With the auction over, Sage collected his winnings. He emptied out a few Storage Chests full of Spirit Stones, transferring their contents to the Universe Ring. Then he did the same with the nearly 4 ton mound of Chrono Copper. This infusion of wealth was much needed. Sage had barely more than 10,000 Spirit Stones left before the auction started. He’d spent most of his fortune on getting the Jade Horde established, but the work they did was now able to sustain the organization.

Before leaving, Sage passed over a list that he’d made while he was in Golden Cricket Cove. The auction clerk took the list and Sage pointed to one of the Storage Chests that was still filled with Spirit Stones, “Use that. How long will it take to fulfill the order?”

The clerk had to excuse himself and a few minutes later he returned. Sage was told it would take a few hours. He pondered and then decided to take a seat, “I’ll wait.”

The few hours passed uneventfully, Sage had them bring him some lunch and studied a Memory Sphere until his order was fulfilled. They wheeled in a few more Storage Chests and Sage gave them a quick check before emptying them into the Universe Ring and then taking the Spirit Stones that weren’t expended in the purchase. With his business done, Sage walked out of Thousand Treasures and paused for a moment. Dou Deng ran to fetch his coach and while pretending to wait, Sage activated the Timeless Eyes and pushed backwards to when the auction had just ended. Using Hindsight he caught sight of when the Shou Clan members were exiting Thousand Treasures.

The coach arrived and as Sage stepped up inside he tossed a cat sized Chameleon Mantis onto the roof of the coach. Its carapace immediately shifted colors and hid itself, giving Sage a method to keep watch. Sage gave direction to Dou Cheng, guiding him to follow behind where the Shou Clan had gone to. By giving them a two hour lead time, it would remove any suspicion that he was following the Shou Clan.

Oh good, they didn’t bother to stay at an inn.

The Shou Clan members took their own little convoy of coaches and directly left Golden Cricket Cove. Sage was pleased at not having had to wait around for them to leave town. Following them was just a hunch after all, he was curious to see whether or not the Shou Clan had any relation with Hei Bai, or if they were just interested in the treasure map. He hadn’t auctioned the map to see if anyone was related to Hei Bai, but when he saw that it was members of the Artful Life Alliance that purchased it, he got a little suspicious. Since it was just a whim, he didn’t want to devote too much time to it. It also helped that they were likely to head towards Lionheart Town, as the Shou Clan home was in Jade Spirit County.

Since it wasn’t too much of an inconvenience, Sage stayed on their trail, following their path a few hours behind. With a little coaxing, he even got Dou Cheng to move in their exact footsteps and Sage even got to peek inside the Shou Clan’s coaches while they were in motion.

This confirms that I need to learn to read lips. I would be able to get a pretty good idea of what they’re saying right now if I had learned the skill earlier.

After a few hours on the road, a ridge rose into view. It was a large rocky hill with a large manor house on top of it and a high wall around the bottom of it. Sage saw the Shou Clan turn down the road and head through the fortified gate. There were no public signs on the outside of it, so Sage simply had Dou Cheng continue on past them. They moved down the road till they came upon a small village and Sage thanked Dou Deng and Dou Cheng for their service. He offered them a dozen gold coins as a parting gift and rode away with the coach on his own.

After leaving the small town, Sage entered the Universe Ring bringing along the coach, horses and all. He ordered Chushou Feng, the Hoplite Tribe Leader, to take care of the horses and the coach. He also had him train a few Hoplites to learn to fulfill the duties of a driver and footmen for the future. Then Sage changed his clothing and altered his looks to another fake identity. Then he returned to the outside world and brought out a few small birds with him. There was a large aviary inside the Universe Ring, created specifically so the Hoplites could feed the birds easier and also for Sage to quickly retrieve them. In order to bring things in or out, he'd have to send his consciousness to them, and if they were busy flying around he didn’t want to have to search the ten mile area for a few birds.

He walked through the woods at the side of the road, backtracking to that cliff manor that he’d seen the Shou Clan go to. At the same time, the small birds took to the air. He released a half dozen of them, letting them fly in pairs and having them play around with each other a bit on the way. Sage couldn’t let them get too far away from him, as he was controlling them with the ‘Birdwatching’ technique. It was sort of like controlling an RC Plane or Helicopter, as he could only use his own senses to direct the bird. He only heard what they heard, he couldn’t look through their eyes to guide them. The technique only worked on normal birds, so their intelligence was limited. The commands he could give them were quite simple.

After walking for an hour he came upon the cliff manor again and sent the birds in to gather information for him. He also sent his Twin Soul high up into the air, using it to pick out the Shou Clan’s coach to verify they were still in the manor. Pleased, Sage brought it back and matured the Chameleon Mantis he was linked to, hopping inside it and slowly creeping closer. He alternated between the different birds, listening to a few things that it overheard before checking the next bird. A pair of them had settled down in the main courtyard of the manor while the other four would sit upon a roof eave or windowsill to see what it might overhear. Just when Sage was starting to think this was all a bit of a waste of time, he finally heard something interesting.

“That lying witch. Who would have guessed she was the one that killed Shou Chang.”

Then a second voice, a bit deeper than the first, chimed in, “She hid herself well. Shou Chang must have trusted her or let slip that he was transporting the map. There’s no way that sorry excuse for a Necromancer would have known about it otherwise. She was not skilled enough to plant a mole in our upper echelon.”

“You say that, but what if she was? When we return to the Clan we should carefully check everyone again to make sure there aren’t any spies. We can’t lose the map again.”

“Good idea. I’ll personally lead the investigation.”

“Bitten by our own dog. Make sure not to let this news spread, if it gets out we’d be a laughingstock.”

Sage listened in for a bit longer, but there wasn’t much else of worth. Even so, he’d found quite a useful tidbit of information. The Shou Clan wasn’t just related to Hei Bai, they were the mysterious organization she was working for. It seems she ambushed one of them and stole the treasure map from them. They didn’t speak about what exactly the map led to, so Sage wasn’t sure about the specifics of why Hei Bai didn’t use it, but he’d heard enough. He was about to leave when he overheard another piece of information. The Shou Clan planned to send some men to investigate Hei Bai’s other properties when they were finished with the internal search.

Oh, right. I have all her paperwork.

Sage ordered the Chameleon Mantis to leave and after getting some distance from the cliff manor he called out King and had him fly at his top speed towards the nearest of Hei Bai’s properties. He also threw out a Red Crane Message, sending it back to Black Saber with directions to Hei Bai’s other properties.