"Well, I don't know what happened, but it seems like it all worked out well," I said.
I then looked at the guards in front of the tower and approached them.
"So, what caused all this crap?"
"Well, seems like a few of so proclaimed acquaintances of yours obtained the golden insignia that we have given you," the guard said through divine sense. He then looked around and added, "Might as well get inside, I'll have one of the administrators explain everything in detail."
"Right that would be best," I said and walked inside.
The rest of the cultivators waited outside, as most of them were still waiting for their tokens, the ones that can calculate their kill count against the incoming invasion.
Once I was inside, I had to get into an elevator that took me up along with the guard all the way to one of the top floors of the Black Tower.
The elevator stopped and opened into a wide room that had a wide table with several chairs.
The Purple Cloud Sect Master was sitting on one of these chairs and next to her was elder Yun, as for the main seat, the one in the centermost was a young-looking man that seemed to carry himself with more grace than the noblest of nobles.
His whole demeanor was that of someone that was born in richness, and grew with nobles, and thrived in all sorts of social occasions.
He had a well-decorated robe, and a hair bun with a single black jade hairpin that had the symbol of the Black Tower.
"Fellow Cultivator Shen Bao, welcome to our humble accommodation," he said with all the grace one could afford.
"Thank you," I said and immediately walked up and pulled a chair.
"Seems that you kept my people from leaving, can I ask why?" I said.
"Oh, we had no ability to confirm that if they had obtained the golden insignia that the Black Tower had given you, through legit and honest means, so we had to keep them within the tower until you appeared to confirm it."
'This was the biggest and stenchiest pile of bull crap I heard this morning, but still, I guess they really didn't want to have a golden insignia moving around freely.
"Now, that it is confirmed that I have given it to them, what are you going to do?" I asked.
"I can only send in one cultivator with the golden insignia. But the sect master here wants to send her whole sect, you know that will be problematic if I were to do that." The young man said.
"Problematic doesn't mean impossible. So, be honest with me, and stop beating around the bush, what do you want from me?" I asked.
The young man smiled and said, "I want that puppet of yours, the massive one that flew you to the tower's gate."
I frowned, this guy is driving a bargain I can't accept.
"Don't, Shen Bao, that puppet is your only lease of life, we're already in debt to you for even thinking of using the golden insignia on us." The sect master said.
'Well, of course, I wasn't gonna give him Y, Bruh, that's basically signing my death warrant the moment I walk around without his protection,'
"The sect master is right, Y is not something I can give up that easily, if you have another request then I'll make sure to do my best to manage it, otherwise this won't do."
The young man began thinking or acted like he was assessing what I was speaking, while the both of us knew that his very first request was something that was impossible for me to even accept thus his second request will be more plausible, it's a bargaining technique. Request something incredibly high in value, just to proportionally make your original or primary request sound less impactful on the second request.
'Master,' I heard from Y's divine sense message.
'What is it?' I replied.
'With that Saint Qi crystal, I'm more than capable of flight in outer space, I can also take your Lord of Lord's token with all of the sect members and take them to a nearby planet, the only downside is that I will use too much energy to evade the assault and will probably not be able to come back. lest I can take you with me, then there will be no reason to stay on this planet.'
"That's actually pretty damn good to know, but for now, let's keep that as a last resort as I said, I need to actually fight in this war, I need some of the resources that the black tower is offering, if shit hits the fan, I'll go around collecting all friends I care about and just leave this place. As sad as that might sound, I'm no paragon of virtue, and I can't save an entire planet on my own.'
'Master, you fail to realize that Cultivators do not care about anyone but themselves, one must become greedy for their own life, and if things go bad, you can always become stronger and come back for revenge. It is the way of cultivators.'
I sighed inwardly at how black and white Y's vision was, but he was right, if you can't change an outcome why regret what you cannot interfere with. One of the four kings, a god among men decided that a certain planet was to die, who was I to tell him no? even the Poison God had to step carefully around these beings.'
"Then I'll have to ask for something else. You showed good fighting ability earlier, and I was impressed with it, not to mention that after a quick background check, we managed to figure out that you are well versed in inscriptions. This object right now is of high-security clearance, and the Black Tower is allowing a few select people of knowing this." The young man said and looked at the two guests next to me.
"I'll have to excuse myself," Said the Sect master, and then Elder Yun also nodded and stood up.
