A few minutes later we were all lead to a table by a cute waitress. It seems that on this world they have discovered the value of having attractive women serve the drinks as well. Xo ordered a bottle of their lowest grade spirit rice wine. I was about to offer to buy a better bottle, but Xo held up a hand. “Trust me on this. It may be the cheapest wine they have, but it’s better than the mid grade alcohol anywhere else.” We decided to give him a chance and in a few minutes she returned with the bottle and three glasses. Xo poured each of us a glass and I sipped it, a subtle sweetness remaining in my mouth and only a minimal amount of burning occurred in my throat despite how high the alcohol content was. Though, I supposed a society couldn’t have proper alchemists without discovering distillation.

  A beautiful woman came onto the stage with her group, three women and a man, all coworkers, and set a zither on the table in front of her. The patrons started to cheer and clap, and I joined them out of politeness. She was introduced as White Summer Fox, one of the ladies from the local high-end brothel, Sunrise House. She let out just enough of her qi to draw the attention of the nearby cultivators without harming any nearby mortals. From this I could tell that she was initial level three in strength. Many of the men cheered her specifically, and I got the impression that they had either hired her in the past or wanted to do so in the future. That was understandable, as she was quite attractive. Once I found him, I would need to take Randy to her next performance. She seemed to be just his type, though not really mine.

  She played several local songs, demonstrating her superb skill with the instrument, and in the short breaks between songs we discussed the wine. Cha decided to order another bottle of a middle grade wine that he said tasted smokey, and it did in fact do so, tasting quite a bit better than the first bottle.

  When the waitress returned I ordered a top grade one that was supposed to have the juice of some type of spirit citrus in it, which helped loosen up cultivation bottlenecks. The fruits cost a stone each, so the bottle cost three, but I thought it might be worth trying.

  After taking a sip of the fine wine and noticing my qi flow a bit more freely through both sets of false meridians, I was about to take another sip when the seventh and final song started. For some reason the lead in music caught my attention. It wasn’t until I heard the first line of the song that I realized why.

  “How can you look into my eyes, like they are open doors?” she sung in a perfect tone, and I was surprised that I had heard this song before. While, to the others at my table, it was brand new, I had heard it dozens or hundreds of times while around Randy, as it was his favorite classic rock song. I sat there in stunned silence until the man in her group joined in with the chorus.

  This couldn’t be a coincidence. I had come here looking for the people from Earth, and I happened across a clue when having a drink at the equivalent of a lounge bar? I definitely wanted to speak with her after her performance was over.

  When the song was over everyone cheered, and I gladly joined them. She stood and bent over in a bow, giving the men a view of her cleavage, then grabbed her instrument and walked toward the back of the restaurant. Several men got up to approach her, but the man from her group and two security guards that worked for the restaurant stopped anyone from entering the back. The male singer thanked them for their interest, but said that she wouldn’t be speaking with anyone at this time. Most of the men went back to their seats but a few remained behind, slowly returning to their seats over the next two hours.

  The restaurant brought in several other groups but, while they weren’t as popular as White Summer Fox, they were skilled musicians. She was obviously the headliner for this event.

  “Well, I need to get home.” said Cha as he stood. He stumbled a bit, and I got up to help steady him.

  “Do you know the anti-toxin technique?” I asked, and he nodded. “You should use it so that you can walk home on your own and don’t get a headache in the morning.” Strangely, despite the fact that I knew some pretty obscure words in this language, I didn’t seem to know the word for ‘hangover’. It was probably a weird idiom, then, and a direct translation wouldn’t work.

  After he used the technique to sober up a bit, he was able to walk on his own, and I said goodbye. I might go by his store in the morning just to make sure he was okay, but he should be fine for the night. “I wonder if I was that much of a lightweight when I was level one?” said Xo, before finishing his drink and standing up. “Well, I’d better get home and do the detox meditation myself. I’ll need to get up in the morning to work through that backlog, and it’s hard to do alchemy with ants in your brain.” See. There was the weird idiom I was hoping for.

  “Sure. See you tomorrow.” I responded.

  He nodded, then turned to leave. I sat there for another hour as most of the other patrons left, then, after finishing the bottle, used the detoxification meditation to purge all of the alcohol from my system. I could tell that my qi was flowing far more easily from the fruit in it, but wouldn’t be able to take advantage of that until I returned home.

  I walked to the back of the room, where the two bouncers stood, and they held up their hands. “No one is allowed to bother the musicians at this time.” they said in unison.

