- Tie Clan -
The sun had long gone to sleep. Most beasts laid comfortably within their groups, while the nocturnal beasts began stretching their muscles. Through most of the land, only the dim light of the moon hit the ground, granting vision, however little.
There was one small exception this night: Tie Clan's buildings were shining like stars.
Festivities were on their way. Children were running around playing with all the weird little gizmos they could get their hands on while stuffing their faces full of food.
Teens would confess to their crushes while hiding their blushing faces behind some flowers.
Venders would hold a smile on their faces, all the while hiding their exhaustion as sweat poured down their foreheads.
- Tie Clan, Throne Room -
A table filled with the meat made of every beast within the Wan Cheng mountains, glasses filled to the brim with the finest of wines, and servers adorned with fine clothes.
Some would think this is too much for a Super Clan just to get their hands on a rank-5 Gu Master.
"Five heads!" Shouted one of the elders as tears ran down his face. Although he was not drunk, his behavior was that of someone who must have downed over ten bottles of soju.
In their younger years, most of the elders here had lost either a relative or a close friend to one of those five demons. The pain behind those tears wasn't simply a display to get Xie Ling's empathy; no, these tears were the real thing.
Another elder rose from his seat and shouted, "Five heads!"
"Five heads!", "Five heads!", "Five heads!", "Five heads!", "Five heads!"
All the elders were chanting it again and again. Most expressed happiness at their deaths, and a rare few shouted to release their stress, wishing that they were alive, as they too felt loss. The loss of an easy way to get rid of competitor trading caravans.
Among all the shouting and clatter, Tie Mu Bai was engaging in talk with merchants to ensure that the party lasted throughout the whole night. The chanting of 'Five heads!' reached his ears, which brought a large smile across his face. Internally, he knew that some of the elders had done business with those five; however, he left it alone because, from what he could see, most of their schemes were directed at other clans.
This was normal; clans would often employ the services of Demonic Gu Masters to damage clans that they had bad relationships with and even more so for clans that they had a good relationship with.
However, this is where Tie Mu Bai lacked a bird's-eye view. For if he knew just how much some of the elders employed the use of those five Demonic Gu Masters on their own clan members, if he knew exactly how deep the corruption went, instead of amicably talking with these merchants, 'The Demon Suppression Tower' would receive a few new guests.
Xie Ling too was smiling, as upon making it into the Tie Clan, he had many solid ropes tied to his raft. Most of the elders here respected his strength, and even more showed looks of appreciation for his blood-stained hands. Lastly, he gained information on a powerful Split Killer Move; the only step left was getting the Gu Worms.
A Split Killer Move splits the activation of the Gu that make up the killer move into multiple parts, which prevents others from sensing the activation of the killer move, and even better, allows the killer move to be turned into bite-sized chunks, splitting something as complex as a suit of armor into its components: helmet, chestplate, pauldrons, gauntlets, greaves, boots, etc...
After finishing his conversation with the merchants, Tie Mu Bai was approached by Tie Xue Leng.
"Oh, Xue Leng, I thought you were on a mission?"
Xue Leng wore a copper mask. The mask was of a plain design and gave an antique feel. There were three openings on it, revealing the wearer's eyes and mouth. His eyes showed the vicissitudes of life and revealed a grand and righteous aura. His lips were pursed up, the contour in between as sharp as a blade, hinting at his firm willpower. The mask didn't cover his ears, exposing his greying temple hairs and revealing that he should be of an older age.
"I received an odd message informing me of a possible Demonic clan over at Qing Mao Mountain." Xue Leng paused his words as he looked over at the elders of the clan, praising Xie Ling. He felt something was very wrong about that man. By all accounts, every movement and action made by Xie Ling gave off both the feeling of youthful vigor and wise countenance, but Xue Leng felt in his gut that something was wrong.
He was about to activate his Righteous Gu to test Xie Ling's reaction when Tie Mu Bai's words brought him back. "What he's done is truly impressive; some would even say more impressive than your own accomplishments, Xue Leng."
At first glance, it looked like Tie Mu Bai was insulting Xue Leng, but it was actually a warning: 'That man is even more competent than you. If he leaves because of your actions, there will be consequences.'
Narrowing his eyes, Xue Leng slowly turned his eyes back to Tie Mu Bai. "Leader Mu Bai, I've come back to pick up my daughter and teach her a few things.. before my..." He brought his hand over his mouth as he started coughing up blood.
A deep frown developed on Tie Mu Bai's face. He knew all too well that Xue Leng's life was running thin. Not wanting to ruin the mood further, he dropped his hand on Mu Bai's shoulder. "Ah, yes, Tie Ruo Nan, she has a very good heart, albeit a little too naive. But given proper training! I'm sure she'll sprout like a beautiful rose."
He then gripped Xue Leng's shoulder tighter, bringing his undivided attention to himself. His eyes showed a serious look with deep meaning. "Don't worry about the new guy; I've already sent multiple of our clan's best investigators to make sure he is what he says he is."
