As soon as Kai dumped all responsibility for Taemi on her girlfriends, he knew right away that they wouldn't like it. After saying that, he turned around, took two steps towards the exit, and used the Shadow Mark. Literally in a second, he was already a hundred metres away from the girls' table.
At this moment, Mera was simply furious! Not only did her favourite Big Sister choose to spend her leisure time not with them. She'd been acting really weird all night. All because of that arsehole! That's never happened before!
Even so, he was just some kind of tramp! Their Big Sister was very close to becoming a High Apprentice. And this guy, wasn't even an ordinary Apprentice - a helper! Mera was ready to tear Kai to pieces.
But then she quickly remembered about Taemi sleeping at the table.
- Shit! Big Sister, how are you?! - Shouted Mera and rushed over to the table.
........
Moving across the bridge, Kai was very pleased with this evening. He had eaten and drank very well. Especially, he had met an old acquaintance that he had been joking around with all evening. It brought him a lot of positive emotions. She was a very nice girl, so teasing her was a lot of fun.
He also confirmed beforehand that the letter of recommendation was indeed genuine. Although Kai didn't doubt it, but still, now he knew for sure.
'Hehehe... I need to get cleaned up today, or else I look like a tramp. And tomorrow we'll go to the Shadow Sect!' - Smiling thought Kai.
Mera had called him a hobo for a reason. Although it wasn't that bad, Kai's clothes weren't very clean. And his hair was gathered into a careless bundle, with hair sticking out of it in different directions.
Just because of his attractive appearance, he didn't look too shabby... But even so, for the gentlemen in the Golden Lotus, he looked really bad.
Once Kai cleaned himself up, he probably wouldn't be recognised....
The waitress had indeed provided him with truthful information. A dozen minutes later, Kai was already walking into a beautiful building. Having rented himself a room, he began to climb the stairs.
A room here cost a decent amount of money. To mortals, it would seem like renting an entire house... It had all the right amenities. From the bathtub, to the energy harvesting array.
- Ehhh! It's so good... - Kai said as he climbed into the hot water.
At that moment, he felt incredibly good. Finally, he could wash away all the dirt from his body.
..........
As soon as the sun came up, Kai left the rented room and walked towards the exit of the inn.
Now, he looked completely different... His hair was gathered into a thick snow-white ponytail. And he was dressed in strict but beautiful white clothes. It wasn't quite typical of Kai. But he knew that all the disciples of the Shadow Sect wore black robes.
Although it was a clear uniform rather than any black coloured clothes. But Kai decided that until he became a disciple, he wouldn't go into their territory wearing black clothes. In his opinion, it would be disrespectful to them.
It must be said that the colour white suited Kai very well too. His snow-white hair and blood red eyes matched well, with the white clothes.
Kai moved towards the third, deepest wall. Finally, he was very close to fulfilling one of the promises made to Master Mo!
'Master, wait for me... Today, I will fulfil one of the promises made to you!' - Kai thought excitedly.
Thinking back to the time almost three years ago, he wanted to give his best. If he could join the Shadow Sect, he would truly not shame his Master!
While he was thinking about this, he came to a large and beautiful wall. It was all decorated with decorative carvings. Looking at it, Kai decided to activate the Eyes of Essence.
Just as he thought, the whole thing was riddled with arrays lengthwise. They were even more intricate than the huge wall in the Border Beast City.
- What are you doing here? - The rough voice of a guard rang out.
Nearby was one of the gates for entering the Shadow Sect's territory. Normally, people didn't dare to walk around and stare at everything. That was why the guard asked the question.
The guards at the gate were usually simple Disciple Assistants. But in Shadow City, even they had a lot of status. They represented the Shadow Sect, people would never want to cross them.
- Oh! Brother, I need your help! Look! - Shouted Kai, taking out a scroll from his ring.
- What did you call me?! Listen here che-' Halfway through, the guard barely stopped the words he wanted to say.
In that moment, he realised what had appeared in Kai's hands. A letter of recommendation! Which meant that this guy he wanted to call a puppy would probably become a Core Disciple. He already had a higher status than this guard!
The difference between a Core Disciple and an Assistant Disciple was huge! He would never have dared to say such a thing if he had originally known what Kai's status was.
Kai ignored this guy's words and intonation. He didn't care about such things.
- Where am I going with this Bro? - With a smile, Kai interjected, walking closer.
Hearing Kai's words, the guard relaxed a bit.
'This guy doesn't seem to be arrogant at all. Unlike some...' - He thought and smiled.
- Oh! So you're a candidate for the Core Disciples! Sorry about earlier... - The guard, just in case, decided to apologise anyway.
- Don't worry about it. I don't give a shit about these ceremonies. Where am I supposed to go with this? Hehehe. - Kai replied with a laugh.
- Wait... Now I'll give you a pass...' the guy said and started rummaging through his clothes, 'Here it is! Here it is. - The guard handed Kai a white badge.
- What is it? - Asked Kai.
- With this you are allowed to move around the territory of the Shadow Sect. But only for three days. There is a date on the token until which you have permission. You need to go deep into the territory. Ask the higher order guards, they'll guide you where you need to go. - Politely explained the guy.
- Thank you very much! - Replied Kai and walked through the large gate.
'Hmm? What's this?' - Suddenly, Kai thought and stopped.
At that moment, he felt a strange vibration of energy. It was as if something was scanning him....
- Don't worry, it's a check array, if you went in without a token, it wouldn't end well! Hehehe. - Shouted out from behind Kai's back the guard.
- Yeah... Thank you... - Kai was a bit dumbfounded and continued walking forward.
The Forbidden Zone, or Shadow Sect's territory, was not small. In terms of area, it was probably a bit bigger than the Border Beast City. Kai needed a good walk....
As Kai realised, if he moved towards this huge white palace, he would meet the higher ranked members of the Shadow Sect along the way. They would tell him where to go next.
Walking through the streets, Kai looked around at his surroundings. Although the style was very similar to the streets of Shadow City, everything was an order of magnitude better. The buildings were all beautifully carved, the tiles on the ground were incredibly clean and smooth.
It all seemed even more beautiful because there were far fewer people. There was a large amount of small details coming into view. Parallel to these white streets, the Shadow Sect disciples who were dressed in black clothes contrasted well.
What surprised Kai was that there were also ordinary citizens here. But there were very few of them. They were mostly merchants in shops or managers in other buildings. It seemed that the business on the streets was still provided by ordinary mortals.
But it was quite logical... All members of the Shadow Sect pursue the path of martial arts and development. They don't have time for such useless things in their opinion.
It seemed to be the reason why the Shadow Sect allowed the best merchants to do business inside the forbidden zone. While pondering this, Kai looked at the white token in his hand. He realised that they were basically made for all these people.