We have waited for days and the food bank still stands. The Wolves took out another two of our places and we no longer have enough boys to push them back. What happened to your powerful ally? A forest demon my ass Gregsis, you are full of shit. You screwed us over. We are coming for you Gragsis, I will personally hang you by your long filthy beard. You better run into the forest to your imaginary friend.
Bright purple eyes skimmed the contents of the letter stained with blood that lay crumpled on a table that despite being luxurious, was incredibly old and was nearly falling apart. The room was dark, the eyes of common folk never meant to see its insides. On the floor, there were bodies everywhere, some of them stripped naked and marked with symbols engraved into their flesh, the work of a madman pushed into a corner.
The woman handed over the letter to a man that was veiled in a purple robe that was almost identical to hers. He looked through the contents as well and snorted disdainfully.
"We missed all the fun and a forest demon again? I am beginning to think it is not just a fairy tale. What do you think, Master?" The man was very young, his eyes had the same purple color as his robe, but his hair was just half-purple and its other half was green.
All knew what that meant, he was a mixed pureblood.
"Might be, the important part is that the demon is dead." She answered to her new disciple that had been forced upon her by the sect. She was aware of the rumors that she was turning too grumpy and a fresh prodigy disciple to guide was, in the opinion of her comrades, the right way to improve her mood.
"A demon? I thought he was a human." The man said while circling around the room, mixed purebloods were usually less powerful than ordinary purebloods despite their greater versatility, but there was always an exception to a rule. Artoan Vita was such an exception.
"Don¨t play with words, you know well what I mean. True demons do not hide in cellars. They rely on instincts, they hunt." The Purple Flash moved in a blink of purple into the center of the ritual chamber, doing honor to her name, and looked again around the room.
"A pity, it might have been more fun." Artoan sighed, eagerness for action overflowing from him.
"Cut it, let's call the cleaners." Yen Gon clicked her tongue in annoyance. She preferred solving trouble in the city compared to the boring plans on expansion of her husband. There was no doubt that she was more efficient doing what she had the most experience in, hunting demonic cultivators that appeared in the city. However, even she did not like the recent rumors. If demonic cultivators survived outside of the city, it meant that their capability was considerable and a similar group represented much bigger threat than Gregsis.
The last thing they needed was another Cult of Mezzaiel.
Gregsis was just another example of an outlaw that had been pushed into a corner and tried to use the absence of Heavenly Tribulations to turn himself into a demonic cultivator. Unfortunately for him, it was not as easy as he had predicted and the mad Gregsis ended up slaughtering half of his band while the rest fled to the streets, attracting the attention of the Purple Lotus Sect that had been tasked with security of the specific region.
"It might be that you have not been completely robbed of all the fun, Artoan Vita." Yen addressed her disciple in an overly formal way and watched a group of men that barged into the underground hideout while shouting obscenities.
"Prepare to pay with your life and all your money, liar!" A burly man leading the group shouted when he opened the door even before he could take in the situation that was not what he had expected. The moment he saw the two people in purple robes, he made a long face and froze in place.
"I like people who spare my time, thank you for joining the investigation, gentlemen." Yen Gon gave the band a smile that could not be more fake and slowly walked closer to the motionless thugs.
"Pu. .. pu. . .pu . .. " The leading thug could not even finish his words, when he understood that they had stumbled upon The Purple Flash herself, when meeting the members of the Purple Lotus Sect would have been a disaster big enough.
"Poo poo will come later, now we talk." Artoan was enjoying the situation and kept waiting for anything that might give him the grounds to eradicate the thugs from the face of Jinsheng forever.
"We are just visiting an old friend! Nothing malicious!" The leading thug tried to salvage the situation, while very slowly backing away to the door that was still opened.
"Certainly, we have seen the letter." The thugs paled when they heard Yen's cold words. "Tell me about what you know about this forest demon and tell me everything if you want to walk out through that door back up in one piece."
The group of stinking men looked at each other and gulped, what they chose was crystal clear.
