Bab 50: Arrival, Open Gates and Scholarly Gathering
The monk yawned as he now walked through open plains at a leisurely pace.
Although bored, there was another feeling nagging at the back of his mind... And that was a feeling of frustration.
Why exactly?
Well, it had just occurred to him that, ever since coming to that world, he had not received any of those fabled 'Fortunate Encounters' that he had read about in so many stories.
Well, sure his meeting with the Dragon of the Valley was a good thing on its own. And Origin Spring was seemingly a factor in his growth at least.
But after that?
'I got hunted down by beasts, screamed at by old men and losers, picked on by some youngsters and ultimately got murdered by a Demonic Emperor!'
When put into perspective, the monk's luck was quite shit.
His only fortune was his talent in martial arts, the martial arts he knew which seemed to be specifically made for Origin Energy for some reason, and his inexplicably strange constitution.
But those all could in some way be tied to his last life.
'Amitabha, this body brings bad luck! No wonder the previous owner pawned it off to me so quickly!'
Alas, there wasn't much the monk could do to fix his karmic disability aside from trying to do more good in the world.
To plant the seeds, water the dirt with kindness, and watch the flowers grow with goodwill. Thankfully he was still young, and he had all the time in the world to think about ways to improve the world around him.
For now, he had a pretty clear objective in mind... Reaching home and getting straight into a tub of water to rinse out the grime clinging onto him.
In the distance, he could already see the walls of the Guozhi Capital, but he was in no rush to get there.
His hair was filled with leaves and branches, his body was filled with dirt and dried blood and his clothes were no better.
The massive, hilt-less sword on his back attracted plenty of attention, but not as much as the glowing cloth backpack tied to it.
His appearance was that of a barbarian now, so plenty of people gave him strange looks.
And, among the people Mo Yangling encountered within the outskirts of the forest, there were even some that seemed to want to try their hand and take the monk's treasure.
But most hesitated when sensing the sheer amount of Origin Energy rolling off of whatever he held in that large backpack, and the blade on his back.
It was clear that the 'Barbarian' they were looking at was a high-ranking cultivator...
Needless to say, no one would really make the connection between him and the 'Exalted Sage Mo' of the Guozhi Kingdom, it almost felt like blasphemy to even think of such a thing.
For the most part, the Monk managed to reach the walls unscathed, physically anyway.
Mentally he was not doing quite well due to a small mixup in his waterskins...
'Amitabha... To think I'd drink Brother Ren's piss again...'
Yep, he had chugged it down in one gulp not long after starting his journey. The waterskins that were attached to his belt were somewhat also thrown around during the battle, but they were intact as they were of high quality.
The problem was that the monk hadn't thought about it and drank from the first one that he grabbed on instinct.
On one hand, it did help with refuelling his Origin Energy Reseves slightly. On the other, he was sure as hell not going to be telling the Dragon of the Valley about it.
The fact that he wouldn't be able to make money out of it was a shame, but the monk didn't care. He could always just ask the king for money or give more advice to the cultivators nearby.
They seemed to value his words quite a bit since he had suddenly become worthy of the title of sage for everyone who had attended the Grand Assembly.
The monk didn't bother stopping at the gates this time around, he didn't even approach them directly, opting to instead just leap above the walls.
He had managed to do it so fast that the martial soldiers in the watch towers didn't even manage to notice him.
He landed right in the rougher part of the outer ring, whistling as he walked through the so-called 'slums' of the Capital City.
They were not as bad as one would expect, but then again they were in the Capital City, the largest and most prosperous city in the entire kingdom.
If any part of the capital city looked bad then that would look bad for the King himself, so law was enforced just about everywhere possible and buildings were maintained even in the slums.
The homeless lived in what was called 'Group Houses'. It wasn't pleasant, but likely better than sleeping in the streets.
The Monk had learned that Liao and Liang were scared off from a group home and proceeded to live on the streets for a while, going to the middle ring by begging a kinder guard to let them go there.
It wasn't like beggars were prohibited in the middle anyway, it was just that most merchants paid guards not to let them in.
