You decide to ask Gu Xinyi what exactly the green powder you found in the merchant's wall safe is, and put some of it in a vial before beginning to make your way over to his manor. Once you get there you're told he's out and wait for about an hour until he gets back. Gu Xinyi has the butler make some tea and you sit down in his living room to begin talking.
After a bit of small talk you remove the vial of green powder from your pocket and say "Master, I happened to find this on my travels. Do you know exactly it is?" before handing it to him. He opens the vial and examines it for a moment before he says "Hm, I have a few ideas. One moment." he then leaves the room and you see him come back with a tiny beast not that different from a mouse. You recognize it as something Gu Xinyi introduced as a "pill-testing beast", which one could feed portions of finished pills if they wanted to test the effects.
Gu Xinyi pinches a small amount of the green powder between his fingers and opens the pill-testing beast's mouth, placing it on its tongue. A couple of minutes pass in silence as Gu Xinyi watches the small creature. It doesn't seem to be acting oddly until it begins moving about quickly, its tail swishing back and forth rapidly. Gu Xinyi grabs it and spreads open its eyelids, looking closely, before nodding slightly. He then turns to you and says "This seems to be Cactus. It's a recreational drug that makes one hyperactive and some say that it makes the senses speed up. It can be addictive, but anyone who gets addicted would have to be rich enough to afford some first. It doesn't have many negative side effects that I know of besides some temporary hallucinations and an increase in one's sensitivity, although the user will often take those as a plus. I don't recommend you take it."
You assure Gu Xinyi that you won't use it yourself and then ask if he knows anything about Unbar Kingdom or the Iron City. He says that he hasn't heard of either. Oh well. After that you chat for a bit longer before you take your leave. Now you...
>Go about your time normally until the arsonist gets back.
>Go back to staking out the merchant's shop for appearances.
>Visit the few tourist attractions you've never bothered to see here.
>Ask Yu Zhen if there's anything else of interest within the city now that you're a resident here.

We're not dead because I've been informed that only being able to do sessions every week or two in the near future doesn't inherently mean that the quest has to die. Sorry for the scare.

>>3176091
>Visit the few tourist attractions you've never bothered to see here.
It's alive! Alive!

>>3176093
>Visit the few tourist attractions you've never bothered to see here.

>>3176122
>>3176149
You decide that now is as good a time as any to visit some of the tourist attractions that you've never had a chance to visit. You start thinking for a few minutes before taking note of the places you've vaguely heard about in your head. As long as you ask for directions you should be fine.
First you visit the statue of the city lord. Apparently it's replaced every time a new one comes to power, and is thought of as a symbol of the city's strength and prosperity. The statue depicts a man with a short, well-trimmed beard who might have been in their 40s when it was made. It's made out of a strong, blue stone that reminds you of the type of stone they have outside of the city. Surrounding the statue is a very large, shallow fountain. You see a few children playing around in it and splashing each other while their parents watch.
Next you make your way to a large theater. The price for entry is low, and apparently it all goes towards funding the plays and maintaining the theater. The actors themselves aren't paid, and are all volunteers. Plays go on here constantly, and once one is inside they can stay until they either want to leave or the place closes. It's a popular place for commoners to see a good show and relax with their families. You stay and watch a play about a man wooing his true love and defeating another suitor. It isn't amazing, but it was overall better than you were expecting. You clap with the rest of the crowd and make your leave.
After that you finish up your tourism by heading to the...
>Gambling hall
>Blue Ridge Eatery, a popular restaurant owned by the city
>Other

>>3176172
>Other
Local spooky places where we could find some spirits to test our eyes on.

>>3176172
>>Blue Ridge Eatery, a popular restaurant owned by the city

>>3176190
>>3176264
You decide to look around for a few supposedly 'haunted' places to test out your new ability on. You ask around and make a list of eight places before you begin looking around.
You go to the first place and don't really see anything. So goes for the second and the third as well. You're starting to think that most of the time 'haunted' transfers into 'it looks creepy and we would like tourists to spend their money visiting it'. Eventually, after visiting seven places, you do see something though. At a rather badly kept manor outside of town, where it's said an old expert died about a year ago, you see some odd glow around a chair. It's vaguely shaped like a human, but it doesn't have any distinct features. You go near it and try to touch it, but you don't feel anything different besides a slight coldness. You say something to it and it merely stays in place. Your guess is that the spirit is too weak to really interact with, but there are still traces of it. You then finish checking the last place, finding that once again it's a hoax, and then begin walking to Blue Ridge Eatery since you're famished.
Blue Ridge Eatery is a large building on the northern side of the city, and you can see a large crowd moving to and fro around it. There aren't any booths or tables, just a bunch of very long counters. Apparently it's a 'standing restaurant'. You get a place in line and after about half an hour get a spot at the counter.
You stand at the counter, only a short distance between the other customers and you, and look at the menus hanging from the ceiling. You settle on a soup and sandwich combination that comes with a side of grilled vegetables and wait for one of the busy looking servers to come closer. You shout out your order and toss over the price of the meal and you're given a piece of paper with some scribbles on it that vaguely resemble your order. After some waiting eventually a fat man comes out with your order and simply yells what it is. You yell that it's yours and hand him the ticket in exchange for the food.
You quickly eat your meal, impressed over how good it tastes for how busy the place is. At first you wondered if the place was just popular for their prices and the novelty, but they do make some good food. The soup compliments the sandwich well, and the meaty broth is pretty refreshing. You eat the hearty meal and then make your leave, immediately being replaced by someone who was waiting in line.
You head back to your house, the sky now dark, and then stake the merchant's store out for the night. It's the same as the past couple of nights and you leave in the morning and get some rest. The next morning you...
>Go about your time normally until the arsonist gets back.
>Go back to staking out the merchant's shop for appearances until the arsonist gets back.
>Go to the gambling hall.
>Ask Yu Zhen if there's anything else of interest within the city now that you're a resident here.
>Other

I'll be leaving this tab open until I head to bed for the night if anybody shows up. Note that the two at the top are more or less timeskip buttons for if you don't have anything in particular you want to do before the plot moves on.

>>3176307
>Go back to staking out the merchant's shop for appearances until the arsonist gets back.

>>3176767
You go back to your routine of mainly staking out the merchant's shop to at least keep up the appearance that you're giving your best effort until the Hu Qiang comes back. The merchant calls you in a few times to ask if you've seen anything and seems to be half scared and half frustrated by the situation, but nothing major happens.
One night, ten days after Hu Qiang initially left, you return to your house after a night of staking the merchant's house out. After entering the home you see that Hu Qiang is currently sleeping on your sofa. You shake him awake and ask him if he found anything while searching the merchant's other properties.
Hu Qiang says "I didn't find any definitive evidence of wrongdoing, no. I did find a bag of green powder hidden in one of his homes and two very odd crates. The crates had some pills to restore a man's 'vigor', a couple small vials of the green powder, some masks, rope, and some other pills I couldn't identify." You ask Hu Qiang if he saw any numbers or letters on the crate, and he tells you that he did. He then recites them for you, saying that he memorized them since he thought they might be important. You compare them to the numbers written in the merchant's account book next to "Entertainment supplies" and find that they match up. That's... well, you guess this helps your case, although it doesn't necessarily make him guilty of anything.
You discuss the situation more with Hu Qiang until you both understand all of the evidence. Hu Qiang frowns and says "Well, we've made progress, but I'm not sure if it's enough. It certainly makes for a strong case, given the meaning of 'entertainment' in the journals, but it all depends on whether the government agrees with us. I do have an idea to gather definitive proof, but it is a bit risky. You may know about it already, but there's an item called a 'Recording Crystal' that can take both the sounds and sights of its surroundings and store them inside itself. It's used for things such as major examinations and some criminal trials, and the lowest quality ones can be purchased for about 500 gold coins. Once stimulated with qi they'll begin working and will record sounds and the surroundings for the next two hours before stopping. Anyone can then play back the recording by stimulating it with qi once again. It can play back the recording for a week after the information is recorded before it stops working. I should be able to scare the life out of the merchant, get a confession from him, and use a Recording Crystal to show his It's just a bit risky given that other cultivation you mentioned. What do you think?"

>>3176913

You think that the two of you should...
>Turn what you have now into the government as well as what you stole from the merchant's homes and hope for the best.
>Turn the evidence into the government and hope for the best, you can wait until they ask you for the things back to give it to them. It might cause your motivations to be brought into question though.
>Try to record a confession from the merchant.
>Suggest going to the mayor's village and talking to his family again now that you have more information.
>Other

>>3176915
>>Suggest going to the mayor's village and talking to his family again now that you have more information.

>>3176915
>Suggest going to the mayor's village and talking to his family again now that you have more information.

What are we planning to ask...?

>>3176968
>>3176997
You tell Hu Qiang that the two of you should go to the mayor's village and talk to his family again. The mayor was the one behind all of this illicit activity, and while his family may have be helping cover it up after his death (or maybe they just don't know anything), you might be able to get something useful out of them. Hu Qiang accepts and you both begin moving towards the village at full speed.
The two of you reach it around in the late afternoon and you...
>Ask the mayor's three wives if they know anything about the mayor's business with the merchant and his assistant.
>Talk to the mayor's children and ask them if he ever engaged in any illicit activity. You never did get a chance to talk to them last time.
>Talk to the mayor's children and ask about the mayor's relationship with the merchant and his assistant. You might not be able to get as much information this way, but it'll draw less of their ire.
>Begin laying out all the evidence you have to the mayor's family and then ask if they have anything to contribute to the case. If they know anything the best way to make them crack should be showing that you're onto them. If they don't know anything then they'll just be shocked.
>Other

>>3177035
>>Begin laying out all the evidence you have to the mayor's family and then ask if they have anything to contribute to the case. If they know anything the best way to make them crack should be showing that you're onto them. If they don't know anything then they'll just be shocked.

>>3177071
You make your way into the village, having Hu Qiang wait a distance away in case someone recognizes him, although nobody here should have seen his face in the past 10 years. You remember where the mayor's family lives and make your way there before knocking on the door. One of the mayor's wives quickly answers, and you tell her that you have more information regarding her husband's death and that she should gather the family. She leaves, saying that she will, and you take a seat inside.
Within half an hour the children and wives have been gathered from across town, besides one who travels around now.
You clear your throat and take a look at the group before you before you begin laying out the details of why the arsonist would want to kill the mayor in a fire, leaving out the details about how you got information and the fact that you've already found the arsonist. The wives faces begin to turn angry, while the children mostly seem a mix between surprised and disgusted. You do notice that one just has a blank face, devoid of any real expression, and is looking at you closely though.
When you finish one of the wives stares at you, angrily, before saying "My husband would do no such thing! He was a good man and I have nothing to say to you! Leave!" She seems... oddly defensive. Maybe she knows something. You...
>Refute her, telling her that this is pretty conclusive evidence and that if she knows something she should tell you.
>Silently leave after telling them that you'll be at the inn if any of them have information. It'd be best not to get into an argument here, if any of them know something they can come to you by themselves.
>Other

>>3177197
>>Silently leave after telling them that you'll be at the inn if any of them have information. It'd be best not to get into an argument here, if any of them know something they can come to you by themselves.

>>3177197
>Silently leave after telling them that you'll be at the inn if any of them have information. It'd be best not to get into an argument here, if any of them know something they can come to you by themselves.

