Tales Of Demons, Gods, And Libraries

As I move towards the closest Dark Guild safe-house, I try to organize the memories from Yun Hua. He was the most powerful member of the Dark Guild inside of Glory City, excluding the Sacred Family members.

There were fourteen Silver rank Fighters under Yun Hua's command. Most of them are nothing more than safe-house guards or couriers to send supplies and intel to the Dark Guild headquarters.

None of Yun Hua's subordinates work inside the City Lord's Mansion. That means there is at least one more cell of Dark Guild members hiding in Glory City.

I have to commend them. It's the best way to prevent their entire infrastructure from being exposed if one member is captured or betrays them.

Yun Hua wasn't at the auction by chance. He was given a mission from the Dark Guild's headquarters. He was to acquire the Nightmare Demon Pot and send it and a large shipment of Soul Concentrating Pills to the Nether Realm.

Since Yun Hua didn't return to any safe-house, his minions will have to report him missing. Hopefully, I can raid their safe-houses before they're moved or reinforced.

With any luck, I can make it appear as if Yun Hua betrayed the Dark Guild and fled.

Entering Void-Form as I approach the first safe-house, I don't detect anyone around or in the run-down tea shop. I do spot several arrays laid on the door and window sills.

It takes me less than a minute to deactivate the array on the door. I could have simply by-passed the array while in Void-Form, but Yun Hua knew how to deactivate the array.

Inside the safe-house, I find enough food and water for several months. There is also a small supply of weapons and one million demon spirit coins. I take everything and quickly make my way towards the next safe-house.

Over the next couple of hours, I clean out three more safe-houses. All of them unguarded.

As the sun is setting, I reach my final destination for the day. Standing across from the final safe-house, I sense five people inside. Not sensing much soul force in any of them, I assume they are some of Yun Hua's minions.

Stepping into a shaded alley, I cast shadow jump. Instantly, I'm in a shadowed version of the alley. Feeling a pull to return, I quickly move into the safe-house. Once inside, I see five shadowed men.

Using the shadow of one of the men, I exit the shadow world. The lucky guy never felt a thing when death took him. I reenter the shadow world before his body ever hits the floor.

The dull thump of their friend's body hitting the floor draws the attention of the other men in the room. I exit and reenter another man's shadow just long enough to claim his life.

The three remaining men seal their own fate when they form a defensive position with their backs to each other. I exit the shadow world in the center of their position and end all three men with a soundless slice from bone sickles.

Looking at the results of my attack, I decided to remain merged with the Shadow Devil until I return to my campsite.

Stepping over the body of a headless guard, I move towards a group of crates. Popping the lid off, the crate is filled with Dragon's Soul Stones. These come from the Abyss Prison Realm. One of its uses is to use them to increase the cultivation of people or beasts with dragon heritage. Another use is to fill them with energy, and they will magnify the power to create destructive explosives.

In the other two crates, I find thousands of Blood Crystals and several hundred Stones of Light. The Blood Crystals are extremely valuable and will cut a huge amount of time out of my cultivating. The Stones of Light are proof the Dark Guild has been making trips into the Abyss Prison Realm.

Knowing the Demon Lord has visited the Abyss Prison Realm before, it makes sense for him to use it to gather resources. With the Demon Lord being the only demigod in the Dark Guild, it's unlikely they can secure a large number of resources in the Nether Realm.

Yun Hua's memories are incomplete, so I'm not sure who is going to the Abyss Prison Realm. A better question is why are they staging the resources here? Could it be because they fear drawing attention from the surge of power after returning from the Abyss Prison Realm?

I would have preferred using Soul Refining on one or two of the guards. I'm just afraid it's too soon to absorb another soul so soon after the first one.

After a thorough search of the safe house, I gather all the resources and bodies into my interspatial ring. I make sure to remove all traces of blood. It should give credit that Yun Hua and several of his subordinates defected from the Dark Guild.

Exiting the safe-house in Void-Form, I make my way back to my woods I've been hiding in.

I debated setting up lethal arrays in the tunnel leading to the Nether Realm. I chose not to. Yun Hua wouldn't be able to set something like that up, and I don't know the route Ye Mo uses to get to the Nether Realm. I don't want to take a chance of injuring him.

I will have to make a trip to the market for the ingredients to refine the Blood Crystals. If I use all of them at once, I will be able to break into 5-Star Black-Gold rank, possibly even the Peak of 5-Star.

After finishing setting up my camp defenses, I get into the lotus position. Ending my merger with the Shadow Devil, I immediately enter the cosmic mental state.

It doesn't take long to come to terms with the killing of five men today and Yun Hua the day before. I can feel my hands shaking and doubts running through my head.

Alongside those thoughts of me taking the lives of other humans, is the knowledge that I saved innocents by doing so. This still worries me.

I don't think I'm evil for ending the lives of evil men, but it's how easy I was able to do it. I worry I may become angry enough to use the Shadow Devil to permanently end the cause of my anger. I have no plans to prevent the deaths of those who deserve it. I think it would be best to use Soul Refining on all those I can. I just don't want to resort to killing for every situation that becomes difficult.

I spend the entire night coming to accept I have committed murder. I understand I will be forced to kill many more people to protect myself and those I care about. That is the way of this world. My world.

Once the sun rises, I disguise my face to appear older. I quickly make my way to a well-supplied apothecary shop. Using the Library of Heaven's Path, I quickly create a recipe to maximize effects for minimal cost. I purchase a bronze cauldron and the ingredients I need to refine the Blood Crystals.

Looking around the apothecary reminds me I still have the recipe for a very powerful soul enhancing pill. Hell, I still have another dozen recipes that can be used now.

Before leaving the apothecary, I inquire where I can commission the construction of a pill forge. Turns out, I can place an order through them. I'm sure I'll have to pay an additional fee for the convenience, but that is perfectly fine. I don't want them to engrave the standard runes on the pill forge, so that should heavily reduce the price.

Planning for the future, I deposit fifty percent of the cost for ten blank pill forges. I should be able to pick the first one in four days. Apparently, the Alchemy Association has an order ahead of me.

I take that as a good sign. My share of the profits should be fairly substantial by now. I plan to send Zhang Xuan to retrieve my share once he reaches Gold rank. My paranoia is telling me there is a representative from the City Lord's Mansion waiting for me at the Alchemy Association.

Honestly, I don't want to meet with Ye Zong until I can come from a seat of power. That will give me more security and more bargaining power when dealing with him.

Putting those thoughts aside, I head off to meet Zhang Xuan. I have a disciple to train and some Blood Crystals to refine.