23 Information Broker

A cold night has come to Black Sting Clan but somewhere around the city, there's a group of shady fellows having a heated argument. They all wear hoods and masks to hide their identity.

Angry as one might be, he has to lower his voice to avoid unnecessary attention, "Based on your information, the kid must be a Level 6 Disciple but how can you explain why my assassins of Expert rank not being here?" Assassins that have been ordered to kill the young Ai.

Someone who wears a different mask than anybody else, it seems he's the one who fed them the information, known as an information broker, "They must have met trouble before reaching the kid. I was never wrong when it comes to providing information as I have lots of connection through the whole state. You, questioning the integrity of my information, do you want to sever our connection from now on?"

The leader of the assassins, still angry about what is happening or happened to his assassins, his worry of cutting his connection with him is a greater deal. "We never had any problems with your information since we started our transactions. Today must be the first and we failed. As we talk, I don't know what happened to my assassins but I can tell they all died. How will you compensate us?" This event left a crack to their reputation as assassins.

After a short silence from the information broker, "I give information and I know I did my part. You could have sent better assassins if you want the job properly done."

*SWOOOSH SWOOOOSH* Edges of two blades are now pointed to the neck of the information broker.

Angry to his teeth for what the information broker said, "You gave the wrong information that sent my assassins to their death and now you just disrespected my group! We don't know who you are but we're not going to stay still like this if you- ack..." To their surprise, they couldn't move or say anything at all. It's like their whole body was paralyzed.

As the leader looks down, he saw black fog on their feet which crawled through their legs. It must be the reason why they cannot move nor talk now.

Slowly walking away, "I'll let you off this time as you are a good payer but next time you question the integrity of my information, you won't get away with it. Till next time..." He disappeared through the darkness of the night and the black fog slowly dispersed as well.

Scared to death, "Who is he? I couldn't even stop him..." The leader is at the mid-level of Master Rank and yet, he wasn't able to do anything but be scared.

...

-Inside Nin's Magic Ring-

The place is covered with alchemy materials, supplies, gold coins and... Ai.

"Hey, Kin! I think you should sort your things out. It's pretty messed up here!" Complaining, Ai is currently inside Nin's magic ring and because of the alchemy materials, the place is oozing with bad odor.

Annoyed, she uses her mind to talk to Ai, "You should be thankful that I even let you borrow the space. It seems those assassins made the wrong decision of targeting you after I taught you how to use Unsealing Arts. Did you kill all of them?" Nin still couldn't believe that Ai could kill someone just like that.

"Well, there's two people alive. I thought I could question them before killing them. So... let me check what happened to- Shit..." Looking inside Ai's magic ring, they are all dead.

"I guess, they woke up and commit suicide to avoid leaking the information. It's pretty common for assassins to do that as being tortured for information is worse." *SNORE* Nin, lying down, her teammates are all sleeping and snoring.

Summoning the dead bodies on Nin's magic ring space, Ai checked the bodies carefully. "Wait... I think this one is still alive... Can you look at him?" Thinking, they might still get some answers.

Closing Nin's eyes to focus, she's trying to look inside the magic ring, "I can't really tell much just by looking but his body seems to have abnormalities, his nerves are different in color which could mean that he's been poisoned. Black Sting is famous for using poison as well and if they use the same poison, this means this poison contaminates one's Qi which can lead to the destruction of Qi points."

Somehow, Ai felt pain through his heart, "Like what they did to my father..."

Nin doesn't know the whole story of their father's death but unlike Ai, he's seen everything. He was there when their father died.

"His Qi core on his head is contaminated but he has time left before it kills him. You can slow down the progress of the contamination using Sealing Art. Try it."

At that moment, he used Sealing Art to seal the Qi point from being contaminated but it won't last long as he only knows how to use temporary sealing art.

"Huh? Where am I?" The assassin woke up and panicked as soon as he sees Ai. He tried to move but he couldn't as his whole body except his head is fully contaminated with Qi poison.

"Ughhh!" Pain crawled through his body. He suffers too much but his consciousness won't fade due to the effect of sealing technique to mind.

He couldn't do anything but cry due to pain and suffering, "Just... kill me... Please..." But, to Ai's eyes, no mercy can be seen.

"I will. If you give me the name of the one who sent you to kill me. Just that, and I'll give you the mercy kill." The dying assassin has made up his mind... to die as soon as possible.

"It's Swon'du... now... you promised-"

*SWOOOOOSH* Instead, he was teleported back to Ai's magic ring.

Anger through his eyes, 'You people don't deserve mercy. Die as painful as possible!'

It hurts Nin to see that her brother is going in the wrong way but... she's just letting him for the sake of revenge. She knew that he needed that rage as showing mercy could betray him.

Knowing that the enemy is right under their nose the entire time, "So what would you do? Swon'du's currently at mid-level Master Rank. Unsealing another Qi core could only make you at least mid-level Expert Rank. There's no way you can defeat him, even for me, it's not possible for me to kill him without getting too much attention." She knows that Swon'du is a tough opponent.

"I just don't get why they move now. They had 10 years to execute the plan. Is it because I was able to gain power? Still... it's not enough to leave any scratch on the foundation of the current Black State." Even if he gets stronger, in the end, it won't change anything unless he could kill the Leaders of the Clans.

Getting up as she starts to feel uneasy, "They must have figured something out. I can tell that Wai is being cautious as well. She must know something about these events. Thankfully, they only sent early level Experts or it could have ended the other way around. Next time, they won't be foolish to do the same mistake so try not to roam around alone." She's getting worried for the life of her brother.

"You don't need to concern yourself with my personal troubles. I can handle myself. I will try to have a good rest, opening another part of my body's Qi core kinda stressed my body. At least, I didn't pass out this time. I have to somehow learn Permanent Unsealing Art so I could reach Higher Ranks..." Eager to be strong.

"Even if you could, it's better to stay weak to other's eyes. The only reason you're alive now is because of the wrong information about your abilities. If they only knew that you're not a mere level 6 disciple, they could have sent stronger assassins. Remember that being weak can also be used as a weapon." No wonder she suppressed her Qi aura.

Scratching his head, "Yeah yeah... no need to start a lecture. Let me out, will you? Wait... Can you do anything with the dead bodies though?"

"You can extract their Qi Cores to... Uhm, I think it's pretty advance for you so why don't you leave the bodies behind and let me do it? I can create pills with those so you can speed up your cultivation. It's not ethical to do but at least, those dead bodies have some use, right?" That sounded gross to Ai but when he heard it that it could help him...

Sparkling eyes, "Sounds great! Now, let me out."