Don't Underestimate Me!
It was already midnight when Hyunhei woke up from his deep slumber. However, he felt different, like some burden has melted away. Hyunhei tried to sit down and process the everyday trauma of waking up.
"Why do I feel lighter?" Hyunhei's clothes appeared like a curtain hanging on his body, similar to a girl wearing a conservative dress. He pulled out a mirror from his self-made portal and saw his face, which became younger and cuter. "Oh!" That was the time he realized something was off. Hyunhei was frightened by the sudden opening of his room's door.
"It seems that our little cultivator has awakened. Would you mind telling me what happened before you passed out?" A man who looked like a wealthy merchant came dashing beside his bed.
"W-Who are you? Who gave you the right to trespass in my bedroom? And who are you calling a little cultivator, huh?" Hyunhei jumped off his bed and stumbled from his loose robes.
"Look at you, a cute-sized and fragile kid." The unknown man chuckled as he admired the adorable young cultivator's struggle to stand up. When Hyunhei finally regained his balanced, he froze at his feet as he looked into the eyes of the man. Tears began to fall down his chubby cheeks, and he cried out his frustration.
"Why did I become like this? Waah!" Hyunhei's crying moved the man. He can't stand the kid's pitiful yet cute state.
"H-Hey, kiddo, take it easy. Stop your wailing, and we'll figure out the rest." He wiped away Hyunhei's tears and comforted him will all his best. When the kid stopped crying, he began the questioning.
"I drank the cup of tea after finishing my meal. Then I felt dizzy, and my vision became blurry. It seemed like my temperature rose abnormally, and I passed out. Then I woke up like this. My memory was retained, though," Hyunhei elaborated. "Wait a minute, I almost forgot to ask about your identity. Who are you?"
"I don't have the right to reveal my identity as per the contract I'm bound to. But I can tell you that I was hired by your Senior. As for the tea, I smelled a familiar scent from it. Your tea was mixed with a strong aphrodisiac which caused those symptoms you mentioned. I also interrogated those guys who attempted to lay their hands on you. They were the ones who bribed the so-called waiter for drugging your tea. Reason: unknown. They committed suicide by biting the poison pill planted in their mouth. I already burned their bodies, so no need to worry." The detailed explanation of the stranger made Hyunhei feel so disappointed in himself. He was saved by others again. "By the way, you were drugged with an aphrodisiac, but why did your body turn into a child?"
Hyunhei slowly sat on his bed. "No idea. I don't understand my own body, either. I just know it's peculiar. Poisons make me stronger but still affect me. That won't exclude drugs that increase libido. It's just surprising that I turned into a kid. Senior Lijie is right; I'm a weird one." He curled up into a ball, trying to suppress his tears. The man tried to pat his shoulder to lessen Hyunhei's sadness, but the kid grabbed his wrists and slowly looked in his direction. There was no wind inside the room, but candles were blown off. Hyunhei's eyes met him and gave him the creeps. Those eyes were not like what he had seen from his missions. It was a pair of different hues. The left eye is crimson red, glowing from the darkness, like a predator's eyes staring at his prey's soul. His right eye has the color of ash, comparable to a lifeless gaze but full of killing intent. Hyunhei's grip became stronger, which nearly broke his left arm, but he got lucky when he attempted to call him by his name, "Young Master Hyunhei!" His call made Hyunhei come to his senses.
"Huh? Oh, sorry." Hyunhei realized he was firmly holding the man's wrists and let go of it. "Wait, why is it so dark in here? Who blew off the candles? Why are you just standing on the corner? Light them up!"
The man was traumatized by what happened. He was serving the agency for one and a half decades and met various foes like wild beast men and demons, but that gaze made his knees quiver for the first time. He immediately obeyed Hyunhei's command and resolved not to mess with this weird kid.
"I'll leave at six and need to figure things out. I need your absolute loyalty if you want to leave this room alive and intact," Hyunhei stressed. "I don't know what happened, but you became fearful of me after I passed out for some moment. I may look like a kid from the outside, but I'm stronger than you think." He needs to learn why his senior hired a stranger to act as his bodyguard and about this man's background. He'll use all means possible to set things right before returning to the manor.
