Beginning I

The hand-seal was a palm-sized diagram resembling a clock, a point of red light at its center flickering between bright and dim. After floating in midair for a while, it let out a hiss and drilled into the ground.

Lin Xin stood quietly in the alley and waited.

At the mouth of the alley, Ling Er and Xiao Liu had no idea what was going on and could only obediently stand guard as he had instructed.

Before long, a man in a gray-white robe and a painted mask slowly drifted down at the alley entrance.

The man glanced at the two at the entrance without speaking, then walked straight in.

"Is this the contact point? Did you send the contact hand-seal?"

He asked Lin Xin directly.

Lin Xin turned around and nodded faintly.

"I am Red Flower. I just arrived here and intend to pay a visit to the local branch."

"I am the Spirit Rat responsible for District Ding, Region Yi. Does taking you to the branch count as a mission?" the other party asked blandly, his tone utterly devoid of emotion.

"It does." Lin Xin nodded.

"How much is the reward?"

"Standard rates."

"Fine. Two Jade Coins or three Bei Jin."

"No problem." Lin Xin was somewhat displeased. For such a trivial matter as leading the way, this man actually dared charge such a steep price. Was he so desperately short of money that he had cast shame to the winds?

Seemingly noticing Lin Xin's displeasure, the man paused slightly before speaking.

"You have only just arrived, Fellow Daoist. These are the rules here—everything comes at a price. There are likely many things you will not be used to, but this place truly recognizes money, not people. As for the righteous fervor found in branches elsewhere, it does not work here."

"Thank you for the advice." Lin Xin said flatly. "Please lead the way."

The man nodded, turned, and headed outside.

Lin Xin brought Ling Er and Xiao Liu along behind him.

The four made their way through the streets and soon arrived at a sloping district. The entire street sold all sorts of dolls and inflatable toys.

Every few shops, they could see a Great Black Turtle lying on the ground asleep. Their nostrils were much larger than those of ordinary turtles, and they each had only one. Great gusts of air surged out from those nostrils.

Every one of these Great Black Turtles was over two meters long and more than a meter wide. Nearly all were asleep. The occasional one or two that were awake merely wore gentle expressions, their heads hanging low as they remained motionless. Only when someone shoved them hard would they stir slightly.

Lin Xin and the others saw many shopkeepers emerge holding inflatable dolls or balloon-like skins. They placed the openings over the Great Black Turtles' nostrils, and the skin-balls rapidly swelled like balloons. Within just a few breaths, they had expanded to over a person's height.

Children's cheers rang out without end. The entire street bustled with excitement, with many parents bringing their children here to play.

The man led Lin Xin's group of three up the slope and stopped before the largest building. There was no plaque or signboard on it. Only in the open-air courtyard inside, a gigantic black balloon more than five meters across was tied down with thin cords. It floated in midair, drifting slightly with the wind.

The building's doors stood wide open, and many people went in and out. The man walked to one side of the entrance and turned around.

"This is the place. Go in yourselves. I have matters to attend to, so I'll be leaving."

Lin Xin nodded, took out Jade Coins from his Storage Bag, and handed over the payment. Without another word, the man turned and left.

There were many people entering and leaving the building. Some simply wore ornaments bearing the words "Radiance" on their chests. Looking inside from the entrance, Lin Xin could see a small table set in the courtyard. People gathered around it to ask questions, while the person seated within seemed to be patiently answering in highly unstandardized Central Prefecture speech.

Lin Xin led the other two inside and, like many others, headed directly toward the main hall behind the courtyard.

Inside the main hall, people came and went. Some were queuing up, each registering and saying something before a plump middle-aged woman.

"Thirty gold!? According to the rules, mine should be fifty gold! I do not care if you skim a little extra on ordinary days, Du Sanniang, but I urgently need money right now. Aren't you being rather unfair?" Someone seemed to be arguing with the fat woman over money, his voice unconsciously rising.

"I skim from you? Is that little bit of yours worth me deliberately skimming from it? Wang Xiaozi, aren't you thinking too highly of yourself?" The fat woman refused to yield, shouting back. "These are the rules here. Follow them and come in; don't want to? Fine, the door is right there—get lost yourself! My Radiance branch does not lack petty goods like you!"

"I'm petty?!"

The man immediately flared up and began quarrelling with the fat woman.

The two shouted loudly in the hall, arguing over nothing more than trivial haggling over every scrap and crumb.

Lin Xin swept his gaze over them, then headed directly toward an old man leisurely drinking tea on the right. A small sign sat on the old man's round table, bearing the words: Inquiry Desk.

"I came from another branch and wish to take an airship from this branch. I wonder..." His voice slipped precisely into the old man's ears.

The old man's originally half-lidded eyes opened slightly wider. He looked Lin Xin up and down.

"Where to?"

"The Far West Land."

"There are fifty-three locations in the Far West Land that you can go to. Which one do you want?"

"Uh..." Lin Xin was instantly dumbfounded. He realized his preparations had been far too inadequate. After falling silent for a moment, he asked, "Do you have a map of that place?"

