Perhaps an hour passed, or but just a moment. In moments of retrospection, where the consciousness seems to drift away from the body, it is a rather arduous endeavour to grasp the passing of time. As such, Li Ao had no idea on how long he had been standing there until a servant alerted him.

''Young master, Deacon He is summoning everyone for a briefing.''

''Deacon He?''

Deacons were the high-ranking members of any sect that governed and ruled a certain territory for the sect council. Of course, this being a different world, the role of a deacon very well might be a different thing. Yet, since this person had the authority to summon all disciples, he should not be too far off in influence.

Nodding, Li Ao followed the servant to the other tower on the ship's deck. They climbed up alongside a few hundred disciples and settled on the fourth floor. At the far end of the room rose a lotus dais, where Li Ao saw a graceful, elderly woman sit with her eyes closed. Her silver hair washed over her black robes like the cascading shine of moonlight.

Li Ao couldn't read her cultivation, so she had to be at least a grand realm above him.

''Deacon He was a woman?''

Without making any weird movement, Li Ao found a spot without making himself too visible and sat down. Someone greeted him and he nodded towards them, then sat as if he intended to cultivate.

Of course, all he did was close his eyes and seem focused. He wouldn't really cultivate in front of people.

An hour passed before half of the floor crowded with disciples numbering above a thousand. Among them, there was at least twenty whom Li Ao couldn't read—it seemed this Pangu Sect was a rather formidable power with deep foundations.

Opening her eyes upon the dais, Deacon He swept her gaze across the room. Li Ao felt his soul tremble from her golden pupils. ''I see a few people missing...''

A silence overcame the hall—Li Ao felt his neck turn hot and sweat, around him a few disciples gulped.

Taking in the room once more, Deacon He sighed. Her hair rose and tied themselves into a modest bun, revealing her wide forehead. ''It is no matter. Those of you here inform the missing people...''

Now another pause came, and Li Ao noticed a pattern.

''We are about to reach the Abyssal Depths...''

'Again.' Li Ao thought, and indeed the woman stopped speaking. She seemed to think upon her words before uttering them.

'Is she mentally challenged?'

''After we position ourselves at the border and set up the teleportation array, the rest of the sect will arrive. Be sure to serve the disciples well and do not slack off.''

'...what?'

Li Ao felt something break in his mind.

'We are not disciples?'

Surely that was a mistake? A slip of the tongue?

However, no one stood up, to Li Ao's dismay.

There were several conclusions Li Ao could draw from that statement.

They, or the 'disciples' in this ship were just an expeditionary force dispatched by this 'Pangu Sect'. They were tasked to receive the main 'disciples' and serve them. If that truly was the case, then this Pangu Sect disciples were absolute monsters incomparable to other geniuses.

Just in this room, there were fourteen and fifteen year old children who reached Foundation Establishment at their age. There were around a hundred like Li Ao, too, in the late stages of Qi Condensation Realm. Just this insight alone gave Li Ao a fright.

What would the main disciples be like, then?

'Then again, I might not be able to see them.'

His mission clearly stated that he had to find out what happened to Pangu Sect disciples...

What did the 'disciples' mean?

Li Ao felt a little choked by his inability to gather intelligence. Truly, if he hadn't been in a position where leaking his identity had fatal consequences, he could take over a few people's faces and do cross-examination through whatever he heard.

But finding another chance to do so seemed almost impossible.

Thinking of chance, Li Ao went back to his—Xu Liao's room.

Opening the lock, then locking himself behind, he saw the two still sleeping on top of each other. This sister Yue had spilled a disgusting amount of saliva over Xu Liao's chest.

''What the fuck, how much is that? Half a litre?''

Finding another chair to sit down, Li Ao began planning his next course of action. His gaze went from the window to the couple again and again, considering what to do, yet all that came to him was to wait.

By then he heard a knock on his door.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Walking up to the door and moving his body right, so that the bed could not be seen from the exit, he pulled it open.

It was a servant girl that seemed too much reserved and unconfident, with a neck that sloped down from excessive bowing and looking down.

''Sir Xu, Deacon He and others are waiting for you to begin constructing the array.''

Li Ao's stomach churned. For a moment he remained silent, but then a sparkle overcame his pupils.

''What is your name?''

The servant girl trembled, then spoke in a tiny voice. ''Sui Li, sir.''

''How many people know you?''

Now again, the servant started to tremble more. ''I...just the chief servant...please let me go.''

''Stay right there.'' Li Ao said and walked back into the room. He untied the couple and changed their positions so that they lay in the arms of each other, sprayed some water on the bed to make it wet, then left with the Sui Li.

The girl led him to a lower deck, where, perhaps attributing to the busy nature of their work, very few servants passed by them. No one paid them particular notice, so in five minutes Li Ao was inside Sui Li's room.

By now he had become aware of how dangerous the setting was, so Li Ao slapped the girl to oblivion and bound her to her bed. His Hundred-Faces mask shot out of his finger and enveloped the girl's face for a few breaths, then came back to him.

In but a moment he became Sui Li, with thin lips and nose, and long hair that came to his waist. But his height and voice remained the same, as well as the yang energy rolling off his body. Anyone with an equal or higher cultivation could discern his gender.

'Once I am back, I need to buy a whole lot of stuff.'

