Yang Xiu had rarely, if ever, been so excited in her life. For one thing, she was flying. Actually flying. The ground below passed in a blur as she soared past on her glider, Yang Ru and Kang Lin trailing behind. Even though the experience had grown more common over the last few days, she still found it amazing.
The main reason Yang Xiu felt so exhilarated, though, was that she was going on an actual mission for the sect. One that involved danger. Her previous one had been to escort a bunch of juniors into the woods to process beast parts. There was nothing in the world more boring than processing beast parts.
Though not officially declared, the mbers of the Jade Chaleon Sect were her sect’s sworn enemies by that point. Their rivalry was like sothing out of a book. Any of those sect mbers who saw her would be honor bound to fight her. Which ant she could fight back. Really fight back.
So far, she felt she was coming along nicely in her martial pursuits. She split spars with Yang Ru about half and half. Against Kang Lin, Yang Xiu won probably three quarters of the ti.
Spars were not true combat, though.
She’d acquitted herself well against beasts in her equivalent minor realm and had done the best she could when confronted with those above her, not backing down in the face of danger.
But she hadn’t faced any cultivators of a like realm with real stakes on the line. There was no chance that either her brother or Kang Lin would actually escalate to death stakes. At worst, minor injuries easily taken care of by the weakest of Healing Pills would result, and the rooms in the pavilion eliminated even those small concerns.
Yang Xiu wanted to experience actual combat against soone who truly wanted to do her harm and who wasn’t so far above her in realm that she had no chance to win. She wanted to test herself, to temper herself in the fire of battle.
She couldn’t help but be eager in her anticipation. Cultivation was about challenge. The heavens. Oneself. Other cultivators. Let her enemies be the whetstone to sharpen the blade she was becoming.
The mission also served a true purpose. Not that processing beasts didn’t. But if successful, the trip to Sixth Flawless Flowing City was the first step in making a major leap forward for the Rising Tide Sect.
Though Yang Xiu wasn’t nearly the most knowledgeable person when it ca to the world of sects and cultivators, she understood that her fledgling sect was quite deficient in its quantity of high-reald cultivators. The advancent that qi sources could provide, especially when combined with all the other advantages Master supplied, was exactly what they needed to close the gap with the other factions.
She was determined not to fail.
The trio arrived outside the city about an hour after lunch. At Kang Lin’s urging, the three landed out of sight of the walls and stored their gliders in their rings.
“Why couldn’t we just fly all the way to the gate?” Yang Xiu said.
“Because it would draw even more attention to us,” Kang Lin said. “Spies are already going to go wild when they see your robes.”
From Kang Lin’s tone, she clearly wished the twins could wear sothing other than the blue robes marking them as mbers of the Rising Tide Sect. Since they were on a not quite declared war footing with a local sect, though, hiding their affiliation would strip them of all protection.
Face required that the Jade Chaleons treat juniors of a rival sect according to certain rules. If the twins were to disguise themselves, they’d essentially be acting as spies, and face would no longer apply. A Golden Core cultivator could kill them with a finger and not think twice about it.
Yang Xiu didn’t care about the protection face provided. She would not have assented to hide her mbership in her sect even if it were the prudent choice. Her own honor wouldn’t have allowed it.
She sighed. Yang Ru probably would have gone along with wearing alternate robes, though. There was a disadvantage of him being sweet on Kang Lin. He still occasionally put his foot down as stubbornly as he ever did, but if he didn’t truly care about sothing one way or the other, it was guaranteed that he’d side with her.
“Where are we going first?” Yang Xiu said.
“The Poison Claw Sect. I am deeply uncomfortable with the two of you carrying around so much wealth, and I need to consult with Grandfather. Additionally, there’s no sense scouring the entire city before checking if we can buy so of the materials from my sect.”
Yang Xiu was eager to explore the city in pursuit of accomplishing her mission, but she knew not to let her excitent drive her actions. Kang Lin’s reasoning made sense. Not that Yang Xiu would have strenuously objected even if the logic were unsound. She was duty bound, of course, to follow the orders of the person Master placed above her. Being obedient didn’t an not voicing her opinions, however. Kang Lin was not Master, just soone appointed by him.
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After checking in with the gate guards, Kang Lin led them quickly through the streets at a hurried but not frantic pace, clearly striving for a stride that said, “We’re important and have so place to be” while avoiding going too far and communicating, “We’re desperate to get off the streets.”
Neither did she avoid main thoroughfares by taking shortcuts and using alleys, etc. That routing would have conveyed that they were trying to hide.
Yang Xiu agreed with that strategy if for completely different reasons. Kang Lin wanted to maximize keeping all three of them safe. Yang Xiu wanted to avoid even the appearance of hiding. The Rising Tide Sect mbers were not cowards.
Whether no one had ti to intercept them or their potential enemies were taking a wait and see approach or the Jade Chaleons’ operations had been so impacted in the city that they couldn’t get their mbers in place in ti, Yang Xiu didn’t know, but the end result was that they reached the Poison Claw Sect without encountering anyone brave enough to impede them.
