“How odd...” For the last several hours, I had been absorbing mana from the mana stones I’d looted and now something happened.
Previously, my core had been steadily growing with the influx of mana, but it suddenly stopped; Any mana I absorbed now simply dissipated.
I continued trying for a few more minutes, but after failing repeatedly, I gave up.
“This won’t help, I need to find a way to get through this” I stood up and looked around me.
I spend roughly twelve hours cultivating, meaning I had 60 hours left before the last trial.
“Guess I have no choice but to check that out,” I muttered to myself as I looked at the horizon; A column of smoke had appeared there a few minutes ago.
I circulated my mana, strengthening my body, and started running.
Every time I pushed my feet off the ground, handfuls of dirt got kicked away, leaving a clear trail.
I ignored this and in just a few minutes I reached the smoke.
The smoke originated from a flipped over cart on the side of a path.
I approached the cart and spotted an old man next to it, just out of reach of the fire.
Checking his pulse, I found that he was still alive, so I quickly pulled him out off the cart.
“Ah! Who?!” The old man woke up with a start, yelling loudly before coughing violently.
His coughing eventually stopped and, after spitting out a mouthful of blood, he spoke again: “Who are you? No… judging by your appearance, you must be a demon beast. Why would something like you save me?”
Looking down at my claws, I judged that denying being a ‘demon beast’ would be useless. Instead, I responded calmly: “Why wouldn’t someone like me be allowed to do a good deed?”
“Ha! A demon beast doing a good deed! Now I’ve heard everything!” The man laughed out loud before being hit by another coughing fit.
It took him several minutes before he could speak again: “You! I wouldn’t normally ask someone like you for this, but… would you do a dying old man a favour?”
“Let’s hear it”
“This box, bring it to my master, the lord of white-gold city, several hundred kilometres south of here.” He spoke, as a mahogany coloured box appeared in his hand.
Although I was slightly startled by the sudden appearance of the box, I didn’t show it and nonchalantly took it.
“I suppose I can do that,” I responded.
The old man had a relieved look on his face as he spoke again. “Thank you. Mention my name, Wu Hanshan, I’m sure he’ll reward you appropriately.”
I sat in silence for several more minutes and the man’s breathing became increasingly slow.
When it eventually stopped, I sighed and stood up.
After searching his body, I discovered a ring which contained a shocking amount of mana.
Name: Black iron space ring
Description: storage device utilising void magic, storage space of 10 cubic meters.
“Hmm… I have my subspace, but this can hold ten times as much. Plus, I can give this to one of the others if needed” I put it on my finger and injected mana into it.
By doing so I could ‘see’ inside, similar to how I could view my mana core.
The inside was mostly empty, the only things inside was a set of armour, a pouch filled with coins and a small jade bottle containing several black pills.
“I better put this ring in my subspace, that lord might demand I hand this over if he sees me with it.” I opened my subspace and threw the ring inside.
After the fire died down, I searched through the burned cart and threw anything noteworthy inside my subspace.
“Now, let’s go pay this lord a visit.”
When I got to the top of the hill, I could see a city sprawled out before me.
The city was surrounded by a ten-metre high wall which seemed to be made out of one continuous rock.
In the centre of the city, a giant sprung from the ground, surrounded by walls at least as tall as the city’s outer wall.
The top of that wall was adorned with dozens of guards and on either side of its gate stood two enormous men who were each accompanied by equally large animals; The first by a giant eagle and the other by a humongous wolf.
This courtyard was surrounded by other, less massive, buildings.
As my sight got further and further from the centre, I could see the quality of the buildings drop; In the centre the smallest buildings had at least several dozen rooms and seemed like they could easily withstand an earthquake or two, but close to the outer walls the biggest buildings were little more than wooden shacks which would get knocked over by a stiff breeze.
Having taken in the city, I made my way down the hill and approached the nearest gate.
“Halt! Stay right there!” When I got within a dozen metres of the gate, a group of guards rushed out and confronted me.
They had their spears pointed at me and were looking at me cautiously.
“It’s a demon beast in near-perfect human form; It’s a peak spirit realm expert at least. Call for the city’s guardians, we’ll delay it.” The guard captain yelled out loudly and several people started running towards the city’s centre in response.
“Excuse me… I’m not here to fight. I’ve just come to deliver something” Before anyone could attack me, I quickly opened my mouth.
In response, however, the group of guards backed off, startled.
“It… It spoke! It’s a sage realm demon beast! Only the city lord can deal with this!” One of the guards exclaimed and everyone started to visibly shake; Their speartips kept moving and they struggled to keep them pointed at me.
I hesitated for a while, not sure of what to do, until a loud voice sounded out from beyond the gate: “Stand down, we’ll take it from here”
Three old men appeared and dismissed the terrified guards. A terrifying pressure radiated from each of them.
