Chapter 12: New Town
Excuse me, good men, I called out before reaching them. It was clear these guards were on edge. The last thing I wanted was to aggravate them or look suspicious for any reason.
They frowned as they saw me approaching and unsheathed their dark swords, "Who are you?"
I raised my arms, "I'm just someone looking to return to The Blazing Sun Sect."
"There is no such thing around here," one of the guards said. He was the taller one among the two of them and looked more dangerous.
How far had I run where people had no idea where the Blazing Sun Sect was?
Soon, the guards on the ground were joined by a dozen more guards on the walls. Unlike the people below, those up there had crossbows and were probably calibrated strong enough to kill a cultivator.
I had no intention of testing out how arrow-proof I was. What was more worrying was that these guys had no idea which way the Blazing Sun Sect was.
But after thinking about it for a bit, I remembered the average Greengrass Town citizen knew nothing about a way to reach the Blazing Sun Sect. I was not sure whether even the guards knew, though they did know such a sect existed somewhere nearby.
Maybe having a nearby mortal town who knew nothing about the sect wouldn't be so strange when those things were taken into account. Maybe only someone high up in this town's hierarchy would know anything.
It sounded kind of absurd due to the literal mountain the sect occupied and the giant walls around it. However, the Blazing Sun Sect had somehow managed to hide itself from mortal eyes. Though it was weird, despite how big the mountain was, I couldn't see it once I walked a certain distance from it.
"Then, can you tell me which way to go to Greengrass Town?" I asked, and this time there was a trace of recognition in their eyes.
Bless the monstrous eyesight cultivators had; even from such a distance on a bright sunny day that would have hurt my eyes, I could see their faces quite clearly.
"And why would you need to know such things, friend?" The large guard asked.
Okay, they were suspicious now. Did I say something wrong or what?
"That was my original destination. If some kind of weird explosion hadnt scared my horse, I would be there by now," I explained. "Though my horse wasn't the only thing scared by that freaky event. I ran away as far as my feet could take me and ended up here."
Now that I thought about it, these red walls, dark swords, and how no one was around. Was this a secret town or something? No matter how small, people would be coming in and out of a town...
Please don't be some kind of evil demonic sect hideout.
My luck was never that good, but it wasn't bad either! Stumbling into an evil sect's hideout would be too much misfortune for someone with average luck like mine!
The guards shared a look, and I tensed up, ready for anything. They had armor on, so I was confident in outrunning them. However, no matter what, I was not getting into another fight. I was in no shape for it.
"Were you close to the explosion, friend?" asked the guard.
The way he talked about it seemed like they knew something.
"Not close enough to see what happened, but close enough to feel the aftermath. But even then, the aftershock of the explosion, which rocked me off my feet," I sighed.
"Tell us anything you know, and we will show you the way to Greengrass Town. We will even give you the supplies needed to go there. However, we are in lockdown, and no one is allowed in or out of the town," the guard said. "Sorry for the late introduction, but you're in Red Lotus Town. Where the Red Leaf Clan, Crimson Sword Clan, and Black Scale Clan rule."
Clans? That meant there were cultivators here, and these guards were probably low-ranked body-tempering cultivators also.
Were they acting when they said they had no idea that such a thing as the Blazing Sun Sect existed? Maybe the clan patriarchs were using their power to suppress such knowledge to stop their people from finding some better alternative than being in their clan. Or perhaps they kept all their fighters here as they were in some rough balance of power, and any fighter leaving would break that balance.
Whatever it was, I had no notions of getting involved.
"I can't say much about it. Since I don't know much. But during these things, it's safe to assume that some kind of powerful cultivator was involved. Probably a fight between cultivators," I explained.
By the unsurprised looks in their eyes, they had reached the same conclusion.
Though unlike them, I had my own suspicions. There was a high chance that one of the said cultivators involved in causing that explosion was probably the jade-like beauty.
Wait, was this the xianxia version of racial profiling?
One of the guards sighed, "I thought so."
The big guard nodded and whispered something to his fellow guard on the ground, and the latter slipped through the large wooden doors and went into the city.
"I will have my comrade bring you some basic necessities for your journey. Greengrass Town is south of here," the guard seemed weary when he said that. "Make sure to be careful on the road. This incident has spooked many Monstrous Beasts, and some of them have a taste for human flesh. Come by again, and Red Lotus Town will welcome you with open arms."
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
"I get it. It was just bad timing," I nodded. "How are you handling it, by the way? It couldn't have been easy."
"Well, the three clans help keep the town safe and take out their fighting to the sidelines. There has not been any Monstrous Beast Wave yet. But it is only a matter of time as scouts have reported dangerous Moon Wolf hordes on the west," the guard explained the situation in the town. He looked both pleased and irritated. "The younger generation is also competing with each other by killing Moon Wolves to show who really stands at the top of the Red Lotus Town. Young master Zhong has reached five-star Body Tempering at only fifteen years old, so many say he will have a bright future ahead of him."
He continued talking about the clans and whatnot. It looked like he was bragging about the younger generation, who somehow seemed talented in his eyes.
Also, this young master Shong, Zhong, or whatever his name was, reaching five-star Body Tempering at fifteen was a bit slow for Blazing Sun Sect standards.
