Request

"I- I just can't believe it."

Tian Kai laid his head back onto the wooden wall of the carriage as Tian Hai crossed his arms silently at what they just heard.

After collecting what they needed from the forest and placing them all into large sacks, the guards quickly grabbed their belongings from the village, bought a new carriage, and immediately went back to pick up the items along with Xue Chang in order to leave.

Throughout the carriage ride, Xue Chang decided to tell them the truth about him. Although they knew him well, they didn't know the truth about his family background and about... his curse.

And once he was finished, silence consumed the surrounding air. Of course Xue Chang didn't mind, he knew why. Now knowing the truth about his identity , they of course had to reconsider their loyalty to him. After all, no one wanted a master who was fated to die in just a couple of years.

Looking over at his two friends, he could hear them quietly mumble to each other. And what he heard was-

"This can't be, if what he says is true then that means...

...my god we acted like idiots in front of Zhou Wei!"

-not what he expected.

"Xue Chang why didn't you tell us this sooner! You mean all those times your parents came over for dinner at your house, that was THE legendary Zhou Wei! Ahhh we even told him how troubling his son was, so embarrassing!"

He couldn't believe what he was hearing right now. Xue Chang was starting to wonder if the people he picked up all those years ago had been dropped on their heads as babies.

"I think you're focusing on the wrong thing here."

"No we aren't! Don't you know who your dad is? Zhao Wei! Guardian of Water Cloud City. He's the idol of men everywhere for his straightforward personality and incredible strength. He's like a superstar to us and you're telling me that's who we've been talking to!?"

"No this might be a good chance to get an autograph, let's not miss out on the opportunities here. And if we could sell those, we'd make quite the sum of money."

A dumbfounded look was on Xue Chang's face as he gazed at these two men talking about stealing a lock of his father's hair to each other, treating it as if it was a precious treasure.

But although he had a look of disgust on the surface, he was secretly glad on the inside. It seemed he really had made great friends.

When they finally got back into the city, he told them to report to the receptionist on their findings as he went and talked to the guild master directly.

Reaching into his sack for his old mask, he began the transformation back to his other persona.

The mysterious Yong Heng.

With his disguise complete, he left the carriage and made his way back into the guild. It had been nearly a week since he was last inside the building, and within that time news of his sudden rise spread throughout the city. Many rumors and stories about him being the guild master's illegitimate child or something spread around, as no one could think of a reason as to why this stranger suddenly rose to rank A without being tested.

He didn't mind though, this identity was just to obtain a source of income that could sustain his daily needs for a while. But he was getting annoyed by how outrageous the rumors were slowly becoming. From the illegitimate child, to secret lovers. People really were idle these days.

Entering through the entrance, everyone within the guild turned over to surprisingly find the hot topic of their current gossip entering in. They didn't expect this to happen and brought down their whispering further.

Unfortunately, Xue Chang's hearing was something they should not have underestimated.

"There he is! I can't believe the master likes those type of men."

"Do you think he takes the lead or-"

"I wonder what type of 'techniques' such a scrawny guy can have."

Sighing at the silliness of their discussion, he approached the bar where the tender sat. Luckily it was the same one who worked here before, so things were much easier this time around. An appointment with the master was made and he only had to wait for a couple of minutes at most.

Once he was called up, he stepped up the stairs reaching a large wooden door at the end.

Stepping through the threshold, he couldn't help but gaze at the office of the master once more. Although he had been here once before, he had been too nervous to properly get a good look at everything. Now however, not only was he able to see everything properly, but his new sight could see things unknown to the naked eye.

And there sitting in the back of the room with his back turned to him was a single man.

He seemed larger than life itself, towering over Xue Chang who was almost two meters tall with his transformation. He had long, grizzled hair and his face was lined with a fierce countenance. Muscles rippled across his body, stretching his clothing which even the fattest men would usually be able to fit comfortably in. And his golden eyes gazed at Xue Chang as if looking at prey.

The feeling he gave Xue Chang was that he was facing a lion rather than a man.

And worst of all was the pressure he gave off. Not only was he giving off a soul crushing aura, but within Xue Chang's eyes he could see the spiritual force around him flowed in reverence to this man.

It offered its services to him without hesitation and gave his body a brilliant shine that only he could see.

This was the power of a true cultivator. Someone who took in spiritual force and converted it to their own power. Despite thinking that the bear he faced wasn't that far off from a true level three cultivator just shortly before, seeing the guild master with his current ability now told him how truly wrong he was.

Although he was sure the bear was just a short distance away from the third level, if the guild master and bear fought each other, the master wouldn't even receive an injury. The difference in their foundation was evident.

Looking at the guild master, he took in a deep breath before approaching the gargantuan man.

"Yong Heng, brave of you to show up considering how much trouble you are causing me right now." The guild master stared deep into his eyes when he said this. Although his appearance was frightening, his words were soft spoken and coarse. That along with his odd gaze brought about a strange image.

"It's not like I'm the one who spread the rumors. And stop staring at me like that, this is the reason why rumors like that spread, because of your weird actions!" A chuckle reverberated from the mouth of the large man as he got up from his seat and greeted him properly.

