Within the Great Wilderness, right next to a certain village, a small cabin made from Iron Wood stood untouched for a week.
Yet, it was not completely empty for there was a teenage girl looking after a small black cat while an old man watched over them.
This was none other than Little Hui, the granddaughter of the Han couple who ran the only inn and tavern in the village.
The old man was also a familiar sight. It was Old Feng, Feng Tianyan, the only blacksmith in the village.
Little Hui pouted as she watched the lazy cat sprawled out on a mound of dirt that looked like it had been turned over many times.
“I think Brother Wei has spoiled his cat too much. Just look at her, she is not even willing to play with me for a little bit.”
“Haha, shouldn’t you be happy that she feels comfortable enough around you to sleep defenselessly like this? Isn’t this much better than the first time you looked after her when she wouldn’t stop hissing and trying to get away from you?”
“….That is true. But still! Half the reason why I agree to look after her is because I want to play with her.”
Old Feng hummed and leaned back into the recliner that Da Wei prepared beforehand for the old man, happily drinking from one of the wine pots that Da Wei usually hides away underground.
The old man knew that there would be retribution from his young friend once he learned of this ‘theft’, but the old man couldn’t care less about that since he was too busy enjoying his life.
But it was also this state of relaxation and drunkenness that caused his senses to dull and allowed his attacker to get past his defenses.
With stealth only possible for a feline like it, a tiger with golden fur and stipes shaped like lightning bolts pounced on the two humans. Before they could even tell that something was wrong, its claws exerted a surprisingly gentle force to strike the nerve centers in their necks with its QI, instantly rendering them unconscious.
With both the humans unconscious, the massive beast slowly walked out of its hiding place and slowly walked over to the black cat before lowering its head.
“My Queen-“
“Huanghu Fengying, do my words mean nothing to you anymore? And take your true form, my master is not here right now so there is no need to hide.”
At the stern voice that came from the cat lazing around, the tiger immediately started changing into a form that looked exactly like a human except for the glowing yellow eyes and small feline ears on top of his head.
Then, he directly knelt in front of the cat in fear and reverence.
“My Queen, I have come today to persuade-“
“I know why you are here, my dear brother. But, my decision has not changed and it never will. I am no longer your queen or a member of the Celestial Tiger Clan. You should go before anyone realizes that you journeyed thousands of Li inland to such a remote place.”
“B-But Shaolong is constantly putting the clan in danger with his actions and the Elders want you to-“
“The Elders??”
Powerful Yin Qi suddenly rose from the cat and covered the entire area in pure darkness. The kind of darkness that no one in this world could ever hope to understand.
The cat suddenly started to transform, turning into a massive tiger just like Huanghu Fengying was just a few moments ago. However, unlike his golden fur and stripes, the cat that now goes by the name of Little Xing was pure black with golden eyes.
“Wasn’t it the Elders who wanted me gone?? Wasn’t it they who plotted against me with the other clans when I was the Queen? Wasn’t it them who wanted Huanghu Shaolong as the new King instead of me just because my spirit roots were of Yin nature, unlike the rest of the Huanghu clan who are all born with Lighting and Wind spirit roots? Well, they got their wish. Now, they have to deal with the consequences by themselves. I may have put all of my efforts into raising the clan to become the strongest of all the clans and their leader. But I only did that because it was my Clan, my people. Now? They have nothing to do with me, so don’t expect me to clean up after your mess from now on.”
The man fell silent before he turned his eyes toward the humans with killing intent.
“Is it because of these humans?? Are they threatening you-“
Little Xing immediately delivered a powerful strike to the back of the man’s head, causing him to face plant so hard that the ground cracked on impact.
“You damned fool. Has everything I said gone right over your head?? This has nothing to do with the humans and everything to do with those old fools in the clan.”
With a tired sigh, Little Xing turned back into a regular cat and directly lay down back on her spot.
“Just, go back to the clan and tell them that Huanghu Ziyue is dead. And don’t ever bother coming to find me if you are going to convince me to return.”
