On top of the flying swords, Sister Nuan and I soar across the endless valleys and crevices of the sect’s grounds near the core disciple towers.

Now heading towards the main road leading to the outside of the sect, I see we must first go through the inner court, with its cloudlike surroundings and spires reaching towards the heavens. The clouds lazily move between the buildings, but strangely don’t pass over the roads or around the buildings, keeping everything easily in view.

Just this part of the journey takes up an hour or two, giving me plenty of time to see the disciples and servants running from place to place between the buildings. By this time of the day, the sun was dipping below the horizon. And the activities below reflect such, as things switch around with one shift of servants changing out for another. On the disciples’ side, many of them continue to move around, as they no longer need to sleep and continue with their work.

But soon enough, we move past this area and arrive within the inner city. Just as before, here too I can still see a buzz of activity, though it is a much different sort.

If before what I saw was the actions of disciples trying to complete tasks and prepare for cultivation, then this is more focused on typical city life. Both the dark and light sides of it. Prostitutes selling wares on the street, back-room style deals on display for all to see, and the subtle moving of merchant wares through it all.

And it wouldn’t be due to forget about the fights that are occurring even now. The things that the sect guards won’t break up or do not care to. But even within this, I can tell there are healing rats from the Ascending Myriad Monsters group and the Eight Winds Alchemical Research society, the two groups which I will join once I get my group together at the towers. They seem to have extended their operations to the inner city as well.

Considering the expenses that it would take to get them to do this, I’m honestly surprised they’re still doing it.

Though, it is likely because I’ve had the rats resume activities on that front that have caused them to keep it going. But I wonder if there might be other motives, as well…

Now that I think about it, my scan showed me that both regular and demonic plagues do occasionally occur. This likely allows them to monitor the different illnesses and plagues that could pop up at any time.

Heck, even when I was doing it, I found several seeds of things that could blow up into full-blown pandemics. Some of them was even demonic in origin. Add to it that this is an excellent marketing opportunity for them and it all makes sense.

 

The crowds of people thronging around the different areas both capture my curiosity and cause my mind to drift to other things

That reminds me… how am I supposed to get all these people that want to join me over to the core disciple towers?

I suppose we’ll have to just walk there. Which isn’t especially heartening for anyone coming in. There has to be some kind of mass taxi service available that will make the trip quicker…

Maybe Sister Nuan will know about ways I can get them to the towers quickly?

And so, I ask her.

She gives me a look, as if I really should have thought of this already. And then sighs at me.

Which seems to be a regular occurrence with the people around me.

I probably should work on that.

Admittedly, I’m still getting used to considering all these things, in terms of logistics. Unfortunately, my office job in corporate America didn’t really prepare me for considering these things. That’ll need to change.

She answers my question, nonetheless.                         

“You won’t need to worry about that. One of our close acquaintances has already arranged something, as one of their shows of loyalty.”

Loyalty? That sounds strangely like a closer relationship than any of the bigger groups I know of.

Unless one of the members is wea… ah. Now I think I know who or what group would do this.

The Yellow Sashes.

And if I’m not incorrect, I think I know who will lead their group.

She raises a hand to her head, listening into a telepathic response. She then adds something else that fully captures my attention.

“Actually, it seems they’ve already taken care of most things for us. They’ve gathered all the interested parties into a place within the inner city.

“It also seems like they’ve sorted a few of them based on their information networks. The third group they bring out will be the troublemakers. You might want to take a closer look at them.”

… while that does help, I wonder if I might miss out on anybody because of their interference. I normally try not to do this, but I’ll need to use my scan for this.

Not only that, but if Sister Nuan communicating with someone via the telepathy method, it can’t be Shi, the red-haired guard.

I’m relatively sure she was around the early to mid-Qi Condensation ranks when I last saw her. And despite my affection for her, I didn’t heal her at that time. Especially since I was unsure of the true relationship I was going to have with the Yellow Sashes.

…

Hmm. The Yellow Sashes leader, Wu Qing, is deliberately pushing for a close relationship. And based on everything I’ve seen; she’s already been successful.

Makes me wonder what they’ll be asking for in return.

Using my scan to a slightly higher degree, I check whether they might have excluded anyone looking to come.

To my surprise, I quickly find that it actually is the opposite.

They actually brought several people on their way here that might show potential and helped convince anyone who was about to leave of the benefits of staying with my group. Even leveraging some aspects of their group working with me as a show of my personal strength.

The way they were wording it denotes a pretty close relationship, which makes me suspect they might be part of the ‘incoming class’. Which will be a hurdle in itself to handle.

Irrespective of my apprehensions, she turns the swords slightly, leading us to another part of the city. A literally brighter one.

Even though we saw countless areas with nighttime activity occurring, it all is nothing compared to what I see before me.

An area that wasn’t even slightly noticeable during the day, has lit up like a sun at night.

The night district.

Flashing lights, loud voices, and soaring buildings. If it wasn’t for the different architectural style, I could have sworn I was looking at larger Las Vegas.

Yet another thing that scares me about this world. Even just this district of the city is at least twice the size of Las Vegas in its entirety. And for this district, every piece of it is packed with entertainment.

And a quick check of my scan shows me that one of the groups that holds a significant share of the territory here is, of course, The Yellow Sashes.

“I feel the need to ask it again… but how did you get such a positive relationship with them again?”

The way she phrases it is as a hypothetical, simply to float on the air past us. As she already knows the answer.

 

We quickly arrive at a building, simultaneously prominent with its size, but with a hint of obscurity. My scan reveals a veil of something seems to cover it, giving it this property. Likely, a formation of some sort.

… which reminds me of a secret black site, set to hide in plain sight.

Do I really want to go in there?

A glance at Sister Nuan tells me all I need to know. She looks to be completely comfortable with the situation, putting my worries at ease.

If she feels confident about this, I should, too.

If I think about it more closely, it’s likely more for my safety than theirs that we are having this here. If my scan isn’t wrong, then there should be multiple formations meant to conceal both the facility and what goes on within it.

Meaning, if something untoward happens here, it will take longer to get out.

Really, this is the best possible position for me.

Softly landing in front of the building, its size is pretty imposing. Even the normal buildings in this city are the heights of small skyscrapers, exempting the slums. With this one being even larger, with a veil of darkness, and multiple levels of rising spires on the edges of every corner, it only exacerbates this feeling.

I walk in anyway.

 

… Behind Sister Nuan, of course.

 

And the shocking sight I see before me, is a two parallel rows of bowing people in maid uniforms. With the end of it being the immense group of people that I had convinced to stay, with quite a few extra that I didn't.

But none of them matters to me as much as the two people I finally can see in front of me, showing bright faces full of pride and happiness.

Ai and Lin.