A Brewing Storm

Gongsun liang made it through the forest breathing heavily, the forest region was not too large. A normal person would take slightly over half a day to make it through the forest on foot, cultivators at his level would need about four hour's. But the problem was that Gongsun Liang felt like the earlier fight may have damaged his cultivation base. The technique he used was something that he discovered when he was undergoing arduous cultivation. He learnt it by studying his martial spirit, it was like it was ingrained on his martial spirit, like an inherited technique. He never told his uncle because he felt it was unnecessary. He had tested the technique a few times before, but it always felt like he was missing something plus he always ended up in a weakened state. But just now he felt like something triggered a strange connection between him and his martial spirit, and when he executed the technique it felt perfect but it was taxing because he was controlling two bodies at the same time, seeing through two pairs of eyes and operating two minds.

He felt like between him and the enemies he just encountered, he recieved the most fatal damage. He pulled himself through the forest hoping he would not encounter any beasts.

...

About two hours later Gongsun Liang heard the galloping of horses, he looked up and he had unknowingly wandered to the forest road which led to the city. There was a merchant caravan going to the city. Gongsun Liang looked at the head carriage and noticed that it had a familiar logo. He immediately rushed forward in his half drowsy state but was stopped by a few guards. He heard laughing and voices from the middle carriages so he raised his voice the best he could and shouted " The Order".

The coachman on the head carriage was an elderly man referred to as Old Zhao. Zhao Xian was a very important support personnel in the order. Although he was not a field personnel he still had a lot of prestige among the merchants, that and his excellent leadership and administrative skills made him highly sought after in many organisations.

Zhao Xian was first shocked when he saw a pale young man carrying a child rush up to his carriage. He was just about to tell the escort guards to chase him off, right then he heard the young man say ' the order'. His brows lifted in visible surprise," let the young man through" he said. When the young man came forward Zhao Xian noticed another sleeping human strapped to his chest. Zhao Xian was still a bit suspicious so he stretched his hand forward and made a gesturing motion as he said " name seal". Gongsun Liang fished out his uncle's name seal and handed it over to Zhao Xian. Zhao Xian recieved the seal, he looked at the bold character representing 'order' and the logo on its background. He flipped the seal and saw 'Gongsun' with an azure dragon on its background and also a small notation of 'ss' below. Then he took out his own seal and placed them against one another. Most people didn't know but the seals possessed by field personnel had a recognition bead and a drop of blood belonging to the owner. The owner also had another bead on his or her person. If the seal was stolen the owner could crush his bead and the bead in the seal would go black, or if the owner was killed the drop of blood would lose its vitality. Hence the seal could only be willingly entrusted to another.

The final anxiety in Zhao Xian's heart was dispelled, then he looked up at Gongsun Liang and asked with a smile "what may i call this little brother?". Gongsun Liang was feeling dizzy but he still replied " Gongsun Liang ".

"Oh so it is young master Gongsun, A' Xiu get him onto the second carriage" he said as he tossed the seal back to Gongsun Liang. The guard called A' Xiu was a little suspicious but he still obeyed. Gongsun Liang was surprised because he wasn't even questioned about his situation. Immediately he got on the carriage he placed the boy on a soft padding then he rested his head on other soft goods and he slept.

Zhao Xian didn't even bother finding out what Gongsun Liang's mission was or his current predicament, it was one of the safety precautions support personnel were advised to take in order to avoid learning any sensitive information which could endanger ones life. In this way they made their way to the city.

....

Wen Chao departed Willow Oasis one day ago after he got the supplies needed for the journey. He had been riding his horse alongside some other cultivators who were going to the wild darklands. The wild darklands was a lawless and ungovernable place where criminal and banished cultivators lived. It was a place that operated on its own set of crooked rules. People of all three kingdoms perfectly tolerate each other in these lands.

Wen Chao was following this party of five because they said they were going to hunt down a particular fellow whose bounty caught their eyes. It was a perfect cover with which to enter the wild darklands.

