I kept looking around, suspiciously. That man was far stronger than anything I've ever experienced. And I could even dare say, when he grabbed my hand, I felt more threatened than when I gazed upon the Primordial Dragon Serpent. Perhaps I'm wrong, or perhaps the snake was just too far to cause me immediate worry, but the man in black. He frightened me to no end. It was the same as seeing oneself under the guillotine, with no hope to ever survive. But then he had released my hand and offered me this strange item.
I took a look at the quill and noticed that it had some ink within it, I tried to soak the feather within the quill, but the liquid was so damn heavy I almost broke my wrist trying to move the ink.
"What the hell?" I muttered I could clearly move the liquid inside the quill as if it was normal ink, but the moment the feather touches the ink it becomes viscous and hella heavy.
Not even the poison god's book gave me any description of this quill and feather. I sighed and tried to place them inside the poison god's book, but the book adamantly refused to take in the quill and feather.
However, when I used a regular pouch, the pouch took in the quill as if it was nothing but a normal item.
'This is a rather peculiar item, I should try and use it while inscribing.' I thought and then continued touring the city.
There were not many merchants selling their items at night and I decided it would be best to find an inn where I can rest for the night, meditate until it's a morning where the tourney would begin.
I found the only open restaurant in the city, it was the only place that had a lot of noise coming from it and decided it was a good place to spend the night, I haven't had a drink in a while.
"Arslan, you'd probably not even fit through the door and we wouldn't want to be so rude as to break the inn's doors. You can go around and explore the vicinity if you like, but try not to eat anyone. Unless they deserve eating," I said and the lion's ears flopped to the side.
I felt sad for having to ask Arslan to go away, but I can't take him with me everywhere, he's just too big.
The lion turned and cooed sadly and then moved through the city streets. I'm more than certain a lot of people will have a very frightening night. But Arslan won't eat anyone, I think…probably… I hope.
I shook my head and walked into the restaurant.
It was quite grand and had dozens of large tables that hosted a good deal of cultivators and demons alike. Some were boisterous, drinking and celebrating, some were quiet and calm, and among them was Wu Di, who looked rather serene in the company of his sect disciples. Sharing laughs and jokes as they enjoyed their meal.
"SHEN BAO!" Wu Di called loud as he raised a mug of his in a toast!
"We've missed you on today's tourney, how fares your journey?" asked Wu Di.
"Good."
"Hey, we heard some rumors about a man with a purple lion got to see the Demon King's Daughter stark naked," one of Wu Di's friends said in a sly smile "I say there aren't many cultivators that can tame a purple lion, and our friend Shen Bao is the only one with balls big enough to tame on and freely ogle at a naked princess!" the man said.
He was a young man with short stature, and had a rat-like face, he looked humorous, and of good spirit, until he spoke the following words, "TO SHEN BAO'S balls of steel!" he said in a toast and the rest of the group dropped out laughing like mad.
I grinned, seems like these kids are bad, but the good kind of bad. "To my balls then, give me a mug, I could use a good drink!" I replied and sat next to them.
Some of the demon kin had an ugly expression on their faces, especially after hearing this young man's toast, but they still knew not to cross any of the cultivators.
"How was the princess?" the young man asked.
"Xiao Lang, you're being rude," Wu Di said but his tone wasn't aligned with his voice, he too was a young man, and probably also wanted to know.
"Well, like any girl, a pretty face, nice rack, and wide hips."
"Man, you have no imagination, seems like you've never even touched a girl for you to speak of a woman's body with such crudeness." Xiao Lang looked rather displeased by m lack of description but I only smiled at him.
"Well, I actually have two sons," I replied.
"Oh, now that's interesting, where are they?" Wu Di asked.
"In a remote village in the country of Zhou," I replied melancholically.
"To Shen Bao's sons!" Wu Di called and the group of cultivators drank another toast.
One of the girls of the group asked, "Grandpa Bao," she said.
And I smiled at that word, grandpa, hah!
"Yes dear," I replied.
"How old are your sons," she asked. The rest of the men began hooting, "Seems like Yuzehan wants to be Shen Bao's daughter in law." The rat-faced Xiao Lang commented to which the girl's face turned a beat red.
I smiled and replied, "They're both married, and they're mortals. They're not worthy of you." I said.
"Bullshit, I say anyone with Shen Bao's genes will be a dragon among men, don't sell yourself short!" Wu Di replied boisterously.
I smiled wryly, thinking back about my sons, and then sighed as I said, "Perhaps you're wrong. My sons…well. It's been a while since I've last thought about them, they should be doing fine on their own."
The atmosphere began to turn heavy, especially when Xiao Lang said, "Why, I think your sons would be proud to have their father as a great cultivator such as you, Shen Bao."
"Not really. The last time I saw them, I was still a mortal just like them, and because of being a mortal, greed and jealousy took the better of their judgment. We parted on sad terms." I said sighing.
Suddenly one of the people from a nearby table came towards us and said, "I remember a Shen Bao from my country, the name isn't strange I come from a village next to Lucid Spring, and the City Lord of that village was also called Shen Bao and had two sons, could it be you?" the cultivator asked.
I was surprised that someone knew of my old city but I didn't wish to reply. "It could be just a coincidence in the name."
"Ah, then, good, because the whole city was razed to the ground."
I shuddered and stood up, grabbed the cultivator by the robes, and said "What?!"
The man was slightly frightened but he coughed and said, "As I said, Lucid Springs was razed to the ground, it seems that a cultivator from one of the sects was promised a visit from the City Lord of Lucid Springs to craft for him an elixir to repair his broken meridians. The cultivator went through a lot of trouble to make such an elixir and when he made it, he waited long for the man to come and pay his due but he never came, so the cultivator went to lucid spring and razed it to the ground in vengeance for his wasted time."
I shuddered and let go of the man then said, "Do you know this cultivator's name, his sect, or anything. I'll reward you handsomely." I said.
The man shook his head, I only heard rumors, perhaps they're just lies, but the name of the cultivator was never mentioned."
"What about the City Lord's sons, have they also died?"
I asked the question fearing for the worst and hoping that my fears would be unfounded.
"No one survived the cultivator's wrath as I was told, but you can never tell. Perhaps the city lord's sons were not even in that city, as I heard they usually lived in other cities away from lucid spring."
"Right, right," I said and calmed down a bit, they could still be alive.
I shuddered as I thought of the faith of my sons. Lu Bao and Xiao Bao. They were evil, unfilial, and outright threw me to my doom, but they were still my sons, my family. My blood. Even if they had pierced my heart with a searing dagger I'd still find a reason to forgive them, blood cannot be so easily discarded and so easily ignored.
I shuddered and shook, my body was irritated and my mind was in shambles, thinking about how my own family could have been annihilated and destroyed by some random cultivator. It was partially my fault; I should have treated my own sons better so that they wouldn't have turned as they did.
My fault that my sons' fate is unknown.
My Qi became unstable and rotated on its own, madness and rage swirled along with my Qi as I thought about all the torments I should visit upon the bastard who dared touch my family. And there and then, my Qi on its own assaulted my bottleneck. I was about to break through.
I could barely speak a few words before the Qi's rotation turned graver.
"EVERYONE LEAVE! I'M ABOUT TO BREAKTHROUGH!"