Once Wu Shan left the Water Lily Pavilion, everyone began to throw him stares, much to his confusion. Since he had little else to do after having tied with the strongest talent, he just looked for a hotel where he could sleep, not that he really needed it. He just needed to refresh his mind. A whole month of trekking was bad for the psyche.

As he entered an inn, the receptionist looked at him with disgust, spotting his clothing first as an indicator that the man had nothing to spend.

“Guards! Escort this gentleman out of my establishment!” He roared, much to Wu Shan’s confusion.

“What did I do?” He asked as two burly men lifted him up before heaving him onto the street. Wu Shan sighed in disgust as he sat on top of the cobblestoned street. “If it’s money you need, I have a lot in my pocket!”

Wu Shan pulled out a golden bar, worth a hundred golden slips. The guards’ eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. The receptionist behind them was also quite surprised.

Shaking his head, Wu Shan stuffed the bar in his pocket and walked someplace else, unheeding of the desperate calls from the receptionist who would remember this day for a long time.

In the next inn, Wu Shan made sure to take out a golden coin first to show the guards and the receptionist before ordering a bed.

The moment he stepped into the Inn, a pair of youths walked past the street. One wearing an outrageously high-quality dress and the other a red and black cultivator robe with a dragon crest on his chest.

Both these parties had not spotted each other.

After Wu Shan fell asleep on the bed, he woke up seven hours afterwards, with the sun. Although he knew he could have been cultivating at the time, the prospect of doing so just didn’t sit right with him. Wu Shan didn’t know what to do, but after taking one look at his clothing, he realized that a wardrobe change was long due.

Entering the highest quality clothing shop in the city, Wu Shan made sure to buy the most practical cultivator suit made of Ancient Tiger Fur that was both black and white. After the fitting, Wu Shan left the establishment with the aura of a rich man, and not some random hoodlum who’d get thrown out of a business by the sheer virtue of showing up.

At least the clothing shop had the decency to give him the benefit of the doubt that he did have money, but nonetheless, Wu Shan couldn’t blame the innkeeper 100%. Although he wouldn’t do the same, he knew where he was coming from.

Wu Shan didn’t miss his father just yet, and he didn’t know where to find Zhang He, so he really had no idea what to do.

Walking around the Inner District aimlessly, he came across a grand gambling den. Naturally, he entered.

A group of well-dressed gentlemen seemed to be playing high stakes dice, and as such, Wu Shan felt the need to enter.

He was given around twenty gold bars inside a regular bag of holding capable of storing a large box’s worth of objects that Lao Chen had found inside his two much larger bags of holding.

He placed one gold bar on the table on the game that was just beginning. “Let’s up the stakes, gentlemen.”

After several games with Wu Shan remaining victorious, one high roller had enough and outright accused him of cheating.

“That’s ridiculous,” Wu Shan shook his head. “These are literally just dice. How could I possibly cheat with them?”

“You must be using some cultivation spell to always make it land your number, you scoundrel. I suggest you return your winnings or face our collective wraths!”

“Funny you should-“ Wu Shan bolted straight out of the gambling den, dodging past guards left and right, bringing along with him an additional twenty gold bars, to his endless delight.

Truth be told, Wu Shan did cheat. There was no way that one person could get their preferred number twenty times in a row. Wu Shan did notice that the dice were enchanted against tampering, but the minds of the players and spectators weren’t.

Wu Shan went around the dice and affected their brains, causing them to perceive his preferred number. The Yin Phoenix Grimoire was filled with such mind tricks.

Making sure that he had shaken of his pursuers, Wu Shan heaved a sigh of relief and beamed at his prize, before feeling somewhat nauseous.

Wait… was this guilt? Well… he did steal it, but it was from sleazy business men looking to blow off steam. Who would honestly care about them losing a hair from one of their nine bulls?

No matter how much he tried to rationalize it, Lao Chen’s teachings came into mind, and he felt even worse. Eventually, knowing that he would begin to feel even worse as long as he held onto the money, he rushed to the nearest orphanage and after half an hour of searching, knocked on the door and dumped the twenty gold bars right in front of it inside a ragged sack like it was some regular delivery and left without another world.

Thus, Wu Shan found himself walking around aimlessly around the streets, looking for anything that could sate his boredom.

“Front row tickets at three thousand wen apiece! Tickets at three thousand wen apiece, limited stock!”

