After leaving the sanctuary Shu He headed home with Little Xue asleep in his arms, he had already prepared a smaller bed next to his for her to sleep on so they both slept peacefully through the night until morning came. Afterwards Shu He showed the little duck around his new abode, not that she was familiar with the old one; The most important thing was showing where and where she couldn't go, especially the farm, he didn't want to wake up having discovered she went for a midnight snack.
After he managed to get her to understand that, at least he hoped he had, they set off together for the main task for today, that was to get some clothes made with 'Memory Thread' which Elder Bai had suggested the day before, Shu He decided to prioritise it because it gets an inconvenience out of the way.
The problem was that he had never actually visited the Crafting Division, he hadn't needed to yet since he could order what he wanted from the Covetous Dragon Pavilion, he would had looked here for a bow before but he had solved his problem before he did; Other than that his modified sect uniform was done through a request to another elder, not directly to the division.
To put it simply, he knew little about it other than where it was, the central sect mountain that had the Sect Master's abode on top, also had the Forging Division in the lower sections, and just above that in the mid-point of the mountain was where the Crafting Division was located, so he had to take an elevator up the side to get there, it was a different, smaller and more discrete elevator than the one he used to reach the summit before.
'Well, it beats travelling through those tiny, cramped tunnels' He leaned on the railings of the elevator as he looked out at the horizon with the rising sun, the faint glimmer of the sect formation could be seen in the distance separating them from the outside world.
Little Xue was currently sat with her feet and but planted firmly on the moving elevator next to his feet, apparently she wasn't a fan of moving objects like elevators, Shu He couldn't help but chuckle lightly watching her do this.
Their journey here had been smooth, Shu He had been a little worried that some other disciples would question why he had a unique animal wandering next to him as he wandered the sect but there wasn't a problem, though he did see some disciples shooting weird glances to him.
Whether that was because him having an animal companion was unusual, or whether it was because said companion was an odd-looking duck was up for debate of course; He didn't feel like asking them.
*CLANK*
The elevator came to a stop before a hallway that led into a pair of ornate doors, the pair shot each-other a glance before they wandered over and opened the doors, walking through.
What greeted them was a large circular hall with a giant circular desk in the centre where various clerks were taking orders or doing paperwork, there were various doors and staircases leading up and down around the edges and stalls with craftsmen showing off their work to potential customers or simply for attention.
'It reminds me of the Alchemy Tower' Shu He thought as he looked around, the only difference was that it was way more active here, Alchemy was a skill that had prerequisites after all whereas anyone can be a craftsmen if they try, of course that doesn't mean they would be skilled.
'Since I have a letter for the Elder, I should just find someone to hand it over to them…' His eyes fixated on the central desk; it seemed like a good place to start. 'Elder Bai said to find a direct disciple of the Elder, but that's like looking for a needle in a haystack right now'.
"Let's go over there" He said to Little Xue who was darting her head around left and right, curious about all the different things on display "We can take a look around after" he chuckled.
[Right!] she happily quacked, causing a few people around them to glance in their direction with confusion. Ignoring the stares they walked on over to the desk where a well-dressed clerk welcomed them, but as he glanced at Little Xue he frowned.
"Sir, you probably don't know this, but you can't bring animals into the premise here, they could cause damage to the merchandise" the man stated politely yet his face was filled with worry.
Shu He only lightly shook his head "She's a spirit animal and she's my registered partner, there shouldn't be a problem".
"A spirit animal? This little thing?" The man said with doubt, frowning at Little Xue's little figure.
"I can get her to spit some flames if you want proof, though I doubt you'd want that" Shu He said jokingly, yet the clerks face turned pale at the thought. "No! Please! It's fine, I believe you! Just don't make a mess!".
"I was only joking" Shu He calmed the man down, clearly he had seen his fair share of problems working here, he was a mortal after all, most of these clerks were, like the Forging Division it seems the Crafting Division employed mortals for simpler work.
Shu He pulled out the claw stamped letter and placed it on the desk "Is it possible for me to have this letter delivered to the division Elder? It's from the Beast Taming Sect's Elder Bai".
"Oh… that's not going to be possible, us clerks don't aren't able to contact the Elder, we only deal with orders and requests" The man replied. "Really? Then can you at least tell me where to find him?" Shu He frowned.
