Chapter 0077

Three men exit the private room with a gloomy air. They knew it was a shot in the dark, coming to a of all places an unsavory high-class entertainment tavern, but they were desperate and were out of ideas.

The two men dressing in a black tunic and leather pants, resembling high class body guards favored in low budget films Hollywood churns out here and there tried to console a man dress in a purple robe embroidered with a silver leaves.

“Don’t despair, young master Mu. I’m sure we will find Lady Legrade soon. You have to give it time.”

“Don’t try to comfort me with empty words, De’Art. I know what happens to missing girls just as much as you do. Time was never on our side. If they were able to transport Marrisa out of the city before we catch them, then there no chance we’ll ever find them.” The young man shrugged off the comforting words.

He knew the longer it takes for them to find Marrisa, the more dire the consequence. They’d be lucky if the kidnapper didn’t defile the missing girls when they get the chance.

All the kidnapped girls share the similar characteristic. They were all young, beautiful virgins. Young master Mu pray they find a lead soon as he clung to the idea that the kidnappers wouldn’t want to damage the merchandise, yet the longer they wait, the greater the chance the kidnapper would leave the city.

The sheer utter audacity of the kidnappers struck fear into the hearts of young master Mu.

Marissa Legrade was not only the daughter of the city lord, she was also his fiancee. The other girls also have strong background. One of the girls missing was the favored granddaughter of an Elder of the Dark Forest Sect, a medium size sect in the Heavenly Mountains and another girl was the eldest daughter of the Knaught family. The head of the Knaught family was the leader of the Bloody Knight Guild, a medium size guild in the Magus Alliance.

For an organization to come into their own territory and brazenly kidnapped the girls without fearing the wrath of the involved party, they have to have a strong backer and a vast transportation or intelligence network.

Young master Mu was aware of his powerlessness for the first time in his life. The Mu clan might not be as prominent as the six major clans in the Heavenly Mountains, the Li, Feng, Ji, Yang, Yun or Zhao clans but they were a strong clans with many strong elders at the Nascent Soul and Dao Path stage as well as a Celestial Immortal who has yet to ascend. Their foundations might not be as strong as other mid-size clans but they can hold their heads high without worry of being bullied.

Young master Mu was not a diligent cultivator, relying on his family resources to live. He didn’t have a high ambition. All he wanted was to marry his childhood sweetheart, Marrisa Legrade and take over the Mu branch in the region and sire many many offsprings as his future wife was willing.

“Nothing has happened to Lady Legrade yet. We will find her before anything happens to her. I can sense it.” the other black clad man said with conviction.

“Forgive me if I don’t believe in the Du clan’s divination arts.”

“It is not necessary for you to believe or not as long as I believe in it.” the man from the Du clan replied with stoic aplomb.

He was used to the skepticism cultivators show towards the divination art of the Du clan. Divination arts are not as strong as the karma techniques or the prophetic vision technique of the Rhi clan, but divination has an advantage over the other two arts. Practitioners of divination arts can sense their destiny and use it to avoid certain death.

In the Ethereal Depths, the Du clan is one the most prosperous clan with deep foundation and a vast information network.

The Du clan is also more willing to work with others. Compared to the Se clan or the Rhi clan, the Du clan is downright friendly.

“Hellios Du Threck, tell me how anyone can believe the words of your Du clan’s divination art?” Young master Mu asked then recited,

“A house of flesh, their path cross.

Infatuation and whisper of wind, lead to sin.

A devourer arise, chains of convenience cut.”

Hellios Du Threck said nothing. Even though he practises the Du clan’s divination art along with the other members of his clans, his experience deciphering the results is less than stellar. Furthermore, the divination performs for this case didn’t come from the members of his family residing in this city. It came directly from the clan patriarch in the main house in the Ethereal Depths.

Aside from doing business in various domains, the Du clan keeps a low profile.

This time is different. Very different.

