We land a few hundred meters away from one of the gates leading to Wu clan's city, where we find a short line waiting for entry into the city. The people waiting in line don't pay our landing any mind, if we tried to do this in the city proper we'd probably get executed.
Ninbing is the first to throw herself off of the eagle. Xin Ci, Cui, Luli and Zha-whatever opt to calmly climb down instead. The line seems to be moving pretty fast, so we just take our place at the back and wait with everyone else.
It's early morning and the weather is fairly pleasant, so the wait shouldn't be too painful either.
Listening in on what everyone's talking about to pass the time reveals that there's not much juicy gossip going around, most of the people in line are either talking about trade, or sharing local gossip on the level of who slept with who behind who's back.
We stay in silence for the first one or so minute, before Ningbing yawns from boredom. "You know what I'm going to do once we're in the city?"
Probably something that would get you the death penalty on earth. Xin Ci answers her question before I can provide a snarky remark. "What?"
Ningbing chuckles. "I'm going to buy the fattest slave there is in the market, and then I'll have your pretty ass cook them for me."
My guess was right on the money. Xin Ci shakes her head. "I refuse. Killing people, and then eating them, is wrong. I'll repeat myself, I am not ignorant enough to believe I can fix all the wrongs of the world, but I cannot participate in them myself."
Xin Ci has a pretty strong moral compass, and more than enough determination to stubbornly follow it to the bitter end. She hasn't protested our actions much so far, but we also haven't done anything really vile for her to protest just yet.
Ningbing, who has been starting conversations like this whenever she's bored, rubs her chin thoughtfully. "What if 'Ying Yue' asked you? Would you cook someone for her?"
Xin Ci takes a deep breath, before shaking her head and sighing. "No. I would not."
Ningbing smiles. "What if she was to threaten your life? If she was going to kill you if you didn't make someone into food for her, would you still refuse?"
We take a few steps forward as the line shortens, Xin Ci shakes her head. "I would still refuse. If one does not follow their principles to the bitter end, of what worth are their principles truly?"
She usually is pretty docile, all things considered, but she still has quite the pair of balls on her. There's a little bit of doubt as to whether she would follow through on her words if I were to press the matter, but her determination still speaks volumes of her will and stubbornness.
I chuckle. "Then why are you willingly serving me? You already know that Ning Bing, Cui and I aren't exactly righteous by any means, yet you still serve and follow me. Are you not afraid that someday you might become corrupted by me?"
Xin Ci rubs the back of her head as we take another few steps forward. "I follow my path and you follow yours. In the end I am a mere mortal, all that I can do is live my life without regrets."
She clears her throat, before giving me a somewhat coy smile. "And who knows, perhaps by staying on your side I might veer you into the righteous path."
Ningbing lets out a laugh. "I sincerely doubt that you could. I got my taste of people from watching him snack on someone, not the other way around."
Cui sighs. "Are you sure that this is a topic that should be discussed in public like this?"
Ningbing, Xin Ci and I stare at the people ahead and behind us. They are doing that thing people do where there is nothing better to do than to listen in on strangers talking and gossiping.
Ningbing shrugs. "Most of the people here are either mortal merchants or demonic cultivators. To get back on topic, if you care so much about your principles, why are you serving, and also are getting fucked by, someone like this girl?"
She points a finger at me, I flick her nose in response and she glares at me. Xin Ci sheepishly replies. "I am just a mortal, you ask me that as if I had any choice left in the matter of whom I would serve. As soon as my world was destroyed I had no other true choice in front of me. Is it truly selfish of one to try and look after their own wellbeing?"
Ningbing stops glaring at me and turns her gaze to Xin Ci, before shrugging. "Dunno. I don't really care that much what you think of yourself or what your principles are, I'm just really bored and thought to poke at you a bit. So what does living without regrets actually mean for you?"
Xin Ci gives Ningbing a tired look, before sighing. "All I can do is just try to help whomever I can, if my living brings more good than evil to the world then I would consider myself to be good. If my living brings more evil than good to the world then I would consider myself to be evil."
Cui stares at Xin Ci. "So long as you do not interfere with Mistresses plans you are free to entertain any principles you wish. Just see that you do not get in his way."
Cui and Luli are still, despite now being gu masters, my servants. Luli's temperament is not suited to combat, so I'll have to find a good non-combative path that she has talent in for her to cultivate. Shen Cui is ruthless enough to kill without even blinking an eye, so I'll likely be getting her on strength path.
Finding a gu worm capable of masking her cultivation shouldn't be too difficult. Since strength path doesn't require much use of gu for fighting she can serve me while acting inconspicuous. She'll be well suited to bodyguard duty.
We take a few more steps forward, bringing us in front of the city guard. Said city guard is composed entirely of gu masters. One of them, a thirty year old man with the aura of a rank 2 gu master, steps forward towards us. "Halt. Who are you and why do you seek entry into the city?"
