“So… aunty told you to accompany me on my shopping tour and in exchange she will give you some sort of rare fairy?”, Saji asked as they walked down a brought street. Left and right hundreds of clothing shops lined this particular street. From what Sha had told her, this was the best place to go and buy clothes within the city. The aunty Saji was speaking about was the sleeping lady. Of course, the sleeping lady had approved of this address, otherwise there was no way Saji would call her as such.

Sha nodded, also not really sure what the goddess was thinking. It was obvious that she favored this human girl, but that did not justify the price of a Tibetan fairy just to get Sha to help her buy some clothes.

He was pretty sure that there was another thing behind this, some sort of hook that would make that price reasonable. Nonetheless he was willing to take the risk. For the goddess getting her hands on a Tibetan fairy was somewhat difficult, but nothing too hard. For him, on the other hand, it was almost impossible.

There were only a few hundred fairies of this race in total and they were highly sought after by various gods and powerful spirits that also enjoyed the collecting of rare beasts and mystic beings.

No matter what he had to do as long as he could do it, he would do it!

Without another word he pulled Saji into the closest shop.

Hundreds of floors, millions of articles. Fabrics, one more beautiful then the next one. Materials, one rarer than the other. An unending flood of styles, cultures and creatures filled these shops, each of them catering clothes for any kind of being, made of any kind of material.

Somehow Saji felt like she entered into another state of mind. Time lost it’s meaning, accelerating and deaccelerating in a pulsing rhythm. Her eyes blurred confronted by the sheer amount of beauty and variation.

They walked into one store, only to enter the next one. Clothes appeared in front of her eyes and disappeared. Some they took with them, others they left behind. As time went on everything became a single blur of colors, sounds and forms.

The only thing she could clearly remember was Sha’s voice as he told her the rules of the cities fashion.

“You are the familiar of a god and it seems that there are a few more that favor you. As such you also represent those gods with your appearance. Your looks will be linked to those gods and people will judge your appearance where ever you go. In other words, I cannot let you wear one single outfit every day or else you will harm both that gods reputation and the reputation of the goddess.

On the other hand, the outfit also depends on your relationship with the god who is backing you and your own intention of what your outfit is supposed to say about you.

You for example are a god’s company. A ‘friend’ so to say. You should dress more or less flexible, but always wear expensive clothes. Some silk dresses, made from heavenly silk, a couple of different pants. Dragon leather, fabric made of the hairs of a deer with three eyes.

Oh, this dress, made out of a rainbow should fit you!

You are one of the few lucky who can be extravagant in this city without being a god so take your chance and enjoy it as long as you can!”

Before Saji had realized it, they had returned onto the damp street. As always, the sky was dark, and the stars shone bright. Inside the city it was always night and for some reason it always felt like it had rained only a few minutes ago. The black asphalt was always wet and there were small puddles of water scattered across the street.

According to Ji this was because most spirits and demons liked the night and enjoyed a certain amount of humidity in the air.

Saji took some time to gather her thoughts. She looked on the golden watch that at some point during the shopping trip simply appeared at her wrist. It seemed like she had spent almost thirteen hours shopping!

Her head was still spinning, and she felt dazed from the experience. She couldn’t remember everything that had happened during the last half day, but what she could remember made her once again realize the wonders hidden within the city.

At some point she looked down on her self and noticed that she wore completely different clothes then before.

She wore a pair of tight black leather pants, if she remembered correctly they were made out of the hides of a lower dragon. Her top was a translucent blazer beneath which she wore a plain black bra. The pair of elegant brown leather boots and sunglasses completed the picture.

Saji’s face turned scarlet red, especially when she noticed the thin, black leather collar on her neck.

“I thought I should wear normal clothes!”, she exclaimed in her embarrassment. Then her eyes fell on Sha. The handsome guy was completely buried under a mountain of bags of various colors and sizes.

His head shot out of the hill of bags and a slight smile played on his lips.

“This IS pretty normal. Of course, if you don’t like it you can change right here!”, a somewhat evil and perverted spark flickered in his eyes.

Saji turned even redder and anger accumulated inside of her.

“You wish!”, she turned away from Sha and began walking into some direction.

Sha grinned, amused by her cute reaction. He found himself liking that girls company. She was different than those low-level spirit and demon females he usually kept around.

But his expression suddenly fell.

“Be careful!”, he could barely exclaim before he was violently thrown against a nearby building. The wall broke and his body disappeared in a pile of grey rubble.

