Di Yi walked along the streets of Cloud-Rushing Town. People streamed back and forth, making the streets noisy and fairly crowded, but whenever they saw him, they instinctively stepped aside and went around him.
Unlike the traveling merchants, they were ordinary townsfolk. The merchants mostly worked for prominent employers and had met plenty of people from great clans; these commoners' first reaction upon seeing Di Yi, who clearly looked anything but ordinary, was to give way.
"There really are so many people with the same form as me." Di Yi watched the people of every description, unsure for a moment whether to feel joy or sigh.
For although all these people shared his form, they were not truly the same as him. Like the people of Stone Village, their fundamental quality of life differed too greatly from his.
"Mortals..." Di Yi shook his head lightly. These people shared his form, yet they belonged to two different worlds. They could not really be considered his kind.
Time passed quickly, and before long, he had walked through most of Cloud-Rushing Town. To his disappointment, however, there was nothing particularly remarkable about it. He had not seen any of the cultivation academies outside the Great Wilderness that the old clan chief had mentioned.
"Honored guest, we have excellent food and wine here, all newly introduced and superb in flavor. If you don't find them delicious, we won't charge you a single coin!" As he passed a restaurant, a sharp-witted waiter took one look at Di Yi, recognized him as someone wealthy and distinguished, and immediately came forward to call out a greeting.
"I don't eat." Di Yi declined the waiter's invitation and was about to continue on his way when something occurred to him, and he turned back.
He had once heard the old clan chief say that the most common sources of information outside the Great Wilderness were teahouses, restaurants, and similar establishments. The people of Stone Village occasionally went to Lone Mountain Town to inquire at its teahouses and restaurants about news from beyond the Great Wilderness.
"Oh, honored guest, please come inside!" Seeing Di Yi turn back, the waiter assumed he had changed his mind and greeted him enthusiastically.
"No, I'm not here to eat. I'm here to ask a few questions." Di Yi waved a hand.
"Ask away, honored guest. I wouldn't dare make promises about anything else, but when it comes to matters in and around Cloud-Rushing Town, I may not know everything, but I know eight or nine things out of ten." The waiter knew how to handle people. Even though Di Yi had not come for a meal, his enthusiasm did not wane.
After all, he was clearly someone wealthy and distinguished. If he was in a good mood and got the answers he wanted, a casually tossed tip could easily equal the profit from a meal.
"Do you know where the nearest cultivation academy is?" Di Yi asked directly, without beating around the bush.
"You've asked the right person. The nearest cultivation academies are the Martial Hall, End Point Academy, and Xiao Academy. They're in the Central Giant City, tens of thousands of li from Cloud-Rushing Town." The waiter did not concern himself with why Di Yi would ask such a question. All that mattered was answering whatever the honored guest wanted to know.
"The Central Giant City..." Di Yi nodded, then continued, "Besides those, are there any others?"
"Others... there aren't any more within a hundred thousand li. Farther out, though, there are quite a few. After all, both Cloud-Rushing Town and the Central Giant City lie on the frontier. They're nowhere near comparable to the heart of the kingdom."
"The heart of the kingdom... what places are there?" Di Yi asked. Since he had already come to the world beyond the Great Wilderness and entered the Stone Kingdom's frontier, he figured he might as well reach his goal in one step, rather than find one place unsuitable and have to keep searching for the next.
"There are plenty. Famous ones include the Heaven Mending Pavilion, Deer-Chasing Academy, and Divine King Hall. Then there are outsiders, such as the Heaven Severing Sect and Western Religion..." The waiter reeled off a long list of places.
"So many..." Di Yi's head swam as he listened. There were at least a hundred factions, and they were spread far and wide. Some were native to the Stone Kingdom, while others came from different regions or neighboring kingdoms friendly with the Stone Kingdom.
"Of course there are. Our kingdom's territory is vast, encompassing hundreds of millions of li of mountains and rivers. Those are only the famous ones. If you count obscure places like the Martial Hall and End Point Academy, there must be tens of thousands. I couldn't finish naming them in a whole day."
Hearing the waiter's words, Di Yi fell into thought. There were so many choices that he found himself at a loss for the moment.
