People could make mistakes. I, most of all could make mistakes. Taking a demonic cultivator captive, breaking her cultivation and then asking her to work for me? That was a stupid ass mistake.

  True to my word, I was going to let her lead to her family. Then I was going to let her go.

  This time, It took us awhile to disengage from the blue robes but we were going straight to a manor on the far outskirts of the capital where her parents would frequently take her. If she was to be believed, her father and mother were both fourth round cultivators.

  Min had given me a mean estimate. At the very least, they had taken the life force of hundreds of people to get to that point. Made me sick. Every time there was a missing person's report back in America, I could probably think of why now they were disappearing. If transmigrators went between our world of theirs, calling people here under the pretense of making them Heroes, then I can imagine how many people would fall for that kind of dream.

  After all, like how many people did I know that would have just left the daily grind? People who would at the drop of a hat become an adventurer on a foreign world.

  True, not every single person was like that, but there were enough that it was a trend. It wasn't a good trend.

  No it was a trend though and it was something that we really thought about as we ran to her parents house. There was no time to argue and no time to explain as we made our way across town.

  The roads became a frying pan to my boiling feelings.

  I'd suspected that they were doing this that they were behind this, but I never gotten confirmation. The man that had received an award before me from the emperor himself was my lead suspect. He was almost certainly harboring them.

  I can imagine that. See the thing about people who think that they they are smart cuz they don't stop and interrogate their beliefs. I will be frank with you. I know that I'm a dumbass. That doesn't mean that I'm not always trying to learn s***. I am always trying to learn things.

  But what I'm not doing is making broad sweeping generalizations or statements about things I have no knowledge of or getting in too deep with the mob. Well back on Earth at least,.

  Because there is a way that you think and there was a way that other people think, and if you think that your enemies are thinking the same way as you, then you're definitely wrong. In this case, they kept anticipating what we would do. They anticipated that we were trying to bet Western Jewel. They anticipated that we would try to infiltrate the Red Fang sex spies inside of the blue robes.

  They anticipated that we would have to fight back. They probably didn't anticipate that the manager would join in and render their most powerful cultivators and they'll avoid. They definitely didn't anticipate me advancing so quickly, although I could imagine salivating it the chance of turning into a pill or something.

  No, what I was really thinking about was how was for me to anticipate this enemy's moves and really give them the benefit of the doubt. They thought that they were safe. If they were willing to, then they were for sure thinking that they were safe and they were probably staying back at their happy place.

  So if I have a formation that could be bent for a ulterior motive then perhaps I could use that? Like if we could just trick the enemy into getting into a dampening room or something like that.

  The problem with a room that dampens your key abilities is that it's easy to sense. It'd be simple to to make a little instrument to maintain it while you're inside the fields. But your enemy's not going to go in there willingly. I mean that's what this chart on you and imagine how much they just wasted. Just trying to get you inside of that building.

  The only thing that was left Sandy on that bl block was the the dang building that they had tried trap me into. When they realized I wasn't taking the bait and they'd come out for me, it was over for that. Either. They were going to be stuck in there until we left or they're about to realize that they didn't really like being in close proximity with each other.

  All right. I've got an idea, I said. We slowed down considerably for a minute.

  How long are you going to need to make something like that, because that might be the way.

  In all our time together, have any of the red fang sect ever given us anything? I mean besides the one.

  I wasn't sure to answer that so I turned to zaron. It's Chuck. She kind of represented their entire sect. Now the effect was the institution that we were trying to destroy but...

  After this? I said you're free to go.

  She brightened. You're serious? I can see you're serious. I will... take you seriously.

  Contrary to what you might think, the millions of people that live in the capital weren't all concentrated in the center. They're more concentrated in the South and Southwest. Will the industrial base in the center of the city as well as several high-profile nobles manners taking up way too much space, the more we went to the Northwest, more open the space was. There was no canals here to demarcate. The different blocks and that familiarity that I had with Western Jewel was missing. Still it felt like the central planning committee for both of them had done the same job and that if they had wanted to they could have made canals there. If just to keep the undesirables out. We crested over a hill in between two large estates and that was when zaron pointed out the place that she thought most likely the red Fang were hiding.

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  That's where their estate is but they also own the one next door and behind it due to some chill companies at my parents owned. They would always say that they were going here and then conduct their business in the one behind. And I mentioned this to the blue robes but I don't know if they followed up.

  I couldn't see any police cordon or any activity going on. I would have expected that the emperor's government would have seized the place and then rants acted looking for evidence or just seize it and then resold it to another cultivator. But I didn't know how they would apply sanctions to people. Like clearly the girl had talked to him about this and also clearly I was dealing with the bureaucracy that was at best a malignant tumor on society.

  By now, sun was high in the sky and I was ready for breaking the action. I patted my spirit beast.

  "Min, do you want to go scout that out just stuff some preliminary investigation?"

