One hand held a strand of soul and the other held a common pebble. He brought both closer to each other until they touched and then, strong gushes of spiritual energy began to explode around both of his hands. A few moments later, there was only the pebble left. It looked just as ordinary as it was before.
He nodded contentedly to himself as he threw the stone to one of the ten cultivators. The man it was thrown at grabbed it and placed it within his inner pocket.
Jin was still panting heavily on the ground. While he saw everything happen, his head was filled with nothing but the feeling of pain at this moment.
The gold man walked up to him and bent a knee down to be at his level. From his spatial ring, he took out an earring. It was dark with red strands. There were two rings linked by a chain that made this earring. If one looked closer, incredibly closer, they would notice how the red strands were in fact runes.
The man did not wait for Jin before he punctured Jin's right ear in two places. One at the top and one at the bottom of the ear. Jin had holes made there previously to accommodate many spatial rings but they closed by now after all kinds of healing and the passage of time.
The man in gold then proceeded to place the earring in there. It was quite stylish in its own way and as soon as both rings were secure, they shined for a second before dimming back to the usual color.
The man nodded to himself once more before getting back up. He walked back to the balcony as he stated: "This earring is a grade 4 treasure to which I added an array of my own. It will hide your corruption and made it look as if human skin. It will be impossible to detect it by anyone under the 40th stage. And, considering where you are going, it will be more than enough"
"I will only ask one thing of you. You better remain on that lower continent until we come fetch you"
Jin was not sure what was going on anymore. His breathing was only now starting to calm down but he was not feeling great at all.
The man in gold opened his palm towards Jin and something else seemed to be extracted from it. Golden smoke escaped from his body. The man said: "I delivered you from my greed"
He turned towards Rodolph next and told his henchman: "Take him to Vrislorin"
Rodolph saluted his master in the martial way before grabbing Jin and pushing him up over his shoulder. He saluted once more before leaving the room with his package.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Once he left and closed the doors behind him, the man in gold gave orders to his other subordinates. He spoke to the one he gave the pebble first as he threw him a different pebble: "This pebble will tell me your location, keep it with you as you roam across the world. Never use a speed beyond the 9th stage and try to stay as low as you can. Assassins and warriors will be coming after you so always remain on the move. Throw out the first pebble only after you deem it impossible to escape. If you can, try to create a scene that would lead people to believe that the pebble comes from here"
The man saluted before asking: "For how long should I do this, owner?"
The man in gold answered: "As long as you can. With your abilities, two dozen years should be your maximum... If you can keep it up for at least seventeen years, I will grant you a wish once you come back. Now, be on your way, Sannahan"
Sannahan, saluted once more before leaving.
Once he was away, the golden man spoke to another: "Gerald, I want you to sell information on 'Jin' from now on. Sell Sannahan's location every fifteen days"
Gerald bowed as he asked: "Are we using Sannahan to bait Jin's headhunters?"
The gold man shook his head as he grinned and stated: "No. We make money while sending out people on the wrong chase, do you understand?"
Gerald saluted: "I am enlightened, owner"
The gold man then spoke to another: "Lennarya, go place some trusty men next to the real Jin and keep an eye on him. Eliminate everything that you deem necessary to protect his identity. We shall be the only one with that information"
Lennarya saluted.
He turned to another: "Olivia, go and erase all traces of his passage on our island. Only leave those from Sannahan"
Olivia bowed and left after acknowledging her orders.
He spoke to another man: "Eliminate all the crews the real Jin contracted with"
The man asked: "What about those with connections to the oceanics?"
The golden man chuckled and answered: "They won't retaliate for such a small matter"
The man bowed once and left.
Finally, the golden man spoke to the few left: "Continue to operate as usual"
They all bowed and prepared to leave. However, one stayed behind.
A woman remained alone with the man in gold. Once the door closed, she asked: "Alexander, why not keep him with us? He's worth a lot"
Alexander laughed as he stated: "Greed, dear, it's all due to my greed"
She frowned and stated: "Even more so"
Alexander explained himself: "He already belongs to us, dear. I am only going to maximize our profits from this new product I acquired. Think of all the money from the fake intel, all the fame to our name... And then, once the truth is exposed, all the people will flock to our island. Our fortune, our fame... It will grow exponentially from this. Only once this momentum begins to recede will we capture him back and bring him here"
She nodded before asking something else: "What if he manages to escape?"
The man in golden robes laughed as he turned back towards the sight outside the balcony. Only after a few seconds did he say: "If he could...I would certainly have to reevaluate his worth"
Meanwhile, Jin was being moved like some kind of package by Rodolph.