I clear my throat. "We are traveling gu masters, here to trade and remain for an undetermined period of time." I point my finger at myself. "I'm Ying Yue, that there" I point my thumb at Ningbing. "Is Ningbing. The remaining three women are my servants, Sheng Cui, Wang Luli and Zhang Xin Ci. Finally, the man with us is…"
Sheng Cui completes my sentence. "Wu Zhizheng."
The guard blinks in surprise, before giving Wu Zhizheng a better look. Recognition soon flashes in his eyes, before he gives Zhizheng a deep bow. "My lord! I apologize deeply for not recognizing you!"
It is my turn to blink in surprise. This guy is actually someone that important?
It's not really unheard of for mortals to be above gu masters in status. If the child of a clan leader happens to be a talentless mortal they would still have better status than a D-grade aptitude child of nobody.
It's still surprising to see a gu master bow that deeply to a mortal. Zhizheng stares numbly at the guard. Ningbing leans herself on my shoulder. "We rescued him, should we expect some kind of reward?"
One of the other guards, this one a male rank 3 gu master, nods. "Wu Xiapoeng will almost certainly reward you for rescuing his relative, regardless of whether he is a mortal or not. You may enter the city. Just make sure to follow the rules, don't use any gu worms outside your lodgings and approved areas, and don't be the kind of idiot that tries stealing or killing in the city."
Looks like this guy has given us a VIP pass into the city. I expected a few more questions, but it looks like rescuing that guy has streamlined some of the process for us. I give the guard a nod, before proceeding to head into the city proper.
Approved areas most likely means areas such as arenas, refinement halls and the like. Even back on earth rules like these were just common sense. Just because you have a gun permit doesn't mean you can shoot said gun for funsies in the middle of the street.
We pass the gates and enter the outskirts of the city. Mortals and gu masters alike fill the streets, each of them going about their own business. Some of the mortals carry water, some carry food and groceries, and a few are leading other mortals around.
The majority of the people around us are mortals, which doesn't mean that the amount of gu masters is minuscule though. The city is populous enough that the so-called minority of gu masters around us is still more than enough to populate a whole clan.
That's just the people we can see on the street we are on, there's still the whole rest of the city that's full to the brim with people. Wu clan city is truly gigantic, a true hub of commerce and trade for mortal gu masters.
My eyes land on a mortal child, dressed in modest clothes, that's sitting in a remote alley, begging. I head on over to him, before dropping a few primeval stones next to him. "I have more for you if you show me around the city."
I've got no clue where anything in this city is, let alone where I'm supposed to go and rent a place. The boy eyes the primeval stones, pockets them and quickly stands up. "Just follow me!"
He walks off excitedly, I chuckle and follow behind him. Ningbing, Xin Ci, Cui and Luli follow behind me.
The boy leads us all throughout the city, showing us where the best, and worst, inns are. Where the gambling halls of ill-repute and iller-repute are, where the arena is and much, much more. Wu clan city is extremely large, we arrived in the morning and by the time that we're done exploring the sun has already begun to set.
The deeper we go into the city, the more grandiose the buildings become. The roofings go from being functional, of high quality to being outright decadent and showing off. One of them, which has to belong to someone absurdly rich, used actual solid jade as roof tiles.
The boy points towards a street filled with market stalls. "That there is the market! If there's anything in the Southern Continent, Eastern Sea or Central Continent you need, you will find it there without doubt!"
He then points at a large, opulent building. "That there's the auction house! Anything that's too rare to be found in the market you'll almost certainly find in the auction house!"
Xin Ci gives him a smile and nod. "Thank you for your help, we really appreciate that you showed us around like this."
The boy nods, before turning to me with some apprehension. He clears his throat, but doesn't muster the courage to ask for his payment. I chuckle, before handing him a handful of primeval stones. "Make sure not to spend them all in one place."
For a gu master living in this city what I just gave him is, at most, a few days of wages. For a mortal it's practically a life's fortune.
The boy stares at the primeval stones in his hand with disbelief, before pocketing them and trying to run off. Trying, because Xin Ci grabs him by the hand before he can dart off.
Ningbing and I stare with some curiosity at her. She extends her free hand to the boy. "That's too many primeval stones for you to carry around. Too much wealth can be more of a curse than it is a blessing. I'll give them back to you once you're in a better position, I promise."
The boy stares at her for a second, before wrenching his hand out of her grip and darting off. Xin Ci tries to stop him, but sighs and gives up once he gets lost in the crowd. She turns towards me with sad, puppy dog eyes. "Why did you give him that many primeval stones?"
I shrug. "It was a spur of the moment thing mostly. If he lives he'll get to enjoy them, if he gets stabbed for them then he won't. It's entirely up to him where his life goes from here."
What I just did was the equivalent of handing a homeless beggar twenty kilograms of solid, twenty four karat gold. It's a lot of money, but it'll bring more trouble to the kid than it's worth.
Murder is forbidden in the grounds of the city, but no one would actually bat an eye at the death of a mortal beggar. The gu masters in charge of investigating the murder would probably not even bother to try and find out who the killer is, let alone attempt to apprehend them.