And just as suddenly as Tie Mu Bai expressed his perspective on the situation, he went back to calm and collected, saying in a jolly tone, "Now, all you have to worry about is making sure Tie Ruo Nan's feet grow properly to fit inside your shoes."
Seeing that everything was taken care of, Xue Leng calmed his heart before giving a respectful bow. "Since time is of the essence, I must apologize, as I won't be able to participate in today's banquet."
Tie Mu Bai gave a grin filled with understanding. "Well, don't let me keep you waiting."
Lifting his hand off Xue Leng, Tie Mu Bai walked to the table before picking up a cup filled to the brim with wine. This caused everyone to stop chanting for a moment to hear what he had to say.
"This year has been full of wonderous surprises!"
"Our Concussion Sunflower Fields are producing a 30% higher yield than previously expected."
"We discovered a new cheaper recipe for the Iron Needle Shatter Gu." He gave a nod filled with appreciation to the chief of the Tie Clan's Refinement Branch.
"Snakes have been wrangled up and put on a tight leash." He raised his arms up high, further showing the might and power behind his words.
Most of the elders raised an eyebrow in confusion, unknowing what Tie Mu Bai was referring to, but not wanting to ruin the mood, they opted to wait until after the celebration to ask what he meant.
Tie Mu Bai went on for a while, going through things in the reports that weren't previously talked about in the morning meeting.
"Lastly, and most importantly, Tie Clan has been given a huge gift in the form of an unlikely ally. Xie Ling, if you would do the honor." Tie Mu Bai raised his glass toward Xie Ling's.
In turn, Xie Ling rose his glass, knocking it against Tie Mu Bai's, as a sign of acknowledging his words and, more importantly, from Mu Bai's perspective, acknowledging Tie Clan.
"Five heads!" Tie Mu Bai shouted in a jolly cheer.
This spurred on everyone to cheer again, "Five heads!"
As Xie Ling showed a smile and bounced his glass against an elder's glass, a voice inside his head began to speak.
"I find it incredibly hard to believe that you possess no attainment."
Xie Ling outwardly didn't show any reaction to the sudden words. He already knew where they came from and who said it.
"Hun Cho, you seem to be getting very well acquainted with having a portion of the body."
Inside Xie Ling's mind, four more seats had been added to the table:
'Hao Lee - The Swamp Demon',
'Vai Tao - The Infallible',
'Hun Cho - The Soul of the Devil and Qi Cuo - The Heart of the Devil'.
Together, their titles add up to 'the Heart and Soul of the Devil'.
Of course, these four additions weren't the souls of the four, as they were very much still alive, hiding somewhere undisclosed from the rest of the world.
Raising his hand, Vai Tao spoke with much reverence: "When you offered to grant me access to your mind, my first thought was, 'Is he insane?'. However, the more I learn about this strange method you've used, the more I realize how ingenious it is. You must tell me how you did this; is it a Space Path method?"
Vai Tao was referring to how this small little space in the mind was completely cut off from the rest of the brain. Or rather, nothing in here could access the true core of the brain. This kicked off his research spirit. He had to know how to do it; as an Information Path Gu Master, such a method would be groundbreaking for him. Most killer moves for Information Path were done inside the brain; Vai Tao could practically taste the ease at which he could safely make killed moves with this method.
Hun Cho began grinding his teeth. "Hey, half of this is a killer move invented by my brother Qi Cuo, don't go giving all the credit to this thief!" He was referring to the killer move 'Contained Mind' that Xie Ling learned from their disciple, Hai Yi.
Shaking his head, Qi Cuo turned his attention to the table. He glided his hand across the top, feeling the friction between his hand against it. He then lifted his hand and rubbed the top of his fingers against each other. "Contained Mind uses the same concept as the aperture; by pulling all of my consciousness into my head, I can better direct my thoughts to one thing, but this is so different from it that it might as well be described as a different Killer Move."
Looking down at the middle of the table, he saw an orb displaying all events outside the body being relayed through it. This caused a chill to run down his spine.
While Hao Lee didn't understand what all the big ruckus was, he still wanted to join the conversation as he gave off a jolly laugh. "Exactly what I'd come to expect from the person who beat me within an inch of my life. Hahaha."
Xie Ling felt a tinge of pain at the many compromises that he had to make in order to survive in this world. Not wanting to aggravate Heaven's Will further, he was practically forced to make deals with these four, ensuring their lives and secrecy. This meant he wasn't able to get his hands on any of their Gu or Killer Moves.
Of course, despite these setbacks, he was still the most powerful out of them. For one, he had a large array of rank-4 Gu worms and a few rank-5 Gu worms. Plus, he has a rank-5 Transformation Path inheritance: Gao Xia - The Three Armed Gatekeeper to the Underworld.
Granted, he didn't have any attainment in Transformation Path, not even miner attainment; however, he didn't need to; he had all of Gao Xia's killer moves and Gu worms, allowing him to at least fake it for a while.