Chapter 37: Among Wolves
I rode through the wind as fast as I could, flying is far faster than traveling using the bumpy slow ride of the carriage. The journey took less than an hour when I saw a prominent palace standing atop a city so wide that I couldn't think it would exist even in modern-day life.
The city was clearly far bigger than New York. And didn't seem to be in contrast against itself, as the buildings were well organized and built like circular rows surrounding a hill where the imperial palace stood overseeing the entirety of the city.
The city's walls were massively big, and it had three sections, the first section closest to the first great wall was made of houses that didn't look to have great prospects, most of the houses were old, yet not battered, and they all had a monotonous shape to them, squares next to squares. While the upper circle had larger houses with different designs, yet they didn't seem to be overshadowing each other. And finally, in the top circle where there was the Imperial palace, there were only a handful of smaller mansions with large swaths of land around them and above them as the imperial palace that could actually be compared to a miniature version of the Purple Cloud sect's palace which had been uprooted and disappeared overnight.
The whole city looked like it was divided into three sections, poor, or commoners. Upperclassmen, perhaps merchants and wealthy people. Then you have the section surrounding the main Palace, which looked to have people of noble origin or royalty.
As I approached the walls of the city, I noticed a few soldiers pointing at me. I was as obvious as a sore thumb, especially when I was actually flying.
The soldiers however didn't do anything boring such as shoot me without prior notice.
I went past the walls of the city and above them without receiving any hostile threats or warning. But I wasn't paying any attention to that for the moment, the girl in my hand was dying. And I needed to get to an apothecary to get her the help she needs.
Looking down, I saw a shop that was selling what seems to be vials. I willed the sword to get down, and once it was in front of the shop, I hopped off.
The people around the shop left in a hurry. Perhaps they didn't think it would be wise to stand next to a cultivator, or perhaps because I didn't look that handsome. Still, the shop owner was definitely not going to like the fact that I chased away some of his customers. Still, not my problem.
I walked up to the shop and saw a man as old as I was standing behind a counter.
"Are you an apothecary?" I asked.
"What does it look like?" the man rudely answered back, he didn't seem to be afraid of cultivators. Perhaps he had lived long enough to have some wisdom behind him. Not all people who ask the favor of an apothecary would come with hostile intentions, and he seemed to know of this fact.
"I'll need a few of your materials." I requested.
The man came closer to me to check up on the girl, but his eyes widened.
"I'll have to decline from treating this person, she will die no matter what you do. And I would appreciate it if you leave this place, I don't wish to have one of the royalty die at my shop. It's bad for business." The old man sternly said.
"You seem like someone who doesn't like royalty much, but I'm not asking for your personal involvement, I'll just need Ginseng extract and some herbal medicine. I'll take care of the treatment."
"If you say so then, I'll get them ready for you, just so you know, if anyone comes asking, I'll put all the blame on you."
"Do as you wish, now get me the damned things."
The old man sighed and went inside his shop. And after a few moments, he came back with a few vials in his hands.
"You don't expect me to treat her on the street, do you?" I asked him rhetorically. Then I pushed him aside as I walked inside his shop, there was a small bed for patients that I gently placed the girl on and began the treatment against the grunting from the man who didn't want anything to do with what was going on right now.
I immediately poured the ginseng extract on the girl's wounds where she began squirming.
"What are you doing, she should drink it!" the old man said.
"Quiet, drinking it would be far too slow, and I'm not using the ginseng to energize her, but to clean the wound," I replied and pulled out another bottle from the folds of my robes. Or that's what the man thought.
I actually placed my hand inside my robes right above my chest where the book was hiding, and it spat out a gourd of wine.
I poured the wine on the wounds to increase the cleansing and asked for a wet clean cloth.
I wiped the rest of the blood and began applying some of the herbal medicine that the man had brought me. I also fixed the broken collar bone and placed a healing salve made of the kneaded herbs.
Once everything was in place, I bandaged the girl as best as I could and added more herbal salve between the folds of the bandages.
"Hmm, the scar on her cheek is going to last. She will definitely not like that." The old apothecary said.
"I think that surviving outweighs a scar on the cheek."
"Not for royalty, also, you have a few visitors." The apothecary pointed behind me.
Turning I saw a few guards in golden armor and a man wearing cultivator clothes among them. The man was in his mid-thirties, he had long hair and a small mustache that doesn't quite match his face.
"We'd like to ask you some questions fellow cultivator." The man said as he cupped his fists towards me.
"Why?" I asked.
"We're the ones asking questions here!" one of the guards said.
To which I only frowned and the cultivator next to him immediately back slapped the man to the face causing him to fly through the street and smash right into a nearby house.
That guard is definitely dead, and I would probably die if I were to show a single sign of weakness.
"At least, even if you don't know how to keep your guards in line, you know how to punish them," I told the man.
The man smiled at me and said, "I sincerely apologize for the roundness that man had spoken toward a fellow cultivator. Let me buy you a meal to apologize for what had just happened."
'He is smart, he actually turned the situation over, and gave me 'face' -I really hate that expression- now I can't turn him down.'
"I would have asked you to lead the way, but I have a patient that I need to take care of right now."
"Oh, fellow cultivator is a medical Cultivator. I'll have to properly introduce myself then, I'm Fen Zei. An upper realm core formation cultivator."
"I'm Shen Bao," I nodded at the man, a rogue cultivator."
"Fellow cultivator," the man said as he peaked at the wounded girl and said, "seeing the ghastly mortal wound on the girl treated with simple medicine, and from the information, I had that you came to the city riding a flying sword, I say your background isn't simple. But, due to the identity of that person behind you, the sect rules are forcing my hands. I need to have a telling of what just happened, just enough to appease the sect so that they would leave you alone." Fen Zei said.
"Which sect?"
"Crimson Suzaku. The Imperial Sect."
"Right, then. So, I can tell you what happened. I'll make it brief and informative."
"That would be for the best."
After recounting the details of what happened the man nodded and pulled out a green jade, he placed it on his forehead and threw it in the sky, the jade immediately broke through the sound barrier and disappeared in the distance.
'A messaging tool, they seem handy. I should get one and see how it works.'
"That has been pretty informative. I'll make sure to send out a party to fully eradicate those villains."
"I would rather you don't," I said to him.
The man frowned but he still had the decency to ask me "Why?"
"Because I want to kill them all myself. It is something related to my belief and my Dao."
"Oh, I see, I would not wish to impose upon your Dao Heart. Please do as you wish, and here." The man handed me a jade.
"This jade is inscribed with my mark, once you have killed the bandits, I would really appreciate it if you could send me the jade. I wish to pass it to his Majesty as it would make for great evidence in his court."
I took the jade and placed it inside my robes. I then cupped my hands and said "I'll need to finish treating the lady, and once I'm done, I'll make sure to take you up on your offer, I'm starving."
"Right, I'll have to go back and physically report to the sect, I'll keep a few guards here. Once the lady's House knows of her whereabouts they'll send a few of their own to accompany her back to her mansion." Fen Zei replied.
I nodded at the man and he did the same then he left leaving a few guards that were still unable to utter a single word since their comrade had died right next to them.
'That was really dangerous, I thankfully stood my ground and didn't expose the fact that I'm far weaker than him. At least with faking that I'm at the same familiarity level and the same cultivation range I managed to save myself from trouble. I didn't want to get dragged out, but still, this little girl had caused me to get a lot of unwanted attention. I'm a camouflaged sheep in a den of wolves, I'll have to either lay low…or become a big shot. Damn, I have a long way ahead of me, I better start getting some power-ups.
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