Wu Shan looked to his right where a man stood on a soapbox, waving around bundles of wooden slips for the surrounding aristocrats to see. Deciding that it seemed interesting enough, Wu Shan approached someone in the crowd. A middle-aged woman.

“Excuse me, Madame, but could you inform me of what is going on?”

“Certainly. The gentleman is selling tickets for the Dragon Flight Gala. The top talents of the province under 25 are congregating to decide who is the strongest!”

Wu Shan got a glint in his eyes before beginning to grin slowly. Removing a few notes from his bag of holding, Wu Shan waited his turn before arriving at the ticketman and paying.

The ticket was simple enough. Time, location and an intricate stamp laden with a Qi signature was all that covered the thin, wooden slip. The festival seemed to be taking place that very night.

With a ticket in hand, Wu Shan went to the specified location and marvelled at how the line had already formed. Without a fuss, he went to the back of the line and waited.

That day went much better than the last one. After their customary brunch at the Water Lily Pavilion, Zhang He had taken Lin-Lin to the Star Pagoda, a set of pagoda that nearly reached the stars. Although that was an exaggeration as they were all actually two li tall.

Zhang He had already seen the towers, and he saw them every day anyhow. There was no way one could miss them.

Lin-Lin, however, was awestruck. Although she knew that they were tall considering how far away they were still visible, standing at the feet of these monumental towers was a completely different thing.

If that wasn’t enough, Zhang He had used his privilege as the strongest scion of the Zhang clan and the Blood Dragon Sect to take her to the top of the tallest central tower. All the way through, her eyes were wide in wonder and amazement, and Zhang He felt endlessly proud of his accomplishments.

At the top of the Pagoda was an elegant tea-house, and on the very apex of the pagoda was a small gazebo where Zhang He and Lao Lin had tea.

“Did you know that I have lived in this city all of my life?”

“I wasn’t aware,” Lin-Lin replied, sipping on her tea, making adorably surprised faces after each sip.

“I have been in this place only a few times before, and after a while, I got bored. I never seemed to be able to bring someone worth the effort to take her here. But… you’re different. In fact, your beauty pairs perfectly with the scenery.”

“Okay,” Lin-Lin took another sip of her tea, seeming more transfixed on it than Zhang He’s sweet words.

“Can I be so shameless as to make another proposal?” Zhang He asked.

“Go ahead,” Lin-Lin replied.

“As you may know, tonight is the night of the Dragon Flight Gala,” Zhang He began. Lin-Lin shrugged.

“I didn’t know,” Lin-Lin admitted. Zhang He smiled.

“I almost forgot. You travelled here just recently, though I assumed you came here because of it. Well, it is a grand event and one which will allow you to stand witness to true martial might. Talents from all over the province congregate to watch the spectacle unfold. As an added bonus, Imperial talent scouts disguised as regular people are being dispatched to watch. Who knows? Maybe I will be selected to join the Imperial squad of young talents: The Lotus Buds! Oh, what a fortuitous event it would be to-“

Zhang He looked at Lin-Lin as he monologued, stumped to see that she was barely even paying attention to him, still occupied with the tea inside the cup. With a lovely sigh, Zhang He rubbed his face. “I guess I said too much. At any rate, would you care to watch me?”

“That is fine,” Lin-Lin nodded before gulping down the tea in one go before grimacing as she worked to process the sensory overload. Zhang He sighed.

“You weren’t supposed to drink that in one go. It’s Rainbow Tea. It has seven different flavours in every sip. Drinking it all at once is not the way to enjoy it,” Zhang He mumbled in a defeated tone of voice.

Several li away walked Wu Shan. To every onlooker, he seemed like a determined young master eager to get to somewhere important, dressed in fine clothing that screamed of a higher pedigree.

He was just lost.

After realizing that he didn’t possess the patience to stand in a line until night time, he tried venturing elsewhere to sate his boredom. Since the Inner District seemed too safe for his taste, he tried his luck at the outer district, but what he met instead were shifty-eyed fellows either fleeing or getting too close for his tastes, but there was no way these people could steal from him-

Suddenly, his right side felt much lighter, and just as the snot-nosed child was to dart off, Wu Shan grabbed him by the neck and hoisted him up face to face.

“Stealing is wrong, kid. If I was anyone else, you could have died. Be more careful in the future,” he said as he pried open the boy’s death-grip on the bag of holding and pulled it away from him.

Thankfully, the show of strength dissuaded any more would-be cutpurses from running off with his pocket money.

