Upsetting News

Gilgamesh sat in the backyward with a peaceful expression, and prepared to continue his cultivation. He had arrived at the early Second Level after the tribulation, and was now ready to push himself all the way to the end.

"I wonder how many cycles this one will take. Maybe seventy as well?"

After adjusing his condition, Gilgamesh began his cultivation.

Just like before, he continuously refined his second meridian then gathered energy whenever he ran out. As such, the throughput capacity of his second meridian was constantly being increased, as was the amount of true energy in his sea of energy.

In a short time, Gilgamesh had already went from a total of seventy cycles worth of energy, to double that amount.

This time, it did not even take him an hour. His second meridian was already able to take seventy cycles worth of true energy, as was the first.

Thus, the total amount of energy in his body was enough for 140 cycles!

Even so, he could not feel the third meridian. He pushed further, readying himself to spend a few more hours before he could reach the peak of the Second Level.

150 cycles... passed.

190 cycles... passed.

240 cycles... passed.

300 cycles... passed...

500 cycles... this was getting ridiculous!

At this point, Gilgamesh knew that he had way more true energy in reserve than any other cultivator in the Condensation stage.

He even felt like he was bordering on the amount of energy a disciple in the Establishment stage would have-- if not more than that already.

"I don't even feel any kind of stress coming from the meridian... It must be far from the limit."

When he realized this, he decided to just keep pushing. While he did so, someone had already entered his abode and was making their way to the backyard.

This was a middle-aged woman, wearing grey robes that were not disciple robes, sporting a sorrowful expression.

If Gilgamesh had seen her, he would have recognized her as the same woman he had seen feeding Little Feather and some other servant girls.

When she saw Gilgamesh cultivating under the small pavilion, a bittersweet smile appeared on her face.

In that moment, images of the past flashed by her eyes, reminding her of the times she saw similar scenes in the past.

Her mellow voice shuddered as she spoke, "It feels like only yesterday you were beginning your cultivation journey."

"It's good to see you again, Little Eagle- I'm sorry- I meant Outer Disciple Gilgamesh."

Hearing her voice, Gilgamesh opened his eyes and saw her, and was instantly reminded of when he had seen her in his vision.

"So you are Miss Nightshade?" Gilgamesh frowned. He remembered that she had given two servants to someone called Viktor, who was an Outer Disciple.

His opinion of her was not that high because of that.

Miss Nightshade teared up when she realized that Gilgamesh indeed did not remember her, but she did not start sobbing.

"Little Feather told me you didn't remember much, I guess I just wanted to see for myself."

Gilgamesh folded his arms behind his back, "You've seen it. What more do you want."

Miss Nightshade smiled, but there was no warmth behind it, just pure self-doubt mingled with despair. She brought out two rectangular objects, and brought them over to Gilgamesh.

As she handed him the items, he observed them with his divine sense, never taking his eyes off of Miss Nightshade.

"Little Groundhog and Little Rose... They... I..."

Not being remembered by Gilgamesh did not break her, but what she was about to say clearly did. She choked on her words and fought with all her might to get them out.

Pulling at her clothes and biting down on her lip, she finally managed to get it out.

"It's all my fault. As the Mistress of Servants, I'm supposed to take care of them, but I couldn't stand up to an Outer Disciple like Viktor..."

"I..."

At this moment, Gilgamesh expression softened. Despite how he felt, he trusted his instincts.

This woman was in true pain; her heart could bear no more.

"I wish you came back sooner... I wish you could have at least helped them to retain their innocence."

After observing the items Miss Nightshade had given him, a rageful fury manifested itself in Gilgamesh's eyes.

Written on both of them were two almost identical notices:

"Compensation for the death of servant 'Little Groundhog,' 2 spirit stones."

"Compensation for the death of servant 'Little Rose," 4 spirit stones."

Miss Nightshade fell over and Gilgamesh hurriedly caught her in his embrace. As she sobbed into his chest, she continuously expressed her wish that he had come home sooner.

However, what drove the final nail in the coffin for Gilgamesh were Miss Nightshade's next words.

"They were Little Feather's best friends in the sect, and they helped her get through her time without. I haven't told her about their deaths, I've just told her that they will be staying at Viktors abode to work for him."

Miss Nightshade sniffled, "I was afraid of how the news would affect her, but now that you're here I think she may take the news a bit better."

Gilgamesh had stopped listening from the moment Miss Nightshade had said that the girls that died were Little Feather's best friends.

