The Urban Dao Child

Elder Jing Shui did not hold back and divulged the information she had on Yang Dao to the couple. The couple was shocked when they heard the background and the deeds of the boy. Elder Jing Shui also told them about how he introduced new methods to make the sect disciples increase their strength better. 

The couple was ecstatic and they wanted to meet the boy right then, but Jing Shui said, "He is out for a task. I will inform you once he returns. Do not worry." 

With that, the proposal was made, and now Elder Jing Shui wanted for the boy to come back, and then she will hook his parents as well, and set up this match for her disciple. 

...

Yang Dao sneezed as the group made their way to the exit gate of the city. Thale had told him that the city was called, Thorn City. This city was unspokenly ruled by the Rose Merchant Association. The entry time was limited till sunset, if you are late, then you will have to spend the rest of the night outside the city gates. 

The city guards were all golden core cultivators, so the people did not dare to make a ruckus in here. Yang Dao was shocked to hear this. He even let out a comment, "They are even stronger than our sect?" 

Thale chuckled and Alisha frowned when the boy said this. She said, "Young Master, the quality and quantity of golden core in our sect and here is very different. They are a group of loose cultivators who are contract bound with the merchant associations in return for resources. They are like a group of thugs." 

Yang Dao pursed his lips and said, "You look down on them Senior Sister Alisha. So what if they are contract-bound? The experience they have, do we who live inside the sect domain have it? Let me tell you, these people might not be strong as we are, however, if you fought with them, they will seize every opportunity to kill you. They survive by the laws of the jungle and that is their strength. So, even if you are a cultivator with better resources, you must show them enough respect."

Alisha replied, "How will respecting them get me to survive in the battle?" 

The boy chuckled and said, "If you can avoid conflict, then you can survive longer, however, if you cannot avoid conflict then you should kill them without giving them a chance." 

His body radiated a strong aura. Thale and the other older disciples were surprised. Kai spoke for the first time, "Have you ever killed someone?" 

Yang Dao did not hide and said, "A person who served my uncle, Yue Jiren, offended my parents back at my home, I took off his head." 

Then he described the whole scene and the people were surprised. Thale said, "When I killed a slave hunter, I puked for two hours." 

The rest described similar experiences and the Dao Child said, "I was so angry at that point that I forgot to take a look at the man I killed, so I did not puke. Now that you mention it, I find it very abnormal." 

The group rolled its eyes at him as they moved through the crowd and came to the city gate. They all got up on their flying swords and moved in the east direction. Thale said, "This is the direction we will find our prey."

Yang Dao nodded and the group flew in a formation, paying attention to the surroundings, ready to intercept any sneak attacks made on them. 

...

The planet they had come to was free and did not have a name. It had a lot of cities and all these cities had someone ruling them from the shadows, but the rest of the place was untouched. The cultivators who came to perform tasks here were the only ones dwelling outside the city walls. The forests in these free planets were filled with a lot of strong spirit beasts. 

It was said that when a spirit beast crosses the threshold of the nascent soul realm, they were called beast kings. There were a lot of beast kings inside these woods. Thus, the cultivators would move carefully and try to avoid trespassing the zones. 

Alisha asked calmly, "The three-headed Moon wolf you are looking for, what realm is it?" 

Thale said, "Golden core, initial stage." in a similarly calm tone

Alisha frowned, Jake said, "Do not worry senior sister, we have essence tweaking grass to make the wolf weaken slowly. It will not be big trouble then." 

The girl nodded after hearing this. Daina glanced at Yang Dao and asked, "What is this essence tweaking grass?"

The boy replied, "It is a herb, if you burn it, then the smoke can weaken the spirit essence of the inhaler." 

Daina nodded and said thoughtfully, "Is this from the alchemy book? Should I also learn it?" 

The boy shook his head and said, "You do not have fire attribute, you will not be able to make pills. You can learn array formations. You have an earth attribute spirit root, and you are stronger as well, you can beat enemies inside the arrays." 

Daina thought about his words, lost in a daze. Thale noticed this and asked, "Dao, I heard that you have passed the first test of becoming an Apprentice Alchemist? How long before you can refine pills?" 

Yang Dao frowned and said, "Elder Jing said, "You need to learn from medicinal pastes, potions, and then only will I allow you to progress to pills. You are too young." So, make a guess, how long before she allows me to make a pill." 

Thale and the rest chuckled as he mimicked the elder. Soon, they arrived at their destination, and Thale asked them to put away the flying swords. They complied and Jake said, "Let me try and track this one." 

Thale nodded and Jake began to walk around. Yang Dao did not stand aloof but followed Jake and asked, "Senior brother, are you looking for something?" 

Jake knew this kid wanted to learn so he generously offered his knowledge and said, "Yes, I am looking for the traces of the spirit beast." 

Yang Dao did not say anything but nodded and Jake continued, "Wolves are possessive beasts and they all leave signs to make their territories. Some species mark it by scratching the tree trunks, while some leave feces on the ground. Oftentimes, we can also find... Oh, there it is." 

Jake exclaimed when he was speaking and moved in one direction. Yang Dao followed him curiously and found a set of footprints on the ground. Jake crouched down and said, "Dao, look, the depth of the footprint describes how old or fresh it is." while he pointed at the footprint as big as his palm. 

Yang Dao also crouched down and Jake continued guiding him patiently. After detecting this, they returned to the group and Jake said, "It was here in the morning, seems to be rounding up the territory for potential invaders. We can catch up to it if we move now." 

Thale nodded and said, "Then why are we waiting? Let's move." 

They were about to move when they suddenly heard some movement not far away from them. Kai picked up his war hammer and Thale took out his sword, while Jake held a bow in his hands with an arrow knocked to it. 

Yang Dao thought about it and he took out his sword, Daina also took out her whip. She said, "What is it?" in a low voice. 

The boy said, "Won't we know in a bit. Shhh, be on guard." 

The girl nodded and became serious. They were out for the first time and did not know that in such places, rather than spirit beasts they should be warier of humans. The sound came closer and soon a few figures appeared. 

Thale sighed and said, "Senior Brother Dwaj. How come you are here?" 

The person leading the group on the other side froze and said, "Huh, Thale? I have been here to explore the ruins they discovered a few months ago, and only came out now. Why are you kids here?"

Jake put down his bow and said, "We came to hunt for a task." 

Dwaj was a stalwart man and had a charismatic appearance, he spotted Alisha behind Thale and asked in surprise, "Alisha, why are you here as well? You people, what are you hunting?" 

He immediately came forward and asked, with concern, he was aware of Alisha's strength. Thale said, "Senior Sister Alisha is not here to hunt. She is out to protect a disciple." 

Dwaj became even more surprised. The group behind him was the same. He asked, "Whom?" 

Yang Dao tilted his head from behind Thale and said, "Senior Brother Thale, I will foreshadow you when I grow tall. Senior Sister Alisha is here to protect me." 

Dwaj glanced at the boy and wanted to say something when they all heard multiple howling sounds.