“Sun Ling, I’ll have to go report to the other elders, please stay out of trouble…”

Sun Shi’s eyes darted to the side for a fraction of a second to the person leaning up against a nearby building. He was dressed as one of the bodyguards that had come on the journey to the United Element Sect. At this moment he looked like he was in deep thought while looking around the premises. What he was thinking was unknown to anyone but this was a potential powder keg that could go off at any moment.

‘This is all for the future generations and the sect, I really hope that I’m doing the right thing…’

The old man thought to himself while having a hard time leaving this man with his granddaughter. There was no telling what this person would do when inside the sect. He could even decide to attack them when arriving inside, though the old man didn’t believe that even the Azure Dragon would be capable of taking out their entire sect by themselves.

Everyone was constricted by the nascent soul level to an extent. Wang Long was a cautionary tale now but his case was a bit different. He had been part of the Soaring Dragon Sect and had access to their protective formation. That demonic cultivator had a lot of time to prepare and strike at the right time. Zhang Dong here on the other hand came alone and would not have access to their formations and would be closely monitored by his people. If he did something suspicious he could just spring the alarm.

“I will, grandfather, don’t worry about me.”

The pretty girl didn’t move her head towards the man standing in the back but Sun Shi was sure that she understood the hidden order. The plan was to guide the man through all the best tourist attractions and places that wouldn’t be prone to incidents happening. With a heavy heart the old man finally departed and the young jade beauty finally turned towards the group of sect brothers and one guest.

“Let us depart then, I’m sure everyone is tired and hungry, how about we go to the Flowing Gazebo for a bit?”

“That’s a great idea young miss, don’t you all thinking?”

“Y-yes sect brother, we should depart with haste…”

The whole group was having a hard time hiding their awkwardness around the hidden expert. Everyone here was even more fearful than before as the only person even capable of protecting them was now gone. People would probably be informed about the Golden Dragon but that didn’t mean that didn’t help with the part that he could flatten them with his small toe.

“Ah yes, the young miss is truly mindful, if she thinks that we should visit this Flowing Gazebo then we should.”

Everyone listened to the man’s words to seek for any hidden meaning behind them. Was he annoyed by the fact that they were going to a restaurant or was he interested? There didn’t seem to be any animosity within the words or any prickling aura that was raining down on them. It seemed that they were safe for now but if perchance the food was not to his taste they might have to even slay the cook. Thus with a robotic way of walking, they departed with the man remaining at the back.

‘They are really stiff… I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them got a heart attack if I glared at them…’

Zhang Dong thought back to the short trip to this city. He was able to see the lands of the Heavenly Crane Sect. They were similar to the western regions but in a slightly better shape. Where he came from the Soaring Dragon Sect was the supreme faction and didn’t care much for the other groups. The only things they cared about were the tolls and taxes that they needed to pay them.

This place didn’t seem much different but they did look somewhat better. This was at least from the state of the buildings and land, when it concerned the people it was different. They were all talking about the ferocious cultivators that invaded their lands which made it hard to measure their liking for this Heavenly Crane Sect. They were certainly distraught and second-guessing their masters, some of them were even in the process of fleeing to the central parts of the Empire.

The sect city was quite the sight to behold. First of all, they needed to take a ship through a huge river. There the closer they got to the city the more cherry blossom petals could be spotted in the water. Koi fish were everywhere and they were munching on those red petals that contained a trace of spiritual energy. He could already see that this would be considered a costly elixir in the old lower regions.

This gate was wooden and only opened up after Sun Shi was identified. Large statues of some old masters were in place of the columns to the gates attached. On the inside, he was greeted by a large open space filled with various bird species, cranes included. They were swimming in the water but also just hanging out everywhere. Only after slowly traveling further did they arrive at a largely populated area filled with various buildings.

What was different about this place was the lack of tall structures. The buildings were densely packed together and didn’t really go past the third floor. This of course caused the city to be quite wide as it was populated by millions upon millions of people. Cherry trees with red petals were everywhere as well as different versions with white ones.

