*Things like sexism and racism are purely for worldbuilding and to make it more realistic. Thank you for your understanding.*
Jiang awoke as he felt a gaze on his body, his eyes bursting open.
His eyes shone with a blazing fury as he looked around him and saw a gathering of mortals gazing at him! His eyes showed a disgusted offence as he looked at the pit that his body had crashed in, right in the middle of the slums!
He screamed at the mortal girl that looked at him with fear, jumping up and grabbing her by her neck before flinging her away with immense force! Her tiny body flew in the air before it became a tiny dot and hit the floor a hundred meters away!
"Aaaaaaaaaa!" The shrill scream of a woman sounded as people realised what had happened, watching on with horror!
Jiang got up with fury before bursting into the air and splintering the earth as well as blowing all the mortals away as he shot into the air!
He saw the tiny ants begin to flee at the destruction and the stirring of others in the distance, scoffing with a horrible expression before flying away in the daylight to another part of the slums!
His robes were torn and disfigured, though his body was perfectly intact. He streamed through the air and hit the ground in the desolate black market that only saw people during the night. He walked right into Zheng's slave trade, breaking the door in two.
"Zheng!" His booming voice reverberated through the entire building and shook the walls as purple-robed cultivators came toward him from the back rooms. He didn't even bother to glance at them as he started walking toward where they came from.
"Master Jiang, please calm down. Master Zheng is currently in his chambers..." A young man with Stage 4 cultivation took the opportunity to say as he was the strongest currently there.
However, the hand of Jiang took his lips and squished them into mush! He pushed the cultivator away with a palm and sent him flying through multiple walls!
The other cultivators had white expressions as they hurriedly moved away with their heads lowered and let Jiang stomp past them.
"Zheng, where the fuck are you?!" Jiang screamed at the top of his lungs and the building shook once more!
Jiang's eyes shone as he looked around him with incredible anger that shook the floor before he locked onto a direction and started moving there violently!
He burst into a room and saw Zheng lying in bed with two women. The two women screamed as they saw him and Zheng looked surprised before he looked incredibly annoyed. Jiang stood there with a creased brow as he seemed to be blowing fire from his nose!
Zheng ushered the two women away and they ran past Jiang with their naked bodies in full view, but Jiang didn't even glance at them.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Zheng said with a frown as the two women left. He stood up and draped a robe over himself before gazing right into Jiang's eyes and challenging him.
"What the fuck are <i>you</i> doing?!" Jiang responded in kind, spitting the words like hot oil. "I've been chasing after your fucking beast while you lay here and do fucking nothing! I even fought the fucking Baron to try and get him, for fucks sake!"
Zheng frowned as he heard the words, however, he spat back at Jiang. "As you should, idiot. You're supposed to be helping me so do your fucking part. You always laze around, this is how you act when you actually do something?" His words aggravated Jiang to no end as there seemed to be a fire ignited in his eyes!
"This is your fucking quota that the Big Boss gave you! How about I just tell him that I'm doing all the work while you hide away." Jiang said as he neared Zheng and spoke much quieter but with much more meaning.
"Oh, yeah? Of course you would run to your daddy when something doesn't go your way..." Zheng said with a sneer as he crossed his arms before Jiang and stood his ground.
"You bastard..." Jiang said with gritted teeth as his handsome face morphed into something ugly.
"Hah, you can't take care of that beast by yourself? You call yourself a captain but you always need me watching over you." Zheng said harsh words as Jiang only looked wronged. Zheng didn't normally speak this much, but he has so many grievances towards Jiang.
"Shut up, I'm going back to the underground. Fuck you and your quota." Jiang snarled as he turned to walk away from Zheng.
However, a large hand grabbed him by the shoulder and stopped him in his place. Jiang turned ferociously, however, there was a rare smile on Zheng's face that made him stop.
"So are you going to tell the Big Boss how you fought with a Baron of the City Lord too? If you want to go, we can go, but I don't think this is going to go in your favour, kid." Zheng spoke the words slowly and Jiang sparked back as he was offended to no end.
"I'm going, you can fuck off and do your own quota." Jiang pushed past Zheng's hand and walked out of the room without turning back. However, Zheng was right behind him with a cold expression.
He was incredibly annoyed. After all, Jiang was supposed to help him but he went and fucked up so now he has to take the fall. Jiang will get scolded too, but not to the extent that he will be. After all, part of having a helper is also keeping them in check. Zheng understood this.
Zheng followed Jiang that burst into the air and flew west of the city to a huge forest of redwood trees. They flew seemingly to no end, however, they came upon a huge pit in the earth after several hours. The pit was huge and bottomless and tucked away between a huge canopy of leafless trees as if it was winter.
Zheng and Jiang let themselves fall as they were right over the huge pit. However, instead of falling into it, their feet seemed to hit the solid ground as they landed upon the surface of a huge defensive formation that covered the hole!
