Chapter 12: The first night in town

"Dear customers!" Ye Zhiyun cupped his fists and quickly went to examine the cores and materials Cao Yun had taken out. He really took his time. Expertly, he could determine from which demonic beast originated every ingredient, even the cores. Even though they were mere accumulation and condensation of Qi, the cores had distinctive shapes according to the beast who produced them.

"Hmm... If I round it up, I reckon the value of your goods would amount to 30 taels of gold."

Feng Yingyue was a little shocked. Of course, she knew their approximate value, but hearing the actual number in the Auction Hall was something else. Fortunately, she had prepared herself and steeled her mind not to react. She even thought the Hall would try to lower the value, but they actually rounded it up. Most likely, it was thanks to Cao Yun, so that they could protect their face. The most important thing for any branch of the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall was to uphold the name and reputation of the Hall. If ever they were caught doing nefarious deeds while using their name, the lesser punishment would be to be banned, but they could also simply be executed.

"Either the Hall can buy it from you directly, or we could put it up for auction. The next one is in less than ten days from now."

"Give us 30 ingots of gold then, we'll sell everything to the Hall right now." Cao Yun was unfazed, for he was already used to this kind of money. He accepted the gold directly and gave half of it to Feng Yingyue.

"Thank you." She then turned toward Ye Zhiyun. "Thank you as well, Mister Zhiyun."

"The customers are too polite. It was a pleasure to do business with you."

They both left the Auction Hall under the gaze of everyone present. Some of them were envious but no one in their right mind would ever covet the fruit of a transaction with the Myriad Hall. The Hall was very powerful, with connections to the Emperor himself. And they were terribly protective toward their business. Strangely, having customers killed or robbed after a transaction was bad for their trade, so they always ensured the protection of their customers. No one would ever dare to rob someone near the Hall, even less so within the Hall, or any of its branches.

-

As Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun were walking in the direction of a small alchemy shop, Elder Gu rushed to meet with the Huang family.

Bao Zhong was waiting for him in a back alley with a palanquin.

"Elder Gu, please get in."

They made many detours to finally get to the Huang residence. Even then, they did not go through the main door but took a small passage on the side. They never crossed through the gardens and finally the palanquin was put down right before a building. Just as the wielders left, Bao Zhong opened the curtain and let Elder Gu out.

He immediately recognized that this was the building where lived Huang Cixi. Even he was nervous. Huang Cixi was only 15 and her cultivation was good but not that impressive. Despite that, Elder Gu, who already had had some dealings with her, was afraid of her. He could not really explain it and he knew it was not just because of her background or her father. After all, he also had dealings with her brothers and he never felt this fear. What he felt was that, if she wanted to take care of him, he would never even know what happened to him.

He promptly, but respectfully, got inside and followed the servant. The route was not new to him and quickly he was before the study of the young lady. Bao Zhong knocked on the door and a small yet firm voice allowed them in. Elder Gu took a step in, cupped his fists and bowed.

"Elder Gu presents his respect to Young Mistress Huang."

"Bao Zhong, you can leave us. Thank you."

Without speaking, Bao Zhong bowed and closed the doors. As Elder Gu was still bowing, Huang Cixi got near him. She was now fully dressed up and exuded an air of royalty. Rumors said that the bloodline of the Huang family contained a trace of a True fiery fenghuang. Being in the presence of Huang Cixi would make anyone believe that there were solid grounds to this rumor.

She examined Elder Gu for several seconds before asking him to get up and show him to a chair.

"Elder Gu, I heard there was... a situation..."

"This lowly one was unable to control this lowly one's ungrateful grandson. Young Mistress Huang, this stupid boy will be harshly punished."

"Fine, this is just a minor inconvenience. Never let that happen again. I want to know what Ye Zhiyun learned."

Ye Zhiyun was in fact a spy for Huang Cixi. He was the most loyal and fair dealer of the Auction Hall, the reason why everyone trusted him, especially Feng Yingyue. Everyone in the Hall always tried to cause her problems to curry favors but not him. And that's precisely why he was able to get the most informations from her, and from all the other customers as well.

"Feng Yingyue seemed to have been in the forest for these last few months. According to the number of beasts that were killed, there is no reason to doubt this. I also estimate that she broke through to 3rd-grade Mortal."

Huang Cixi reacted at the news.

"Are you absolutely sure of that?"

