“I need to get to a Ren’duan dwelling.”

Violet Flame Noble piped up. “I-I know where to find one.”

****

“You do?” Long Di asked as he headed to where Lord Whiskers Furryback The First was. He took the storage ring from him.

“Y-Yeah,” Violet Flame Noble replied. “M-My sect is most versed in the flame attribute. Because of that, sometimes we are able to speak with them.”

Long Di was a bit curious about this. “They want your flames?”

“In a way…” Violet Flame Noble blushed when he said this.

“What are you talking about?” Long Di was now starting to think there was more to this than he thought.

“How much do you know about the Ren’duans?” Violet Flame Noble asked him.

Long Di cocked his head to the side at him. “Less than I should. What am I missing here, Firecracker?”

Violet Flame Noble wasn’t expecting that nickname. “I-I’m sorry. F-Firecrack-”

“Sounds like you care way more about your namesake than what’s really important.” Long Di said as he went back to the forge and sat down on the ground, leaning on it.

“It’s just that my title is-”

“More important than what you’re about to tell me apparently,” interrupted Long Di.

Violet Flame Noble went several steps forward in a hurry. “No! I… sorry, allow me to explain. You see, the Ren’duans are a fickle race. They don’t come out to meet other races. They stay within their space and… forge.”

“I don’t follow.” Long Di didn’t see the big deal here. “So they forge… it seems tame, to me.”

Violet Flame Noble shook his head. “You don’t understand. They are forging fanatics. They only care about forging. You can only get their attention by bringing in something that has to do with forging in some capacity.”

Long Di looked at him for a while before he started to understand. “You have fire.”

“Yeah. It’s the only thing we have of worth to them.” Violet Flame Noble admitted to him, blushing a little. “They’ll also talk with you if you bring some rare material that they haven’t had the pleasure of working with for a while.”

“I thought since you’re a member of one of the ten great sects that your people would strong-arm them into working for you.” Long Di wasn’t naïve to the way most powers in the cultivation world worked. Might makes right was a creed that most lived by.

“My sect is NOT…”

Violet Flame Noble was about to argue on this point until he saw the dead look Long Di gave him. There was no arguing here, Long Di wasn’t about to hear it.

“They’re not easily bullied.” Violet Flame Noble chose to explain more about the Ren’duans. “They are obsessed with forging, sure, but it also means that they have mighty spiritual artefacts under their belt. Several sects have tried to attack them in the past only to incur severe damage in return. Since then, no one has tried to challenge them. With Ren’duans, you have to play by the rules. If there is no luck with them, then there is no luck with them. It’s as simple as that.”

Long Di descended into rumination upon hearing this. It seemed this wasn’t going to be so easy.

“But you know where they are right?” Long Di asked, just wanting to be sure.

“I do.”

The first rays of sunlight began to crest over the horizon.

Violet Flame Noble commented. “Day is quickly approaching.”

Long Di agreed and advised him to go back first. As soon as they were finished with Cang Bian City, they would then be able to head to wherever the Ren’duan dwelling was.

As soon as they got back, Long Di saw Sun Zixin waiting for him in front of the hotel.

“Hey! Big brother Long Di!” Sun Zixin waved in Long Di’s direction with a big smile on his face.

Long Di turned to Violet Flame Noble. “You can do what you need to do for the rest of the day.”

“I wish to travel with you.” He stated with little emotion.

Long Di shrugged his shoulders. “Suit yourself.”

And so, Long Di, Sun Zixin, and Violet Flame Noble walked down the street to Golden Lion Gate.

Before long, they came upon a giant building whose architecture had one mission and one mission alone. To look like a giant Golden Lion Gate.

This isn’t a joke either, seriously. Hear me out.

So imagine a giant plot of land and I mean giant! Giant enough to borrow a body which would take the policy years to find.

We good so far? Great! Now, this is where it gets over the top. The younger audience might need to use a search engine for this.

But it’s basically the cat’s lair from Thundercats, and I mean the old one. Just imagine the cat’s lair the exact same way BUT, it’s a golden lion instead AND there is a double gate in the middle with two giant golden lion door knockers on it.

Behind it were numerous golden structures that made up the entirety of Golden Lion Gate, and they were designed in such a way that they looked like the body of a giant golden lion.

There was a giant crowd in front of the entrance.

“What is this?” Long Di asked.

Violet Flame Noble answered him. “It’s the registration for the martial competition taking place.”

Long Di nodded in understanding. “I see. Are you entering Firecracker?”

“Yes, I would like to. If I win the competition, I may be able to see a wider world which will in turn give me access to certain things that I normally wouldn’t be able to see or find here.” Violet Flame Noble advised. Suddenly, a bad feeling arose within him.

“A-Are you planning to enter?” He finally asked Long Di.

Long Di stared at the crowd of people before answering. “No, it’ll be bullying.”

