--- 8 Chakra Temple---
The 8 Chakra Temple was the smallest of three temples of Huddbasm in the XiGuang Province. However, it was hard to believe it was the smallest, given its extent. The south of the province was dominated by a vast mountain range, and the 8 Chakra Temple had positioned itself slap-dap in the center of it.
Cade had been studying the structure for a while since she arrived, staying at the settlement at the foot of the mountain. Despite being surrounded by a sea of hard-to-traverse mountains, this place was a bustling city. According to the intel, there were over 200 000 people living in this place.
This was because of the needs of the 8 Chakra Temple, as well as the trade routes it controlled. Thanks to their location in this harsh mountain range, they knew and controlled all land routes that led from the south up to the capital, Yijing City.
Cade had not expected a religious order preaching frugality to be so worldly. Who would have thought that the guy who chased her all the way back to Urth because he thought she was evil came from such a money-minded organization? On the other hand... who knew whether that was his actual reason...
The intel Cade had gotten showed that this place was not as clean as they liked to paint themselves. They were the second largest importer of Urthans, just after the Silk River Sect. While they did take some of the kidnapped kids as disciples and some of the kidnapped adults as servants, 99% of the people who entered this place had vanished without a trace.
This was not all. Apparently, they were known for their preachers scouring the lands to "eradicate evil" in the name of Huddba. What they actually did was kidnap people they called evil and bring them back here. They only "vanquished evil" when it proved too hard to capture their targets.
The majority of victims were, in fact, criminals, but the number of ordinary people they also took made it seem like a facade.
If Cade had been a little weaker back then, she might have found out what was happening behind the walls of this mountainous temple complex, which she had spent almost a day staring at. Past the town that acted like a pumping hard for the temple, was a structure that made the town seem almost negligibly small.
From her seat in the dark corner of the lowest floor of a bustling restaurant, she looked out the window. Her eyes once again trailed over the temple towering over the city, as they had quite often since she arrived here.
The intel said there was still a mountain beneath the temple complex, but it was hard to believe for Cade. It looked more like a massive city built in the image of a mountain. Like a multilayered super-pyramid with several distinct layers that mimicked the appearance of the mountain it consumed.
From below, the whole complex seemed to be carved out of the mountain. All the statues and rich ornaments, columns, and even the artistic roofs looked like they were made of a single piece of rock.
Having turned a whole mountain into a temple complex, it was hard to believe they were the smallest of three.
The most prominent feature of this temple was probably the stairwell leading halfway up the mountains, where a humongous Huddba statue was carved into the mountain rock. It was so big it even dwarfed the statue of Nas'Korn on the top of Mount Agra.
This stairwell of 10 000 steps was actually open to the public, and it was said that people who managed to climb them all the way to the statue were offered to become outer disciples of the 8 Chakra Temple, no matter their cultivation aptitude.
Cade was actually considering this as an infiltration method. Not joining as a disciple, but she would be able to easily pass by most safety measures based on the lower sections this way. Even if those had not been a problem, to begin with.
Looking at the safety measures, Marco and their allies managed to uncover that they were lucky none of the people kidnapped from Urth had managed to rise above the outer sect in this short amount of time.
"Greeting, is this seat still free?" someone asked her. Her silent sitting and slowly sipping on a cup of local tea was interrupted by a man in travel-worn gray robes. Apart from the crust of dirt, he actually looked quite dashing.
"Sure..." she said with a deep, rumbling voice. She wore a recognition-inhibiting cloak and used some minor illusion magic to act like a gruff middle-aged man. She had not been here for long and had witnessed the fate of even just moderately good-looking women in this place several times. If it weren't to order drink and food, she wouldn't have even revealed her presence in this place.
"Thanks," the man said, relieved, and sat down at her table. After a moment of waiting, he managed to get the waiter's attention and ordered a simple meal and a cup of tea. It was the cheapest set available, the same Cade had ordered earlier, so as to not catch any attention.
Not much later, the guy had a similar cup of tea and a watery soup with a dumpling in front of him. Meanwhile, Cade's eyes went back to the temple as her thoughts returned to the mission, going through the intel she got.
"So you have the money for a meal but not to pay us?" someone snarled not far away. A group of three guys had appeared behind the new guy. These guys were playing something like goons or debt collectors. Cade sighed.
She slightly knocked on the table to get their attention. When all four looked toward her, she covertly waved her hand, casting a suggestion on all four. These guys were barely over lv.20, not even in the Qi Gathering stage. They were instantly enchanted.
"You guys will now act amicably. You invite this guy outside. You will walk out of town with him and then completely forget about my existence in this restaurant. Make it look natural," she whispered her instructions to the four goons.
The moment she stopped speaking, the spell took effect, and the man stood up without a second look at his half-finished meal and looked at the three goons. "I'm sorry I didn't visit you immediately after my arrival. I don't have the money on me, but I will give it to you if you follow me," he said with pretended embarrassment.
"Fine, but this is your last chance," the leader of the goons said, and the four quickly left the restaurant to follow their instructions. When they were gone, Cade sighed again, shaking her head. This was already the second time she experienced such a play.
This world was not even in the information age, yet they were incredibly nosy. The moment a mysterious figure appeared, these flies spawned in to try and collect information on the newcomer!
Last time, it was a female cultivator who was harassed by a band of males.
Cade didn't fall for their show, after all; she could see through lies and was able to easily inspect their whole status without them even noticing. Still, it was quite annoying if it happened once she sat down in silence for an hour or two.
She stood up, threw a couple of coins she looted from some aggressive natives on the table, and left to change the location. Even if she manipulated the people and their memories, they would realize that something was weird at some point. Changing establishments would at least slow it down.
Cade contemplated just completely hiding when a sudden change in her pocket made her turn into a dark alley. Her considerations became useless. There was no need to hide anymore. The orb was green. It was time.