After parting with the matriarch, the three found Fang Ren and gave her her Transcendent realm technique. They then had her escort them home, where they prepared for their outing.
They discussed it with their mother and grandfather, who didn't take much interest in it.
The next day, the three headed out for their first trip to the Spring Leaf Forest.
As they were walking through the city streets, they could see various stalls, selling tools and supplies for those who wanted to head into the forest.
Noticing the many goods, Hei commented:
"It seems like a lot of people head into the forest. These people are making a killing."
Not only were there a lot of customers at each stall, but there also never seemed to be a lack of goods. Evidently, the stores had managed their inventory quite well and had good supply chains.
Hearing Hei's words, Tianlan responded:
"Indeed, a lot of juniors from the various clans head into the forest for training."
The three had never come down these roads, they had only known the Wu Clan and the Fang Clan. Furthermore, they weren't particularly interested in exploring the city.
As he was walking, Hei remembered that in most of the stories he read, there would be a scenario where the main character stumbled upon a treasure that looked like a piece of junk. As a result, the main character would get it for a cheap price.
Having thought this far, Hei decided to give it a try.
'Treasure detector. Activate!'
He had just finished his thought when, all of a sudden, nothing in particular happened.
'Either there aren't any treasures here, or it doesn't work that way. Sigh.'
Hei had tried, on multiple occasions, to activate his other abilities, but he was still unable to figure out how they worked.
Even though he was a little disappointed, the thought of the unique fox, cheered him up again.
The three continued on their journey until they reached the city gates.
They were quite large, and there were a lot of people passing through, but other than that, they were just ordinary gates. Nothing much to look at. So, the three continued on their way.
The city had been built right next to the forest, such that one step out of the city was one step into the forest. However, the city did have multiple entrances. The one the three had passed through was the only one that led directly into the forest.
As he looked around, Hei felt that the forest was a little plain. He expected some glowing plants or other unusual things, but all he saw were trees and bushes. There was also some grass if one wanted to go into detail.
In other words, Hei could have found a place like this in his previous life, no problem.
He decided to look on the bright side. The matriarch had already told them how dangerous the forest was, so he assumed that it would become more interesting as they went deeper. And that was the right assumption.
As one got further away from the city, all sorts of bizarre things started to appear. If one looked carefully, one could see eyes on some of the trees.
"Are these the demonic plants we read about?"
The three had come across some information of what was common in the forest. For some reason, there wasn't much detail and there weren't many illustrations, but it was enough to know what you were looking at it.
Bai responded.
"I think so. These would be considered the lowest level though. They are unable to move, but they are able to cultivate. If they get to a certain level, they can transform into human-like beings from what I've read."
Bai had interests in all sorts of areas. So much so, that she had read miscellaneous books in the Fang Clan library, where she acquired some knowledge that her brothers lacked.
Their grandfather's books were particularly interesting. They had all sorts of information that wasn't available in the Fang Clan's library.
Hearing Bai's response, Hei grew interested in these trees. Nevertheless, he had bigger fish to catch.
After walking for a while and seeing strange sights, Hei had an idea.
"Tianlan. See if you can find some treasures with your eyes. Check for any areas that are out of the ordinary."
All this time, Tianlan had used his eyes for observing people. What if he could also find rare treasures with them? It would be a nice boost for the team and would save them a lot of time in the future.
Hei was already thinking of how he would support the Shao Clan as it grew. He intended to make it the strongest clan in the world, after all. How embarrassing would it be if they had no treasures? Conversely, if Tianlan was able to detect treasures with his eyes, then gathering cultivation resources and rewards and such would be much easier.
Agreeing with Hei's idea, Tianlan activated his eyes. As a result, he was able to see past the regular things, and reveal the mysteries hidden behind.
As he scanned his surroundings, his eyes became wide.
"This place is full of stuff. How come it hasn't been found yet?"
Tianlan could see more interesting locations than he could count. It was as if someone had buried a bunch of toys in a sandbox, ready for him to discover.
"Excellent."
Hei was excited. Unfortunately for him, it seemed Crystalia had dropped the ball on the treasure detector, but at least he had Tianlan.
