The guy seemed to be a leader of a small group of thieves, they seem to have done this kind of work many times before, he would be the one to lure someone in the trap and the other 6 people who were in the 7th to the 8th layer of Flesh Tempering will be the one responsible for the exploiting .
Yes, those guys weren't aiming to kill people, they wanted to steal some money and then they will let you go, I understand that the issue was related to money and I instantly tried to compromise with them, a problem that can be solved with money, can't be called a problem at all, especially with the wealth I currently have .
But they seemed to have misunderstood my actions as me being a weak Young Master from around here, meaning that in their eyes my actions were nothing but an indication that I was a good sheep waiting to be slaughtered, they become more domineering and even tried to grab the money by force .
Not caring in the slightest about their circumstances or feelings, I directly made my sword display its strength and cut all of them using Mental Strength to control the sword, they were so terrified that they even forgot about everything and just fainted on the ground .
The last member of them, their leader came to check on the loot, but just as he saw me standing there in the middle of the 6 unconscious people on the ground, he directly used a weird movement skill and disappeared from the place, not caring in the slightest about his team .
But this has nothing to do with me, the only thing that was of a bit of interest, was that skill he used, it should be a good movement skill, if even my senses weren't being able to detect where he had gone .
Discarding the thought of catching him for revenge, I directly stepped out of the room that surprisingly had no guard guarding it, I didn't know what was special about this part of the Secret Doors, nor did I cared to .
All what was currently on my mind was to check the whereabouts of the two, reaching the city gate, I saw plenty of towers and patrol teams, we were currently at night, the gate was closed, but I still at least wanted to try and find about whether they left or not .
It seem that I will still need to go and find Liu'er for the information I needed after my business here is finished, I approached one of the guards at the gate and gave them the description of the two, they have ridiculous look on their faces, but even so, I still withdraw a silver tael from the pouch and bribed the two of them into talking .
Accepting the money, they said that they will go to check first with the guards that safekeeping was responsible for guarding the gates during the day, as these guys in front of me were only responsible for the nightshift .
After some time seemed to pass, with one of the two guards leaving the post discreetly to ask for news, luckily he didn't take much time and came back and said that there were indeed some guy that fits my description, but he had no one accompanying him, the guards also mentioned that he seemed to be quite down at that time .
His luggage was rather shabby and the guards working during the morning shift believed that he was one of the lunatics that will throw their life away and enter the Pit seeking fortune, only to end up sacrificing themselves to the Monsters there in vain .
These guys seemed to have chatted for quite sometime about Li Fu, but after getting the information needed, I directly went back to the place where we split up yesterday, the bustling street came into my view and after swallowing a Blood Qi Recovery Pill, running across the street of the city for such an extended period of time was quite taxing .
My Mental strength reserve seemed to be running quite low as well, so it's better not use it anymore for the night, reaching the bustling street, I began to hear some whisper talking about some people disappearing overnight .
I first thought nothing of it, after all no matter whether I liked it or not, this was a normal thing in this world, only after I heard one particular information did my interest got piqued, the family which had disappeared consisted of 4 members .
2 Parents and 2 siblings, one of the siblings was said to have been missing for a day and half, others were saying that she was missing for over a week and the rumors began to become out of hand more and more .
I couldn't help but sense that something might be sought from this conversation so I kept listening to what they were saying, the people gossiping here mentioned that they saw a green glow in the late night, one that illuminated the whole city and other people began to swear that they had even heard the call of the phoenix, just to be ridiculed by others .
Dragons and Phoenixes were the symbols of strength, majestic, benevolent, but that was all that they were, Symbols, in this part of the dynasty and even in the entire continent, no one had ever said to have seen one, that's why they were treated more like myths and nothing more .
So someone suddenly mentioning that he had heard them is be expected to be ridiculed quite a lot, all this didn't concern me in the slightest, all that caught my attention was the detail about one of the 4 family members were missing and the fact that there was such a big scene like that .
There was also the fact that they described the glow color to be green, my mind couldn't help but recall something that I didn't dwell much on it before, that girl Liu'er had green glow around her whenever she moved before, unable to contain my curiosity anymore, I directly barged into their conversation and said cautiously :
" Is by any chance the girl who was presumed missing named Liu'er ? .