The man in the middle stepped forward and spoke: “Demon beast, what brings you here? You haven’t forgotten the treaty our ancestors signed, have you?”
As I struggled to withstand the pressure exuded from the three men, I quickly thought up an appropriate response: “Please calm down, I haven’t come with any hostile intent. Earlier today I came across a dying man, Wu Hanshan, he requested of me to deliver something to the city lord.”
The three men fell silent for a moment and then started to discuss amongst themselves. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the man to the left of me seemed especially aggravated. He had a thunderous look on his face and repeatedly shot me hostile looks.
The other men, however, were more collected and managed to somewhat calm the first man down.
“Brother Luo, Brother Qin, I can’t agree with your opinion. As respect towards the city lord, however, I shall leave this matter alone. Excuse me.” At a certain point, the discussion ended abruptly as the first man left as quickly as he had appeared.
The two other men silently watched him leave and only when he had disappeared completely did one of them speaks up: “Please excuse brother Wu. The man you found was his little brother, the news you brought caused him great distress.”
“I understand, it is not a problem. I have come to deliver the item as requested, is the city lord available at this time?” Although the man named Wu had probably said less than respectable things about me, I wasn’t in any position to bring it up, nevermind making a problem of it.
“He is, please follow me”
Following the two men, I entered the city. As we walked along the street, anyone we’d pass would respectfully bow to the two men and curiously look at me.
At some point, we reached another wall separating the noble neighbourhood from the rest.
As we went through the gate, a boy blocked our way: “Uncle Luo, Uncle Qin, why have you let this monster into the city? No, more importantly, why are you intentionally bringing father in danger by leading this monster to him? You wouldn’t be thinking of rebelling, right?”
A look of annoyance flashed through the men’s eyes but they quickly hid it.
“Of course not, young master. We guarantee this demon beast expert doesn’t have any hostile intentions” The elder, Luo, said politely, accompanied by a slight bow.
“Demon beast expert!? It’s a monster, how could you refer to it as an expert? It’s disrespectful towards true human experts!” The boy got angry and started shouting.
He kept ranting for several minutes until, eventually, a stern voice silenced him: “Yu’er, be silent, we have guests!”
“But, father!...” The boy turned to the newcomer, but, before he could say anything more, was interrupted by him: “I won’t say it again. Brother Qin, would you please escort my son to his quarters?”
“Yes city lord!” After excusing himself, one of the old men left, taking the boy along with him.
“I apologize for my son’s behaviour. Please accept this as a token of my sincerity.” The newcomer, the city lord, bowed his head slightly and handed me a wooden box.
I opened the lid to look inside and found three jade bottles, similar to the one I wound in the deceased man’s space ring before.
Because I didn’t know how the city lord viewed me, I kept my response as neutral as possible: “Thank you, city lord, I will accept these”
“Although I do love being out in my city, I believe we should head inside before continuing our conversation.” The city lord said and, walking next to him, we headed inside a giant building.
The room we eventually entered had its walls covered by bookcases.
In one of the corners stood several soft chairs surrounding a tea table.
Me, the city lord and elder Luo, each sat down in a chair.
A servant quickly served each of us tea and quietly left the room.
“Before we continue, allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Jiang Feng, I am the city lord of White Plane City. This is elder Luo Tong, he is one of the guardians of my city.” He introduced himself and elder Luo and I introduced myself in response: “You can refer to me as ‘Hella’, I have recently left my home and am now travelling the world”
“...I see” Jiang Feng had a troubled expression on his face after my response, but quickly wiped it off his face and continued: “I suppose I’ll get straight to the point. I have been told you have something for me.”
I silently drank my tea for a few moments before I answered: “I do indeed. Earlier today, I came across Wu Hanshan. I’m afraid to tell you that at the time he was fatally wounded and has since died. When I found him, however, he requested me to bring you this item.”
After I handed him the box, Jiang Feng produced a key from his pocket and quickly opened it.
He looked inside and relief quickly washed over him.
He locked the box again and spoke: “My friend, it seems I owe you a favour now. Tell me, is there anything I can do for you?”
As I pondered what to ask for, I finished my tea.
I put the teacup on the table and answered: “I have lived in isolation for a long time now. The thing I need most right now is knowledge. I would thus like to request this of you.”
Jiang Feng seemed slightly put off by this but he responded nonetheless: “Knowledge, you say? I would, of course, be happy to provide you with this, what do you seek to learn?”
“Anything at all, even the most trivial things interest me.” Since I knew nothing about this world, everything I could learn would be beneficial.
“Of course.” Jiang Feng called in a servant and handed him the, now re-locked, box. “Take this to old man Qiao. Also, escort the guest to the library, make sure she gets everything she wishes for.”