Techniques to change the structure of his bones and organs, techniques to change his voice, techniques to change his inner Yin and Yang...that one might not be so good. Had there ever been a feminine Long Aotian?

It would be good if Li Ao could buy a Scholarly or Religious art that could make his temperament more favourable as well.

Those things, however, had no bearing on the current him.

For now Li Ao sat down in the room and waited for two days, but the entire time no one came to look for Sui Li. This made him bolder, but still cautious Li Ao waited another day more. Still nothing.

By now he was suspicious enough. Li Ao tried on one of Sui Li's robes—the green skirt fit well but the shirt stuck to him like iron wires. Forcing himself, he walked out the corridor.

There was no one to be met. The formation lights didn't seem to be working at some parts of the ship, where they either flickered or did not brighten. Under the blue light Li Ao ascended the upper floors.

Sweeping his gaze past the open doors, which made him more cautious, Li Ao noticed them all empty. From a window, by the corners of his eye, he saw the sea rising into a great wave.

Another bout of storms seemed to be on their way.

His steady steps echoing across the floor, Li Ao reached the round stairs leading up. There seemed to be a light at the top, shining gold and silver down on him, and forced his Qi to circulate without his willing. Li Ao opened up the system interface and put his finger right above the 'Abort' button.

Now he ascended, and from his shadows that climbed after him he heard a whisper. Turning around, looking down at the darkness below, he saw nothing. Then again he walked up, ignoring the ever-growing whispers, and put a foot inside the golden light.

Outside, a heavy boom assaulted his ears. The entire ship shook, the deck seemed like it would fall apart. Strewn across the floor were hundreds of disciples and the Deacon He, bleeding from their eyes. To the right side of the ship, terrible strikes of lightning carshed against the two red towers. One of them splintered, fell into pieces over the corpses stretching all around him.

Li Ao took a step forward. The whispers behind him vanished, and the pattering of the rain, and the booming of the wind and the crackling of the thunder.

A wave of Qi scratched his nose, and his head turned in instinct.

From the depths of the sea, a pillar of 'something' rose to the heavens. There was no bottom of it, nor a top of it, only its 'body' which Li Ao could not comprehend. He had neither the time nor the capability to ascertain the nature of the 'thing' before he vanished, and appeared in his cell.

Collapsing on his knees, Li Ao spat out mouthfuls of blood. He let out a scream, scratching his eyes and throat.

*Calm down.*

Li Ao stopped. Raising his body, so that he was still on his knees but now facing forward, he spoke in a soft voice.

''Senior Klein?''

It was not him that pressed the 'Abort' button. Li Ao thought of how Senior Klein could teleport him in and out of missions.

*It is alright.* the man spoke, but Li Ao heard him gnash his teeth. *Tell me the name of the source*

''He has no name.''

When he said so, Senior Klein let out a hum. *I see.*

*If they ever contact you, report to me.*

Li Ao nodded ''Okay.''

There was a bout of silence as he looked over his body, then shaking his head spoke again.

''What kind of a being was 'that'?''

Li Ao had no recollection of the thing, even though he remembered the moments right before 'seeing' it.

*It could be a high-level Demon, an Outer-Realm Deity, or a part of the Scourge of The Universe. There are few beings that can kill others just by showing their false form.*

''False form? It was not its 'True' form?''

*You have no need to know such things for now.* Senior Dogshit replied. *I was prepared to take you out anytime for this instance, but in the future do not take missions in the past from outside parties if you can.*

*There are many like this, who uses lower-level agents as sacrificial pawns to reach their aim...Let this be a lesson to you.*

''...for what?'' Li Ao asked. His brows furrowed, much alike his grandfather in anger, he shouted. ''What the fuck would they have gained from me dying there!?''

*If you perish in a mission, your last memories will always be transferred to the mission's source. The poster of this mission might have been 'just' strong enough to peek at that being's false form from memories.*

''...even looking from the memories can kill you?''

*Why do you think you can't remember 'it'? I erased it.*

Li Ao's spine tingled at the implications, but he said nothing else. Indeed, this had been a lesson to him, but also an eye opener.

He could have died right there, all for nothing but a few coins. But now, he came to realize, that he was neither in a story nor a play, but in real life. There were way too many people that could kill him with their gaze in Great Wei Dynasty alone—let alone these...'things', which could kill him with just him 'gazing' at them.

This kind of helpless, hopeful despair was always the greatest incentive to mankind. Li Ao felt within himself that, with a promise to be more careful in his choosing, he would not be so carefree in his dealing.

*Okay, Dogshit, you can now take second-grade missions. Stop thinking useless stuff.*

''Huh? Did I not fail the mission?''

*Check your notifications*

Li Ao did as Senior Dogshit said. His jaw fell to the floor.

*Discovered the result of Pangu Sect Disciples' disappearance, awarded 10 Universal Coins/100 Spirit Stones*

*Discovered the ??? of ???, awarded ???(Consult Superior) and 100 Universal Coins*

*Do you wish to transfer the contents?*

*You have a report waiting to be submitted*

''What are those question marks?''

*Something way above your level.* Here Senior Dogshit stopped speaking, humming to himself, then spoke again. *I'm not sure if you can endure the backlash of knowing its name, so I won't make any comments for now. Don't transfer the contents of those rewards until you reach Core Formation.*

''That...that is a long time...wait what about my coins?''

*Poor you, hahahaha!*

''Motherf*****!''

*********