With that, the three began their adventure in the forest.
***
"You say there is a treasure here?"
Hei was looking at an ordinary forest scene. There were trees and bushes, and some grass here and there. Nothing like a treasure at all.
"Mm. It's right here."
Tianlan reached for the treasure, but his hand was blocked by an invisible barrier.
Seeing this, the three understood what was happening. Hei was the first to speak.
"Someone set up an array formation here? Why?"
Hearing his words, Bai responded.
"I read that some natural treasures cause things like this to happen. It isn't necessarily a man-made array."
After hearing this, Hei and Tianlan both nodded in agreement. Then, Tianlan used Sonic Qi to cut through the barrier, and as he did, what lay behind it was revealed.
It was a tiny little tree that had red fruits attached to its branches.
The three didn't even bother to identify it, before Hei took the tree, roots and all, into his storage space. This was one of the reasons he asked for it to be able to store living things.
He had read many situations where a character was unable to take a natural treasure because they lacked a certain tool or the appropriate storage environment. He could skip all of this by taking the treasure and its surroundings, all at once. Then he could worry about extracting the useful parts later.
Fortunately, his storage space had grown quite large over the months. It was now close to 5 meters on all sides.
"One down. On to the next one."
Having taken the treasure, the three were no longer interested in the area.
Funnily enough, they had yet to come across a spirit beast or people for that matter. After all, the area they had come to wasn't particularly interesting. There didn't seem to be any particular reason for spirit beasts to come here.
The three continued on their way, picking up various treasures on their way.
It was as they were looking for the last treasure before they headed home, that they found something interesting.
As they were walking, Hei could hear two people arguing.
"Little Princess. You know I don't want to hurt you. Just hand it over and we can be done here."
"I can't. You also know that I have been injured for a long time. Now that I have found a way to heal myself, you want me to just hand it over?"
"Then you leave me no choice. Even though we treat you well here, we still have our own needs. And right now, I need to advance in my cultivation."
Hei was interested in this, so he led his siblings over, saying:
"There are some people over there, do you want to have a look?"
This was the first group of people they had met since coming into the forest, and for some reason, the spirit beasts seemed to be avoiding them.
Hearing Hei's words, Bai and Tianlan looked to each other, before they turned back to Hei. Tianlan was the one to speak.
"What people?"
"There are two people having an argument over there."
Hei pointed in the direction where the sound was coming from.
Tianlan and Bai had blank expressions as they looked at Hei. Bai realised something, so she asked:
"How far away are they?"
"Not far. Can't you hear them?"
Hei was now the confused one. After a moment he realised something himself.
"Ah. They are speaking a different language. That's why you can't hear them."
"A different language? All I can hear are grumbles. It sounds more like beasts than humans."
Tianlan and Bai still weren't buying it. What they heard was completely different from a language. They decided to just follow Hei anyway. Obviously, he was aware of something that they weren't. Furthermore, it was in the same direction as the treasure.
Hei noticed the strange looks in his sibling's eyes, but he understood that they had never heard another language before. Everyone in Spring Leaf City spoke the same language. He, on the other hand, had heard many different languages growing up.
With that settled, the three headed towards the source of the sound, and as they did, Tianlan and Bai became more and more confused at what their brother seemed to be hearing.
"Are you really going to take it by force?"
"This... There is no other way."
"So be it."
Hei was getting more interested. He turned to his siblings and said:
"It looks like they're about to break into a fight."
His siblings looked back at him like he was crazy.
Hei decided to ignore this, as he moved some leaves that were in the way, and what he saw left him confused.
"Eh? A monkey and a wolf?"
Hei was seeing a large gorilla-like creature and a small white dog-like creature.
After noticing his presence, both creatures looked at Hei, with hostile intentions.
"A human."
The little one spoke first. It seemed to have a strong hatred for humans. And backed away slightly.
The big fellow spoke afterwards.
"Get lost if you know what's good for you."
Hei ignored the big fellow because he was seeing something unbelievable.
He turned to Tianlan and Bai and asked:
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
The two nodded in response.
They were seeing the same aura that the three of them had, around the little one. As a result, they were left speechless, staring at the little one with wide eyes.
