A month soon passed, and their manor is now nearly complete.

Two letters rest on their wooden table. The first letter is from Jim, politely inviting Kairos to come to his family’s mansion.

The manner of speech in the letter sounded more like an outsider than the brother he knew. And instantly, the young Viscount knew that his friend is crying for help. Something must have occurred in the Hope mansion.

The second letter is from someone he did not expect. Yi Jian, the Disciplinarian Head Instructor and god-father of

Jones.

In this letter, the Head Instructor said that a powerful immortal had come to the Solitary Blades clan seeking Jones, but unfortunately, the boy had never returned. They waited as long as they could until they realise that something had gone wrong. The last persons that saw him were Kairos’ group.

With his heart beating wildly, Kairos stepped out of his manor in a hurry. The news of two of his brothers requiring help has started a storm in his heart.

“Who should I go to first? ...Jim’s place, he is closer!”

There wasn’t much hesitation in making his decision. The location of Jones is currently unknown, and that means he does not know where to start seeking his brother immediately. Besides that, it isn’t just a day or two that he went missing. Whatever leads that are left would have already turned cold.

As Vouno is in the middle of close-door cultivation, he did not bother to disturb his father and instead only left a letter then rushed out of his manor. However, just as he stepped out of the door, he felt the presence of several people nearby. It would seem that they had been present for a while now, but in his hurry, he failed to notice them until now.

Kairos walked calmly over to a hidden location near his place. He stopped amid many large natural boulders that looked like a forest made of stone, and then he waited.

To any other person, this place would be nearly perfect for concealment. Not only does it block visibility from all angles, but its array also causes confusion to all that enters through one’s eyes and ears. The most mysterious thing is that this place is entirely natural, and without any human alteration, it can cause mirages and illusions to those that are unwary. But for a practitioner who can use Soul Perception, it is not difficult to discover the people within.

“Young master,” a whisper lingered in the air as the presence of several people came closer to him.

“Why are you here?” Kairos spoke, facing straight at a tall boulder. Although he could not tell the direction where the voice came from by sound, he still knows precisely where each person stood. After all, the entire area is within his Soul Perception. As long as he wishes to, he would be able to pick up the details from anything within the space of three hundred meters.

“We are here by Calculus’ orders to retrieve the Origin Manuscript tome from you, young master,” the man’s voice trembled slightly, sounding stumped by what he was ordered to do.

He could tell that this mission was given because something had happened that caused Calculus’ awkward baldness. This is a matter of revenge.

A delicate change has happened to him and his fourteen brothers and sisters, as they have long since refrained from referring to Calculus as ‘Young Master’ after they had met Kairos. Of course, if they are in front of other Devilheart personnel, they would have to act the part, but Kairos already took that position within their hearts. No, perhaps, he was even more revered than they believed from becoming their Martial Teacher.

“Was the jade slip with the cultivation method I gave not enough?”

“Young master, it is plenty, but Calculus wanted us to retrieve the tome from you and…

“Don’t worry, whatever you say about Calculus would not surprise me.”

“Yes, young master,” the man politely bowed his head and continued, “He had commanded us to wreck your new manor in the process. It seems that pampered boy wanted petty revenge.”

“Hmm. I see I think I have pretty much understood the whole situation.”

Kairos thought for a while then asked Aisa to retrieve the tome he had hidden, and then handed it to the guys.

They looked at him with wide eyes then said, “Sir, isn’t this tome where our cultivation originates from, giving such an important thing to…”

At this point, the lot of them have already become so accustomed to using Soul Perception that they did not realise Kairos is hidden from their natural sight.

“There should be no problems from doing that. Even the previous time when the tome is taken from me, the Devilheart family were unable to find out anything from it.”

“That may be so young master, but if Calculus lay his hands on the tome, he will definitely pass it to Lord Yue to curry favours. And if it is Lord Yue, with his immense power, he might be able to find out something from the tome.”

“I understand. You shall still take it back with you. I am convinced that the tome’s ability to appear as blank pages is a defensive measure it is equipped with, so it probably would not be that easily breached. Besides this protection, even if Lord Yue managed to get his hands on the actual cultivation method, no one would be able to master it without customising it to each person like we had.

And more importantly, I am unwilling to undertake the risk of the alternative. Compared to losing the tome, the trade-off for failing this mission is the necks of the fifteen of you.

You mustn’t forget that, right now, all of you are in a very delicate situation. Any failure in your mission is a good excuse for them to dispose of you.”

Kairos does not wish to pointlessly risk the lives of his subordinates.

