It was another pleasant day over Shang Clan City. The guards were standing near the gates as they usually did, going through their regular routine, as more "Wanted" posters were placed on the wall behind them, ultimately creating an entirely new layer above those which had existed prior.
Mortals and Gu Masters both came to enter the city. Some who did not have the required primeval stones tried to plead to be let inside, to which they were promptly told to leave or they would have their bones broken. The Shang Clan had no business associating with paupers, after all.
It was rare for major incidents to happen near the gates, because everyone knew of the power and authority of the Shang Clan. Mortals would not usually argue with Gu Masters, anyway, and any Gu Master who could make the journey here would know better.
And so, this day had gone by like so many others. People lined up at the gates before either being waved in or told to get lost.
"Look, on the horizon! Is that it?" one of them said, as they saw a long train of caravans approaching the city. A merchant caravan coming in was nothing out of the ordinary. However, they had received orders from their superiors that there was a certain merchant caravan they needed to look out for.
One of the leaders emerged from said caravan and smiled towards them. He had a yellow token, which would excuse the entry of four people. The caravan broke up into its various factions, and a guard simply asked, "Is your merchant caravan coming from near Zi You Mountain?" Someone answered in the affirmative. "And did it also pass by Zhang Clan village on its way here?"
"Indeed, we did," the leader said.
The guards immediately signaled for more guards to come out the moment the members of the merchant caravan were inside the city, completely surrounding them. "What is this? What's going on?" some of the caravan members asked.
"Please relax. These are orders from our Shang Clan Leader. He simply wishes to ask a few questions, as there's something of interest to the Shang Clan. So long as you cooperate, you will be reimbursed for any expenses incurred, as well as for your goods."
The caravan leaders glanced at each other. After having traveled for so long, they could not turn away at this point. Even if they did, they would need to come back to the Shang Clan in the future. If the Shang Clan still held a grudge against them, how would they possibly continue their business? For a caravan of this size, it's usually only a big city like this that could swallow the goods involved or pay the amount that they were worth.
Where would they even bother to run now?
The Shang Clan had not told them about this before they had entered the city.
"Alright then," the caravan leader said, as they were led deep into the inner city by some Shang Clan elders to be questioned about the events surrounding Shang Xin Ci.
Shang Yan Fei was a very cautious person and wanted to know everything about what had happened to his daughter. She had traveled with them for some time, so he wanted to grill them over regarding their journey as well - though he would find surprisingly little information from them when all was said and done.
He was also interested in information about Fang Yuan, but these people knew next to nothing about that regardless.
The guards thought that this was the only thing of note that was going to happen today.
However, there was some commotion from the line. Normally, people would line up and wait, occasionally for hours, to enter the city. However, they were parting ways before a single individual, who walked with slow and steady steps.
But none of them protested this man cutting ahead of them. Once they got a good look at him, the guards were somewhat curious. Was this a former Shang Clan member or someone else of note?
However, the guards were soon hit with this individual's Rank 5 aura, and realized the reason for the commotion. To think that two Rank 5 Gu Masters would enter the city so quickly after one another!
"Lord Gu Master," one of the guards said. "Is this your first time within Shang Clan City?"
The man had a young appearance but an old expression, as if despite being only about twenty years old, he had lived for centuries. He was wearing simple clothing and despite being a Gu Master was not wearing a Gu Master plate designating his rank. His eyes were deep like bottomless pools but nothing else about his appearance really stood out. He also looked like he had walked a considerable distance in order to get here, even though someone at his level should've had a mount like Bai Ning Bing and Fang Yuan did.
He glanced at the scene around Shang Clan City, as if taking in the sight and wanting to etch in every single detail of the city into his mind. He was so lost in whatever thoughts that he had that he didn't even answer the question until the guard repeated it.
"Uh, yes. This is my first time coming into Shang Clan City. My name is Liu Nan," he said.
He did not give a clan designation or a region he was coming from. But he accepted the white token that they gave him readily. However, from the way he examined the token, it was as if he had never seen one before. This person must really be from somewhere far away to not even know about the token system.
"Should we check the wanted posters to see if he was on them?"
"And what do we do if he is? You wanna fight him?"
The two of them whispered among themselves as this stranger still looked slightly lost.
If he was a demonic Gu Master, the two of them decided that they didn't want anything to do with him so long as he behaved. He didn't look like someone who was looking for trouble.
Liu Nan turned towards one of them once they were done chatting and asked, "I was actually looking for a... friend of mine which is why I decided to come here in the first place. Do the two of you happen to know someone by the name of Gu Yue Fang Yuan? I'm looking for him, so any help on that matter would be greatly appreciated."