>>3177209
>>3177266
You don't respond to the wife, simply saying that you'll be at the inn if anyone has any more information before going on your way. You tell Hu Qiang that you'll be staying in the village for a day or two and then go to the inn. A few hours of waiting later a man around 18 or 19 years old walks into the inn, and you recognize him as the one who was just blankly staring at you earlier while you were listing off evidence. He approaches you and sits down across from you.
He stares at you for about a minute, whether to think or to muster up the courage to speak you don't know, before eventually saying "I knew a bit about what my father was doing and can testify for you. I walked in on him once about three years ago when he was with another woman and at first thought he was just having an affair, but his assistant and the merchant from before you mentioned were both in the room with him, so I quickly figured that something else had to be the case. After that I saw a few bits of evidence that made me think something was up, although I didn't know what exactly it was until now."
A few moments of silence later he says "Well... I suppose we go somewhere else to report this?" You nod your head and say "Yes, we'll be going to Blue Ridge City and reporting it to one of my superiors. When can you leave?" The man says "Well, it'd be best to leave now, I'm not sure whether any of my family members were in on it with him and I'm not really eager for any of them to confront me after I went to talk to you." You put away the book you were reading while waiting and say "Alright then, off to Blue Ridge City we go."
You leave the village with the mayor's son, Hu Qiang trailing behind you after seeing that you brought someone with you. You arrive at Blue Ridge City very late in the night and have your witness rest at your home until the morning, since your superior won't be awake at this hour.
In the morning you head to your superior...
>and bring Hu Qiang with you to strengthen your story.
>and leave Hu Qiang at your home in case their judgement is too hasty.
>Other
and...
>Prepare to return everything you looted from the merchant's homes. You needed them to make it look like a burger broke in, but at this point it'd just be thievery to keep them.
>Keep what you stole from the merchant's homes until they ask for them back. It might reflect badly on you, but they might not ask about it anyways. You earned it.
>Other

>>3177323
>>and leave Hu Qiang at your home in case their judgement is too hasty.
>Prepare to return everything you looted from the merchant's homes. You needed them to make it look like a burger broke in, but at this point it'd just be thievery to keep them.

>>3177326
support.

Should we keep watch on that wife in case she sends a message?

>>3177400
Sure.

>>3177326
>>3177400
You tell Hu Qiang to stay at home in case your superior is too hasty in their judgement and he nods, saying that he'll stay near a window in case he needs to leave, and you then gather the things you stole from the merchant before walking over to your superior's office.
You knock on the wooden door to his office and you hear a gruff voice say "Come in." you enter the room, the mayor's son following behind you, and your boss looks at you before saying "Oh, it's Bounty Hunter Zhu. Any progress on your contract?" You say "Yes, I think it's about over with." before explaining the situation to him. He stays mostly silent until you finish, only interjecting occasionally to ask about what happened in more detail. When you're done he looks at the bags in your hand, and then the mayor's son, and says "I'll have this forwarded to another division that investigates crime in a more... well, civil way. They can hold onto that stuff for the time being and protect the witness. They'll also need to keep Hu Qiang in custody for the time being though. They won't kill him or anything, they'll just make sure he doesn't burn anything else down. If they judge in your favor, which they almost certainly will, the only thing he'll be charged with is property damage. He'll probably have to pay a fine in the worst case scenario, he may even just be waived the fee in exchange for helping get a few criminals.
Before you leave to bring Hu Qiang you tell your superior that he may want to keep a watch on the mayor's family, and specifically his oldest wife, since some of them might be in on it and try to send a message to the merchant. He says that he'll keep a look out, but that the merchant should be put into custody and that you can even bring him over yourself if you want to.
You go back to your home and explain the situation to Hu Qiang. He's fine with going into custody and follows you back to your superior. After that your boss says that the investigators should be over shortly to get everything. He lists off everything important, and eventually he says "...and 2000 gold coins in 1000 gold coin bills." before tossing a bill for 1000 gold coins at you from the bag of the mayor's possessions. You guess that this is his way of rewarding you for a job well done. You...
>Silently put it in your pocket, it's not like he'll miss it in prison anyways.
>Toss it back to your boss, you shouldn't take this.
>Ask your boss if this is illegal.
>Other

>>3177448
>>Silently put it in your pocket, it's not like he'll miss it in prison anyways.

>>3177448
>Other
Thank him nicely

>>3177452
>>3177461
You say "Thanks for the reward sir." and place the bill in your pocket. He just nods at you and says "What reward? I have no idea what you're talking about. Now get out of here, I don't think you want to deal with talking to those stiffs in the investigation unit for hours otherwise." You take his advice and leave before...
>Going to apprehend the merchant yourself. Your boss said he could send someone to do it, but you may as well get it done with as quickly as possible.
>Heading back to your home to get some much needed rest.
>Other

>>3177475
>>Heading back to your home to get some much needed rest.

>>3177475
>>Going to apprehend the merchant yourself. Your boss said he could send someone to do it, but you may as well get it done with as quickly as possible.
I would say that this should not be our worry
But seeing our superior way of handling money Im little afraid he could be bribed

I'll wait about 15-20 minutes for a tiebreaker before the next update.

>>3177475
>Going to apprehend the merchant yourself. Your boss said he could send someone to do it, but you may as well get it done with as quickly as possible.

>>3177484
>>3177573
You decide to go apprehend the merchant yourself. Your boss said he could send someone to do it, but you're not going to feel comfortable until he's under the government's custody. You walk over to his shop and see that it looks normal enough. You walk inside, and as you do you notice that you're sensing someone in the Qi Emission Stage downstairs, around where the merchant should be. Maybe the guy who the merchant hired is talking with him?
You make your way to where the merchant is and see him speaking with a man with rough, tanned skin reminiscent of a farmer with a large, muscular build. He's dressed in a black suit and gives you a glance when you enter, but doesn't say anything. The merchant turns to look at you when you enter and says "So it's you. Has the government gotten anywhere with all this?! I've been cooped up in here for weeks!" You...
>Smile at the merchant and say "We actually made a big breakthrough today. Could you come with me?" Best get his cooperation for the time being.
>Tell the merchant that he'll need to come with you since he'll be under custody due to suspicion of various criminal acts. If he acts out you might even get an excuse to give him a slap or two.
>Other

>>3177603
>>Smile at the merchant and say "We actually made a big breakthrough today. Could you come with me?" Best get his cooperation for the time being.
Tell him our superior wants to meet him.

>>3177635
You give the merchant a wide smile and say "We actually made a big breakthrough today. Could you come with me, my superior would like to meet you." The merchant looks slightly smug as you say this and says "Really? It's about time he gave me an apology for the wait, lead the way." he then turns to the large, tanned man and bows slightly before saying "Kong Xun, your job is over now, thank you for your help. I'll invite you over for tea some time and pay you." The man simply nods and begins leaving with you.
You make your way to your boss's office, the plump merchant behind you humming in glee, and eventually you make your way there. The door is already open, a few men with badges indicating that they're from the other division talking with your boss. You simply say "I brought him." as he follows you into the room. You shut the door behind him and one of the other officials in the room says "Liao Ping, you'll need to come with me. You'll be coming under custody as part of an investigation into possible crimes you've committed or aided in containing, but not limited to, murder, arson, and rape."
The merchant's face turns to one of shock, his mouth fitting the shape of an egg. He turns to you, his face now contorted in rage, and begins screaming. "Damn you! You bastard! What's with these false accusations! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT ME AND YOU SEND ME TO THE WOLVES LIKE THIS! I BET YOU'RE WORKING WITH THE ARSONIST! YOU'VE BEEN BURNING DOWN HOMES ALL ALONG! YOU WOULD HAVE MURDERED ME IF THIS DRAGGED ON ANY LONGER! TAKE HIM AWAY! HE'S THE CRIMINAL, NOT ME!" As the merchant continues screaming, tears now streaming down his beet-red face, you leave the room, the officials moving over to stop his yelling behind you.
Now that you're done with the contract, you go back home to get some much needed rest. It'll probably be a week or two until they're done with the investigation. Over the next week you...
>Wait for some news while doing what you normally do. Cultivating, reading, practicing pillforging, training in the saber, things like that.
>Other (Anything else you'd like to look into with a week of free time.)

>>3177718
Maybe find out who that cultivator was in case we run into him in the future.

>>3177718
>Wait for some news while doing what you normally do. Cultivating, reading, practicing pillforging, training in the saber, things like that.

>>3177736
>>3177742
Over the next week you mostly just wait for news, although you do expend a bit of effort trying to figure out who exactly 'Kong Xun', that cultivator that the merchant hired, was. You ask around at the bounty hunter's lodge and find out that he's in the Early Qi Emission Stage and that he's never been seen in any outfit besides that black suit. He occasionally comes to the bounty hunter's lodge to grab a job to do on the side, but he does something else most of the time. Nobody is sure what it is though.
After a week has passed you can't really learn anything more from that veteran at the battle hall and will have to hire a better tutor in the future. You've understood the very basics of using a saber, but not too much beyond that.
Eight days after you finished your contract, while relaxing in your home and reading a book you borrowed from Gu Xinyi, you hear a knock on the door. You open it and see Hu Qiang, dressed in normal-looking clothes instead of that dark robe from before. He smiles and excitedly says "I've been let out! They found Liao Ping, the merchant, guilty, as well as the mayor and his assistant. The merchant will rot in prison for the rest of his life, and I'll receive damages from him that will make up for more than what I have to pay for the property damages."
You congratulate him, but after that Hu Qiang's face turns more serious. He kneels and says "I can't thank you enough for your assistance. If it weren't for your understanding and help, not only would I have been dead by now, I wouldn't have been able to avenge my wife. If it's alright with you I'd like to serve you for the time being. I can tell you've broken through to the Qi Emission Stage by the strength you displayed when capturing me, but I'm nearly there myself so I should still be useful to you." You...
>Accept, you could use the help of another cultivator.
>Decline, you don't really need someone else living in your house and following you around on your travels.
>Ask him what he plans to do with his student.
>Tell him that he should really just go back to whatever clan he's a part of and study there.
>Other

>>3177807
>>Accept, you could use the help of another cultivator.
>>Ask him what he plans to do with his student

>>3177822
+1

>>3177840
>>3177822
You say "Well, I'd appreciate your help, but what are you planning to do with your student?" Hu Qiang lifts himself off the ground and says "Well, I'll be sending her back to the clan for more training. She won't like the fact that I'm leaving her, but the clan has more resources and I think she should stay there for a while longer before she begins travelling." You simply nod your head at this. It's not like it's your student, so you shouldn't interfere either way. You look at Hu Qiang and say "Well, I suppose that's that then. You're now my... assistant? Butler? I suppose some combination of both given that I have neither. Let's do our best." You shake his hand and invite him in, and he begins familiarizing himself more with the place now that he's in charge of taking care of it.
After a while, while you're idly talking with Hu Qiang, he says something that catches your attention. "I'm still surprised that they sent someone in the Qi Emission Stage to capture me. I didn't think I'd earn that much of the government's ire. You'd think they'd be off doing something more important." Er... now that you think about it, the government didn't know that you were in the Qi Emission Stage since nobody can sense your cultivation, did they? Maybe you should tell them about this. Given your cultivation at this age they'll probably try to move you somewhere more important again. Since Gu Xinyi will be returning to the capital within the next few weeks, this could be a good chance to be transferred there as well if they give you the chance. Of course, you could also keep it quiet for the time being and just relax here and do easy jobs while you cultivate. You...
>Head to your boss's office to inform him of your breakthrough to the Qi Emission Stage a few weeks ago.
>Keep quiet about your breakthrough for the time being, you may as well make things easier on yourself and stay here while hunting down weaker criminals for the time being.
>Other

This is a relatively major decision and it's getting late so I guess I'll just leave it at here for tonight. Thanks for posting, I'll be back tomorrow afternoon sometime between noon and 2 PM Central Time. Also, I forgot to put the twitter in the OP again, so here. https://twitter.com/QmWalrus

>>3177915
>Head to your boss's office to inform him of your breakthrough to the Qi Emission Stage a few weeks ago.
We will have to tell them eventually anyway.

>>3177915
>Keep quiet about your breakthrough for the time being, you may as well make things easier on yourself and stay here while hunting down weaker criminals for the time being.

We hide our cultivation level by a factor of at least 1. When we reach the next stage we let them know of our previous stage.

>>3177915
>Head to your boss's office to inform him of your breakthrough to the Qi Emission Stage a few weeks ago.

To Glory.