At the same time, Saji felt immense danger. Without even thinking she touched the tattoo on her left hand.

Two lights flashed, one white, the other black and blocked the incoming hand that was trying to reach Saji. The hand was violently repelled, and its owner exclaimed surprised.

At the same time the two lights slowly manifested into two koi, one black, the other white as they circled around Saji. They weren’t big, yet they radiated intense power as they formed a defensive parameter around the young woman.

Saji herself, was still numb from the shock of the sudden attack and did not move.

On the other side of the street rubble and dust exploded onto the street, revealing a sea of fire that grew larger and larger. Within that sea of flames the small figure of a white fox emerged, slowly walking out of the partly collapsed first floor of the building.

“Motherfucker!”, Sha’s voice boomed out.

….

Meaning while on the other side of the city Ji arrived in front if a tall skyscraper. Unlike the usual buildings which lined the streets, this one was located in the middle of a grand square, forming the center of the entire part of the city.

The skyscraper was build in a similar style to those build in New York during the nineteen-twenties, having some resemblance to the empire state building that represented the United States during these times. Of course, that resemblance was intentional. Though it has to be mentioned that this building was far older then the empire state building.

Ji took a deep look at the old building and closed his eyes. For some time, it was difficult to say for how long, he did not move at all, standing akin to a statue someone had placed in front of the entrance by mistake.

Finally, he opened his eyes, inhaled, exhaled and went into motion.

With a single step he somehow crossed the dozen meters left between his former location and the door. Reaching out with his arm he pushed the heavy door open and entered the building.

Inside, there wasn’t the typical reception area you would expect inside of a skyscraper like this. Instead Ji entered an entirely different world!

A wide, empty plain stretched into every direction, covered in various tall and small grasses. A clear golden sky hovered over this endless plain, a red sun shining down and nourishing the blue and pink grasses. It was a surreal sight but inside this city it could only be described as fitting.

There was nothing else in this world, only the strangely colored plain and sky.

The only exception was a group of people a couple of hundred meters away.

As soon as Ji entered the building, they had noticed his arrival and turned around to meet this newcomer. One of them, an elderly man with long white hair and a similarly white beard stepped forward. He wore an Chinese robe and his facial features also betrayed his Chinese heritage.

His expression was tranquil and neutral, but there was a hint of surprise in his deep black eyes.

“Human god Ji, the genius who became a god 438 years ago. If I remember correctly you became a god at the age of twenty-four?”, his voice was just as elderly as his appearance, carrying the attitude of an ancient.

Ji put a slight smile on his face and nodded.

“You remember correct, Immortal Huan Po.”

The elder took a deep look at Ji.

“Why are you here?”

“To take my stance to todays matter. This is the human council is it not? Are you not going to decide your actions regarding ‘that’ matter?”

The elder frowned.

“You may be a genius, but even so you are not qualified to represent a faction only consisting out of yourself in this council.”, he flicked the long sleeve of his robe.

Suddenly a large amount of pressure built up in front of the elder and formed into a wave rolling towards Ji and seeking to eject him out of the building. The power contained inside this invisible wave was enough to crush a mountain and leave only dust behind of it.

Yet Ji remained calm in front of this awe-inspiring power. Unhurried he started to speak.

“I have come as the representative of a total of four factions who wish to express their stance on this subject. These four are:

The Buddhist faction.

The Heavenly dragons.

The dwarf faction.

And the human gods faction.”

Ji stretched out his arm and inside of his hand a paper scroll appeared. It immediately rolled out to it’s full size.

A total of four different seals were imprinted onto the white paper. Four powerful presences exploded from the scroll and flooded towards the incoming wave of pressure. The later was immediately crushed, while the four presences continued to attack the elder.

The elder’s expression turned solemn as he quickly formed a hand seal and spat a bit of his own blood into the air. The hand seal superimposed onto the blood and formed a seal of blood, resembling an Chinese hieroglyph which then flew towards the four presences.

When the four presences reached the blood seal they did not bash into it as one would expect, instead they seeped into the seal.

A moment later the seal exploded, resulting in a puddle of blood staining the blue and pink grasses at that location.

The elder’s complexion turned pale and a tiny amount of blood leaked through his tightly closed lips. There was undisguised anger luring in the two black holes that were his pupils.

“Am I qualified now?”, Ji asked more casual than ever.