Discovered

*Things like sexism and racism are purely for worldbuilding and to make it more realistic. Thank you for your understanding.*

Nu Li led the four other dragonmen down the empty streets of the slums as their large bodies shook the earth.

Ren had a sour expression on his face as his lower jaw still hung dead and bloodied from his mouth, preventing him from speaking. Long, however, couldn't seem to muster the energy to feel wronged. Even though small sprouts of new horns showed minute traces of regrowing, the largest dragonman's eyes never left the floor.

Shen had a gloating expression as he made eye contact with the scowling Ren, whereas Bai was always expressionless as his white scales shimmered in the moonlight. He was an albino dragonman and he hated the sun, but would never grumble.

Nu Li was ahead of the four as he spoke towards them.

"Master has ordered us to find him a storage ring..." He looked back to face Long and Ren. "...do not disobey me or I will tell Master." His words were extremely threatening and he still has a slight grimace from the massive wound to his back that Long had given him.

Long sighed depressingly and Ren snorted, but Nu Li knew they wouldn't step out of line now. Not now that he was the Head Slave and the brands on the dragonmen now forced them to listen to him too, by order of their Master.

"Right, we will split up and go to the five largest black markets while it's still dark and locate a storage ring. After that, we'll come back and buy it later once we've found one." Nu Li narrated.

Personally, he had only ever seen storage rings on his old masters, and he knew they were extremely powerful, definitely Stage 5. He didn't know how hard it would be to get his hands on one so he wanted the other slaves to inquire first.

Bai had already slipped away quietly while Shen nodded his head before turning back in the other direction. Ren wanted to be the last one to leave, however, it seemed Long wasn't going anywhere so he stomped off angrily.

Nu Li could see Long had taken a massive blow. The dragonman with an incredibly pure bloodline was also incredibly proud, so having his horns snapped off like that crushed his spirit. They would grow back, but it was the sheer humiliation that ate away at Long.

Nu Li glanced at him coldly. He didn't think himself a bad person, but he wasn't a fool either. Long had caused him a lot of trouble and seeing him suffer like this put a smile on Nu Li's face.

"I'm going." Nu Li said. And without waiting for an answer, he burst off and stopped caring about Long.

Nu Li reached one of the largest black markets in an instant. Coincidently, it was the one where he was bought from and where he spent most of his life in that cage.

Walking through the wades of appropriately hooded cultivators, it wasn't a strange sight to see dragonmen and other branded slaves walking about. Now that Nu Li was free, he had no bother holding his head high on behalf of his master.

Nu Li walked over to a large passage that led underground. Twelve people could walk in side by side and it seemed that way most of the time as the entrance was always extremely busy. Nu Li knew this as one of the largest merchants and auctioneers within the black market, but he'd never been in.

Walking down the gentle slope, a vast expanse of trade filled his vision. The place was only half-underground and people's heads would still be above the ground level outside. Nu Li saw artefacts, defensive and offensive treasures, notes on formations and pills are sold by the dozens every second. There were hundreds of desks with purple-robed workers patrolling for customers.

Nu Li walked up to a Stage 1 woman walking around and he got her attention. She smiled intoxicatingly at him, but Nu Li didn't have a taste for human females.

Without wasting time, Nu Li spoke to her.

"I'm looking for a storage ring."

His voice struck her like a hammer as she recoiled before smiling strangely. She looked over to the main desks for a second before directing her gaze back up at the large dragonman.

"Ahem, I'm sorry, but I can't offer you any of those. However, we have many other things available for purchase..."

Nu Li frowned heavily as he took a small step towards the woman and sounded very annoyed as he insisted.

"What do you mean you can't offer those? So you have them, yes? I'm looking to buy one on behalf of my master." Nu Li proclaimed as his raised voice attracted the attention of the surrounding cultivators. However, seeing such a proud slave that was also so strong, they could only imagine the master behind.

"Sorry, uhm..." The woman took a step back and looked over to the main desks nervously, creases forming in her pale skin. Nu Li directed his animalistic eyes over to the desks she was looking at and saw some stronger purple-robed cultivators standing there.

He pushed his way past the woman and almost knocked her over as his huge physique stomped toward the desk. It wasn't the woman he was annoyed with, it was the fact that he was denied an item. This was a merchant house wasn't it, he thought.

Arriving at the desk, it was impossible for Nu Li to go unnoticed as he was staring unceasingly at the closest attendant, making them annoyed. Over at this desk, all the workers were Stage 3, but Nu Li could tell he could slaughter every single one of them if it was one on one.

"Can I help you?" A worker with short black hair and a clean-shaven face asked.

"Yes, I'm looking to buy a storage ring. I don't care about the price." As soon as Nu Li's beak-like maw parted to speak the words, the man's face contorted as he glared at the Stage 1 woman in the background, her face paling.