>>3178271
This

>>3178271
Supporting

>>3178271
Support, just caught up good quest so far

Eh, you'll hold off on telling your boss about your breakthrough for now. You'll definitely lose out on various benefits and cultivation resources by staying in this position, but you may as well take it easy for now. It'll probably be about a week until they give you your next job, and until then you have a few things to take care of. You'll need to hire someone else to teach you the saber at the combat hall, get more into Blue Ridge City's social scene, and find a way to further develop your normal battle techniques. You...
>Go to the combat hall to hire a new saber teacher.
>Talk to Yu Zhen and see if he has any suggestions on getting more involved with other figures who are on your level. It never hurts to make more contacts.
>Begin looking for a suitable battle technique to aid you in fighting.
>Other

>>3178916
>Begin looking for a suitable battle technique to aid you in fighting.
If there is anything like a fighting arena, we can scout for worthy master there then beg them to teach us. Or just try to observe and understand their moves.

>>3178916
>Go to the combat hall to hire a new saber teacher.
If i we hire good enough instructor he should teach us his battle techniques
And maybe we should find someone for our butler/servant guy

>>3178916
>>Go to the combat hall to hire a new saber teacher.

>>3178933
>>3178939
You figure that you should deal with hiring a new saber teacher first and make your way back to the combat hall. It's as busy as ever, but you ignore it quickly make your way back to the book full of teachers you saw before. You look through it again and see that just like before the most expensive teachers without notes like "Not taking on new students.", "Background required.", or "Pass your application to my servant." are at around 7 gold coins an hour and are at the peak of being a Heavenly Mortal. Well, you have about 1600 gold coins and you'll probably get paid a bit more for your last job, so that shouldn't be a problem at least. You...
>Want to hire a cultivator that seems to have practiced with the saber for a while. [3 gold/hour times 12 hours a week]
>Want to hire a Heavenly Mortal that has some sort of named technique. [7 gold/hour times 9 hours a week]
>Want to look into one of the higher priced tutors and see if you can use your position as Gu Xinyi's disciple to convince them to teach you.
>Other

>>3178926
You're aware that the Combat Hall hosts tournaments on occasion but don't know the specifics. Besides that there isn't any sort of arena in the city.

>>3178953
>Want to look into one of the higher priced tutors and see if you can use your position as Gu Xinyi's disciple to convince them to teach you.

>>3178960
You figure that since you have the money you should at least hire someone around your level of cultivation and start writing down the addresses and contact information of various people who cost between 10 and 20 gold coins an hour. Once you're done you have about 15 prospective teachers and you go home to begin making copies of your information. You include things such as your address, job, cultivation level (you can't really lie since this is extremely important regarding whether you could actually practice various techniques or not), and the fact that you're a student of Gu Xinyi. You then have Hu Qiang deliver them and you guess that you'll get replies within the next couple of days.
After sending out your information to potential teachers you're free again and decide to...
>Talk to Yu Zhen and see if he has any suggestions on getting more involved with other figures who are on your level. It never hurts to make more contacts.
>Begin looking for a suitable battle technique to aid you in fighting.
>Other

>>3178977
>>Talk to Yu Zhen and see if he has any suggestions on getting more involved with other figures who are on your level. It never hurts to make more contacts.

>>3178995
You guess your next order of business will be to head to Yu Zhen's shop to ask him about how exactly you should get in touch with more of the figures on your level in the city. You're not amazingly important, but you should at least be making some connections while you're staying in Blue Ridge City. Instead you've mostly just... well, read you suppose.
Yu Zhen invites you in and you tell him about your problem. He nods his head and says "Yes, I suppose since you are new in the city you would be looking to make more connections. Well, there's the bar from before, the Flowing Boar. Hanging out there in your free time, having a few drinks, and talking to whoever else is there isn't a terrible idea. Besides that there's also the gambling hall, where many more pleasure-inclined people in the city stay. As long as you have the money, a bit of luck, and some skill, you can relax there and meet some people as well. Of course you'd need to be at some of the higher-stakes areas to meet anyone of import. Er, just a warning though, stay away from the poker tables, especially if your cultivation is lacking compared to your opponents. I know first hand how ruthless some of the players there can be. Finally, there are various social events such as balls, exchanges of knowledge, and birthdays that come up relatively frequently. I can have someone send you a message next time something fitting comes up if you wish."
After listening to Yu Zhen you thank him and...
>Begin looking for a suitable battle technique to aid you in fighting.
>Head to Gambling Hall for both pleasure and business.
>Head to the Flowing Boar to get a couple of drinks and see if you can meet anyone.
>Other

>>3179020
>Head to the Flowing Boar to get a couple of drinks and see if you can meet anyone.

>>3179020
>>Head to the Flowing Boar to get a couple of drinks and see if you can meet anyone.

>>3179020
>>Head to the Flowing Boar to get a couple of drinks and see if you can meet anyone.

>>3179033
>>3179038
>>3179045
You make your way to the Flowing Boar, figuring that you can spend a few hours there and see if you meet anyone while grabbing a couple of drinks. You enter the establishment and still see that it's relatively full at this time of day. You see a few people alone, flipping through books with a drink or eating, while others are chatting in various groups. You enter and...
>Sit alone while reading until someone approaches you. (1d100)
>Approach a group of well-dressed men in their teens and early 20s, likely the sons of merchants.
>Approach a man in his 40s with various scars criss-crossing his body in the corner. The qi coming off of him feels rather aggressive in nature and you can't tell the exact level of his cultivation. He's currently surrounded by quite a few empty mugs of alcohol.
>Approach Qian Yang and Qiao Lim, who are currently playing some sort of board game in a corner booth.
>Look for some else. [State what type of person]
>Other

>>3179051
>>Approach Qian Yang and Qiao Lim, who are currently playing some sort of board game in a corner booth.

>>3179051
>Approach Qian Yang and Qiao Lim, who are currently playing some sort of board game in a corner booth.

>>3179062
>>3179086
You approach Qian Yang and Qiao Lim, who are currently intently focused on a board game. Both of them look a bit like they want to kill each other upon a closer examination, and they simply grunt a greeting to you as you sit down at the table. The game they're playing has various black and white stones covering a large board, with each player having a bowl of one color of stones sitting next to them. Every time one of the two places a stone down a loud noise reverberates throughout the establishment and you're honestly surprised that the board doesn't break.
After about half an hour you hear Qiao Lim mutter "Dammit." after Qian Yang places down a stone. Qiao Lim then sighs and says "I resign.", immediately causing Qian Yang to start loudly bragging. "Oh? You what? Did you say you resigned? I thought you said you were good at Go. Hahahahaha, maybe you should stick to brewing tea. That makes it it 28 wins me, 20 wins you." Qiao Lim angrily mutters something before handing a small bag of coins over to Qian Yang and saying "Maybe you'd be a better blacksmith if you didn't focus on board games so much. Don't you have a sword to forge or something?"
After a couple minutes of squabbling you clear your throat and the two remember you're there. They great you rather politely and Qian Yang says "So, as you can see, I'm a master of Go. Don't praise me too much, it's simply a hobby. Qiao Lim over here just takes it too seriously, right buddy?" You then see Qiao Lim give Qian Yang a disdainful look and say "...Just a hobby my ass, didn't you know that your employees gossip about you knocking off of work to practice every time you lose to me." Qian Yang's face turns to frown as he says "Wait. What?! Dammit, which ones! Come on, Brother Qiao, my friend, tell me who I need to fire!" As Qian Yang continues babbling on Qiao Lim starts talking to you and says "So, since I think I just broke Little Qian, want to play a game? Or maybe we could go get an actual meal somewhere else, I'm pretty hungry." You...
>Say that you'd be up for trying to play the game, sure.
>Are pretty hungry to, you should go grab some food.
>Say that you just wanted to visit for a second and finish up with some small talk before approaching someone else. [State who]
>Other

>>3179112
>>Are pretty hungry to, you should go grab some food.

>>3179112
>Say that you'd be up for trying to play the game, sure.

Were'nt we gonna look for that cultivator guy that helped stack out that merchants house?

>>3179134
You did ask about him during that week long time skip but couldn't find much.
>Over the next week you mostly just wait for news, although you do expend a bit of effort trying to figure out who exactly 'Kong Xun', that cultivator that the merchant hired, was. You ask around at the bounty hunter's lodge and find out that he's in the Early Qi Emission Stage and that he's never been seen in any outfit besides that black suit. He occasionally comes to the bounty hunter's lodge to grab a job to do on the side, but he does something else most of the time. Nobody is sure what it is though.
you could put forth more effort, but he seems like he was just hired help

I'll wait a bit for a tiebreaker before calling it.

>>3179166
Wait wut? I picked the wrong one... It was suppose to be get food.

Well I mean like try and look for him or follow him, or try and investigate the guy more. I thought he was a farmer or something.

>>3179112
>Are pretty hungry to, you should go grab some food.

>>3179125
>>3179183
You say that you're pretty hungry as well and that you should go grab a meal. Qiao Lim nods and says "Alright then, let's get going." and Qian Yang quickly gets up to join the two of you after placing the board game in his bag, not wanting to be left behind.
You idly chat for about fifteen minutes and Qiao Lim starts telling you about where you'll be eating. Apparently it's an upscale restaurant near the center of the city that's been run by the same owner for nearly 100 years now. The man cultivates simply to extend his life so that he can perfect his cooking and learn more about various rare and foreign foods. The menu changes as the owner finds fit, but it's always delicious.
As you near the restaurant, you see that there's a short line, and you're honestly surprised that it's not longer based on how much Qiao Lim was hyping the place up. At this point, however, you also notice that you can sense an enormous amount of cultivators within the restaurant. Qiao Lim turns to you and says "The lines aren't that bad since only cultivators are allowed to eat here. The required cultivation depends on your age. Qi Gathering for anyone under 30, the Qi Emission Stage for anyone from 30 to 60, and the Body Refinement Realm for anyone older than that. The owner says that it's to make sure one's sense of taste is able to properly appreciate the food, and to make sure one has earned their way in. I also recall some rumors that he just hates to deal with normal merchants. Something about them being annoying. As a side note, make sure that you eat your food slowly. If anyone doesn't properly appreciate the food here the chef gets... very, very angry." You keep Qiao Lim's warning in mind and enter the line.
The line slowly moves forward and eventually an employee with a cultivation level equal to your own leads you to your seats. The employee says that he'll return in a moment and then Qiao Lim turns to the two of you and says "So, while we're here I suppose I'll order some tea leave to brew a pot of tea for us, yes? Brother Qian, I recall that you cultivate a fire-based technique, but what about you Brother Zhu?" You respond that...
>You also cultivate a fire-based technique.
>That your technique doesn't have a focus on anything. You're pretty sure this is true from what you've seen so far.
>Your cultivation technique is based on... uh... lightning? Are techniques sometimes based on lightning? It sounds feasible, but more importantly you won't have to discuss fire-based techniques with Qian Yang and pretend you know about them.
>Other
>>3179183
I mean, you could do that if you want, but that would involve either spending all of your time at the bounty hunter's lodge and seeing if he shows up or devoting a lot of resources towards trying to track him down. You really don't think he's that important. As for being a farmer, his heavily tanned skin reminded you of one, so maybe he does farm in his spare time.

>>3179216
>>That your technique doesn't have a focus on anything. You're pretty sure this is true from what you've seen so far.

>>3179230
You tell Qiao Lim that your technique doesn't have a focus on any particular element and he says "Alright then, I'll get some Red Pao leaves, it holds a bit of fire properties, but not too much." The waiter comes back shortly after with a few glasses of water and menus and Qiao Lim requests a tea set and some Red Pao leaves for brewing. He shows the waiter his Apprentice Tea Specialist emblem while doing this, almost as if he's asking for permission. The waiter nods after seeing the emblem and says that he'll be right back with the leaves.
You spend a few minutes looking over the menu and notice that the various foods and drinks are actually separated by cultivation level by now. Qiao Lim and Qian Yang claim that it's separated that way due to how delicate the tastes are in specific dishes and so on and so forth, but you feel like it might just be elitism. You settle on a large fish cooked over rice with some sauce concocted specially by the chef. It comes with a salad and soup as well. You look at one of the other tables for comparison, and see that all of the dishes are surprisingly large. Well, you suppose that's not a surprise, you're all cultivators.
The waiter returns and takes all of your orders while Qiao Lim begins brewing the tea. As he does you begin to look around the various guests. All of them are well-dressed and give off a confident appearance. Some of them are scarred, while others have smooth skin like they haven't been in a fight in their life. The only common trait is that they're all cultivators, and that they're all assumedly important.
Near the back of the restaurant you notice a large table of older men and stare at them for a few seconds, evaluating them. As you do so you hear a quiet voice in your ears say "It's not nice to stare kid." as an old, but very healthy looking, old man with hair streaked with gray throws you a glance. You quickly turn away from the table and you only hear a few laughs from the same voice after that. It seems like Qian Yang and Qiao Lim didn't notice. You...
>Ask who exactly that old man is.
>Ask why you're hearing voices in your head.
>Take a closer look at that table of people, he only jokingly told you off, you should be fine.
>Wait quietly until the tea is ready, that was a bit freaky.
>Other

>>3179329
>Take a closer look at that table of people, he only jokingly told you off, you should be fine.

