Cultivating Civilization - Chapter 64

Old Long stood in the lead of their squad as they neared the base of the Slaughtering Sword School’s disciples.

When they reached a distance of around a hundred and fifty meters, his brows furrowed a little as he murmured “I can sense them. Zahng Dong told us the truth. One fifth grade cultivator is alone on the ground floor, and the other two are together on the first floor. Their leader must have sensed us too.”

Jack nodded his head as he whispered “Good, don’t forget to inform us when they move.”

Old Long gave him a disdainful snort as they closed in on the Slaughtering Sword School’s new house. The stable light still shined bright in the room on the first floor.

When they came to the door, old Long gave a few moderate knocks and then waited.

Half a minute later, he knocked again with a bit more force.

“Come back tomorrow, I’m trying to sleep.” A lazy voice called out from the inside.

Old Long glanced at Jack, who frowned and banged on the door a third time.

A few seconds later, they heard a loud groan and then some light cursing as the voice neared the door.

“You twerps better have” The lanky young man that opened the door started growling, but when his eyes landed on old Long he froze and his carefree attitude disappeared.

He glanced over their group of five with serious eyes and asked “What do you want?”

Old Long gave him a slimy salesman’s smile as he started his pitch “Hello, Brother from the Slaughtering Sword School. We have heard that you offer rewards for information on the disciples from the Endless Cycle Sect. Is this true?”

The young man’s eyes narrowed as he said “We are looking for Endless Cycle Sect disciples, but we are not offering rewards, just the gratitude of the Slaughtering Sword School.”

Old Long’s face turned sorrowful as he lamented “Ah, but Brother, I am a humble merchant that cannot eat gratitude. I will have to settle on spirit stones.”

A hint of anger flashed in the young man’s eyes, but he kept it in check as he questioned “Why would we give you anything without proof?”

Old Long’s smile didn’t slip as he agreed “Of course, I would not believe myself either without proof.” He glanced at Jack on his right side and ordered “Show the man our proof, boy.”

Jack ignored that last bit of improvisation as he reached for his Star Bag. Just as he planned to take out their evidence, the young man stepped back and grabbed the hilt of the saber on his hip.

He looked at them all with suspicion for a second, before turning to Jack and saying “Proceed.”

Jack slowed his movements down as he slowly pulled out his old Eternal Rest Mountain robes and presented them to the Slaughtering Sword School disciple.

The young man’s cautious eyes scanned the robe for a second, before they widened, and focused back on old Long. “Where did you get this?” he asked, his hand still held the saber’s hilt, but his posture relaxed a little.

Old Long’s salesman’s smile didn’t slip once since he pasted it on, and it kept getting slimier as he answered “I traded it for some food with a few Endless Cycle Sect disciples on the road. Thought it could come in handy in the future, and then found out that the entire Sect got destroyed.”

The young man had a look of disgust in his eyes as he concluded “So you thought you could get back at them?”

Jack felt surprised from the side as he watched the show. ‘I knew that the formal Sect cultivators held a certain feeling of superiority over rouge cultivators, but I didn’t expect this much hostility.’ He thought in that quiet piece of his mind that kept analyzing everything.

Old Long didn’t let the insult get to him as he retorted “Just getting my investment back.” He paused for a second before adding “With some interest, of course.”

The young man snorted, but he chose not to comment as he let go of his saber’s hilt and asked “How much do you want?”

Old Long’s face turned cold for the first time as he looked down his nose at the Slaughtering Sword School disciple and said “I do not do business with lackeys, go get your leader and we can talk.”

The young man looked like he wanted to reach for his saber once more, but old Long’s cultivation scared him so he let the insult wash over him and growled through his teeth “I will go and ask him. Wait here.”

With that, he closed the doors shut and stomped over to get his superior.

Jack’s squad waited for a few minutes before old Long whispered “The grade six cultivator is coming down to the ground floor. The other grade five cultivator still has not moved.”

Jack furrowed his brows a little, but couldn’t do anything about it so he let it pass and waited.

The young man from before opened the door and informed old Long “You can come inside, your men have to stay outside.”

Old Long sneered at him as he said “Do you take me for a fool? I go nowhere without my guards.”

The young man’s face darkened, but he managed to keep his temper in check as he said “You can take one person in if you are such a huge coward. I will not allow any more of your people inside.”

Old Long looked unwilling for a second, but in the end, he gave a curt nod and gave in with “Alright.” He glanced at Jack and continued “Come with me, boy.”

The Slaughtering Sword School’s disciple had a slightly surprised face as he glanced at the burly figure of Kuang Bindun and the obvious intensity of Bai Maolong for a second, but then he grunted and stepped aside for old Long and Jack to enter.

