Chapter 47: Back to the Real World
"Ugh... You know, I'm getting tired of us being put on this job all the time, Senior Brother."
"Everyone must fulfill the duties assigned to them by the Sect, in return for the opportunities this place provides, first and foremost."
"Hmph! What opportunities… I disagree with you, Senior Brother! You're too proper!"
Two people stood by the teleportation altar, a young man and a woman, both in red robes. The young man held a thick stack of parchment records in his hands, reading without looking at his junior. His younger sister twirled around, already tired of waiting for the next prisoner to arrive.
Whooosh!
BOOM!
A sudden bright flash.
Opening his eyes, the disciple holding the parchment saw a young man hovering directly above the altar. His old, torn, and burnt clothes hung in tatters, and any exposed skin was covered in either dirt or soot. Dark brown hair reaching his waist, slightly swaying in the wind, a faintly visible brand on his neck and burning green eyes.
Meeting his gaze, he felt cold sweat on his back. But one look at the prisoner's face was enough for the disciple to realize that he had seen him somewhere before.
His sister standing beside him, seeing the prisoner before her, immediately hid behind her brother and lowered her head, a strong contrast to her usual behavior.
Lowering his gaze and rummaging through the parchment sheets, he took out a personal plaque. Reading the information on it, his eyes widened in surprise.
'Alchemy Practitioner... how could he end up here? The report says it's due to violation of several rules, including intimidation, fighting inside the Outer Hall itself, and obstruction of justice... but with his status? Who would be that bold? I need to be careful, I don't want to end up on the blacklist of a future alchemist...' Realizing the unpleasant situation he was in, he lowered his head and extended the plaque with both hands in front of himself.
Even though this officer felt contempt and disgust toward this alchemist with the slave brand on his neck, the fear of a disciple who had an official status in the Sect outweighed it.
Looking around, An's eyes stopped glowing. Descending to the ground, he walked past the two cultivators and, waving his hand, took his plaque. Walking past them, he headed for the exit.
"S-Senior Brother Bun, w-who was that?" The girl stood behind her brother, her legs trembling slightly. When the prisoner walked past them, she felt her entire body being bound. Her body had sensed almost hidden, yet still tangible, natural waves of energy emanating from this man.
"It doesn't matter. Let's go, Junior Sister Wu. We still have a lot of work today." Keeping himself in check, accustomed to encounters with cultivators even above Qi Condensation, Brother Bun shook his head at the sight of his sister and headed toward another door leading into the inside halls.
"Uh-huh!" After she nodded a few times, Sister Wu ran after her brother, trying not to fall behind.
"Even though it was peaceful in there, too peaceful to be honest… I'm never going back! Want to lock me up again? Never!" Walking across the Outer Platform toward the Outer Hall, An spoke to himself under his breath, completely ignoring the people around.
The disciples around him looked around, hearing his voice, but couldn't immediately notice him because of his constantly activated Qi Silence, which had been active since the moment he left the Hall of Justice.
Finally spotting him, the first thing they felt was contempt, seeing what was essentially a beggar walking across the square in torn, blackened clothes, with hair down to his waist. His appearance stood in stark contrast to the other outer disciples, who, at every opportunity, tried to show off how rich their clan or family was, decorating their robes with expensive materials or wearing expensive artifacts in plain sight so everyone could see it.
Only some of the disciples wanted to block his path, but realizing that nothing was emanating from him, no breathing, no heartbeat, and the fact that they couldn't tell whether he was even a cultivator or not. This usually happened when a cultivator was much stronger than them. Understanding this, many simply turned around and quickly walked in the opposite direction from him.
Walking across the platform, he understood and felt the mood around him. He saw several obviously very self-confident disciples who, standing with their sisters or their admirers, were heading toward him. Rolling his eyes, An snapped his fingers, and an energy barrier formed around him in a ten-meter radius.
