Li Family East Branch
Inside a gazebo of a lavishly furnished courtyard, was a burly young man, standing at nearly Two hundred centimeters.
Twenty seven year old Li shafeng was standing with his back to a group of three children.
Hands behind his back, short ash brown hair, and searing blue eyes, overlooking the beautiful greenery of his courtyard.
He was wearing a tight fitting robe, with a phoenix sigil on the right chest, the special outfit depicting an inner disciple of the rising Phoenix sect.
A position that can only be acquired by geniuses who got to qi gathering realm before the age of thirty.
"Children, did you complete the task given ?" Li shafeng spoke, his back still facing the children as he kept his gaze ahead.
"Yes, young patriarch, we beat him up really well and made sure nobody saw" answered the leading lackey of the group of three, but his face was deeply contorted as he said those words.
So where the faces of the other two kids, all the while repeating in his mind_
'Forgive me Great Almighty For my blasphemous tongue!'
'Forgive me Great Almighty For my blasphemous tongue!'
'Forgive me Great Almighty For my blasphemous tongue!'
Ethan had brainwashed them all completely into viewing him as a god amongst men, infallible and divine.
And saying you beat up your god, was a difficult thing to do, even if said god instructed you to do so.
"Very good, children, continue to make life a living hell for him in the family, you can go play now" Li shafeng spoke with a wicked glint in his eye.
The three lackeys, squeezed their little fists tightly and gritted their teeth, as their knuckles turned white in silent prostest to the sacrilegious statement this young fool in front of them was making about their god.
If it weren't for the explicit instructions given by Ethan to continue pretending and infiltrating, they would have charged at this ridulous clown of a man Infront of them right now for daring to act that way.
If Ethan had been privy to the crazy thoughts going through the minds of these mortal kids, who were planning to go toe to toe with a cultivator, and not just any cultivator, but one at the mid stage of qi gathering realm, and also the first son of the current family head.
He would be frightened at how dangerously effective his mind technique was, and would surely plan on how to manage it's potency.
But he doesn't know that, and his stunt double was currently on his way to the capital state city, where he plans to do the exact same thing.
Only this time, on a much larger scale and to a much more dangerous organization.
" Yes, young patriarch" they squeezed through their teeth, as they made their way out of the gazebo.
Once the kids left the gazebo, shafeng 's gaze became more murderous, as he uttered under his breath_
" Just my damn luck, I can't even be called young patriarch outside the east zone anymore"
"why does this family have such a useless tradition, where talent in alchemy decides who becomes patriarch, as long as there's more than one heir from the main family line ?"
"Tch !"
"After all the careful planning mum made and my own relentless efforts"
"Once that brat gets tested, and he shows he has more potential for alchemy than i do, it would be a disaster"
"I don't understand why mum's still hesitating to take a more drastic course of action on this matter, since after that Xiao family girl suddenly died"
"If not for the fact that I can't get anywhere near the west zone without drawing unnecessary attention, I would have simply gone and snuff out that little bastard's life before he knows what's going on"
"we are almost at our goal, but without officially being designated the young patriarch, I will never be allowed into family ancestral cave, and brought in on the Family secrets, which is vital for our next step."
"Li Wei, my little brother, blame your bad luck for coming into the world at the wrong place and at the wrong time" shafeng said as he made his way out his courtyard, and towards the direction of his mother's dwelling.
...
And like that, time swam by, and two months had gone by since stunt double Ethan left with the old spice merchant, but he was only just arriving at the state capital city.
Only now did he realise how vast this world truly was.
Though the journey got delayed a couple of times here and there, as the stingy spice merchant still set up shop at his usual locations on the way to the capital, even after extorting Ethan.
But what could he do, he was supposed to be an ordinary kid who was meeting up with his parents in the capital , and he had to act that way.
He could have simply brainwashed the spice merchant, like he did with the three lackeys.
But what would be the point of that, since it takes mental strength to mentain the technique even though it runs passively.
He has to choose only those who play specific and important roles to use it on, and since he will be brainwashing a few strong people in the capital, he simply made it so the merchant forgets what he looked like after he departs.
A very simple compulsion that cost little to nothing in mental strain, for the more complex the compulsion or more powerful the individual, the more taxing to maintain it becomes.
Over the past two months, Ethan had not only succeeded in pushing his mastery over the sutra of the bald immortal monk to minor success.
He could feel he was on his way to the major success stage soon, and he also passively cultivated to the mid stage of the qi gathering realm, and his innate qi had grown to 145,000.
Now his status window looks like this_
...
[Host Status ]
[Name: Li Wei (Ethan Cole)]
[Body Cultivation Strength: 145,000 innate Qi]
[Cultivation Realm: Qi Gathering (mid)]
[Physique: Twin Suns [grade(immortal)]]
[Spirit root: Fire [grade(immortal)]]
[Comprehension : ?? [grade(??)]]
[Providence : ?? grade(??)]]