Shaking each other's hands quickly, they both took seat opposite from each other and got down to business.

Sighing to himself, Xue Chang said, "You know, you really messed up this time you imbecile."

"What happened?" The guild master scowled at Xue Chang's direct words. Although he did not want to go against this mysterious new hunter, he also was not too intimidated by him. Yet it seemed the young man wished to open up the conversation with an insult.

Wordlessly reaching into the sack tied across his back, he pulled out the pearly white marble and placed it down int he table.

The guild master wanted now time and immediately began inspecting the object, and what he found made his face pale in fright. "A level three Qi refining beast core?"

Xue Chang shook his head, "No, it's a dual cultivated beast core. A level two body and level one internal."

He recounted the story of what happened in the village. Of course he left out some parts and just quickly skimmed over what he saw rather than go into details of everything. He was sure the guild master noticed he was holding back some information but the man did not question him about this. What was more important was figuring out what was wrong.

"A beast wave? That can't be possible. I've sent men before to examine the beast and all of them reported the same thing, they were all adamant that the beast was rank A at most!"

Xue Chang nodded coldly and whispered, "That's why I said you messed up. The way I see it, there are only three explanations. One, your bad supervision has caused those men to neglect their duty and caused the death of many hunters."

"That's impossible, these men are the most trustworthy examiners within the guild. Some of them have even been here since the conception of this hall. they aren't the type that would neglect their duties for no reason."

"Then we move onto the second possibility. They purposely gave you the wrong information. Maybe they were bribed or someone wants to besmirch your reputation or something."

The guild master just shook his head once more, "That's also unlikely. I don't have many enemies in this city, and the guild itself already pay these men quite the hefty fund. The amount of money one would need to spend to bribe them would be something only families on the same level as the immortal Xue Family can afford. And why would such super powers want to ruin my reputation? If they wanted to get rid of me, there are a number of methods to do so easily."

This sentence caused Xue Chang to pause for a second. He was surprised that the guild master brought up his own family, this made him wonder if the man actually knew his true identity. But he doubted it, if he knew then he wouldn't be acting in such a confident way around him.

Although the Xue Family themselves never had an immortal cultivator rise from their ranks until Xue Heng, their family was famous for being able to pull in a large number of peak Qi refinement cultivators through marriage or chance.

The name "immortal Xue Family" came about when it was discovered that his family itself had nearly a dozen peak level ten Qi refinement cultivators in their ranks. These were people who married into or served the family many years ago. It seemed that if his family had anything going for them, it was luck.

Many of his ancestors had apparently helped many cultivators in the past and due to the karma built between these chance meetings, a lot of them became loyal followers of the family.

No one knew when it happened, but despite none of their progeny having enough talent to properly cultivate, the family was not short on immortal warriors.

Plus with the money and influence they gained over the hundreds of years of existing, hiring even more cultivators wasn't a difficult thing for them to do.

But if the guild master's words were true, then that only left one possibility. And it was the worst one in his opinion.

"Then there is something, or someone, teaching these beasts how to dual cultivate."

The insinuation Xue Chang was giving was extremely serious. Something was causing chaos in the dark and they had no idea what it was.

The demonic bear's appearance was too strange to be a coincidence. And if his conjecture was true, then it was possibly just the start.

If this beast could hide itself so well, who knew how many other monsters could possibly be hiding their true strength.

This meant it was only a matter of time before an actual beast wave were to occur.

The guild master took all of this into account as he considered Xue Chang's words quietly.

Looking up at the scrawny man with a squeaky voice, the guild master spoke in an even tone, "And what do you wish to achieve by telling me this?"

Although he couldn't see behind Yong Heng's mask, he had the premonition that a devious smile was being given off.

"How about it? I'm the one who discovered this situation, plus considering everything it will be pretty difficult to find someone with enough strength to dig deeply into this matter. Aren't you interested in giving a request for me to investigate this matter. I am more than happy to do you this service, for a small price of course."

This was Xue Chang's goal the entire time. He wanted to use this chance to get some advantages out of the guild while at the same time uncovering this mystery.

The fight with the bear made him realize something big, he needed more power. A lot more, and in a short amount of time as well.

But he didn't have to e funds nor the resources to advance his nor his friends' training. As such he had to gain as many benefits as possible without the shortest amount of time.

His words became the driving factor needed to make the guild master consider this thoroughly. The beast core before him was evidence of his strength, his recommendation letter was evidence of his loyalty, and his words were evidence of his wit.

All of this made him the perfect candidate to investigate this situation.

And Xue Chang certainly didn't plan on slacking off either. After all, this was the place where his family lived. Even if the chance of one happening was only one percent, that one percent was too high of a risk for a beast wave to occur. This wasn't something he couldn't stand for.

As such he planned to increase his power as soon as possible and then begin probing the issue.

Of course everything Xue Chang thought of, the guild master had already considered. But he really found no fault in the logic at all. In fact, this could be quite advantageous as he would a connection to the legendary Wu Jie indirectly this way.

And if things really went downhill, he always had one last trick up his sleeve...

With each of them relishing in their own thoughts, it wasn't long before decisions were made.

"Well then Yong Heng, the guild has an official request for you..."