The sound of fabric rustling echoed in the back room of the Covetous Dragon Pagoda, Shu He was being dressed in a cloak by two other members of the Pagoda, their eyes filled with respect as they carefully did the clasps up.
"Is this really necessary..." Shu He complained, having someone else dress him felt awkward even if it was just a cloak.
"Stop complaining, it's just a formality" Li Liling curled her bright orange hair as she nodded, looking at Shu He's figure "It suits you perfectly, you're going to be entering other sects as part of the Titanic Steel Sect, you shouldn't look like a bum while doing so".
"My sect uniform should have been fine though." Shu He replied, looking at the robe and lifting it with his arms, it was the same pure white colour as his sect robes with silver trimming, there was even the sect's name engraved near the clasp.
'This feels over the top' he thought to himself, he may not stand out in the sect because the colour matched the sect uniform which everyone was wearing, but outside he would stand out like a sore thumb, he was planning to wear a similar robe to last time before Li Liling contacted him saying she wanted to give him something before he left.
"No, that won't do; You may not understand since you haven't left the sect much but if you wander around looking like a fool the other sect's disciples will look down on you" she replied as she adjusted the clasp.
"Is that really a problem?" Shu He frowned, being looked down on would make it easier to move undetected since no one would care about him. He suddenly felt two cold hands on his cheeks as Li Liling flashed him a grin.
"I can tell what you' re thinking, you're right; But you should also understand that there's value in having reputation, especially between cultivators. If you let yourself be underestimated all your life, then you'll always be on the tail end of disaster".
"…All right" Shu He relented, it was true that he didn't think much of garnering a reputation, he had cultivated in peace so far because he avoided trouble as much as he could after all, but it was blatantly obvious to him that his limitations laid in the fact that nobody knew him, his connections were small, he had gotten lucky and got to know some important sect members, but basically none of them were truly his connections.
The cold hands left his cheeks as Li Liling nodded "Good, at least you understand". She turned around before facing him and crossing her arms "Then I'll tell you how to use that cloak".
"It's not just a normal cloak?" Shu He revealed a look of surprise, he could see it was made of strong materials, likely from a spirit beast of satiated rank at least, but he didn't see more than simple barrier formations on the surface. That isn't to say they were weak, of course.
"Of course not! It's not quite a Spirit Item, but the materials we used were special, just channel your Qi through the material while thinking of a colour" She instructed, Shu He nodded as he closed his eyes and focused on the robes, his Qi flowed through the thick material as its colour dyed a pitch black in an instant.
"Hoh" Shu He couldn't help but exclaim as he thought of a bright red and the cloak changed colour once more "It's like a chameleon". The cloak was made up of skin that mixed and changed its pigments when Qi was channelled according to the user's desire.
"Not just like, it's from a Satiated Grand Chameleon" Li Liling smiled proudly "It's simple in design but functional, you can easily change the colours to blend in, once you get used to it, you'll be able to create foliage patterns as well".
"It's quite nice" Shu He nodded, he could erase his presence and scent with techniques and items but not his visual form, a good camouflage was great, and this cloak was a multi-tool; Of course he could always use <
"Also, take this" She handed him a simple black ring that was the size of his palm, she directed him to put it on his wrist and he did, it shrunk until it seemed to merge with his skin leaving a black tattoo.
"What in heavens?" He gasped, he held his hand up and shook it, the odd ring had becoming fully part of him and faded away, but when he focused on it, it reappeared, not just that he felt a tug from it directing him to various directions around him.
"It's a special item created by our Clan, only our Clansmen hold them, they serve one purpose and one purpose only – identification and tracking, if you're near another clansmen that has one of them, you'll feel a slight tug towards them from the ring, of course there's a range of about 100 miles".
"That explains this feeling… there are a lot of you here, huh…" He could feel that there were more than 30 or so directions being picked up by the ring, of course Li Liling and the two servants were included.
"Us. Not 'you'." She corrected him, her eyes letting of a sharp light.
"Right, sorry" He apologised, truthfully even after all this time he hadn't felt like part of this 'Zan' clan, he had a good relationship with Li Liling, but nothing ever materialised that told him this clan even really existed, and he hadn't had to do anything either.
He stared at the black ring tattoo on his wrist and glanced at Li Liling, thinking for a moment before asking "Since you're giving me this now, do you want me to do something? Find someone?"
