章 62: The North Ghu City Lord
Rui had once mentioned something regarding Yuso Mountain. Back then, Yaan didn't think much of it, but now, he realised just how crucial this information could be.
Below Yuso Mountain, there was a Spirit Heart, the core of a network of Spirit Veins.
It was only recently that Yaan remembered this matter.
One day, when Nadda happened to mention the extreme value of a Spirit Heart, Yaan recalled that Rui had said the same thing. After Nadda revealed that there were no known Spirit Hearts in the entire Ghu Province, Yaan realised that even the Ghu Clan was oblivious to the existence of the Spirit Heart below Yuso Mountain! If they knew that the Yuso Clan was built atop a Spirit Heart, they would have crushed the clan long ago, taking that mountain for themselves!
Yaan realised that this information was shockingly valuable! However, he also understood that trying to sell this knowledge to the Ghu Clan was extremely dangerous. He needed to be seriously careful if he wanted to sell this information, and truthfully, he was unsure whether or not the potential benefit was worth the risk.
When Nadda came to him and mentioned that he wanted to hold a corpse puppet auction, the balance in Yaan's mind was tipped, because the potential profits were now enormous!
Firstly, he could sell the information regarding the location of the Spirit Heart, but that was far from the end…there was so much more that he could achieve if he played his cards right!
For one, he could potentially make use of the Ghu Clan to attack the Yuso Clan, wiping out the clan that had caused him so much suffering back then!
But revenge wasn't his objective. Yaan had realised long ago that revenge was not something he wanted to bother himself with anymore, it was a fruitless pursuit which resulted in no tangible benefit.
But revenge aside, the massacre of the Yuso Clan could turn into a huge profit for him. What if his deal with the Ghu Clan insisted that they gather the Yuso Clan's corpses for him?
The Yuso Clan was enormous and they had many powerful members. If he could gain those corpses, then he could sell some extremely valuable corpses at the corpse puppet auction!
Without Ghu Nadda, this would never work, the Ghu Clan would not agree to give Yaan something so valuable, even if he offered the Spirit Heart's location. However, Ghu Nadda was in charge of North Ghu City's corpse auction this year…if the two of them worked together, it was entirely possible that the Ghu Clan would agree to this trade!
The more Yaan thought about it, the more his heart thumped.
But even so, Yaan didn't dare be careless. He didn't go straight to a Ghu Clan Elder, as he had no certainty that they wouldn't use some strange method to forcefully extract the information out of him. It might even result in the loss of his life if they decided to keep the Spirit Heart's existence a secret known only to them.
So, Yaan went through Ghu Nadda.
"Yaan, this plan is…a little bit insane…" Nadda's pale jaw dropped after hearing Yaan's idea.
The fact that he knew of the location of a Spirit Heart was shocking enough. Nadda didn't ask how Yaan knew something like this, because he knew that Yaan was already taking a risk just by informing him that he possessed this knowledge.
"Do you think it could work?" Yaan asked, getting straight to the point.
Nadda became silent, mulling over it for a few minutes.
"So there is a Spirit Heart within the Ghu Province, and you want to sell the information to the North Ghu City Lord…in exchange for the corpses of the organisation which occupies the Spirit Heart as payment…?"
"Right." Yaan nodded.
"It's crazy…really crazy…kakaka, let's try it…!"
With Nadda's status, he was able to convince his great grandfather to arrange him an audience with the North Ghu City Lord, the Origin Soul Realm Ghu Clan Grand Elder who watched over this city.
This was a meeting between Nadda and the city lord, Yaan was not involved. If Yaan showed himself to the city lord, he would definitely be taken captive immediately. The city lord would use his methods to extract the information from Yaan, one way or another.
Upon meeting the city lord, Nadda cautiously explained that he had an anonymous contact who knew the location of a Spirit Heart.
Naturally, the city lord was immediately filled with a burning desire.
Capturing a Spirit Heart would be the greatest of merits for the clan, it would allow the clan to build up a sixth key base of operations within the Ghu Province! The city lord wanted Nadda to reveal the identity of his contact right away, however, Yaan and Nadda had already anticipated this and prepared accordingly.
Before the city lord could act against him, Nadda quickly explained why he should not do this.
Nadda knew that Origin Soul Realm cultivators had some truly bizarre methods. It was entirely possible that the city lord would be able to extract the information that he wanted directly from Nadda's mind. From there, he would be able to track down Yaan and do the same!
Yaan took a poison oath prior to Nadda and the city lord's meeting. This oath stated that he would not meet with the city lord, or anyone beneath the city lord aside from Ghu Nadda himself, until the city lord took the Rank 5 poison oath that Yaan had written out for him!