"There are rumors of a new source of food. The word on the street is that some man from the Water Dragon Sect has a huge operation in the forest. He sells all kinds of stuff, he will sell you even your old mother if you pay the price." The boss of the group of men began talking about what he knew about the mysterious new business entity from outside the forest.
"That is of course a lie! You saw the letter, the promised troops never arrived!" One of the underlings shouted and the boss looked at him angrily for interrupting him.
"What a shame, continue." Yen Gon said sarcastically and gestured at the boss to tell her more.
"That is all we know, but the fool Gregsis kept yapping about how powerful he is, commanding armies of Void monsters, Goblins and all kinds of nasty vermin."
"Goblins you say, is the group that assaulted the Water Dragon Sect involved?" Yen Gon muttered for herself and continued firmly aloud.
"That might be enough. Get lost." She did not need to tell the thugs twice, as they were running out of the ritual chamber the moment she said the words.
Yen did not even think about investigating whatever lawlessness the thugs were involved in. Criminals undermining the system in a fundamental way needed to be punished to deter others from contributing to the city's destruction, petty crime was inconsequential. It was the sad truth that Yen Gon had learned over the years, when they lacked the resources to fight back against every little pickpocket.
"Do you have some clue, Master?" Artoan asked Yen Gon hastily, when he saw that his Master let the thugs go.
"It is time to visit Water Dragon Lehaim and ask him some questions, I hope it won't be the worst scenario." Yen Gon furrowed her brows because of the seriousness of the matter.
"What do you mean, Master Yen Gon?" Artoan had never seen his Master making a similar face and hoped that the said scenario would not come to pass.
"No, that is impossible, Lehaim is not that stupid. It must be something else." Yen Gon set off in the direction of the door, not minding the corpses around her. "Come, time is of the essence."
Yen Gon wondered if those rumored Goblins were the same ones from before and hoped that Lehaim had not made a pact that might cost the city too dearly in the future. The Purple Flash had seen whole sects decimated by dealings with powerful demonic cultivators and prayed that Lehaim was not too desperate for a positive evaluation of his land.
* * * *
Karl advanced steadily towards his goal to explore the extent of his powers. He had more or less decided that to kill one million Immortals and reach beyond the Heavens would also mean to kill something in him that he was not willing to sacrifice. That left him with trying to explore places of historical significance where he might discover something exceptional to both boost his power and explore his new identity.
In the end, what was power really? An extent of one's ability, or rather the level of understanding? Obviously, the first was of little use without the second.
Maybe, if he truly lived for uncountable years, he would reach higher levels anyway, but not by murdering people willy-nilly, but simply due to the fact that every number was small in the face of infinity. In a way, the exploration of the extent of his ability meant exploring himself, an interesting prospect, as all goals were meaningless unless he truly knew himself.
"Our city is in the phase of expansion and the cities around us should be in ruins. Jinsheng is in a good position to explore and expand if its might is sufficient." Karl thought about riding the wave of development for his own ends along with the initiated few around him.
He observed through the eyes of his minions how the various goods that the clients demanded was being delivered to the target locations. The places had been chosen near enough the city that the threat from the wild beasts was manageable and most of the goods was carried inside with the help of the bribed guards or illegally extended sewer tunnels. The boldest and most upfront of businessmen simply picked up the goods and carried it inside pretending they had gathered it themselves.
Karl was amazed by all the schemes and ideas that the various organizations and individuals used to get the materials inside without rising suspicion from the authorities. All knew that if they failed in their schemes, a terrible fate called taxes could befall upon them.
The hunger for the outside goods was greater than Karl had anticipated and in just over a week of doing business, he ended up with enough capital to buy a simple building inside the city.
"Everything goes well, " Karl thought while watching the articles left over from the presentation slowly disappearing, ferried off by mostly goblins that kept moving everything to gathering points closer to the city.
"Wu Han! Wu Han! Wu Han!" Karl turned to the place where vegetation parted and a person exited from the green foliage with haste. It was Bei Lin and judging by his expression, he was in distress.
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"Damn, I jinxed it." Karl looked around and saw confused Wu Han that slowly walked to the stumbling Bei Han, who ran in his direction immediately when he saw him.
