Ryfon was in the lead, going up to every third or fourth person and saying hello as they made their way across the beautiful little valley. Most of the people he met looked to be around their 40's or even 50's. Only the heavens knew how old they actually were if they still looked like this.
Maybe some thousands of years old monsters?
But Hao Xuan couldn't feel even a hint of Qi from their bodies. They just looked like normal old men with calluses on their hands and feet as they walked around with buckets of water on their shoulders.
When the due passed them Hao Xuan went closer to Ryfon and asked, "Were those people cultivators too?"
Ryfon nodded as a matter of factly, "Of course, what else would they be?"
"Why were they carrying around buckets of water? They didn't even have any storage rings or spirit bands on them."
"Oh, that's just how they tend to live sometimes. After living thousands of years like the 'immortals' they are thought of, they sometimes become tired and come here as a vacation to live like mortals. They might harmless but don't piss them off. You remember the second last guy I met?"
Hao Xuan frowned and remembered that it was an exceptionally normal-looking 40 something old bald man meditating on the river bank away from everyone else. Ryfon actually went out of his way to greet him.
"Yeah, what about him?"
"He is the one in charge of the consulate. He is a Saint Lord that broke through to the Profound Realm with 3 Laws, that was about 2,700 years ago now. After that, he joined the personal army of one of the Ancients and served there for more than a Millenium, only returning when his only son died."
Hao Xuan turned around and looked behind them towards the man they were talking about. And just as Hao Xuan looked towards him, he also turned around and nodded back with a smile. Instinctively, Hao Xuan also gave a respectful bow back.
Ryfon who was watching from the side smiled.
They went around in a circle to the back of all those temples and a couple of minutes later finally arrived at their destination. It was an entrance to a valley with a wooden gate like the ones found outside Shinto shrines on earth. The gate represented a transition from the mundane to the sacred.
Hao Xuan got a bit excited thinking about what would be on the other side. Ryfon knocked three times on the wooden gate and passed through so Hao Xuan decided to do the same. They started going down on a small rocky path.
"Why the knock? Is it like a luck thing?" Hao Xuan asked curiously.
"Eh? No, I just like the sound of it hahaha," Ryfon laughed in his face, making Hao Xuan turn slightly red from embarrassment.
'This is what I get for copying this dumbass…' he blamed no one else but himself.
Slowly the rocky path opened up into a wide desert-like area; not it was actually a desert. Hao Xuan rubbed his eyes in confusion, the transition was so smooth that he didn't even notice it. All the greenery and plant life stopped along with the rocky path.
Now they were standing in a barren subtropical desert, the kind without any sand. It was like someone painted the entire landscape with a single color. Even the heat increased by tens of degrees, so much so that Hao Xuan started sweating a bit which wasn't normal since his tolerance was so high.
There were a few run-down houses in front of them but it looked like no one had stayed in there for years.
Hao Xuan kept silent and followed after Ryfon. Just as they passed the houses, a loud yell came into Hao Xuan's ears.
"ROCK!"
He abruptly turned around and carefully examined his surroundings but there was nothing. A couple of seconds later another yell came.
"PAPER!"
At which point Hao Xuan realized what was happening. Ryfon grinned and quickly pulled Hao Xuan to the side.
"What? Wh-" before Hao Xuan could even finish his question, the last word was uttered.
"SCISSORS!"
*BOOOM*
*Crash*
A shadow passed over the exact spot they were standing a couple of seconds ago and crashed into one of the houses behind them, completely destroying it in the process.
Hao Xuan was left more or less flabbergasted.
"What the f*ck is happening…"
"ROCK!"
And then it started over again.
Ryfon gestured Hao Xuan to followed him from the side and they went around a rock and saw 4 people standing in a circle.
"PAPER!"
One of them shouted as soon as they got there. Hao Xuan knew what to expect this time so he immediately stood behind Ryfon as cover, even though he was much bigger than him.
"SCISSORS!"
As soon as they shouted scissors, three of the others punched the fourth person at once and he flew out much the same way as the one before him.
Hao Xuan and Ryfon silently watched from the side until the process repeated two more times until there was the only person left standing in the circle.
"Hahaha, FREEDOM!!" he shouted and broke out into a sprint but froze after just a few steps. He slowly turned his head sideways and stared at Ryfon with wide eyes.
"Prince Ryfon! When did you get here??" he put an even wider smile and walked towards them.
"Gou Min, it's been a while," Ryfon nodded and looked towards a hill in the distance.
"Isn't your brother up yet?"
"He just went to get some water, we were just….playing around in the meantime. Haha, I wasn't going anywhere, I SWEAR!" he explained himself but when Ryfon simply smiled back in return, Gou Min dejectedly shook his head and pleaded, "Please don't tell him, he will actually kill me…"
Instead of replying Ryfon looked around and frowned upon not seeing someone.
"Where is my dear cousin today?"
Gou Min peered left and right before shrugging.. Ryfon turned to face Hao Xuan and pointed towards the west side, "Can you go get my cousin, please? He will be the one handling everything on my behalf when I'm not here so he needs to be included in the conversation."