If the city lord made contact with Yaan, or if the city lord sent anyone else to make contact with Yaan, then Yaan would be afflicted by oath poison and die!
This might seem like a strange oath to take, but the city lord understood their intentions immediately.
Even if he forcefully searched through Nadda's mind and identified Yaan, he would be unable to then seek Yaan out and extract the knowledge of the Spirit Heart's location from him. If he tried to do so, Yaan would die immediately, and the crucial information would die with him!
Of course, this put Yaan in a very dangerous position, since the city lord could now kill him just by looking at him, or even just by sending someone else to look at him!
But did that really matter? The city lord was an Origin Soul Realm cultivator, if he wanted Yaan dead, then Yaan would die, poison oath or not!
The city lord didn't believe Nadda immediately. In order to discern the truth, he ended up continuing with his initial actions, extracting the memory directly from Nadda's mind by force!
This was a terrifying method, and in fact, even for an Origin Soul Realm powerhouse, this sort of technique was not common.
In the end, Nadda came away from this fearful encounter uninjured. He didn't try to resist the city lord's search of his memories, which was definitely the best move, because if he had tried to resist, his mind would have been severely damaged.
After using his methods, the city lord was able to confirm that everything Nadda had said until now was the truth.
Finally, the city lord believed Nadda's bold claim…that his acquaintance knew the location of a Spirit Heart. It was at this point that the city lord finally read through the Rank 5 poison oath that Ghu Nadda and Yaan had prepared for him.
'I will bring no harm to Yaan, Ghu Nadda's connection in the matter of the Spirit Heart. I will not harm Yaan personally or via others. I will not harm Yaan directly or indirectly. I will engage in a fair exchange for the location of the Spirit Heart. I will abide by the final agreed upon terms of the deal.'
The city lord did not agree immediately, but first gave Nadda a certain treasure and sent him away.
Yaan, who was anxiously waiting in a common inn in the city's outer region, quickly opened the door and let Nadda in when he returned.
"Well?" Yaan asked impatiently.
After Nadda explained all that had transpired, Yaan looked at the strange treasure with a pondering expression.
"I see. So the city lord doesn't want to take a poison oath until he confirms that I really do know the location of the Spirit Heart…"
In the end, Yaan agreed to take yet another poison oath. Whilst he took this poison oath, Nadda used the treasure supplied by the city lord to record the scene of him taking the oath.
With that, Nadda departed once again, leaving Yaan to continue waiting nervously.
He knew that he was playing with fire here, but when did rewards ever come without risks? They had planned this out thoroughly, all he could do now was hope that it was enough.
Finally, after watching the recording, the North Ghu City Lord took the Rank 5 poison oath under Ghu Nadda's nervous watch.
Nadda returned to Yaan again, confirming that the city lord had indeed taken the oath. With this, Yaan finally felt at ease. With this, he could finally meet the city lord!
For the first time, Yaan entered North Ghu City's core region. The city's core region was usually reserved for Ghu Clansmen, but there were exceptions to every rule. As the ruler of North Ghu City, the North Ghu City Lord could change any rule to suit his needs, it was only natural that he could allow Yaan to enter this forbidden zone.
Yaan's head tilted backwards as he stared up at the silver palace which was situated directly in the centre of North Ghu City. The palace seemed to emit its own aura, an imposing, bloodthirsty aura, as if it had been built atop the corpses of countless men.
Yaan glanced at Nadda by his side, but Nadda's expression didn't change, he had been here many times before. This was North Ghu Palace, it was the key headquarters for the Ghu Clan in North Ghu City.
Just beyond the palace walls, a tower which stretched high up into the sky could be seen. According to Nadda, this was the North Ghu City Lord's personal abode, nobody else was permitted to step foot in that place. Today, they would be meeting the city lord in the North Ghu Palace's main hall, as this was where all of the Ghu Clan's major meetings would be held within this city.
Today, however, only Yaan, Nadda and the city lord would be attending this meeting. Right now, the contents of their deal were being kept as secret as possible. In fact, even Nadda's own great grandfather didn't know what they were discussing! From this, it could be seen that the city lord truly valued the Spirit Heart, and he wanted to monopolise the merit attributed towards its discovery for himself.
Yaan briefly looked around him, but no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find anyone else. The Ghu Clan was sparsely populated, but even so…was he really not being watched right now?
No, in all likelihood, the North Ghu City Lord was already watching him.
They reached the palace doorway, which was covered in runes and would intimidate anyone as they walked in. There was actually no physical preventing anyone from walking inside, but those runes obviously made up a powerful formation, a formation that would be able to kill anyone below the Origin Soul Realm once activated!