Suddenly, her eyes softened a little as she looked at the depressed look on her brother’s face.
“On the other hand, if you just want to visit, you can take the form of an ordinary cat to come over anytime.”
Those words caused the man to brighten up a little before transforming back into a Golden tiger and disappearing with a bolt of lightning.
Little Xing returned to lying down on the ground and absorbing the ungodly amount of potent Yin Qi from the ground below her.
‘Seriously. I need to find a way to inform the master about the extreme amounts of Yin Qi being generated from this spot. While it is a good idea to dump all the poisonous and waste products of his hunts with little Ling underground and cover it up with his absurd Qi, this process is causing his Pure Qi to accidentally invigorate the remnant souls of the few hundred dead beasts under this mound of dirt, giving rise to enough Yin Qi to turn the entire village nearby into a dead land filled with Jiangshi (Zombies).’
She shivered in delight as the potent Yin Qi was pulled into her spirit roots through her cultivation, tremendously empowering her.
‘Then again, it might not be necessary given that I tend to absorb all of the Yin Qi generated daily. I think this could be considered a holy land for Yin Qi practitioners like me.’
Slowly, the cat closed her eyes and reminisced about the days long past.
It felt funny to her, how a proud queen of the Clans, or as the humans call them, the Barbarian Clans, was reduced to such a state that she couldn’t even take on a human form anymore even if her cultivation realm returned to what it used to be.
What she told her brother was the truth. Huanghu Ziyue was really dead. She died when her own clan turned against her, used forbidden pills to destroy her cultivation, and transformed her into her beast form permanently.
Right now, her name is Little Xing. A simple cat that belongs to a man that chose to leave his sect after his cultivation was crippled. A simple cat that loves the orphan girl with peerless talent as her own little sister.
A simple outcast, living with her fellow outcasts.
With the pleasant memories made in the past few months, the cat drifted off into sleep as her core continued to cultivate automatically by absorbing the Yin Qi.
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I walked through the quiet and scenic streets of the upper district, heading towards a massive house that looked just like the rest of the houses in this area. With servants bustling about and guards stationed at the gate.
However, those who knew the truth of this place would know that all of this was just a façade maintained by its owners to blend in with their surroundings.
The guards watched me like hawks as I approached the building. When I took out the black jade token with the symbol of a snake and showed it to them, they immediately bowed with respect and directly opened the gates for me with one of them moving ahead of me.
Soon, we walked further into the building and arrived at what would have been the cultivation chambers of the family if anyone actually lived there.
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The guard silently gestured towards me with his open hand. As I was familiar with this process, I directly placed the token in his hand.
The guard then placed the token into a subtle indent along the entrance, making the entrance open and revealing a long stairwell heading deep underground.
I nodded my head to the guard in gratitude before heading downward.
Soon, the stairs opened up to reveal a massive cavern that was probably just as large as the city above it with thousands upon thousands of passageways like the one I came from connecting it to the world above.
This was a place that was only known through rumors. A place that is only accessible to those who already know its location and have earned the right to trade with the owners of this place.
The Headquarters of the Dark Guild.
It is quite ironic that everywhere I look, I can find many people belonging to noble families, martial families, and even the servants of the Royal family walking about and conducting their business. The very same people that usually condemn the very existence of the Dark Guild publicly whenever that topic is brought up in any way.
Human nature at its finest.
As I walked deeper into the place, I noticed that there were more people than normal than what I remember seeing over a year ago and most of them seemed to be coming in from the passages that connected to the Commoner district of the city above.
The refugees perhaps? It would make sense. The Dark Guild is always in need of hands for hire and these refugees would not be in the position to refuse any work just like the people in the slums had no choices before I arrived.
In fact, I should be thankful to the people of the slums for introducing me to the Dark Guild in the first place since those guys follow such a rule that it makes it impossible for anyone without any recommendation to enter this place.
The motto that the Dark Guild follows is quite simple.
‘Those who know, need not ask. Those who ask, need not know.’