The divination young master Mu recited came from a great elder after performing the divination arts for the last three hundred years.

Such divination has the probability of changing the destiny of the entire Cardinal Realm! As such, all members of the Du clan were ordered to investigate the kidnapping. They were to do everything in their power to find the girls and return them to their home.

“We spent the last three days watching the brothel her because of garbled nonsense from an unreliable skill.”

“Our clan’s divination skill might see unreliable at first - oof.” Helios tried to explain but a little midget with black hair dressed in worn clothes that had seen better days ran into him.

“Help. Please help. Mu clan… mole on left shoulder.”

Young master Mu immediately took action, carrying the little girl into the room they just vacated. The other two immediately followed.

He settled the little girl into their private room and covered her with a blanket he pulled out of his space bag.

De’Art opened the door to order some refreshment but a glare from young master Mu stopped his actions. He hastily closed the door and studies the little girl young master Mu brought into the room.

The little girl’s long black hair was messy and tangled like she hadn’t combed it days, soft white skin smear in mud here and there and beautiful black eyes that darted to the door then back towards them.

She was eying them like they were starved lions while she was a nice fat juicy steak, full of wariness and distrust.

“Have some tea to settle your nerves.” Young master Mu kindly offered the young girl a of tea he warmed up using a fire spell.

The little girl took the proffered cup with shaky hands, sniff the cup suspiciously before downing the cup in a gulp then immediately gave it back to young master Mu. Everyone saw the little girl pretend to wipe her mouth while spitting the tea onto her sleeve.

“My name is Mu Jin. They guy with the blond hair over there is Derek De’Art and the white hair man is Helios Du Threck.”

“You are Mu Jin from the Mu clan?” the little girl looks up in surprised when the young master Mu mention his full name.

“Yes.”

“You have to help Issa!” the little girl grabbed Mu Jin sleeve and begged with teary eyes and she began to ramble. “They grabbed me off the street and stuff me in a cage. There was a lot of girls in there with me. Issa was right next to me. She told me she was the daughter of the city lord, and her father will move heaven and earth to find her. Please go help everybody!”

“Where are they?”

“How did you get here?”

The little girl ignores Derek De’art in favor of Mu Jin’s question. “They are in the building next door. The guards said something about moving us with the troupe after they finish with their performances here. Something about Vynn lady isn't wanting to associate with trash if she didn’t have to.”

The trio looked at each other in confusion.

The building next door was own by the Ying conglomerate, a merchant group based in the Mysterious Wasteland but has branches in all four domains.

Although cultivators from the Mysterious Wasteland have an unusual marriage and alliance system that can confuse anyone not born and raised in the domain, they tend to adhere to rules and regulation of other domains.

Whenever merchants from the Wasteland come out to do business in the other realms, they always position themselves in the stronger position and bargain for better goods at cheaper prices. They also insist on a contract or a receipt for every sale. Every. Sale.

They claim it is part of their way of doing business and also because their legislative and penal system is so strict that anyone found breaking the law is subjected to harsh punishment regardless of their identity. Therefore, all sales of all good must have a receipt or contract.

The issue with the kidnapping reached a point where everyone searched everywhere regardless of their reputation. Mu Jin was there when he and his men searched the warehouse next door. They didn’t find a cellar either, so when the little girl said she escaped from the cellar in the building next door, they were confused.

“We didn’t find anything when we searched the building previously.” Derek De’art immediately debunked her story. There were too many holes in the little girl’s story for him to believe her.

The little girl nodded like a hen pecking rice. “The guard said there was a Mind Meld Formation put in place so no one could find us no matter how they search.”

Mu Jin immediately understood what was going on. A Mind Meld Formation a level two formation used to trick the people into believing they did something already. It isn’t complex to set up the formation nor is it hard for to break the formation if a cultivator knows what to look for.

However the mental acuity of the cultivators in the other three realm isn’t high enough to discern mind type formation set up by a cultivator who cultivates the mind as their immortal potential.

