“Stop!” the guards at the city gate looked at the masked youth vigilantly. The youth smiled in mild surprise.

“The guards are at the Fifth Stage of Blood Condensation Realm…” After briefly surveying the guards, he bowed slightly and said, “My name is-”

“Achoo!” an old man behind him violently coughed, making both the youth and the guards look at him. The old man finished coughing and smiled apologetically.

The guard that stepped forward shifted his gaze back to the youth and asked, “So, what’s your reason for entering the city?”

“Travel.”

“I see,” the guard nodded. He then gestured behind with his chin and said, “Go and pay the toll at the counter, then you can enter the city.”

“Many thanks!” the youth cupped his fists and went ahead. As he paid the toll, Jian Gong’s disapproving voice rang in his mind, “You didn’t act well that time.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, think about it. You hid your Cultivation Realm, right? That means, in the eyes of other people, you’re just a normal guy.”

“Yeah, and?”

He appeared next to him and gave him a look, “You remember how Chun Dong and his family acted after finding out you were a cultivator?”

The youth froze, “Ah…right.” He pursed his lips.

“Yeah, like I said before, ordinary people view Cultivators with a mix of fear and respect. Though, it’s more fear than respect.”

“No, that’s only the case for Unaffiliated Cultivators.”

“Well, you’re half right. Ordinary people only respect the-” the youth listened to him as they walked into the city. As soon as they walked into the city, they were greeted by the bustling and lively atmosphere of the city.

Women haggling, men sitting around in taverns and bars, children playing, and friends chatting. The youth took a deep breath. He understood something.

“I-I’ve missed this,” he murmured.

Jian Gong stopped what he was saying and admired the sight in front of him. City life has its charm as well.

“So, what do we do now?” Jian Gong looked at him.

The youth exhaled. He brought out the money he had robbed from the bandits. Looking at the meager pieces of silver in his hands, he sighed exasperatedly. “I, uh…let’s see if there’s a mercenary or adventurers guild here or something. I’ll join that and earn money as well as combat experience.”

“Oh?” Jian Gong was pleasantly surprised. “That’s a great idea!”

“Yeah, I was working under Young Mi-” the youth paused and closed his eyes before opening them slowly, “Li Chyou before so I couldn’t apply for the Mercenary Guild in Huangye Town.”

“I see…” Jian Gong nodded. “So, let’s get going then.”

“We got to ask someone first. It’s not like we know where it is.”

Jian Gong smiled mischievously, “Try to approach a woman with your face unmasked.”

“Why?” The youth thought through his proposal and it was not worth the possible hassle.

“Come on, man.” Jian Gong insisted, “Just trust me.”

“Ugh, fine.” The youth waved at him dismissively and walked towards a group of three teen girls who were talking to each other. He took off the black cloth around his face and called out to the girls, “Excuse me, misses?”

The girls turned around, their looks expressing their annoyance at having their conversation interrupted. However, once they took a glance at the face of the person interrupting, it seemed as though all previous grievances were but a myth.

The youth took a look at the dazed girls and sighed inwardly. He smiled, “May I ask you, ladies, where I could find the Mercenary Guild?”

“Ack, too bright!” Under his radiant smile, the girls dazedly told him the directions. He thanked them with another smile and went on his way. As he walked off, he could feel the girls’ gaze never leaving his back.

“Fuck…” he scratched his neck and sighed. “I don’t like this.” He wore the mask around his mouth again.

“What? You don’t like seducing girls?” Jian Gong laughed.

“I don’t like going around seducing women. I just want to do that to one person.”

“Wow, you’re one of those vanilla guys, huh?”

“Wha- vanilla!?” The youth exploded. “Bastard, what’s so wrong about not wanting to fuck around like some kind of man-whore?”

“Nah, I mean it’s just that you picked the wrong world to be vanilla.”

“What?” the youth deflated.

“This world does allow harems. Tons of people have harems. Even the king of Xi Kingdom has a harem."

“That's...really?”

“Yeah, he does. How do you not know this?”

“Well, I mean the subject of his concubines doesn’t come up in conversations.”

“My man, you should’ve heard something, right?”

“No. I really wasn’t that interested in any other affairs outside of the Li Clan. Well, you know how that ended…” the youth chuckled awkwardly.

The two had walked for quite a while and reached the Mercenary Guild’s building. They looked up. It was a house made out of dark, sturdy wood. The craftsmen responsible for making it seemed to have masterful carpentry skills. Like every other house in this era, it was built with Feng Shui in mind.

There was an influx of people going in and out of the building. Some of them looked happy, others saddened and full of injuries but all of them radiated a feeling of oppression that came with strength.

The youth’s blood seemed to flow faster as his breathing rushed.

“Scared?” Jian Gong smirked.

“Scared? Nah mate, I’m excited.” He clenched his fists and grinned. “This here might be the place where I can tick two things off from the checklist in a single stroke!”

“Yeah? Then go for it.”

