“Speak, what did you hear, who are you, and who do you work for?” Yan asked him quickly.

The middle aged man folded his arms, and leaned back in his seat. “I’ve heard enough, as for who I am, that doesn’t matter. I work for myself.” He told Yan.

Yan was sure that this man in front of him was working for someone. He just arrived in this town, but someone was already investigating him. Yan thought that maybe he caused a disturbance when he was ‘giving’ away gold to the beggars.

Yan crossed his legs like some mafia boss, and looked the middle aged man up and down. He couldn’t tell if he was a member of some organization, worked for a noble figure, or worked for someone else. However, he had a good feeling that this man in front of him was part of something.

“Don’t speak about yourself then, however you will speak of why you were listening to our conversation.” Yan spoke very authoritative.

Seeing the way Yan was acting, the man let out a light laugh. He wouldn’t show fear in front of Yan, if he did that, then Yan would know that he was in control.

The man didn’t know how Yan found him, so he still had to tread carefully. If he found him easily, then that must mean the man in front of him was special.

“Who wouldn’t be curious about a group of strangers, that dress weirdly. Although that isn’t much to pay attention to, you also helped out those people on the streets. This itself caught my attention, so I wanted to know a bit more about you and your group.” The man put an emphasis on my, so that Yan wouldn’t think that he was with someone else.

“Why would you care what I do? If that caught your attention, then did you want my money? Sorry to tell you, but it won’t be that easy.”

The man shook his head. “I don’t care for your money, what I care for are the people on the streets.”

Yan looked in his blue eyes, he couldn’t tell if he was lying or not. If he really cared about those people, then wouldn’t that mean he should help them?

“If you really cared, then why not help them out?”

The man raised his eyebrow slightly, “Very true, but I didn’t need to. You came and helped them out before I could act.”

“You say I helped them, but that is where you are wrong. It was simply a trade, for information I gave them a little compensation.”

It was true, it didn’t help them simply because he was nice. He got information from them, and gave them compensation for it. What kind of pirate was nice?

Hearing what Yan said, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Your words speak as if you don’t care, but I see otherwise. I’ve lived in this town my whole life, but four years ago I left for a small adventure. A week ago, I returned. In that week, there was no one who would do what you did. A man just arriving in this town, givi.. No, exchanging information with the poor. You are one of a kind.”

“Of course, there is no one else like me. There can be no other like me.” Yan said proudly.

The middle aged man uncrossed his arms, “So, what clan are you from, and why would you try to go against the alliance?” He asked.

Yan uncrossed his legs, fixed his posture and started talking, “I am not from a clan, as for the reason, I don’t think you need to know that.” Pausing for a moment, he continued, “We are both on guard, we can do this all day but in the end, it will lead us nowhere. Why don’t you tell me what I can do for you, and what you can do for me.”

Seeing how Yan changed his tone, the man didn’t think Yan would be so direct. He got up from his seat, and walked away while waving for Yan to follow him. As he walked past the owner of the Inn, he nodded his head slightly and the owner gave him a quick look.

“Aren’t you afraid i’m leading you into an ambush?” He asked Yan who was following behind him.

“In my life, there are few things i’m afraid of, and you aren’t included.” Yan said as he followed the middle aged man into a back room.

As he heard Yan’s reply, the man laughed. He seemed to pick someone who had many things to say.

As they both entered into the back room, Yan heard a series of gears moving around and he felt the floor beneath him shake. However, he still didn’t lose his cool.

A secret passage opened up, followed by some stairs leading underground. Yan followed the middle aged man as they both went down the stairs.

“Even before I left, this passage was here. My grandfather owned his place, but he passed it on to his friend later on. I come here when I need to, but back then I never would have thought that this place would become my home.”

The man continued to speak about this passage as they traveled for at least ten minutes before arriving at a door. The man smiled and opened the door.

A foul stench came out, it smelled like rotten corpses that died years ago. Yan pinched his nose, but that didn’t help at all.

As Yan stepped into the room, he caught sight of naked men and women varying of ages. Some had their eyes gouged out, body parts missing, there were a few that looked weird. However none of them were dead, it seemed they were still holding on to their life.

