Immortal Freeloader 119 (Patreon)

Of course, while I had decided to delve deeper into the issue of Martial Arts, I wasn’t actually planning anyone to practice Everdawn Saber. Not when it was clearly linked to the others. Instead, I decided to make a fact-finding mission.

My first destination was the capital, where I visited the royal library, and dug for some information on Everdawn Empire, but failed to find even a hint. Not that it surprised me. I already expected the sects to erase that information.

While I could visit every capital to make sure, I decided against it. The royal libraries were very difficult to scour. In the capital, I still held the command token passed to me by Aisnam, allowing me to mobilize the secret guard to help me. With their help, I scoured the library but failed to even find a hint.

Of course, I deliberately gave them vague directions, disguising it as a search for martial arts rather than history in case someone blabbed near a cultivator, but still, it worked.

“At least it was not for nothing,” I spoke to myself, looking at a pile of martial arts techniques in front of me, none of them useful on their own, but I still browsed them quickly for reference. My martial arts talent was already helpful, and the combat cultivation techniques I learned helped me to comprehend even more.

I wished that Aisnam was still here so we could brainstorm about new, needlessly complicated martial arts I created for fun. Unfortunately, she was recruited to a sect, and I had more important things to do.

Like discovering information about the Everdawn Empire.

Luckily, I had one clue, one that I could easily trace back to the source. The hidden attack formations. More importantly, their triggers. I went back to the ruins of the Spring Palace. As I walked among the rubble, I was still frustrated. Temporary or not, it had been a home. Now, it was gone, destroyed by an asshole cultivator for no other reason than to show off because I couldn’t just reveal my power.

“Later,” I muttered as I examined the formation, and tracked it back to the trigger. Or, triggers. There were three of them, probably to create some insurance in case of an accident. I tracked the triggers back to their source.

Tracing them back was simple, but only because I was an expert in both talismans and formations. Otherwise, it would have been far more difficult. I found the trigger talismans, which were some kind of modified message talismans, in the hands of civilian merchants in the outer city. A few questions to the neighbors under disguise revealed that all three had been living here for at least a decade.

Curious, I carefully examined them from a distance. They were using some mediocre martial arts, each using a different one. One of them was at Bone Forging, and the other two were at Skin Refinement, but they all had the ability to conceal themselves as mere Muscle Reinforcement artists, which was enough to operate in the outer city without catching attention.

Unfortunately, questioning them under revealed that they were just ordinary spies of Kartpa Valley, tasked to activate the talismans once they received a signal from their superiors, for which, there were many. And, tracing them back was not possible, as it would probably require me to penetrate the spy ring of Kartpa Valley, which was most likely outside the mortal kingdoms.

A dead end, but it gave me an idea of my own. Since they were trying to free the imprisoned people — the martial arts implying that they were people rather than creatures, at least at one point — from the stone gates, they must be trying to use the martial arts to empower them.

All I needed was to find them. Too bad, unlike the cultivators, there were too many martial artists for me to distinguish them by their totem. Even formations couldn’t help me, because I didn’t know what distinguished animal totems from spiritual pillars.

I sighed even as I wondered how else I could find them. However, as I walked, it suddenly clicked. The answer was simple.

The scale.

I didn’t know what those saboteurs wanted to do, but it was clear that regardless of whether their objective was to use the imprisoned beings to have a lot of second-class martial artists, or use them to empower the people who were trapped behind those stone doors, they would need a significant number of martial artists.

And, any such operation would leave a clue, which could allow me to limit the search radius. Once limited, I could use formations, interrogate them directly, or even challenge strong martial artists until I could find something suspicious.

Of course, if I had no choice, I could also mobilize the secret guard, but I had to explain to them what they were looking for. Even if I trusted their loyalty, particularly after Aisnam’s incredible display that solidified it even further, there were too many ways to interrogate martial artists. In the hands of a determined Foundation Establishment cultivator, they would have no secrets.

With that, I went back to the palace, and started delving on reports, trying to find a clue. After spending half a day, reading reports non-stop, I was able to find my first clue.

A cult called Golden Society.

The first thing that caught my attention was their name, indirectly reminding me of the sun. However, if it was the only source, I would have dismissed it. Apparently, they popped out of nowhere six months ago, though they were merely a local problem until the war forced a lot of people to depart their homes.

Like all cults, they were able to use the disasters to their benefit, increasing their recruitment. However, even in their increased state, the spies guessed their number was below a hundred thousand. It was supposed to be a shocking number, but since they didn’t target martial artists but weak refugees, their threat was downgraded significantly.

I would have blamed the intelligence officers, but considering their limitations, their decision wasn’t surprising. A hundred thousand weak mortals, particularly when split between many locations, wasn’t supposed to be a threat.

I would have ignored it if wasn’t looking for anything that could be connected to the name of Everdawn. And, even now, I believe that it was a stretch. However, since they were all within the borders of the Kingdom, checking them directly wouldn’t cost me too much time.

I had to steal a set of damaged clothes and add some disguise, making myself look exhausted and sickly. However, I made sure that it was a recent development due to my refugee status, still maintaining an intimidating stature.

However, that was not the most important part of my disguise. No, that honor went to the care I had shown to erase any hint of martial arts. The reports made it clear that Golden Society showed little intention to recruit people with martial arts experience, even the Initiates.

It didn’t surprise me. Martial arts required focus. While practicing multiple martial arts was not impossible, it was difficult. Not to mention, considering my assumptions, I suspected that Golden Society had reasons to be even more careful in avoiding it.

It was why, I did my best to look like a starving but strong young man with a lot of potential talent, and prime recruiting material when combined with my desperation.

“Sir, may I have a piece of bread? I’m willing to work all day,” I said as walked store after store, suddenly feeling nostalgic. It was just the way I acted when I first arrived as I did my best to fleece people for a few coppers or rotten bread.

Of course, back then, I was doing my best to succeed, and now, I was doing my best to fail. Not that I had to work hard. In a refugee camp, everyone was desperate, and any food, even moldy bread, was precious.

However, I had to avoid a couple gangs looking for recruits while looking like an accident, searching for someone suspicious. Soon, I felt a Qi flicker, and moved in that direction. I saw a middle-aged man, mixed with the rest, using a broken stone that he stimulated with his spirit stone to test people’s martial essence.

It looked like they didn’t want to make a mistake.

I wondered if they were afraid of spies, or if they were afraid of people with totem beast cultivators cultivating their spiritual pillar for some reason.

Of course, that made me think about Elsana and Lannayin, the only two people I met who didn’t have totem beasts. I didn’t care much back then, considering the ease I was able to create Forest Dance and other martial arts without my cultivation, but with my new perspective, it was clear that it wasn’t as ordinary.

I sighed, wishing that I had talked more about where they received them. Now, I questioned their disappearance with the sect's disciple. The rumor said that they had shown cultivation talent … but then, maybe it was something else.

That mystery, I ignored for the moment … knowing, deep in my bones, sooner or later, I would learn more about it. I wouldn’t have a choice.

For now, I walked toward the recruiter.