The big fellow seemed to not like having been ignored, so it spoke again, angrily.
"Get lost, puny human."
It pounded its fists against the ground in an effort to intimidate them, but instead, it only annoyed them.
Hei responded without thinking.
"Shut up!"
Hearing this, both of the creatures were shocked. And it was not only them. Tianlan and Bai also stared at Hei with confused looks.
The big fellow spoke:
"You speak the beast language?"
The big fellow never expected Hei to respond.
Bai also spoke to her brother:
"What was that growl you just made? Are you mocking them?"
Hei turned to Bai and responded:
"No, I told the big fellow to be quiet. Apparently, it was beast language."
He then turned back to the big fellow and spoke.
'I have business with the little princess. Get lost.'
"I have small girl is to make you lose."
'Eh?'
Hei's words came out wrong. This reminded him of his early days in this world. Because he was speaking this language for the first time, his pronunciation was all wrong, causing his sentences to become distorted.
He decided to try something simpler, so he shooed away the big fellow with his hand.
The big fellow took offence to this and immediately launched an attack.
Seeing this, Tianlan activated his Sonic Qi, creating a blade around his hand before he disappeared. When he reappeared, he was right in front of the big fellow and was already thrusting his blade straight at the big fellow's heart.
Before his attack could land, Hei grabbed his hand.
The big fellow was shocked at their speed. It knew that if Hei hadn't stopped Tianlan, it would have already died.
It took stumbling steps backwards and fell to the ground, paralysed by fear.
Hei spoke.
"Tianlan. Don't kill if you don't have to. Leaving this thing alive will never cause us problems."
Hei didn't want to see a life end just like that.
His mother had always taught him that life was precious, and he agreed. But he also knew that these cultivation worlds were cruel and that sometimes killing your opponent would save you a lot of trouble in the future.
However, in this case, the big fellow would never become a threat. All it was was an eyesore, so he didn't agree with ending its life.
Tianlan shrugged his shoulders and took back his hand.
Hei turned to the big fellow who was trembling on the ground.
"Please let me live. I didn't mean to offend you."
Hei didn't expect this big fellow to change its tune so quickly. He responded.
"Go."
Luckily, his words came out right this time.
The big fellow immediately got up and ran for the hills.
After that was settled, Hei turned back to the little one.
"W-what do you want, Human? I won't give this to you."
The little one was slowly moving back, trying to escape.
Hei smiled at this and stepped forward.
Seeing this, the little one ran to escape.
Hei activated Unlimited Chain Works and followed behind the little one as it ran.
It was quite fast and seemed to know the terrain well. But even with that, Hei would be able to catch it with the snap of a finger. He decided to play with it until it became exhausted. That would be when he would lower its guard.
The little one was not feeling too good right now. It was quite unnerving hearing the jangling sounds of the chains behind it as it ran.
Every time it looked back, it could see a jumbled mess of wriggling chains coming out of the human, who was leisurely walking on top of a sea of chains.
It seemed that the whole forest would be covered in chains if he so wished.
Every now and then, a few of the chains would thrust forward and come dangerously close to the little one, piercing the ground beside it.
Bai and Tianlan observed this and thought to themselves, 'When did Unlimited Chain Works become so overbearing?'.
After seeing that escape would be difficult, the little one decided to stand and fight.
It jumped at Hei and opened its mouth wide, trying to scratch at his unprotected face, and Hei chose not to avoid it.
"Eh?"
Hei was surprised at the power of the little one's claw attack. He didn't feel any pain whatsoever, but he was still able to tell that there was quite a lot of force in this swipe.
Seeing that fighting was also not effective, the little one decided to discard its treasure and escape. It spat out a round object from its mouth before dashing away.
Hei let it think it had gotten away.
After it had stopped to rest, Hei surrounded it in chains and pulled it over to himself.
"No. I already gave up the treasure. You, humans, are all the same."
The little one tried to struggle, but the chains were too strong for it to escape.
"..."
Now that Hei had captured the little fellow, he took the time to examine the treasure it had abandoned. It was a hard-shelled plant of some kind.