Yaan felt uncomfortable as he walked through this archway, but he kept a firm expression, knowing that he was probably being watched.
By the time the unnerving feeling vanished, Yaan realised that they were already inside the main hall…and the North Ghu City Lord was sitting before them.
Nadda had already described the city lord to him, but hearing and seeing were two different things.
The city lord, a Ghu Clan Grand Elder and an Origin Soul Realm powerhouse, was a tall, muscular man, with a large black beard which accentuated his fierce expression. He wore a black robe which barely concealed his bulging muscles, and as Yaan entered the hall, the man's sharp gaze seemed to pierce through his very soul.
The city lord sat atop a throne at the far end of the hall. He rested his head on one hand as he leaned relaxedly against the throne's armrest, and he watched as Yaan and Ghu Nadda made their way across the red carpet, until they were standing a dozen feet away from him, at the bottom of a small flight of stairs.
Even though the middle-aged man's demeanour was quite casual, almost lazy, the impression that he gave off was one of absolute power. This person was so strong that he did not need to put on airs, because simply being in his presence would cause others to suffer from a suffocating pressure!
This was different compared to the aura of a Spirit Core Realm powerhouse. As Yaan looked up at the imposing man, he genuinely found it difficult to breath! His vision became somewhat blurred, and in the end, he was forced to bite down on his tongue just to retain his sound mind.
"Hmm…not bad." The North Ghu City Lord finally spoke. His voice boomed outwards, reverberating off of every wall in the hall, before his words slammed into Yaan's ear drums, shaking his mind into an alert state.
Yaan took a deep breath and calmed himself, much to the city lord's surprise.
"Based on your reaction, it seems that you have experienced the powers of an Origin Soul Realm cultivator before."
In response, Yaan nodded slowly.
"The Yuso Clan Lord used his dao manipulation abilities at the last nine faction tournament." Yaan didn't bother hiding this, since he knew that the city lord probably knew everything about him by now anyway. At this point, if he tried to hide his past, it would only come across as a weakness.
"Hmm…"
Yaan tried to read the city lord's expression, but he couldn't discern a single thing. In the end, he realised that thinking he would be able to read an Origin Soul Realm cultivator's mood and thoughts was simply laughable.
"Well then, let's get down to business…where is the Spirit Heart, and how did you learn about it?"
Suddenly, the pressure weighing down on Yaan increased ten-fold. He broke out in cold sweat, but…he had expected this.
Yaan stared up at the North Ghu City Lord silently. He did his best to maintain a straight face, but he was obviously struggling under this pressure. Even so, the city lord's eyes flashed as he realised…this child would not be intimidated so easily.
He could not pressure Yaan any more forcefully than this, because he would risk breaking the poison oath. Pressuring Yaan with his aura was fine, but if he pressured Yaan so heavily that Yaan was injured, the oath poison could very well kick in.
As the city lord retracted his aura, Yaan realised that he was breathing heavily. Nadda looked at him in concern, before glancing back at his grand elder cautiously.
As a Ghu Clansman, Nadda was most wary of other Ghu Clansmen…
"Speak. What do you want in exchange for the information?" After the city lord retracted his aura, his expression became relaxed, as if his intimidation from before had not even happened. After failing to pressure Yaan, he immediately gave up on all thoughts of forcing the information out of him, and approached this matter more diplomatically.
He never intended to take the information without paying Yaan, because the poison oath didn't allow him to do this. However, he would have preferred to find the Spirit Heart first, and then discuss payment afterwards.
As for Yaan, the only reason he refused to speak earlier, was because he knew that lowering his head back then would give him an inferior position in the negotiations. Image was extremely important when it came to handling business - his time spent in the corpse trade had made this obvious to him.
Yaan took a deep breath, then he finally proposed his desired exchange, an exchange which even Nadda did not know the full details.
"North Ghu City Lord, let me show my sincerity by telling you right now - the Spirit Heart is located beneath Yuso Mountain. As for what I want in exchange for this information…"
Yaan paused, and for the briefest of moments, the light in his eyes became eerily dark. This darkness was hidden well, but when the city lord saw it, it caused him to narrow his eyes. However, when he focussed on the strange feeling that Yaan had roused within him, he could not work out its root cause…and he could not understand how a mere 3-Star Realm demon had caused him to feel apprehensive for the briefest of moments.
It was as if there was a concealed darkness within this child, a darkness that was currently hidden, but would cause the world to fall into despair once it was released…
"In exchange for this information, I would like you to erase the Yuso Clan from this world, and then deliver to me their preserved corpses."
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