This was not a formation or a technique, it was merely a sphere of pure energy that could easily withstand physical pressure, but not energy-based attacks. Essentially, this barrier would stop a person if they didn't use their Qi or punch it with all their might.
Approaching the boundary, the brave and opportunistic would crash into it and couldn't even understand what was happening, as the sphere's walls were so thin that it was hard to see it.
After trying a few times, all of them, to avoid losing face, returned to their groups, making up stories about how they had figured it out and hadn't been embarrassed at all.
'I was just released, and you think I'll let them lock me up again… Besides, that stupid rule 18, the use of Qi inside the halls, doesn't apply outside. But that still doesn't mean I'll waste my time on you.' An watched out of the corner of his eye as the disciples who bumped into his barrier turned around and quickly walked away, not forgetting to whisper a few threats and promises in his direction.
Without slowing down, he headed for the Outer Hall.
'I just need to pick up my accumulated monthly distributions and stock up on spirit plants...' Entering the Outer Hall, An walked straight to the reception window, the one that was free.
'After finishing all of this, I'll lock myself up on my plot and not come out until I break through to Foundation Establishment!' He made the decision, to avoid triggering new problems by his own actions, he decided to hole up at home and not come out until the very end, until they dragged him out by the scruff of his neck.
Approaching the window, An saw a familiar outer disciple sitting behind it, Old Man Jo.
"Oh! Junior Brother An! I was starting to think something bad had happened to you..." Seeing the person before him, even though he was overgrown, dirty, and had visibly aged externally, the old man immediately recognized him, especially because of the pleasant aroma of pills lingering around An.
"Something did happen..." An exhaled and handed his plaque to the old man.
"Oho! Congratulations on your new rank! Hehe!" Seeing what was written on the plaque, the old man whispered his congratulations to the boy, remembering that he didn't like to publicize such things.
An smiled and nodded. He asked how many months' worth of distributions he could collect. Hearing Old Man Jo's answer, he frowned and lowered his gaze slightly.
'I was locked in the dungeon for a full ten months... almost a year!'
'A whole year was taken from me!'
'But… at the same time, that year was very peaceful and productive… so I don't even know how to feel about it…'
Standing with his gaze lowered, An involuntarily stopped maintaining Qi Silence, and all his masking immediately dropped, releasing a natural pressure of his raw Qi into the surrounding space.
Being only a meter away from him, Old Man Jo suddenly felt fear and strong pressure. Controlling himself, he looked at An's face, and saw his eyes alternating between empty and cold.
"B-Brother An!" Gathering his strength, he tried to get through to the young man before him.
"Hmm?" Instantly, all traces of the natural pressure from his high cultivation disappeared from the surroundings. An realized his mistake and reactivated Qi Silence to its fullest.
Seeing him come back to himself, Old Man Jo noticed how all the emotional fluctuations in An's eyes instantly vanished, leaving only emptiness. This greatly puzzled the old man.
"I apologize, Senior Brother Jo... It's... never mind, it wasn't intentional." An apologized to the old man with a guilty smile.
The old man exhaled, wiped the drops of sweat from his forehead, and leaned slightly forward, closer to him.
"Junior Brother... Oh! I mean Senior Brother An. You've clearly already exceeded the requirements for transfer to inner disciple status... Do you want me to ask an old friend of mine to help you transfer without any unnecessary attention?" Constantly looking around, checking if anyone was watching or listening, Old Man Jo continued whispering.
"You're older than me in age, and it makes me uncomfortable for you to call me Senior Brother. Better to keep it as before." An smiled and corrected Old Man Jo.
Hearing this, the old man smiled widely.
"As for transferring to inner disciple, I don't see any point. Everything I need is here..." An shook his head and declined Old Man Jo's offer. He fully understood that by transferring to inner disciple, he would receive more resources and techniques, which he didn't actually need right now, but no matter how he looked at it, he didn't see anything good in it. The clear advantage of staying here was that no one would bother him on the Outer Platform. But as for the Inner Platform, he didn't know. There were hundreds of times fewer inner disciples than outer ones, and the appearance of a new one could attract unwanted interest.