"Shen Bao, this is a world of cultivation, don't forget that, think about yourself first, and stop caring about others, the moment you find a mean or a method to escape, use it. don't worry about us, it is fate of the weak to die, and none will envy you if you manage to escape calamity." The sect master's words were cold as she spoke and suddenly she left the area alongside elder Yun who sent me a divine sense message.
"I got some good herbs I've been saving for a few years, how about you join me for a game of Go later on when you have some free time?" Elder Yun sent.
'I'll make sure to do so," I sent back.
Once the two left, the young man smiled and waved a hand creating a small domain of law as easily as breathing that stopped any and all sounds from entering or leaving.
"Why not just use divine sense?" I said as I found it a waste to have this domain raised up.
"Because some divine sense messages can be translated," the young man said.
This caused me to worry, because what if he heard what Y had just said.
'Do not worry Master, Unless someone is stronger than my own creator, Master Rain, the divine sense messaging between us can never be decrypted.'
That's comforting.
And also, this man is pretty dangerous, the moment he said his statement of divine sense translation, he wanted to hint that he was able to hear what I and Y discussed, but now Y just confirmed that he was bluffing. Which worked well in my favor, as he wanted to disrupt me and now he cannot.
"So, what's the top-secret thing that you need my help with, while I'm just a Nascent Soul cultivator, while you have many, many stronger characters."
"Stronger, probably, but not a lot, no one can kill a soul transformation cultivator that easily, not even a Half Ascendant cultivator. Though I would admit that the killing blow came from your puppet, the fact that you had him stuck in a rudimentary domain, that wasn't even complete, raised my view of you by a lot. Also, my request doesn't rely on one's personal strength," he said.
"Then what is it? we've been going around the subject for a while now, and I'd like to finish this as soon as possible."
The young man laughed, "Most people would be terrified of my authority as a representative of the Black Tower, the very fact that sitting next to me can be an honor to many, while you Shen Bao, argue and urge me to speak faster. Interesting, I also enjoy a frank and direct discussion of the topic, free of the social barriers between people."
'Bro, you're saying that you want to speak directly and you're rambling on for your life's worth, hurry up damn it.'
Irritation was probably painted on my face, and this thankfully urged him to speak his mind.
"An old man, who goes by the name Old Yue, has asked for your presence, I would say that it would be best if you meet him, he needs your knowledge of inscription making to help this planet survive. Assist him in his task, and if you succeed, I can promise you that your whole sect can be allowed to leave, using the insignia." He said.
There was a hidden message in his words.
"I suppose you didn't want to say this, but you clearly mean 'Only my sect' and not be included."
The man looked flustered for a fraction of a second then smiled, saying, "You are indeed very sharp. It is true, the golden insignia's value is the same as your own life, only one can leave, either you or your whole sect, the choice remains with you. You can leave right now, but your sect will not, or you can do what I asked, and your sect can leave, but you shall not."
'Not that I wanted to leave, also, Y said that he can take me out of this planet if I wanted to, so his words mean nothing to me right now.'
"I agree. Then, let's meet this old Yue." I said.
"I'll have a shuttle to drive you all the way to Mount Wu. It will take you a week to get there. So you won't have much time in fixing the formation in time, but perhaps you'll be able to make it functional, it won't stop the primary invasion force, but it will afford the cultivators a lot of protection after its erected to battle." the young man said.
"How far is Mount Wu?" I asked.
"About six hundred thousand miles away from here."
'Holy hell that's fucking far, how big is this damn planet…'
'Master, Six Hundred Thousand Miles is not that far of a distance, I can get you there in less than an hour… the only problem is that it will be a very tedious hour for you.'
'That's much better than wasting a whole damn week.'
"Do you have a map of Mount Wu's location?" I asked.
The young man frowned and said, "Yes, and then he handed me the map," I looked at it and then said, "I won't need the shuttle, I can get there faster." I said then stood up.
"Are you sure about that? This shuttle is something the Black Tower has personally given you, it is really fast for a Nascent Soul cultivator and won't put much strain on you while traveling."
"As I said, I have my means, tell Old Man Yue I'll be there in a few if you can contact him. I'm off." I said and then stood up.
"Good Luck Shen Bao," the young man said, "You'll need it," he added.
Which I really didn't like.