23 To Find a New Path (1/2)

”First off,” said Cara as she stepped into their room back at the inn, ”The head of the Dixon family is one of the two Soul Refining existences in the Tin City.”

”I sensed him there too, but I didn't get a good look at him,” Zara replied, not elaborating that the reason she didn't see the man was because she refused to take her eyes off her teacher's fight, even for a second... And another small thing distracted her near the end. A few small things.

”Second off,” Cara continued, ”That man isn't just a Three Path Cultivator like I originally thought. I couldn't sense his cultivation completely until I got closer to him. He actually walks four Paths. And that fourth Path is as a Mage.”

Zara's aura disappeared entirely and her eyes widened in surprise. Her mana was so muted Cara couldn't even sense it at all. Zara, herself, only walked three Paths.

”So that means we can find out more about the new Paths from him…” said Zara, her desires reflected in her visage. Her hands started to shake and it looked like she was about to run out of the room right then and there to kidnap and interrogate the old man.

Cara wasn't certain when her second-youngest disciple turned into such a power-hungry person, but she wasn't against helping Zara get stronger. Zara always lacked a powerful internal cultivation method, since she couldn't cultivate traditional Internal Cultivation or Elemental Palace Cultivation. If they could find a Path Zara could walk that let her access internal paths, then her power would explode! Many soul-related techniques and abilities would become available to her.

Cara was in the same boat. Mana couldn't be used in the meridians or in the Elemental Palaces, that meant her cultivation was limited to mostly external means. Without learning and walking down the Mage path, if there really was a traitor among her remaining disciples, then she'd have no chance to win a fight if she walked down only the Paths of Outer and Weapon Cultivation.

”We can accept the invitation to meet him, but we should do other things first,” said Cara.

”What do we need to do first?”

”Well,” Cara continued, ”I desperately need to find a good material to use in making my weapon. I can't just rely on my boxing skills and Outer Cultivation forever. If my Jade-Dragon technique wasn't so much stronger than that other knight's cultivation techniques, I could have lost. He had a significantly higher cultivation than me purely because he was also a Weapon Cultivator. Zara, you know better than anyone how limiting it is to walk less Paths.”

”Teacher, please. You would have won that fight even if you used the exact same cultivation technique as that man,” said Zara with confidence. Her mind couldn't help thinking of her older brother-disciple Arc. Her teacher always espoused on about balance and walking more Paths, but hadn't Arc surpassed everyone while walking just one?

Cara just shook her head. Where did the cute little green-haired girl who never questioned anything her teacher said go? What happened to her?

”Teacher are you thinking something rude?” Zara asked, snapping out of her thoughts.

”Are you a psychic?” said Cara.

”What's a psychic?”

-

With Cara's recent feat being such a public endeavor, the stares she received while walking around the city were now fundamentally different. Before she was looked at with strange eyes, ones she had never seen a person wear before, but now she felt the familiar looks given to the strong. Slowly, things were righting themselves.

”The stares are much better now,” said Zara in a quiet voice, touching on Cara's own unvoiced thoughts. Cara once again wondered if her disciple actually was a psychic.

”I agree… Though I'm not certain why,” Cara replied, deciding to admit her own ignorance on the matter. She figured it was a problem with the culture of this world.

”Ah, Teacher you haven't been a girl for very long! No wonder you don't understand. You see, as an attractive woman, men tend to stare at you because…”

”Ah, there's the specialty store!” Cara interrupted, glad to change the subject. She pointed out a rather large building just on the edge of the Wide District, bordering both the City Lord's sector and the sector belonging to the Four Families. The store was on the corner where all three zones met, right in the dead center of the city.

The building was gilded with silver and gold. Large burly men stood outside, their cultivation blaring like alarm bells. Each was at least in the Xantian Rungs, and one was even in the Zong realm. Large windows displayed numerous expensive goods. A tall sign stood out front, standing vertical, carved from marble; it read: 'The Gilded Trade'.

”Teacher I'm serious, you need to start being careful around boys now. You're a woman so we should…”

”Yeah yeah, we can talk about that later, Zara. Let's go see if they have any good materials,” Cara interrupted again.

Cara wanted to scoff. 'Be careful around boys?' Cara knew the only person she needed to truly be careful around was her own disciple. Besides, she didn't really want to face the reality of her own womanhood just yet. That was a topic she wanted to put off for as long as possible.