They noticed the man and all of them shivered with great fear.

“What, you don’t want to ask who they are?” The man asked Yan.

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It was unusual as one would ask him who were these people and why were they down here. He expected Yan to have the same type of attitude, but he didn’t.

“I don’t care. What you do is your business.” Was Yan’s reply.

“Good, good. It seems we can have a long lasting friendship.” He told Yan as he starting digging through his drawers in the room.

Yan found a bed in the corner, but he didn’t believe anyone could sleep here. The smell in this room wanted him to vomit, but he had a strong stomach. Besides the bed, it looked like a normal room except for the people here. There were also small vials that were empty.

Grabbing something from his dresser, he smiled. “Here it is!” He yelled out as he showed Yan a small vial of purple liquid.

“Let me introduce myself, I am Mo. I no longer use any other name, and there isn’t a real reason for me to tell you about it either.

I am a person who loves to study to human body, very much so that I need real specimen for my studies. You may not believe me, but I feel that human potential can go long past the stage of staying on land.

You may be against the alliance, but don’t fear, i’m not one of them. I feel that you are able to help me, so how about we make an exchange?”

Yan raised his eyebrow a bit, didn’t this man seem a little off? He was using real life humans for experiments, what kind of person was this?

“What can you offer me?” Yan asked him.

“No, no, no. It should be, what you can offer me.” Mo replied.

“I’m not the one who wants to make an exchange, you are. So, I’ll ask once again, what can you offer me?” Yan asked once more.

Mo produced a black piece of paper. “This has a location of all the spots where those disciples take some townsman. You should know what i’m talking about.”

Yan nodded, of course he knew what this man was talking about. Those disciples truly were shameless, going as far as kidnapping the citizens of the town using them as targets for their martial skills. Even some of the women were used as pleasure material.

Yan heard about it from the beggars in town, so he was going to go check it out. One of them gave him a location of a small village where some of the disciples go, but Mo had a whole list.

“And, what do you want?” Yan asked him.

“I simply want the headmaster of the sect. His body is stronger than the rest, I simply must use my next vial on him! Maybe his body will be able to stand it.”

Yan thought about it, he wanted to kill the headmaster so he could gain a higher bounty and points. Now, Mo wanted him, Yan didn’t know if he should agree or not.

“Why do you think i’ll be able to get the headmaster?” Yan asked him.

Mo laughed, “I’m not stupid. You may be a mortal, but you are special. That woman in that velvet dress, she is at the Sage realm no? Even if you cannot capture him yourself, she would be able to.”

Yan wanted to groan, why was it that everyone he was coming across was some sort of cultivator. Naturally only a cultivator could tell if the other person was also one. Yan had his suspicious when Mo appeared out of nowhere, but now he was sure of it.

“Fine.” Yan told him.

Mo passed him the black paper, and walked over to one to a naked male with his mouth sewed shut.

“Not afraid i’ll just wander off with this information?” Yan asked him.

“No. You who helped them wouldn’t walk off with information. I’m sure you’ll keep your end of the bargain.” Mo told him as he started filling a syringe with the purple vial.

Yan was about to leave, but Mo stopped him. “Don’t worry, these people aren’t good people. I also wouldn’t harm someone normal.”

Yan opened the door, “I didn’t ask.” He told him as he walked out.

As he left, Mo attached a needle to the other end of the syringe. The naked man who had his mouth shut started shaking his head wildly. His body was bound by thick ropes, making him unable to move. He couldn’t even scream, the only thing he could do was shake his head.

Mo took the needle and stuck it in his arm, letting the purple liquid flow into his body. Tears streamed down his face, but Mo didn’t say a word.

Soon the naked mans body violently shook, blood fell from his nose and eyes. Where the needle went into his arm, it started turning black.

Red scales covered his forehead, but stopped when it reached the top of his nose.

Soon, his body stopped moving  as his eyes went white.

Mo clicked his tongue. “Damn, another one failed.” He said as he tossed the syringe away.

Walking to a table, he produced many herbs and started mixing them together. Then he placed them in the empty vials he had, and added some more contents. A blue flame appeared in his palm, as he heated the vials up, making the contents within mix together better and change color.