Rain stopped. Having travelled for a week, he had finally reached his destination.
He was currently standing in a large clearing. It was nothing special, an ideal place to settle down and build a home... or it would be. But the entire scenery was... not ruined... reformed, due to the massive structure that stood in the middle. A large and sprawling tower, that extended to the top of the sky, into the clouds, and beyond.
Rain was not far from it, having been able to see it from miles away. The tower was gray and imposing, with small gaps that seemed to be windows, occasionally being able to be seen on the, otherwise smooth, surface. However, for the most part, it seemed to be simply a pillar.
Surrounding the pillar, a town sprawled. The prison was a source of strength, a certain popular attraction that called out too many. Thus, a city was built around its base, with a market and a tourism industry that even allowed people to go inside.
This was only the First Heaven after all, no world ending criminals could exist here, due to the low strength, and the warden wasn't exactly strict. Their mere presence was a deterrent to almost everyone, so nobody ever really got involved or tried to break in.
Rain stood near the gates, which were currently open, of the city. It didn't have a strict name or king, as it was more a marketplace and tourism industry than a strict city, so they just let people in however they pleased. Rain could find a place to stay here.
What was Rain's plan, you might ask? He wanted in. He wanted to explore something that had connections to the other higher heavens, hoping for information or inspiration. Heaven's Asylum was one of the most mysterious structures in all of the Heavens, having presumably come from the mythical 10th Heaven. Rain needed something that pushed him forward, he had no loves in this life to drive him in cultivation as most did, so he put his hopes on the mythical prison to show him a path... or force him onto a path. He wasn't picky.
With these thoughts in mind, Rain continued forward. The market was crowded and busy, so Rain kept his hat down so as to not attract attention. He didn't like attention.
However, attention liked him. It was inevitable. He had to show his face when checking into an inn, which had many occupants, and rumors spread of an undeniably handsome man who had checked in to an inn.
Handsomeness wasn't necessarily much, but it made people wary. As a matter of fact, often times as one progressed through their cultivation, they would get more and more beautiful as they refined their body. Being handsome could be considered a sign of great power, though sometimes people were just lucky and were as handsome as Rain was. However, people often don't consider this, so rather than a rumor of a handsome man spreading, it warped to become a rumor of a hidden expert staying at a certain inn that eventually came to the ears of a certain organization who were planning to run amuck in the prison, setting them on alert.
That organization was mentioned before, as the Chaos sect. Their goal was obviously to create chaos, though that isn't very relevant right now. Right now, the goal that matters is their team that was currently in the First Heaven, hoping to draw the warden's attention to the First Heaven so that the Chaos sect could operate with a little more freedom in other heavens.
They were all people from the 1st Heaven and were naturally not very strong in comparison to the rest of the heavens. If a hidden expert came, it could screw everything up.
What the chaos sect didn't know was that they had already succeeded in their goal. It wasn't common knowledge, but the warden was actually coming to the 1st Heaven because they had gotten a little antsy about leaving it unchecked for so long. They had also had some sense of danger coming from there. The First Heaven wasn't normally a place that the warden checked, simply because it was so weak and not the chaos sects normal cup of tea.
The prison still operated, as did the tourism, but the chaos inside was undeniable. None of the people who worked there could guess what was going to happen with the warden's upcoming visit. They were very unpredictable. Sometimes, in the past, they'd set up and be super strict and the warden would still blow something up, so getting all prepared was no use. Everybody was just cowering, coincidentally providing a perfect opportunity for both the Chaos sect operatives and Rain, both of whom wanted to get further into the prison than what was normally allowed.
However, back to the main point, the Chaos sect operatives made a decision. To investigate. Operatives would be sent over to judge the handsome man who tried to hide his face under the hat and the hidden expert who seemed to be the same man. They had heard both sides of the rumors, due to their close monitoring.
They would invite him along on a separate tour of the prison, hoping to lead him away while other operatives made their move. This was the best they could do, while getting him into a difficult situation and also keeping an eye on his true prowess.
Thus, our story begins.
...
I think.