Violet Flame Noble sighed a breath of relief. He was sure that Long Di’s true strength was terrifying. He didn’t want the latter fighting as he was sure he would lose.

After thinking about it for a while, he was surprised at himself. He finally realised that ever since he started to follow Long Di, he didn’t find it odd to listen to what he had to say despite the latter being younger than him.

Sure, he made a promise to follow him but he was still one of the Five Nobles. There was an innate pride within him that couldn’t be wiped out.

So then why, why is he so docile and obedient to Long Di?

That pride of his was naturally gone in front of him. Why was that?

“Go ahead and sign up. I’ll accompany Sun Zixin.” Long Di told him.

He didn’t wait to see what he would do, he had Sun Zixin walk him to where they needed to go.

He took out the light shroud evil durian and gave Sun Zixin the box.

They eventually came upon a secluded spot of Golden Lion Gate. There was a door here and only about disciples acting as a guard.

“Stop!” One of them shouted.

“Who are you!?” The other one asked with an arrogant tone.

Sun Zixin stepped forward and introduced himself. “I-I’m here to join Golden Lion Gate. I was told I would need to provide a light shroud evil durian to join the sect.”

“What?” The disciples looked at each other in confusion. “There is no recruitment taking place right now.”

“I-I know.” Sun Zixin hurried to explain. “I was told by a senior here that if I bring in a light shroud evil durian, then an exception can be made for me to join as an outer sect disciple.”

“What? I haven’t-”

His friend gently elbowed him and whispered something in his ear. They then discreetly glanced at the small chest Sun Zixin held in his hand.

“Hold on for a moment. We’ll need to get one of the elders responsible for this particular task,” the disciple said. His tone underwent a change as he adopted a smile to look more trustworthy in front of Sun Zixin and Long Di.

Following this, one of them opened the door and ran inside.

Long Di’s eyes swung to Sun Zixin and saw nothing save for excitement and trepidation. He had an idea of what was happening here but said nothing, deciding to wait.

Not long after, hurried footsteps greeted them and the disciple came out followed by a middle-aged elder.

He looked at Long Di and his expression turned strange. He then looked at Sun Zixin and even more so the box he held in his hands.

A smile spread across his face when he saw it and he introduced himself.

“I’m one of the recruitment elders, Min Ren. Forgive my disciple for acting as unfamiliar as he did with your request. It’s just that this task is something achievable only by extraordinary individuals. The last time it was completed was much too long ago so they had grown unfamiliar with it.”

“I-It’s okay okay Elder Min Ren.” Sun Zixin bowed towards him.

Elder Min Ren waved his hand as if telling him to forgo these formalities. “Come inside. We’ll start your exam.”

Sun Zixin was so excited he started to follow him before a hand on his chest stopped him from going any further.

“Long Di?” Why was he stopping him?

“Exam?” Long Di didn’t look at Sun Zixin, only keeping his gaze locked on the elder. “What do you mean?”

The recruitment elder didn’t like Long Di’s questioning tone but he wanted this to be over as quickly as possible. “No sect would allow for someone to join their ranks without a proper exam. It allows us to see his qualifications and talents as well as other details.”

Long Di didn’t buy it. “You expect me to believe that the price for an exam at your Golden Lion Gate is a light shroud evil durian? Who are you tryin-”

“Big brother Long Di.” Sun Zixin’s voice broke Long Di’s defence of him. “It’s okay,” he added.

“Sun Zix-”

“I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for years,” he continued. “Please…”

The last word was said almost pleadingly. Scratch that, it was pleadingly. It was said with all the desperation and exhaustion of a man who experienced all of life’s doors being closed before him, and yet he was a child.

“Fine.” Long Di offered him this simple word and it was enough as Sun Zixin’s face beamed and he went in after the elder after which the door closed with a bang.

Long Di didn’t say anything, and he didn’t pay any attention to the guards who were leering at him either. He just stood there like a statue, staring off into space.

An hour later, he shook his head and started to walk away. The door then groaned open to reveal Sun Zixin was now running to catch up with him.

The box was gone and an interesting jingle accompanied his every step.

“I…” his voice broke and tears welled in his eyes. They threatened to overflow and he silenced himself until he got them under control.

“You failed.”

Long Di’s words were like a shot to the gut. It was merciless and unrelenting, and it left him breathless. Who said words didn’t hurt? They were a chronic liar.

Sun Zixin didn’t answer but his silence did the work for him.

“I-”

“You are a fool.” Long Di’s voice was a vicious whisper and it reddened Sun Zixin’s face with shame. “Come.”

Though Long Di was shorter and smaller, Sun Zixin found it hard to keep up with him even though he was just walking.

“Where are we going?” Sun Zixin nearly tripped over himself to keep up.

Long Di didn’t stop. There was a mission to complete it seems. “It’ll end up as me signing up for that stupid martial competition.”