>>3179351
You go to take a closer look at that table and see that it's mostly old men and a couple of old women making merry. You can't sense the cultivation of any of them, and they're all seem to be giving a lot of respect to the man who glanced at you earlier. You feel like you vaguely recognize the man from somewhere, but you have no idea where.
You then begin focusing on Qiao Lim again, watching as he finishes brewing the tea. After he finishes he pours three cups and says "Drink it quickly, it should be at the perfect temperature for now." You then grab the cup and begin drinking it, feeling the hot liquid flow down your throat. It tastes spicy and refreshing at the same time, and you feel as if it's nourishing you slightly as you drink it. As you drink it you see Qiao Lim and Qian Yang throw confused glances at you as if they just saw something ridiculous. They finish drinking their tea and after a moment seem confused.
They stare at you for a moment before Qian Yang says "This... are you in the Qi Emission Stage? I sensed your cultivation for a moment while you were drinking the tea, and then it disappeared afterwards." You respond by saying...
>Yes, I broke through recently, I guess my cultivation is still stabilizing.
>Nope, you must be mistaken. Maybe I'm close to a breakthrough.
>Yes, but for some reason nobody can normally sense my cultivation unless I'm using qi. It must be some unique constitution. I'll have another cup and then we can see if it happens again.
>Other

>>3179374
>>Yes, but for some reason nobody can normally sense my cultivation unless I'm using qi. It must be some unique constitution. I'll have another cup and then we can see if it happens again.

>>3179381
Support

>>3179381
You say "Well, yes, I have broken through, but as far as I can tell nobody can sense my cultivation unless I'm using qi. It must be some sort of unique constitution." The two of them stare at you, rather surprised, and you then say "Give me another cup of tea, we can if it happens again." Qiao Lim then says "Alright then." before quickly pouring the three of you three more cups, emptying the teapot.
You pick up the teacup, Qian Yang and Qiao Lim staring at you in anticipation, and then begin drinking the tea. Qian Yang and Qiao Lim both say "I can sense it." at around the same time, and then tell you it's gone shortly after you finish drinking the tea. They're ultimately confused and spend the time until your meal arrives wondering how exactly that works, but can't come to a satisfactory conclusion yet.
Your meal arrives and the three of you begin digging in, ignoring the issue and instead enjoying the food. The delicate flavors fill you with an odd sort of joy, and you can definitively say that this is the best meal you've ever had. The fish tenderly breaks apart, allowing its juices to flavor the rice, and the salad and soup both go well together with your main dish
You eat your disk at a slower pace then usual, remembering what Qiao Lim told you, but eventually leave your dishes empty. The waiter leaves the three of you slips of paper with your bills written on them and says to please come again. You look at your bill and see that it comes out to around 25 gold coins. It's not ridiculous for a restaurant as fancy as this, but you shudder to think what your wallet would look like if you tried eating here every day. Qian Yang and Qiao Lim probably paid more since Qiang Yang ordered alcohol and Qiao Lim ordered tea.
The three of you leave the restaurant and go your separate ways. You're rather full and it's night, so you...
>Turn in for the night so that you can begin looking for a suitable battle technique tomorrow.
>Head to the gambling hall to make merry.
>Other

>>3179424
>>Turn in for the night so that you can begin looking for a suitable battle technique tomorrow.

>>3179424
>Turn in for the night so that you can begin looking for a suitable battle technique tomorrow.
Was he one of the guys that helped us fight that horde?

>>3179441
Qian Yang is the Apprentice Blacksmith who made your saber that Yu Zhen introduced you to, and Qiao Lim is the Apprentice Tea Specialist who you met when you were eating a meal with Yu Zhen and some other Apprentice Apothecaries at the Flowing Boar. Your direct superior while fighting against the beast was Tan Wuhan. Who knows what he's up to. Updating now.

>>3179454
No i mean like some village elder who probably slew the monster that killed our parents was at that battle i think and was wondering if he was that village elder?

>>3179454
*beast horde, not beast
I am an expert in the Dao of typoes

You make your way back home, ready to turn in for the night and start searching for a suitable battle technique tomorrow. You say hello to Hu Qiang, who currently seems to be cultivating, and then head to bed.
The next morning you get up and then start thinking. To get a suitable battle technique you'd either need a full-time teacher or a manual. With your schedule and the fact that you're already learning the saber and pillforging, a teacher would be impractical, so you'll look for a manual of some sort. You expect it to cost quite a bit so you gather your funds and then make your way to the center of the city, looking for a shop for this sort of thing. Eventually you make your way into a small building devoted to cultivation and battle techniques where one can purchase copies of a given technique. The staff there are all cultivators so they'll be able to get a decent amount of intent across from the originals. The techniques should be good enough for you as you are now. You find a technique that...
>Requires one to wear heavy armor and to wield a shield with their weapon. By augmenting one's armor with their qi they'll create an impenetrable defense.
>Teaches one to dodge with more minute movements in order to use their speed more wisely.
>Trains someone to direct their qi through their punches and to deal heavy damage to the opponent in a single hit.
>Other

>>3179462
Oh, you meant him. Nope, you met him and thanked him in the first thread.

>>3179476
>>Trains someone to direct their qi through their punches and to deal heavy damage to the opponent in a single hit.

ONE PUNCH MAN!

>>3179476
>>Trains someone to direct their qi through their punches and to deal heavy damage to the opponent in a single hit.

You purchase a copy of some sort of fist art that's supposed to allow you to more efficiently direct qi through punches in order to heavily damage their opponents in a single hit. It'll take a bit to master it and it's supposed to use up a large amount of qi, but it looks promising. You're a bit torn up over the price, having to pay over 1300 gold coins for it, but it's for your strength. At least you'll be getting paid a few hundred more gold coins for your last job soon. Hopefully.
The next couple of days pass normally as you begin to learn the fist art, cultivate, practice pillforging with Gu Xinyi, and the like. Eventually you receive some replies to your applications to learn the saber, and out of the people who sent back a letter saying that they'd be willing to teach you, you're interested in a few in particular. Ultimately you choose...
>A scion of a wealthy family who practices the saber for dueling. His style focuses on parries and quick jabs.
>A one-armed man who served as a trainer in the army for decades. His saber style is fierce and unyielding.
>An old woman who has retired to a small villa outside of the city. They use a balanced, traditional saber style.
I'll be leaving it here for tonight, thanks for voting! I'll be back around 2 PM CST tomorrow.

>>3179576
>>An old woman who has retired to a small villa outside of the city. They use a balanced, traditional saber style.

>>3179576
>A one-armed man who served as a trainer in the army for decades. His saber style is fierce and unyielding.

>>3179576
>A one-armed man who served as a trainer in the army for decades. His saber style is fierce and unyielding.

>>3179576
>An old woman who has retired to a small villa outside of the city. They use a balanced, traditional saber style.
the guy has one arm for a reason......

>>3180112
>He must be good if he can keep practicing and teaching after losing an arm.

>>3179576
>An old woman who has retired to a small villa outside of the city. They use a balanced, traditional saber style.

>>3179576
>An old woman who has retired to a small villa outside of the city. They use a balanced, traditional saber style
The one armed man is interesting but I see the character is the more calm and rational type.

>>3179576
>An old woman who has retired to a small villa outside of the city. They use a balanced, traditional saber style.

>>3179576
>An old woman who has retired to a small villa outside of the city. They use a balanced, traditional saber style.

Update after I get back from eating, I was already halfway through writing it when I got interrupted.

>>3179576
>A one-armed man who served as a trainer in the army for decades. His saber style is fierce and unyielding.

You decide to learn from the old woman who's supposed to teach a balanced, traditional saber style. She's supposed to charge a rate of 18 gold coins per hour and you'll receive training from her for three sessions of three hours every week. You have Hu Qiang deliver some letters back to the people who respond to you and go back to trying to cultivate the fist art you bought.
The fist art requires you to manipulate your qi in a certain fashion and direct it towards you fist, and while the basic path isn't terribly hard to get down, it's hard to make efficient. You'll have to train for a while before you can use it to much effect.
The next day you get a letter back setting up the time for your first training session with the old woman, planning to do it in two days. At the same time you get three letters, two from your boss and another from Yu Zhen. The first letter from your boss is simply a sheet of paper saying that 500 gold coins will be delivered to your house tomorrow for your work on your last contract and to have somebody present to pick the money up. The other says that he'd like you to spend tomorrow guarding an art exhibit if you're free and that he can pay you 30 gold coins for it. Yu Zhen's letter says that someone is hosting a party and that he can get you in if you'd like. You...
>Will spend tomorrow doing some guard work to make some extra money.
>Accept Yu Zhen's invitation to the party.
>Other

My dad took forever to get ready and the traffic was shit, sorry for the wait.

>>3181006
>Will spend tomorrow doing some guard work to make some extra money.
We get chance to watch how well of people mingle and get paid for it. Also chance to ruin someone's heist is to good.

>>3181009
You go and inform your boss that you'll do the guard work tomorrow and have Hu Qiang tell Yu Zhen that you have work to do and that you won't be able to attend the party.
The next day you show up to a large building that seems to have quite a few workers helping move things inside. You take a glance inside and see that it's well decorated and that there are various paintings covering the walls. You see tables spread out throughout the hallways covered with various dishes of food and drink. After looking around for a moment you find your boss and he fills you in on your duties. You're to guard the front door with a list and to let in whoever is on the list. If they aren't on the list, you're supposed to tell them to leave. That... this isn't what you thought they meant by guard work. Couldn't they have just hired a normal employee for this?
You take your position outside the building and wait for the art exhibition to begin. Eventually it does and you quickly begin checking the names various people give you and seeing if they're on the list you've been given. Everyone is dressed rather fancily and a good portion of them are cultivators. Some of them just seem like rather rich merchants however, and you can't sense any sort of cultivation coming from them.
Eventually the line slows down and a well-dressed man in his mid-20s with long blonde hair approaches you. He seems to have a level of cultivation roughly equal to your own. He introduces himself and you check for his name on the list. You inform him that it's not there, but he then says "Oh come on friend, you must have just missed it. It should be there, right?" as you see him grab a small handful of gold coins out of his pocket. You...
>Tell him that he's really not on the list.
>Tell him that it's there and apologize for the trouble. He seems like the sort that's allowed in anyways, if you're getting bribed you don't mind letting him in.
>Inform him that you don't think it's on the list but that you might find it soon. You don't mind letting him in if he pays enough.
>Other

>>3181066
>Tell him that he's really not on the list.

>>3181066
>>Tell him that he's really not on the list.

>>3181072
>>3181097
You tell the man that he's really not on the list and he frowns at you, clearly displeased. He takes another step towards you, saying something about how you're clearly mistaken, and you feel a slight pressure come towards you, likely from due to some basic technique of his. You think you've read about something like this in "Tips and Tricks for the Inexperienced Cultivator". You quickly drive your own qi, causing the pressure to disappear, and he takes a step back and says "I-I'll be on my way then." before leaving.
Over the next hour a couple of other people try to bribe you, but none of them seem either important or wealthy offer to offer you a decent bribe either, so you don't let them in. Eventually you see the old man who saw you staring at him at the restaurant the other day. He walks up to you and simply says "My name isn't on the list, so you don't need to check." as he begins to walk past you. You...
>Nod and don't stop him from entering, even if he's not supposed to be here you can't stop him. He's probably important enough to just show up anyways, whoever he is.
>Inform him that he can't enter if his name isn't on the list.
>Other

>>3181115
>>Nod and don't stop him from entering, even if he's not supposed to be here you can't stop him. He's probably important enough to just show up anyways, whoever he is.

