Chapter 720: Line…
“It’s just my mind playing tricks on me,” Zhen Jun Yao told himself. “Nothing more.”
Evidently, the man wasn’t trained in how to sweep an area with his aether, otherwise he would’ve notice that someone was hiding and watching him.
Well, barely hiding.
‘Oh crap…that message wasn’t a trick. What do I do now?!’
Hiding behind a closed stall, one meant to sell octopi, Zhen Li found himself in a rather precarious situation.
Hours ago, he received a missive from that mysterious Overlord that he had struck a deal with not too long ago. One where he would function as his spy in exchange for power and fortune. This deal would be considered closed once the branch clan had ended their trip to the main clan’s estate.
Ideally, this job should’ve been easy and its subsequent reward would’ve been great, seeing as he was simply tasked to report any schemes or plans the main clan had in store for the branch clan and the Overlord promised to teach him how to use the same power his monstrous minions use. (Un)fortunately, that wasn’t really the case.
The job itself went as expected, minus the sudden attack by the Fallen, but the reward he was promised was…not so much a reward as it was an “opportunity”.
This message was delivered via one of the Overlord’s strange warriors, the woman that looked like a sword had a child with a ballerina, and along with it came a strange looking box.
The message simply read as followed…
__________________________________________
What’s good, my spy?
I had heard from my disciple that you have been keeping your end of the bargain of making sure that the branch clan hasn’t suffered any ill schemes from any members of the main clan with hostile intentions.
As promised, when they finally leave for home, I will be providing you the input of power needed to enable you to fight like the monstrous warriors that kicked your teeth in. Hopefully it gives you the kick in the pants needed to surpass the so-called geniuses that got their butts handed to them by a bunch of frontier babies.
That being said, thought…I have an opportunity that might interest you.
My disciple has managed to identify a traitor the Zhen Clan. More specifically, the same traitor who helped the Fallen Clan attack in the first place.
He will be at the WIllow Scale Fish market district when the clock strikes eight. If you move fast enough, you can find a way to make this exposal of a traitor, something that will cement your name for eternity.
Good luck.
P.s.
My warrior should have given you strange looking box. Bring it with you. Open it when you feel that… you’re ready.
__________________________________________
Zhen Li was a bit stunned when he first read this message.
Not because he was essentially being stiffed on what should’ve been a guaranteed reward, but just from the way it was written.
He knew that high tiered aether warriors tended to be a touch more…eccentric, given who his matriarch was, but he was honestly expecting that a letter written by an Aether Overlord would be a bit more…poetic?
Cryptic?
This message was so incredibly casual, it made him think that one of his peers wrote it, not a superior.
Regardless, Zhen Li took this message to heart and proceeded to skip out on the banquet that was happening that evening in order to figure out who this traitor was exactly.
Zhen Li managed to get to the fish market district moments before the supposed traitor was to arrive and hid himself behind one of the stalls, using a trick that his grandfather taught him.
Of course, he did also bring that strange looking box,figuring it must’ve been important on some level.
Personally, he had a list of people he knew in the Zhen Clan to be absolute bastards and were known to take bribes and other forms of ill-gotten gains on the down low. He would’ve found it incredibly satisfying, seeing any of the people on this personal list of his turning out to be the traitor.
Which is why he was rendered speechless when he learned it was Zhen Jun Yao, arguably one of the nicest and more competent warriors amongst the Zhen Clan, who was actually the traitor.
A whole bunch of questions popped into his head in regards to this revelation.
When did Zhen Jun Yao turn traitor?
How long has he been traitor?
If the message was true, and Zhen Jun Yao was the main reason why the Fallen were able to attack on the first place, what did he do in order to get this attack to go off in the first place?
Actually, now that he thought about it, how the hell was he supposed to use this information for his own benefit?!
He couldn’t possibly take Zhen Jun Yao down by himself, let alone land a punch on the guy. There was way too much of a power gap between himself and Zhen Jun Yao, so unless he had some power aether treasure, pill or art, or some backup at least, there was absolutely no way for him to take down that…wait a minute…
‘Hold up…didn’t that Overlord give me something with incredibly ominous instructions attached to it?,’ he asked himself.
In the midst of a panicking mind, Zhen Li remembered the strange looking box that was given to him at the same time as the message.
‘Open it when you feel that…you’re ready… there’s no way…’
Developing a sense that whatever was inside this box was probably important, or at least, going to help him take down Zhen Jun Yao, Zhen Li quickly removed the box from a bag he was using to carry it in order to look it over.
It was a nice looking, black lacquered box, but he had no idea how it was going to help him. He couldn’t even feel an inkling of aether coming off of the damn thing.
Regardless, it was still a gift given to him by an aether overlord so there had to be something good inside it…right?
‘Fuck it, whatever, I think I’m ready…’
Throwing caution to the wind, Zhen Li sat down with his back against the stall and opened the box.
‘Come on, be something powerful or at the very least use…what the fuck?’
Inside of the box wasn’t an aether pill, or a powerful treasure or even an aether art.
Instead, what Zhen Li found inside of the box was a simple piece of paper that had a a single sentence written on it.
…
“Grit your teeth, this is gonna suck.”
…
‘What the hell does that even-‘
But before Zhen Li could even finish that thought, a strange blast of energy came flying out of nowhere and nailed him right between the eyes.
A strange feeling of warmth came over Zhen Li as the energy blast merged with his body and his consciousness started to get…fuzzy.
…
‘Did…did I just get shot?! What the hell hit me and why am I still-‘
[Wow, your mind is significantly more active than anticipated. I guess my lord was right to send me.]
‘What the-who are you?! Wait, are you inside my head?! How? Why?’
[Don’t worry about it. Just worry about the fact that Zhen Jun Yao definitely knows that you’re hiding here now, and that You’re going to have to fight him. I mean, with my help but still…]
‘What are you- hold up…why do I feel…like I can take him now?’
[Because you’re about to be one hell of a hero. Try to remember what I’m about to do with your body. It will help you cultivate in the future.]
‘What are you-wait, why are my legs moving on their own?’
__________________________________________
“I knew someone was following me! Who goes there?! Show yourselves!”
Now knowing that he was caught, Zhen Jun Yao threw away any pretense for stealth and began to rapidly circulate his aether.
The faint shimmer of a [Regalia] began to appear around his body, a clear sign that he was gearing up for a fight.
“You traitor! How dare you forsake the clan like this!”
“Wait a minute…Xiao Li? What are you doing here?”
However, that shimmer soon faded as soon as Zhen Jun Yao saw that his stalker was Zhen Li.
Zhen Jun Yao let out a small sigh of relief at this particular revelation. After all, Zhen Li was just a mere Aether Master. That and he just so happened to be one of the easier people to manipulate.
At least…that would’ve been the case on any other day…
“Xiao Li, what are you doing out here? ,” Zhen Jun Yao asked with a carefully crafted smile. “Shouldn’t you be back at the main estate attending the-”
“Shut your filthy mouth, you fucking traitor,” Zhen Li interjected with an unusual amount of fire to his voice. “Did you really think that you could keep your allegiances a secret for this long?!”
“Uh…,” in that exact same moment, Zhen Jun Yao’s crafted smile suddenly became a lot more…brittle.