They had helped her get through the loneliness of being without him, and had likely enabled her to continue believing that Gilgamesh would come home.

Yet, someone dared to kill them?

To say Gilgamesh was upset would be a criminally huge understatement.

"Miss Nightshade," Gilgamesh said, trying to subdue the frostiness in his tone.

Wiping her eyes, Miss Nightshade replied, "Yes?"

When she looked up and saw the look in Gilgamesh's eyes, as well as the crimson glow in them, she was taken aback.

The last time she saw this look was when he had beaten two Outer Disciple within an inch of their life in order to save Little Feather.

"Tell me where Viktor lives." Gilgamesh ordered in the friendliest tone of voice he possibly could.

Miss Nightshade froze and a tinge of terror filled her eyes.

"No, you mustn't stir up trouble with the likes of him. He has close connections to one of the Guardians."

Gilgamesh shook his head.

"I'm not going to stir up trouble, so please tell me where he lives."

Miss Nightshade hesitated to believe him, but she still told him where Viktor lived. Once she did, she asked, "So, what will you do?"

Gilgamesh was already walking past her when he answered.

"I'm just going to go kill him. Be right back."

Gilgamesh's aura spiked, but it did not explode outward as he was not actually releasing any energy.

It was just a byproduct of his anger boiling over.

Miss Nightshade was terrified for him and had started following behind him, but once she felt his aura she could no longer move.

By the time she returned to her senses, Gilgamesh would be long gone.

...

In the western end of the sect, there was an Outer Disciple abode that was a bit larger than the others.

It's walls were decked with jewels and lined with flowering trees, and the house itself seemed brand new and clean. A large number of young female servants could be seen around the entire abode, performing whatever tasks they were instructed to perform.

Laying down on a blanket spread out atop the fresh-cut grass, a pale-skinned disciple with dim eyes and a devious look to him was being handfed some fruit.

While he enjoyed being fed, he throughly enjoyed both of the female servants that were attending to him; his hands and eyes wandered all over their bodies without reservation.

This was Outer Disciple Viktor.

"Open your legs wider while you serve me, little bitch! I want to see whether you get wet down there or not. Heh, heh!"

Hearing his vulgar words, the female servants could barely disguise their disgust.

Though in their eyes they were clearly against it, they did nothing to resist. Despite how much they hated it, it was still better than throwing their lives away.

As Viktor was violating one of the servants, he heard a knock coming from the front gate.

"Hm?" Viktor cast a glance in the direction of the gate, a bit curious as to who it could be.

Despite the interruption, his fingers did not cease their movements, and he suddenly withdrew his hand from between one of the servant's thighs with an irrittated expression.

"What an insatiable whore! So you refuse to get wet for Daddy!? Let's see just how much you can take then!"

With a smooth motion, his hand swerved through the air in a simple arc, slapping the servant girl across the face.

The power behind this slap was too much for her to handle, and so she was propelled off the floor and sent skating across the grass, kicking up dirt as she travelled.

Luckily, she was quite hardy, and was able to avoid sustaining serious injuries. Even so, she was unable to get up right away.

Viktor stood up and was about to walk over to her when he heard a loud crash, and the next sight he saw was the image of his abode's front gate being kicked in.

Both of the massive wooden doors were flung off their hinges and travelled over a dozen feet, crashing into the front of Viktor's house.

Servants yelled and shrieked in fear as they scurried away, but a spark of hope ignited in their eyes.

They hoped this would be the day that Outer Disciple Viktor would pay. It had been so long that they could even remember when they had first started having hopes like these, but it meant the world to them to see it come to fruition.

Viktor glowered as he got up off the blanket and walked to the front courtyard with his arms folded.

When he got there, a tiny dust cloud was waiting for him, as was the sight of the front of his house, completely destroyed by his own front gate.

"Just who the fuck would be so bold!? You must have a deathwish."

Once the dust cloud parted, Viktor saw a black-haired, red-eyed Outer Disciple smirking at him with unbridled hatred and fury.

"You?" Viktor's eyes widened and he faltered slightly.

"Little Groundhog and Little Rose. Do you remember them?"

Viktor turned his nose up at Gilgamesh and scoffed, "What kind of fucking game is this?"

Gilgamesh chuckled as he took a step forward, and his aura finally exploded after being held in for so long.

The resulting shockwave kicked up another dust cloud, and caused Viktor to involuntarily take a step back.

"What kind of game? It's actually my favorite game. It's called: Time To Die."