say he attacked them for no reason. I think you should personally ask her and find out what really happened. And at the same time, find out her opinion on inviting this An to our group." Dunt leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers behind his head." Hmph! This Xia Ji! She's too arrogant. It's clearly her fault! And who cares about her opinion, anyway? We're talking about a Master of Alchemy in Qi Condensation realm!"

Just hearing about Xia Ji, Mili crossed her arms over her chest and began huffing indignantly while constantly glancing at Mo Fan out of the corner of her eye, trying to read his reaction.

"I'll talk to her. And know this, the guilty party will answer to me, whether it's Sister Xia or this Alchemist..." Relaxing his sword-like eyebrows, Mo Fan slowly set his cup down on the table.

"But we still need to find him first. Do everything you can to find out where he lives, and try to persuade him. Brother Shepor, can I entrust this to you?" Mo Fan stood up from his chair and with a serious expression stared at Dunt who just a moment ago had been relaxed. This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Shapor Dunt was about to object, when he was beaten to it.

"I'll take care of this together with him. I have a few ideas on how to find An quickly and easily!" Mili jumped up from her seat and stared at Mo Fan, waiting for his approval. Exhaling, Dunt realized that he was essentially free, and taking his cup of tea, relaxed in his chair again. …. Following the path to the Inner Disciple Abodes, An passed through a long and dense forest and several small rivers, over which gracefully built bridges were thrown.

Finally emerging into an open space, he saw in the distance a huge lake with many built piers and a large number of people running back and forth, selling or buying livestock caught in the same lake.' Eh? Are these people without cultivation, hired by disciples for labor on their plots?' Looking at the pier and its size, and the crowd bustling around, he understood from the low Qi density of that place, that this was not just a place for disciples to live, but a whole city bustling with life.

Venturing closer to the structures, he noticed many different infrastructures: workshops, pavilions, and shops selling everything needed for life, vendors selling prepared food to mortals. Many children running through the streets, old people sitting by their shops, smoking their pipes and waiting for customers.' So the outskirts are the area for people without cultivation, and the center is the abodes of the inner disciples themselves.'

Going deeper into this city, slowly approaching the center, he noticed that the style of the buildings began to change after some time. Instead of tightly packed little houses, long plots began to appear surrounded by high fences through which nothing could be seen, and each such plot was surrounded by a formation. He kept looking around and noticed how many fewer people there were in the area where the disciple abodes began.

Only occasionally, from behind some gates, people would run out and head toward the outer part of the city. Closer to the center, he began to hear voices and shouts. As he continued forward, he noticed more and more disciples in blue robes appearing around him, all walking in the same direction. Approaching the center, he finally saw a long and wide street with buildings of different sizes, tightly pressed against each other.

In places where there were no buildings, everything was occupied by makeshift stalls, with disciples sitting nearby and selling various things, from pills to artifacts, weapons, and armor. Right in the center of the street, several different vendors were set up, selling both prepared food and fresh parts of spirit beasts. The entire place was packed with disciples and their mortal servants, buying things for their masters.

"Only from me! Only today! Mush Root for only one hundred spirit stones! Don't pass by! Don't miss out!"

"Freshly caught and freshly gutted spirit beasts! Come! Buy!"

"Almost new swords! Any stage! We'll find the right one for you! Both in price and size!" Walking down the very center of the street, An kept turning his head like a little kid in a megastore for the first time. However, every time he saw the prices and the quality of the items, all his enthusiasm began to fade.' All the pills are of terrible quality. The spirit plants are already starting to die, but the prices are on par with new ones from the Main Hall. What a nonsense...

The artifacts are broken, with a margin of safety for a dozen uses, if you're even lucky.' Every time he found something interesting, something he wouldn't mind buying, he would check the Qi flows emitted by it, and with a disappointed face, he simply walked away, catching curses from the sellers whose time had been wasted.

"Brother! Stop! Would you like to sell your chicken? It's so plump! I'll give you five spirit stones!" Passing by a fresh meat stall, An was stopped by a plump butcher leaning on the counter and pointing at the feathered ball." Bok-bok?" Looking at this fat human, Baldi with a puzzled look turned his attention to the counter." CLUCK!" Seeing the gutted carcasses hanging on hooks and hides, dried and stacked against the back wall, the rooster paled and began trying to break free to save his own life.

"Only five? That's a bit low." Stopping only for a moment, An looked at the butcher and shook his head.

"Seven! That's my limit!" Biting his lower lip, the butcher raised his hand and showed two fingers.

"Still too little. Look how plump the chicken is." Without stopping this time, An walked on.

"Ten... No! Even for such a plump rooster, that's way too much. Even if it's almost the peak stage of the first-rank. Eh... To let such a deal slip through my fingers..." Stopping himself just in time, the butcher leaned on the counter and exhaled, but a moment later seeing a new potential customer, he immediately smiled and began shouting calling him over in every way." Bok? Bok?" Raising his head up, the rooster looked at An with a puzzled gaze." Oh? I don't know...

If he had offered ten stones, I might have agreed... What do you think?" Pretending to understand what Baldi meant, An with a stone face looked at the bird." CLUCK!" With huge eyes, Baldi began doing everything he could to escape the clutches of death." Haha!" An couldn't hold back and burst out laughing. Leaving behind this city, he stopped before a huge river.

Turning his head to the right, he realized that this wide river was one of the waterfalls falling from the Floating Island, directly onto one of the seven peaks below. Admiring this slow water snake for some time, he continued along the main road. After some time he had to cross this river via a stone bridge, built from huge grey blocks and pillars driven into the riverbed. The structure looked like a fortress due to its enormous size.

Ascending it, An walked to its very middle and stopped at the parapet, watching as many colorful petals sailed downstream like little boats. Thanks to the crystal-clear water, he could easily see the bottom, littered with precious stones lying there motionless. Many large fish had settled all along the bottom, digging burrows for themselves in the sand and stones, only sticking their heads out waiting for small fish rushing downstream toward the waterfall to become their dinner.

Standing by the parapet, he suddenly felt a gaze on himself. Raising his head, on one of the tall pillars that formed the foundation of the bridge, sat a girl with grey eyes and grey hair, and through her tightly wrapped blue robes he saw her pale skin. He only glanced into her eyes for a moment, and throwing one last look at the calm river, turned and continued across the bridge, to the other side. Crossing the bridge and finding himself on the other shore, he was at a fork in the road.

Recalling the map from his plaque, he unhurriedly headed down the road leading to his plot. What surprised him was the flow of people, carriages constantly met him along the way. Some were traders, overloaded with sealed boxes and barrels. Other carriages transported passengers, some of them decorated and adorned with expensive materials. Traveling for a long time through constantly changing forests and fields, he finally emerged and stopped on a rise.

Looking down, he saw a small village with several intact houses. All the houses and plots were overgrown and unkempt. Even the branch off the road leading to these buildings had long since overgrown. Looking at the old, fallen sign by the road, An approached and examined it. All the paint had long since dried and peeled off from the sun, and the name of this village had disappeared along with that cheap paint.

"Looks like this is our home now. What do you think, Baldi?" He said, tapping the head of the rooster, who had fallen into hibernation after the stress in the city of carcasses. The bird reluctantly opened his eyes and saw the fields and ruined houses before him." Cluck?" All of a sudden, he felt his feet touch the ground. Lowering his head and seeing that he was indeed on the ground, he looked questioningly at the man. In response, An simply nodded." BOK!" The rooster began running around at full speed.

Finally he could spread his wings and feel the long-awaited freedom. An slowly descended from the rise, turned onto the overgrown road, and headed toward the ruined village.