---Stony Road Sect---
Since Seth, Fin, and Mina traveled together for most of the way, the latter two didn't have many targets to choose from. While Seth went to mop up what was left of the Silk River Sect, Fin had split off and came to a place called the Stony Road Sect.
At first, the fairy had problems even finding her target. Not because she didn't know the location. Using
Her problem was that things were quite different from the grand sects she had heard about. She moved to Southwest after splitting up with Seth. The Stony Road Sect was supposed to be located in a valley close to the Silk River, which gave the big player its name.
Riding an aerial striker, she reached the location two hours after splitting from the others. However, all Fin was able to find in the marked location was a shanty town that resembled the kinds of bandit hideouts she knew from the system world.
It was just bigger, like a bandit hideout besieged by a slum of ramshackle huts and tents. The first three times, Fin came by the place she thought was some kind of refugee camp, from nearby cities or something. She would have looked for ages if it hadn't been for a helpful local.
"This is the third time to have flown by the Great Stony Road Sect! Identify yourself and explain your suspicious behavior!" a man floating in the air, blocking her path, exclaimed. He exuded a yellow aura, or maybe it was just the visible stench that rose from his body.
He wore worn-out rags that resembled the shape of trousers and a vest. Fin didn't know why he even bothered wearing those ripped sandals on his feet, considering the soles were mostly gone. Yet, despite his appearance, this guy was able to float in the air and was actually a lv.90 expert. That meant he had to be at least in the Golden Core Realm, the fairy judged.
"This is the Stony Road Sect?" Fin asked, her voice was heavy with doubt. Her eyes wandered over the sea of leaky roofs and huts, huddled around smoky fireplaces. Sure, it was vast, sprawling even, but this was far from what Fin imagined a sect was supposed to look like.
"Yes, indeed! This is the great Stony Road Sect, home to the best information gatherers in the XiGuang Province," he bragged. "The best?" Fin thought to herself. According to intel, they were barely a second-rate sect and not even in the top ten of information-gathering sects.
"Have you come looking for information?" he asked, suddenly quite friendly. He ignored the heavy doubt in her voice and his earlier suspicion the moment he judged her as a potential customer. He was even rubbing his hands and smiling at her, which revealed his missing and badly maintained teeth. How much shadier was he trying to look?
However, his suggestion was not a bad idea at all. Maybe not if she actually came to look for information, but currently, he was offering her a way to infiltrate without any suspicion. Why would she refuse?
"Yes, actually, I heard of your skills and decided to come by," she played along.
"Then please land your best, and I will lead you in. Flying over the sect is not allowed under normal circumstances. The fairy nodded and led the aerial striker to slowly sink to the ground.
"I'm Whipped Dog of the Stony Road Sect. What may I call you, fellow Daoist?" he introduced himself and asked for her name as they slowly descended. Fin pondered for a moment before she answered.
"In my sect, they call me Little Peacock, " she answered with a grin, having scoured her knowledge of movies from Urth. As they landed, Fin stored the golem back in her inventory. In turn, Whipped Dog looked at her in surprise. But he quickly put that shady business smile back on.
"To think you had a treasure that could store away a beast, you sect must be quite wealthy," he went on to comment. Or rather complement. The fairy halted for a moment, trying to understand why he said so. She had only put a golem in her inventory.
"Quite so. Very rich in fact," she answered with a confident smile. She had decided not to bother for his exact reasons. After all, it was very true. Minas Mar held sway over most of what was left of Urth and got rent from everyone. Even if they kept the rates low, the guild was filthy rich.
Whipped Dog's feet quickened as he led the customer into the shanty town. There were obvious defenses in this place; it really looked like a slum. No, maybe worse. These people looked deliberately unkempt and destitute.
However, their appearance and techniques to look ordinary could not hide their true nature from system skills. Checking them with her appraisal, Fin found that most of the beggars sitting on the ground in front of their huts, like bums, were at least lv.50.
The cultivator led her deeper into this slum, and the further they went, the more maze-like it became, while the levels of the surrounding beggars kept rising until there were quite a few in their 60s. Ultimately, he led her to a three-storied wooden building that resembled a barn.
The inside was filled with seemingly random stacks of paper and loosely bound books reaching all the way to the high ceiling. Opposite the crooked entrance stood a decrepit desk at the wall on the other side of the room.
Sitting at it was a man, looking as decrepit and unkempt as the scarred and shaky desk. Despite his looks, he was the cultivator with the highest level Fin had seen here, so far. The elder, with his white, filthy beard, was level 112, so at least in the Nascent Soul Realm.
"Master Crooked Staff, I brought a customer. This fairy wishes to purchase information," Whipped Dog said, groveling before the aged man. Bushy eyebrows rose to take a better look at Fin, standing beside the servile bum.
"…And what Information are you looking for…?" He left his sentence open-ended, waiting for her to complete it by saying her name. Fin and the old man were roughly the same level, so she was able to spy most of his status thanks to
For that reason, she played stupid, since she knew that the man actually had an ability to discern lies. Although she wouldn't have minded being called Little Peacock, it was not actually a nickname anyone used.
"I was looking for information on Earth or Heaven Grade Metals," she said smoothly, ignoring the Crooked Staff's trap. Although she had come up with this request on the fly, while Whipped Dog led her here, it was the truth.
Given the chance, she thought about what information she would be interested in. The reason she was interested in this was that she could use it to brag in front of Seth and help him. After all, once they were done here, it was time for the honeymoon, and they intended to travel around this foreign land.
"Just where should we go?" Seth would ask, and it would be her time to shine, naming places with good stuff. Originally, she also wanted to ask for vacation destinations, but she decided that that request would have sounded too suspicious. Why would a native from a rich sect need an information sect to look for good vacation spots?
"Hmm, that is quite valuable information you are asking for… Do you think you can pay?" the old man asked with his raspy voice. Now, Fin was a little stumped. She knew cultivators in this place traded with crystals they called spirit stones. She didn't have those.
"How much would you need?" she asked to buy a little time, as her eyes scanned the system window and went through the stuff in her inventory. She really had to clean out this stuff at one point…
"50 catties of Spirit Stones," the old man said, his voice heavy with meaning. Fin didn't get it.
What the fuck were catties? Didn't matter. She didn't have them anyway. Time to improvise without lying.
"Oh, because of circumstances, I don't carry that much on me, but maybe you are up for a trade?"