A Vital Task / A Suicide Mission

Hong Yue Xian calmed down and used Nether Escape to appear above the demon beast, before he tried to pierce its back with his Iron Claw. Yet just as he was about to hit, multiple ice shards grew out of the wolverine's back stabbing Hong Yue Xian. At the last moment he managed to use Nether Evasion and shot a large Fireball at the shards. He was willing to bet anything that the shards could be detached and used as projectiles.

Hong Yue Xian saw the ice shards melt, threw a Wind Blade to leave a long bloody wound on the demon beast's back, before piercing it with his claws. However, he was given a huge shock, when his claws hit the wolverine's bones, as they were cold and hard as steel.

Hong Yue Xian retreated gawking at the beast, flabbergasted by its abilities. He stared intely at the bloody wound and waited. The girls were confused by his behaviour, with Huyan Lanruo asking curiously. "Xian, what's wrong? What are you waiting for?" "The wound does not seem to regenerate." Muttered Hong Yue Xian absentmindedly.

"Should it be?" Inquired Shen Xiu with a frown. Hearing her words, Hong Yue Xian woke up from his daze and shook his head. "No, sorry, got distracted. My bad, let's finish it." He laughed awkwardly as he charged at the beast again. This time he blocked both of its claws with his and kicked its chin with his leg while somersaulting backwards.

The wolverine wished to retaliate but it was suddenly pierced by Hong Yue Xian's Tail Blade, which stabbed the demon beast right between the ribs and into its heart. By the time Hong Yue Xian landed on the ground, the adversary was already dead.

He went up to the beast's head and cut it open, as expected finding a demon spirit. It had some useful abilities, so Hong Yue Xian planned to refine it later.

After this final battle it was close to a month that they had been away from Glory City, and feeling a bit homesick they gathered their things and triumphantly set off towards the city, towards their home.

As the girls walked through the lively streets of Glory City once more, their eyes could not help but get misty with recollection of the last month. The three of them went through so much together and grew as close as sisters now. They looked at each other, and seeing the similar melancholy expressions, began giggling joyfully.

The sight of three breathtaking beauties laughing as they walked hand in hand attracted the crowd of gawkers as all the men stared at them in awe. Hong Yue Xian was completely ignored by the onlookers, but he did not mind as he felt proud and blessed for having these three goddesses' favour.

Soon the four of them reached a crossroads and separated, going their own way. Hong Yue Xian did not go home though, instead he went to the secret headquarters of the Immortal Wine Merchant House. He did not go through the front door, instead he sneaked into the office on the second floor. There was a group of five men sitting around drinking wine and discussing.

As the men laughed, one of them inadvertently glanced around the room and jumped in shock, flipping the table over, causing angry shouts from the others. They glared at the man and saw him petrified in fear looking somewhere. They followed his gaze and froze as well.

Hong Yue Xian was sitting behind the desk reading the reports they usually compiled for him, noticing the commotion he looked up and smiled amusingly. The five men in the room were the higher ups of all his subordinates, all being peak Black Gold rank Experts, yet they could not detect him. In fact, he was sitting there for more than ten minutes already.

The men immediately sobered up and clasped their fists as they bowed. "Young Master." They shouted in unison. "Um. Clean up the mess and call in the rest of the Silver, Gold and Black Gold rank experts and gather them in the main hall." Commanded Hong Yue Xian before resuming to read the reports.

The four of the men began to clean up the room straight away, while the last one went to notify the others. Once Hong Yue Xian finished reading, he headed to the main hall, where everyone was already assembled. He seated himself in the middle, where the patriarch would usually be. Sweeping his eyes over the 225 men present, he swept his hand and one hundred Gold rank essence pellets appeared in front of him.

"To those who are Silver rank, you have served me well and since we will most likely be expanding our ranks in the future, I have decided to grant you these pellets and elevate you to Gold rank. Keep working hard for me and you will be rewarded. After you get the pellet, you are dismissed. Go cultivate." Each one of the Silver rank experts excitedly walked up in an orderly fashion of one by one and accepted the pellet, before exiting the hall.

"To those who are Gold rank, I have chosen fifty of you to be granted Black Gold pellets. Those that did not get any, keep working hard and you will be noticed and rewarded. After you take the pellets leave and cultivate. The other Gold rank experts are included. Dismissed." With that Hong Yue Xian took out the pellets from his ring and passed them on.

Soon only the twenty five Black Gold rank experts remained. Hong Yue Xian observed them for a while, before taking out the Legend rank essence pellets and Legend rank demon spirits.

"These are for you. Take them and cultivate to the Legend rank. However, I will remind you that you will stay hidden for now. Even if the city is under attack you will not intervene unless I instruct you beforehand. Understood?" His gaze swept over the men, causing them to shiver as they all nodded.

"Now before you go, I have a very important yet dangerous mission needed to be carried out and require a volunteer. The mission, should you choose to accept it, would be to buy some time and save an important person from being killed by a very dangerous individual. I will be honest, even for a Legend rank, there is a high chance the volunteer will die, a good chance he will end up a cripple and a small chance of surviving unscathed. So any volunteers?"