'They're all clearly divided into groups, and in each group, there's some arrogant idiot with a god complex... And the moment you refuse, even politely with lowering your head, problem after problem will follow you... First the lackeys, then the young master, then his parents, grandfathers, grandmothers, ancestors, masters... you'll end up dying not from the combat itself, but from sheer stress and exhaustion...' Standing and talking with Old Man Jo, An's thoughts wandered elsewhere.
'Besides, being here, on Outer Platform of the Hope Peak, among hundreds of thousands of disciples, I can make a mistake, and even though there will be consequences, they won't cross the line... the line I won't be able to handle, I think…'
"By the way, Senior Brother Jo, in these ten months… was there anything interesting? Anything unusual?" He suddenly asked, he wanted to find out about what had happened with the cave, whether they had found anything or not. And whether there had even been any investigation.
"Hmm… There were many duels, even spectacular ones, I'd say… Several outstanding disciples became inner disciples… Hmm, oh!" The old man suddenly looked at An thoughtfully.
"Almost nine months ago, the Sect hosted guests from the Li clan… If I understood correctly, they were looking for their heirs. But they never found anything. I remember they searched the souls of about a dozen disciples from our Peak… Eh, only one of them came to his senses, but his cultivation path was completely severed… But after that, it went quiet… If the rumors are true, if not for the Sect Leader, those guests wouldn't have stopped at just a dozen..." The old man carefully watched An's face, purely out of curiosity.
But seeing no changes in his expression, the old man was slightly disappointed.
'Could it be that luck is finally on my side? Then why do I feel like my nonexistent insides are twisting...' An didn't know what to think. At the same time, he was unspeakably glad that he could now put this out of his mind, but on the other hand, he felt that something was wrong, as if his intuition was telling him that it was too early to celebrate.
"Ahem, Junior Brother An, I noticed how everyone is looking at your unusual appearance... Don't you think?" Old Man Jo, raising one eyebrow and looking at the nearby disciples and their reaction to young man, and decided to mention it anyway.
"Oh..." An lowered his head and saw his reflection in the floor.
Grabbing his hair in his hand, without using Qi, since he was inside the Hall, he ripped his hair off with a sharp tearing sound, shortening it to a length just below his chin.
Gathering and squeezing all the cut hair into a ball, An looked around and ensuring no one was watching, he created a small particle of Fire Qi and instantly burned it, simultaneously destroying the escaping Qi, thereby eliminating smoke and smell.
On the other side of the counter, Old Man Jo widened his eyes in absolute amazement, mistaking these ordinary Qi manipulations for some kind of high-level technique.
Having dealt with his hair, An used his Qi to remove and destroy the dirt on his face and body, completely cleaning his skin of any stains. Only the old, tattered, blackened clothes gave away his former slovenly appearance.
"Hehe! Much better! Now you actually look respectable enough for someone to drag you off to their plot and marry you off! Hehe!" Old Man Jo laughed and began to joke, though, at the same time, he remembered to speak as quietly as possible, to avoid attracting unwanted attention.
An just smiled and listened to him.
Listening to the ever-chattering Old Man Jo, he exchanged all his monthly distributions for all this time into sets of spirit plants, all first-rank.
After chatting with him for a few more minutes, he said goodbye and stepped outside, heading for the Kavana tree.
Approaching the thick trunk, he looked around, and waiting for a moment when no one was nearby, he pushed off the ground and jumped onto the branches of this tree.
Wandering through the branches, he collected a sufficient number of fruits. Even though their effect no longer brought any benefit to him, the fruits themselves were perfect for his alchemical experiments, and for feeding his always hungry rooster.
'Eh... I hope you really didn't starve to death in there, or get dragged into the water by something…' Closing his pouch and tying it back around his stomach, An carefully jumped down from the tree and headed toward the trading sections located on both sides of the Outer Hall.