After identifying the plant, Hei used Sonic Qi to slice it open and placed it back in the little one's mouth. He then unchained it and returned it to the ground.
The little one seemed to be surprised that Hei had done this.
"What are you trying to do? I won't fall for your lies."
Hei didn't want to say too much, in fear that it would come out strange, so he used few words.
"Friend."
"..."
"Next day, I come to also be here."
The little one stepped back cautiously.
"Is to see again."
After saying this, Hei turned and left. He knew that this was a delicate operation because this little one seemed to have been wronged by humans in the past.
After a while, Hei spoke to Bai and Tianlan:
"Well, we didn't find old red, but we found something much better."
Bai responded:
"Mm. Who would have thought we would find another like us? It seems it isn't limited to just the three of us."
Tianlan added on:
"I even thought it was something about Mother that made us this way."
-Hahaha.
As they were returning home, Hei described the interactions he had with the creatures and his plans for the little one. He wanted to befriend it before taking it in as a member of the Shao Clan. In addition to that, he could practice the beast language by talking to it.
Bai raised some points about it possibly running off somewhere, but Hei wasn't too worried about this. He had felt something interesting as his chains held the little one. It was a strangely comfortable feeling, and he guessed that the feeling was shared between both of them.
He didn't want to tell this to his siblings because he was sure Tianlan would take the chance to annoy him. 'Even spirit beast girls would fall in love with me? It looks like only beasts would love you Onii-chan. Hahaha.'
After the three had returned to their home, they filled the kitchen with the treasures they had found. They would use them in their baking training.
If any other cultivators heard about this, they would pull their hair out in frustration.
The next baking training session was an interesting one.
After the three had come home with a bunch of medicinal herbs and natural treasures, they decided to try baking some bread with them.
It was what one could call a success if one were pushing it. In other words, they did produce some bread. They even managed to get some customer reviews, which were a mix of questioning gazes and unwillingness to poison themselves.
To be fair to the customers, the bread didn't look like any bread they had seen before. The familiar golden-brown colour was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a mishmash of various colours that would draw anyone's eye... straight to the exit.
After this debacle, they received some very detailed constructive criticism from their mother and grandfather.
Having heard an earful, the three decided to head back into the forest.
Unlike the previous day, they came across a few cultivators on their treasure route. There wasn't any conflict though, because those unfortunate fellows seemed to be new trainers. Hei didn't see a single Tianlanmon among them. As a result, they weren't able to find the hidden treasures as easily as the trio.
'There are all sorts of OP I guess.'
Hei was happy with the ease at which they were finding treasures. When he thought about it, he realised that it wouldn't be possible if it weren't all three of them.
Sure, Tianlan was the one with the magic eyes, so he would be able to find the treasures anyway. But without Sonic Qi, he would have a very hard time breaking through the defences around some of these treasures.
Bai was a key player in the creation of Sonic Qi. Without her comprehension ability, neither Hei nor Tianlan could have come up with the technique. Don't get me wrong, Hei had comprehension ability on par with Bai, but he didn't have the interest in creating things that she had.
He would have used his ability to benefit himself alone, so Bai was quite the asset when it came to improving a group.
And obviously, Hei was the framework that Bai and Tianlan were building from. It's hard to say how long Bai and Tianlan would have taken to blossom, had Hei not been there.
However, Hei didn't consider himself to be the only reason for their current position. He was fairly confident that they would still become major players in this world, even if he wasn't there. These things just had a way of working themselves out. And at most, he was just accelerating the process.
After a while of gathering treasures, the three headed to where they had separated from the little one the previous day.
'And now, we wait.'
The three jumped up to some tree branches and waited for the little one to show up.
It had been a few hours with no sign of the little one when Tianlan said something.
"I think I know where it is..."
Hearing these words, Hei was surprised. He asked Tianlan for clarification.
"How do you know?"
"Well, I was getting tired of waiting, so I complained in my mind, and somehow I was able to sort of feel it."
"Oh?"
'Where is that little fellow? To keep us waiting so long. Doesn't it know that we have absolutely nothing better to do right now? The nerve.'
All of a sudden, Hei felt a slight tugging sensation internally, and an illusory string appeared in his vision.
