Fang Lei, who had already expected to be wrung dry for his services in exchange for the reward of a minor healing pill, suddenly paused. He heard the request that Huang Shi asked of him and looked toward him with an incredulous expression.
"Young Master, let me just confirm it again: you want me to accompany you to the Azure Dragon Sect Information Hall? That's it?"
Huang Shi nodded his head with a simple smile as he spoke in reply.
"That's right. That's all you have to do and I'll reward you the minor healing pill!"
Seeing the look of confusion and doubt in Fang Lei's eyes, Huang Shi chose not to beat around the bush and told him the reason for his request.
"It's quite simple, really. As you know, I've never been one to be interested in cultivation until just recently.
This means that despite the many years I've been living in the sect, I don't actually know where the Information Hall is. And so, now that my cultivation base is quite decent, I want to learn more about the cultivation techniques in our Azure Dragon Sect!"
Hearing Huang Shi explain the reason for his request made Fang Lei breathe a sigh of relief, as if this explanation was already good enough for him.
"Alright, Young Master, that request is easy enough, though it will take a few minutes to walk there!"
Huang Shi nodded his head, patting Fang Lei's shoulder once more before giving his thanks as they started to walk towards their destination.
Seeing the awkward silence in the air as they were walking, Huang Shi—as a magnanimous person—chose to break the silence. After all, despite his cruel nature, he was actually a decent guy deep inside.
At least, that's what he thought of himself; he was not so sure about what other people thought of him, and he really didn't care.
When you live in a world where your life and death can literally be decided on the whims of literal god-like beings walking around with mortals without a care in the world, you would also realize that being weak is a cardinal sin.
"Fang Lei, isn't the Azure Dragon Sect Martial Arts Tournament about to start? Can you tell me about who I should look out for?"
Fang Lei, who was quietly walking in silence trying his best to be as small as possible and not accidentally offend this young master of his, suddenly shifted as his expression changed into one of joy.
"Oh?! Young Master, you are also interested in this competition, huh?! I guess I should tell you about the key players in this tournament!"
Huang Shi, who noticed Fang Lei's sudden mood shift, felt a bit surprised as he thought to himself: It seems Fang Lei is quite motivated when it comes to these kinds of things.
Feeling that he should take advantage of this fact, he quickly spoke in the affirmative.
"That's right. You know, just to make sure I don't accidentally offend any of these guys and get beat up!"
When Fang Lei heard this, he internally scoffed, as for some reason he didn't believe the words Huang Shi said at all. After that performance with Tian Ju, I doubt you're the sheep; you are definitely a wolf in sheep's clothing!
Despite this, Fang Lei didn't try to call out or expose Huang Shi, afraid that it would invoke his wrath, and so he just nodded his head and spoke clearly.
"All right, Young Master Huang Shi! I may not know about a lot of other stuff, but when it comes to things like this, I'm actually quite knowledgeable on the subject, so you can rest easy."
Seeing the look of confidence on Fang Lei's face, Huang Shi nodded his head and continued to listen.
"The first thing you need to take note of is that the tournament this year is a bit special. The reason for that is because the three great sects of our Reshi City have actually agreed to do a joint tournament as a means of better cooperation between our three sects!"
Huang Shi remained silent as, clearly, all of this information was news to him. Three great sects? Reshi City? Damn, I have zero information about any of this.
Seeing that Huang Shi was listening attentively gave Fang Lei even more courage as he continued to speak.
"Reshi City is one of the cities that are a part of the Eastern Prefecture of our great Tang Dynasty, and the three great sects collectively rule over this vast territory as vassals of Duke Bai Hongyi of the great Bai Clan!"
I guess this so-called Great Tang Dynasty is the empire that our Reshi City is a part of. I wonder how strong they are compared to that so-called True Dragon Ancestral Sect that my father spoke so highly about.
Keeping his thoughts to himself, he waited patiently for Fang Lei to finish his monologue, and he didn't disappoint as he continued to speak.
"The three great sects of our Reshi City are the Iron Cloud Sect, Red Sand Sect, and the Azure Dragon Sect, with the Iron Cloud Sect being publicly recognized as the most powerful sect in all of Reshi City. In fact, even within the entire Eastern Prefecture, they can be said to hold some weight."
Hm? It seems the Azure Dragon Sect isn't as amazing as I thought...
"Let's first talk about the Iron Cloud Sect. The Iron Cloud Sect, just like the name implies, has cultivation techniques that focus on swift and hard attacks and are typically considered as a haven for sword-type cultivators. If you meet a powerful swordsman and that person is from Reshi City, you can almost guarantee that the person is from the Iron Cloud Sect!"
After hearing these words, Huang Shi felt a bit of interest. The reason for this was because of all the web novels he's read; sword cultivators are always considered one of the strongest for good reason.
They have absolutely insane attack power, but they're basically glorified glass cannons, if I'm gonna be honest.