The man hesitated for a second but immediately dropped the tough act and knelt down as a sign of obedience and loyalty when Hyunhei blew off the wall with his illusionary spell. Despite being anxious about revealing what's under that impromptu façade, Hyunhei's shamelessness won over.
"That's what we're talking about! Let us now discuss the details," Hyunhei stated as he smiled confidently.
Everything went smoothly in the Feng Huang Sect. A few senior disciples are supervising the training session of the newbies. Jianyu and Hong'yu's skills improved significantly quickly, yet they couldn't surpass Jingyi's competency. Jingyi was very eager to master all the necessary stuff from their class to join the expedition group of the Feng Huang Sect. Even though the sect is full of talented cultivators, danger still lingers around the area. To eliminate threats, Sect Leader Huo assigned a group of mixed ranks to manage the task. Jingyi will use this to cover his hidden motive: to find and scold his little brother.
Sect Leader Huo had just finished his daily affairs and decided to stroll around the sect's premises. He caught sight of Jingyi's group, and from his nephew's looks, Jingyi was determined to enhance his cultivation level. The sect leader was about to approach them when Sect Elder Zeyu, the Head Disciple, interrupted his leisurely walk. "Sect Leader Huo! Sect Leader Huo!"
"What are you yelling about?" Sect Leader Huo asked annoyingly.
"Sect Leader Huo, pardon my interference. I have a crucial matter to tell you," Sect Elder Zeyu continued. "The protective seal on the Dark Realm vanished."
"What protective seal?" Sect Leader Huo started overthinking the seals he placed in the Dark Realm to prevent filthy creatures from entering the Mortal Realm.
"Do you remember the Bloody War? Yaoguai sealed the primordial spirit of the Demon Chief using his protective seal. It's gone." Sect Elder Zeyu's words made Sect Leader Huo's heart skip a beat.
"WHAT?! H-How is that possible? That seal was intact when we checked it last summer!" Sect Leader Huo started to panic.
"My expedition group happened to pass by that place when I asked my men to throw off the demons we caught wandering at the Gloomy Forest back to the Dark Realm. They asked me to confirm the situation; to my horror, it was gone for real. It only means one thing, Sect Leader."
"T-The Demon Chief was reborn." With that, Sect Leader Huo summoned all the sect elders and Elemental Masters to the Great Hall to discuss the bad news. Elemental Masters are appointed leaders of the four most powerful sects in the continent. It includes the Feng Huang Sect, the Purple Cloud Sect, the Sword Shadow Sect, and the Tranquil Heart Sect. They must protect the Mortal Realm from harm since no current immortals do the job. The Imperial Families may be powerful and influential in the government and society. Still, the cultivation world is out of their scope since they vowed to seclude worldly affairs from their life. Even if an emperor wanted to join and learn from a cultivation sect, his status would be negated as per the eternal rule.
The former residents of the Light Realm lived peacefully with the Divine Seal, which only allowed beings with pure spiritual essence to go in and out of the area and served as protection from the filthy energy of the Dark Realm. The Celestial Palace was sealed off with the Eternal Seal by the late Divine Scholar Zhi Peng to prevent that heavenly place from being defiled. The Fairy and Beast Realm somehow recovered, and it became habitable again. Hence, those survivors from the Bloody War returned to their homeland and rebuilt what was erased by the great calamity.
The Dark Realm was sealed off by the first batch of Elemental Masters to prevent the emerging dark energy from contaminating the other realms. However, when the seals posed a moment of weakness, some unclean energy spewed off from the gaps of the seal, which led some of the dark creatures to escape eternal imprisonment and caused harm to the other realms. The dark energy tainted the spiritual essences of those beings with a weak resolve, which turned them into dark creatures.
