"My senior has agreed to the deal, however, there are a few things you need to know beforehand. For you to have any real value to us, two things must happen first; one is your death in front of everyone and the other is the value of the information you're willing to share,"
"My death?!"
"Yes, Gui Shiren of the Scarlet blood ghost hands syndicate needs to die publicly and it needs to be authentic too. Your body will be destroyed in the process, but don't worry my senior will protect a sliver of your soul and blood essence to help reform your body later, just like they did for Dong Yanlin.
However, you are a palace realm expert, the cost of reforming your body will be much higher than his. For us to go that far in addition to excusing you from torture, you need to ensure you are worth that expense.
So are you worth our efforts Gui Shiren? If you're not, then we will just have to settle for your senior sister who we have a certain level of confidence on the cover she is using,"
"The Order really is as ruthless as any dark organization. I don't know if what I have can be considered worth it, but I have been a member of the syndicate for almost 4,000 years. While I cannot share the location of the main headquarters since a curse was placed on every member who is not a blood finger, that erases all memory of the location, I can tell you everything that I have accumulated in those 4,000 years.
The core details, such as our core cultivation techniques and special missions have curses attached to them that prevent me from disclosing them, however, unlike the location of the main headquarters, the memories pertaining to those information haven't been erased. The curse prevents me from revealing that information to someone other than the controllers.
I will need the Order's help to dispel it. Other than that, there are other things I can freely disclose, such as the organizations I have personally recruited to act as the eyes and ears of the syndicate, commissions I've taken over the years and the identities of those who ordered them, other syndicate members I have interacted with over the past 4,000 years. While I may not know their current covers, I do know enough of their habits to help extrapolate that information.
And lastly, I once learned something about the syndicate, I don't know what, but it was important enough for me to seal my memory in a memory white bloodstone and have it held in the vaults of the Dragon Meadow. I don't know what is in it, but I thought it important to erase 10 years of my memory including every karma related to it, and the only reason I know that I even had such a thing was thanks to the Dragon Meadow,"
"How did you afford to have it stored there?! especially with their costs? Are you the illegitimate child of your founder or something?"
"The capital for surviving long as a syndicate member is your connections, especially when you don't have much strength. I'm not as gifted as my senior sister when it comes to cultivation, but I know how to relate to people well, which eventually led me to a contact with the Meadow. Even though they were only a low-level figure, they did help me arrange it, as for how it was done, I have no clue as that part was erased too.
So, is that enough to show my sincerity?"
"Considering the Dragon Meadow is involved, it at least shows you have something valuable there, and adding the rest, I think we have ourselves a deal, Gui Shiren.
I don't think I need to tell you this, since you clearly have more experience in deception and subterfuge, but to erase all suspicions on you, you have to go all out and hold nothing back. You can clearly feel the gap between us. Please use every trick you have, and fight as though you genuinely want a glorious victory that ends in death, otherwise, your fellow members may be able to tell if you are pretending, especially if its someone intimately familiar with your fighting habits,"
"That was my plan from the very start...Though Judge, why do I feel, you just want an excuse to use your artifacts,"
"It's all nonsense, I have no such thoughts,"
"Why do you have that gleeful excited smile then?"
"Excitement at seeing a lost soul reform,"
"And the blazing battle intent,"
"Selling my character, I have to do my part as well,"
"You sure have an answer for everything. You could make an excellent syndicate member,"
"Do you want to recruit me like your junior brother, Dong Yanlin?"
"Under different circumstances, maybe."
...
In just ten minutes the newborn had matured into a 20-year-old youth with dark hair that had tinges of blue along with ocean blue eyes. The face had a devilish handsomeness to it.
"How does your new body feel, Gui Shiren?" asked Yang Qing as he tossed a robe over to the naked youth.
"Surprising, to say the least. It's been so long since I've been at the syndicate, that I've long forgotten what my original look was like before I got into the syndicate," said Gui Shiren with a rueful smile.
He gently clenched and unclenched his hand, and then proceeded to slowly examine the rest of his body with a nostalgic look on his face not believing it was his body.
"As agreed, you will now have to share everything you know, including details on your master and disciples. Everything about them will need to be shared including the other things you promised," said Yang Qing as he closely monitored Gui Shiren.
"I have no qualms about it, I'll reveal all I can as long as its information I have," said Gui Shiren with a smile which Yang Qing felt had freedom and carefreeness to it, which Yang Qing found rather odd since he would be a resident of the Requiem from this moment forth, which was why Shao An was here in addition to having regular visits to the offices of the Special Inquisitors, for his daily debriefs.
The only good thing was he would be spared from torture. As for the ease with which Gui Shiren agreed to betray his master and senior sister, Yang Qing wasn't all top surprised by it. Gui Shiren was a syndicate member, the organization didn't necessarily recruit altruistic people or zealots who believed in the cause. They were all self-serving people, who wouldn't hesitate to backstab each other if it meant furthering their own gains or saving their own skin.
The only reason the syndicate has survived for so long was the ruthlessness and thoroughness they put into maintaining anonymity and closing the lines leading to each other, which was why all people present didn't hold too much regard that they would get a treasure trove of information from Gui Shiren, that was actually actionable. Maybe what he knew may have turned obsolete by now. But the information stored in the Dragon Meadow was another case.
They held out hope there might be something there, all because the name Dragon Meadow was attached to it.
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