Kang Lin was, of course, well known at the sect’s branch grounds and was quickly admitted with her guests, whom she escorted directly to her grandfather’s cultivation room where the man’s assistant waved them inside.
After they’d been granted admittance, Elder Kang said, “Kang Lin, you’re here so soon? Friend Su ssaged that you’d be coming, but I was expecting it to be weeks before you arrived.”
There was clearly affection for his granddaughter in the man’s tone, and Yang Xiu’s jealously flared for a mont. She missed her parents dearly. When things cald down, she would have to pay a visit to her hotown. She doubted Fang Wei’s family would survive the trip.
“It would be easier to show you than to explain.” Kang Lin extracted her glider from her ring, letting it rest on the floor in front of her grandfather.
The man peered at it with interest, surely scanning it with his spiritual sense. “An interesting device. Gravity and Wind, right?”
Kang Lin nodded.
“How long was the trip?” he said.
“A little over three hours, Grandfather.”
“And that was maximum velocity?”
Kang Lin nodded again.
“Very interesting. I wonder at its usefulness, however,” Elder Kang said. “Once you reach Golden Core, you’ll have a much better and faster option.”
“They were birthday gifts from Master to us, Elder Kang,” Yang Xiu said.
The term was clearly unfamiliar to him, but he didn’t react to it.
“I see. I guess it is useful for juniors. Saved you a bit of ti traveling at any rate. It’s just hard to see how the ti and expense to create three of them would be worth it.”
Yang Xiu didn’t think that Master particularly cared about how difficult their gift was to create or how much it cost. Him being in their lives was the only thing that even sowhat lessened the sting of losing their parents.
“Master apparently crafted the two for my brother and in a couple of hours total, Elder Kang,” Yang Xiu said, “and my understanding was it took almost that long for Expert Blacksmith Xun Wu to create the bases.”
“Friend Su inscribed these arrays in less than an hour?”
“My understanding is that Master accomplished the feat in minutes, Elder Kang.”
There was almost nothing in the world better than impressing soone with tales of just how unfathomable Master was.
“I see. That is amazing,” Elder Kang said. “Now, please explain the purpose of your visit. Friend Su ssaged that you were seeking to purchase certain materials, but he did not go into detail as to what it is exactly that you need.”
“Beast cores, plant kernels, and minerals that contain densely packed qi for the elents of Fire, Ice, Montum, Shadow, Nature, and Ti, Elder Kang.”
Kang Lin pulled the Orange Vigor Spirit Wood kernel from her ring. “Sothing like this, Grandfather.”
“I see. And I suppose you can’t tell why the dire need for such things…”
“Sorry, Grandfather. As a disciple, I cannot reveal my Master’s secrets.”
Yang Xiu knew she could trust the girl, but it was still gool to hear Kang Lin put loyalty to Master above her family.
“I understand,” Elder Kang said. “You do know, however, that these will be very expensive. So will not even be available for spirit coins alone.”
“Master told us the sa, Elder Yang,” Yang Xiu said and explained Master’s idea to barter for the materials.
“Hmm. He’s that confident, eh? Don’t answer that. Of course, he is. You know, it might be worth the loss of a qi treasure to obtain the work of a true master craftsman. I will propose an idea to Elder Dai.”
Yang Xiu cupped her hands. “Gratitude, Elder.”
The two girls related the other things the sect leader required.
“tals ranked for Golden Cores won’t be an issue. Ingots go from fifty to two hundred greater spirit coins, depending on the rarity or difficulty of creation. I’ll have our blacksmiths gather two ingots of ten types and get that to you at the best possible prices.”
Yang Xiu cupped her hands again.
“The cauldron is more difficult,” Elder Kang said. “At that level, most are created by Masters for their disciples. Not many are sold. But I have a couple of contacts who could possibly help.”
The elder was really going out of his way to be of assistance. His attitude was sothing that Yang Xiu had grown accustod to from the way Master behaved, but her understanding was that most sect elders took a more hands-off approach, forcing the disciples to figure out most things on their own.
“This lowly one will inform her Master about how generous Elder Kang has been with his ti and expertise,” Yang Xiu said.
She was sure that her gratitude would cost Master, but she was equally sure that he wouldn’t mind that cost, whatever it was.
After the audience with the sect elder, Kang Lin brought the twins to a private area. “Until we determine what my sect can provide us and for what price, there is no sense searching the city. I recomnd spending the evening on other pursuits here on the sect grounds. After we check back with Grandfather in the morning, we can determine our plans. In the anti, I will consult with my contacts about the best places to go to seek the materials we need.”
Yang Xiu reluctantly agreed with the idea even though she really would have preferred a more active course. She did understand that proceeding after gathering information often led to a much faster resolution than rushing off too soon. If nothing else, cultivation was teaching her about patience.
While her brother and Kang Lin researched tomorrow’s activities, Yang Xiu was directed to the room she’d be using for the duration of her stay, and she spent the portion of the evening and night she wasn’t sleeping cultivating. Getting to Golden Core was a long, long road, one that she’d never reach the end of if she didn’t keep placing one foot in front of the other.
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