Two hours later the six of them finally crossed into the wild darklands. "We will be splitting up from here" Wen Chao said his goodbyes as he rode off toward another direction. "Let's journey together again another time, brother Wen" the head of the group replied.

After riding for a while Wen Chao stopped to look around, he made sure there was no one in sight. Then he took out a map, ' that should be Dark crow's creek, so Dark Crow's city should be somewhere northeast ' he thought to himself as he pulled the reigns northeast.

Two hours later Wen Chao arrived at the gates to Dark Crow's city, he reluctantly paid the entrance fee of five silver coins to enter the city. As he walked through the bustling streets he saw cultivators of all three kingdoms. He vigilantly guarded the basket on his back as he made his way through the crowded streets. Suddenly he felt a hand tap his chest. He quickly tried to grab the hand but it was already gone and all that was left for him was a note. 'Wen Chao 'A' ranked agent, pass the task onto Fang Yao'er at Jade Petals restaurant'. And on the back was the logo of the order.

"Haa" Wen Chao sighed ' the order can really monitor my movements without my knowledge'. 'Its a good thing they contacted me, i really don't think I'll make it out of Wind Demon Realm alive'.

After a few minutes, Wen Chao stopped before a big building of five floors. This was a restaurant called Jade Petals, it was one of the largest buildings in this city and also was found in many other cities in Azure cloud country and Great Han Dynasty. Most people believed that it was an enterprise belonging to The Order, but it was never confirmed.

As Wen Chao walked through the front doors he saw a lot of cultivators drinking and eating, he was barely given a glance before he was totally ignored. most people at the ground floor were mostly cultivators at the body refinement and qi condensation stages, they were mostly referred to as martial artists.

Wen Chao was not bothered by their behaviour, he had been restraining his cultivation right from the moment he separated from Gongsun Liang. He walked up to a servant and showed him the logo on the note.

"We have been expecting you master Wen" the servant greeted humbly as he called a female servant to lead Wen Chao to the third floor. As they walked up to the room Wen Chao heard a lot of laughing coming from the room on the far right. Still carrying the basket, the servant girl led him right to the front of that door.

Inside the room there were two women and one man. The man on one side of the table had a pale face and a pair of sharp piercing eyes, he looked about 20 years old. Leaning on his shoulder was a beautiful young lady with long flowing hair and a slender face, she had a curvy figure. They both wore blue robes with the insignia of a silver raven on their backs. Across them was the other girl, she was the definition of a man killer; she had a beautiful face and full curves, her hair was pinned up in a neat bun. She wore a white robe with the same insignia but of a higher quality which accentuated her curves. Both girls were brimming with youthfulness and looked about eighteen years old.

As the man kept telling them of his recent cultivation adventures the girl beside him kept leaning on him and holding his hand. The two girls laughed a few times whenever he said something funny. " sister Su sit up, its a bit inappropriate for us to be seen like this",he said. "And sister Yao'er is the guy were waiting for not coming or what?" There was a bit of jealousy in his tone.

"Yes, Yao'er you just told us to come along to meet some guy arranged by your family, who's he anyway?" Su Rou said as she sat up.

Fang Yao'er looked at both her friends sternly "I trust you guys a lot so I'll tell you, but you first need to swear that no fourth party would hear this".

"Why so serious? Is he a big shot? Maybe a young master of a prestigious family? Or a legacy disciple of some powerhouse?" Su Rou asked eagerly.

Yun Zhengze felt nervous 'what kind of rival am i up against? He thought.

After they both swore Fang Yao'er continued," so I only used the excuse of 'a guy set up by my family' to leave the sect. Although we are still waiting for a guy, its so that we can accept a mission package". She looked at them carefully after talking.

Yun Zhengze sighed in relief." Huh? So were not waiting for some young master, then what's the mission and who set it?" Su Rou asked.

"The mission is to collect a package from the guy thats coming and deliver it somewhere in Ghost Banner city, yeah the one that's not too far from our sect. And as for who set the mission...." Fang Yao'er stopped talking as she fished out a coin-like token from a purse and slid it on the table.