And that motto is not for show either since even if the person in question is the emperor himself, he would still need a recommendation in some way to enter this place and have the right to buy or sell anything to them.
As I walked through the place, I caught the sight of many demonic cultivators moving through the crowds and buying things that they would normally be unable to get in the outside world.
‘How hypocritical. Look at that fat bastard over there. You recognize him??’
‘Yeah. Isn’t that the Patriarch of the Yanfeng family?’
‘Indeed. Now, look at the person sitting across him.’
‘Judging by the robes, I would say he is a disciple of the Infinite Blood Seas.’
‘He is. Isn’t it quite interesting that the patriarch of one of the five greatest noble families of the capital is meeting with the strongest and most dangerous Demonic sect on the continent?’
‘It is suspicious. Then again, this is the Dark Guild, what did you expect?’
Xiang fell silent at my words as I turned away from that sight and started heading back toward my destination.
Hypocrisy doesn’t even begin to describe the actions of those present here, including me. However, there is one thing that the so-called righteous people of the world fail to realize.
Darkness is a fundamental aspect of humanity that can never be removed. Greed exists, envy exists, and so does wrath, pride, and every other such sinful feeling. They are the fundamental aspects of human nature and if left unchecked, would lead to a disaster of unprecedented scale.
It is the very reason why the Demonic path exists in the first place.
However, if there was some way to control this darkness. To regulate it so that it doesn’t go too far, we could avoid such a calamity.
In my old world, the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction through the use of Nuclear Weapons was one such method of stemming the darkness of my people. A flawed method to be sure since not everyone complied with that threat and some extreme measures needed to be taken, something that was not done by the time of my death.
In this world, the answer to this conundrum came in the form of the Dark Guild.
The Dark Guild has its branches all across the continent, accessible to those who know how to do so. It is a place where the regulations of both the empires and the Holy Lands don’t apply. Here, everything can be bought or sold. It was this fact that attracted the majority of the Demonic path cultivators to its doors.
However, what no one but a select few knew was that the Dark Guild secretly monitors and records all the transactions made by the Demonic Cultivators and those they associate with. If the things bought were not something truly dangerous, they would let it be to safeguard their reputation. However, if the Demonic Cultivator in question was extremely dangerous or brought something truly dangerous to everyone, the guild would anonymously send all the details about the cultivator and his purchase to the right people to deal with.
If the worst comes to worst and the person they sent the information to is unable to handle the situation, they would dispatch powerful independent Cultivators that are under their employ to eliminate the threat.
This is the reason why the Royal families of both the empires and the Holy Lands tolerate the existence of the Dark Guild despite the major threat they pose to their sovereignty.
Of course, this method is not foolproof and there have been dozens of cases in the past where the Dark Guild failed spectacularly in delivering the information of several high-profile Demonic Cultivators, leading to blood baths of unprecedented scales. However, the number of such failures was so minuscule in comparison to the accurate information that they provide that these cases are often overlooked as bad luck.
It is also this track record they have in information brokering that attracted my attention to them in the first place all those years ago.
Soon, I arrived at a massive pavilion with powerful guards with even the weakest of them being in the initial stages of the Core Formation realm.
Once again showing my token, I was respectfully welcomed in and guided to an empty room with a single chair and a communication and teleportation inscription made on the table in front of it.
It is an indirect method of flexing their wealth as even a Mortal-grade Teleportation inscription is something that costs millions of spirit stones to purchase, let alone the Heaven-grade Teleportation inscription used on the table.
The moment I sat down, I placed my token on the inscription and activated it, causing the token to disappear for a few seconds before it returned through the same inscription followed by the projection of a man wearing a blank mask.
“If it isn’t the great master Enigma. Or, do you prefer I use your real name?”
I snorted and smiled at the image.
“Come now, Bai. Why the sudden mystery?”
“Oh! It's just that I feel my status is beneath someone who can casually take the princess of the Yin Long Empire into the slums for some alone time.”
“…So you guys already got that information? That quickly?”