Xin Ci stares at me for a few more seconds, before giving a conflicted sigh. "Can I persuade you to be more considerate of others?"
I shrug. "You can certainly try."
With the tour of the city over it's time to go to our final destination for the day. I motion for everyone to follow me. "Now, let's go get ourselves rooms at an inn."
Ningbing shakes her head. "Room."
I chuckle. "What, you got bored of listening in on me?"
She snorts. "That, and the fact that if anything happens to you or your chicks I die. Outside of the city we didn't have as many people capable of putting you or I down running around."
The fact that anyone killing me inside of the city is signing their own death sentence goes unsaid by her. From her side I expect it to be from a form of pride. From my side I have no reason not to poke fun at her a bit. "Just admit that you've cracked, no one's doing anything to us while we're in the city."
Ningbing does not deign to respond to me.
—
We ended up finding the perfect inn to stay at on the first try. Just expensive enough to be fairly luxurious, and just on the brink of being too expensive to be worth staying at.
The room we rent is less of a room, and more a full sized luxury apartment. There's more than enough rooms for all of us to have privacy, not like we'll be having much of that though, and more than enough space to bring over guests if need be.
It doesn't take us long to settle in, what with most of our stuff being stored long term in gu worms. Once we're done we pick the largest room, move a few more beds there and start preparing for the night. After some… group exercise, so to speak, Ningbing, Luli, Cui and Xin Ci all crash on the bed and go to sleep.
I stay up for a few more minutes though. There's something I hadn't really had the time to do when we were travelling, which is exploring dream realms. Dream pillow gu is taken out of my aperture and I start preparing to, hopefully, farm some easy attainment.
Once I'm back in the weird dream world I give my surroundings a curious look. I'm not on the tree, so that thing was probably something local to Qin Mao mountain. Instead I'm in a long, endless hallway, with colored doors sitting on both sides of the corridor every meter or so.
Some are bright, some are dim, all are of different colors and they are all definitely the entrances to dream realms. I walk through the hallway, searching for the brightest colored of them.
The fruits on the tree from Qin Mao mountain were brighter if the dream realm had more attainment, these doors are sure to follow the same rule. I pass by a bright blue door, a bright red one and a bright yellow door.
Compared to the dim fruits of Qin Mao mountain's tree these doors here have many more options with high attainment available. Wu clan is a superforce, most of these dream realms here are the accumulation of their immortals ascending, cultivating and then dying over the ages.
I stop right next to a sheer white door. Even the brightest of the bright have had some gray in them, this one is entirely white, absent of any gray. I can't tell what path the dream realm behind it would give attainment of, but it will definitely grant a whole lot of it.
My hand clutches the door knob and opens the door.
A terrifying man is sitting down in front of me. I am sitting as well.
His hair is jet black, his dark eyes pierce through my being. His robes are simple, unadorned and colored wholly black. There is a simple wooden table between us, with two full tea cups laying on it. One is for him, one is for me.
He picks up his tea cup, slowly raises it to his lips and takes a sip of tea. I stay frozen in place, sitting cross legged in front of him. I can't move a muscle, not out of fear, no, moving is simply impossible. There is a rule here, movement is impossible.
The man slowly lowers his cup, gently laying it down on the table. "I will ask you three questions, if you answer correctly you will proceed further, otherwise you will die."
I try to leave the dream realm, but fail. There is another rule here, leaving dream realms is impossible in this location. He chuckles. "If you are to whom this dream realm is aimed at you will pass, otherwise you are sure to fail. What is your name?"
My lips answer against my will. "Gu Yue Fang Yuan."
He gives a slight smile. "Gu Yue Fang Yuan… You have passed the first question. Now for the second. Are you from Qin Mao mountain?"
My lungs take in air without my will, my attempt to leave the dream realm fails again, my lips answer regardless of my will once again. "I am."
This guy can't be a regular immortal, there is no fucking way that he is. My luck has to either be working overtime, or I've just walked into another shitfest spawned from an immortal taking notice of me. He nods his head. "Good, you have passed the second question. Now for the last one."
He takes a sip of tea, before giving me a friendly smile. "Do not fret, this one is simple, and I personally have little doubt that you will pass. Are you an otherworldly demon?"
My head nods on its own. The demon in front of me chuckles. "Very well then. Since you have passed all three of my own questions, it is only fair for me to truthfully answer three questions of your own."
I sit still for a minute, trying to calm myself down. The rule preventing me from leaving has been restricted, I can feel that much. There is a single question on my mind right now, one that I need an answer to. "Who are you?"
The man in front of me takes a slow sip of tea, before softly placing down the now empty cup. "My name is Liao Tian, although you might know me better by my title."
Liao Tian smiles. "I am the one called Limitless Demon Venerable."
—
AN:
Hope you enjoyed the read, please let me know if you notice any mistakes. [plain]:)[/[plain].
I think I got the limitless scene down fairly well, it even ended the chapter so well too [plain]:p[plain].
If you have any questions feel free to ask, if the answer is spoilery I'll give you a heads up beforehand.