[ON HOLD] Defy the Heavens: The Journey of Miss Black Belly

11 I Arrival

Feeling a tad awkward, Tang Di quickly cleared his throat and search in his bag, bringing out a little flare stick. Then, pulling a string at one end of the stick, a pyrotechnic display of red light shot up towards the sky.

Within in minutes, a distant sound of shrieking could be heard far beyond the horizon. Soon afterwards, a Red-kite the size of a juvenile elephant, flew towards them. The overgrown hawk circled around in the sky above their heads a few times before it gracefully landed on a giant boulder in a small clearing not far from them. 

Xiren was momentarily dumbfounded, she never seen a wild Red-kite this close before. And truth be told, the numbers of wild beast she seen throughout her young life was less than the figures on one hand. The royal capital had strict rules and laws that prevents large wild beasts---aside from summoned familiars---from being raised.

(*summoned familiars are spirits from another realm that can be summoned [by a ritual] once a person breakthrough to the Enlightened Stage [Yellow]. The familiars are connected to their master's soul. The familiars attend to and obey their master's, often take a form of an animal or weapon).

Tang Di looked at the lad besides him to see the lad's reaction. However, he was surprised at how calm Xiren was. Many youths (he is referring to people without cultivation and young in people in general) are usually scared by encountering such a large predatory bird.

"That's your pet?" Xiren asked curiously.

Tang Di gave a reassuring smile and walked towards the bird. Xiren followed behind.

Effortlessly, Tang Di mounted the Red-kite; meanwhile, Xiren continued groping the poor bird for a long while as she struggled to find solid footing mounting up. Tang Di gave the bird a quick gentle stroke, then turned and extended a hand to Xiren, pulling her up to sit behind him.

"Hold on tight." Tang Di warned.

Once mounted, the Red-kite promptly took off and flew high into the sky with haste.

Within 3 hours, the Red-kite landed on a place of clearing near a homey-looking wooden cottage.

(**3 hours flying is equivalent to riding on horseback for 18 hours)

Tang Di dismounted first. Xiren followed.

"This is my house. We should change into clean clothes and continue to the city on foot. Unfortunately, the legate guards won't allow tamed beast bigger than a dog to pass the Heian inner city's gates."

Somehow it reminded her of her own city. Phoenix City was the royal capital of the Thunder country so it was highly safeguarded. The residential where common folks lived, the marketplace, the residential where aristocrats and high-ranked officials lived, and the imperial palace itself were divided by sky-high walls that encompass each sector.

"No problem. I wanted to get out of these tattered clothes anyways." But then Xiren remembered that she forgot to bring an extra set of robes in her haste.

Fortunately, Tang Di guessed that much from looking at Xiren's face and went inside to find something suitable for the lad.

Half an hour later, the two young men stepped out from the cottage. After washing up, the two strolled through the outer city before stopping in front of city's inner gate and got in line in front of the massive castlegate.

Once it was there turn, a legate guard dressed in patrol armor—a quilted vest with a bronze chainmail shirt underneath with green velvety cloth draped around their neck and across the chest—came up to them and blocked their passage.

"Hold. Show your identification tokens", the guard's voice ordered, seemingly carrying an authoritative tone.

In Thunder country, tokens plays an important role in the citizens lives it shows one's status and rank. Bronze tokens for the working folks, Copper for the lower middle-class, Silver for the higher-mid class, Gold for the high-class, Jade for aristocrats and important government officials. The higher your status, the more access you have when traveling and finding accommodations. Meanwhile, the bottom of the pyramid where the slaves. They had neither papers nor tokens, and that meant they had no rights as lawful citizens of Thunder country.