The formation didn't even ripple as their Stage 5 bodies landed on it harshly, showing its massive strength as well as the attainment the one who had cast it possessed. However, intricate lines written in illusory gold suddenly lit up as they made contact with it, the huge formation showing its might.
This was the defensive formation that led to where Jiang and Zheng's Big Boss was. They both knew that not even Stage 6s could penetrate it, at least not Stage 6s with weaker strength.
Jiang took out a jade slip from his robes and flashed it before the formation. Suddenly, the area within ten meters of Jiang flashed before disappearing and letting them fall into the huge pit. Zheng fell downwards also as he jumped over.
As they fell, the formation closed up over their heads before becoming invisible once again. It seemed as though the sky was just above, but both of them knew they would be trapped below if it weren't for the jade slips.
As the two fell, dozens more intricate formations suddenly lit up across the walls of the pit and encased their bodies with a golden sheen. The two felt a nauseous feeling for a moment before they shut their eyes and appeared in a different place!
Teleportation formations were extremely difficult to learn and cast, even if it was on a small scale. It was known that to cast interplanetary teleportation formations, the formation master must have grandmaster-level attainment as well as a cultivation of Stage 6 to supplement its power. For cross-planet formations, at least Stage 7 cultivation and great grandmaster-level attainment were required. They were widely known as the most difficult formations.
From this, it could be seen that Zheng and Jiang's Big Boss was extremely talented in formations.
Zheng and Jiang opened their eyes to be stood in a wide stone-paved courtyard that overlooked a city! Looking up, dark huge stalactites hung menacingly over the city that was filled with light and distant noise. Behind them, a modest but sturdy pagoda stood on the other side of the courtyard. It was the highest point of the city and acted as a lighthouse in the middle of it.
With just one look, anyone would be able to see that this was not the City Lord's city, but an entirely different city that was hidden with formations!
Zheng and Jiang had seen the scenery many times and turned back to walk towards the modest pagoda. In the courtyard, many other cultivators could be seen and they all seemed to have the same standing as Zheng and Jiang: captain. The number of them could rival the Temple or the Freedom Alliance, however, the City Administration was still a giant.
Some nodded, others scoffed. Mostly Jiang received the nasty looks, it seemed he wasn't very well-liked. However, he reciprocated a nasty expression which seemed to lower the mood in the entire courtyard by several tones.
The two carried on and entered the modest pagoda and didn't bother to look around and headed to the third floor, which was also the highest. The entire room consisted of a wide hall with pillars on either side that led to a wooden desk. Currently, behind it, a man and a girl stood.
The man dressed in burgundy robes and stood just under six feet tall. He looked to be around seventy years of age, but was vibrant and healthy. A thick dark beard covered his face and his dark grey hair was combed neatly, and had some streaks of pure white in it. His skin was a tone of caramel and was lighter than most.
Seeing him, the two walked up and kneeled before addressing him humbly.
""King.""
He nodded weakly before moving to scribble on his desk. The thing was covered in paper that had indiscernible scribbled all over it and looked like some gothic artwork. However, every now and then, streaks of golden light appear between the fingers of the man like string and he creased his brows looking at it most of the time. From this, it was obvious that he was composing an intricate formation.
"Why have you come?" He said while still writing on his desk. He was sat on a chair and turned to the girl who was bonded with an extremely thick formation that restricted her entire body. Her eyes gleamed with despair and hatred, however, the man didn't care as he wrapped even more formations over her tiny frame.
"Well, Big Boss, I came-" Jiang started to stammer. His entire aura seemed completely different before the man he called Big Boss. He seemed to be a nervous child.
"Do not call me that, boy. Tsk." The man clicked his tongue as his back was turned. The little girl looked past his shoulder as Jiang and her eyes pleaded for help.
"...Erhm, yes King." Jiang said awkwardly while ignoring the girl's gaze. He knew she was a Stage 6 cultivator even though she looked like a little girl, and she was likely just playing with him. He spoke again shortly after.
"Well, I'm here because I want to withdraw from the City Lord's domain." He spoke carefully as he regretted coming to his King at this moment. He saw now that Zheng was right and he really didn't want to come to the King about this.
"And why is that?" The King said nonchalantly.
Jiang flinched. How should he say this without sounding like a stroppy child?
"Well, captain Zheng and I have our differences and I no longer desire to work with him." Jiang said after choosing his words carefully. Zheng had an impatient expression in his eyes that Jiang couldn't see.
The King turned around to look at the both of them with annoyance and spoke to Zheng.
"Tell me what happened."
Jiang had a sour expression but didn't say much. Zheng rose his head to speak to the King with his normal stern expression.