Yun Zhengze picked it up and he saw 'sss mission' on one side, "huh this is a mission token only used by very few organizations like...." then he flipped the token and saw a diagram of a merchant holding a bag of money in one hand and a sword in the other. Underneath the diagram were the characters 'THE ORDER'. "Thats the the insignia of the The....!". "Shh!" Fang Yao'er hushed him. "Yes I work for the order" Yun Zhengze was still dazed as he looked up absent-mindedly.

"Huh? What's 'The Order'?" Su Rou asked in a hushed tone. Yun Zhengze finally regained his composure and quickly set up a sound barrier with his qi because he was the only one among the three who had reached the martial mortal realm, "the order is an organization of merchants and businessmen who hire people all around to aid their business, sigh I applied as a field personnel but I couldn't get in" he explained.

" Either ways they pay very well for completed tasks and this time I hit the jackpot and found an sss ranked mission which only requires to pickup and deliver. Its the easiest I've seen since I got in a year ago, I'm still surprised that other high ranking agents did not pick it considering the fact that its so easy". Fang Yao'er explained. Yun Zhengze was sceptical " what rank are you?" He asked. Fang Yao'er replies "B ranked, anything wrong?"

Right then they heard a voice call out from outside the door, "Master Wen is here".

As Wen Chao reached the door he heard, 'what rank are you?' And then 'B ranked' he didn't even wait for approval before he pushed open the door. He looked at the three in the room and shook his head with a sigh.

"Is he the one we are waiting for?" Su Rou asked.

"Yes its him" Fang Yao'er replied.

Wen Chao settled his gaze on Fang Yao'er. "Miss Fang, pardon my rudeness but allow me to brief you on your situation. I can't tell if it is really luck that you picked this mission but either way lets start with the current condition of the order. I wont say its a mess but there's some disorder because all the 's', 'ss' and sss' ranked personnel were assigned other missions to block and confront the leaders of all the other forces of the three kingdoms whether righteous or evil."

Fang Yao'er was confused "blocking them from what?"

"Oh I should have told you of this part first" Wen Chao cleared his throat, took off the basket and placed it on the table then sat down at one side. He released his cultivation and enforced the barrier set up by Yun Zhengze. "Miss Fang you are only at the 9th layer of qi condensation, even though you are nearing a breakthrough it isn't there yet. Even if you were at the first layer of the martial mortal realm considering that you are the young miss of the Fang family I am guessing you dont have enough experience to go up against someone at or above your level". Fang Yao'er nodded in shame. Wen Chao continued, "the package I'm about to pass to you is highly sought after by all the powers right now, it is the first priority of every power, even the mainland". Yun Zhengze and the two girls immediately became pale after hearing that.

"What kind of treasure could possibly be in that basket?" Yun Zhengze asked slowly.

"You'll find out soon, but from the moment you leave here you have to be careful who you meet or talk to, you might bump into people at the virtual core realm or even the Elemental core realm, whether or not this package is delivered the whole nation will fall into chaos. I'll take my leave" Wen Chao said as he took the wine jar from the table and left the room.

The room was in silence for a while, then Su Rou stretched her hand out to open the basket but Yun Zhengze grabbed her hand.

Fang Yao'er still looked pale, she looked Yun Zhengze "what's wrong, we should at least know what is in the basket". She looked back at the basket, it was about two feet tall, it had a few sealing inscriptions on it which had Wen Chao's aura. 'Wen Chao probably sealed it to prevent its aura from leaking'. She thought.

Yun Zhengze finally spoke up,"I sense a breath of life from the basket"

" How can you tell?" Su Rou asked.

"We are natural born assasins in my Yun family, even children in the family can sense the number of people in a dark room by their breathing".

"What living being could be highly sought after by all the powers?" Fang Yao'er asked.

" maybe its the child of a high ranking beast or legendary plant that gained sentience". Su Rou said nervously.

Fang Yao'er stood up and opened the basket then she froze.

"What is it?" Su Rou asked as she and Yun Zhengze stood up together.