As the ship neared the western shore's Tribal Assembly in the afternoon, Jack realized that they had no way of climbing up the sheer walls of the canyon.
Just as he thought about asking someone what they would do, he saw an irregularity in the canyon's wall. He focused spirit energy to the meridians around his eyes and found a set of long and wide stairs carved into the canyon that led down into the water. On both sides of the stairs, numerous metal chains hung slack in the water.
A few minutes later, Bei Kuaipo's voice sounded out throughout the Unbreakable Fortress as he ordered "All passengers are commanded to go back to their quarters and wait for my further commands."
Jack and a few other passengers exchanged glances and went back down to their quarters. He had his people pack and clean up that morning, so they only needed to wait for Bei Kuaipo's word and they could leave.
Out of everyone, only Zhu Lielei still vomited from time to time. The other rookies teased her about it from time to time, but she endured it all in silence while her eyes swore eternal vengeance. Whether to the rookies, the White River, or both, Jack didn't know. He tried everything he could think of to stop her sickness, but nothing worked.
An hour after Bei Kuaipo sent everyone to their quarters, his voice sounded out once more "Passengers that have rented a private room are allowed to disembark."
Jack's brows rose in surprise, but a second later he resumed his calm countenance as he figured that people who paid more have better service in every world. He had felt the ship stop its advance fifteen minutes ago, but he wondered what took them so long to start letting people off.
Ten minutes later, Bei Kuaipo's voice echoed through the entire ship for the last time as he announced "All other passengers are now allowed to disembark."
Jack and his people remained standing in their part of the hold as their fellow passengers left the space first. He never wanted to lead his men into unknown lands first if he didn't have to.
Once everyone else filled out, Jack finally stepped out towards the exit and the Immortals' Lament followed him. Once there, he turned, looked at everyone, gave them an excited smile for a second, and ordered "Move out!"
When they climbed up to the top deck, Jack saw the chains pulled up from the water and hooked onto the Unbreakable Fortress' starboard railing. In the middle of the ship, a long gangplank hung over the White River and connected the Unbreakable Fortress and the large steps on the canyon wall.
As Jack lined up behind everyone else that waited to get off the boat, he heard a voice in his ear say "Someone from the family will come to find you after I report back to the Elders." Jack turned to look at Bei Kuaipo and saw his lips moving as the voice in his ear added "They might not be as nice as I am."
With that, Bei Kuaipo gave him a nod and turned back towards his cabin.
Jack's brow furrowed as he stepped out on the gangplank and walked over to the carved out stairs. When he turned around to watch his people cross over, his face didn't show any of his internal worries.
The large bottom stairs had enough room for the entire Immortals' Lament and more so Jack waited for everyone to gather. When the two rookies from the same village carried Zhu Lielei over to the stairs, she slipped her hands away from their shoulders and dropped down to her knees to touch the ground with infinite affection.
Zhu Lielei opened her mouth to say something when her face turned strange and she crawled to the edge of the stair to vomit into the White River. Once she left her breakfast in the waves, she turned accusing eyes back at Jack and sobbed "Why is the ground spinning?"
Jack barely contained his laughter as he gave her a sympathetic smile and said "It takes a few hours to go away. By nightfall, you should feel normal again."
Zhu Lielei almost cried as her two friends picked her back up and carried her after Jack up the stairs.
The stairs shortened with each one that they climbed, and by the halfway mark they just looked like normal wide stairs. Once they climbed them to the top, the cultivators still looked alright, but the normal people had labored breaths, especially Tan Boli's family.
Jack glanced at Bai Maolong and saw an unhappy look on his face. He almost felt sorry for the rookies that took a few extra breaths, almost.
In front of them, a dozen strange men dressed in varied leathers and wearing black masks stood. The masks had an oval shape with only slits left for the eyes and mouth; the rest of the mask looked like it was made out of some pure black wood.
As soon as the dozen well-built men saw the Immortals' Lament, the large man at their head gave them a deep bow and said "Greetings travelers, I am the representative of the Kui Tribe. If you have any goods to sell I assure you that none of the other tribes will give you a better offer. We have…"
"Apologies, Kui Tribe representative, but I am looking for the Haechi Tribe." Jack interrupted the man's speech. He had heard that as soon as they came to the other side of the River, that the representatives of the tribes would approach them with offers of trade. Even then, he never expected that it would be this fast.