  "Can I take the new blood?" She asked.

  I paused, considering Xiran. If my spirit beast was with her, of course she would be safe. But if she turned then and it wasn't worth remaining. I would immediately know. I need to stop doubting her and give her the trust. I would give her Just enough rope to hang herself and just enough trust That she could do the honorable thing.

  "So do you want me to make a formation here or somewhere or?" the elder Kang said.

  "Dad, let him think," Egiya said.

  "What do you think?"

  "I'm a bit over this," she responded. "From the time he came into my shop asking me about Scrolls and writing utensils, I've been following your career with interest but I think this right here. I think this is it. I think we've got them."

  "Unless the emperor was one of them."It was a thought that I hadn't wanted to voice aloud.

  It had to be one of the more interesting theories that I had kicked around. After all, as the only eighth cultivator in the entire Empire, he could basically throw his power around however he wanted.

  "I think I'm done too," I said. I want to say I care less about what the government orders me to do and I'm just going to go back and advance until I can see my girls again.

  It might take five years. It might never happen, but I had a way home.

  Everyday I miss them more. All my thoughts about apologizing to Laura and getting back together with her? Those hadn’t stopped when I started dating Lee but the girls would always be my girls.

  There's definitely a way that you could approach a problem like this. There. We were all grouped up looking at this manner. Doing our best to not look conspicuous. We had a thick marble ball just the kind of thing that would keep bad guys at or in our case. Evil guys and then we had probably some guards at the door next to a giant open Gate. There would be a smaller door for the service like there always was and you couldn't really see when the manner existed on the map without stepping besides the walls or flying up the look. And despite there being cultivators in this world, flight was not that common. And I had a feeling I was going to need every single drop of my energy for whatever was happening next. Because for as much as I trusted the imperial intelligence apparatus, time and time again, I've been proven wrong about it. The emperor might be strong on his own, but if the people below him were corrupt then he could only go by that word.

  And there was all the incentive in the world for people to not tell him the truth to make themselves a better. And if he had grown up in this Empire, he probably believed it as well.

  It would be so easy for us to just walk in, but I wanted to Case the place at least for 5 minutes. We had already washed walked with ambush and if what's around was saying was true then perhaps her parents were there and perhaps they had something going on because why would they leave their summer home?

  It wasn't even that far from the center of the Empire. It just was far enough away that the walk was not a quick one and I had wished that we had something like a train or something. But who am I to complain?

  Well I can complain all day and night. And yeah that's definitely the thing that I am able to do.

  Mood: fuck you. I won't do what you tell me.

  For us to circle navigate around the entire estate we would have to walk roughly 2 mi around which you know. Honestly, it gave me the sense that things were so distorted here. Everything was built up on each other in some of the central districts of the capital and because they had pushed out the spirit beast so far using formations they could spread out like this. Was dominated by the sects and the farming apparatus Industry, there was no room for for volley like this. Honestly, somebody needed to come in there and zone that place as a commercial place and charge a full full amount of tax on the whole thing as it was just so wasteful. The fact that humans here had to carve out. I mean literally carve out places to live to survive against the spirit piece and form. Little safety nets of pockets against the darkness just struck home. Like you couldn't live here without having something completely encased in a formation by a cultivator. Otherwise, you'd have to have a sec nearby to protect you from what I heard of the sex and the North, they had to have to protect people.

  These were all thoughts are onto my head as we walked back and forth down the Marvel walls and I remarked several times about how much must it cost. It had to have been so someone sort of cultivation thing that someone had done because who else there was probably not that much Marvel in the world. It had to be painted white stone maybe with a buffed marble imprints but... Perhaps?

  We stopped roughly half a kilometer away from the main entrance where there was a cherry bloss tree that had curiously gotten close enough to threaten the walls with its pedals. Xiran bounded over there. They joyful stuff that I hadn't seen from her before.

  Before I could stop her, she was up to the top of the tree which leaned over the estate. Men was there in a Flash and I let my spare feast do her thing. She was tugging me closer and was she smiling?

  My damn Spirit beast was gritting for ear to ear like she'd seen me in a compromising position and was going to be able to report on that delicious tea, my bestie. Or my ex-wife. As apparently every woman in life preferred her company of mine.

  " Lee, you know I'm not that prideful but do you prefer me or my ex-wife."

  "What an odd thing to ask," She said completely sidesteped the question of hand.

  I did love her but she definitely picked up some of her mannerisms for Maxine and though it was cute and she was a beautiful woman, I did not need to date the same woman twice. She smiled and went to me and my heart melted and I let that one go. Easier for me to Wink a nod at her.

  "What are you two seeing?"

  We got close enough where I could finally make out zaron's face. She looked concerned and I felt for her at that moment.

  But one look once you turn to me said it all. For all their bluster and all they're hiding. There was one thing that her parents would not give up and that was their largesse.

  They were here.