To Walk The Mist

As Ed walked around the town, he noticed that there were people trading, checking into inns and so on. This made him frown. Was this normal? Most sat on the streets as though waiting.

"Are there not enough cultivation caves?" he asked.

"There are. Those you see here, have either lost their cultivation cave to others, or joined factions with limited resources. The factions will only favour those they find valuable to them. Most have to camp out side or sleep in an inn." the person leading the way said. He thought that his words would cause a reaction from Ed, but Ed just nodded in understanding.

"The monthly battles, one could do it as a group? Factions with too many people. How does this work?" Ed asked.

"The battles are not fought in an arena, but in a pocket world. People can only come out when they surrender, get a win, or die. If you win, you can decide to stay back longer and win a few more before leaving. The battles end up like a war. As the factions coordinative members tomove n troupes. The only law is that every one must participate. The battles last for one day. I hear that battling in a group is much better. It is said that there treasures in the battle ground. The factions would have better man power to be able to bring back as much resources as they can."

Ed understood these word. Not only was it better to be in a group in the battle ground so that you may not get killed, it is better for lucky encounters. He bets that that is why most remain in the factions no matter if they don't get cultivation caves or resources to cultivate. During the battles, they join up with their groups and go adventuring. It made sense.

Ed arrived at his cave soon after. He did as the person said and touched the walls. The are opened and he stepped in. Ed understood that this person was a mortal. He was not sure how he got to the great spill, but he knew that he probably worked for the regulators for the great spill. These mortals would do menial jobs to get paid.

He gave the boy a spirit stone and entered his cave. The boy bowed as the cave closed. He sighed in his heart. This newcomer was nice enough to give him a spirit stone. He felt guilty for what he was about to do.

Leaving Ed behind in the cultivation cave, he rushed away in the direction of a another cave. The caves were well spaced and would take a bit of travelling to get another. After a while, the panting mortal got to a cave much larger than Ed's. There were tents around the cave filed with cultivators. He walked over to a tent and bowed.

"What is it?" a voice said from inside.

"There is a newcomer with his own cave that just entered. He even has a lot of money on him." the boy said.

"Is that so? Have you told him to join with us?"

"He did not care about all the benefits of s group. He has entered his cave."

"I see. You may go." the boy bowed and left.

Inside the tent, two people sat.

"Big brother, we should go and meet with him. Newcomers are al stupid. We tell him to let us practise with him a bit and we will fight with him in the battles." one of them said. He was completely muscular with a bald head.

"If we do this, the faction will hear of it and say we are coveting resources. This boy will finally have to give up his cave anyway." the other answered. He looked like the one who had spoken before, only a bit larger.

"When the faction gets his cave, there is no way they would give it to us."

"There is no way we are getting a cave. We are not strong enough, or have enough spirit stones to pay to use it."

"He said the boy had money." the other said and the older brother paused.

"We will not report this to the faction yet. The great spill prohibits fighting except inside the battle ground. We will wait till then." the elder brother said after some time.

"After we get his money then what? The faction will say we kept it to our selves."

"We only need to kill him and take his money. We are part of the iron hand faction. When we kill him, the cave will go to the leader. He will only see the number of caves appear on his arm. He will not know who it is from. We can then keep all the money." the elder brother said.

"Later, I will take that boy, to go show me the newcomer's face."

"We must track him well. It would be best if he does not come out of his cave till the battles. That way, not many people will know about his cave. If not, we will be competing with many people for his money. I don not wish to share on that day." they two planned for the coming battle in secret. Their target, Ed.