>>3181115
>Nod and don't stop him from entering, even if he's not supposed to be here you can't stop him. He's probably important enough to just show up anyways, whoever he is.

>>3181115
>>Nod and don't stop him from entering, even if he's not supposed to be here you can't stop him. He's probably important enough to just show up anyways, whoever he is.

>>3181221
>>3181237
>>3181252
You nod and allow the man in. Shortly after you can faintly hear a few surprised voices talking about how the provincial governor showed up before you hear them say variations on "Provincial Governor Cai Bao, congratulations on your breakthrough to the Qi Foundation Realm!" That... was that just the provincial governor? Well, you suppose he would live here given that it's the provincial capital. You're glad he didn't take offense to you staring the other day.
The rest of the night passes normally and your boss lets you return home about midnight. You feel like you've been overpaid for this, but you guess that's the price for hiring a cultivator. If you were any weaker that man from before probably would've tried to throw his weight around further to get inside, so you guess it's well deserved.
The next afternoon you walk to a small villa outside of the city where the old woman who's supposed to train you in the saber lives. You can sense someone inside the villa with a gentle qi who's in the Late Qi Emission Stage. You approach the front door and gently knock on it. A teenage girl opens the door and you introduce yourself. She then tells you that her master will be right with you. A moment later an old woman in a traditional-looking dress appears. She looks at you for a moment before she confusedly says "You're Zhu Zhexian?" You confirm that you are and then drive your qi for a moment so that she can sense it. She nods her head and you can hear her mutter something about how she expected you to be in your 20s or 30s.
The old woman leads you to a training room before asking you to demonstrate your capability with the saber. You do as much as you can and she says "That's... well, I can see why you'd need to hire a teacher. At least the fundamentals aren't terrible. Follow after me." The next few hours are then spent correcting you movements with the saber and discussing the proper usage of it in combat. You've learned quite a bit and she seems very capable.
You return home to your home, you payment for the last contract now collected by Hu Qiang. You now have 580 gold coins in your possession. It's not a ton, but it's enough to fund your training over three weeks of living in the city. Until you get your next contract you...
>Do things normally. Train, chat, cultivate, that sort of thing.
>Other [Anything else you'd like to do before you get your next job. It'll be about a week.]
until your next contract you have Hu Qiang...
>Take care of the house and other miscellaneous matters.
>Other [Any other orders you'd like Hu Qiang to take care of for the time being.]

>>3181293
>>Do things normally. Train, chat, cultivate, that sort of thing.
>Take care of the house and other miscellaneous matters.

>>3181299
The next week goes by without much fanfare and you're called back to your boss's office to accept another contract. This time your job is to...
>Break into the home of a minor merchant who plotted against a member of the kingdom's royalty and then find proof of it. Once you get the proof you're to capture anyone involved and bring them back. You're not to kill any of the guards if possible The reward is 150 gold coins.
>Get rid of a small group of bandits who live a few days to the north. Their leader is supposed to be a Heavenly Mortal who can gather qi and reports have shown that for some reason he rides some sort of creature that looks like a tiger. This has been said by many witnesses, so it shouldn't be made up. The reward is 200 gold coins for the leader, one for each bandit otherwise, and five for any other cultivators.
>To capture a cultivator that recently killed several other Heavenly Mortals in a dispute. He should be a Heavenly Mortal who gathers qi. The information you have states that he's been spotted in the woods a couple of days to the south. The reward is 250 gold coins.

>>3181337
>>To capture a cultivator that recently killed several other Heavenly Mortals in a dispute. He should be a Heavenly Mortal who gathers qi. The information you have states that he's been spotted in the woods a couple of days to the south. The reward is 250 gold coins.

>>3181339
>To capture a cultivator that recently killed several other Heavenly Mortals in a dispute. He should be a Heavenly Mortal who gathers qi. The information you have states that he's been spotted in the woods a couple of days to the south. The reward is 250 gold coins.

>>3181339
>>3181358
Your next contract is to capture a cultivator who should be a Heavenly Mortal who gathers qi. He killed two other Heavenly Mortals in a dispute half a week ago and then gathered some of his things and fled the city. Witnesses have reported that he was spotted in the woods several days to the south. You're given a sketch to go off of and a bit more detailed information about him before being sent off. You...
>Head to the last location he was spotted in the woods to see if you can find any trace of him nearby.
>Keep watch at a town outside of the forest and see if he comes into town.
>Other

>>3181411
>Keep watch at a town outside of the forest and see if he comes into town.

>>3181411
>>Keep watch at a town outside of the forest and see if he comes into town.

>>3181418
>>3181424
You spend the next couple of days making your way to the town nearest to where the man was spotted, figuring you can wait for him to arrive there. After you reach the town you...
>Attempt to find the hunters who spotted the cultivator about four days ago. They already gave their reports to the authorities but it never hurts to doublecheck.
>Stay in the town at a high point and watch people entering or leaving the town and see if any fires start in the woods.
>Other

>>3181474
>>Stay in the town at a high point and watch people entering or leaving the town and see if any fires start in the woods.

>>3181477
You decide that you'll just stay in the town for the time being and take a look at anybody who enters or leaves the town. You can also see if any fires start in the woods from here.
The entirety of a day passes, with you checking several fires that just turn out to be hunters cooking food until you find something of note. In the middle of the night, however, you see a small amount of smoke rising from the woods. You begin to near where it is, and as you near it, you faintly sense a cultivator who's in the Early Qi Emission Stage. Well, that shouldn't be your criminal since he was supposed to be a Heavenly Mortal. You...
>Approach the fire openly, may as well chat with whoever's there.
>Approach the fire through the trees to get a closer look.
>Leave, you don't want to risk disturbing whoever is out here and getting into a fight because you scared them.
>Other

>>3181544
>Approach the fire through the trees to get a closer look.

>>3181544
>Approach the fire through the trees to get a closer look.

>>3181544
>>Approach the fire openly, may as well chat with whoever's there.

>>3181655
>>3181668
You begin to approach the fire through the trees to get a better look. Next to the fire you see a man and woman, both dressed in black robes. You want to get a look at their faces, but before you can the woman, whose cultivation seems equal to yours, quickly turns around to look at you. She then says "Come out, come out, you're not as hidden as you think you are. I'd like to talk." As she does this you get a better look at her face. It's rather pale and she has short, black hair. She appears to be in her 30s or 40s. You...
>Come down, you're clearly not hidden and they're probably not hostile.
>Ask why exactly you should come down when they haven't introduced themselves.
>Flee, you don't know who this woman is but she clearly has sharp senses if she was able to spot you without much difficulty. If they're enemies then this will get dangerous.
>Other

>>3181717
>Come down, you're clearly not hidden and they're probably not hostile.

>>3181717
>>Come down, you're clearly not hidden and they're probably not hostile.

Rolled 80, 74, 75 = 229 (3d100)

>>3181749
>>3181752
You come down from the tree and you hear the woman laugh and say "Ah-ha! I knew you were there! I didn't think that it'd just be a kid up there though! Come over, come over, let's talk." You approach the two at the fire and then go to take a seat on the ground across from them. As you do you see the face of the robed man and see that it looks strikingly similar to the sketch of the criminal from before. After seeing this you...

>>3181772
...manage to calmly sit down, not showing any reaction to the man's face. You could attack him, but given that there's someone who at the very least has a level of cultivation equal to your own here, it would be a very difficult task, even if you had the element of surprise. And regarding that, you probably don't. You're a cultivator who just showed up in their camp at the middle of the night. They probably suspect something already.
After you sit down, the woman smiles at you and says "So, I'm Fan Tai and he's Fan Shui. We're a couple~ travelling across the kingdom and seeing the sites." before grabbing the man's arm and pulling him closer, almost like she's claiming a piece of property. "What's your name?" You respond "I'm Zeng Yuhan." Fan Tai then begins talking for a while, in an oddly excited tone, until she gets around to asking why you're here. You could tell her why you're really out here, but that seems rather suicidal given that one of them seems to be the suspect. You...
>Respond by telling her that you're an apothecary and that you were looking for herbs in the forest when you spotted their camp.
>Tell her that you work in the nearby town and you thought that poachers might have been out because of the fire so you came to look.
>Tell her that you're just a wanderer who happened to come across them.
>Other

>>3181788
>>Respond by telling her that you're an apothecary and that you were looking for herbs in the forest when you spotted their camp.

>>3181804
You tell Fan Tai that you're an apothecary and that you were looking for herbs in the forest when you spotted their camp. Fan Tai looks at you and grins before saying "Oh really, an apothecary? Fan Shui is actually an Apprentice Apothecary as well, nice to meet you!" Fan Shui simply nods before Fan Tai continues talking. "So, searching for herbs? Why are you out at this time of night? It'd be hard to find what you're looking for, right?" You...
>Respond by telling her that you couldn't sleep and it's not like you have anything better to do.
>Make up something about an herb that glows in the dark that's found nearby. There are herbs like that, although they're mostly in caves, so it should work fine as a lie.
>Ignore the question and talk to Fan Tai about being an apothecary.
>Other

>>3181840
>Tell her she sounds like our mother
>Ask them how long they were couple

>>3181840
>>3181855
Lets try this.

>>3181840
>Other
>"It's a form a training I wanted to try out. To search for herbs while my vision is hampered. Besides, it's great training to have in tamer woods before diving into a wooded area that beasts control if I want to acquire rarer ingredients."

>>3181855
>>3181912
You ignore her question, simply saying "You sound like my mother. How long have you two been a couple?" Fan Tai chuckles and says "We're going on five years now." before hugging Fan Shui a bit. He looks visibly uncomfortable and rather scared as this is happening. Fan Tai then turns towards you and says "So, since you're able to come up and out of trees that fast and want to be an apothecary, you should be a cultivator, right? What's your level of cultivation?" You respond by telling her that you're...
>A Heavenly Mortal who can gather qi.
>An Earthly Mortal.
>In the Early Qi Emission Stage.
>Other

>>3181940
>A Heavenly Mortal who can gather qi

>>3181940
>>A Heavenly Mortal who can gather qi.

>>3181947
>>3181957
You say that you're a Heavenly Mortal that can gather qi. Fan Tai then stares at you and gives you a wide grin. She chuckles a bit and says "That's good. Fan Shui is too. It would be bad if you were anything else. I think you should follow us, this isn't a good location." As Fan Tai says this Fan Shui seems to grow less uncomfortable, almost as if this is what he was waiting for. You respond by...
>Kicking dirt into the fire and running away as fast as possible.
>Asking what this isn't a good location for.
>Following them.
>Other

>>3181975
>Asking what this isn't a good location for.

Tbh, I was kinda unhappy we went for the fist technique. But now that we're in a situation where we can't go for our weapon, I am so glad.

>>3181982
You ask what exactly this isn't a good location for and Fan Tai simply turns back to you, with as wide a grin as ever, and says "Fighting! And torture! Oh, but don't worry, you only get tortured if you lose against him. Just don't lose and you'll be fine!" You're shocked as you stop in place, confused by what you're hearing. This... well, these are clearly criminals, but what the hell? Why do you need to fight against him? Is this their sick idea of fun? You...
>Run away as fast as possible.
>Say that you want more than just being 'fine' if you win.
>Ask her to confirm that if you win against Fan Shui, you get to leave without injury.
>Follow them, they're clearly off their rocker but you can beat Fan Shui at least.
>Other

>>3182002
>Other

Why not fight here?

I'm gonna leave it here for the night, this is a decent point and I'd like it to accumulate some votes before I continue. I won't be here for a full session tomorrow due to real life, but I will pop in and update a few times when I'm free.

>>3182040
okay, good night.

>>3182002
>Ask her what the hell is on her mind.

