67 Fire Cloud City. (1/2)
While hitching a ride to Cloud's End city, Li Yang spent most of his time chatting with Tian Donghu and the other lower ranked members of the Tian clan, talking about everything beneath the sky. Li Yang wanted to see if he could get any information about the Tian clan out of him, but Tian Donghu was quite tight-lipped when it came to the Tian clan, so Li Yang was unable to learn anything.
The other members of the Tian clan rarely left their wagons, at most coming out once a day to take a breath of fresh air and check their current position. Even when they saw Li Yang, none of them bothered to start a conversation with him, assuming him to simply be a vagabond that was hitching a ride out of the Cloud Wilderness, quickly taking their eyes off him.
When he first spotted the caravan, Li Yang had assumed that the carriages were drawn by normal horses, but it seemed like he had been wrong about that. The caravan never stopped, the horses never getting to take a break and get some food, yet they were still perfectly fine once they reached Cloud's End city five days later. For them to be able to manage that, they certainly had some Demonic beast blood within them.
Upon arriving at Cloud's End city, Li Yang faced a small inconvenience, and that was the fact that he was too rich. People who weren't part of the Royal Dragon Pavilion or one of the larger clans would have to pay a small fee whenever they wanted to enter the city, if they could not pay, they could not enter. Li Yang was a member of the Royal Dragon Pavilion, so if he wanted to, he could easily enter without paying.
But doing so would cause suspicion in Tian Donghu and the other people of the Tian clan that Li Yang had been talking with over these last five days, so he had to avoid that, lest they start asking too many questions. But the problem was that the entry fee was so small that Li Yang simply didn't have any change that was that small, he mostly only had Spirit Stones and a few higher value coins. Paying the fee with any of those would also cause suspicion in the people of the Tian clan, so he could not do that either.
In the end, he could only put on an awkward smile, scratch his cheek and ask Tian Donghu to pay for his entry into the city. Faced with Li Yang's awkward smile, Tian Donghu merely let out a chuckle and put in a good word for him with the guards, allowing him to enter the city for free alongside the rest of the caravan. The caravan was heading the same direction as Li Yang, the Royal Dragon Pavilion, so he hitched a ride with them a bit longer, reminiscing about his past life.
He had not always been the Thunder Monarch, the start of his cultivation life had actually been quite similar to how it was now, with him forced to run around and hide or lie. Despite going through it once more, he did not find it annoying, he found it surprisingly refreshing, even nostalgic.
The caravan stopped outside the branch of the Royal Dragon Pavilion, with some of the lower ranked members of the clan packing up everything and carrying it into the building. Tian Donghu did not join the others immediately, turning towards Li Yang and pointing at a circular building that stood a fair distance away from them.
”Listen, Kiddo, I know that you want to join the Royal Dragon Pavilion and make a name for yourself, but I implore you, wait until your strength has grown. That building over there is a library, if you want, I can write a recommendation for you, you should be able to get a job there with that. Just quietly work and cultivate, once you have reached the late stage of the Xiantian Rune realm, then you can think about joining up with the Royal Dragon Pavilion.”
Tian Donghu truly did not want Li Yang to sign up with the Royal Dragon Pavilion, as he knew that Li Yang would not even be able to finish the entry mission, he would simply die an unnecessary death. Li Yang had to wait for the members of the Tian tribe to finish whatever they were doing in the Royal Dragon Pavilion anyway, so he pretended to give a reluctant nod of his head.
”Alright, since Elder Brother Donghu is so insistent, I will listen to you.”
Tian Donghu's face lit up with a bright smile as he gave several rapid nods of his head. He quickly took out a piece of paper, writing down a few sentences on it. Once he had finished writing, he cut a small wound in his thumb and used the blood to draw a symbol on the note, folding it up and handing it to Li Yang.
”That's good, Kiddo. In the future, I am certain that you will thank me.”
Li Yang thanked Tian Donghu for the note, and the two split up. Tian Donghu joined up with the rest of the Tian clan people, packing up their items and carrying them into the building, while Li Yang started heading towards the library that had been pointed out.
Once he put some distance between them, Li Yang sent a slight glance behind him, making sure that no one from the Tian clan was looking in his direction, he then vanished into the crowd. He turned away from the library, making his way through the crowd as he headed towards the cheap inn he had used the first time he came to this city.
His plan was to wait for a bit of time, giving the people of the Tian clan enough time to leave the city before he made his move. He rented a room at the inn, letting them know that there was no need to deliver food to him. He then sat down on the bed in his room and closed his eyes, quietly cultivating as he waited for time to pass.
The evening two days later, he felt that enough time had passed, so he opened his eyes and left the inn. He quietly moved through the city, vigilantly scouring the area for anyone from the Tian clan. He had not spotted anyone, even when he reached the Royal Dragon Pavilion, so he guessed that they had likely left.
Just to make sure, he waited around outside the Royal Dragon Pavilion for another hour, but there were still no signs of them. He let out a slight breath and entered the building, giving it a quick sweep to make sure that they weren't waiting around inside. There were a few people sitting at the bar and drinking, but no one from the Tian clan, so it seemed that they had truly left. Li Yang's eyes landed on the counter where one could accept missions, quickly heading over. The receptionist, a young black-haired man who seemed like he had just reached his twenties, gave Li Yang a polite greeting.
”Good evening, what can we help you with today? Are you here to sign up as a new member?”
Li Yang gave the youth a quick greeting, bringing out the jade tablet that functioned as his identification and quickly stating what he had come for.
”I want to know which of the closest cities is hosting one of the contests that will let people earn a spot for the upcoming Huo clan competition. I am also looking to buy a map of the continent, the price is not really a problem.”