In a 4-person carriage, two people were looking at each as the carriage continue to get closer to the city of Hamju. Of course, these two people are Yu Huan and Lai Fen. These two have been left behind by their lady as she and her new "Husband". Of course, neither of them liked this arrangement, they did not like that their lady is alone in a dangerous forest with some random man.
The guard, Fen looks at the tomboyish maid as he started to speak.
"Already two days since the lady has left."
"Yea….I know how to count days old man"
The maid said, rolling her eyes at the middle-aged man. She could not understand why he would say things that are so obvious. Len could not help but laugh at her cute remark.
"Now calm down, with that attitude of yours that flower girl won't ever look your way"
"Shut up…"
Huan said a small blush on her face, she really did not like it when he mentions the girl that she like. It was one of the few tricks he had on his sleeves that could easily make her docile.
"So how it's your quest? Still talking or do you have a date plan out?"
"Talking…"
"Wow, still talking after 2 months? Need some pointers? I might not be unmarried, but I know how to get girls"
"The last time I try to follow your advice I fail, leave your advice to the old people. Times have changed"
"Um? Really, but my advice still works, just the other day I got-"
"Shut Shut UP!!! You don't need to go ahead and tell me your sex life, you old man!"
She said, screaming her heart out at him, not even wanting to imagen what he has done in their small stay in the free city Quhai. This old man did not know how to keep his goddamn mouth shut.
Fen laughs at Huan's cute reaction, his laugh shaking the carriage they are on, as he holds his sides. Tears form on the corners of his eyes as he slowly calms down. A blushing and mad Huan looking at him, wanting nothing more than to skin him alive and end his life.
"I fucking hate you old man"
"Love you too boi"
Fen said as he looks through the window in the carriage. Looking at the scenery as it goes by. Hills, forests, and plains make the picture-perfect background. But soon this background was disturbed, as a cemetery made itself known.
With countless tombs and stones decorating the ground. He could even see a couple of families crying in front of some graves. Seeing the way, they were dressed, he figured that the graves they are crying on are new. While multiple people die at the same time, he found it a bit weird that 4 different families were all burring someone at the same time.
His curiosity picked up as he slowly opens the window and tells the old mortal man that it was driving the carriage to stop for a second. The mortal does as he is told, as Fen gets out of the carriage, Huan looking at him with curious eyes.
"Why did we stop old man?"
"Um. nothing, I am just curious as to why there are four different families gathering in this cemetery. This usually won't happen unless there was an event of multiple people dying at the same"
"But that sounds normal doe, a lot of people die the same day"
"Yes, but I have seen things like this before"
He said as he remembers some similar situations like the one in front of him. Mostly when these many families are crying for loved ones at the same time, it's because of a monster attack, bandits, or a natural disaster. Remembering that his lady went hunting a strong monster, these people might have been affected by that monster.
As Fen finish remembering he started to walk into the cemetery and toward the crying families. Huan quickly follows behind him, as she does not want to be alone, and of course also because of curiosity.
As they enter the cemetery, they notice how large it was, concluding that it's the local cemetery used by the city of Hamju. A cemetery is a place where death gathers, because of the fear of [Death] corruption, they are built far away from populated areas. To avoid the corruption taking hold of mortals or cultivators. But there is another reason for this, where deaths are in abundance, black steel can form.
A strong alloy that is very useful for cultivators, forms the death of the area concentrate in a specific spot. This alloy when used in a weapon can be very useful. Causing immovable pain in the victim and drawing an extra amount of blood from them. But black steel by itself, or items made by corruption monsters, have the side effect of being able to corrupt the wielder. But a great crafter and a strong spirit cultivator would be able to lower or destroy the corruption effect from the items.
But there it's not that many great crafters or good spirit cultivators, as such craftsmen have taken it upon themselves to combine different corrupt materials to cancel each other out, making both stronger and less corrupted items.
When black steel is combined with white steel, gray steel is made, a great material for making weapons. As such, you can imagen the demand for these gray steel weapons. As such cemeteries, places full of death are built far away, that when black steel is formed, a cultivator can easily come in and take it out without alarming the mortals.
As the two of them get closer to the crying families, all eyes land on them, Fen being the first to talk.
"Hello there, I am very sorry for your loss. But I am a cultivator of the commander stage and wish to know what happens here. What even happens that has claimed so many lives"
The moment the mortals hear the stage of the cultivator of Fen, they got a bit scared. They knew how strong cultivators can be. Their mayor is a commander stage and they have heard rumors that he can level mountings with a single flick of his fingers. One of the older women, probably the mother of one of the victims, gather enough corrugate as she spoke.
"Our children went hunting in the forest, wanting to get noticed by the clan of the city. Of course, we knew it would be dangerous, we did not want them to go, but they still decided to go against our wishes."
Another older woman chimes in, as she continues the story, as the other woman falls into tears again.
"At first we notice that they were gone, thinking that they were just playing around or working in some other place. But a day passed, and they did not come back, then another, and so on. After the third day, we decided to inform the authorities and then went and check the forest. But went the guards came out, they did not find out children and they themselves came back wounded."
"They say they encounter a strong monster and kill it, saying that our kids were probably killed by it"
As Fen hears this, he nods his head, this sounded like a normal thing that might happen. While still very unfortunate for these mortal families, there is nothing he can do but get more information. He could not help but worry that the monsters that his lady is hunting it's not too dangerous.
'Oh right.. We need to come up with an excuse for the mayor to not check the forest and not make him worry about our lady. Ugh…it would be a hard excuse to sell'
He said, as if trying to excuse why a lady of the clan is not with him but hunting a strong monster to raise her own standing, is next to impossible. He just needs to buy as much time as he can for his lady, as he excuses himself from the mortal families and goes back to the carriage.
But he does not go back into the carriage as he looks at Huan, she looks at him with a dirty look. Asking with her body language and eyes what the hell he wants. Seeing this, he could not help but smile a bit.
"Don't need to look at me like that boi, I need you to get on my back"
"No"
"Well, I was thinking that whatever this strong monster is, might start disturbing the ecosystem of the forest and make monsters attack the city in fear. As such we need to go there as fast as possible and protect the city like our lady wants us to do"
"Ugh….ok, this is all for the lady…"
She said, while she is a cultivator, she is only Mortal stage. Her speed is not that better than a carriage, the idea of getting on the old man's back and letting him piggy ride her all the way to the city with fast running speed sounds unpleasant. But the loyalty she has towards her lady and wanting to help her lady in any way more makes up for it.
Since she already has all their things in her storage ring, there is nothing to pick up from the carriage. It was only used to protect their lady from the sun and heat, as well as keep appearance. Fen nods his head as he tells the old mortal man, they don't need him anymore and he can go back.
The old, not daring to talk back or understand the thought process of cultivators nod his head as he starts turning the carriage back. Fen gets on his knees as Huan gets on his back, as he supports her body by grabbing her legs. He slowly gathers QI on his legs, and in less than a second he started to run towards the city at great neck-breaking speeds.
Let's just hope they make it in time