"Trouble never sleeps, I hope it is not serious." Karl muttered and walked closer as well to find out what was the commotion about.
* * * *
"Bei Lin, I would never guess you had such a potential in you. I might be inclined to make you my personal disciple if you were younger. " An old man's gnarled hand landed on Bei Lin's shoulder with an audible clap, both man laughing merrily in a good mood.
"Water Dragon Lehaim, I would not dare!" Bei Lin smiled at the sect leader of the Water Dragon Sect. He had never been especially talented in cultivation, but the sudden fortune meant he enjoyed a similar level of respect to an Elder. The only step he needed to make was to remove the middleman and get closer to The Black Emperor himself. By observation, he would be surely able to unearth the secret to his power and take it for himself.
"You have never struck me as a talent in cultivation, what is your progress?" Lehaim stared Bei Lin in the eyes and the smaller cultivator wanted to strangle him due to his shame. His cultivation had been stagnant for far too long and it was none of the old fart's business.
"I am at the third stage, Esteemed Elder."
"Hmph, at least you got the Idols long behind you. Come, let's have something to drink, thanks to your hired helpers, we are ahead of schedule already!" For a moment, Bei Lin saw disappointment in Lehaim's eyes and pushed down his rising anger.
"Just you wait, when I find out the secret of the demonic cultivator. You will all be crawling at my feet." Bei Lin thought, his thought interrupted by the sudden arrival of two figures in purple clothing.
"What a good idea, Elder Lehaim! May we join to drink to your great success?" The leading female figure smiled at Lehaim, as if they were old friends.
"Of course, Elder Yen Gon, only the best for my future neighbor!" Lehaim continued in good spirits and steeped closer to the table with refreshments that stood under the clear sky of the construction site.
"Perfect, we are here on the business of keeping demonic influence in check. Something that should probably be discussed in private." Yen Gon expression lost its initial smile and Lehaim's hand that was already holding a bottle froze for a second.
"I think that we are fine, it is not that serious, right?" Lehaim waved his hand and the cultivators that were in their immediate vicinity moved into a respectable distance. XXXXwho
"There are rumors of a forest demon trying to take roots in the city." Yen Gon sighed heavily while shaking her head. Afterwards, she quickly looked directly into Lehaim's eyes and continued. "It would be the best for everyone if forest demons stayed in the forests."
"Indeed." Lehaim laughed while trying to offer Yen Gon a cup of liquor, but she refused it with a slight gesture of her hand. "Ah, not drinking on duty, I see."
"We have just stopped by to see if everything is alright, given the rumor, but it seems that the Water Dragon Sect is as capable as ever." Yen Gon said in a measured way and pointed at an earthen figure in the distance. "You sure have recruited some interesting helpers, I commend your resourcefulness, Elder Lehaim."
"They are superb, the fortress will be ready in time. We have even enlarged the courtyard!" Elder Lehaim pointed at the place where the two earthen figures were currently working tirelessly, employing powers typical for Earth Elementals.
"I envy your contacts, Elder Lehaim. If everything is alright here, we will continue our pursuit of the rumored forest demon." Both people in purple robes bowed and left as quickly as they had arrived, leaving Lehaim standing there with a bottle and cup in his hand.
The sect leader turned the small cup bottom up and its contents fell to the ground with a splash, making a stain on the polished stone underneath Bei Lin and Lehaim.
"I lost my appetite." He said and looked at Bei Lin who was trying to act as if not present.
"Tell me, my friend, do you perhaps know something about this forest demon? Doubtlessly, a person with unusual methods and abilities." Lehaim turned his head slowly and ended up staring at the two working elementals, leaving his words hanging in the air.
Meanwhile, blood was rushing into Bei Lin's head, his heart beating faster with every second. Dealing with demonic cultivators had always been frowned upon, but in the present times of uncertainty, there was no telling what level of contact his superior might tolerate.
"I just. .. .I." Bei Lin wanted to say something, but the situation was too obvious and he could no longer dodge the bullet.