"I don't know what you've heard, but we don't sell those here. Please leave." The worker said stalely as others behind the desk glared at Nu Li with vicious eyes.

"I'm buying on behalf of my master. I'm not leaving so just run back and fetch me a storage ring." Nu Li spoke the words with a dangerous aura as his hands were placed on the desk and his claws scraped across the wood audibly.

The worker looked very displeased and he was about to speak again before a hand was placed on his shoulder.

He turned his head to look, expecting his fellow workers to be there, however, seeing a smiling youth his body instantly tensed up as he quickly bowed his head before stepping away rapidly.

Nu Li watched the scene unfold with narrowed eyes and placed his gaze on the youth who had replaced the worker. Faced with his gaze, the youth smiled amiably and flashed his perfect teeth as his eyes wrinkled.

"Who are you?" Nu Li said coldly, feeling no strength from the youth at all.

"I am the owner of this here merchant establishment, Jiang." The younger man smiled goofily as he looked at the stoic Nu Li. He wore an upper robe with a hood that was currently down and tight trousers that showed off his lean and flexible legs.

"I hear you're looking for one of these?" Jiang said as he raised his right hand that had two rings on each finger, every ring shining with golden inscriptions that showed they weren't ordinary at all. His other hand was littered with rings too, making him look especially wealthy.

Nu Li's eyes lit up seeing two dozen space rings right before him. He subconsciously leant in which made Jiang smile gleefully, his eyes permanently shut in a grin.

"Yes, I need to purchase a space ring. Name the price." Nu Li said without hesitation as he was having trouble parting his gaze with the many rings.

Jiang smiled before he stepped back and put on an obviously-fake troubled expression as he leaned onto the desk and sighed. "Well, you see, these rings aren't normally sold to the masses. They are given out to high-ranking members of huge forces under normal circumstances. To just come and buy one..." Jiang shrugged his shoulders as Nu Li licked his lips and dryly swallowed.

"Just name your price, whatever it is." Nu Li said unwaveringly.

A glint flashed past Jiang's eyes as he pushed himself off the desk and stood straight. "You're here for your master? You never know, I might be able to give you one a lot easier if he's Stage 5. In fact, why don't you bring him to me, yeah?" Jiang said as convincingly as possible, however, a scared look flashed in Nu Li's eyes as he inched backwards for a moment.

Jiang's smile widened as he saw Nu Li flinch and now look like he wanted to get away. His eyes drifted to a shimmering black claw that was worn around Nu Li's neck but his eyes weren't visible so no one could tell what he was thinking.

"I'll come back with him..." Nu Li lied through his teeth and Jiang could instantly tell. The dragonman shuttled around and quickly left the merchant house, leaving Jiang to stand there with workers gazing at his back.

However, his expression was nothing like before. An unprecedented cold and annoyed expression were upon Jiang's face as there was an immensely sharp glint in his eyes.

'That's six right-handed claws. That creature is not dead.' Little Jiang thought coldly. Nothing in the slums would escape the clutches of Jiang and his Big Boss, including the claws that had been used as payments all over the place.

It wasn't cause for concern until this moment, when Jiang counted the sixth right-handed claw from a memorably five-fingered creature...

Obviously, it was not dead and there was something going on here. Boss Zheng had told Jiang to stay out of the mysterious master of the dragonmen's business. But now that he had seen this, he must investigate for himself.

'After all, Zheng, if I can find your rare beast for your quota I'll only be helping, hehe.' Jiang chuckled at his thoughts before his figure instantly faded into the background without being noticed.

...

Qing Fang had his eyes closed in diligent cultivation. It had only been a few hours into his two-month-long seclusion in which he hoped to break through to Stage 3.

He was peaceful and silent as he sat in the circular depression caused by his first tribulation and settled his mind into a meditative state.

Winter was ongoing, however, it was a new year on the mortal calendar a few weeks ago and Year 91,857 had started. It would be Qing Fang's twenty-fifth birthday during his seclusion, however, he would've never celebrated even one of them if it wasn't for his sister, Qing Bai.

However, Qing Fang suddenly stopped cultivating abruptly as he felt there was something seriously wrong...

He looked to his injured soul and the five golden runes that lay just beside it. Only now, one of the runes was splintering and cracking. Under Qing Fang's senses, one of the runes shattered into a golden nothingness that dissipated into his dark soul space.

His eyes opened and they narrowed soon after.

'One of the slaves has been killed... Hmm, it was the white one. I thought they were strong enough to avoid natural calamities, but it seems not. It can't be that they have been linked to me, I have not been looked upon by a living person, except for...'

Qing Fang thought of Chu Hua and then those two Stage 5s he fought months ago. Explosion path and Sound path, he remembered. They were both higher Stage 5 and even now Qing Fang could not best them one on one.