“What can I say? We are the best at our job. Isn’t it why you like to hire us in the first place?”
I laughed at his words and nodded.
“True. Here, this year's payment.”
I put down a space ring containing twenty thousand High-grade spirit stones on the inscription, sending it to Bai.
The moment the man on the other end confirmed the payment, he sent back the space ring to me and bowed a little.
“I have confirmed the payment and sent the message to my people across Starfall City, Imperial Capital, White Jade City, and the Western Coast to continue looking after the people that you are helping over there.”
I nodded my head and placed another space ring, this one containing a Heaven-grade artifact and a few thousand Spirit Stones along with a Jade slip.
“…What do you need that requires such a high price??”
“I need information. I need you to find the people on that slip. The sooner the better. I know the search will not be easy since some of them are mortals and I don’t even know where to search for them across the continent. That is why I am paying you upfront to cover the cost of the search.”
“…How generous of you. I will immediately forward the list to my people to start working. While it is true that it will be extremely hard to find these people, it would still be something worth doing since most of the people on the list are already famous individuals. Also, if you don’t mind me asking, why do you need so many people from such different backgrounds anyway?.”
“It's nothing to hide. I want to hire these people for a project that I am going to start soon. As you said, they are all famous people who are the best of the best in their field and I need their expertise if I want my project to succeed.”
“I see. In that case, I might have something that would interest Master Da Wei. Free of charge.”
I raised an eyebrow at that. The Dark Guild never does anything for free, it just isn’t their style of doing things.
“I know very well that the most expensive thing in this world is something that is free. But, I’ll hear you out.”
“I have information about a person with extreme proficiency in Formation Arts, specifically, Large scale arts. From what I can see on the list, the person you listed for this category does not even begin to compare to the person I have in mind. Even better, this person is located in this very city so I can directly give you their location for you to go see them.”
“And what is the downside? And why is the Dark Guild interested in sending this person to me?”
“….The only downside is that this person is in a bad situation right now. You can easily negotiate with him to have him work for you at an extremely low rate compared to anyone else on the continent if you can solve his problem. As for why I gave you this information, it is a personal affair between him and me, but I will tell you that part of the reason is that we trust you enough to know that you would not have any bad intentions toward him even after inevitably learning the truth later on.”
“…..That sounds really ominous. Bai. You should know by now that I like to run away from troubles, not towards them. And what you just said sounds like major trouble for me.”
Suddenly, bai bowed his head through the projection and sent forward a space ring through the inscription.
A quick check shocked me due to the massive amount of rare materials stored within it.
“Consider that an incentive from me. I am asking you this as a personal favor. In the past six years, we have done countless deals and I have run many checks on your personality and background. I can confidently say that if there is anyone who can help him with his problem, it is you. And given your nature, you would not take advantage of him like others would. Please, help him.”
I was taken aback by the words of the extremely professional man.
‘……That man is desperate. I don’t know what the deal is with the person he wants you to take, but it could be worth taking a look.’
‘……I don’t know. My instincts are screaming at me that this is going to be trouble. But my heart tells me to accept his request, if only because this man has never done anything wrong during all of our interactions throughout the years.’
‘Like always. The choice is yours, David.’
I stayed silent and contemplated for a long while. But, in the end, I accepted the space ring and nodded at Bai’s projection, much to the man’s visible delight if the way his body sprang up in the projection was anything to go by.
‘I just hope I made the right decision.’
‘We will only know that in the future. But, even if you have made a wrong decision, would you regret it?’
‘Regret it? Yes. But, I think it is better to regret my decision to help someone than not help at all and leave someone to their fate. I have experienced enough apathy in my old world and seen enough darkness in this one. How can I claim to be different from the others if I stop staying true to myself and let my fears rule me.’
‘Hmm. I hope you keep those ideals alive. This world has a tendency to crush the hope of people.’
‘Maybe. But, like I said. I want to be true to my ideals so that I can face Yama, Satan, Hades, or whatever else rules the afterlife in this universe, and say with pride that I had lived a fulfilling life’