He instructed them to enter a room on the far end of the house, where they met the Senior Brother of the Slaughtering Sword School’s disciples. The Senior Brother had disheveled hair and a loose robe, only the sword on his waist looked ready for action as an annoyed look flashed across his face.

Jack took a deep breath once he entered the room and could smell the obvious flowery perfume lingering around the Senior Brother’s body, and something even more primal. He cleared his throat and looked away to the side as he realized what they just interrupted.

Old Long either didn’t notice it or didn’t care, as he clasped his hands towards the Senior Brother and said “Old Mu greets the Slaughtering Sword School leader.” Jack clasped his hands in greeting too, but the Senior Brother only had eyes for old Long.

The other Slaughtering Sword School disciple followed them in and went to stand next to his Senior Brother while he kept his hand close to his saber’s hilt.

The Senior Brother only gave a perfunctory greeting to old Long before he asked “How much do you want for the information on the direction that the Endless Cycle Sect disciples took?”

Old Long’s brows twitched in slight dissatisfaction as he answered “How can I state the price when I did not even show you what I am offering.”

The Senior Brother’s eyebrows furrowed in annoyance as he asked “What are you talking about?”

Old Long squared his shoulders with pride evident on his face as he said “I have hidden an amulet with the Endless Cycle Sect’s people that will allow anyone that has it to track them down.” He gave a grin to the two confused Slaughtering Sword School disciples as he added “I do it in all of my trades, you never know who might try to scam you.”

The Senior Brother looked at old Long with skepticism as he declared “That is impossible. Any treasure that enables tracking cannot be used so much.”

Old Long gave a sad shake of the head as he offered “I am aware of the disbelief that many have when first hearing my story. If you would allow me, I will demonstrate.”

The two Slaughtering Sword School disciples exchanged a look before the Senior Brother gave a decisive nod as they both placed a hand on their weapons.

Jack slowly took out a camouflaged cylinder from his Star Bag, and then a metal ball. He inserted the metal ball into one end of the cylinder and raised the other one to chest-height.

As he did this, old Long narrated “This device in the boy’s hands has a special property. Once a metal passes through it while it is getting imbued, the metal will have a mysterious force act on it. The mysterious force will not do anything on its own: but if you were to put a second piece of metal in the device and imbue it As soon as the metal piece is pointed towards the first one it will start flying towards it, within a reasonable range of course.”

Old Long had a practiced smile on his face as he added “I have done this for the single piece that I hid with the supplies that I sold to the Endless Cycle Sect’s disciples. With your permission, the boy will now show you how it works on the second piece.”

The two Slaughtering Sword School disciples had curiosity, greed, and skepticism fighting in their eyes. A couple of seconds later, curiosity won out as the Senior Brother said “Show us.”

Old Long nodded towards Jack, who pointed the cylinder to the side of the room and projected threads of his spirit energy through the cylinder, he even added a few more for extra effect.

Slowly, he started turning in a clockwise circle. He didn’t even look up as he stared at the cylinder with concentration, as did old Long, and the two Slaughtering Sword School disciples.

Just as his sweep of the room reached right in front of the Senior Brother, his last thread of spirit energy connected the spell structure of the Air Blast spell together and shot out the metal ball out of the cylinder.

The Senior Brother sensed danger coming at the moment that Jack fired his Air Blast spell off. He had his sword half-way out of its sheath when a bloody hole appeared right through his heart.

He looked in disbelief at the hole in his chest, and then at the boy that made it. With resolve in his eyes, he squeezed the hilt of his sword and executed an upwards slice.

To Jack’s surprise, the last attack from the dying Senior Brother didn’t go for either him or for Old Long, who started retreating out of the house as soon as he fired his spell, it went for the ceiling of the ground floor.

The slash destroyed the ceiling above the Senior Brother, and with his last words, he screamed “Junior Sister, enemies, run!” as the rubble buried him.

The young man that met them at the door only lagged behind his Senior Brother for a second as he drew his saber and sent a slash in the direction of old Long.

With a panicked expression, old Long used the full power of his cultivation as he jumped out of the way of the slash. He had to fling himself out of a window to evade the attack.

Just as Jack reached the outside, he saw a shadow flash out of the first-floor window and into the night.

He turned towards the shaken old man and shouted “Go after her and slow her down! You will get a reward for this if you do it right!”

Old Long got a fierce look in his eyes as his head snapped towards the direction that the Slaughtering Sword School’s disciple ran in. Like a bloodhound that smelled his prey, he charged off after her.

Jack turned to his friends that stood outside with their weapons ready and ordered “Follow him and take her down. She can’t get away!”

Bai Maolong and Ma Ruiman took off immediately, only Kuang Bindun hesitated for a split second before he too rushed after the prey.

Jack heard rumblings coming from inside the house as he raised his cylinder to his shoulder and waited for his foe.