Sage asked about some of the details of his assignment a bit more before he was finally shown out. From the nonchalance of his assignment, either they were very assured of his capabilities, the flowers were not as important as they said, or they had other plans. It wasn’t really his concern, but without knowing the motivation his actions it was too easy to fall into someone else’s plots. Such a thing made him uneasy. If he was going to be used, he’d rather go along willingly and treated as a valuable piece, not a disposable pawn.

Nothing I can really do about it. I either follow the plan or escape.

Since he didn’t have any proof of any plotting he could only grit his teeth and follow along with his role. Song Lu Tian. That was his target for this operation. A direct approach would be dreadfully dangerous. This wasn’t a video game, he couldn't just reload the game save if he said the wrong thing. There was no way he would approach the man with no information. Digging into his funds he started an information gathering campaign. Paying a few lower level cultivators to dig up news and rumors about Song Lu Tian. While waiting for results he took up post in some of the most popular teahouses and restaurants, listening for information. He didn’t want to ask directly as that might make its way back to Song Lu Tian.

A few days later, he’d formed a rough idea of Song Lu Tian. He was known as a peerless genius and undefeatable beneath the fourth rank. From what was gathered, he seemed like a professional athlete. His reputation was immense, already famous for having won four other tournaments just like this one. The first time he was a dark horse with no backing, a poor civilian who had learned only the lowest level of cultivation technique. After struggling tooth and nail to triumph over some local talents he was noticed by a big sect and taught powerful techniques. Then he broke through into rank 2 and won another big tournament. Still a no name, that was when his reputation was cemented. Afterwards he broke into the third rank and went on to triumph at two more major events. It was no wonder that the Zhu clan had such faith in his victory for this selection tournament. He was very likely to come away with first place, so getting into the top one hundred and earning passage into Thunder Mountain Bridge was almost assured.

With his research complete, Sage was ready to make an approach. After a few more palms were greased he figured out where Song Lu Tian was staying and made his way over. Unlike that Tang Zhelan he’d ran into earlier, Song Lu Tian hadn’t taken up a whole inn. Instead his reputation was so great that one of the wealthy landowners in town had gifted him a luxurious villa. The extravagance of the gift showed how great Song Lu Tian’s reputation was. The property was large and spacious, placed among the wealthiest district in town. In the poor side of town a similarly sized district held thousands of homes, yet this one only had dozens, each of them sprawling estates with large walls and multiple buildings within. Arriving at the gate, Sage had to bring out a pile of spirit stones to get himself a meeting. So many wished to meet with Song Lu Tian that the gifts had to be brought back to the main house in carts. Even by mentioning his Sect, Sage still had to fork out hundreds of spirit stones to arrange a meeting.

Heading inside he was finally brought forward to meet with the man and was surprised by how young he was. Of course, he’d known the tournament was for those under twenty, but he hadn’t really paid too much attention to it. Song Lu Tian was surprisingly not an elegant gentleman, but a hulking brute. He looked like a pile of muscles roughly molded into a human shape.

He certainly looks intimidating enough!

The man was bald and wore an armored breastplate that completely exposed his bulging arms. Despite being only eighteen years of age, Sage guessed his height at nearly seven feet tall, while his weight was probably nearing three hundred if he were gauged at a scale for normal people. There was no telling what he actually weighed given he was a cultivator that could increase his density through body hardening techniques, or reduce the weight of his steps with agility and movement techniques.

What part of this guy isn’t interested in women? Aren’t most meatheads making themselves big to pick up girls and feed their vanity?

Sage greeted the man with his usual courtesy. They were in a small hall, made for conducting meetings, with two rows of chairs that faced each other and small tables between each chair to hold teacup or documents. A pair of guards stood to either side of the room’s two doors, obviously not wanting to leave anything up to chance, while Sage was standing across from three people. The first, in the center, was Song Lu Tian. To his right was an old man that Sage could sense a great deal of power radiating off of. Most likely a bodyguard from his Sect. To the left was a middle aged man, also powerful but as terrifying of a level as the older man.

After announcing his name, Sage immediately offered Song Lu Tian a gift. Bringing out a large box and setting it down in front of the three. The middle aged man stepped forward and opened the box, to ensure it wasn’t dangerous, revealing the contents to the room. Within the box was a long object inside a silk cover resting on a bed of spirit stones. Behind the long object, in three slots, were large metal discs covered in symbols.

“Song Lu Tian, word of your greatness has extended far out of the kingdom, reaching all the way to my Holy Flame Sect in the far off Shihu Kingdom. This is a mere token of my personal appreciation for your talents, a mere trifle for one so great as you.”

He didn’t mention the spirit stones, treating them as ornaments. The three discs were actually five star formation plates, enough to deal with anyone in the fourth rank and even hold off those who had formed a golden core for at least a few seconds. The long object in the silk bag was actually the Iguana Saber. The most impressive one of the dozen he’d forged as practice out of Violent Green Iguana Scales. In regards to its looks, the Iguana Saber was imposing in a sort of exotic way, the handle was sculpted to look like an iguana with its tail curling on itself to form the handguard. Fine scales traveled down the spine of the blade adding more heft and a reptilian chill to its appearance when brandished. That said, it wasn’t all that impressive as a weapon, nor was the oddly shaped grip all that comfortable to hold. Even so, it was a well made magical weapon enchanted to be faster and sharper than any normal blade could be.

Song Lu Tian examined the blade and seemed pleased by its unique appearance, even if it wasn’t better than his own current weapon. Sage chose the gift for just this reason. It was to show his talent and to bait the man’s desire. If he gave him something amazing from the beginning what would he use to pay for his help? The middle aged man to Lu Tian’s left stepped forward and examined the formation plates, “Not bad. These are gifts from your sect?”

“Forgive this one for not knowing your name, Sir. These are not gifts from my sect, these are my own personal gifts to Song Lu Tian, each of them made by myself alone.”

The middle aged man seemed a little surprised and then nodded, “No problem. I am Song Heng and I handle all the miscellaneous duties for Song Lu Tian. We can’t have our great disciple worrying about things like paying tolls, ordering meals, or sorting gifts.”

Song Lu Tian waved a hand which prompted Song Heng to return to his seat. After which the muscle bound teen fixed his gaze onto Sage and stared at him in silence for a few moments. Sage was guessing this was some sort of test again so he didn’t dare to break the silence or look away from that deep stare. He stood there patiently, calmly looking back into Song Lu Tian’s eyes.

“Good. You have some backbone. Now, tell me. What is it you want?”

Heh. Straight to the point.

“Truly an upright hero that is the envy of us all. In my opinion your success in the coming tournament is a given. I am here to ask for your help in procuring some special materials from the Thunder Mountain Bridge. My gifts to you are merely a demonstration of the sorts of compensation you can expect in return. I am only asking for you to collect a material with little value to others and in return I will have the masters of my sect craft for you objects of your liking. I need only to know what it is you desire.”