"Not quite, we have many members around the five regions and Iris itself, they should all know the bare minimum about you, so I hope you'll assist them if needed." He stared deeply in to Shu He's eyes as he returned the stare, there was a small period of silence before he nodded lightly.
"I'll do what I can".
"That's good enough, we don't want you getting killed after all, young master" she emphasised the last words causing Shu He to shiver slightly, he couldn't get used to being called that.
…
After he left the Pagoda he met up with Na Xue and Shu Xue who had been together, the former was carrying a thick bag which contained all she wanted to bring for their trip.
"Senior Sister, I want to ask again… are you sure about this?"
"Again? Shu He, I've made my mind up! Never mind that, can I have some more blood? I'm still not recovered, so I need more!" She said as she nudged him causing him to grimace.
"What happen to the shyness you had before?" He couldn't help but find her attitude night and day to what it was before, she averted her eyes as a light blush appeared before it was replaced with a grin.
"It's already happened, so I might as well accept it and embrace the facts, plus it really is helping me recover faster than I ever could before, in fact it might be doing even more than that…" She murmured the last part so Shu He couldn't hear.
Shu He sighed as he pulled out a tincture from his robes, inside was a pure bronze fluid that he handed to her "Here, that should last a while right?" He didn't feel like cutting himself every time she asked, so he had filled a jade tincture for her.
She happily accepted it "Oh! That's my Shu He, ever the reliable one!" she went to take the lid off before pausing and stuffing it in her robes "Better to do it later…" she whispered to herself.
Shu He decided to ignore the way she had started addressing him as he began to go over his plans in his head while Shu Xue silently followed along, holding his sleeve, she could tell he had entered his deep thoughts thus kept silent for now.
The Keystone Pilgrimage was an archaic ritual created by Iris to support the development of cultivators that were worthy, the process was slightly different for cultivators of the five sects compared to others at first, but then it became the same.
Firstly, the last sect the disciple takes on will be the sect they belong to, so Shu He wasn't capable of taking the test for the Titanic Steel Sect until he had passed the other four sects tests.
Secondly, the sects should be challenged in a clockwise order, so Shu He needed to challenge the Everlasting Ocean Sect first, then the Sleeping Forest Sect, after that the Raging Inferno Sect followed by the Trembling Earth Sect and finally, returning to the Titanic Steel Sect.
It was going to be an arduous journey for Shu He who hadn't even fully explored the Metal region, however he had already laid out a simple plan in his head, normally one would cross the vicious mountain ranges between the Metal and Water regions and then slowly make his way upland before crossing over a small patch of sea to the Flood Dragon Archipelago where the Everlasting Ocean Sect was hidden.
But he had decided to go with a faster and bolder choice, he would cut across the ocean; He already organised how he could do it as well, it wasn't without its risks, but he felt he could handle them.
After that the routes were fairly straightforward and land based, it wasn't until the Fire region where there was a large area that could prove to be a problem, it was the White Bone Desert an expansive region of pure white sand and intense heat, he would need to pass through there to reach the Lesser Storm Desert which was a smaller region next to the White Bone Desert where the Raging Inferno Sect resided.
The one thing Shu He kept note about this region was that he had received a message from Jing Yaling who was currently travelling for the sake of research, it had mentioned a rumour of a 'Soul Soothing Sand' that rested deep in the White Bone Desert, supposedly capable of healing damaged souls.
Of course, Shu He took the information with a pinch of salt, but it wouldn't hurt trying to dig up more information while he was there.
Between the Fire and Earth regions was a vast dryland that began to shift in to the hilly region he was oh so familiar with, he sighed as he broke out of his thoughts, there was a long journey ahead of him.
He felt a tug at his sleeve, Shu Xue was looking up at him with worried eyes, he chuckled as he patted her head.
'Sorry, us' he thought to himself as he looked ahead, the building that lead to the main gates was ahead and the usual flow of disciples were heading in and out, though their little group did attract some glances, Na Xue was a core disciple that was never really seen, Shu He's cloak made him stand out and Shu Xue's appearance was outstanding, the Memory Clothes didn't help hide this.
As they approached the doors that were wide open, Shu He's brows rose as he spotted a trio he hadn't expected to be here, a young man with short black hair and simple brown eyes, a young girl with pitch black hair and rubellite eyes speaking to a pure white-haired woman with eyes as blue as the sea.
It was Wei Yu, Mei Ling and Bai Lian.