>>3182014
Supporting

>>3182014
>>3182714
You ask why you can't just fight here and Fan Tai turns back to you and says "Ooh, good point. I was going to make it a clearer area where it's easier to fight, but sure. Why NOT fight here! Combat in the dark forest, risking getting attacked from the darkness and having your blood leave your body as the life fades from your eyes... great idea! Well then, Fan Shui, get ready!" You...
>Run away as fast as possible, it looks like Fan Shui is going to try to kill you in a moment.
>Unsheathe your saber and get ready to fight.
>Say that you want more than just being 'fine' if you win.
>Ask her to confirm that if you win against Fan Shui, you get to leave without injury.
>Ask what the hell is wrong with them and why this is necessary.
>Other

>>3182727
>Ask what the hell is wrong with them and why this is necessary.

>>3182727
Stop her for a second, admit she is right and fighting in more appropriate place would be better. While she is distracted run

>>3182727
>>Run away as fast as possible, it looks like Fan Shui is going to try to kill you in a moment.

>>3182727
>>Ask what the hell is wrong with them and why this is necessary.

Gonna wait another hour or two and see if there's a tiebreaker by then, right now we're at 2 run - 2 "what the hell is wrong with you".

>>3182727
>Ask what the hell is wrong with them and why this is necessary.

>>3182785
>>3183059
>>3183289
You look at Fan Tai in confusion and say "What the hell is wrong with you? Why is this necessary?" She just chuckles a bit and says "What's wrong with me? Well, some of my coworkers say I enjoy playing around too much with my work, but I think of it as a good thing. Why would you just pounce on someone immediately when you can talk a little, have some fun! As for why we need to do this, that's not for you to know. What about I tell you if you win!"
As she says this you see Fan Shui begin charging towards you, daggers gripped in each hand. You should be able to dodge his attacks, but that will probably give away that you're in the Qi Emission Stage, and you're not sure if they'll still let you leave if they figure that out. Although if you do catch him by surprise, maybe she'll be forced to make sure he doesn't die and you'll get a chance to run." You...
>Wait until Fan Shui draws closer and then dodge and counterattack as fast as possible. Since you have a higher level of cultivation you should be able to wound him pretty badly.
>Use the abilities of a Heavenly Mortal who can gather qi and try to fight as best as you can. That way Fan Tai won't interfere.
>Run away as fast as possible.
>Other

>>3183356
>>Wait until Fan Shui draws closer and then dodge and counterattack as fast as possible. Since you have a higher level of cultivation you should be able to wound him pretty badly.
Let's not screw around with them and aim to neutralize both as fast as possible.

>>3183356
>Wait until Fan Shui draws closer and then dodge and counterattack as fast as possible. Since you have a higher level of cultivation you should be able to wound him pretty badly.

>>3183356
>>Wait until Fan Shui draws closer and then dodge and counterattack as fast as possible. Since you have a higher level of cultivation you should be able to wound him pretty badly.

Rolled 68, 46, 64 = 178 (3d100)

>>3183363
>>3183369
>>3183492

>>3183511
You wait for Fan Shui to draw nearer, his daggers in hand, and then once he's relatively close, you begin to move towards him and swing your saber towards his side as fast as possible. As you do so you see his demeanor change and he immediately switches from dashing towards you to pushing off against a nearby tree to change directions. As he begins to move away from you your saber reaches its destination. Instead of sinking into the man's side, you hear the clink of metal as it hits one of the man's daggers. The dagger manages to reduce the force, and while you wound the man and damage his dagger, he should be able to continue fighting.
You'll almost certainly beat him in a fight, even if he does seem to be far stronger than you were at his level of cultivation, there's just the question of if Fan Tai would interfere. Currently she's just laughing, and you can hear her say "He has the same cultivation as me? Kakakaka, that's hilarious! You're an unlucky little shit, aren't you Blackfoot? How are you going to beat him?" You...
>Charge towards "Blackfoot", since the woman doesn't seem to be interfering you should just try to finish him off.
>Start running, your attack failed and you don't know when her mood is going to switch to being hostile towards you.
>Other

>>3183530
>Other
Come peacefully and you will not have to suffer more injuries.

>>3183530
>Other
Hobble him so he can't run away and challenge Fan Tai.

Next session will start tomorrow at around 1 or 2 PM CST, so I'll leave the choice open until then.
>>3183662
You feel like Fan Tai is probably far stronger than you given that you would definitely die fighting against the man who is listening to her orders if you were at his cultivation level. You can still challenge her to a fight if you wish, but in actual combat you think you would have a very high chance of dying.

>>3183530
>>Start running, your attack failed and you don't know when her mood is going to switch to being hostile towards you.

>>3184102
Lets fall back and figure out who the woman is.

>>3183552
Changing to run

>>3183530
>Start running, your attack failed and you don't know when her mood is going to switch to being hostile towards you.
We need to report this and get reinforcements.
Tan Wuhan seems like a good match for this girl in more ways than one.

>>3183530
>Start running, your attack failed and you don't know when her mood is going to switch to being hostile towards you
Tactical retreat, we're not a hothead. This is definitely an eye opener though, high cultivation is all well and good but we really gotta start focusing on our technique. We're getting some saber training but some more martial art manuals would definitely help.

This... you think you need to run away. Your attempt to incapacitate your target in a single attack failed and there's still that woman creepily staring at you. If she turns hostile towards you this isn't going to go well.
You quickly turn around and begin moving as fast as you can. You can hear Fan Tai yell from behind you "Now I'm interested in you, come on, stick around and play for a while!" You make your way...
>Towards town, you might be able to find another cultivator there to help you.
>Deeper into the woods where it's harder to navigate.
>Other

>>3184628
>Deeper into the woods where it's harder to navigate.
>Other try to repress your aura while running.

>>3184628
>Towards town, you might be able to find another cultivator there to help you.
Get Hu Qian

>>3184628
Seconding >>3184653

Rolled 97, 87, 59 = 243 (3d100)

>>3184653
>>3184667
You decide to make your way deeper into the forest as fast as you can, hoping to shake Fan Tai off. She shouldn't be able to sense you as long as you don't emit qi from your body, given the oddness of your cultivation technique, so you should have the advantage.
You begin running, Fan Tai following some distance behind, and you notice that you can't sense her cultivation anymore. Wait, what? She can't actually have some sort of unique constitution, could she? You guess the most likely circumstance is that she practices some sort of technique to hide her presence for some stealth-related reason.
The two of you make your way through the deep forest unable to sense the other's cultivation. You only know you're being chased from the faint sounds of branches whipping back and forth from Fan Tai jumping off of them behind you and occasional glimpses of her dark figure through the trees. It seems she stopped heckling you and is just focusing on following behind you now.
Eventually...

>>3184690
...you think you lost her. You don't simply trust in this and continue running through the forest until dawn. By this point you haven't seen any trace of Fan Tai for hours, and you're currently deep inside the forest. You doubt that humans come here often, and the foliage is extremely thick. You're about to continue running, but your body protests as you can feel the soreness of your legs. You sit down instead, finding a nearby stream to take a drink from, and consider your next course of action. You decide to...
>Venture deeper into the forest, eventually you'll come out on the other side.
>Begin heading back towards town, as long as you're careful you shouldn't run into her.
>Follow the stream to its source, it should lead to higher ground where you can get a better view of the area.
>Find a place to hide yourself and sleep, you're exhausted.
>Other

>>3184698
>Follow the stream to its source, it should lead to higher ground where you can get a better view of the area.

>>3184698
>Follow the stream to its source, it should lead to higher ground where you can get a better view of the area.
>Other
Might as well search for some rare herbs while walking.

>>3184712
don't we do that automatically?

>>3184716
I don't think so.

>>3184706
>>3184712
You begin following the stream as fast as your weary legs allow. You keep an eye out for any herbs you can use, but hold yourself back from spending too much time on it since you might be tracked. As midday approaches you're on clearly higher ground, which at least means you're making progress, but you really can't continue on like this without rest. You're also rather hungry, although you suppose you could subsist off of qi for the time being if you have to, it'll just be less efficient. You...
>Find a place to rest and take a nap for the time being.
>Gather some food and then find a place to rest after you get something to eat.
>Continue onwards, there's no time for rest!
>Other

>>3184716
>>3184730
you grab any herbs that don't take much effort to look for automatically
actually examining things closely to see if you might be able to find anything slows you down greatly and would be what you do when you're actively out to gather herbs or other ingredients

>>3184739
>Find a place to rest and take a nap for the time being.

>>3184739
>Gather some food and then find a place to rest after you get something to eat.

I'll just go for an in-between option for a bit if there isn't a tiebreaker.

>>3184748
>>3184752
You look around for a short while and find a few plants that you can eat without cooking and figure that you'll have to stick with that for the time being since you can't make a fire and you don't really want to spend too long looking for food.
As you're eating your rather meager meal, you look around for a place to rest. Eventually you find a sizable tree and a large enough place in its branches to sleep. It's not the most comfortable place, but you won't get attacked by anything at least.
You wake up as the sky is beginning to turn dark again and begin following the stream once again. By the time it's night you're out of the forest and on the side of a small mountain. You can't really see in the darkness, so you'll have to wait until the morning to get a good view of the area. You...
>Proceed to the top of the mountain so that you can get some more rest and a better view once dawn comes.
>Stay near the edge of the forest, who knows, maybe she expected you to go here and is waiting for you up there. You won't be able to get as good a view of the surroundings come dawn though.
>Other

>>3184828
>Proceed to the top of the mountain so that you can get some more rest and a better view once dawn comes.

>>3184828
>>Proceed to the top of the mountain so that you can get some more rest and a better view once dawn comes

>>3184846
>>3184867
You begin making your way towards the top of the mountain and find a small cave to rest in until dawn. You go to sleep again and wake up in pretty good condition before slowly making your way to the peak. Once you get to the peak it's shortly after dawn so you can get a good view of the surroundings. You spot the town you were initially in in the distance, and near the edge of your vision you can see the sprawling cityscape of Blue Ridge City. Between that you can occasionally see villages and other small towns. You...
>Go back to where you were assigned to, maybe you can figure out more there.
>Head back to Blue Ridge CIty to report to your boss, this is out of your league.
>Other

>>3184874
>Head back to Blue Ridge CIty to report to your boss, this is out of your league.

>>3184874
>Head back to Blue Ridge CIty to report to your boss, this is out of your league.

Rolled 27, 62, 41 = 130 (3d100)

>>3184890
>>3184892
rolling encounters

>>3184900
You decide on heading towards Blue Ridge City to report to your boss since you can't take care of this yourself. You're a bit off of the normal path so it'll be three days until you get there.
Most of the first day of travelling passes normally, but you hear some loud screeching noises at one point while walking through the woods. As you hear this you see a furry looking creature traveling through the trees at a very fast pace. It's probably some sort of savage beast.
It's not immediately hostile towards you like the ones enraged by the beast horde, so you may just be able to pass through its territory without being attacked. You could try to kill it and sell the parts later though for some extra money. You...
>Chase after it, it's an extra payday for you.
>Keep your head down and hope it ignores you, it's not worth fighting it even if it seems weaker than you.
>Other

>>3184912
>Keep your head down and hope it ignores you, it's not worth fighting it even if it seems weaker than you.

>>3184912
>>Keep your head down and hope it ignores you, it's not worth fighting it even if it seems weaker than you.

>>3184921
>>3184925
You keep your head down and the creature ignores you besides screeching at you a few times. After that you continue making your way through the forest without trouble.
Two days later, as you're nearing Blue Ridge City, you enter a section of the woods that seems oddly quiet. Then, as you continue walking, you hear a loud hissing noise and the sound of a rattle. At the same time you feel a qi roughly on par with yours approaching your location. You...
>Unsheathe your saber and keep your eyes peeled.
>Attempt to run, you might expose your back to it but you don't want to deal with whatever managed to leave the deeper parts of the forest.
>Other

>>3184938
>Unsheathe your saber and keep your eyes peeled. Slowly retreating

>>3184944
Support.

