OP— 24

Title: Wukong

S-City is extremely well-known because of housing one of the top three sects of the continent— the Serene Heart Sect. Out of the 26 sects, each located in different alphabet cities that borders within the continent, Serene Heart Sect was one of the two sects that cultivated the origin path and the orthodox path simultaneously.

However, S-City is also known to be the center of the continent's fashion. The major clothing, shoe, and accessories brands all have settled within the city. The Mantra Greens Apartment center where Mana's residence is located comes under the territory of the Sect. In fact, almost all the disciples either live in the Sect allocated PGs or transfer near the Sect's territory to have easy socialization with other disciples.

Even within Mantra Green, a few third-year disciples could be seen every now and then but the trio didn't have enough social points to greet them. Neither did they care enough.

As they walked towards the entrance of the block, Dharma booked a cab and soon, a dark-blue haiku pulled up, making Mana and Dharma sigh.

Haiku is what they called the cab vehicle just because of how much this car was associated with many cab-related applications.

'Every fucking time… just once, let us book a good damn Veron!'

Dharma groaned internally as he gazed at the boxy vehicle.

{A/N: Slightly larger Wagon R}

"Misters, what's the identification code?" A middle-aged man rolled down the window of the cab and inquired with a dull gaze.

"7889," Dharma sighed while the driver entered the code and finally nodded.

Seeing the two kids sitting in the backseat, the driver sighed for a moment before picking off.

"Is there any waypoints you would like to transport then please add it in the application now," the man warned as he drove while Mana shook his head.

"No, we just want to go to the Wukong Store…" Mana replied equally cautiously.

The act of booking a cab and then resisting the continuous pester of the driver to increase the distance covered is war. The driver seemed to have realized that the enemy on the back is a tough nut to crack but not minding the current resistance, he began driving smoothly.

'Hehe, this city is particularly big with over a hundred smaller regions and neighborhoods that can be further divided into thousands of locales. There's bound to be something that will interest you sooner or later.'

While the cab driver thought as such, Dharma and Mana seemed in sync.

'Others may want a detour. After all, something new always crops up in cities and can even be considered interesting… but do you really think a cultivator has time for life? Yes, a cultivator does and this Cultivator's life is being straightforward and gaming. Since I cannot game, I'll focus on real-life dating simulations and remain straightforward still… detours are not something I can afford!'

"Oh, dude, I just found this amazing trinkets store. Uncle, I'm adding a waypoint, let's go through there!" Dharma exclaimed.

The driver's eyes glowed, no longer dull.

Mana's expression crumbled, no longer determined once he saw that the store dealt in a few of the newer computer hardware.

'Well, I can make a few detours… being inflexible is more harmful than helpful…'

Mana and Dharma never broke their sync.

---

1 hour, 49 minutes later.

14:54

"Haha, and then he turned into a watermelon! Funniest video I've ever seen!" The cab driver laughed as Dharma and Mana snickered at the joke.

Once the cab driver stopped, Mana and Dharma picked their shopping bags and climbed out of the haiku when the cab driver spoke again.

"Hehe, misters… did you both enjoy this ride?"

Mana gave Dharma a subtle glance as he nodded.

"Yeah, uncle. I'll give you a full rating." As if not willing to say anymore, Mana turned while the cab driver pulled Dharma into another conversation.

"Of course, of course. But… there are many other ways to show appreciation, mister."

"Ah, is that so," Dharma nodded, reaching into his pocket before his expression turned cold, "But too bad, I'm not into that! Could this be a 'fake' cab? Where's the sign? Did you record our entire journey? Uncle, even in Fake Cabs vid, the driver aims for only one person but you wanting two guys at once… tsk… that's too greedy, innit?"

The driver's lips twitched before his smile disappeared and his gaze turned dull once again.

Snorting, he rolled the window of his haiku up and drove off.

Meanwhile, Mana gazed at the large storefront while standing on the honeyed brick pavement.

"Holy shit… the S-City's Wukong is too much cooler than other cities," Dharma whispered as he stood beside Mana.

The store reached as high as three floors but each floor was double in height when compared to the surrounding stores. Instead of adjacent stores usually seen in other sections of the city, this place was called as Supreme Fashion Edge of the S-City. Of course, nobody featured in trash bags walked around. Instead, many wore ancient forms of clothing. Robes, belts, a rare few cloth tunics with extravagant designs. This district displayed it all!

"Hey, you still remember those entries in the journal pertaining to a few female cultivators that attract some perverted old cultivator?" Mana inquired as he gazed at many females, mortals or not, walking in delicate pieces of clothes that looked much more elegant than the current fashion sense that dominated the continent.

"Yeah?" Dharma nodded with a serious expression.

"I get it now…" Mana whispered.

"Yeah…" Dharma's chest heaved briefly.