"We had located a rare beast for the quota by chance and clashed with it once, but it escaped. Only yesterday, Jiang fought it once more and also fought a Baron of the City Lord. Later he came to me and informed me that he wanted to leave." Zheng spoke unbiased words as he was wise enough to not catch himself out. However, Jiang frowned as he felt he had left out some details.
"A Baron, Jiang? How do you know he hasn't tracked you down?" The King only said this after he listened to the short and concise monologue.
"Well, during the fight I was knocked unconscious and when I came to, I was just left in the streets with mortals crowding me. The Baron obviously doesn't know where I am otherwise why would he have just left me there?" Jiang laughed awkwardly as he questioned. Zheng seemed amazed that Jiang was knocked unconscious but didn't let it show.
"And what if he left you there so he could track you when you awoke?" The King said with a scarily apathetic expression.
Jiang's eyes widened before he lowered his head in shame as he muttered.
"I don't know..."
The King leaned back in his chair and sighed. "This carelessness cannot go undisciplined. Clearly, I haven't taught you well, boy." The King sounded extremely disappointed and his words made Jiang's eyes widen as his head was still lowered.
"Why do you think the boy wants to withdraw, captain Zheng?" The King turned to look at the other kneeling man and he questioned him. These children were too afraid to lie before him.
"Personally, I believe that Jiang was humiliated by his loss and scorned myself for not being present during the fight. So he decided he didn't want to work alongside me anymore, King." Zheng spoke truths that made Jiang regret ever bursting out back then. His anger was true but, apparently, unjustified.
"And you?" Jiang was spoken to.
"I tracked down the beast myself after Zheng ordered me to not pursue it!" Jiang looked to Zheng who seemed confused. Jiang looked at him and spoke even louder. "The master of those dragonmen was the rare beast!" He spat in Zheng's face.
"Enough."
The King spoke and the two lowered their heads without a word.
"There is incompetence on both parts, but especially yours Jiang. I'm guessing you initiated the fight without seeking help beforehand." The King said as Jiang's shoulders shuddered.
"But I thought-" Jiang burst out. He wanted to say that he thought he was overwhelmingly stronger, but the beast grew in such a short amount of time!
"Silence!" The King shouted, seemingly having enough of the boisterous youth.
"Zheng, you can ignore your quota for now. Try to catch the beast, but prioritise my new orders first. You, Jiang, throw thoughts of this beast from your mind. I'm giving you another task too." The King said domineeringly, however, Jiang seemed happy as he got what he wanted: to get away from Zheng.
"I want you both to infiltrate the Freedom Alliance and feed me information about it. You know that I have already seized the Temple..." The King turned back to look at the girl, who was Hong Yuxuan! "...and now I must get my hands on the Freedom Alliance."
Zheng seemed uncomfortable and this was seen by the King. He looked on questioningly but suddenly laughed under his breath. "You don't want to?"
"Not if I can help it, King. My brother still thinks I'm dead." Zheng said to the King with eyes that betrayed his voice.
"Ahh, of course. Jiang, you infiltrate alone then. As for you Zheng, just run your save trade as normal. We need more money during this time so try your hardest." Zheng seemed content, however, Jiang had a scowl as he was given all the tasks while Zheng could just laze around again!
"You, boy. If you catch wind of the beast, make sure to inform Zheng next time." Jiang nodded as if his scowl had never been there.
"Now leave me. Designing a Stage 6 slave formation from scratch is quite hard, you know." The King spoke as he eyed Hong Yuxuan and sent a shiver down her spine. It was unknown how she ended up here, but it didn't really matter as she heard that she was about to become a slave!
""Yes, King."" The two spoke before getting up and leaving the pagoda with hurried steps. They didn't exchange words even once as Jiang stormed ahead, seemingly wanting to get away from Zheng. He chuckled lightly seeing this.
Zheng slowed himself as he watched Jiang walk to the centre of the courtyard where a carved formation stood. Jiang took out his jade slip and golden light consumed him as he disappeared ahead of Zheng. However, Zheng didn't care about him anymore. He would go to manage his space trade as normal and wouldn't concern himself with the annoying brat.
Zheng walked forwards with his stern face and green eyes that shone beautifully as he walked to the formation and disappeared soon after.
...
Jiang had a scowl as he was back in the City Lord's territory as he rushed towards the Freedom Alliance's huge gates. He hated how Zheng didn't have to help because his brother was part of the Freedom Alliance and thought he was dead.
That was stupid, hasn't it been hundreds of years since then? He wouldn't recognise him anyway, Jiang thought.
His scowl seemed permanently etched into his face as he rushed towards the gates and towards the Freedom Alliance, thinking of how to infiltrate it easily. He had a few slave formation given to him by the King. He just had to find a chance to use them.
All the while, an oblivious young woman was training hard under her new master within the Freedom Alliance...
*3,061/3,000 words*
Wow, who'd a thought there was a hidden city within a hidden city? That's just crazy