‘Was it the cherry blossom swordsmanship they called it?’

While going towards the restaurant he recalled what his retainers brought him about the sect. They were a swordsmanship sect and they were famous for the flashiness of their moves. Apparently with every swing of their sword they would produce cherry blossoms. These petals were anything but gentle though and they would shred through the bodies of their enemies.

‘I wonder if this sword style could help me with my own Dao or if it's just all for show, flashy moves can be confusing at first but after seeing through the illusion the flaws become apparent.’

Techniques that were eye-catching usually have the downside of being filled with useless movements. At first, they would confuse the enemy but after seeing it once and figuring out the trick they were easy to counter. This was not something that he was willing to invest his time into but it also didn’t mean that he didn’t want to see these people in action.

‘Probably better if I don’t challenge anyone to a duel though, better to just see how they fight on the eastern front.’

At the moment he didn’t want to spook his new potential allies. If he challenged their best swordmaster to a one-on-one fight out of the blue he would probably be denied. They could assume that he wished to lower their battle power by killing their grandmaster. Some might even think that it was some kind of tactic thought up by the Azure Emperor to weaken them even further.

‘Can’t give them stupid ideas, these guys always read into things too much and get the wrong idea.’

The trope of cultivators getting the wrong idea was quite prominent here. They could misconstrue him wiggling his eyebrow and think that he wanted someone dead. To not let this happen he needed to keep himself in check and implement his poker face. This place that they were taking him to required another boat ride through one of the smaller rivers that spread out through the city.

‘So this is it?... Looks like a giant gazebo…’

The restaurant in question was on a little island with a huge gazebo over it. The small boat that looked similar to a gondola could move through the water canals that connected to the center of the island where people could exit.

‘I guess the flowing part referred to all these waterways.’

It was quite a sight to see rich merchants and young cultivators being chauffeured around to this place. It was an open-air establishment with the gazebo roof meant to keep the rain out. At a glance, he also noticed that there were several formations everywhere. They were there to control the temperature and also bounce the wind away. Instead, a gentle warm breeze was hitting his cheek with the stray cherry blossom petal here and there.

‘I wonder if they didn’t block the wind if these would fly into people's mouths…’

For a moment he wanted to disable the formation to see the petals flying all over the place and into the bowls filled with noodles. On second thought however, with all these wealthy people around it would probably generate a lot of trouble for the business owner. Some young master types were here and he knew how they reacted to bad service.

‘The regular people were a bit alarmed but these guys don’t seem to be taking the threat seriously.’

The whole place was divided into booths and the ones in the center were the most exquisite. There he could see some flamboyant young masters with multiple women around them, drinking tea and playing the zither. Some were even in a poem battle where the girls cheered, it was quite an interesting sight to behold. They didn’t seem to be perturbed by the nature of the war but perhaps their parents were taking it more seriously.

‘I don’t see any older people here, some guards but no one that looks like a proper elder.’

“How about we get some spirit cherry sake, that will warm everyone up!”

“Great idea young miss!”

After arriving here everyone crowded around the young miss. He was just supposed to be a bodyguard so he remained standing while she should have to sit down. This of course ended up in an awkward display as the young woman wasn’t able to while an expert like Zhang Dong stared at her. It took her a few moments to realize that people were looking at her to finally give in and now they just waited for their order.

‘It does seem peaceful here and I haven’t even had the time to travel through this wide and open world.’

The world they were living in was truly tremendous. Ever since coming here he was locked to a section of it and unable to relax. He had traversed the lands on various occasions but it was always done in a rush. What he wanted to do instead was a slow journey together with his wife and kids that would allow them to take in the beautiful sights this place had to offer. However, this dream would have to wait as for the time being some trouble approached.

“Ah, if it isn’t Fairy Ling, what brings you to this place and why are you sitting so far from this young lord.”

The trouble came in the form of a smiling young man. Behind him stood various people, some were guards while others were part of the main sect.