"I am not stupid, Bei Lin, and worst of all, even the dogs of the old Immortal aren't." Lehaim stepped closer to Bei Lin and whispered into his ear in a sinister tone, a stark contrast to the merry atmosphere just minutes ago.
"I hope that you understand what their departure without a word mean, the trouble on our land are our responsibility and any mess you create here will be mine to clean."
"Esteemed Elder, there will be no trouble! I promise!" Bei Lin fell to the floor into a submissive posture while shivering, not minding the spilled drink that was staining his clothes.
"Good. Do not mess this up, there is no other city to retreat to." Lehaim spoke icily and turned around, leaving the suddenly risen star of the Water Dragon Sect shaking on the ground.
The implications of what had just happened were clear to Bei Lin, it would be his head rolling if anything went awry with the infamous forest demon.
* * * *
"Wu Han! Wu Han, the sect knows! What should we do?!" Bei Lin had ignored the obvious unfamiliarity with his supposed superior Wu Han and started shaking with him, something that looked quite hilarious from Karl's angle, because of Bei Lin's lacking height.
"The city knows? How?!" Wu Han's eyes widened and he immediately glanced at a Void Knight that approached them, doing the first action that came to his mind in his distress.
"Emperor! The Water Dragon Sect knows about your empire!" Wu Han blurted our quickly, before realizing that Bei Lin was not supposed to be privy to the fact that the leader of the operation was one of the minions, not even speaking about the fact that Karl being a stone should be unclear to even most of the teenagers.
Karl understood that he was about to make a mistake, showing the small black stone that was strapped to the Void Knight's forehead to Bei Lin, whom he did not trust at all and quickly turned around, leaving the two men staring at each other in bewilderment.
"What emperor?" Bei Lin stared at Wu Han in confusion.
"Emperor?" Wu Han's eyes followed the disappearing back of the present bearer of The Black Emperor's true body.
Soon, a nearby Void Horror that guarded the place floated closer to the duo and wrote a message in the air with Void. Wu Han found it more clumsy than usual, but it was still the handwriting of Lord Karl Gulden nonetheless.
"So what? It changes nothing about our strategy. Better grow some balls and go to Jinsheng, I need those books that we have talked about."
"That is the will of The Black Emperor!" Wu Han told Bei Lin, glad that the trouble had been resolved quickly, without much effort on his part. "The Water Dragon Sect is of no concern, continue with your assignments as planned."
"Of course, as The Black Emperor commands." Bei Lin nodded quickly several times, even forgetting that he should be upset about a slum dweller with no cultivation giving him orders. "I will go at once."
Shortly, Bei Lin was heading in the direction of Jinsheng with an escort of minions that had been forced upon him by Karl, as he was in no state of mind to keep himself safe in the perilous forests around the city.
* * * *
"As we thought, but isn't he a little rat, this Bei Lin?" Artoan Vita whispered while looking at the scene in the distance. They were hiding far away in the lush vegetation, paranoid about being spotted by numerous monsters that wandered aimlessly in the area. According to The Purple Flash, they were all agents of the demonic entity that was probably the same existence that had been dubbed a forest demon in Gregsis' letter.
"So what? It changes nothing about our strategy. Better grow some balls and go to Jinsheng, I need those books that we have talked about." Yen Gon repeated under her breath the only sentence they had been able to spy on, due to the fact that it had been written in the air using traces of Void.
"This Black Emperor cannot be the minion, such an entity has to reside in a Vessel." It was common sense that only the third stage of Mojo Crystallization and above had a Vessel to house a soul and even then, the Vessel was fully complete only since the fourth stage of Soul Binding.
Possessing a monster without a Vessel was a grey area. It could be done, but demons capable of advanced planning and intrigue were usually more stable and needed a Vessel. Yen Gon knew when she saw an organized group that could not be led by a thoughtless Abomination.
"Isn't the monster stage three? It looks strong." Artoan seemed to be pondering about their chances in case they needed to confront the demonic forces.
"The Void tin cans should be borderline three, but this one is a solid two." Yen Gon theorized and watched an escort forming in the distance. She remembered from her spies embedded in the Water Dragon Sect that the hulking steel figures were most likely the most powerful, although there was little information about their actual combat ability.
