In the sa city, not that far from the small roadside restaurant in which Wu Long's group sat down, two figures that arrived not that long apart from them were still walking the streets, seemingly in search of sothing.
One of them had very subtle, almost imperceptible signs of an unstable aura, walking with steady and decisive stride. The one slightly behind him was less confident, alertly surveilling their surroundings.
"Hahaha, your associate is quite obvious, did he drop his guard when you passed into the city?", a steady, slightly raspy voice spoke, a note of amusent hinted in it.
The two stopped to look at a man looking to be in his forties, who approached from the opposite direction they were going in, stopping in turn to look back at them.
"I wondered when soone would approach, so I had him help with making you more comfortable to do so", the man walking in front answered with a subtle answer.
"Heh, no wonder", the man who approached the pair nodded with a chuckle, not believing that explanation for even a mont, " That said, I hope you will retract that signaling, we don't want attracting more attention now that you have soone to talk to, do we?"
"Why not? The more the rrier is it not?", the man in front raised his bamboo hat to reveal a middle-aged looking man with neatly kept black facial hair, with sharp eyes, often called by his allies Old Yen.
The man standing in front of him quickly gazed over both strangers, and not finding anything noteworthy of the companion besides so obvious observations that gave him so clues, refocused his attention on Old Yen who was far more worthy of attention.
"It could turn quite ugly", he noted, "You may not know about it, but areas near links to the world you ca from are quite wild"
"How kind of you to offer such information upfront"
"Consider it a show of good faith, not that you lacked it anyway. Though not everyone can pick on the clues you so expertly left only traces of so we might be safe for so ti. Won't lie, passing Heavenly Tribulation amid yesterday's storm is bloody brilliant", the man comnded Old Yen's masterful concealnt of his origins with only the slightest clues perhaps purposely left.
"I might have gotten lucky with circumstances, but would be a fool not to take advantage of that luck", Old Yen chuckled, while the man noticed that the one beside Old Yen reacted slightly to the words implying intentionally leaking his origins .
He then pointed with his chin toward the latter, "I suppose it was that little guy over there who told you that your origin is noticeable otherwise?"
"And what if he did?", Old Yen made a broad smile, sensing no goodwill from the man toward his companion.
"Well, in doing so he upset quite a lot of people. Though I for one am happy he did, because I get to approach you like this", the man shrugged as Old Yen's companion revealed a cautious look, and then proceeded with "co now, this particular alley may be a blind spot, which is why I chose to approach you here, but it's still not that good to keep staying in the middle of the street here looking all suspicious. In these places, any ordinary folk can be soone's eyes, snitching pays well here you see"
"Heh, let's see what you propose then", Old Yen nodded and signaled his companion who was nervously looking around as they followed the man through a series of small alleys to a small tea house.
In the comfort of a warm room within the tea house, the man smirked at seeing Old Yen's companion being slightly relieved, shaking his head.
"You must already know that this area is governed by the Iron Claw Group right?", the man then asked, to which Old Yen did not respond, but the question was more rhetorical in any case, as the man was sure that the one in front of him was more or less inford.
"What your friend here might have also told you, is that you are in the territory of the Mossy Stone Sect now, who are living under the Iron Claw Group. He maybe even told you of other powers in the vicinity, their relations…", the man spoke carefully studying Old Yen's reactions, his tone mundane as if all what he was talking about was obvious and not valuable information to a newcor.
But then, he leaned in to the table, his tone slightly shifting, "All that is superficial, how the world looks in the eyes of a layman. This place is crawling with people like , from various powers that are and aren't represented here in the open, which is the real landscape you should be worried about", holding in a satisfied glint in his eyes when he saw his word make desired effect, along with the face of Old Yen's companion growing slightly uneasy.
"I don't know what smallti upstart gang this lad ca from, and what mountains he promised you, but he would never have access to knowledge I can give you", the man spoke now in a more obvious way now that he had found his angle.
"Wh..!", the man beside Old Yen beca agitated, but a restraining hand landed on his shoulder.
"And I suppose you want the sa as this fellow does in return, information about what happened where I am from and such", Old Yen revealed a smile that slightly resembled a scowl, revealing his teeth.
The man opposite of him narrowed his eyes, inwardly cursing that this guy was not that simple as he hoped he would be. The fact Old Yen knew this motive was not the problem, as that much would be quite obvious, the problem was his deanor, that told the man this was no fish, but a shark. A smaller one that swam in from a smaller pond, but a shark nonetheless.
"Why be so apprehensive? Is that not a simple business transaction?", Old Yen pressed with his smile widening.
"Indeed it is", the man opposite finally recovered his composure, amicably smiling in return, his tone, however, shifting as he continued "But our positions are not equal, are they? You depend on my being interested in keeping this encounter under wraps, so that I could extract the maximum benefits from it. If you refuse to cooperate, and I have no more interest, what's to stop from simply announcing your presence?"
"You'll invite your rivals to get a chance of obtaining what you couldn't? Really? I don't think so", Old Yen shook his head with a confident smile, "Your best bet to obtain what you want and outdo your competition, would have been to kidnap and torture , which you would have undoubtedly done if it was possible. However, what a dilemma, we're in the sa Cultivation Realm, unlike you expected, and however new to it I am, it would be a stretch to say you have a ten out of ten assurance that you can take down without resistance and fuss that would indeed attract too much attention. Given that, your next best course of action is the one you already took, to try a peaceful negotiation. You revealed it by approaching , man. Let's not sit here and pretend that isn't the case"
The man slightly grimaced, revealing his frustration for the first ti.
"Damn I hate dealing with smart people", he then made a light laugh, returning to an amicable expression, accentuating his every next word with a tap of his index finger toward Old Yen, "And you, my friend, are very smart", then with a smile, "being honest here. Hahaha. Fine then, an even transaction it is then"
His tone beca light and friendly, as he sought to reset the tone of the discussion itself, but it seed Old Yen was not so inclined.
"Hmm, even… is it? I would think I still have an edge, in that there are others I can get the sa information from, and you don't"
"Ha! The audacity! Your next counterpart can be less amicable, you know? There are Essence Gathering Realm experts here as well", the man opposite Old Yen exclaid between irritation, a kind of awe, and amusent, at the sa ti very thoroughly hiding a reaction toward the information Old Yen, intentionally or not, slipped up, in that 'he is alone'.
"I can still take my chances, and it's not like I am not cautious", Old Yen shrugged his shoulders, as his opponent was studying every expression and mannerism, trying to determine if the earlier slip-up was true or a feint.
Finally the man relaxed back in his seat again, gesturing with open hand "Fine then, if we are not to have an even transaction, what is it that you propose then, surely you're not expecting to just accept whatever terms you propose?"
"Of course not" Old Yen shook his head with a chuckle, and then leaning forward, interlocked his fingers together on the table, "How about we start with so goodwill from you first though? A small gesture…", he made an expression of being in thought that slightly erred on the theatrical, as his counterpart knew well he already had sothing in mind, and then with an expression of 'that's it!!!', proceeded "...how about you give all the 'superficial', as you called it, information that you so generously give out for free first, and then we can go from there"
The man opposite Old Yen first raised his eyebrows in surprise, and then narrowed his eyes, suspecting so trickery in how much lighter this request was than he expected. But not able to see Old Yen's expression that seed to be now more friendly than so minutes before, slowly nodded his head.
Hehehe ^^
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