Just Business

The Spirit Pavilion was led by multiple 3-Star shamans, one of whom was dealing with Deon's business.

Thanks to the various concealment spirits that Deon was currently using, the elder was unable to see that he was only a 2-Star shaman. If the elder used a single investigatory method however, he would immediately uncover this fact.

Deon had created an image for himself. This was the image of an esteemed demonic path shaman lord, a terrifying figure who did not even deem it necessary to check the storage spirit he was given in this exchange!

The elder paled in fright and his heart lurched.

'Demon shaman lord! He is definitely a demonic path shaman lord, even using a demon type spirit in front of a 3-Star elder of a righteous path organisation! No, I shouldn't be judgemental, regardless of his identity as a demonic path shaman, he is a 4-Star shaman lord after all, a being that we mere lower shamans cannot begin to comprehend!'

"L-lord, I hope that the addition of a 3-Star storage spirit is to your satisfaction for the additional compensation?"

"It will do. What of the information regarding the other ingredients? I suppose that those four materials will be impossible, but there should be a chance for the others." Deon spoke plainly, maintaining the impression that all of this was not important to him.

The elder was amazed in his heart. To think this lord would already know that he had just discussed these ingredients with the other five high elders, but not one of them could identify four of the listed materials!

Deon obviously didn't know this, he just knew that these four ingredients were really uncommon, it was extremely unlikely that he would find them in this entire city.

"Reporting to lord, I made a list of the ingredients that I know are currently in the city, along with the establishments where lord can find them. As for the others, I am ashamed to admit that I do not know, but perhaps they will appear in the main auction in two days."

"I see, very good. That will be all then." Deon stood up and grabbed the piece of paper, he was anxious to leave quickly. Just as he was about to walk towards the one door leading out from this room, his expression sank.

At this moment, five elders entered the room…

"Lord, please wait!" One of the elders called out with narrowed eyes, staring at Deon with intense suspicion in his gaze.

Deon did not wait. Instead of heading towards the door, which was now being blocked by the five elders and the sixth stunned elder, he immediately turned around, facing the open window and staring out into the night sky.

'Shit, shit, five 3-Star elders! Damnit, there's only one choice! Sigh…'

"Lord-"

Whoosh!

Deon's appearance suddenly blurred. He had a feeling that if he didn't act right now, his life would be in mortal peril. He dashed forwards using the swift leaf spirit, then leapt forwards for a few feet with a single jump.

As he passed over the edge of the balcony, he tried not to look down, instead activating his 1-Star concealment spirits to the limit. He was pushing these spirits too far and risked destroying them, but that didn't matter right now.

He successfully managed to shock the elders, causing them all to freeze as he unexpectedly leapt out through the window…12 stories above the ground below.

As Deon pushed his concealment spirits past their limits, they all shattered one by one. In the moment of their self destruction, his figure completely merged with the night, creating the illusion that he had simply disappeared.

The elders, who had decided to confront this highly suspicious 'shaman lord', all broke out in cold sweat. All they saw was a flash of black, then he was gone! They looked up into the night sky, but couldn't even find a trace of his presence, they could not locate the faintest hint of his trail of flight!

This…did they just offend an actual shaman lord?!

After leaping from the window, Deon did not speed away into the night sky, rather, he plummeted downwards, speeding towards the ground at a dangerous speed. This pavilion was 12 floors high, each of these floors being grand and tall, meaning that he dropped down for a couple of hundred feet towards the ground.

Before hitting the ground, at least Deon managed to use the swift left spirit to push off the air with his feet, slowly his descent by a small amount. Even so, when he hit the stone floor below, he instantly broke both of his legs and groaned miserably as his ribs shattered. His liver was half crushed, his arms were fractured and he was struck with whiplash so bad that his neck almost broke.

Deon lay there half dead for a moment, before forcefully picking himself up…and falling back down. He was badly injured and in seriously critical condition, but he couldn't rest, he couldn't just lie here, or else he would soon be found.

Every single motion racked his body with a god awful pain. Worse was that he could feel his injuries aggravating further with every movement. Masses of blood was left on the floor in a trail behind him.

Luckily, he landed in the back garden of the Spirit Pavilion, the sect he had just dealt with. Unfortunately, this place was the back garden of the Spirit Pavilion, the sect he had just dealt with…

This was a secluded location, nobody was here right now. However, if he stayed here for much longer, he would be caught and his 'shaman lord' ruse would be seen through immediately.

He had already revealed a demon spirit to this righteous path sect, they could capture him with this justification. They could easily label him as a demonic path shaman and execute him if they wanted to!

Deon grimaced and gritted his teeth, but his pain tolerance was nothing ordinary.

Finally, an arduous five minutes later, Deon settled down within a thick hedge at the border of the sect's garden.

"Hah…hah…hah…" He panted heavily whilst taking out multiple medicines of all sorts from his spatial ring. As a soldier, Deon was very familiar with medicines, but more recently, he finally refined a spirit that could be used to produce even more efficacious medicines. The medicines produced by a 2-Star spirit were incomparable compared to mortal medicines, they were nearly miraculous in effect.

Of course, a spirit that was used for healing directly would be even better…but he didn't bring such a spirit along with him. Deon did not expect that he would end this business deal by leaping from the top floor of a 12 story tall building.

Truthfully, he wasn't 100% certain that he would be able to survive such a fall, but it was really his only option.

He survived, but only barely. After forcing himself to consume an ungodly amount of medicine, the medicine's side effects piled up and he fell unconscious. It seemed that the time he spent living alone on Jing Mountain had paid off, because he managed to hide himself like an expert in the art of camouflage. Deon woke up a couple of hours later, still lying in this hedge.

"Eh, what's that smell?"

"What are you talking about?"

"This…doesn't this smell like blood?"

"What? I don't- Ah! Blood, a trail of blood, look!

"I, I was right! Quickly, call the elders, someone must be badly wounded!"

"Tch…" Deon's body still ached all over, but he forced himself to stand. After pushing through the hedge with unstable footing and scaring these two disciples half to death, Deon sprinted away in the opposite direction, leaving the Spirit Pavilion behind.

Deon's mind was still blurred, staying conscious was about the best he could manage. He evidently drew many strange stares as he ran…he only managed to cover his face and head with his blood soaked ripped robe, since all of his concealment spirits were destroyed when he escaped from the Spirit Pavilion Elders.

Eventually, Deon made his way back to the temple accommodation in the outer city. He dragged himself upstairs and into the 4th floor, before slumping down in exhaustion, then a minute later groaning and forcing himself back up.

By the time Shi entered the room, attracted by the sound of Deon collapsing and groaning, she caught the sight of his bloodied and battered body, midway through activating an expendable healing type spirit.

This was a bronze class 2-Star spirit, it was excellent for rapidly recovering from grievous wounds. Deon was only an initial stage 2-Star shaman, he could not sustain the usage of another 2-Star spirit, so he was also forced to use multiple drop spirits to recover his origin energy.

Between activating the 2-Star spirit and periodically stopping to recover his energy, the healing of his wounds was slow, but he was getting there. At least, his condition was no longer critical.

Once Deon felt that he had recovered his injuries sufficiently, he bound the shimmering bed bug spirit, but his mind was still too exhausted, he could already feel himself losing consciousness once again.

"What the hell happened to you?!" Shi finally processed the sight before her and cried out in shock and alarm.

"Just…business…"

This was all he managed to say before passing out.