''Eh? Just like that?"
Hei was surprised at the outcome. Who would have thought that complaining about something would show you exactly where it was?
'Where is that darn treasure. To hide from me for so long. Doesn't it know that I have absolutely nothing better to do right now? The nerve.'
Hei waited for the strings to roll in, but to his disappointment, it didn't work like that.
He then turned to Bai, who nodded her head.
"So, we can all sense it?"
Bai and Tianlan nodded their heads in response to Hei's question.
'Where is that adorable Little Bai? To run around being cute all day. Doesn't she know that there will be hordes of little punks trying to talk to her in the future? Does she know what her big brother will have to go through to protect her? The nerve.'
Sure enough, a string appeared connecting him and Bai.
'Where is that creepy Tianlan. To stare at people all the time. Doesn't he know that his eyes make people uncomfortable? And what's up with all the young ladies? Is Tianlan so good? What about me? I'm also here you know? The nerve.'
After a string appeared connecting him to Tianlan, Hei confirmed that he was able to locate all of the people he knew to have the same aura as him.
'Hm. Maybe I can use this for the long-distance communication method.'
Hei decided to discuss this with Bai in the future. Since he had now found a solution to the problem of locating the recipient.
It would be extremely useful to be able to communicate over a long distance in the future. He was planning on having each of them act independently, gathering the other envoys, and creating a special branch within the Shao Clan.
After confirming the location of the little one, the three decided to just go to it instead.
Hei had initially planned to form a trust between them over time, but if he could let the little one realise that they had something in common, it would speed things up dramatically. After all, it was often easier to be around those similar to yourself than those you viewed as different.
And they were already entirely different. Three humans, and a dog-like spirit beast. It's hard to get much more different than that.
With that in mind, Hei landed in front of a small cave.
Without much thought, Hei sent in his chains and used the sensory feedback to locate the little one. After yanking it out, they were face to face.
"Ugh. You again. What do you want this time, Human?"
The little one was not pleased, at all, and spoke in an annoyed tone.
After the events of the previous day, it had been absorbing the beneficial elements of the medicinal herb it had consumed. It was almost fully recovered when a bunch of chains rudely barged into its home and dragged it out.
Hearing this disgruntled statement, Hei let the little one down and responded awkwardly.
"I to come, is your not there..."
It took the little one a while to understand Hei's words.
"I was recovering from my injuries."
Hearing this, Hei took a closer look at the little one.
It wasn't just a white, dog-like creature. It had various red markings on its fur, and its irises were also red.
Compared to the big fellow, this little one was quite small, but when compared the Hei, it wasn't exactly little. If it were to stand on its hind legs, it would be about the same height as Hei.
Being stared at by Hei, the little one became uncomfortable. It already wasn't too fond of this human who had chased it through half the forest.
Noticing this, Hei pulled out a medicinal herb from his storage space. This herb was one that would increase the vitality of whoever consumed it.
The little one didn't know the specifics, but it could tell that the herb would be beneficial.
"Eye is to close."
After a short while, the little one closed its eyes. Before long though, it peeked through one of them, before closing it again after Hei's gesture.
"Found I."
"What?"
The little one opened its eyes again and gave Hei a confused look.
Hei pointed at the little one.
"Eye is to close."
He then pointed to himself.
"You find."
"You want me to find you with my eyes closed? Why."
"Just do."
After saying this, Hei disappeared, and the little one was left on its own.
For a moment, it had the thought of returning to its home, but it was sure it would just be dragged out again, so it played along.
After a short while, Hei could see that the little one had had a surprise, so he reappeared in front of it. And when he did, it opened its eyes and looked at him with a confused face.
"Is you see?"
"I saw it. What is it?"
"You, we, light is same."
"The same light? I have it too?"
"Yes."
For a moment, the little one seemed to be interested, but then it spoke.
"So, what's your point?"
"Is you us, same. Family."
After hearing the word 'family', the little one became sad.
Seeing this, Hei apologised.
"Sorry."
"No. Never mind. What do you want from me."?
"..."
Hei wasn't sure if saying, 'Join my clan. We will climb to the peak of the world together' would do the trick. So, he decided on a different approach.