"My lord, my lord!" Just then, several men dressed like soldiers came running over. Di Yi recognized one of them: the man responsible for registration at the town gate.
"Do you need something from me? Has he been misbehaving?" Di Yi asked as he studied their expressions.
They seemed somewhat anxious, and it looked as though they had been searching for him for quite a while. Presumably, they had run into some trouble. He wondered whether the Golden Hou had caused a disturbance.
After all, he was a primordial remnant accustomed to roaming freely. Without Di Yi watching over him, being confined to a small area might well make him lose his temper.
"No, no." The man responsible for gate registration caught his breath and said, "Here's what happened. An important person wants to buy that Strange Dog. We explained your circumstances and told him it was your battle pet, but he wouldn't give up. He wants to speak with the owner of the Strange Dog—that is, you."
"Oh?" Hearing this, Di Yi immediately recalled what the traveling merchants he had met earlier had said. "How did he find out about the Golden—Strange Dog? With so many people coming and going through Cloud-Rushing Town, does news spread that quickly?"
"That, I wouldn't know. Important people must have their own sources of information." Naturally, the man responsible for gate registration could not admit that they had leaked the news themselves.
"Interesting. I didn't expect those merchants' words to hit the mark so precisely." Di Yi smiled.
"My lord, would you... like us to turn him down for you, or would you rather go take a look?" the man responsible for guarding the gate asked quietly.
"Let's go." Di Yi did not make things difficult for them.
He had obtained plenty of information from the waiter and learned where the Stone Kingdom's major factions were located. His purpose had been achieved, and it was time to leave Cloud-Rushing Town.
Before leaving, he would have to collect the Golden Hou anyway, so an encounter with those people was unavoidable.
In that case, he might as well take a look.
Of course, part of the reason was that he feared the Golden Hou might lose his temper. Those people thought he was a Strange Dog, so presumably they would not treat him with any reverence.
Before long, Di Yi arrived at the place where the unusual beasts were cared for. From afar, he spotted a slightly plump middle-aged man accompanied by quite a few subordinates. The man's clothes were fairly splendid-at least better than the animal hides and coarse cloth worn by the villagers-and made of fine silk.
After introducing the two parties, the men responsible for guarding the gate all left. They knew perfectly well that if the negotiations fell through, a conflict would most likely break out.
They could afford to offend neither side, so they might as well leave early rather than be made the scapegoats for failing to maintain order.
"Are you the owner of this Strange Dog?" The slightly plump middle-aged man looked at Di Yi. Although Di Yi's clothes were splendid, they seemed nothing special to him. "Name your price. I'm buying this Strange Dog."
"Which prince's or marquis's estate are you from?" Di Yi ignored the slightly plump middle-aged man's words and asked his own question instead.
"I came here only because this Strange Dog caught my eye. It has nothing to do with anything else." The slightly plump middle-aged man did not answer Di Yi's question. "If you won't name a price, I'll offer one. A small jar of fierce beast blood essence. That should cover everything you've spent raising this Strange Dog, with some left over."
The slightly plump middle-aged man was certain this price would tempt anyone. After all, he was already paying a premium. It was only a Strange Dog; anyone would choose the fierce beast blood essence.
"A small jar of fierce beast blood essence?" Di Yi was momentarily stunned. He had thought the slightly plump middle-aged man might have wealth enough to swagger, but this was all he had to offer.
"Yes, a small jar of fierce beast blood essence." Thinking Di Yi had been stunned by the price, the slightly plump middle-aged man struck while the iron was hot and added another verbal offer. "Besides that, you'll gain my friendship. In the future, whenever you're around Cloud-Rushing Town, I'll make things as convenient for you as I can."
"That's all?" Di Yi chuckled, then walked over to the Golden Hou, stroked his fur, and led him out of the place where the unusual beasts were cared for.
"Young man, I've never failed to get something I set my sights on." Seeing Di Yi about to leave, the slightly plump middle-aged man immediately signaled for the men he had brought to surround him. "As long as you sell him to me, we can part on pleasant terms today. Otherwise..."
"Otherwise, what?" Di Yi looked at the men. Judging by their blood energy, they were far stronger than the average person in Stone Village. Each probably possessed seven or eight thousand jin of strength in a single arm.
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