Hell, I was more talented than him, and that was saying something. If this young master joined the Blazing Sun Sect, he would likely enter as a Chore Disciple and would stay that way until the day he decided to leave.
But then again, I was also considered talented in the Liu Clan. However, in the Blazing Sun Sect, I was about average.
This was the equivalent of doing well in high school and thinking you were good at math and then majoring in Civil Engineering in college. Which would show you were trash all along and knew nothing about math.
It seemed like the explosion had caused quite a stir in the cultivation world.
Finally, the other guard returned with the supplies, and the big guard picked them up and walked close to me with his hand on the handle of his sword.
Was he just cautious, or were the supplies something he was using as a trap to distract me?
Should I just run away? No, that would be way too suspicious.
I smiled and approached him, and once we were within arms length of each other, every part of my body was ready to spring into action at a moments notice. The man handed me the sack, turned his back on me, and walked away.
Huh, okay. Maybe I was a bit too much on edge.
Putting the sack on the ground, I clasped my palm and fist in respect to them, Thank you for this generosity. I, Ming Feirong, will remember the generosity the Red Lotus Town has shown me.
I picked up the sack that was the size of my head and started walking toward where they had told me Greengrass Town was. Hopefully, this wasnt all just an elaborate scheme by a demonic sect, though I doubted someone would dare pull something like that so close to the Blazing Sun Sect.
After I walked far enough from the town and out of their eyesight, I checked inside the sack. There were dried meats, some vegetables, and other things like flint and steel, bandages, and what looked like healing ointments.
These things would sure make the journey a hell of a lot easier, and the bandages seemed cleaner than mine. These were some actual medical supplies.
I tied the sack shut and put it by the side of the road, just out of view in the grass, and walked away.
If there was nothing wrong with it, some other guy or gal would be fortunate enough to find it. But for all I knew, there could be some invisible tracking inscription or poison in the food, or the medical ointment or bandages were doused in invisible venom. There was no way to tell, really.
The guards had seemed like good men doing their job and even went out of their way to help me. But it would be arrogant of me, some average Joe, to think I was somehow an expert at telling when people were lying to me.
Because if someone wanted to poison me, they would for sure do it with a smile on their face and not do some cliche shit like snickering like a two-bit villain. Real people were not actually that dumb, and unlike what shows and Hollywood made it seem like, most murder cases went unsolved. People were smart and elaborate when it came to these kinds of things.
...
It took hours before I finally ended up in a familiar place, with the walls of Greengrass Town in the distance. I had been traveling as fast as my body would allow, about the speed of a scooter, when I finally reached the town.
With Greengrass Town in sight, I knew how to return to the Blazing Sun Sect.
As I turned around and was about to start another journey back to the sect, I stopped.
Many things had happened that I wasn't aware of. Unlike Red Lotus Town, Greengrass Town was closer to the incident, and they might have even been able to see the action with their own eyes.
Making my decision, I turned toward the town again and walked to the front gate where the guards were checking someone's carriage. At first, the guards looked at me cautiously, but amongst them were some of the same guards who had welcomed me into the town. Despite the lack of my uniform, I was recognized.
"Liu Feng, you're back?" One of the guards called out to me.
Said guard was, of course, Mao Zhi. He was the guy I had gotten along quite well with as he had escorted me through town during my last visit. In hindsight, it wasn't that long ago, but it felt much longer.
"Mao Zhi," I called out to him and walked closer with a smile. But once I was close enough, and the other civilians trying to enter town wouldn't hear me, I asked. "What was this I am hearing about an explosion? Is everything alright?"
An uncomfortable smile made its way onto his face, "Alright? Things are far from alright, my friend. Everyone is on edge, and from what my friends who work at the governor's office say, it seemed like everyone who was even remotely close to the explosion had died."
"Everyone died?" I asked.
"There were some far away, but they either died due to the clash between two powerhouses. Or one of the said powerhouses killed everyone after that to cover their tracks," Mao Zhi sighed. "Until now, we haven't found anyone who knew anything, and the governor is in a frenzy."
A chill went down my spine.
I could have been one of those unlucky people. I had definitely been close enough to the explosion. If I had been keeping an eye out, I would have been able to see the cause of the disaster.
Since I was attacked twice, it was safe to assume there were a lot of people at that distance away from the explosion.
But they had all ended up dead? It seemed like getting the fuck away from there was the best decision I had made in this life.
"You were that way too, right? Were you close to the explosion?" Mao Zhi asked.
His question was nothing more than one of curiosity, and from what I had seen so far, Mao Zhi wasn't the kind of guy who would spill the beans even if I told him the truth.
"No. Thankfully I was occupied by some things just on the outskirts of the forest and decided to do some training," I shook my head, lying through my teeth. "I usually like going out of uniform and talking with normal people. Helps get rid of the annoying edge that comes with being a cultivator and thinking everyone is after you."
He chuckled, "So you just decided to spend some time with us mortals."
Whatever had happened in there, I wanted no one to even think I was close to such a thing. "Much more fun than being around some pretentious cultivator. By the way, did anything new happen around here while I was gone?"
What I said was more of my way to try and change the subject, but the grimace that returned on Mao Zhi's face said enough.
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