Sage quickly learned that that killed commoner was right. All the inns in town had already been rented out. He spent so coin and learned that sothing big was going on and a bunch of influential people had pulled the sa move as Tang Zhelan. Each of them went and rented out a whole inn, kicking out all the regular custors and putting them out on the streets. So enterprising locals even started renting out their spare rooms to the evicted travelers for crazy prices. A few of them even tried to get crazy and stuff a dozen people into a single spare room, but then a few powerful cultivators got offended, killing the greedy hoowner and taking their whole house.
The night quickly fell into a modicum of chaos as more hos were taken by force. Soon, the city guard was called in and those who had stolen houses as well as so who were trying to offer rooms with crazy conditions were all arrested or killed by the guards. Order was restored and the guards were patrolling the city in large squads. Sage saw a man walking out a decent looking ho and approached him with a bow of his head.
Excuse , Sir. Do you have a spare room that this lowly one could rent?
He had no idea who the man was, so he was careful not to flatter him too much. If he were to say too many flowery things about a person without knowing their position he could actually end up insulting them. The man he was speaking to suddenly looked nervous, looking around to see if anyone else was waiting nearby to assault him.
I uh no, I dont have any rooms. Please move along, Sir. We dont want any trouble here.
Sage could tell he was uneasy and he didnt enjoy taking advantage of regular people, but he didnt want to leave town or be left vulnerable out on the street. A red outline appeared around his pupils as they started to slightly oscillate up and down. A yellow glow spread from the iris of his eye as he t that mans gaze. Hypnotic Eyes. The technique from that toad, it could affect the minds of others. Those one rank lower could be srized, standing motionless and dazed after eting his gaze. Those two ranks lower could be given hypnotic suggestions, creating subtle changes in their behavior. At three ranks lower, he could even perform full on carnival tricks and make people think they were chickens or celebrities until sothing could disturb their ntal state.
Are you sure you dont have any spare rooms, Sir?
Sage tried again with the enforcent of his technique and as expected the man changed his tune. He had a wooden look on his face, and spoke in a sowhat monotone voice now.
I was wrong. Please co inside and stay in ho.
Sage blinked, his eyes returning to normal and heading inside with that man. He treated the man and his family kindly, offering them far more than any inn would charge for his stay. He didnt let the mans fear of conflict stop him from getting off the street. The next day, he went to the Zhu clan again and inford a guard of his change of address. Over the next couple days, the city continued its strange activities. Nobody dared to bother the Zhu clan, but many other smaller clans were essentially taken over. He heard of a few stories where so powerful clan or group from out of town needed a place to stay and rather than fight over inns they forced weaker local clans to receive them as guests. The weaker local clans had to treat them like their relatives from out of town and fawn over them to keep from suffering any damages.
Sothing is definitely going on.
At that ti, Sage finally got invited back into the Zhu clan. At the gate an attendant received Sage and brought him to a hallway, asking him politely to wait outside of a large door. A eting was still going on, which should be finished soon. Standing there in the hall, he caught sight of a painting across the hall and walked over to take a look. It was a beautiful scene of a flowering plum tree at the top of a snow covered cliff, the pink blossoms were floating off the cliff and swirling in the wind. Sothing about the painting captured his attention. The longer he stared the more he felt there was sothing profound about the way the leaves were painted moving along with the wind.
Bang!
With his attention divided, he was caught completely off guard as sothing crashed into him from the side. Even with his strength as a cultivator, he was caught unaware and knocked to the ground in a sprawl. Not knowing what had just happened, he had barely recovered his wits when he heard a loud voice.
Why dont you watch where youre going, fool! What a clumsy oaf. Whoever is unlucky enough to marry you would be cursed by your ineptitude.
Sage was face down on the floor from the collision. Hed been so focused he had been unable to even break his fall. His shoulder felt a bit raw as he climbed up to his hands and knees, turning his head back to look at who hit him as he was standing up. It was a girl, a beautiful girl from the looks of it. Sage rose to his feet and turned around to face the girl. He was astounded by her features. She was easily twice as good looking as the woman Zhu Su he t before. Zhu Su seed like a young woman, but she was far more dignified and refine. This girl in front of him almost looked wild and unkempt. Like she didnt even care about her looks, she seed like she just rolled out of bed looking like a supermodel. It was almost unsettling. Before Sage finished his appraisent of her features and far before he could think of anything the say, the girl finished cursing at him and stalked away with a huff.
Sage walked her go with an unusual look on his face. Rubbing his arm, glad he was a cultivator so such an injury wouldnt leave even a bruise let alone break his arm like if he was a normal person. That girl was obviously powerful from the force by which she struck him. He had been standing still in the middle of the hallway, so obviously the girl had been the one to cause the collision, yet she blad and cursed at him so fiercely for it.
That was odd.
A few minutes later, the doors he was waiting nearby opened. A group of richly dressed people walked out, to which Sage lowered his head, not wanting to start any conflicts by eting their gaze. Hed once followed around a young master on a shopping trip, the people that dared to et his gaze that werent rich and powerful had been the target of his ire. Sage didnt know who these people were, but hed always choose to be humble and act without pride in order to avoid being made into another victim.
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