>>3184938
>>Attempt to run, you might expose your back to it but you don't want to deal with whatever managed to leave the deeper parts of the forest.

leaving the vote open for around another half an hour, dinner

>>3184944
>>3184948
As you unsheathe your saber and hear the hissing draw closer, you see a massive snake appear in the branches of a nearby tree. Its body is as thick as a large branch and it's colored in splotches of brown and green. It stares at you, it's tongue darting in and out of its mouth, as it slowly begins to near your location. You...
>Wait for it to attack you so that you can dodge and try to counter it.
>Advance towards it and try to slice the head off.
>Leave, if it wants to fight you it can chase you first.
>Other

>>3185012
>>Leave, if it wants to fight you it can chase you first.
We might be able to fight it but if that nearby qi user is also hostile I'd rather not bite off more than we can chew.

>>3185033
Oh, I might have not been clear enough. The qi is from the snake. It appears to be in the Qi Emission Stage as well, or at least whatever equivilant savage beasts have.

>>3185033
+1
Let get out of here we can hunt them when we are sure no crazy bitch is running around

Since we're almost back in the city maybe we should bring Hu Qiang with us the next time we set out. An extra person might have been useful just now.

>>3185054
Whenever we go for the job we should bring him on
1. Extra muscles
2. Cultivator servant make us look awesome

Rolled 57, 71, 1 = 129 (3d100)

You start running, if the snake really wants to fight you then it can catch you first. As you do so the snake quickly darts out with a hiss from its location in the trees and begins chasing after you. You begin to run and...

>>3185083
...the snake begins to close the distance between the two of you, taking advantage of its flexibility to avoid the difficult terrain. When it draws close to you you see it spit out a purplish glob of liquid from its mouth. It bubbles slightly as it shoots towards you, and you...
>Dodge!
>Block it with your saber.
>Charge through it and aim to slice the snake's head off.
>Other

>>3185090
>>Dodge!
>Charge through it and aim to slice the snake's head off.
Evade and counter.

>>3185090
>Dodge around a tree and aim to cut it's head off.
Should've gotten that dodging book.

>>3185101
+1

>>3185090
Did we practise that punching technique? Because we could use that to send it back at sneak

>>3185091
>>3185101
>>3185122
Your first instinct looking at that glob of dangerous, possibly highly poisonous purple liquid is to get out of the way as fast as possible. You kick off of the branch you're on top of and try to dodge it before it can hit you.

>>3185127
You have been practicing in your spare time but its usage of qi is still very inefficient. It'll probably take a few weeks before it's particularly useful.

really dumb typo fixed, keeping the rolls though

>>3185136
You manage to react quickly and dodge the vast majority of the ball of liquid. A few drops of it fly through the air and splatter on your clothes, creating small holes where they land and making a sizzling noise sort of like what you might hear when cooking with oil. Luckily it's not enough to actually injure you, although you'll have to buy a new outfit or get this one mended once you're back in the city.
You now turn around, ready to counterattack the snake, and begin swinging your saber through the air to slice its head off. As you do so it turns towards you, ready to take you on. It spreads it mouth wide, almost as if to try to swallow you whole. You...
>Continue slicing towards the snake's neck.
>Use your saber to block against its fangs. Time to see whether a beast's bite or your weapon is more powerful!
>Thrust your saber into its jaws and stab it as deeply as possible in the throat.
>Move backwards, backing away from the clash of strength.
>Other

>>3185147
>>Continue slicing towards the snake's neck.

>>3185147
>Thrust your saber into its jaws and tilt the blade upwards to make the blade stab into the snake's brain.

>>3185147
>Continue slicing towards the snake's neck.

>>3185153
>>3185170
You know you guys are insane right?

>>3185197
Potentially getting our arm bitten off isn't exactly a good idea either.

File: Lets us see..jpg (117 KB, 1058x705)

117 KB JPG

>>3185203

Rolled 51, 19, 87 = 157 (3d100)

>>3185153
>>3185170
You continue slicing towards the snake's neck. If you can muster enough force you'll be able to end it in a single strike, while if you can't then the snake will have a great opportunity to attack.

>>3185197
You know you are betting everything on one hit kill, that might not even work?

>>3185214
Better than betting a limb.

Rolled 3, 70, 62 = 135 (3d100)

>>3185211
You put as much force into your swing as possible, and as the saber reaches its neck it breaks through the scales and begins tearing through the sinew and muscles of its neck, causing blood to begin splattering everywhere. Eventually the force behind your blade begins to slow down and it stops more than halfway through its neck. The creature angrily hisses and tries to bite you, hints of both fear and ferocity being seen in its eyes.

>>3185214
Shrug better to lose an arm then get eaten whole by a snake.

>>3185220
The snake, now rather injured, isn't as fierce as before and you're able to mostly dodge the bite. The snake scratches your right arm with its fangs and you feel the area numb slightly, but whatever poison is on its fangs is probably just to incapacitate prey and not to kill them like that ball of acidic liquid from before.
After attacking you it's a good chance to finish the creature off and you move around it to retrieve your saber. Upon pulling it out blood begins gushing out of the wound like a rather macabre fountain. You slice once again and cut deeper, finishing the injured creature off.
Well, with the creature dead you now have its body. You...
>Take whatever looks valuable and get going, you should get back to the city quickly.
>Grab the whole body and get back to the city, you'll be slowed down by at least a few hours but it's worth money and maybe it's safe to eat.
>Other

>>3185241
>>Take whatever looks valuable and get going, you should get back to the city quickly.
Better go see a doctor just in case.

>>3185241
>Take whatever looks valuable and get going, you should get back to the city quickly.

>>3185241
>Take whatever looks valuable and get going, you should get back to the city quickly.

The head is probably the most valuable, what with the venom, fangs, and other odd bits.

>>3185241
>Grab the whole body and get back to the city, you'll be slowed down by at least a few hours but it's worth money and maybe it's safe to eat.

>>3185254
I bet we could also skin it and maybe sell. I wish we could debone it but I doubt we will be doing that.

You grab the head and the end of the snake's tail and begin making your way back to the city. Your right arm is eventually rather numb, but you don't suffer any symptoms besides that. As you reach the city the numbness begins to subside and you feel perfectly fine. You return to your boss's office and...
>Tell him everything, there's no way to really explain how you escaped someone in the Qi Emission Stage and got attacked by a savage beast in the Qi Emission Stage otherwise. It's not like revealing your cultivation level is a big deal, you'll receive benefits.
>Leave out anything about being attacked on the way here, you can just go to a physician to have your arm checked on your own money. You can also say that Fan Tai probably let you get away. It'll keep your cultivation secret but you feel like there will be unintended consequences to this.
>Other

>>3185283
>>Tell him everything, there's no way to really explain how you escaped someone in the Qi Emission Stage and got attacked by a savage beast in the Qi Emission Stage otherwise. It's not like revealing your cultivation level is a big deal, you'll receive benefits.

>>3185283
>>Tell him everything, there's no way to really explain how you escaped someone in the Qi Emission Stage and got attacked by a savage beast in the Qi Emission Stage otherwise. It's not like revealing your cultivation level is a big deal, you'll receive benefits.

>OOC: Are we just walking to the office with a snakes head in tow? If so I'm totally fine with that.

>>3185291
It's not dripping blood anymore so yep, you're still carrying the head and the little rattle at the end of the tail with you.

>>3185287
>>3185291
You walk into the office and see your boss sitting at his desk, looking over paperwork. He glances at once before saying "You're back, how'd it go?" before noticing that you're carrying the decapitated head of a massive snake. He then says "Oh, that's big. Looks like some shit went down again, take a seat and tell me about it."
You tell your boss in detail what exactly happened since you left Blue Ridge City, and at the end he looks slightly annoyed, although not at you in particular. He simply sighs and says "Damn, this is going to be a pain. I'll have people look for information on a Fan Tai or Fan Shui, although I think it's safe to assume that both of those are fake names. Besides that, I'm going to need you to go to this address, there's a physician on staff there, he'll administer you some antivenom just in case." Your boss then scribbles an address on a piece of paper. After that he says "Come back after you're done, I'm going to need you to describe them again while I get somebody in here who can actually draw their faces."
You leave the office and go to the address your boss gave you, finding yourself at an ordinary looking house close to the officials' lodgings. Inside is an old man who's apparently employed by the government. He takes a look at your wound and says that you're lucky that you didn't get a bigger bite since you might have ended up lying on the floor of the woods for a while. He takes a bit of liquid from the snake's head and begins mixing it with various ingredients in a fashion that you don't recognize. Eventually he says that he's done and tells you to drink it. You do, although it burns slightly as it goes down your throat, and then the old man tells you to leave.
You return to your boss's office and help him get sketches of Fan Tai and Fan Shui made, and after you're done the boss talks to you alone. He says "Well, kid, since you've broken through to the Qi Emission Stage you're going to be getting a promotion to a different career path. I mean, we do employ bounty hunters in the Qi Emission Stage, but if I let someone who broke through to the Qi Emission Stage at 15 die then I'm going to be chewed out by my bosses. You're not an unparalleled genius or anything, you're just valuable enough that they don't want you to die doing something stupid. Go get a comfy job in the capital or whatever they give you and spend some time training, alright?" You...
>Ask if you get severance pay even if you're getting a promotion.
>Say that you'll keep his words in mind and take your leave.
>Ask if he's ever been to the capital.
>Ask if you're necessarily going to be transferred there or if you could end up with a higher position somewhere else.
>Other

>>3185347
>>Ask if he's ever been to the capital.

>>3185347
>>Ask if he's ever been to the capital.
>>Other
Ask if he knows what you could do with this snakehead. Like, say where to sell it. Like, would that high-class cooking place buy it to make snakehead booze?
Also how long before we get a notice on the job change.

>>3185354
>>3185371
You say"Alright then, I'll keep that in mind. Have you ever been to the capital?" Your boss says "Well, I have, but the last time I went there was on break about five years ago. It's a significantly larger than Blue Ridge City and located on the coast. Various experts gather there and it's where the government attempts to gather the many talents under their control in order to train them. You'll probably spend most of your time training, trying to make connections, and eventually being forced to compete with the talents from other factions such as the five families. It's a nice place, and you should be fine. Even the lower-ranked talents can enjoy a good life, and you shouldn't do too badly."
After that you ask when exactly you'll get a notice of your job change and he says "You'll probably be ordered to transfer there within a week and assigned an exact job once you get there. It'll take a couple of weeks to get there so they'll just send you there before inquiring what positions are free. There'll be something open, and even if they didn't have a position on the books for you they could just make one up. Your purpose in being there is mostly training anyways."
Lastly, you ask what exactly you should do with what you have left of the snake. Your boss looks at you and says "Uh.... the skin could go to a tailor or a blacksmith, the fangs could go to a blacksmith as well or a few other places, the venom would go a physician or maybe someone who uses poison on their weapons, and the rattle would go to... some miscellaneous craftsman? The rest could go to a restaurant. You could sell it yourself but it'd take a while, I can buy it off of you for... eh, 70 gold coins? You could get a bit more doing it yourself but it takes a lot of effort if you don't have connections already." You...
>Accept his offer.
>Decline, you'll sell it yourself.
Before...
>Going back home.
>Asking something else [State what]
>Other

>>3185411
>Decline, you'll sell it yourself.
>"I know a few people so it shouldn't be hard to sell it. Thank you for the information and for being good to me for my short time here."

>>3185411
>Decline, you'll See what you can make from this.
We should check our smith friend.
>Going back home.

>>3185411
>Decline, you'll sell it yourself.

>>3185411
>>Decline, you'll sell it yourself.
>Going back home.
Thank him for all his help.

>>3185428
>>3185434
>>3185439
You say "I appreciate the offer but I think I can sell the materials myself, I know a few people. Thanks for the help and for being good to me for my short time here." Your boss just nods and says "Thanks for not stirring too much shit up, enjoy the capital." as he goes back to his desk to begin doing paperwork again.
You return back to your home and fill in Hu Qiang on what happened, and send him off to begin selling off some of the parts. You suppose that it's lucky for him that you didn't take the whole snake back since he would've been on skinning and deboning duty for a while.
After that you head to Gu Xinyi's manor to inform him that you'll be leaving for the capital soon yourself. He seems pleased and says "That's good news, I suppose I'll see you there a week or two after you arrive. I'm planning to leave the city in a few days but have some appointments to tend to along the way. Once you're in the city you can stay at my property if you wish, I keep rooms free for my students. I should also promote you to a direct disciple as well if you'll be living in the capital, although I fully expect you to become a 1-star Apothecary yourself within the next few years, so you probably won't be my student for long." After Gu Xinyi says this he simply asks for the piece of paper with his seal on it proving you're a student of his back and writes the word "Direct" in front of disciple. This... it seems informal, but you guess it works. You finish chatting with Gu Xinyi shortly after and go on your way.
After leaving Gu Xinyi's manor you...
>Begin organizing a going away party at your home, you should say goodbye to your friends here before you go to the capital.
>Visit the gambling hall, it'll be your last chance before you leave the city.
>Inform your saber teacher that you'll be moving.
>Other

>>3185484
>>Inform your saber teacher that you'll be moving.