"Will we engage?" Artoan asked and his body tensed. Given who was beside him, he had no doubt about their victory, but the fight would not be something taken lightly given the numbers and unknown origin of the threat.
"No, this might be the same trick as before." Yen Gon fell deep in thought. Just a moment ago, she saw what was strapped onto the forehead of one of the Void Knights before it turned around and left for the entrance of the demonic den. She still remembered the embarrassment with the bird and was unwilling to fall into the same trap again.
"Tail them, I will get someone more suited for the job before they enter the city. We need to determine what damned book the demon is after." She whispered in a hurry and departed in the direction of the city the next moment. A small, well-organized demonic sect operating on the future territory of the city was not something she could ignore. The suicidal thugs meddling with demonic cultivation could be left to someone else, she should solve the threat of the black stone once and for all.
"Well, The Black Emperor, as the demon calls itself. What arrogance." She snorted and continued racing towards Jinsheng to prepare for a quick counter-intelligence operation.
Left behind, her disciple watched the procession heading towards the city from a distance.
Luckily, The Purple Flash was a top tier figure in Jinsheng and even her disciple was able to reach for some enchanted gear that made it easier to avoid the common dangers of wilderness. Still, with no luck, his position could be exposed, but he had confidence in getting away if that happened.
In the group, there was the traitor from the Water Dragon Sect, Bei Lin, and a handler that appeared to be ordering him, a young boy with white hair, even younger than Artoan himself. On the monsters' side, there was the minion that had messaged the two earlier along with three others of its kind and a group of a dozen Goblins that ran constantly around, almost sniffing him out on occasions.
The Void minion had obviously turned to an ordinary mob minion and Artoan tried to recall if he heard of a case of a demon that could jump from monster to monster possessing them as it willed. He failed to remember a single case in all the books he read and started to have an uneasy feeling in his guts.
"Just tailing them while this might be a coordinated attack?" He was fascinated by the legend of The Purple Flash and knew that she had not reached her position by following orders. If he wanted to make a name for himself and achieve a similar level of recognition, he needed to do more than what was expected of him.
However, it was not his time yet.
He kept tailing the demonic forces until they reached the city gate and the escort of monsters left. Along with them, the teen that accompanied Bei Lin left as well and the Water Dragon Sect cultivator was left alone, heading for the gates of Jinsheng.
At the same time, a group of people dressed in camouflaged leather armor appeared in front of Artoan, guided to him by an enchanted guild ring he wore on his hand for exactly that purpose.
"Sir, we take it from here." Artoan listened to the leader of the group that had been obviously sent by Yen Gon that strangely was not part of the group.
"Master is. .. ?"
"Preparing further security measures in the city." The man responded with professionalism and waited for Artoan to leave. He did not know who exactly the unit was, but they appeared to be the members of the Immortal Guard, uninvolved in sect politics.
In general, the cultivators of the sects focused a lot on advancement of their cultivation base to higher levels in hope of achieving similar levels of power to Yen Gon, or Lehaim. Those who had little hope of advancement and wished to pursue a different path often chose to serve in the Immortal Guard where they focused fully on combat ability, espionage and other matters of the city's security.
"I will be on my way." Artoan Vita nodded and left, but not in the direction of the city, he followed the white haired teenager that appeared to be returning to the demon's camp.
"Four stage two Void Moinsters, this will be close." He sneaked closer to the group and waited for the best opportunity to ambush one of the monsters. He completely ignored the Goblins that should not pose a threat to him.
"Better safe than sorry." When he reached close enough, he took a spherical device from under his robe that was covered with blue runes. It was a paralyze grenade created from a rare Forest Stalker that lived deeper in the forest and usually possessed Paralyze Mojo that was extremely useful for crafting similar devices. Artoan hesitated a little, but decided to use the expensive weapon given the high stakes.
Extracting information from Bei Lin's superior would bring him enough merit to outweigh the device's cost.
He took a deep breath and threw the grenade to the midst of the group that was luckily traveling close together.