The Starfall Basin [Cosplay Cultivator Chap 72]
Some of the other Initiates did approach him while he walked around the halls, though at most they would ask him a few questions - many of them directed at his name, which village he came from, or the like - all of which he couldn't really answer following which they would usually leave, disappointed.
Familial bonds were very important as cultivators - though within sects one could say that it didn't matter as much as it did outside of them, it still did to some extent. Even within the confines of a sect, two people from the same family would be closer than not. Sects did take advantage of this, of course, oftentimes recruiting multiple generations from the same talented families.
Most people approached him upon learning that his surname was 'Tang' and were probing into whether he had a familial relation with them or someone they knew - and they were all disappointed regarding this matter of course.
After they learned of such, they usually lost interest quickly, and it wasn't like Tang Ze was an excellent conversationalist who could keep their attention anyway.
The next morning, they left.
Following this short stay within the city, they traveled to another division which was more like the one they had come from, though this division only had a single Golden Core cultivator, the division head.
Tang Ze also had to change his mind a little regarding what it was like to travel via pegasi - at the very least, they could rest at spots like this after ten or twelve hours of travel. If they were going via plane, that would mean that if the journey was so long, they might need to stay in the air for far longer. This way, at the very least, they could take time during the night to sleep in somewhat comfortable beds - Tang Ze considered them to be 'somewhat comfortable' as they just didn't feel as right as his bed back in his squad's living quarters did. And needless to say that neither could compare to his mattress back on Earth.
The next day, they finally reached their destination by sunset. All of this travel only served to impress upon Tang Ze just how big the Raswatian Empire was.
The territory held by the Rising Phoenix Sect alone would make it the second or third largest country if it were back on Earth, and there were eight such sects. Not to mention the land directly under the control of the Imperial Family. And that was just the Raswatian Empire - which was not the only country in the world.
The sect division where he had lived in for this past year, which had felt like his entire world, was just a small drop of water in a vast ocean - he had known that before as well, but he could see it clearly now! He truly had been nothing more than a frog in a well.
Speaking of other countries, he had wanted to go visit the Theocracy of Serragnia one day. He had not heard much about that country, but he had heard that it supported mages above cultivators. Tang Ze had a few powerful spellcaster costumes he was working on - but they were usually quite elaborate and required things like gemstones and the like. He wouldn't be able to come up with something like that currently - he had barely been able to cobble together a roughshod wizard costume consisting of a black robe and fake beard as it was, and while that had been somewhat useful in teleporting, it could barely tap into the true potential of that magic caster.
If he could make a good spellcaster costume though, he felt that he could easily blend into that kind of country.
Maybe if he performed well here, he could use those resources to make a truly great spellcaster costume and visit that nation in the future - but that was an idea he'd have to tuck away in the back of his mind for the time being.
They were finally at the Starfall Basin. It lived up to the descriptions of its beauty, the water catching the radiance of the setting sun perfectly as the rays gently caressed the numerous lotus flowers serenely dancing upon the lake's surface.
There was a huge camp set around the central lake.
It was divided into sections for the eight sects, and they landed near a huge banner bearing the emblem of the Rising Phoenix sect.
Though this was the Novice Tournament and wasn't taken as seriously as the Advanced Tournament, there were still many eyes upon this, and you could tell that the sect still handled it with a sense of gravity given the fact that a Nascent Soul cultivator was sent from the main headquarters to serve as the overseer of their section of the camp.
All in all, there were three hundred hopefuls from the Rising Phoenix sect there, and less than ten of these people were at the Qi Condensation stage. The rest were at Qi Refinement, with Tang Ze being one of the outliers.
They were staying in tents, though all attempts had been made to make them as comfortable as possible. They were each provided with three mortal attendants in case they needed anything like extra blankets or firewood.
It was quite a far cry from what Tang Ze was used to back at his sect division - basically everything was done by the Initiates there, from sweeping the floors to cleaning out the pegasi stables. Here, though, great pains were taken by the sect to make sure that they didn't have to lift a finger beyond what was necessary.
"Young Master, please don't get out of bed on your own, we'll fetch your slippers for you first so that your feet don't get cold."
"Young Master, let us fetch anything for you that you need, we wouldn't want you to walk around and stub your toe, hampering your performance."
"Young Master, do you require us to chew your food for you beforehand, so that you don't accidentally choke while eating?"
"No need to get angry, Young Master, you'll end up raising your blood pressure and possibly give yourself an aneurysm - we have someone to get angry for you. Wu Xing, start breaking fragile things like that vase over there in a bout of rage; we wouldn't want to risk the Young Master cutting himself on one of the shattered pieces while doing so!"