A large man from the back of the group strutted out in front of everyone, bowed to Jack, and said "You are indeed a clever man to look for the Haechi Tribe, friend. None other have the quality goods that we specialize in. We can…"
"Can we speak somewhere more private?" Jack interrupted again because the adventurers from White River Outpost told him not to let the tribe representatives talk or they would drone on for hours just to throw more insults at the other tribes.
The Haechi Tribe representative stopped talking and gave Jack a knowing nod. He glanced back at the other representative with contempt oozing out of his every move and then turned towards the small town.
Before Jack knew what to do, the Haechi Tribe representative let out a cry that sounded eerily similar to a Haechi's towards the small town and turned back towards Jack. He waved at Jack to follow him and started walking towards the Tribal Assembly.
Jack and old Long exchanged surprised glances and old Long gave a slight shake of the head to Jack. 'They all have a higher cultivation base than grade six and they beg us for trade? Things are worse here than I thought.' Jack mused as he followed after the Haechi representative.
He heard that the tribes had to send cultivators as representatives due to the White River family's dislike of dealing with normal people, but he didn't expect them to have such a high grade.
Halfway to the small town, a man with the same black mask ran out from between the last few huts and sprinted towards them. Jack glanced at the Haechi representative next to him, but he didn't seem worried so Jack relaxed.
When the man sprinted next to their group, he slammed his chest with his right fist, letting out a soft *boom* in the process. The Haechi representative responded in kind and let out a louder *boom* without looking at the burly man.
Jack glanced over his shoulder and saw the sprinting man take the Haechi representative's spot in the gathering of representatives. He turned back to look at old Long and saw him signaling that the man that ran past them had a grade six cultivation.
After letting out a sigh of relief, Jack kept his mouth shut and followed in the Haechi representative's footsteps. Unlike his talkative persona among the other representatives, the Haechi representative kept his back straight and silently led the way forward.
Once they entered the Tribal Assembly proper, Jack didn't see any of the decrepit people he saw on the other side of the river. Here, only strong-looking men and women with straight backs walked in the clean streets.
The Tribal Assembly would look as idyllic as an earthen town could in the case that the all the tribal people didn't wear the same black mask on their face.
Other than that, something else bothered Jack. Only when they passed the huts and neared the houses of the town did he realize that the entire Tribal Assembly didn't produce anywhere near the noise a town of this size should.
A few people talked here and there, but Jack almost always saw people from the other side of the River among the people talking. Everyone else either ignored each other or greeted a passing person with a fist slam on the chest. Even some people from the Immortals' Lament noticed the strangeness and raised their alertness level.
Jack's brows furrowed as the Haechi representative brought them to one of the larger houses in the town. He finally turned towards Jack with clasped hands and an apologetic posture as he said "Friend, can your people please wait here while we talk? My humble house cannot house so many."
With a nod, Jack said "Of course." He turned towards old Long and added "Do not run around town while I'm in the meeting." while he used his hidden hand to signal Shi Furui to set up a guard around the house while they waited for him.
Jack didn't look to see if Shi Furui got his orders, he just followed in the Haechi representative's wake.
To Jack's surprise, the earthen house had leather rugs and hunt trophies on the walls of the large room they walked into, along with a few beds and something that looked like a lounge area covered in pillows. The house had only one large wall separating it in half and a wide hole in the wall where a door would stand.
The Haechi representative led Jack through the hole and into a room that resembled an office. He had a proper desk and a shelf with a dozen scrolls on it. The hunt trophies ruined the image of the office a little, but Jack didn't mind as he took the offered seat opposite the Haechi representative.
He looked Jack in the eyes through the slits in his mask and asked "Tell me, friend, how can the Haechi tribe help you?"
Jack reached into his Star Bag and drew out the long coat he had made in the White River Outpost. He saw the Haechi representative's eyes focus on his Star Bag for a second, but when he saw what Jack took out their focus shifted. As soon as Jack laid the coat across the table the Haechi representative stood up and passed his fingers over the coat for a dozen seconds.
When he finished, the Haechi representative let out a long hiss of appreciation and exclaimed "Excellent workmanship! Made from the hide of an adult male Haechi in his prime." He looked up at Jack with a gleam in his eyes and asked "You want to buy more hides like these?"
Jack stood up too as he shook his head. He picked up the coat from the table and put it on himself. Once he finished lacing it, he looked up at the impressed eyes of the Haechi representative and declared "I do not want to buy more hides; I want to help the Haechi Tribe get more hides than it ever has and make it stronger."
The Haechi representative stared at Jack for a couple of seconds, then started laughing in his face.