"Teaches beast talk."
"You want me to teach you Beast Language?"
The little one was surprised.
Hei nodded in response.
"Is have writing?"
Hei wanted to know if there was a form of written communication in Beast Language. He would be able to communicate better through text.
After hearing this question, the little one spent some time carving out some characters on the ground.
It wasn't quite sure why it was willing to do this, but there was something about this fellow. Something comfortable.
After the little one had finished, Hei took a look at the characters and memorised them. He would now be able to try combinations of characters in his mind before he presented them to the little one.
By fumbling around with combinations that seemed to work, Hei found what he wanted to say. He transcribed his thoughts using his Qi, creating characters that were visible to the little one.
"I will come here every day, so please teach me. In exchange, I will give you medicinal herbs."
He then handed over the medicinal herb he had revealed before.
"Sure, why not?"
The little one seemed to be blinded by greed, as it quickly accepted. Before anyone knew it, the medicinal herb was already in its stomach.
"So, what do you need help with? You seem to be able to understand what I am saying."
Hei spent a long while to find the correct combination of words.
"I am able to understand every word, but I don't know how to pronounce them. I just need you to repeat the phrases I show you until I am able to speak them properly."
"That's all? OK then."
The little one was prepared to spend some real time here. In the first place, it didn't have much else to do. It mostly roamed around the forest looking for things to ease its boredom.
Hei realised something. So, he wrote a question.
"What is your name?"
"Mei."
"Nice to meet you, Mei. I am Hei."
"...Nice to meet you."
With that, Hei began his study of Beast Language.
He would put up phrases, and Mei would speak them aloud. Then Hei would try to mimic her.
To his embarrassment, it took him a very long time to be able to speak the phrases properly. Beast Language was just far too different from what he was used to.
While they were there, Hei had Bai and Tianlan join in on the fun.
He would translate the words so that Bai and Tianlan understood what they were saying, and all three started learning Beast Language under Mei's instruction.
Bai and Tianlan had a particularly difficult time. Their throats were unable to produce some of the sounds for a long time.
After half a day, they had gone through a few phrases and it was time for the three to return home.
Hei tried to use what he had learned.
"We come tomorrow. See you again."
"Needs a little work, but you're getting there."
***
For the next few months, the three spent their time creating new 'bread' formulas, helping out the Fang Clan's juniors, and learning Beast Language from Mei.
After a long period of frequent communication, the three learned some things about Mei. First of all, she was female, hence 'little princess' and secondly, she believed she was something called a scarlet arctic fox. She wasn't too sure because there were no other foxes like her in the forest.
As for why she was called 'Little Princess', it turned out that the other animals in the forest saw her as a superior being, so they treated her with respect.
Hei recalled the various descriptions of bloodline suppression he had read about. He assumed it was something similar.
Hearing that she was a fox made Hei think of the fox Fang Lian had described. Even after searching, he couldn't find a trace. He had asked other cultivators if they had seen a red fox with white eyes running around, but none had seen it. Or at least they didn't acknowledge having seen it.
Hei decided to forget about it. Mei was probably better anyway. Heck, maybe Mei and that other fox, were one and the same. After all, their appearances were basically inverted.
Hei was now able to articulate himself properly in Beast Language, so he decided to cut to the chase.
"Mei."
"Mm?"
"I tried to say this before, but since you have the same glow as us, we're basically family."
"..."
"And since you live alone out here, why don't you come with us?"
Mei was hesitant. If she had a motto, it was 'trust no one'. She had experienced the cruelty of the world first hand.
Having noticed this, Hei reassured her.
"My family is the most important thing to me. No matter who aims their sword at my family, they will be shown the meaning of true suffering. That is true for both present and past enemies."
Noticing that the Mei was lost in thought, Hei moved in and placed his hand on her head. As he stroked her fur, he felt that comfortable feeling become stronger, and he spoke.
"Do you think I would ever do you wrong?"
"This... But I am a spirit beast. How will I live in a human city?"
Hearing this, Hei smiled.
"That shouldn't be a problem. Our home is pretty safe, and we'll be with you all the time. No one there can cause trouble for us."