The vanishing of the protective seal made by the late Night Immortal Yaoguai encouraged the dark creatures to run havoc on the other realms since they knew that their chief was reincarnated. That seal also enhances the strength of the other seals cast by the powerful cultivators, so it will weaken and lessen its effectiveness if it vanishes. The roaming demons at the Gloomy Forest are proof of that danger. Still, places laid with the iterated version of the Purification Spell are safe from the Dark Realm filth, including the populated regions.
Jingyi overheard the previous conversation of the elders and began worrying about his brother's safety. Seeing Jingyi's uneasiness, Jianyu patted his shoulder and assured him that Hyunhei would be safe from danger.
Hyunhei changed into the clothes he ordered from their clothing store. He commanded his new servant, which has the name Zhong Qinzi, to purchase a dozen sets of clothes in Hyunhei's current size. They also interrogated the other staff of the inn about yesterday's incident. The innkeeper only stated that the suspicious waiter they mentioned was a new recruit, so he didn't know any additional details. After polishing off everything at the inn, they traveled towards the hidden headquarters of the Huanlei Agency.
Hyunhei did an excellent job purging all the information he needed from Qinzi. Huanlei Agency is a secret organization of private investigators and some powerful cultivators upholding justice and righteous deeds for the needy. It is comparable to a sect, but the only difference is their practices. The agency fosters assassins to eradicate the evildoers and protect the weak, one of which is Zhong Qinzi. The current head of the Huanlei Agency is Yun Leifeng, the youngest appointed leader of the agency after being promoted by the former leader due to his incredible intellect and skills, similar to a prodigy. Yun Leifeng's background is unknown, and no one within the agency knows a thing about him, even the former leader. He is also rumored to be the adopted son of the former leader, which Qinzi found ridiculous.
"You didn't even know the appearance of your leader, yet you agreed to bring me to him. Qinzi, your life is at stake here, so you better not lie to my face," Hyunhei aggressively stated. He doesn't know why Qinzi is so afraid of him after all the teasing he did. Qinzi obeys all his orders without fail and hesitation. He was also surprised that Qinzi knew the general details of him as the fourth young master of the Xin Clan. The agency's reputation really speaks for itself.
"We've arrived, Young Master Hyunhei." Using the horse Qinzi purchased using Hyunhei's money, they reached their destination at sunset. Qinzi led Hyunhei inside the elegant manor. It is thrice as big as Lijie's manor. The furniture, landscape, plants, and ornaments are sophisticated and close to an imperial garden. Qinzi passed a message to the guard beside the lobby's entrance that Hyunhei wished for an audience with the agency's head. The guard hesitated momentarily, seeing a kid wanting to meet their leader, but he obeyed eventually since it was his senior's order. Qinzi is a senior assassin with no right to seek an audience or see the agency head unless necessary.
After waiting a moment, the guard led Qinzi and Hyunhei inside the lobby. A veil separated the head's seat from the reception area for confidentiality. Hyunhei was fascinated by the lobby's interior design. He's sure that the agency's leader is a very wealthy man.
"What brings a kid here to formally meet with me?" Yun Leifeng stated as he proceeded to his seat. "I was interrupted on my business, so make sure your purpose is worth my time."
Seeing the leader appear behind the veil, Qinzi bowed as a sign of respect. Hyunhei, not sure if he would do the same thing, spoke his mind frankly. "Thanks for providing me some time to chat with me. I, Haiji, a humble cultivator, ask you, Yun Leifeng, the head of Huanlei Agency, to work for me."
Hearing Hyunhei's words, Leifeng burst out a hearty laughter. "That's a nice stress reliever, kid. But hey, our line of work is no kid's play. Go back to your family and stop wasting—"
"I may look like a mere kid, but I can split your soul without you noticing it…." Leifeng's teasing slightly angered Hyunhei, and he unconsciously teleported at his back, whispering threats while caressing Leifeng's silky brown hair. Leifeng, on the other hand, didn't see that coming and was shocked when he felt Hyunhei's breath on his ear. He turned in the voice's direction but only saw a fading silhouette. The wind swayed the veils covering Leifeng's presence, and he spotted the white-haired kid smiling menacingly at him.