after a while of walking, they arrived at the old in. " let them bathe and give them something to eat." walking in, he didn"t even glance at the old inn keeper. he went up to his room and sat cross-legged. qi erupted from his body forcefully, before calming, and flowing smoothly. the qi surrounded his body like a drop of water, and rotated slowly and gracefully. the qi around his body started to get smaller, slowly. the water commandment was a skill that purified qi, it would cleanse any impure qi, and compress the remainder. so those who practiced the water commandment would have little qi, but that little bit of qi would be thick like water, and stronger than ordinary qi. "fuuu..." levi opened his eyes and released a breath.flick! his eyes changed from golden to blood red, as his infrared vision was activated. he looked downstairs and saw the four gladiators as ma.s.ses of red, especially the boy and the woman, eating happily. the man levi choked was more reserved. flick! his vision returned to normal. "..." he then had a thought. since he used qi to fly faster, what would happen if he used blood energy instead? but since he was inside, that would have to wait. he closed his eyes once again, as his qi was released. the water like qi surrounding his body began bulging in different places. he was practicing the cloud commandment, qi control. this commandment instructed you to make different shapes with qi. in this case, he was trying to make multiple b.a.l.l.s of qi, which was one of the easier qi control exercises.
sweat soaked his face, and just as the water like orbs of qi were about to form completely, they all collapsed. like a lake disturbed by a pebble, multiple ripples emanated across his qi"s water like surface. he opened his eyes and got up, before leaving his room. "i will be gone for a while." levi dropped his last 1000 silver coins onto the wooden counter in front of the old inn keeper. "come." he said. he left the inn with the four gladiators. although they were still wearing rags, they looked exceptionally better. their hair was cleaned, the woman"s reddish brown hair was flowing freely, blowing in the breeze, although she used it to hide the large scar and her missing eye. the blood and dirt stains were gone from their skin. the boy was still only skin and bones, but his stomach stuck out, filled with food.
they went to a nearby stable where the horses of people who visited the imperial city would be kept, to buy a few. "i"m sorry, sir. these horses are not for sale. maybe if you found the owners?" a man said respectfully. " are you here, sir? i"m here to retrieve my horses. oh? isn"t it that young master?" the plump merchant walked in. "are you trying o buy a horse, young master?" he asked, levi simply nodded. "hmm, i can"t sell you my horses, but i could give you a ride? where are you headed?" the merchant asked with a smile. he didn"t put the events from a few days ago to heart. "divine country." levi said simply. " oh? that"s exactly where i"m headed!" the merchant laughed, slightly surprised. "come, i"ll take you to my wagon!" he lead levi and the 4 to the wagon. it was a simple wooden wagon, with a cloth roof. it was empty, so the 5 of them fit in with room to spare. they left the imperial city shortly after.
night time.
they left through the imperial city"s south gate, which had a large mountain only a few miles away from it. the merchant stopped the carriage for the night. levi sat cross-legged in the wagon with his eyes closed. he continued to practice the cloud commandment. "u-um..." the woman opened her mouth. "..." levi slowly opened his eyes, locking onto the woman. "...gulp.." his gaze caused the her to feel pressured, she wasn"t a martial artist after all. " m-my name is aria, i no longer have a last name..." but even so, she continued. "..." levi stayed silent and looked at the scrawny boy. "m-my name i-is aron." my name is don." the muscular man flinched at levi"s gaze. "larck." the man without scars said. after hearing their names, levi silently shut his eyes again. he didn"t care what their names were, he just didn"t want to be interrupted again.
this continued for several days before the wagon found itself in front of a small city. " this is sky city, we will rest here for a day or so before leaving." the merchant said. " where in the divine country are you going?" levi asked. " i"m going to stone city to collect iron ore." the merchant replied after some thought. " stone city?" levi mumbled, he had never heard about such a city. "yeah, the city closest to stone city is....hmmm? ah! star city!" he searched his brain before replying. "star city...." levi smiled.
after a few more days, they arrived at stone city. it was more like a village than a city, without a wall. stone houses and other buildings lined the ground. children were running around playing, and sometimes you would see a muscular man carrying a large wooden basket on his back, filled with large white or silver rocks. behind the small city stood a large rocky mountain. the wagon stopped at the outer part of the city. " are you here for the ore?" an old man with two muscular men at his sides walked out from the cl.u.s.ter of buildings. " yes, sir. may i ask if you have the required amount?" the merchant asked respectfully. " ah, no need to be so polite. we are still a ways from the required amount. could you stay in our tiny village for a few more days?" the old man asked politely. "yes, of course!" the merchant readily replied.
" would i be able to get some iron ore from here?" levi suddenly asked. "oh? who is this boy?" the old man asked. " unfortunately, since we use the ore in exchange for different things from the imperial city, we cannot give any to you." the old man said with a tone of regret. " but if you would like, you can enter the mine and try to get ore for yourself?" he said. "..." levi silently nodded his head. he and the four gladiators followed one of the men that was with the old man, while the merchant followed the other man and the old man. after walking through the village, they arrived at the base of the rocky mountain. there were multiple tunnels held up by large wooden beams going into the mountain. peng! deng! the man left them to walk through the mine themselves. torches were lit in the tunnel. they came across some men with pieces of cloth tied around their heads, bare chested, using pickaxes to break of different pieces of rock, while sweating profusely.
after looking around for a while, levi and the four walked out of the mine. " is there a mine in star city?" at a small inn, levi asked the merchant. " hmm, i believe so. but why do you ask?" the merchant asked. " they said that we could mine ore ourselves, but i need more ore than they might be willing to offer." levi replied.