  “Can you please inform White Summer Fox that I wish to discuss the new song she sung tonight, and am willing to pay five stones if she is willing to speak with me.” To middle second level cultivators like the two bouncers that was a significant amount, probably around a week’s salary, but to me it was a single book that I wouldn’t be able to bring back with me.

  The two looked at each other, surprised that I was offering so much, then knocked on the door. The man from the group opened the door soon after that while wearing a robe that was open at the front, revealing his muscular chest, and was sipping a glass of some sort of fruit wine. Apparently they did make dishes out of glass here, I just hadn’t seen it before, with all of the ones here being porcelain and the ones at the manor being that or silver. “What is it?” he asked, annoyed.

  “This man wants to talk to White Summer Fox.”

  The other man sighed. “What part of ‘don’t disturb us’ don’t you understand?”

  “He’s offering five stones just to talk to her.” the other bouncer answered, and he looked surprised.

  “So much?” the man said, and the Bouncer nodded. The man looked at me. “And you just want to talk? Nothing else?” I nodded. The man sighed. “Fine, I’ll see if she’s willing.” He closed the door and I waited several minutes before he opened it again. “She’s agreed to see you. Just so you know, the rest of us will be in the room too, so don’t try anything.” It seemed a bit strange that they would be so concerned about a man trying to hire her for that reason, but maybe they kept really strict schedules for that kind of thing. Or I might have just approached at the wrong time of the month. Not that I cared either way.

  I was let inside and lead down to the end of the dressing room where she was meditating. I waited a few seconds and she opened her eyes. “So, you are the one who wanted to talk to me?” she asked, and I nodded, then pulled just over five stones worth of crystals from my valuables pouch, handing them to her. She looked at them and, after verifying the amount, she pocketed them. “So, what was it you wanted to talk about?”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “I heard the new song you sung and it reminded me of an old friend who used to listen to that song.” I said. She looked a bit surprised and I continued. “I was hoping you could tell me how Randy was doing and where I could find him.”

  She straightened her face, as if I hadn’t surprised her. “What makes you think I know anyone by that name?”

  “He mentioned visiting a high end brothel the last time he was in High River, and you are exactly the kind of woman that interests him. Furthermore, that’s his favorite song, and there aren’t many people in this region who would know it.”

  She sighed. “I can’t discuss my business with clients. However, I can confirm that many of my clients do ask me to sing songs for them due to my musical talent, and that I learned that song from such a client, so that theory is plausible.”

  I nodded. “In that case, I will change the subject. Have you seen any men around here with strange names that look like they are from far away? Maybe with skin tones that you haven’t seen before?”

  She nodded. “Several men meeting that description are part of the White Tiger sect.”

  I nodded, having not heard of them in any of the briefing documents or public information about this world. “I’m not familiar with that sect. Can you tell me about them?”

  She nodded again. “Certainly. They are a group of beast tamers that set up in an old bandit fort about three months ago and founded a sect. They aren’t a very popular sect, but they have managed to get some recruits due to the fact that they accept non-cultivators. Most assume that they are just hiring workers for the base, but they pay well enough that several low ranking itinerant cultivators and around a hundred locals have signed up.”

  Three months ago was just after the siege happened. If I had to guess, after finding themselves cut off from the outside world, they probably started a sect to try and blend in with the locals. Randy had mentioned that Mike was with them, and, as he was a level four cultivator, local tradition would allow him to found his own sect. I just didn’t know why they would become beast tamers. From what Randy told me about the group, I didn’t remember any of them even bringing a dog with them on their last trip.

  “Would you happen to know where I could meet them?” I asked, and she nodded.

  “They set up near the North Gate about once a week and sell spirit pets. They can even sell you a copy of the beast taming manual they use or do the contract spell themselves, if you don’t want to learn it or aren’t a cultivator. If I remember correctly, they will be there tomorrow.”

  Looks like I had somewhere I needed to visit tomorrow. “So, the contract works with mortals as well?” I asked. “I assume they have mortal beasts for that case.”

  “Oh, no. Spirit pets can have a contract with a mortal as well. The only issue is that is you don’t keep them happy they might stop listening and run away. But the contract prevents them from harming people without your command to do so, and it’s their own qi that powers the effect, so they aren’t a threat, just a flight risk.”

  “Interesting. That would mean that a mortal could have a spirit beast to protect them.”

  “That is the main reason the rich seem to purchase pets from them. It allows them to have a loyal fighter cultivator by their side without having to pay them as much, at the expense of having to raise them from youth for several months or a year.”

