Despite knowing she was likely planted to gather information on him, Sage still nodded to the girl. He certainly didn’t feel comfortable cultivating here, so it wasn’t like he had anything else to do. Since he had to stay here for a while anyway, he might as well take the opportunity to see what he could learn from Jinxi Shi. Since she was supposed to be teaching him things and probably spying on him at the same time, then there was no reason for him not to try and pry some secrets out of her in return.

The next day, Sage and Tujiu were taken around Golden Cricket Cove by Jinxi Shi along with a team of guards. She told him that since he hadn’t brought a large team of his own, the Chong Clan was happy to supply some of their own, “It’s not that Golden Cricket Cove isn’t safe, but we have to make sure everyone realizes your status. We can’t have a Branch Head being treated like a normal person.”

Building some reputation and face recognition for me. They certainly aren’t doing it out of kindness. Is it to try and flatter me, or do they just want to associate themselves with me because they think Lionheart Town is going to get really popular?

He didn’t bother trying to figure it out and just enjoyed the sights and sounds. He’d been here a few times already, but the city was absolutely massive and it seemed like he could try a new restaurant every day and not come back to the same place twice in a year. The Golden Market only spanned a few blocks, but that was only the businesses that catered specifically to cultivators. For those who just wanted to shop for clothing, visit a teahouse, watch a play, drink at a bar, or grab a bite to eat; such shops were scattered across the whole city.

The places they visited were quite lovely and Jinxi Shi seemed to know of endless places with beautiful views or interesting things to see. Of course, Sage didn’t care about any of it at all. He was far more interested in the little tidbits he could pick up from her conversation about the different factions of the Chong Clan. It was no wonder they had so many Nascent Souls, there was so much infighting that they could only guarantee their position by having so very many powerful figures. He was even wondering if the Elders weren’t the only Nascent Souls in the clan. Once taking into account the merged partners of all those Elders, just two of the factions at a time would be equivalent to other first rate powers, at least from what he had heard. The Chong Clan might be strong enough to hold three Provinces all on their own, yet he was quite sure that because of their internal disputes it was likely difficult to manage the one they did have.

Neither Jinxi Shi or any of the other Chong Clan members he talked to ever mentioned the Wu Faction members that had tried to assassinate him. He had no idea if the Jinxi were oblivious of the attack, had ordered it themselves, or were just pretending it didn’t happen. After a day of playing around in the city, Sage returned to the courtyard he was staying in and Jinxi Shi left them alone once more. The next day, Sage declined her offer of another day of touring the city and instead chose to stay within the Chong Clan compound. As interesting as the city was, he was far more interested in what the Chong Clan thought of him, and their plans for his Lang Clan. It was already quite apparent he couldn’t resist the sheer quantity of Nascent Souls they had let alone the rest of the Clan members. He’d likely be forced to expend millions of Dragoons to hold them back, but even with such quantity they wouldn’t be able to do much more than maintain a shield for a while against Nascent Souls.

That meant he was already on their ship and that made it important to know where it was heading. Jinxi Shi was still compelled to follow them, making sure they didn’t get pushed around by Clan members who didn’t know who they were. Sage was curious what might happen without her around, but he also knew that if some arrogant kid picked a fight with them and it got out of hand, they might just get into a huge dispute with that kid’s powerful family members, master, or any number of powerful backers. He’d much rather stay out of trouble than learn these people’s disposition.

The Chong Clan compound was divided into six portions, one for each of the five factions as well as another where he was staying that was ‘neutral’. The main meeting hall, guest courtyards, clan library, alchemy hall, tool refiner hall, and other similar places were located in this central neutral area. The territory for each faction was spread around the neutral area and those that entered the Chong Clan Manor would find themselves in the neutral area from the main gate, but Sage found out that each faction had their own gates to avoid the other groups.

They really are committed to this infighting of theirs.

After touring the Chong Clan for the greater part of the day, Sage stood upon a small mountain peak and was enjoying the view. He turned and spoke to their attendant, “I think that is enough for the day. You can head back for now, Jinxi Shi. Take Tujiu with you, he is not the best with directions. I think I’ll enjoy this view for a bit longer.”

“Oh no, I can’t leave you on your own, Sir! It’s no problem for me to accompany you no matter how long you wish to stay.”

Sage frowned slightly, as a message, and then shooed her away, “Please now, you just go ahead. Don’t worry I won’t get into any trouble. I’d just like to enjoy the view by myself for a while.”

Jinxi Shi put up a good fight, but after insisting a half dozen times she finally relented and led Tujiu away. Sage shook his head, amazed by her persistence. It really was difficult to get away from her. He’d chosen this small peak mainly because he hadn’t noticed any Formation Arrays upon it. Back in the courtyard they were assigned there were dozens and he was sure every single thing he did was being closely monitored. With Jinxi Shi finally gone, this was a good place for some surveillance. Sage sat down cross legged and made as if he was meditating. At the same time, he released a Warp Worm the size of a garden snake into the ground and his Twin Soul followed along behind it. The two of them used the ground to hide their presence, heading out into the Chong Clan to gather information for him.

Next, he tossed out some bird seed in an attempt to lure over some local wildlife. It had been quite some time since he used any of the techniques from ‘How to be a Little Birdy’, the spy manual that looked like a children’s book. Once a few birds ate the special feed, he could influence where they flew and hear what they heard. Unfortunately, the bird population in the Chong Clan was not as numerous as he expected. With so many insects around, he figured there’d be hundreds if not thousands of them, but only a handful were present. Oh, right. They must not want the birds stealing all their own prey.

He quickly realized the issue. Birds would be like wolves, stealing away their sheep, so of course they’d control their population. He could only make due with what was available, not daring to release any birds from the Inner World. They didn’t match any of the local varieties and he didn’t want to be found out that easily. The purely mortal birds that he found were sent out to eavesdrop for him and after just a few minutes he noticed something unusual.

Sage leapt from the peak and tapped his foot on empty air, gliding smoothly through the sky to descend hundreds of feet and land within a small courtyard. He found himself within a large bamboo garden. A small but elaborate gazebo sat on its own little island in the center of the pond and carefully crafted decking formed a path over the water and between the patches of bamboo. Sage landed on one of those decked paths, and started walking towards the central gazebo.

From within the roofed round structure came the soft sound of sobbing.

“I’m not poisonous and vile.”

Sage saw the graceful back of a young woman in front of him and slowly walked towards it. As he approached he held out his hand, “Miss…”

Before he could get out a second word, the sobbing suddenly stopped and the person in front of him flashed into motion. She spun around quickly and Sage felt something brush against the side of his neck. He automatically reached up and touched the spot, feeling something wet. Holding out his hand, he saw a few ruby dots of blood upon his finger.