The Monk had learned plenty about how the greedier side of the world worked from those two orphans, even if the time he had spent with them was brief.
Regardless, no one in the slums approached the monk, the gigantic blade on his back was a big deterrent on his own.
His current attire was also fitting for the area, so he blended in pretty easily.
He looked like a member of the Beggar sect really, or at least a really weird vagrant that had gone on a hunting expedition.
Unfortunately, the monk couldn't blend in quite so seamlessly within the middle ring, where people were giving him odd looks with every step he took.
Getting through the gate wasn't a problem for the monk, despite looking like a beggar the guards weren't an issue if he could just hop the wall on a side that looked less guarded.
After walking around for a while, the monk finally decided to head straight for his house, jumping on the buildings and starting to travel that way, his eyes glinting a bit as he did so.
The short and virtuous former Enforcer Qiu was at the gate, guarding them vigilantly as her eyes darted around frantically.
She was dressed in similar clothes to the ones she wore as an enforcer, it was just that she was no longer wearing their sigil.
Her hair was currently tied into a ponytail, which puffed upwards a bit before falling to her upper back.
She also wore a golden bandana around her forehead, which made her look quite silly to the monk.
Immediately, Mo Yangling decided to have a bit of fun, leaping from a nearby building and landing right in front of the gate, raising a cloud of dust and startling her.
"Who goes there?!" She shouted in the most authoritative voice she could muster, her hand resting on the hilt of her sabre.
Despite her previous frantic disposition, her words did not falter one bit as his fingers clutched the hilt of her blade, her gaze becoming determined and ready.
The Monk decided to greet her properly and immediately slapped his palms together in prayer.
Suddenly, she could hear a clap, and in an instant, a cyclone seemed to expand form the middle of the dust cloud in front of her.
The wind blew so hard that she, a Martial Master, was forced to take a step back.
"W-wha-" She said as she quickly rubbed the dust out of her eyes and looked at the who seemingly materialized in front of her.
"Amitabha, It has only been a few days, nay a week at best. And you no longer recognize your employer?" The Monk's smile stretched on his face, his thick and leathery palms still pressed together.
"S-Sage Mo! Sir!" Guard Qiu immediately took her hand off of the hilt of her sabre, her eyes glinting with happiness as she rushed forward and immediately grabbed the monk's hands.
"Where have you been sir?! Everyone, no the King himself was looking for you!" She clutched her boss's wrists with a panicked look in her gaze.
That panic quickly turned to worry as she looked down at the state of her new boss.
"S-sir... What happened..." She looked at the scar on his chest, as well as the thorns of vines digging into his skin.
Her face seemed to twist a bit as her eyes widened.
"Enforcer Qiu! Should I act as a sage and impart upon you the principles of personal space? I was just out hunting for materials..." The monk shook the woman's small hands off of him as he stretched his neck a bit.
The woman immediately took a step back, her eyes widening slightly as she rubbed her hands in an embarrassed manner.
"H-hunting? We didn't know... The king turned the entire capital upside down looking for you..." Her gaze still contained a bit of concern, but it had dissipated when she saw that her boss's temperament was the same as before.
"Bah, the King will understand when he sees the bounty I'm bringing. I did inform him that I was looking for materials anyway, he should've expected this." The monk waved his hand dismissively, not concerned about offending Guo Zhu.
The King had proven himself to be quite friendly during their last interaction, despite the initial rocky start to their relationship.
"W-well, let's head for the Royal Palace! We can't let him wait! I believe the scholars are already gathered there too..." Her vision turned downcast as she looked between the messy Mo Yangling and the inner walls behind her.
"Ah, who cares about some scholars? The king waited a few days he could wait a few hours for me to wash up and get dressed."
The former Enforcer seemed to be insisting regardless.
"B-But sir!"
"Shh~ It's me you work for. Now then, wanna come and wash my back?" The monk smiled as he patted the short woman's shoulders.
Qiu immediately turned beet red and froze completely. Looking like at the ground like a deer in the headlights of a quickly approaching vehicle.
'Hehe~ Hiring her wasn't a bad idea after all! Masochisto not, at least her reactions are fun!'
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone