Venus Town
' … ' = For talking in mind or through spiritual sense.
" … " = For literally speaking to others.
***
Venus Town. The nearest setting for humans from the Bloody Forest. It was first formed from a normal trade place to a big town which could accommodate at least 70000 people. Most of the people here are divided into three types. Hunters who hunt for blood beasts, cores and their materials, and sell them to traders, Traders who buy these things and sell them to people, and Guards who ensure law in the town, protect it from beast hordes from Bloody Forest and work under the Mayor of the Town.
Many hunters came together to form Hunter Guild where hunters can come together to form groups for hunts, help each other and gather information from the forest. Traders together came to form the Traders Guild where hunters can sell all their hunted loot for an appropriate amount made by the Traders Guild. Here people can buy blood cores and other things at the price decided by the guild. Guards collect taxes from hunters, traders and people who live here to earn money like farmers, restaurants, hotels, and many more. Guards work under Mayor Zhou Yan who governs the town.
These three groups try to keep each other in check and make equilibrium in the town. The town is protected by the city wall which is 16 meters in height and 5 meters in width. There are 4 gates to each direction. A small group of guards are always present at the entrance of the gate who check people entering and leaving. The entry fee is 2 copper per head and people are asked a few questions so that no criminals are allowed to enter the city. Most of the guards, traders and hunters of the town have cultivation ranging from low mortal refinement realm to peak mortal core realm.
***
" What is your name?" Guard A asked.
Knowing well a hidden guard is holding a truth marble (which detects if the person is telling a truth or lie) I spoke my name in a hoarse voice as the black hood covered half of my face.
" Orobas."
" What is your purpose for coming to the town?" He asked.
I had a lot of discussions with Sera, my daughter, about how to search for my fiancees or her future mothers. The best route to find them is by making my force in secret and not gaining too much spotlight from bigshots. If a person got to know how I cultivate they will kill me without a doubt just so that I won't become trouble in their grand schemes (which always happen from the memories I got).
" I'm a traveller and am going to stay in the town for a few days." I truthfully said.
" What is your cultivation rank?" He said while releasing his cultivation of mid mortal foundation rank.
Without getting intimidated I spoke in a cold voice " Peak body refinement realm."
He stopped releasing the pressure and nodded and allowed me to enter after I gave him 2 copper coins which were small stones but with the help of the Law of Truth I illusioned them into coins which are mostly used in this town after Sera used Scan on this town.
As I entered and saw the bustling streets and people going through their daily activities in the afternoon, I managed to mingle in the crowd as a thirty-year-old man with a black hood covering half of his face.
' What was the rank of truth marble, Sera? ' I asked my daughter.
' After scanning I found all four gates had low Earth rank truth marbles but I could feel a mid-Earth rank truth marble at the centre of town where the Mayor lives. ' She said in my mind.
Hmm. If I'm not wrong, then low earth grade truth marble can only detect the truth or lie of a person three times, which is why guards only ask 3 questions to whoever enters the town to determine the identity, purpose and how much threat one can be to the town. And mid-earth rank truth marble won't be a problem for me to confound it with the Law of Truth.
Let's see, I have stolen a total of 50 copper coins and a silver coin from the pickpockets who stole my coins which would become stones after a few hours.
Ha thinking that they would steal money from me. Even though I don't call myself orthodox or unorthodox, I can say with certainty that if they bothered me I would reciprocate them ten times.
I went to a restaurant which is mostly used by commoners who are mortals and don't have cultivation, for my lunch. Man, I still hate that taste and smell of blood when I went through that Bloody Forest. If not for my cultivation base of the peak refinement I would have starved to death.
' Dad, I think I found it. '
Huh, wait don't tell me she awakened more of her abilities!?!
' No, I didn't awaken any new abilities. I just found a perfect way to use the Predict ability. If it is used once a day, that is also when a new day starts, it will give us the most productive information for that day. '
' So what did you get from today's Predict?'
' It said - Devour the reincarnation…' she said.
' Only these three words? '
' Yes. '
*Grumble*
' We will think about it later but first I need to eat something. '
***
" Hey, he looks like he hasn't eaten for years."
" I can't even keep my eye on his food as he devours all the food."
" Might be a random traveller, don't worry I have seen many travellers coming here to eat, but they are most likely seen rarely. "
" Hmm. Hey, did you hear the rumours going around Hunter Guild?"
" About the unusual time of blood rain in the Bloody Forest?"
" Correct. I heard that some rare herb is going to form, which might reach the rank of high Earth."
" Really. So that's why I saw many hunters coming back suddenly to form large groups."