  I nodded. “In that case, I will have to go and talk to them tomorrow.” She nodded and I bowed, then left. I gave the two bouncers a stone each and returned to the manor.

  That night I took advantage of the effects of the wine to construct several more seeds in my muscles, skin, blood vessels, and nerves. It shouldn’t take me more than a few more days before I could finish with all of the other systems and go into closed door cultivation to grow the seeds as quickly as possible. I would need to find a better location to do so, as even the cave at the sect couldn’t provide qi quickly enough and I would need far more qi this time. There were likely caves for rent in the city, but I would need at least a level four room to have an adequate supply, and I wasn’t sure they would be willing to rent such a room to a level two cultivator.

  The next morning after breakfast I set off for the North Gate of the city. I passed several stalls as they were opening. This seemed to be the low end commercial district, set up like a fair or flea market more than a standard commercial district. There were dozens of stalls already open, mostly food stalls selling simple breakfast foods like sausages, grilled fruit, and some sort of flat bread. If I hadn’t just ate I would have purchased something, as it all looked good.

  Around fifteen minutes later, seeing only a handful of things that might interest cultivators, like discount books and minor talismans, I saw a large number of cages set up near the end of one of the streets. Most of the cages looked too small to to house humans, so it was unlikely to be a slave market. That said, the way slaves were gained in this world, either coming from the poor selling themselves to cover debt or support a family, or the criminal being punished for a set amount of time based on the severity of their crimes, it was unlikely that they would be treated so poorly. After all, there was a significant investment involved in both types of slaves, meaning that the owner wouldn’t do anything that risked killing them. Whether there were laws governing the treatment of slaves, especially once their value had been extracted, I didn’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. The Qin family, after all, were treated as lesser servants, and not simple property.

  When I got close I saw someone in a nice set of leather armor and a leather mask instructing a dozen other workers how to stack the cages. This man was a level four cultivator, letting his slight release of qi draw the attention of others, much like White Summer Fox had done the night before. There were a few level two and three cultivators there as well, but nine of the dozen workers were level one. Having thirteen cultivators in a market that was tailored towards mortals was a bit strange, but it might be the only such outdoor market in the city, and therefore the only place large numbers of animals could be displayed. They could, of course, rent a barn to host the sale at, but as this was a one day per week event it wouldn’t make sense to purchase one. Perhaps when their business expanded, they could do so.

  As I arrived, several other people had gathered there, hoping to inspect the animals once they were finished. I even saw a few men and women in finer attire, like silk robes, though only one of them was a cultivator as far as I could tell.

  Once they finished pulling cages out of their storage pouches, something that I didn’t realize was possible, the level four man spoke up. “Come one, come all,” he said loudly, and I realized that I had heard that voice before. “The White Tiger Sect proudly invites you to the best beast market in the entire city. Now, you might be wondering how I can say that, when there are multiple places that trade in livestock, and even a few for more exotic pets. I can proudly claim such a thing because non of the others exclusively deal in spirit beasts, or are offering to help you form a contract with that beast so that you can be sure it doesn’t turn on you and obeys your commands.” I could tell that this man had been heavily influenced by carnival barkers from Earth. “Now, step right up and check out the fine animals we have on display here. The prices are clearly marked on the cages. We’ll even sell you a copy of the very same beast training manual we use at the sect, so that you two can learn to wield the abilities of your spirit beast.”

  With that, the thirty or so people swarmed the cages ahead of us, quickly taking a look. While all of the prices seemed to be listed in taels, there was also a sign saying that they could negotiate an exchange rate for spirit stones. I watched for a few minutes, thinking about where I had heard that voice, then I remembered. It was Mike, the sniper I had met at the milsim. I waited for an opening and walked up to him. “I’m surprised a sect master would come out here and act as a street merchant.” I said, and he seemed surprised. I was just assuming he was the sect master, as Randy had said he was the only level four in their group.

  “While I might technically be the sect master, I leave the day to day operations up to my assistant, the grand elder of the sect. Today, I am simply leading a group of disciples on a mission. I am curious how you knew that I was the sect master, though.”

  “Oh,” I said. “We’ve actually met before, and the way Randy talked about you I knew you would be the one the group put in charge. How is Randy, by the way? I was hoping to talk with him.”

  I saw the eyes behind the mask narrow as a voice appeared in my head. “Who are you?” it said.

  I smiled and responded, sending back the memory of his own voice. “It’s over occupier, I have the high ground.”