"Well it's still pretty weak but I could feel some Qi gathering in her Lower Dantian. I'm not a Spirit Warrior but I'm fairly confident she just broke through during her journey in the mountains. Given the ingredients they brought back, we can assume that they stumbled upon some treasure who helped them cultivate."

"Speaking of them, what about the boy?"

"His name is Chen Guo. He's not older than her, probably 16. And his Lower Dantian seemed full of energy, so he's probably a 4th-grade Mortal. I don't think that he was able to break through to the 5th-grade yet. He's probably the one who did most of the hunting. There were traces of fighting between demonic beasts on some parts. I think his strength is enough to easily kill 1-core demonic beasts as long as they're not too many. To kill the 2-core ones, he probably targeted injured beasts."

"Some of our men tried to ask them how they managed to kill so many beasts. Apparently there was a fight between a fenghuang couple and a bashe. Most likely, many beasts got agitated and left their usual hunting grounds. It happened pretty deep within the mountains but I already sent men to investigate. Given that they are 3-core beasts, they will have to be very cautious in approaching their nest so it will take some time."

"Did other hunters spoke about any agitated beasts?"

"Not recently, no. But we did lose more hunters than usual in the last month, so... I cannot be conclusive on the question."

"Fine. If you ever hear anything more, even if it seems insignificant to you, inform Bao Zhong immediately. I will not be ungrateful." As she was speaking, she gave a pill to Elder Gu.

As soon as he saw the pill, his eyes opened wide and he cupped his fists before accepting it.

"Thank you, Young Mistress Huang. Do not doubt me, I will inform you of everything."

"About that grandson of yours..." Elder Gu's heart dropped as he felt cold all over his body. "He will most likely attempt some foolish revenge. I need information from these people, so control him or someone else will have to educate him for you."

"This lowly one understands."

As Huang Cixi was threatening him, Elder Gu felt some Qi circulating around him. It was the clear sign of a Mortal Warrior. Only a Mortal Warrior was able to consciously send their Qi outside of their body. Obviously, the young mistress of the Huang family would have a Mortal Warrior as bodyguard. Despite being almost a hundred years old, Elder Gu was only an 9th-grade Mortal. Against the weakest of the Mortal Warrior, he would probably die without a body. After all, he had never focused on fighting and had little experience about it.

The meaning behind the young woman's words were very clear to him. Not only his grandson, but he would probably be killed as well to avoid any volition of revenge. Thinking a little more about it, Huang Cixi could replace him with Ye Zhiyun who was admittedly very competent. Elder Gu would not let this grandson be the death of him. As such, Elder Gu forbade him to leave their estate until the auction in ten days and hired some tutors to teach him how to properly conduct business. He also beat him up a little to vent his anger. Of course, it only served to make him even more pissed against Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue. He simply got smart enough to hide it.

Huang Cixi was alone in her study. She took out a drawing of her brother Lixin and stared at his face for a long time.

"Brother, please, be safe..."

Her authoritative voice had just become gentle and shaky.

-

As the previous discussion ended, Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun just entered the alchemy shop.

The shop was very small with only one sign simply stating "Feng Alchemy". The interior was even smaller than it looked from the outside. Indeed, it was divided into two parts with the shop being quite modest and a room in the back where the alchemy was done. Feng Yingyue invited Cao Yun in and showed him around. In the back, there were many tools to prepare ingredients, many scrolls and books, some of which were scattered around with hand-written notes all over. In the center of the room, there was a big cauldron made of poor-quality metal, covered in burning marks on the bottom and around the top. Clearly, it was very, very old, probably a family heirloom.

Feng Yingyue was really excited as she showed everything to her friend. Unable to stop speaking, her eyes were sparkling and she got into tiny details about her craft. After more than four hours of that, fatigue finally hit the young girl and she brought Cao Yun to the chambers upstairs.

She fidgeted a little in the corridor as she pointed to a door.

"This is my room." She then pointed to another one. "This used to be my father's. But I don't have anywhere else for you to sleep, so..."

Cao Yun saw that it pained her to give away this room to someone.

"I will be very respectful. But if it's really too hard for you, I could always pay for a room in a ..."

"No. It's fine. It's just... It's been almost two years since... Anyway, you must be tired of all this travel, so please do not be reserved."

Cao Yun slowly opened the door and entered the room. It was perfectly clean, showing obvious signs of someone taking great care of it on a daily basis, despite the few months of absence.

