Book 3: Chapter 4: Questions Answered |
Yin Hu felt his head spin for a moment as the realization struck him like a meteor.
It would explain many a situation he had faced.
Maybe, just maybe, he hadn’t been tricking the super powerful members of the cultivation strata, but rather they were gaining access to something that was inherent;y part of him yet distinctly cut off from his own connection. Another oddity of the system he currently had that made everything far more complicated than it necessarily had to be. It couldn’t just be sealed and locked away.
No. It had to have weird quirks he needed to discover as he dealt with a random assortment of strangers and potential sources of brutal and agonizing death.
Demonic Cultivators weren’t known to be kind after all.
Even Righteous Cultivators had mean streaks if the situation called for it.
Yin Hu held his tongue and pushed past the reaction of the old man. “I have a couple questions about the situation here. Why are the such large slums outside of the city? Why are there relatively well off individuals walking around in these dirt poor areas? And why do they all line up to provide you all with alms and charity as they walk by? A lot of things make no sense here.”
“Is that all of your questions?” the old man asked.
“Maybe,” Yin Hu shrugged. “I might have a few more once you answer these.”
I’m going to have to test all of this out soon enough. This would be a game changer if its actually true… Then again, how do I test it out if I have no direct access to it and can’t break my Ancient Being persona in case I’m wrong? Shit…
It only took a second for him to notice that he had been caught between a rock and a hard place.
The system remained convincingly outside of his primary access, unfortunately.
It refused to cooperate.
More so when it categorized and seal his Dao behind a thousand error and corruption messages that tended to fly off the handle whenever he tried to access its functions. Something as basic as trying to see his status page was enough for the train of red notifications to pop up. He still recalled the last time he received a Dao from the system. How quickly it was locked by the system.
Not even giving him a chance to play around with them for longer than a moment.
Yet, if said Dao leaked just enough to cause these reactions, than that in of itself was enough to really give his persona life.
An Ancient Being that leaked a deadly aura was far more frightening than someone you weren’t quite sure if they were as ancient and powerful as they claim they were. Or maybe this was another category entirely. He’d heard Zhong Da and others talk about different strengths too. Domains? Intent? He wasn’t quite sure what any of them really meant other than the generalization of the words themselves.
They could mean the exact opposite for all he knew.
“As for the first question, its pretty obvious isn't it? Hundreds of thousands of refugees have swarmed to this here place after IronArch City fell to the damnable Demonic filth. Not enough space within the walls to accommodate them. If anything, the Merchant Emperors have unequivocally rejected the entrance of anyone that did not have some form of registration with the cities themselves.
A strange way to deal with the masses, if you ask me… except you didn’t…” The old man scratched at his silver and red hair.
“I see…” Yin Hu nodded. That made sense to him too. Nowhere else to go but to set up camp near the safest place possible. “Except, it doesn’t answer the second question at all. These well off individuals…” He waved his hand around at the plethora of what appeared to be middle class families strolling by and still giving the beggars coin. “Should have enough coin and status to get them in. Not only that, but to live relatively well off too. Yet, they are out here.”
“Reasons not obvious, but its the truth–”
Both of them turned to stare at Zhong Da’s struggle to keep standing. Wu Xui held him up with her body. They had been whispering to each other the entire time, just under what anyone could hear without intentionally eavesdropping. Wu Xui was smart enough to cause enough Qi interference to make it difficult for anyone to listen in without alerting her and subsequently ending their private conversation.
Pretty smart…
“–as I was saying… The truth of the matter is that its safer out here than it is within the city walls. The Beggar’s Clan has no access to the streets nor do we wish to fight wars against the gangs, thieves guilds, assassin guilds, and worse things that prowl the alleyways and shadows. Hence, we stake our grounds out here.”
“Aren’t you very strong?”
The old man sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Yes I am. Some fights aren’t worth the trouble. Though I could probably dominate the inner city, the battle would attract the attention of the Merchant Emperor and that would be a bigger issue to deal with.”
More dangerous within the city walls than outside of them? How strange. Everything is flipped over its head around these parts.
Yin Hu and crew still needed to recruit in these parts.
Learning that the city was infested with multiple forces as evil as the Silver Mountain Gang and maybe just as evil made everything far more complicated.
He had hoped to have the disciple recruitment drive within a couple days and then get out of here.
Alas, that seemed more improbable the longer he questioned the red haired old man.
Yin Hu didn’t need him to explain the alms giving portion. It was obvious to him that it was their way of showing gratitude and practically paying to keep the beggars as a source of safety and guardianship. Ease of mind and protection were worth far more than a few loose coins that were clinking about in pouches and pockets without practical purpose to the middle class and wealthy amongst the denizens of this city.
He paused for a second to think of any other questions he had, but came up with nothing. His mind remained stuck on the city and its situation.
“Thank you for answering my questions,” Yin Hu said.
“It was my pleasure…” the old man cleared his throat. “N-Now, if… By chance… Not asking, just saying that if you happen to have any extra change. I wouldn’t mind borrowing it for an extended period of time that my not result in it ever returning–”
Yin Hu shook his head. “You’ve already fleeced my clan member enough already.”
“Huh… So he really did join your clan. I thought he may have been using it as a cover to hide his identity. Very strange to see a Zhong not in Zhong colors and paraphernalia.”
Yin Hu shrugged and turned away from the old man.
He was not in the business of exposing his secrets or giving people more information than they needed to know.
That felt like a quick way to suddenly find people close to him buried six feet under.
Instead, he nodded to the girls and moved away from the beggars. Zhong Da and wife followed in their own sedated pace and moved back to their original location at the trees. They would need to convene with Da Ruis as well soon enough. There was a decision that needed to be made and he wanted their opinions on the matter since he knew so little about how people tended to take care of these things.
Maybe his recruitment drive might be cut in half in Yellow HearthStone City.
Then again, it hurt his chest to know that he was only gaining access to about half the total population and potential geniuses.
He could already imagine missing a once in a million type disciple just because he hesitated to enter the city.
Thieves guild be damned, but that was not acceptable to him.
Yin Hu was determined to create the most powerful nukes to protect him and his girls. A wall of cultivators, Qi, swords, and flesh that would stop anything untoward from occurring to him and his loved one. Mainly the inner court so far.