“Guards are trained not to talk.”

“Not when they are molesting one of the girls in the case.” the little girl countered.

Finally hearing news about his fiancee only to realize she could still be in trouble spurred Mu Jin to rally his family to his cause. He immediately left the room with a confused Derek De’art on his trail.

“There are too many suspicious points in the girl’s story, young master Mu. We should interrogate her some more.”

“I only call Marissa Issa when we are alone. If she wanted to lie to me, she would call Marrissa Rissa like the rest of friends and family. The mole on her shoulders… well she knew had a mole there because I told her about it. It is enough for me to go back and search the building over again.” Mu Jin explained then immediately head for the city lord mansion. The city lord has a greater incentive than the Mu clan to find the missing girls.

Helios Du Threck watched the two leave, then turn to study the little girl before him. He made a grand bow before saying, “When you enter the Ethereal Depths in the future, please think of Du clan.”

Having said the words the elders of the Du clan wanted him to say, he closed the door on his way out.

Your acting was horrible Tempest. If they weren’t desperate to save the girls, they would lock you up and torture you.

“Yeah, yeah. I know, but desperate people will grasp at straws.”

A drowning man will grasp at straws.

“Whatever. Do you know what that guy meant when he said to think of the Du clan when I go to the Ethereal Depths?”

Not precisely. The Du clan specialized in divination. They always act in a cryptic manner.

“After dealing with Aria Se Jivock, I don’t really want to set foot in the Ethereal Depths anytime soon.”

“Look for the damn little girl. She shouldn’t have wandered far.” The high-pitched voice of Madam Vynn alerted Tempest. She thought she should have more time to cause a little trouble then get out of here.

She overestimated her abilities. She won’t do it again.

Tempest peeked out the door and made a dash for it when no one was looking. She wasn’t fast enough to get out of the second floor before someone came up and had to duck into one of the rooms when she heard one of the servants frantically heading her way.

Tempest was immediately embraced from behind and a sensual voice purred into her ears, “I didn’t realize when they said a young master was interested in me, they really meant young.”

Tempest turned around to confront the woman holding her when she was caught in the gaze of a beautiful woman with black eyes no light could escape from.

“You have beautiful eyes.” Tempest spoke before she realizes what she was saying.

The sentences startle the woman, adding a hint of color to the flawless white skin.

The two continued to stare at each other daze until a knock interrupted their trance.

“Beauty, the young master will come soon. Hurry and get ready.” The hoarse urge the epitome of Asian beauty before Tempest’s eyes then immediately left to watch the hallway for the expected young master.

Surprise flashed to those pitch black eyes. “Your not the young master?”

“I’m a girl.” Tempest protest indignantly.

“Women come here too.”

“A young master implies a male.”

Long silky black hair fell over an exposed collar bone as the enchanting woman shrugged her shoulders. “Women dress as men all the time.”

It was then that Tempest realize the woman before is a courtesan. Prostitutes or whores is too trashy to describe this woman’s elegance. She was dressed one of those exotic off the shoulder slinky black dress a Hollywood actress would be happy to wear on the red carpet. The material clung to the woman’s curves in all the right places while emphasizing her slim waist and long, long legs.

Knock. Knock. “Are you ready yet?”

“Soon.”

“Be ready fast. He’s at the entrance.”

“Beauty,” another voice called from the other side of the door, “is there anyone else in there aside from you? A black hair black eyes girl mistakenly wandered in here and her guardians are urgently searching for her.”

Tempest pleaded with her eyes and shook her head. She didn’t know the beauty saw in her, but she heeded her pleas. She grabbed Tempest and shoved her into the closet before opening the door wide to show she was alone. “I’ve been alone in the room the whole night getting ready.”

“It is my honour to hear the number one beauty anticipating my visit.” A deep masculine voice cut into the conversation.

“Oh no, young master, the honour is mine. Please come in.”