Chapter 6: Golden Moon Town. The Flying Fish Town's Yao clan was located close to the edge of the Great Yan country, but the Golden Moon branch was located in Golden Moon Town, which was located almost at the center of Great Yan country. Only a week's walk away from the capital of Great Yan country where the largest branch of the Yao clan in the Great Yan country was located. Getting to Golden Moon Town from Flying Fish Town would require Yao Jun and the scarred man, who had introduced himself as Ren Hong, to walk along the road for almost a week. The upper echelons of the Golden Moon branch had thought about this already, so they lent Ren Hong a carriage that was large enough to carry three people. The carriage was a very simple carriage as the upper echelons didn't expect there to be anyone too talented in such a small town. They were willing to lend out a carriage, but they couldn't lend out one of the better carriages. This way they could safeguard themselves in case there was by any chance someone talented in Flying Fish Town, ensuring that the talented person wouldn't be too annoyed at having to walk the entire way. Ren Hong was someone who integrated himself into the Yao clan at a late age, so he wasn't required to wear the clan mark on his clothing, but he still chose to wear the clan mark to show his respect for the clan. The younger generation would generally not need to wear the mark unless they were going out on official business or to tournaments, but they would still wear it most of the time as a sign of respect. Yao Jun had never worn the clan mark, the reason behind this was because after his parents had performed a meritious deed during a great battle, they were granted one wish that the clan would fulfill. The wish that they chose was for their family to be exempt from having to use the clan mark on their clothing in the future. They did this because, while they were part of the Yao clan, they were not born in the Yao clan. One of the elders of the main branch of the Yao clan had gone adventuring while he was younger, and when he returned to the clan, he brought with him two children from two different clans who he had been entrusted with by a friend on his travels. These two children were Yao He and Yao Xun, this was also the reason why Yao Jun and his parents surname was different from the rest of the Yao clan. While Yao He and Yao Xun were younger, they wore the clan mark to show their respect to the clan for raising them, but once they grew up and had dedicated a large portion of their strength to the clan, they wanted to spend the rest of their lives honoring the people who had brought them into this world. This was also another one of the reasons that his parents did not have a high position in the main branch, even after gaining many merits during their battles, the Yao clan was worried about what people would think if they had people with different surnames as elders. While they were traveling towards Golden Moon Town, Ren Hong spent most of the time simply steering the carriage in silence, but as they got closer to Golden Moon Town he started to tell Yao Jun about some of the information he would need to know before entering the Golden Moon branch. This information included everything from the miscellaneous jobs he would have to do, information on elders and disciples that were noteworthy, who not to cross while in Golden Moon Town, the state of affairs in Golden Moon Town, and some information about people from the Peng clan. The Peng clan in Golden Moon Town was like the Yao clan, they were a branch of the Peng Clan, once of the largest clans in the Great Yan country, as well as the Bai province. The Peng clan and the Yao clan divided Golden Moon Town into two parts, each occupying a half. On the surface, the relationship of the two branches was very harmonious, often co-operating and sending their youths in mixed parties to partake in Demonic beast hunts. Once one looked a little deeper, one would see that the relationship was far from harmonious, fighting between the younger generation being common, often ending in deaths. The two branches were also secretly competing between each other, each trying to steal resources and land from the other. Sending the younger generation out on Demonic beast hunts in mixed parties was also a type of competition. The youths sent out would often end up fighting against each other, more disciples dying to each other than to Demonic beasts. After riding the carriage for four days, only stopping for the occasional restroom break and to sleep at night, Yao Jun and Ren Hong finally arrived at Golden Moon town. Being located close to the center of Great Yan country, the city would obviously be larger than a small Flying Fish Town. The city was surrounded by a large stone wall, defending the buildings and citizens within from the occasional Demonic beast attack. The city was shaped like a large circle, being almost 50 kilometers across. The houses were mostly painted in a light yellow color, while the more grandiose houses were colored a deep golden, showing that they were more distinguished than other buildings. The entire city was interweaved by both small and large roads, but there was one large main road that split the entire city into two halves. The road went from the entrance of the city, all the way to the city lord's mansion which was located at the other end of town. This road was also the demarcation line, one side of the road belonging to the Yao branch, the other to the Peng clan. Yao Jun had spent eight years living in the largest branch of the Yao clan, the branch located in the capital, so even though this city could be considered large for someone from a small town like Flying Fish, but it was still not enough to shock Yao Jun. Yao Jun and Ren Hong followed the main road until they reached a road that split off to the side, going in a straight line towards a large gray colored mansion. This mansion was the location of the Yao branch. The mansion was surrounded by a large courtyard, the courtyard had a small stream flowing through it and was filled with small patches of trees and was vibrant with plant life, giving the courtyard a peaceful atmosphere. Behind the mansion were several small and simple houses, placed at even intervals between these houses were small training areas that would allow the occupants to spar with each other or test out their techniques. Ren Hong took Yao Jun into the main mansion and brought him straight to one of the external elders. Yao Jun was just a slightly talented person from a small town, he was not qualified to meet any of the internal elders, he wasn't even qualified enough to let any of the internal elders know that he had entered the clan. Internal elders were elders that had the surname Yao and had been born in the clan, they mostly dealt with clan affairs and the most talented disciples. External elders were talented people the clan had taken in, but who still had different surnames. These people mostly dealt with the normal disciples, taking care of the premises and other smaller miscellaneous tasks. Yao Jun was brought before an aged elder with a kindly face, the elder looked just like the kind grandfather type. This elder was in charge of taking care of the newest disciples, giving them their identification jade and assigning them with tasks that they would have to complete to receive their monthly salary. Yao Jun quickly went through the procedures, receiving a jade token that had his name and hometown inscribed, a key to one of the smaller houses located behind the mansion, and getting assigned the role of medicine boy. His job as medicine boy was to travel between the Yao branch and their medicine garden, which was located on a small mountain located in a forest a small distance away from the city, and make sure that everything was as it should, before reporting which herbs were ready for harvesting and which would need to be planted again. This task had to be done at least once a week. Yao Jun did not think that being a medicine boy was worth his time, that time would be better spent training. But he had no choice but to do the chores he was assigned. If he did not do the chores, he would not get paid and if it went on for long enough, he could even be kicked out off the clan. He would just have to make do and try to see if he could not train while he was checking the medicinal herbs. It would be a lie to say that Yao Jun was not a little disappointed with how unenthusiastic his entrance into this Yao branch was, but he consoled himself with the fact that he would sooner or later rise up, it just depended on how hard he worked. And Yao Jun had never lacked for determination to do hard work. Ren Hong led Yao Jun to the small house that was assigned to him. The small house was built out of grey stones and was located at the very edge of the Yao branch premises, this was to make it easier on Yao Jun to make the trip between the medicine garden and the house. The inside of the house was just as simple as the outside, only containing a bathroom and a bedroom, a small corner of the bedroom being used as a small kitchen corner. The bed was just a stone slab that was covered with some fur to give the disciples to have something to lay on. This was done for two reasons, one was to motivate the disciples to work harder, striving for getting a better house by getting better results during competitions, and the other was to make the kids forego sleep for meditation. Spending the night meditating would remove the disciple's tiredness, just like sleeping, but meditating would also allow the disciple to gather more Raw Qi, as well as bringing the student closer to nature and training their mind. Yao Jun didn't have many things, just having some clothes and books, so there was nothing for him to put away, so he just followed Ren Hong on a tour of the premise, learning where everything was located. After that he returned to his house to start his meditating, tomorrow he would head to the medicine garden to complete his task and be given his initial salary, allowing him to buy some necessities.