He had not heard from or seen them since, and he didn't know if they were looking for him. But it was doubtful.

Qing Fang was snapped out of his thoughts, however, when another golden rune started to shake violently before exploding into pieces and falling into nothing, severing the "essence" branding that linked them.

Qing Fang felt a slight threat of danger as he had the urge to flee...

However, it was at this time that the door to the house opened suddenly and Nu Li barged in before lowering himself to the floor.

"Master! Forgive this lowly one, but it seems I failed in getting you a storage ring!" Nu Li's voice came from against the floor and it sounded like he was bawling. He probably thought he would be punished like Ren and Long were.

"Tell me more." Qing Fang said. He felt as though the events were linked to the danger he was feeling. It felt far away right now, so he didn't fret too much.

"I went to the merchant's trade, but they told me that only Stage 5s of huge forces are allowed them! Then they were asking me about you, master, and your strength! That's when I left!" Nu Li shouted like he was scolding himself.

"Hmm, no matter." Qing Fang said as Nu Li raised his head when he continued. "But I do have a very important task for you..."

"Yes, master?" Nu Li responded dutifully.

"Go to the marshes beyond the walls of the city to the east and venture deep into the rest of this ravine. Find a hidden spot far within and wait for me there." Qing Fang said as he could see the worry arise within the dragonman's eyes.

"Go now."

"Y-yes master!" Nu Li stuttered, jumping up and barging through the door before jumping off into the deep night.

'I hope those marshes are accommodating enough.' Qing Fang thought as he watched yet another golden rune crumble into pieces weakly. That only left the purest dragonman, Long, as well as Nu Li from his slaves. It made Qing Fang sigh at the wasted time, but he threw the thoughts away as he felt something.

His eyes shining with a glaring red, Qing Fang looked beyond the walls of the house and hundreds of meters into the distance. There, a shining mass of red Laws seemed locked on his location and approaching at a high speeds.

From this, it was obvious he had been discovered.

Qing Fang closed his calm and serene eyes slowly and opened them a second later. Only now, his pupils had enlarged as only a feeling of danger and slaughter as well as pure killing intent could be felt!

...

Nu Li ran from the house at his highest speeds as he couldn't help but feel incredibly nervous.

'What was wrong with master and him ordering this? Is the city no longer safe? Has something happened?' Nu Li thought chaotically as he couldn't help but look back at that house from the corner of his eyes every once in a while.

He was approaching the Eastern wall at a fast pace, however, it would still take him ages just to make it to the wall. After that, he planned to head deep into the beast infested marshes that no one ventured into, looking for a safe place.

Suddenly, however, Nu Li halted atop a rooftop as he turned his body to look back at that house where his master stayed. His figure stood straight and unsure as the moonlight cascaded down and lit up his shocked expression.

A huge beastly roar came from exactly where his master lay!

Then, under Nu Li's incredulous gaze, the entire house exploded from the inside and wood splattered everywhere as a huge demon-looking monster stood straight and roared to the sky! His massive wings were spread as his claws and fangs were bared, his monstrous eyes locking onto a small figure way up in the sky!

Nu Li gulped as he could feel the monstrous majesty from a mile away. His master looked terrifying as his wingspan of forty meters swayed powerfully and sent out shockwaves that blasted through the air!

The surrounding houses were blown away into nothingness and their sleeping inhabitants were crushed into sprawls of wet flesh that flew through the air in pieces! An area of tens of meters was made into an empty wasteland!

A terrifying Stage 5 aura was thrust forth from his master which shocked Nu Li out of his reverie! He instantly turned around and ran for the marshes as fast as he could go!

...

"Hahaha! I knew it, beast! You're alive! Ahaha!!" A crazed voice came from the night sky above Qing Fang as Little Jiang surfaced from the darkness. Shining eyes came from beneath the hood as tens of pea-sized balls of unstable fire spun around him at great speeds, leaving blazing trails in the air.

Qing Fang frowned viciously as Little Jiang only smiled wider, his eyes wide-open in euphoria! He hadn't even sat down for seclusion and now something like this happened. But, this was going to happen sooner or later, Qing Fang thought.

At that moment a rain of small daggers of blood came from below and shot at Jiang, however, he just smiled and it all evaporated into nothingness...

"How strange!" Jiang shouted laughingly as he clearly sensed middle Stage 2 cultivation in those attacks, but there was clearly a middle Stage 5 monster before him!

Qing Fang merely snorted as his fangs were bared in a distorted smile before his wings were forced powerfully and he thrust into the air with a thunderclap! This speed was nearly threefolds than the last time the two fought!

A large explosion started to manifest between them, reeking of savage power. Qing Fang had a steely look on his gloomy face as he charged right towards it with his claws bared!

*3,024/3,000 words*