64 Chapter 64 (1/2)
He arrived at the city that the so-called cult was supposed to be in. His new disguise was of a rugged looking old man, a big scar over his face and short brown hair. He figured out that he could change the length and volume of his hair at will. He could also shift his muscles around on his whole body, but couldn't really change his bone structure. Matt decided to play it safe, not knowing if the cultivators that he robbed would put up any wanted posters of him.
The town looked kind of gloomy, the sun was covered by a thick layer of clouds. Matt noticed that the weather tended to change rapidly depending on the location he was in. Sometimes he would arrive at a tropical area with lots of natural beaches, only to fly for an hour in another direction to arrive in a snowy area. This might have something to do with the nature of spiritual energy around this world. Places tended to be warmer where fire elements gathered.
The city was called Fogmire, which was a peculiar name given that most towns had those xianxia sounding names. This one was just dim, murky and the moment he stepped inside it started to rain. The notice came from this town, so he wanted to go get the details. Fogmire as any other in the area was governed by a clan. The city had about five million people living in it. On earth, this would be a capital city, but here it was just a regular mid-sized town.
His robe was pitch black as he flew close to the city, he descended in the nearby forest while hiding his aura. He didn't want to alert people to his high cultivation, his flying sword being a dead giveaway. It took him about half an hour to walk to the main gate, he paid the toll normally and then asked one of the pedestrians about the clan that governed the place and about the cult.
Fogmire was governed by a side family of the Kin Clan, their leader wasn't all that strong but he still was in the core formation. When he asked about the cultists, the person looked at him with wide eyes then bowed deeply before running away. Guess the people were more scared of that cult than of his new menacing appearance.
*Well, I guess I'll go check out the main clan building, they should have all the info there.*
[ Your Disciple Zhang Xue has reached another level in the Sylph Physique, 500 spirit points gained. ]
Those prompts starter popping up here and there, whenever his two disciples gained insight in his skills or advanced he would get rewarded. Guess it was a good decision as he already had earned back the points that he spent on the two rascals. He wondered if he could just make a martial arts school and have everyone swear him in as their master. But then he looked into his disciple tab, he could see a 2/5 counter in the upper right corner. Guess the system wouldn't let him use it like that. Maybe if he cleared some hidden quests, the limit would increase?
Matt had picked up a habit lately, every new place he visited he was drawn to their restaurants. The food in this world was quite tasty, probably due to the added spiritual essence in the plants and animals.
*Work can wait, first it's time to check out the local cuisine!*
He rubbed his palms together as he strolled through the city, trying to find a nice restaurant for himself. It was getting late, the gloomy town was becoming even bleaker as it lit up with the faint light of the street lights. The lights didn't run on electricity, they were simple magical treasures that used up spiritual energy from the surroundings. Matt finally found a place to eat, it looked like a tavern that you would see in those fantasy games. It even had a sign with a beer mug outside, but it seemed kind of quiet.
He pushed open the double doors as he walked in, the people inside slowly turned their faces towards him giving him cold stares. He was hiding his cultivation base, so they wouldn't know of his level. Matt thought that people would be having fun inside as it looked like a saloon, but it was rather quiet inside. The floorboards creaked with each step as he made his way towards the counter where he saw a lone bartender person standing.
He wondered if he walked in at a bad time as the place felt gloomy, even more than on the outside. He wondered if he changes genres as the inside looked like your run of the mill western fantasy establishment, still, the people were wearing robes even though they were on the shorter side. Before he could ask for some food, the man behind the counter spoke up in a hoarse voice.
”Greetings stranger, you shouldn't be out here, all alone... He he he ...”
The man was strange-looking, his eyes vacant and a pale unhealthy complexion. When he was laughing Matt could see the rotten teeth and the accompanying bad smell that came with them. The motion of ordering any kind of food from this place went out of the window after getting a load of those chompers.
These people were kind of strange, he felt multiple gazes of people from behind and the barkeep was acting loony. Zhang Dong had gotten that new skill where he could see people's auras in a more visual form. He decided to turn it on, wondering if this would shed some light on the situation.
*W-what is this...*
He took a step back after seeing a black smoke like aura enveloping the man in front of him. This wasn't any old chimney smoke, this was evil miasma mostly seen on demons. He turned to the side, the people in the establishment were all covered in the thick, eerie aura. The whole place was covered in it, did he just walk in on the main evil base or something. Where those people evil cultivators, or some kind of monsters, the demonic aura was really thick on them.