After ending up on a particularly shady street, he turned back, only to see a group of about a dozen masked individuals carrying ramshackle weapons such as spiked clubs, iron rods and scrap swords.

“Take off your clothes and hand over your bag of holding. If you do so, we will let you live, noble,” the leader of the group, a slender man in the middle informed in a low baritone.

“I’m not sure I’ll do that,” Wu Shan replied, raising an eyebrow. “Am I being robbed?”

“No shit, noble. Do you want to die?” The leader asked. “Most of us are at the Foundation Establishment stage. We all have at least three Dao Pillars, so even if you’re on the same stage, you could die. Acquiesce.”

“Acquiesce? Did they teach you that word in bandit school?”

“This is your last chance, Noble. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“I will not give you my items,” Wu Shan stated. “I refuse.”

Not even a minute had passed and every bandit that hadn’t fled for their lives were on the ground, bones broken and spirits shattered.

“Wow.” A voice from above sounded, causing Wu Shan to look upwards, towards the ledge of the rooftop just ahead. “ Seems like I didn’t have to do anything,” said an androgynous voice.

From the rooftop jumped a youth no older than seventeen, slender in build while wearing rags and a conical hat. Just before reaching the ground, he rolled, dampening the impact.

“Are you one of the bandits?” Wu Shan asked warily. “Because if you are-“

“Am not!” The boy replied in dramatic disgust. “My name is Wang Chun! I have never stolen anything in my life!”

“I don’t think I asked for your name,” Wu Shan snarked before turning his back to walk away.

“But I know yours.”

Wu Shan stopped dead in his tracks.

“Wu,”

He turned his head back as fast as he could.

“Shan.”

Nothing but an empty alley lay behind him, aside from the beaten bandits. Swinging his head forward, he saw Wang Chun lean on a wall lackadaisically, bouncing a bag on his hand.

Suddenly, Wu Shan felt an apparent lightness on his right side.

“How do you know my name?” Wu Shan asked before recalling how he had given his name to Zhang He. “Wait. Don’t tell me. You watched me fight Zhang He, didn’t you?”

Wang Chun smiled. “Brains and brawns! You’ve got the best of both worlds, Shan-Shan!”

“Don’t call me that,” Wu Shan replied. “Please tell me what you want from me.”

“I want to know which sect you’re from,” Wang Chun replied, a poisonous slickness evident in his voice. “Do you mind telling me?”

“This again?” Wu Shan sighed before raising an eyebrow. “Wait. You watched me fight Zhang He. You should know what sect I’m from.”

“Very funny. Now tell me, what’s your real sect? Who’s your master?”

"I'm from the Tiger Cage Sect," Wu Shan lied. Wang Chun's expression shifted from a mischevious smile to an ice-cold countenance boring through his very soul.

"Lies. I suggest you tell the truth, boy. Otherwise..." Wang Chun's eyes told the rest of the story.

Wu Shan sighed. “Who are you? Why do you need all this information? Can I have my bag of holding back?”

“I am Wang Chun. Because I want it. On one condition. Answer my questions and you’ll get your bag of holding back,” Wang Chun ensured.

Wu Shan sighed before spilling the truth, knowing that it wouldn’t be of any consequence at any rate. “My sect had no official name. It was just a place where the village children were supposed to train as per the chieftain’s orders. My master is my father, who also happened to be the patriarch of that sect. And the sect was colloquially known as the Yin-Yang sect by the disciples of it, though the villagers just called it ‘The Sect’. Happy?”

Wang Chun narrowed his eyes. “What village are you from?”

“It had no name when I left,” Wu Shan replied, truthfully, narrowing his eyes in reciprocation.

“Are you a citizen of the Jade Empire?”

“Yes.”

Wang Chun tossed the bag of holding towards Wu Shan, who caught it without a hitch.

“You may leave, now, Shan-Shan. Sorry for the hold up,” Wang Chun disappeared just like that, puzzling Wu Shan.

Suddenly, the realization of what the time was dawned on him as he saw the sky darkening rapidly.

Realizing that he would not make it to the arena in time for the first few matches, Wu Shan concentrated deeply and utilized a Yin Phoenix spell: Ubiquitous gateway and erected a portal to the arena.

Opening his eyes, he saw the rift and walked through it, appearing somewhere by the line.

His arrival was a great shock to the surrounding citizens, who all deferred to him by allowing him to skip the line in its entirety.

The idea didn’t sit well with Wu Shan, but he was much too hurried to be considerate.

As he approached the arching gate, Wu Shan wondered what his father was up to.