The fifteen covert specialists have sworn fealty to Kairos during their battle at the creek near Rutea village after the Kairos, and his friends subdued them with incredible bravery and wits. After this, they told the young Viscount about their current situation as death warriors, and not only that, they have offended their current superior who is looking for an excuse to dispose of them.

When those present heard Kairos’ willingness to risk his tome for their lives, they felt a strange and unfamiliar warmth in their hearts. Since they were young, they were treated as inferior beings in the Devilheart family. When their superior realised that they have no future as cultivators, a swift and cruel decision was immediately made to turn them into death warriors. Since then, they lived through countless difficult life-threatening missions one after another. The original amount of death warriors had over three hundred members, but in just five shorts years of training and missions, their number has dwindled down to just their group of fifteen.

Previously at the creek, when they were sent to kidnap Kairos and his group, it was a highly sensitive mission. After that mission, regardless of whether they succeeded, it was actually meant to be their final mission.

Because among their targets, there was a boy called Jones, who is the heir to the Solitary Blades clan. Although at that time they did not know of this, the fifteen managed to find out that they were to be disposed of so that they will never link their relationship back to the Devilheart.

A twist of fate happened the day that Kairos subdued them and made them his men. This young boy forcefully ripped opened a new path of survival for them and saved their lives.

Not only that, thanks to him, they can now finally become true cultivators and break past their bottleneck of B rank and reach into new heights. But unfortunately, cultivating is not a speedy process, and until they prove able to get into A rank, they are still in danger of being discarded.

The only advantageous change that they gained in this situation is their ability to use Soul Perception, and it has sharply improved their chances for survival. Even though, as new Origin Energy users, their Soul Perception is still very limited in range and drains their life force quickly, it is still an incredible advantage over their opponents.

Seeing their happy faces just because of the concern he has shown them, Kairos felt somewhat embarrassed, and he tried to change the topic by asking something long overdue, “Umm.. why don’t you guys tell me more about Lord Yue?”

The fifteen are also very obedient to what Kairos asks of them, and they quickly told him about the man.

Lord Yue actually came from a peasant’s family, but for the past thousand years with his unscrupulous methods, he had singlehandedly reached the level as one of the strongest in Saint Empire, and has become the family head of one of the Three Great Nobles, the Dark Gods family.

Besides the Emperor himself, and the two princes, only the heads of the other two great nobles are a match for him.

In terms of their power position, out of the Three Great Noble families, two of them, Lord Yue and another, follows after the Third Prince while the last house is a retinue to the Fifth Prince.

Under Duke Yue’s influence, there are numerous powerful families, clans, and entities. And among those that follow him, three groups stood out above the rest. They are the Devilheart family, the Dark Sword Clan, and the Hidden Blades assassin group and they are all top-tiered among the ‘Hundred Nobles.’

Each has a long history, a strong foundation, and acts a unique role thanks to their unique family arts.

The Devilheart family have their powerful sealing arts, as well as the newly invented sealing weapons.

The Dark Sword Clan has a history as a branch of the Solidary Blades clan long ago but has separated from them since an incident long forgotten. However, the relationship between these two clans is clearly still terrible.

The Hidden Blades assassin group is the most mysterious entity among them. The only thing known about them is that they exist, but other than that, no one could really pull out any information about their group.

Comparatively, while the Fifth Prince only has one of the Three Great Noble families following after him, he has many more supporting groups from the Hundred Nobles. The principal of Saint Cadets Academy, and even Alucard and his teammates’ noble houses are all from this tier.

Furthermore, the Fifth Prince has been gaining the Emperor’s favour recently. For example, there was recently a trial where the heir of the Devilheart family, Calculus, was placed on.

Such a thing would have been unthinkable in the past before the Third Prince lost his royal father’s support. All these politics caused Kairos’ head to start swelling, but for now, his directions are clear.

With such a powerful person as Lord Yue interested in his cultivation methods, it feels as if a gigantic beast has locked its eyes on him.

“Before you take the tome back, do you have the time to make a detour with me?”

“Young master? We do have up to six weeks to complete this mission, so there should be no problems for a short detour.”

“Six weeks? That’s rather long, isn’t it?”

“Not truly so, my lord. The amount of preparation before a covert operation takes up a large portion of the mission time. As you have been newly given the title of Viscount, any action against you mustn’t leave a single trace of evidence that could lead back to the Devilheart family.

If the Emperor finds out that they have a hand in taking your tome and wrecking your manor, his majesty may very well consider it as the Devilheart are unhappy with the Emperor’s decision and make use of it to suppress them.”