Feng Yingyue left the boy to rest as she went back in the shop to tidy up a little before going to sleep herself.

First of all, Cao Yun sat cross-legged on the floor and examined his Lower Dantian with his mind. He could clearly feel it now as if it was a physical organ. The Dantians, the Vessels and the Meridians were energetic construct, usually invisible to the naked eye, but as they got stronger and stronger, it was possible to feel them as if they were tangible objects.

He began to circulate the energy through his 8 Extraordinary Vessels. The goal of the 4th-grade Mortal realm was to temper these Vessels and also to completely open them. Most people would accumulate stress, tensions and even wounds that would hinder the flow of Qi within these Vessels and Meridians. You needed to free them of all these obstructions and reinforce them to bear more energy.

According to the 'Cultivation of Wrath', Cao Yun used his intent to guide the Qi gathered in his Dantian to specific points along his Vessels. He felt heat flowing through his body and some of his fatigue disappeared with it. But there was also a trace of something else. The Drop of Wrath became agitated again and Cao Yun's mind got clouded. It was harder and harder to focus.

The discomfort was not strong enough that it stopped him from cultivating but it was annoying, and a little worrisome. Cao Yun did not want to lost his temper again. He tried to use some Sorrowful Dew Pearl again and its effects were really limited now.

After achieving a small success in his cultivation, Cao Yun finally decided to get to bed. It had been almost four months now, maybe five, since he ever used a soft bed. Strangely it was a little uncomfortable at first as used as he was to sleeping in nature. It took him quite some time but he finally slept.

Alas, his body would know peace but not his mind. He dreamed about fire and blood mixing together in a huge storm destroying his family's mansion. His brother, his father, his mother, his great-grandfather, everyone in the Cao family were being tortured to death by dark shadows within this storm. They were pleading for their lives. Suddenly, his mother turned her eyes toward him.

"You left us to die!"

"No, mother, I... I couldn't do anything..."

"You forgot us!"

"No, I swear, I will... I will find them and..."

"And what?!" A shadow wielding a bloody blade approached him. "What can you do little boy?!"

The blade cut him in half in an instant. Cao Yun looked at his body falling on the ground. When he looked up again, his little sister was held by the shadowy figure.

"I will take my time with her. She will know more than just my blade." An evil laugh came out of the creature.

"No! She's alive! I know she's alive!"

Her little sister answered. "No, brother, you killed me as well. He tortured me for days before ending it and deep down, you know it."

"No! No! You're alive! I know it!"

The shadow kept on talking. "Little boy, go play in the woods with your new friend, and let me play with your sister."

The Cao family appeared all around Cao Yun. "You forgot us!" "You forgot us!" "You forgot us!" ...

"NO!!!"

Suddenly, the storm of fire and blood turned even more violent. Within it, a figure slowly appeared. It had six arms wielding many weapons and its head was strange. As Cao Yun tried to look more closely, he saw two more faces on each side of its head. These three faces all seemed to glare at him and a voice from beyond the grave talked to him.

"They took everything from you! Kill them all! Show no mercy! Use my power!"

Everything else disappeared but these six burning eyes and this grating voice. Staring in these fiery orbs, Cao Yun began to discern scenes of battles, of war and chaos.

Feeling as if he was being engulfed in these scenes, he suddenly woke up, covered in sweat. After calming himself by taking deep breaths, Cao Yun focused his mind in his heart. And there it was, the Drop of Wrath inhabiting his heart was more radiant than before. Cao Yun knew that this creature in his dream came from this Drop of Wrath, he had already felt it the first time it got inside him. This was probably the creature from which it originated.

Once again, Cao Yun felt that it was vital to find ways to calm his mind and his emotions. Otherwise, he could one day get lost in this primal rage.

Putting his worries to the side for now, Cao Yun thought about the situation. His life in the mountains forced him to always be focused on survival but this night inside town had jolted his memories. He had to find out who had attacked his family and what happened to all of them. Maybe his little sister was still alive, there was still hope. Maybe some others had managed to escape too. As long as there was even a tiny bit of hope about that, he would not give up.

And one thing was for sure, he would never forget his family. He would find any survivor if there were and whether it took a year, ten years, a hundred years, or more, he would get justice for those who died that day. To accomplish any of these goals, what he needed was strength, and also, information.