Haiyang awoke the next day at noon. His head still muddled up. He looked around the room, and saw dark wooden bookshelves holding many books of varying thicknesses. The ground covered by a royal blue rug. Wooden tables and wooden chairs while he sat on a lavish blue sofa.

He walked outside the house into the courtyard. He walked out of the courtyard and around the grounds. He passed many people. Some in black uniforms walking in formation of groups of six. There were also the people dressed in robes and walked casually sometimes alone and sometimes in pairs. He paid them no mind though. He walked and looked at the trees, flowers, and the architecture of the buildings.

After walking for some time, about an hour from what he could tell, he returned to the courtyard. His headache was gone and his mind clear. He walked passed the steel gate, the only opening in the stone walls, to see Shizi sitting on a stone bench under a tree. He looked to be in thought. Haiyang walked to his feet not wanting to disturb.

Shizi came to after who knows how long to find Haiyang at his feet. He gave Haiyang a light kick.

“Brother get up,” he laughed, “I have much to teach you.”

Taking minutes to get up Haiyang sat up and got his first real look at Shizi. He stood tall and straight wearing a light blue robe with white accents. His body language said dignified noble, but his smiling face and bright eyes shouted adventurous, and impulsive youth.

“I must teach you many things,” he shouted, “let us go to my study and we can start!”

Shizi walked into the house and Haiyang followed. They walk to the farthest room. Inside is an oak desk with many books stacked on top. The walls are lined with many bookshelves made of light tan wood. The ceiling held an orb that glowed, and lit the room in a soft, gentle light.

They walked in and both sat on the floor. Then Shizi started talking, “Brother welcome to Passing Moon City home to many, but ruled by my Lan Clan.” Shizi stopped got up and walked to the desk, grabbed rolled up piece of paper, and sat back down. We unroled the paper between Haiyang and himself. On the paper was a map.

Shizi pointed to a little square that had a moon next to it and explained, “This is Passing Moon City. Given this name as it is part of a trade route.” He traced his finger along paths that intersects with the city. He circled a square-ish outline and said, “This is Chang country. This is where we live. It is not among the biggest of the countries, but certainly not the smallest.”

“Here,” he said while circling an area in a very thick black outline, “is the Myriad Empire.” The inside of the empire held Chang country and Passing Moon City. Shizi then circled a big area of land, that was surrounded by water, and said, “This, here, is the Demon continent.”

Then pointing towards the opposite side of the map toward another continent Shizi explained, “This is the Angel continent.” He pointed to the center of the Demon and Angel continent and said, “This is the Central continent. This continent is much more powerful than the Demon and Angel continent.”

Shizi stopped talking and let Haiyang study the map. He looked at the many areas and outlines of the map. Their were many signs and parts. For instance Haiyang noticed that the empires, countries, and cities all had numbers and then numbers next to stars. He just didn’t understand. So he used his paw and tried to point at those numbers. It was hard, but Shizi seemed to understand as he started to explain.

“These are used to show the ratings or strength of an empire, country, or city. They are first separated into ranks first to ninth. Then, they are separated by stars. Ranks are determined by the highest level of cultivation that is there.

“First is the lowest meaning only Qi condensation practitioners live there, and ninth is the highest with the most powerful people living there. After ranks are established you use stars to represent how many people of that cultivation live there. 1 star could mean one to nine people of that cultivation live there. While 9 can mean 100+ people live there. For example Passing Moon City is a 2nd rank 1st star city. It holds three people of foundation establishment level cultivators. My Lan clan ancestor, Ying clan ancestor, and the Qin clan ancestor. Soon though there is gonna be a fourth. My father, Lan Yan, is so very close to a break through.”

Haiyang pointed toward Shizi with is paw and stared expectinally.

“You want to know my level,” Shizi asked while smiling.

Haiyang nodded.

“I’m a peak 6th stage Qi condensation cultivator,” He said with self praise, “The thing is I’m only 14 years old. Most don’t get to this level till they’re 20 to 25.” He laughed uproariously.

Shizi though for a moment and said, “If you don’t know the first two levels of cultivation are Qi condensation and foundation establishment. Both and most other levels are separated into nine ranks. With first rank being the lowest and ninth being the strongest. Then, the ranks are separated into into low and peak grade. Those are self explanatory.”

Haiyang took a moment. Then, he nodded and went back to studying the map further. He looked around Passing Moon City. He saw what looked to be trees representing a forest. The forest had a label next to it that said “Class 1 Danger Zone”. Haiyang did the whole using a paw to point thing again this time towards that.

Quickly Shizi started to explain, “Any uninhabited places get a danger zone class. One being the least dangerous while nine is the most. Class 1 places usually only have a few Qi condensation demonic beast. So they’re only a real danger towards mortals and weak Qi condensation cultivators. Class two holds foundation establishment level beast. So on and so on.”

Haiyang looks at the map again, but he doesn’t see anything else he needs explaining. So he looks up towards Shizi.

Shizi responded to the look and rolled up the map. He then said, “Now with geography done let's look at commerce.” He grabbed a small satchel on his side and pulled out a bronze and silver coin. He laid them on the ground and started to explain, “There are two systems of currency. The mortal system that involves coins and the cultivator system that involves Qi stones.

“The mortal system uses three types of coins. The gold coin, the silver coin, and the bronze coin. It takes 10,000 taels of bronze to equal one tael of silver. It takes 10,000 taels of silver to make one gold tael. For perspective a common family typically makes around 1 tael of silver a year, and that means a father of average occupation, a mother that works, a son that works, and a daughter that works. The Lan clan makes 1 tael of gold a year, and that is after all spendings are done.

“Now the cultivator system uses Qi stones instead of coins. That is because Qi stones can be helpful in cultivation. This making them certainly more useful than coins. The system starts with low grade Qi stones that are worth about 10,000 taels of gold. The next ones are mid grade qi stones worth 100 low grade ones. 100 mid grade stones equal 1 high grade. 100 high grade ones make one peak grade Qi stone. Now even though 100 low grade stones equal 1 mid grade one you should never trade a mid grade for 100 low grade ones. The reason being the Qi in mid grade ones are MUCH more pure, and powerful compared to low grade stones.”

Haiyang spent a minute going over all the information he had gained just now. He made sure he did not forget a thing. He soon looked toward Shizi.

“I think that is enough for one day. Now tomorrow I’ll have Qishi take you around the city. He’ll introduce some spots of interest to you. It is now night so you should go rest or cultivate,” Shizi said while standing up. He walked towards the door and opened it. He waited towards the side not leaving the study.

Haiyan got the message and walked out of the room. He looked back when he heard it shut, but he was alone in the Hallway. Shizi seamed to stay in the room. So Haiyang walked outside and say the moon high in the sky.

He was shocked that it was night. There were no windows though, so it was hard to tell the passage of time. The shock didn’t last very long. Haiyang immediately climbed a tree that resided in the courtyard. Haiyang climbed to the very top and sat on a flat branch. He sat and started to cultivate.

He cultivated for some time, but stopped when the moon reached the other end of the sky. He climbed down the tree and went back to the same sofa he rested on the night before. He didn’t waste time and quickly went to sleep.