>Begin organizing a going away party at your home, you should say goodbye to your friends here before you go to the capital.

>Then go up that mountain one last time at night.

>>3185497
You go to inform your saber teacher that you'll be moving to the capital for a new job and she seems rather uninterested, but wishes you the best.
After that you go to Yu Zhen, Qian Yang, and Qiao Lim, and inform you them that you'll be transferred for the capital and that you're going to have a party at your house before you leave. Yu Zhen congratulates you on your breakthrough and new job and says that he'll bring some good booze, while the other two simply congratulate you on your new job since they already knew you broke through. Qiao Lim promises to bring some cheaper tea while Qian Yang says that he'll bring a few pretty women who can read poems and play the zither to lighten up the atmosphere. You set the date for four days from now and give Hu Qiang 25 gold coins to get food and drink and to hire a decent cook.
At night you head back up to the shrine and just as before you see a slight glow around it. You wait until 3 AM and see that the glow slowly intensifies in brightness up until that point until it goes back to normal afterwards. It seems like whatever spirit is housed within it isn't really powerful enough to assume a human form, although it is more visible than the other one you've seen.
>Is there anything else you'd like to do in Blue Ridge City before you get assigned your new job?

>>3185543
>Hmm I guess a new cart and horse since we lost those. Wait do we still have all those horses we got from those bandits and cart? And I guess try to sell the house since we won't be staying here and we can crash at our master's house.

>>3185576
That kinda got glossed over but I'm just going to assume you got the horse and cart back since there'd be no reason for them to kill the horse. You probably want to get a second one anyways though because you'll be hauling a cauldron again. As for selling the house, if you want to do it in under a week you'll probably lose some money since most people won't care about the cultivator-specific rooms and, well, it just generally takes longer. Gonna need a majority vote on that since you might use it eventually.
leaving the vote open for the night, I'll be back tomorrow for the last big session until a few hours on the 21st and a full session on either the 24th or more likely the 27th. Besides that I'll try to update once or twice a day at least, not sure how busy I'll be with uni at the start.

>>3185543
If possible I'd like to take what we can on our two horse cart and have our assistant or a payed caravan move our furniture and equipment to our new home. Kind of a waste if just left all that stuff here after living here for not even more than a few months.

>>3185756
Seconding this.

>>3185602
We can just rent the place out with a condition that the peope living there also take care of the place.

Rent it for a really good low price. That encourages good behavior in tenants.

We lose our bounty hunter job since we wanted to brag about bagging that snake, which sucks.

>>3185543
If we can we should rent house
Maybe have that first apothecary that we met and introduce us to smith,
take care of it and give him fat chunk of profits as thank you

Over the next few days Hu Qiang sells the snake parts for 90 gold coins and you put up a listing to rent the house for 6 gold coins a month. You also get a visit from an official who simply tells you that you're being reassigned to the capital and that you should start heading out within the next week, although your official position hasn't been decided yet.
On the night of your going away party Yu Zhen, Qian Yang, Qiao Lim, and some of the other Apprentice Apothecaries show up. You begin making merry and enjoying yourself when you hear a knock on the door. Wondering if it's another Apprentice Apothecary who arrived slightly late, you open the door. At the door you see Fan Tai with two bottles of wine in her hands with a wide grin on her face. She says "I tracked you down just in time, it's a good thing you haven't left yet! Oh, where do I set these down?" Oh god, why is she here. It's not like she can kill you when there are at least five or six people in your house in the Qi Emission Stage but... why? And how did she track you down?" You...
>Close the door and pretend you didn't see her.
>Invite her in and get Hu Qiang to fetch your old boss. Once he's here he shouldn't have any trouble catching her, he's in at least the Body Refinement Realm.
>Ask why she's here.
>Tell her to leave. Now.
>Other

>>3186938
>>Invite her in and get Hu Qiang to fetch your old boss. Once he's here he shouldn't have any trouble catching her, he's in at least the Body Refinement Realm.
>>Ask why she's here.

>>3186950
You just say "Er... I'll hold onto those bottles and have my servant put it in the pantry, we already have drinks. What brings you here?" as you invite her in. She continues rather disturbingly smiling at you and says "Well, I was just wondering how exactly you were able to hide your cultivation! A technique, a treasure, what? Either way it's pretty good since I'm trained to see through weaker things of that sort. I'd be willing to buy it off of you if it's a technique or a treasure. If it's something that you can't sell, then why not just work with us. You're lacking in technique, but given long enough I can fix that. It'll hurt though." She laughs for an oddly long time after saying that. You nod and say "Ah, I see. One moment, let me get my servant to put these away."
You then approach Hu Qiang and hand him the bottles of alcohol before whispering "Fan Tai is here, get my boss." and going back to where she is. You then...
>Ask what occupation she's talking about.
>Inform her that it's not something you can sell and that since you already have a good job, you'll have to turn her down.
>Other

>>3187176
>Ask what occupation she's talking about and you can't sell it since you don't want to sell your body.

>>3187247
+1

>>3187247
>>3187277
You respond by saying "Sorry, I can't really sell anything to you since it's my body, not a technique. Anyways, what occupation are you referring to?" Fan Tai simply responds by cheerfully saying "Assassination!" before she then follows it up with "Er, and a bit of thievery if they pay enough, but mostly assassination! The poor fuck you gave a gut wound the other day was supposed to kill you as his final task to get in, but who was supposed to know you were in the Qi Emission Stage. Kakakaka! We still let him in though, he survived at least." You...
>Ask why she's being so open about this.
>Say that you'll have to decline the job offer, you work for the government and they're a bit against that.
>Ask what benefits she gets as an assassin.
>Other

>>3187306
>>Ask why she's being so open about this.
>>Ask what benefits she gets as an assassin.

>>3187316
You look at her slightly in confusion and ask why exactly she's being so open about this. She simply laughs for a second before she goes "What, are you going to catch me? I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think I could escape from whoever was here. As for you knowing I'm an assassin... as long as we don't overstep our boundaries the government lets us do what we want and we do the government a few jobs as favors. It's not like they're going to spread wanted posters everywhere. If I get caught it's my own fault and nobody is going to bail me out, but as long as I don't let that happen, I'll be fine."
That was a surprising answer. You guess government and corruption do go hand in hand, as it is beneficial in places. You ask her what benefits she gets out of being an assassin and Fan Tai's eyes seem to light up slightly. She cheerfully says "Well, I get lots of money for one, free torture equipment, access to various battle techniques, and I can do whatever I want with my targets as long as they end up dead and I don't cause any trouble for the boss! Most of all, it's fun! They like sending me on jobs where they need to get information because I'm good at it, and I don't think I could have such fun assignments if I were in another line of work!" That's... disturbing.
After she finishes talking she stands up and says "Well, I should get going if you aren't interested. Wouldn't want to overstay my welcome. Feel free to throw out that wine if you want, but it's worth about 30 gold coins a bottle, so you may as well keep it." You...
>Let her leave, there's not much of a benefit to you capturing her.
>Try to make up an excuse to make her stay until your boss arrives. [State what]
>Throw a punch at her, she's a criminal and you work for the government so it's only natural to try to capture her.
>Other

>>3187376
>Let her leave, there's not much of a benefit to you capturing her.
"Thank you for the offer and for the wine, but I have to politely decline. I don't like torturing people."

>>3187376
>Try to make up an excuse to make her stay until your boss arrives. [State what]
Do you have any tips how to determine if wine is poisoned?

>>3187376
>>Try to make up an excuse to make her stay until your boss arrives. [State what]
Since you're here, have a cup first before you leave. My treat.

>>3187476
>>3187513
Before she can leave you say "Since you're here, have a cup before you leave on me." before she says "Nah, I shouldn't get drunk, my boss is waiting outside in case you wanted to accept the offer." As she begins to leave you ask her how exactly to tell whether wine is poisoned, and she says "Make somebody else drink it! At least that's what I do." before walking out the door. As she does you see a dark shadow appear and begin walking away with her. You can't sense any sort of cultivation from it, but based on its speed its probably stronger than you.
You go back to making merry and Qian Yang asks you to introduce him to the woman who came in for a moment, and you simply tell him that you don't think they'd get along. About half an hour later you get worried and excuse yourself to check on Hu Qiang, and you see him knocked out in an alleyway a couple houses away. He doesn't seem injured so you slap him awake and get him home. He says that he doesn't know what happened and that he simply felt a strong force hit his neck before he was knocked out.
A few hours later everybody is gone and you're ready to rest for the night. You suppose that you should load up what you need to bring and set out for the capital tomorrow. You decide to...
>Take the scenic route. (Three weeks travel time, several stops along the way.)
>Go directly there. (Two weeks travel time, no stops for tourism.)
>Other

>>3187585
>>Take the scenic route. (Three weeks travel time, several stops along the way.)
We have time right?

>>3187591
You have the time, yes, it's just whether you prioritize arriving at the capital faster over seeing the sights.

>>3187585
>Take the scenic route. (Three weeks travel time, several stops along the way.)

>>3187585
>>Take the scenic route. (Three weeks travel time, several stops along the way.)

>>3187585
>Other
cultivate.

Rolled 80, 32, 51, 27, 12, 91, 3, 76, 39, 40, 60, 86, 48, 45, 56, 96, 100, 97 = 1039 (18d100)

Breaking for a bit, dinner.
>>3187676
You will cultivate along the way, yes. You feel like you're relatively close to a breakthrough and will probably make one on your way to the capital.

>>3187681
Did we informed guy that teaches us pill making about promotion?

>>3187714
Yah totally. We are actually moving in with him.

You begin your travelling, planning to visit a few places along the way, and set out along the rolling hills, forests, and fields on the way to the capital.
On your fourth day of travelling, you see two men wielding sabers a ways outside of a moderately sized town. They're both facing each other and hurling insults. You then hear one of them say "I'll duel you upon my name as Quan Hai!" before the other replies "So be it!" You...
>Watch, this should be interesting. They don't seem to have a witness either, so you may be of help.
>Try to dissuade them.
>Ignore them, you don't want to see someone get maimed.
>Other
major typo, fixed

>>3187805
>>Watch, this should be interesting. They don't seem to have a witness either, so you may be of help.

>>3187805
>Watch, this should be interesting. They don't seem to have a witness either, so you may be of help.

>>3187805
>>Try to dissuade them.

You stop travelling and stop for a bit to watch the two duel. As the begin to cross sabers you immediately see that neither of them are cultivators, but their technique seems to be very good.
They seem to be evenly matched, and after several minutes neither of them have landed a blow. It takes until after a very fast (for non-cultivators) exchange of blows for one of them to be scratched. They then... immediately declare their loss. Aren't duels supposed to last until one side can't fight or something?
At this point you simply hear the man yell "I may have lost this time, but on my name as Cao Min I won't give up! This makes it 1783 wins for you and 1793 wins for me! We'll settle this tomorrow!" The men then begin rather awkwardly walking back to the same town. Huh, well you guess you know why they're so good at using the saber. If you dueled every day for at least 10 years you would be too.
That night while cultivating you feel your ability to manipulate qi increase, and with it your effective speed and strength. It seems that after a little more than two months of cultivating, you've reached the Middle Qi Emission Stage. This should help in mastering the fist technique you're practicing.
The next day while traveling you see an extremely drunk man in peasant's clothes wandering down the road. It's a few hours of walking to the next village, so you're slightly confused. You...
>Ask him if he needs any help.
>Continue onwards, he should be fine.
>Other