The youth nodded and let out some of his power. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he walked through the open doors of the building. Inside were a raucous group of mercenaries taking jobs, getting rewarded, arguing, drinking, fighting, and doing other acts befitting a rowdy group of individuals.

As soon as he entered, tens of pairs of eyes secretly focused on him. Despite his entrance, the floor was not any less noisy. The youth made his way to the counter at the far end of the room and lined up behind the people trying to register as new mercenaries.

Seeing that he was going to be waiting in line, he looked ahead to see the process. It seemed one needed to give their credentials as well as their Realm. They would then be taken to have a combat assessment by what the youth presumed to be higher-ranking mercenaries.

After fifteen minutes of waiting, it was finally the youth’s turn. The aged and scholarly receptionist looked at him. Her bony hands fixed the thick glasses on her nose as she took out another parchment from the drawer beside her. Dipping her brush in ink, she held it above the parchment.

“Name?” she asked him with a husky yet still feminine voice.

The youth opened his mouth, “My name is-” but a large thud sounded followed by something cracking. Both the receptionist and the youth turned around to see what it was. Two of the mercenaries accidentally broke a table roughhousing.

Seeing that it was nothing too pressing, the receptionist once again directed her gaze towards the parchment.

“Do you want to reveal where you’re from?” she asked a different question.

Although he hadn’t told her his name, the youth was not surprised anymore. “No,” he replied calmly.

“I see,” she dipped her brush into the ink again. “Which cultivation realm?”

“Fifth Stage of Qi Refinement Realm.” He could hear some snickers and scoffs once he had said that.

“I see,” she took out a rod of yellow wax and with the fire from a nearby candle, dripped hot wax onto the parchment with his information. She then brought out a seal and stamped it on the still molten wax. After she was done, she wiped the seal and put it back where she took it out from.

The wax now had a ‘黃’ symbol on it. She lifted the parchment and turned around, “Qing Mei!” she yelled to the back.

A ginger-haired girl came out from the back after the pitter-patter of hurried footsteps. She had freckles on her nose and cheeks. Wearing grey robes, she looked ordinary and meek.

She quietly took the parchment from the receptionist’s bony hands and after looking at the wax seal briefly, scurried back to the room behind.

The old receptionist looked at him once again and spoke, “Go to the training grounds-” she lifted her finger shakily and pointed at the door to the first right of the building. She continued, “-there, Shu Lu is handling the combat assessment for all new applicants. After you’re done, read this-” she took out a small booklet from the drawer to her left and handed it to him, “-that contains how the Guild works and its rules. Make sure to abide by them.” She no longer paid attention to him and instead gestured for the next person in line to come forward.

The youth left the line and headed towards the training grounds. He flipped through the booklet as he walked. The thing that caught his eye first was the ranking done by the Mercenary Guild and its history.

Originally, the Mercenary Guilds of all eight realms were separated but with the combined effort of the 18th generation guild-masters of all the Guilds, they were able to unify all the Guilds into one. Previously, each Guild had an affiliate name in front, for example, ‘Laozi’s Mercenary Guild’. But now these Guilds were an entity of their own with the main branch being located in the Second Realm.

All of the branches sprinkled throughout the eight realms had one ranking system. Mercenaries affiliated with the guild had four main ranks- Yellow, Black, Earth, and Heaven in ascending order. There were numerical rankings within the four main ranks. Meaning there were 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on within each of the main ranks. While the numerical rankings within the Yellow and Black ranks were only relevant within the branch, the rankings within Earth and Heaven ranks spanned across all the branches in the realm.

The youth spoke his thoughts aloud, “Ah, so here the 1st ranked person in Yellow means he’s only 1st in this branch. If I went to another branch, the 1st ranker in Yellow would be different. But no matter where I go in this realm, the 1st for Earth and Heaven will be unchanged.”

He had reached the door to the training grounds. It was marked with the same symbol he had seen on the wax seal. Putting the booklet inside his robes, he went through the door and was met with a tiled training ground.

It seemed to people had been fighting beforehand. Now, one just lay on the ground while the other pulled him up with a grin on his face. After exchanging some words that the youth couldn’t hear, the man who had been lying on the ground left the training ground and walked past him out the door.

The other man looked at the youth and smiled amiably, “Are you a new applicant?”

The youth nodded. He slowly walked towards the man.

“Seeing that you’re in the Yellow Combat Assessment, you’re below Tendon Transformation. You look like a young lad. What brought you here?”

“Uh…” the youth fumbled with his words, “mainly to earn.”

“Well, I guess everyone has that in common,” he scratched his head with an awkward smile. “Anyway, I’m Shu Lu, a Black-ranked mercenary and your combat assessor for today.” He cupped his fists and bowed slightly, “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” the youth returned the gesture.

“Then shall we begin?” Shu Lu took out the saber from the sheath on his waist.

“Gladly,” the youth took out the daggers from took the daggers out from their sheath within his robes and took on a fighting stance.