Hearing this, Mei decided to go along with them. The feeling she had when she was close to Hei was hard to describe, but it was a pleasant one.
Not to mention, his words seemed to have weight behind them. She couldn't imagine too many people being able to take a full powered swipe of hers and brush it off like nothing.
With that, the four headed back to Spring Leaf City.
As they were walking through the streets, many eyes were drawn to Mei. That is on top if the stares Hei and Tianlan usually generated.
This group was quite a diverse one. A very handsome, blue-eyed boy, a very... dark-skinned boy, a white-haired girl, and a white fox. Not something you see every day.
One person, in particular, took a special interest in the white fox.
There was a palanquin, in other words, a covered box with seats inside, carried by a few people. It approached the three, and from inside came a girl's voice.
"I am interested in your spirit beast. Name your price."
Hei was surprised to hear this.
'Well, this is going to blow up.'
He knew that interactions like this were never simple. Obviously, he couldn't very well hand Mei over, so this was sure to become a persistent problem.
Since the conflict was unavoidable, he decided to just get it over with.
"She isn't for sale. You can go now."
The four continued on their way to the Shao Bakery when they heard the same voice again.
"I'll pay 50 spirit stones."
"Spirit stones?"
Hearing the familiar term, Hei stopped and turned back to the palanquin. Many of the stories he had read had spirit stones in them, so he was interested in finding out more.
One of the bearers carrying it snorted with contempt.
"These worthless lower continent plebeians. Spirit stones can be used to cultivate. They are dense stores of natural Qi that have solidified over countless years, forming a stone."
Hei didn't take well to these words.
"So, ignorance makes someone worthless? Then do you know how many stars there are in the sky? Do you know how many blades of grass there are in the forest? How many times have you breathed in your life? How many footsteps has your mother taken? If you can't answer, then you are also worthless by your own standards."
Hei didn't allow the man to respond.
"And plebeians? Coming from you, who is just a human-shaped beast of burden? Please."
Once more, Hei spoke.
"Lastly, you mentioned the lower continent, so I presume you are from the upper continent? You think being born there makes you better than everyone here? Then let me tell you something. I, this 'lower continent plebeian' will never lower myself in front of whoever it is that you are carrying around like a horse."
"You! What do you know about honour? It is a privilege to be able to escort the young mistress."
"Ah, so you view being a bearer as something to be proud of? Kind of sad, isn't it? Obviously, your life won't amount to much. Just a leaf in the wind."
Hei turned back around to continue on his way.
The bearer was about to respond when his young mistress spoke.
"100 spirit stones."
Hei continued walking as he spoke.
"I already told you, she isn't for sale."
"I have strong connections to the Merchant Guild. I'm sure we can come up with a mutually beneficial exchange."
Without stopping, Hei responded.
"Merchant Guild? Never heard of it."
There was a slight pause before the young mistress spoke.
"Are you sure you want to do this?"
Hearing this, Hei turned around.
"Oh? Is that a threat?"
"Take it how you will."
"I see. Then let me offer you some words of wisdom. Those who make enemies of the Shao Clan never have happy endings."
There was a long time with no response, so Hei continued on his way, the other three followed behind.
Mei spoke.
"Didn't you say no one could cause trouble?"
"Cough. I said no one here could cause trouble for us. They were from somewhere else."
Hei was embarrassed. He never expected to come across one of these situations, which surprised him. After all, he had seen the whole 'give me your treasure or else' plot before. So, he should have been able to plan for it. If he had known, he could have just put Mei in his storage space and avoided all of this.
In Hei's defence, these situations usually involved treasures and not living beings.
As they were walking, Hei gave his people some insight.
"We're probably going to come across that girl again, and it will probably be quite troublesome. It could actually be a pain in our side for a long time. We should probably look up this Merchant Guild. Then we will decide how to resolve this."
Hei had seen this plot quite a few times. Beat a junior and someone stronger comes. Then beat them and someone even stronger comes. Rinse and repeat. And even if you left the junior unharmed, they would come with a bunch of juniors and things would end up the same.
He would rather skip all of this. Why couldn't people just let him take over the world in peace?
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