The next day, the group arrived at Dark Night City. They were looking for new available missions and, unlike previous times, decided to accept all 35 desert search missions. Alm and Bruno needed to quickly obtain a large quantity of abyss crystals. Their priority was to accumulate more knowledge, and fortunately, they were in the right place, but it would come at an unbelievable cost.
Throughout the realm, the only place where one could find knowledge and information about almost everything was in the library of the evil cultivators. Common cultivators constantly lived in fear of betrayal, so they kept all important techniques and information to themselves, even if they were valuable to sell. They needed bargaining chips or secrets to protect themselves.
On the other hand, evil cultivators did not concern themselves with insignificant external matters, focusing solely on gaining more and more power. If you desired something and had the resources to pay, you could get anything possible from them.
On their way out, the elder in charge at the counter saw the large entourage with the whale and felt that almost all those women were practically mortal. Quickly, she insisted and offered that other mission in a nearby desert village again, claiming it was perfect for them now and the reward was high. (Chapter 96)
The mission was divided into two parts. The main part, recommended for powerful elders, was simple: invade, burn, and destroy the village. However, the main objective was to steal some treasure that was there and bring it back to the sect.
The second part was a perfect infiltration job for them. It involved disguising themselves and infiltrating the village to gather valuable information. No one had any idea what the village’s treasure was or the real defensive power of the cultivators there. Everything was shrouded in mystery, and thus, no elder had succeeded in completing the mission.
"These women are perfect to pass as peasants or even slaves going to be sold. It will be very simple for you to invade," the elder said to the whale, handing over a map with the exact location of the village.
"If it’s so simple, why didn’t any disciple accept it? Something’s wrong, isn’t it?" The whale spoke dryly.
The elder nodded with a smile, her eyes making it clear that she had already said all she was obliged to say about the mission. Soon, the whale snorted, and his ring began to glow, ready to pay the cost.
However, the elder stopped him by speaking softly. "I’ll give it to you for free this time. But I want priority if you find something different, like that weapon again."
Since this elder bought that short sword with a runic seal from the whale, she dedicated all her free time to researching it and even burned many resources in search of reports of something similar, but found nothing.
In her tests and attempts to study that strange core, she had no results. However, the level of power that the weapon could unleash was frightening, to the point where she felt invincible. The stories circulating about this whale, along with his fate upon finding that weapon, were unbelievable. So, even if she loses a little, she will do her best to be his priority when finding something.
The whale nodded in agreement, and the elder shared mentally everything she knew. The village in question was located in a rather troublesome place to invade. The world of evil cultivators was almost in the center of the desert, east of the continent, but going extremely east, the desert met the sea. And near the sea was where the village was.
In this distance between the desert and the sea, there were endless and uninterrupted sandstorms, where only experienced elders had the ability to cross. Following the logic, it would be possible to access the village coming from the North or South by the sea. However, all the coasts of the continent were full of demonic sea beasts. The planet was practically 70% water, so there were much more beasts in the sea than on land. Hence, the risk of encountering terrifying sea beasts was astronomical; not even the patriarch would risk sailing the sea.
There was no idea why this village was not destroyed by sea beasts; one theory was that it had something to do with the treasure it possessed. But the other hypothesis was that the Three Extremes Sect had some kind of agreement with the sea beasts so that they wouldn’t attack. This idea was more solid because the resources extracted from the sea that were brought to the sect were transported through the sea, and there were never reports of any shipwreck.
"Now I’ll tell you something that almost no one knows as a goodwill gesture. In the past, when I was a newly arrived disciple, a group of talented disciples accepted this mission. They even paid a consecrated elder to guide them and safely cross the storm. Everything seemed to be simple, but after a month, the elder returned scared and alone."
"I was a close friend of one of those disciples, and after insisting a lot, the elder told me that he waited outside the village for twenty days. When he was about to return, thinking they had failed in the infiltration, he saw a boat leaving the village and heading for the sea. In that boat, he saw two young disciples he brought."
"None of them had a forcibly enslaved mark, and everyone around was talking to them cheerfully as if they were old acquaintances. He thought it was an act, but he quickly fled back when he approached stealthily and couldn’t feel the symbol of the evil god and no cultivation in the disciples’ bodies. Listen carefully... Something very... strange... happens in that village... but with your fate and talent, maybe you’ll find out something," the elder concluded.
Alm and Bruno were almost interrupting the elder, with no interest in this mission. But when she said this last part, the whale’s eyes lit up. A treasure apparently capable of controlling people’s minds? That was definitely something demonic at the divine realm level.
This ascending planet has already shown the ability to produce some good things. They were very rare here, and in the divine realm, these things should be as common as grass. But for them, these "little things" were very valuable and could be very useful.
The elder felt the whale’s excitement, expecting something very different. So, that round figure immediately grabbed the map and quickly left, as if they didn’t want to wait a second longer. But then they turned around, asking,
"If I’m lucky and manage to steal the treasure, how will you be sure it’s the real one?"
"Hm? Don’t try something so foolish; that’s something for someone at the elder level or higher. But... even though we don’t know what it is, our sect has a treasure that can sense a strong Yin energy similar to the abyss in the direction of the village. We’ll know immediately because of that, and it’s also clear that it’s a treasure related to us."
"Even the patriarch himself planned to invade directly a few hundred years ago. But he almost died, ambushed by several elders of the Three Extremes Sect. That place is very well guarded, and no information leaks. That’s why the reward is so generous for any information," the elder concluded seriously.
The whale nodded in understanding, and they left. That was the confirmation they wanted; it was something good and demonic, just as they imagined. They would be forced to hand it over to the sect. But there were many ways to remedy that in the future.
They then ran towards another nearby city to look for useful things, but it took another whole day, with several breaks. At night, they still had to let the women sleep. Alm was getting more irritated every second; it seemed like an endless waste of time.
’They want to waste our time, great. Then let’s use them to invade that village, it will be an equivalent exchange. The risks will be on them.’ Alm muttered coldly.
But obviously, that night, Bruno told everyone about the village and the risks involved. Everyone gladly accepted this job. In this world, everyone knew they had to pay the price to get something; they wanted their help, so they had to do something in return.
But to Alm’s displeasure, no one felt any fear or hesitated. It seemed that Almin and Ruri had transmitted an irrational confidence in the giant whale. Everyone was going to an unknown and dangerous place, but everyone was convinced that the giant leader would take care of everything.
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’It looks like our religion is starting to be created.’ Bruno teased excitedly.
’Don’t feed into that when we vote in three months for the new test. I want to get rid of all this dead weight.’ Alm grumbled.