My sudden intervention caught all of them off guard, but it wasn't that much of an issue to the people gossiping, one of them was an old woman who apparently know more about the others, after she heard me she nodded her head weakly and cautiously said :
Yes, that sweet girl had gone missing for almost a day and a half, but it seem that she was just out for some fresh air with a boy that paid the family visits from time to time, I live next to them and saw the two siblings grow up .
Hearing what the old woman was saying I couldn't help but pick an empty chair and say with a concerned voice :
" Madame, I'm trying to reach her, so I was hoping that you can help me .
As I said this, the woman suddenly seemed to be scared out of her wit, her eyes suddenly become blurry and I was beginning to fear that the woman would actually die on me from how pale she was currently .
I gave her enough time to catch her breath and after she took 4 minutes or maybe 3, she finally came back to her senses and she offered me a sad smile that was enough for me to know that something was wrong here and said :
Follow me, I will let you see it for yourself .
Huh, where are you going, we won't pay you until you tell us all that happened .
I felt quite confused about what was taking place in front of me, but then seeing the old woman bruises and burns from under the tattered robe, her hair was disheveled and some of her hair seemed to have been burnt as well, I began to feel more and more unease .
Well, you can hear it from any of the people here, they all have seen it .
The old woman said this and began heading forward cutting through the crowds, after hearing her words, I couldn't help but keenly look at my surroundings, I was able to see many disheveled, bruised and severely injured people, these guys looked as if they had gone through a great calamity .
Looking at them, it was difficult to describe their current state as surviving, if I'm not wrong, then weird glow was linked to Liu'er, that glow also may be the reason for the difficult state of the people here, I had also understood what the people here was doing .
They were trying to salvage any amount of money or anything that may help them to survive for another day by selling the story they all had witnessed a bit with some extra details, that was what the old woman was trying to do as well as all the others .
I didn't know how to react to this kind of information, all I can do is to follow the old woman and know what had happened to Liu'er and if Li Fu was part of it or not .
The old woman didn't say a word until we have reached our destination, how were I able to tell, well it was easy to spot, considering how many people and guards were gathered in one place, I was still unable to see what had happened there, so even before leaving the old woman to say anything, I told her to follow me .
I was able to cut through the crowds enough to see what had become of this place where Liu'er should have lived with her family, I couldn't help but widen my eyes as I saw what have become of that area .
There was nothing in the parameter of 1 k.m or so, nothing as in complete nothingness, no homes, buildings, walls, roads, there was nothing, not only there was no clear structure above the ground, but even the ground that these structures should have been built on was no more .
The current scene in front of me was a hollowed piece of land that seemed to have suffered through both hurricane and earthquake, the whole area seemed to have been dug out, other than a few traces of broken windows and items in the depth of that digged hole, people would even doubt that someone used to live here not to mention a whole district .
We didn't know what happened too, all I remember was seeing Liu'er's father and mother distributing candies on the neighbors for their girl safe return, we accepted the candy and then after a period of time, we began hearing the earth beneath us started to tremble .
Then we heard the loud and sharp whistling of air, most of us understood that something bad was happening, so we fled from our houses in a hurry, but just as we stepped out of our home, a strong cyclones of wind began to move us around like dried branches, then a big green glow appeared from the neighbor's house, Liu'er house .
Then as if we were in a firestorm that was caused by the breath of dragons in the myths, a fire started and then all the area was on fire, the buildings on fire were uprooted and were being thrown at those who once lived inside them .
This was the last thing we saw before the city guards appear and helped many of us get out of the harm way, when we regained our conscious back, we found the place like this, almost no one had died, but most of who survived wished that they did .
After we witnessed what happened to the area we once lived in, only then did people accepted their fates even if they were still bitter about it, Liu'er family house was in the center of this cursed hole, this is where they lived before, those guys are the only missing ones .
As I was engraving the details of the scene in front of me into my mind, I heard the old woman beside me say all this without even taking a breath, hearing her words my initial shock only increased, I directly without saying a word get passed the guards and without paying attention to their orders for me to get back .
