8 Junior Martial Brother You Know Me So Well (1/2)
”This road... is so damn long.”
Within the long and narrow valley, both the young master and his errand boy were quickly running out of breath.
Wang Lu wiped the sweat from his forehead as he said, ”Oh, I can't feel the abundant 'help' like it was in the Golden Bridge just now... the baggage is getting heavier as well.”
The errand boy sighed, ”What abundant 'help'? Are you confused, Young Master?”
”Yes, I'm confused, so you carry the baggage.”
”Um...”
While speaking, Wang Lu suddenly became excited, pointed ahead and said, ”Look! The fog is getting thicker there; this is a clear sign that we are entering a new map!”
As always, his errand boy scratched his head in confusion. ”What entering a new map?”
Wang Lu explained, ”Did you really think that the Immortal Path was just a simple straight line? The people who designed this have certainly put many checkpoints to test a newcomer's various qualities. If the only qualifications for the Immortal Path were just potential and knowledge, then all you need is a Golden Bridge and a piece of paper. But how do you test temperament and affinity? A written exam? A multiple choice quiz? Personality test? If the Spirit Sword Sect really wants to test the newcomers, there has to be sufficiently complex scenarios designed in this Immortal Path. This might be a general scenario or an 'instance'. And I'm betting that this fog is a buffer zone before we switch map.”
”Young Master, I have completely failed to comprehend what you're saying...”
Wang Lu didn't seem to care about his errand boy's confusion and just keep on explaining, ”The Spirit Sword Sect is quite famous for its ancient tradition, so they have to be strict with the selection of their disciples. Therefore, their disciples are few. Generally speaking, to seek for new disciples, the elders in the sect will voluntarily descend the mountain. But that is not suitable to mass produce new disciples. That is why they open their door wide this time to attract many talented people. However, ancient sects are nevertheless ancient sects. Even if they want to mass produce new disciples, they're not going to do it half-heartedly. They will certainly have some kind of procedure, moreover, it is definitely more complex than what most people can imagine...”
Upon hearing this, the errand boy could not help but ask, ”Young Master, how do you know so much about the Spirit Sword Sect?”
His young master had arrived in the Spirit Creek Town only a day earlier than him and spent the whole week cooped up in his room. When and where did he get so much information from? He wasn't really born with this knowledge, right?
”Of course, when I complete those chain of tasks... Why do you think I spent the whole day running around to complete those tasks? Each task has a description which I listened carefully. Now a lot of the players just want a quick success - they don't care about mission objectives or mission rewards. The true prize is, of course, precisely the mission summary! When I finished the final task, the elderly man at the town's entrance told me that this was the first time the Spirit Sword Sect had held an Immortal Gathering in the last 100 years. Clearly, the Spirit Sword Sect are inexperienced in running such an event. But exactly because of that, they've put in a lot of effort and attention to detail - going so far that they had even enlisted the help of a retired old man to guard the entrance of the town... The information here is staggering, but ordinary people wouldn't be able to see the value of information. Those princelings wanted information, but they weren't bothered to obtain it through a few simple tasks, so why would the people want to give the information? Just because they have money? When 500 liang of silver buys you a single radish, money is nothing...”
The errand boy completely did not understand his young master's rambling. But his tone remained somewhat dismissive, just like how it was back in the Wang Family Village. Surprisingly, his confidence in the Wang Family Village had remained unmoved to this point.
The young master was indeed the young master. He just couldn't help but admire him.
According to Wang Lu's assertion, the fog in the valley acted as a buffer zone before they changed map. Behind this dense fog, there will be brand new test - one which would test whether or not they were suitable to enter the Inner Court of the Spirit Sword Sect, the Misty Peak.
Although the errand boy did not truly understand the difference between the Carefree Peak and Misty Peak, but because the young master cared about it... it probably meant that it was important.
----
The area that the fog covered was much larger than they expected.
Wang Lu expected this to be a short buffer only. However, after the two of them had stumbled around for quite some time, they still couldn't find a way out. Even Wang Lu had become slightly unsure of what was happening.
”Young Master, could it be that we've gone on the wrong path?”
”Nonsense, there was only one path since the beginning. How can you say we've taken the wrong path?”
”Em...”
The errand boy wiped the sweat from his face, unable to answer.
Wang Lu was still carrying all the baggage. Although he had persisted in carrying it the whole time, he now felt quite tired. Although his confidence did not diminish in the least bit, he began to walk slower, observing his surroundings as much as possible.
Within this thick fog, their effective line of sight was around three meters. Wang Lu remembered that they were in a ten meter wide valley, and they had been walking straight forward the whole time...
”Wang Zhong, let's turn right.”
”Ah, there's a cliff over there.”
”Not necessarily.”
The errand boy paused for a second, then followed Wang Lu to turn right. Although he thought they would run into the side of the mountain in just a few steps...
”Hey, this is... weird. I remember before we entered the fog, the two sides of the valley stretched out really, really long...”
”We've left the valley a long time ago. The map change can happen unknowingly... I thought that the fog only acted as a 'buffer', but it seems like it's also part of the map.”
As Wang Lu spoke, he bent down and twisted the dust on the ground with his fingers.
”Young Master, is there something wrong with the soil here?”
”How would I know? I'm not a geologist,” Wang Lu said as he dusted off the dirt from his hands, ”I thought that the dirt might give us some clues, but I guess not.”
Wang Zhong suddenly said with trepidation, ”Young Master, could there be some sort of danger here?”
Once Wang Lu did not have the confidence in knowing everything, the little errand boy lost his sense of security. To him, the surrounding fog suddenly became more ferocious, as if it can swallow him up at any moment. In the end, the Immortal Path was something the little errand boy from the Wang Family Village wasn't quite ready to face yet.
”Nothing dangerous, but no clues either.”
”What!? Wouldn't we be trapped here forever?”
”Of course not. Not having any clues is probably the biggest clue in itself. As I've said before, the Immortal Path tests a person's overall quality. That said, this trial might be testing our luck; an important aspect of one's affinity with immortality. This is what I learned from completing those chain of quests. Immortal Cultivators attach great importance to one's fate.”
”Um, so that means...”
Wang Lu smiled, ”That means, there are no wrong turns in this place.Every direction symbolizes a person's chance... In other words, a new map will appear as long as we keep walking sincerely in a single direction.”