"Five gold per copy."

"And information about this branch, as well as an introduction to how things operate here. Could you explain it all to me in detail?" Several Jade Coins swiftly appeared in Lin Xin's hand. He gently placed them on the table and pushed them over.

The old man collected them without changing expression and nodded faintly.

"The rules at this branch are trade."

He rubbed the three-inch beard beneath his chin.

"You accept missions and receive rewards. You issue missions and pay rewards; we take a cut in the middle. As for mission types, they can be finding people, fulfilling wishes on commission, or any strange and bizarre matter. They can even be contracts for murder. Naturally, targets have certain requirements. Most are people steeped in evil or with blood covering both hands. You need not worry about that."

"What else? I heard this place was facing off against the Red Robe Sect, so I came here specifically."

"The Red Robe Sect? Sooner or later, they will be dealt with. There is nothing in this world that money cannot settle." The old man spoke indifferently. "Go look at the mission board."

"All right. Then where do I view missions? And how are we ensured our interests will not be harmed..."

Lin Xin decisively changed the subject and began asking about other matters.

Ling Er and Xiao Liu stood at the side with utmost respect, not daring to even breathe loudly. Not one of those entering and leaving here was a kind soul; every one of them carried at least the aura of a Heart Level expert. Ling Er in particular felt her scalp prickle faintly. From time to time, experts whose auras were as unfathomable as an abyss entered and left, mingling with ordinary people, yet no one paid them any attention.

Their only support was to cling tightly behind Lin Xin, not daring to utter a single superfluous word.

After Lin Xin had inquired thoroughly enough, he had originally thought he could meet the person in charge of this branch.

Yet he had not expected that the branch master had gone to the Eastern Headquarters in the center of Naxi for a meeting many days ago. This was merely a branch in one of the city districts.

From the old man, he learned that there were more than ten such branches in Naxi. He also gained a rough understanding that, in Naxi, branches had already become nothing more than platforms for receiving, handing over, and issuing missions. As for the Radiance Society's essential ideals and aspirations, there was scarcely any trace of them here.

This suited his expectations quite well. All that inexplicable righteousness meant nothing to him. What he wanted was merely to break through himself; living his own life well came first. As for other people, it was no problem to lend a hand when he had spare strength—the prerequisite was that he had spare strength.

According to the old man, joining the Radiance Society here was much easier. Pay some money, receive a badge, and then one could freely issue and accept missions at branch locations.

There was no limit to the number of people who could complete a mission. Many people could complete the same one together, and whoever finished first received the reward. The operating mechanism was simple and brutal, yet it possessed its own hidden means of review.

Branch members here were as numerous as the hairs on an ox, and most had joined more than one organization. Earth Bloom Society, Common Society, and all manner of identities—nothing more than convenient ways to accept missions and earn money.

Lin Xin also learned something else: the Radiance Society here did not require one to send a divine soul into the Cosmos Celestial Sovereign.

The old man's exact words were:

"Cosmos Celestial Sovereign? That is treatment reserved only for core members. With the protection of the Cosmos Celestial Sovereign, if one contributes enough to the Society, one can directly summon the Celestial Sovereign's divine soul to aid oneself. The light of the Celestial Sovereign is everywhere."

Lin Xin gained a clearer sense of the situation. Obviously, most people joining the Radiance Society here were ordinary peripheral members. Back then, because he possessed a skill and was the master of a faction, he had received a special invitation and become an official core member directly. That was why things differed. Another matter had always worried him: back in Flower Drum Village, he had originally planned to help, but had ended up killing even members of his own Society. He might have incurred punishment from the Cosmos Celestial Sovereign.

Yet even now, there had been no unusual signs.

Either this so-called punishment was merely meant to frighten people, or some unforeseen change had occurred in the middle and they had failed to find him.

After gaining a preliminary understanding, he asked the old man for a map marking all the Radiance Society branch locations in Naxi. He then found the location of the Naxi headquarters on it.

After learning everything he wanted to know, he registered his code name with the old man and left the branch with Xiao Liu and Ling Er.

After wandering around the city district for a while, the three found an advertisement for houses for sale on a roadside wall. Following the address recorded on it and asking for directions along the way, they found the place selling the house.

"Fifteen pieces of Black Gold, not a coin less." The old woman selling the house spoke through a mouth full of gaps. This old crone carried a pale-white lantern in her hand, with a huge character for death written on it. She looked exceptionally eerie. Clearly, she too was a cultivator.

After some casual bargaining, Ling Er stepped forward to haggle and managed to reduce the price to two-thirds of the original.

The Jade Coins seized from those people they had killed earlier quickly dwindled to only a dozen or so. One piece of Black Gold was worth anywhere from several thousand to ten thousand Bei Jin, depending on fluctuations. It was roughly the same value in spirit jade. This purchase exhausted the last of Lin Xin's remaining spirit jade.

The money they had left was clearly not enough to sustain them for long, given the prices here. (To be continued)