[Talents : Disguise (Initiate) ]
[Cultivation Scripture : Chaos Spirit]
[System Authorities : Identify, House Keeping]
[Technique's :
Spidie Tingles(passive)[minor success]
Ten Thousand Poisons Dharma(passive)[minor success]
Technique Scripture: sutra of the bald immortal monk(passive)[minor success]
I am Speed [assimilated]
Who ?! [assimilated]
Hard as a Rock [assimilated]
]
[Active Treasures :
Stunt Double
Ninety Nine Trigrams All Purpose Formation
]
[Inventory :
Physique Cultivation Scriptures and the required treasures(Chaos grade)
Tree Of Life Elixir [grade(Celestial)]
Glock 19 with 9mm bullets *100 (immortal grade)
MK2 grenade *1 [grade(immortal)]
Iphone 13 pro max [grade(immortal)]
Skylar Mae One Year OF subscription
]
'My current strength should be at the peak of core building realm, and I can only currently use my sutra on individuals in the body strengthening realm.'
'And can at most hold five of them, without feeling a strain on my mind, since I might have the strength of someone in the core building peak realm, but my life level is still at the qi gathering realm.'
'I will save using the chaos physique scriptures and treasures, for when I properly step into the foundation establishment realm in life level, as the the system advise, so I can build a monstrous foundation.'
'Considering it would be a chaos physique that has to be tempered over time with treasures the system gave me, the time it would take won't be a short one.'
'Since unlike technique's or any other thing that has to do with comprehension, which am a monster at, this one will be quite different since it has nothing do do with comprehension.'
'But i still see no reason not to build myself into the ultimate cheat existence using all that the system is giving me, so spending a long time in foundation building, isn't really an issue.'
'I will be focusing more comprehensively on all my technique's for now, and will try to bring my present technique's and all others to a satisfying mastery simultaneously.'
'since I have enough mastery on the sutra, to put body strengthening realm cultivators under me, that will be more than enough for this small silent Parrot branch in the state capital city. '
'Am not really fearful for my safety presently, since my main body is chilling in safety inside the Ninety Nine Trigrams All Purpose Formation, and unless a true immortal realm powerhouse comes calling, it's all good'
'And I have still only spent a year and two months in this world, I might currently stand at close to one hundred and ten centimeters, but I am technically still a one year old kid , so why the rush ?'
'And yeah, the bread and coca cola are missing from my inventory because I ate them.'
'I still haven't had time to check on the functions of the iphone, since I have been very busy, but am hoping it has something nice, since it's an immortal grade iphone.'
"We are here!"
Ethan who was lost in thought was brought back, by the grating voice of the old man spice merchant, as their carriage galloped towards a wide and towering gate in the distance.
It was already night time, the walls of the state capital city stood at an impressive twenty feet, the gates where made with heavy metal, with guards at the early to mid body strengthening realm patrolling from ontop and below the fence.
We got into the city without much fuss, and I bid goodbye to the spice merchant who immediately forgot what I looked like.
Spirit lanterns were everywhere on the cobblestone streets, their glow mingling with the scent of baked goods and qi herbs.
Merchants hawk talismans and spirit fruits, while robed cultivators strode past each other, their auras where contained but using identify on a couple of them, most where at the body strengthening realm, with a few at qi gathering.
With simple to lavish pavilions in the distance, the regular buildings were simple stone courtyard houses, with the more lavish and expensive looking ones belonging to powerful families and cultivators in the city, and the spiritual energy here was slightly denser than back at houzi.
Ethan made some inquiries, and he came to understand that the silent Parrot was located at a four floor pagoda, at a corner of the state city.
Before Ethan made his way over there, he secured a room at one of the most expensive looking inns, located at the center of the city.
He booked a luxurious room with every available amenities, for a whooping twenty gold coins per night, and he paid two hundred coins for ten nights to start with.
So he's now left with six hundred and seventy gold coins, ethan was staying low key, doesn't mean he has to live in squalor.
As he made his way over to the Silent Parrot, he started going over some information he had gathered about them on his way there.
The Silent Parrot is an Organization that deals in the sales of exclusive cultivation goods, and the auctioning of particularly rare merchandise.
They auction and sell pills, cultivation scriptures, technique's, weapons, treasures for defense, offence , formations, herbs , spirit beasts... to name but a few.
They deal with them all, with the permission of the imperial family of course.
But their goods and services are on the more expensive side even for their clientele that consists of only cultivators.
With branches in every state capital of every kingdom in the empire, with varying degrees in quality, variety or quantity of goods those places hold, depending on the location, which also signifies the average strength of the area.
So you can't compare what can be gotten from a small state capital city to what can be gotten from the capital of the kingdom itself, or gotten from the imperial city.
It is also rumored that the head of the silent Parrot is a very powerful cultivator, that even the imperial family have to thread carefully when dealing with him.
But all of this are just the regular function of the silent Parrot, the main function of this organization is actualy information brokering.
They have agents and spies in almost every organization in the world, sect's, families, cities, states, regions, imperial city ... to name but a few.
Thier roots are even said to have spread to the demonic continent as well, though that's just speculation at this point.
With enough imperial coins, you can buy information on almost everything, and Ethan intends to slowly make this entire network his own, starting with this state capital city and moving up.
So he planned to stay here in the state capital with his stunt double for a while, observing, planning, infiltrating and assimilating... only problem was_
Ethan was running out of money_ and fast.