…
Truly those memories were correct about listening to the news in a restaurant, they might be rumours but rumours are never baseless. But if the rumours are spread purposefully then it would be another story.
As I consumed the food for an average of five people, I started to eat slowly and listened to talks happening here among the commoners. I ignored all the discussion about the rare herb because it was already stored in the inventory.
For now, my goal is to reach the capital of this country and try to raise my cultivation while hiding behind the scenes with the help of the Law of Truth. No one from mortal rank can see through my Law of Truth (LoT), yes a few can see if they have a special physique or an artefact. But my first problem is I don't know any technique. I only have good skills for hand-to-hand combat which lowers my battle prowess. Yes, I could have forgotten it, I could use my devour ability to get memories and techniques from others but it would raise suspicion that means I have to do everything discreetly. If anyone got wind of this I might be chased by many people. I will do it step-by-step. Yes, I will take baby steps and reach my goals.
Hehe but first I will start my journey to complete the thing from 'that' place. Just thinking of making those things in this world makes my blood boil. And with the help of my Origin Dual Cultivation, I might be able to do it in a short time.
Damn, my worries just increase with every minute. If anyone saw that I am a dual cultivator whose virginity is still intact and raised my cultivation at a fast pace then it will be more troublesome.
I stopped eating and paid the real money for food and started to roam the town to find a good inn.
' Daddy, I found something unusual. Move-in that direction. Sera said as I stopped briefly and started to walk casually in the direction she guided me.
Soon I saw many people gathering and talking loudly while surrounding a big shop of stone gambling. Oh to choose a stone and pay for it and then open it in front of everyone to check if there is any valuable mineral or ancient equipment.
As I got near the bustling crowd I also saw a few cultivators included in the crowd. As my interest got piqued I looked around and tried to understand why they were gathering there. And soon I got the answers.
" Did that guy go crazy after he got beaten so much that he betted 10 silver coins saying that elder Wang's chosen stone will be empty?"
" I wish I was there to beat the sh*t out of him. He became more arrogant after getting hit."
" Hey, don't say that, what if guards hear you, they will imprison you for slandering the Mayor's son."
" Hmm, but I heard he was pretty badly beaten by the children of the Trade Guild's higher-ups."
" Same I heard he was on the brink of death. Even the doctor Su said he won't be able to live, but he miraculously survived."
I looked around and soon saw a young boy 15 years old facing calmly looking at a middle-aged man who was arrogantly speaking to the boy.
" Listen, Little Mayor, nothing will come out of that small piece of stone. My eagle eyes never tell lies. So trust me and surrender the money because my stone contains a rare treasure."
I blinked my eyes and opened my mouth to speak but then I noticed everyone treating middle-aged man's behaviour as a common occurrence.
Looking through the memories and experiencing real-life incidents has a big difference. I was a little surprised at the level of shamelessness of this 'Elder Wang'. His skin is thick enough to handle that much huh.
But what I found interesting, is that the boy didn't get provoked or deterred by that man. Elder Wang was trying to pressure this Zhou Fan with the cultivation of low mortal foundation rank, even though the boy had just mid-mortal refinement rank.
I didn't care if this boy got humiliated or killed, what I was searching for is the unique thing mentioned by Sera.
' I found it. The unusual aura is coming from that boy. The aura is similar and weaker than your LoT. '
I was surprised that the boy she mentioned is the Little Mayor Zhou Fan, the only son of the Mayor. I used LoT near my eyes and tried to discern any abnormal thing about this Zhou boy. And soon I found he has an aura of life, death and an unknown one. Wait, he had an early understanding of life, death and an unknown intent at this age and cultivation.
But how is this possible? He didn't even have a special physique like me, then how?
The unknown intent feels a little familiar where I felt it..where..ah I felt it from that mortal who tried to possess me.
Without hesitation, I used Heaven's Whisper.
' Is he Zhou Fan?' No.
What the hell. If he is not Zhou Fan then who is he, an imposter?
' Is that unknown intent reincarnation intent?' Yes.
Now, this complicates everything. I reached a far-fetched conclusion. He is like one of the main protagonists of cultivation books.
A reincarnated bigshot who knows rare intent at this young age and from the rumours I could deduce that he reincarnated in this Little Mayor's body when he was beaten badly till death by others.
Like all the puzzle pieces joined together, it clicked to me what today's Predict was implying. It was telling me to devour this boy so that I can gain all his memories and rare techniques, which I lacked the most.
I grinned evilly and thought that my stay here might increase from one day to one week.
***