"Oh, did you know that Wukong's youngest daughter is actually a nascent soul cultivator? And she's supposed to be at our age!" Dharma nudged his chin towards the large flexi-stand near the entrance of the store, displaying a young a petite golden-haired girl wearing red battle armor and brandishing a carved, red-gold staff. A metal headband with curving ends fitted around her forehead.

"Really? How did you know?" Mana inquired, a little amazed at the fact that a 21-year-old nascent soul is rare judging by the amazement of Dharma's voice.

'How the heck did mom pull off being a nascent soul expert at the age of 18? And granny said that they were training me to surpass her by a few years… what was I supposed to be? A 15-year-old nascent soul teen?'

Mana already knew that continuous browsing of the internet still hadn't raised his level of general understanding to the current level of society. After all, porn videos can only help enough.

"Well, I just know," Dharma shrugged.

"Come on… tell me," Mana mumbled, nudging Dharma's shoulder as his shopping bag rattled.

"If you let me read the message," Dharma smiled.

"That's private," Mana snorted.

"Well, guess what. This just became private, too," Dharma snorted as they both began their way towards the entrance of the store.

The automated glass panels slid open the moment the two youths were registered by the sensors on the entrance.

"Welcome!" Near the entrance, a guard in brown robes and a blue belt around his waist cheerfully greeted Dharma and Mana. The man was bald with twelve spots on his forehead reaching down till the middle of his brows while his body exuded strange pressure that was extremely familiar to the duo.

Unlike Origin Cultivators whose bodies only reveal the quality of their physique by their passive elemental tempering and vibrant lifeforce, the orthodox cultivators could reveal their cultivation by letting a little bit of their refined qi seep into the surroundings. So, it has always been far easier to identify orthodox cultivators than the origin cultivators.

'That's a nascent soul stage guard!' Both of them exclaimed in their hearts.

"Haha, boys, you shouldn't block the entrance. Please keep moving!" The guard chuckled, clearly enjoying the reactions. In fact, he always let out a little bit of his qi to enjoy the reactions of the patrons. Of course, those weaker than him would feel awed by the capabilities of the Wukong Brand, and those stronger than him would only feel a tiny bit impressed.

But what amazed the duo wasn't only the cultivation level of the guard.

It was his head.

"Is he a super monk?" Mana inquired as the two began moving.

"No… a super monk would probably have nine spots… this master is clearly a hyper monk…" Dharma concluded before looking at the glazed marble that layered the store.

His eyelids twitched slightly while the breath of pure qi within the store itself was similar to the surrounding of the sect.

"Hey, there's the reception," Mana quickly led Dharma to the carved wooden counter with a youth manning the area. Unlike the hyper monk guard, this one only had three spots on his bald head.

"Excuse me. I bought this three weeks ago in the store situated within the Z-City. I tried it out and would like to return this." Dharma explained as the youth looked up.

"Yes, of course. Our return policies, however, will only provide you with store credit."

"Oh, that's fine," Dharma shrugged. Anything was better than loose robes.

"Huh?" Seeing the set in the bag given by Dharma, the youth gasped before working with more enthusiasm.

"Hey, which set did you buy?" Mana inquired once he realized that the change was brought by the clothes itself.

"Oh, my elder sister gifted me a pair of defensive treasure clothes from Wukong for my successful discipleship in the sect. Of course, I asked for the receipt… there's no way I'm wearing that!" Dharma scowled.

The receptionist was merely a qi refinement intern so he could only sigh at the difference between him and the young masters he seemed to have encountered.

"Well… at least you got a gift…" Mana mumbled.

"Sir, the tag and the clothes are still intact. But I will have to contact my superior to inspect the condition of runes on the clothing before crediting."

"Hmm… well, we want to buy a tux for our party. Which floor has all the clothes related to gathering and parties?"

"The first floor displays our finest cultivation fashion and the second floor displays all forms of modern fashion. I'm afraid that the third floor is only accessible by permanent employees."

The youth replied quickly.

"Thanks," Dharma smiled, "So just get your inscriptionist to take a look at it. When we find clothes suitable, we'll get the reception of the second floor to contact you and you tell him the credit I have. Sounds good?"

"Yes, my gratitude for such patience," the youth replied stiffly.

"Poor guy…" Dharma sighed once the duo walked into the elevator.

"Why would the main store of the brand even hire a rank-1 orthodox cultivator?" Mana hummed in confusion, "There must be many more people stronger than nascent soul men getting their clothes commissioned here, right?"

"Don't you think it's a little strange that the brand would even hire such an untalented cultivator?" Dharma inquired.

It was true.

The youth only looked a little younger than the duo and he was still at the qi refinement stage, aka, rank 1 of the orthodox cultivation.

But the duo soon stopped thinking about the youth. His situation did not matter to them the moment they stepped onto the second floor.