The message from the Rising Phoenix sect was clear - we're taking care of you, so please do your best during the events!
Tang Ze took the first day to relax a little - his body still felt a little sore from having to travel for so long.
The second day, he actually took the initiative to walk around their camp a little, declining the servants' offers to get whatever he wanted for him while he rested. He also declined their offers to accompany him - as part of the reason that he was heading out was that he really wanted to get away from them. They were far too clingy for his liking.
Merchants from all over had flocked towards this place, and you could get many things you wouldn't ordinarily be able to buy.
There was one thing that Tang Ze was specifically looking for - the pelt of a snow leopard.
The skin was not that useful for cultivating except in some very rare and esoteric recipes as an ingredient, but that wasn't why Tang Ze was looking for it. Tang Ze was buying it because Zhang Long had requested that he get one to give to Jin Zhen as a gift.
Apparently, she had always admired them, though snow leopards didn't live anywhere near her village or even in the territory controlled by the Rising Phoenix sect for that matter. She had seen a pelt one day though and had greatly coveted it since, and Zhang Long wanted to impress her by gifting her with one. While Tang Ze, being from modern-day Earth, really didn't appreciate that kind of practice especially as snow leopards were nearly extinct back home, this was a new world where such was not the case.
Also, the ideals and mores of people here were slightly different, and so long as it was legal, he couldn't really fault Zhang Long or Jin Zhen.
However, no single trapper he had asked had one, despite all of his searching.
There was one merchant who said that he could get it for him within a few days time if allowed, though it would be at a premium. The price he demanded was high - but it was still within the budget that Zhang Long said was acceptable. After all, even if the pelt was priced higher than normal, it was still just a pelt with very little use to cultivators. It still would cost less than even low-grade Qi Condensation rank pills.
Other than that, Tang Ze didn't have much interest in buying anything else being sold in the marketplace, and he didn't actually have that many coins to his name even if something happened to catch his eye.
He had some sect merit points, but they were useless in an open market like this and not easily exchanged for gold or silver coins, which the sect kept within its treasury. He would have to be at the Golden Core level in order to be able to freely exchange merit points for coinage, though even then there would only be to a certain limit. Zhang Long had been able to give him some coins because of his family's earnings.
Some merchants within the Rising Phoenix sect's territory did take sect merit points as payment, but they were far and few between, and needless to say the market here did not work as such.
Here, if he really wanted or needed something, he could've asked the sect to buy it for him - given how much consideration they were giving him up till now they probably would so long as it wasn't too expensive and wasn't completely useless.
He was pretty sure they wouldn't buy him the pelt, for example, given the fact that it had nothing to do with his ultimate purpose for coming here. However, say that he needed some kind of medicine and their own apothecary didn't have it - they would likely have no issue whatsoever purchasing it from these merchants to give it to him.
Although wandering around the place was interesting, given the natural beauty of the area, and the opportunity of being able to mingle with not only some of the other members of his own sect who came from different parts of the territory under the Rising Phoenix Sect's control, but potentially with people from other sects as well (though probably not the Astral Winds sect or the Diamond Fortune sect, both of whom had reasons to find trouble with him); he suppressed this urge as he remembered what Elder He Xuan said.
Who knew when an 'accident' might occur if he were to go somewhere not under his own sect's control? He doubted that people would go that far, but even back on Earth there were numerous cheating scandals and stories of athletes cheating during sporting events.
Lance Armstrong, one of the most famous athletes of his time, had everything stripped from him when it was found that he was doping. Here, in this world, there was much more at stake than just honor and pride, so he could only imagine how much greater the pressure to win at any cost was.
As such, he spent the rest of the days leading up to the start of the event in his tent, meditating, and not bothering with anyone else unless they specifically came to see him. The servants also annoyed him less when they figured that he didn't want them waiting on him hand and foot.
The prefects who had been assigned to watch over him felt that this was a bit unsightly - after all, he should at least try to mingle with the other members of his own sect, they felt. By meditating in his tent all day and not going outside unless called upon, he could be seen as giving out an air of arrogance or haughtiness, something which was not appropriate.
They didn't feel strongly enough about this to reprimand Tang Ze. Not yet at least.
Tang Ze, for that matter, despite all the meditating, found that the unease in his heart seemed to be growing.
The best way he could describe it was as if he was alone in the forest, but knew that he was being stalked by a large predator that he couldn't see. Sure, his eyes might not see anything - but he knew deep down that there was trouble lurking around the corner.