I directly tried to descend into the center of that hollowed land, but just as I was about to descend, a hand was suddenly pulling me back, I turned and saw that the hand belonged to one of high ranking officers that were guarding this place, with an angry expression on his face he said :
Who let this crazy person in, you where do you think you are going, the place underneath is still filled with chaotic strange energy, not to mention that you didn't even look that strong, but even a Marrow Cleansing Realm expert would be shred to pieces by that energy, believe me you wouldn't like to get down there at the moment, get out of here .
I can tell that this guy didn't have any bad intentions and he was just trying to do his job and was might even trying to help me as well, but even though I too felt that the energy inside that place was chaotic and dangerous, maybe even more than he was .
I had retorted to use my Mental Energy a few minutes after I had told myself not, for the sole reason of wanting to inspect that place, after hearing what the old woman said, my head was bustling with questions .
I had no clue about what exactly took place here, heck even those who were here didn't know much other than the fact that hell broke loose after that weird glow appeared, then after everything was over, all what remained in this place was a chaotic and quite sharp energy that forbade anyone to reach the center of that hole .
No one was reported to have died, but the whole family of Liu'er had disappeared together with her perhaps, or maybe only her family was the only unfortunate people who met their end in this crisis .
Either way, the things that are certain for me now was, first, Li Fu sudden departure from the city must be linked to Liu'er, he might have even witnessed what happened yesterday more clearly .
Second, Liu'er, that girl current whereabouts are unknown, so depending on her to find Li Fu and Zi Xue now is out of reach
Third, Liu'er should most likely have something to do with the incident that befell this city and all of its people, the green glow was the only clue I found that seemed to support this conclusion .
Fourth, Li Fu and Zi Xue should have crossed a quite the long distance by now, so even if I were travel day and night, I won't be able to catch up with them, not to mention that I had no clue where did they go, so finding them would be even more difficult .
Fifth, whatever things that had taken place yesterday, no one seemed to actually parish or anything even close to that, otherwise, I don't think Li Fu would have enough time to tell me that he was leaving, so that was a bit of relief .
Sixth, this is my own hopeful thoughts, but I believe that whatever energy was at bottom of the hole, I think it should have a clue about the sudden disappearance of the family and Li Fu sudden leave .
Those were all the clear thoughts I managed to gather in regard of this situation, whatever was that energy at the center of that hole and at the deepest level of it, this should be the only clue I might be able to have, if I at least hoped to see Zi Xue again and take responsibility for what I did before .
I wonder if the quickened heartbeat in my chest at recalling her was liking, adorning, responsibility, or maybe just pure love and adoration, the woman had a divine level kind of beauty and charm, so if I had fallen for her charm, I wouldn't mind in the slightest .
Even if she were to refuse me, I will still keep trying to reach her and help her out, no matter how difficult her situation be, that's a promise that I'm willing to made and swear upon honoring it with my Martial Heart .
As this resolve reappeared again, I find myself making such an oath in my mind, but even though I made this oath only to her and myself, I have heard the crackling sound of thunder coming from the sky above me, then the sound of notifications rang in my mind .
() .
Telling me that it remove the negative effects that was binding me to this oath, like increasing the difficulty of making breakthroughs, comprehension of Martial Arts and the Birth Of Inner Demon and on and on .
Hearing these notifications, I understood the words that Senior Brother Fu had told me, about how every word and oath the Martial Practitioner say or make might end up shackling his Martial Path for the rest of his life, so that what he meant, as the saying goes, it's best to experience it yourself than reading or hearing about it a thousand times .
But it seem that my Panel had a kind of heaven-defying authority, even making such oaths won't be able to affect me, but even though the promise wasn't binding me in the slightest, I still felt my heart was shackled, maybe that was just my guilt, I'm not sure .
Back to my senses after hearing the sound of crackling thunder that only continued for a second or two, I found that I was still being caught by the hand of that high ranking officer, he even tried to throw me away like a ragdoll, but he was surprised to see that I was completely unmoving, so he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at me, seeing him like this I said :
" Sorry, but today I will descend to the bottom of that hole, NO MATTER WHAT .