"I'm really sorry but we know nothing about where he would be, the only ones that will know are the disciples close to him, or other Elders" He apologised profusely making Shu He feel a little guilty, in the end Shu He just sighed "It's fine, if you don't know then you don't know; That's all, thanks for your help" he placed the letter back in his robe as he turned to walk off.
"I'm very sorry I couldn't help, but please come back again!" The man bowed for a few seconds before he turned to face the next customer, he couldn't waste too much time after all when it was busy.
'Looks like I'll have to wonder around a bit…' Shu He eyed the stalls before he looked down towards Little Xue "Let's take a look at what's here, shall we?". In response she enthusiastically nodded her head, much unlike a duck, it was a funny sight to Shu He.
The two of them began browsing all of the stalls, compared to the Forging Division that was focused more on metallurgy, the Crafting Division was focused on everything else such as woodwork, leatherwork, embroidery, ceramics, and such, not everything here was of direct use as a cultivator, many pieces were luxury items or everyday tools.
You may think that, as a cultivation sect, the divisions would focus solely on items for cultivators, but you'd be sorely mistaken, creating items suited for cultivators requires skill, you can't run before you can walk so new craftsmen have to work their way up the ladder with mortal items first, that's why there's a lot of normal stuff here.
Shu He was pleasantly surprised as he found quite a few tools used in medicine here made from fine jade, he couldn't help but purchase them on the spot with how cheap they were; there were a massive variety of pieces of furniture here as well, much more than there was on the market he visited, along with many unique attempts at quality of life improving items.
Though plenty of them seemed like they would be more annoying to use than just performing the task normally… 'Craftsmen don't change no matter what world they're in' he shook his head, thinking about all of those 'As seen on TV' items that 9/10 times proved to be more work than their worth.
As he was browsing the stalls, one did catch his eye; On the stall were a few pairs of leather gauntlets of different designs and styles, the reason it caught his eye was because their style was incredibly similar to the ones he owned already.
'It's very similar, could the person that made these be the ones that made mine?' He got a closer look, while he wouldn't say he had an eye for detail when it came to crafting, he felt that the design style and stitching were almost identical.
He crossed his arms in thought 'I wouldn't mind putting in a custom order for this craftsman, the gauntlets I haven weren't custom made so they're not a perfect fit, while the pockets are useful, I think a made to purpose set would be better…'.
He looked around, looking for the owner of the stall but no one was behind it, rather there was a sign that said 'Be right back' hanging on it causing him to sigh. 'Should I wait?'
"Quack!" [Look!] suddenly, Little Xue called out to him as she danced around a stall nearby, garnering attention from the crowd.
"What is that? A chicken?"
"No, it's clearly a rooster, look at those red markings".
"Rooster?! Did you fall on your head as a child? Look at that beak! It's.. a duck!".
"A duck? In what world does a duck look like that?!".
Shu He walked over curiously and looked at what she was ecstatic about, it was on a small podium and was circular in shape… it was a pillow.
"Hm? What's so good about this pillow?" he questioned, it looked fancy but that's about it.
"Quack!" [Smell! Nice!] she jumped up and down with excitement.
"Really?" Out of curiosity he activated the scent tracing ability of his territory, locking on to a scent wafting from, the moment he caught whiff of it he felt his mind drift off slightly and his muscles relax like it desired sleep.
"Wow, what is that made of?" He snapped out of it, curious as to what was inside.
"Quack- Quack!" [Can I? Can I?] the little duck questioned, Shu He smiled wryly "You want it? We'll see about the price first". His wallet was tight after all right now.
"Welcome, are you interested in my pillow? Its filling is made from the feathers of the Droopy Bird so it will ensure a good nights sleep!" A gentle voice came from behind the stall, the owner had just come from dealing with another customer.
"Droopy Bird? That explains it" Shu He nodded, the Droopy Bird would shed its feathers to calm or put its predators to sleep, its nest was made up of the same feathers so it was a bird that had few natural predators; Though its feathers were valued as a luxury item, so they had become a rare sighting after overhunting, nowadays there were many raised for their feathers and since they grew them back, they weren't killed afterwards.
Shu He turned to the clerk "Yes my little companion here is interested, may I ask the pri-" when he caught sight of her he paused, the clerk as well paused as the two stared in silence for a moment.
"Shu He?" "Bai Lian?".