At the exit, they were in small numbers, and with Ruri and the whale working together, it was easy to move slowly without being noticed by the beast. They walked very slowly and carefully for three days. When there was a third of the way left to exit the beast’s area, they released all their Qi explosively. The beast immediately chased after them, frenzied with hatred. However, three of them could use the laws of the earth to run at a frightening speed, and Langrum was dragged along with her disciple, all fleeing quickly.
"Great. Our protector is now more alert and won’t let even an insect easily enter this place," the whale said sarcastically, and everyone nodded, still pale after running with all their might.
When there was only one day left for the test, they had already entered the world of evil cultivators and arrived at Dark Night City. In the central building, the elder saw the whale arrive, scared with penetrating eyes. Alm and Bruno knew that the elder probably already knew the mission was accomplished; the Vital Yin Sect had hidden things capable of sensing the Yin of the metal in that village and knew in real-time when it was stolen.
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"Brought the completed missions," said the whale, handing over a large number of rings and other items collected from the desert.
The elder seemed to respond slowly to what she received, expecting something else, then looked eagerly at everything and quickly handed half back to them, along with a large reward in abyss crystals. Slowly, the whale turned around and divided everything for the group, with the elder looking at his back anxiously. He then turned around and handed a ring with a single item inside. The elder received the ring quickly and looked inside, swallowing hard, unable to say a word for a few seconds.
"So that was it... this power, he died for it," the elder murmured, remembering her intimate friend who died in the past trying to gather information about this mission in a distant past.
The whale then spoke after waiting for her to compose herself for a few seconds. "There were two missions. I want payment for both completed; I will make a report about what I saw inside, giving you the information as promised."
The elder looked at him and found it fair. Despite the information no longer being useful for another elder to complete the mission, knowledge of how and what was happening there was valuable enough to be paid for.
Then the whale spoke for half an hour about a village full of sea beasts, demons, and humans living together. Everyone worked in collaboration, receiving materials and using slaves to refine demonic metals, among other activities. That place was like a huge weapon forge, where hundreds of weapons were manufactured in complete secrecy.
The whale emphasized that everyone there was pathetic cultivators and not powerful, relying solely on the mental dominance derived from that demonic metal. He claimed that his group was lucky not to be affected by the controlling power and concluded with an epic account of how he infiltrated and managed to steal everything, eliminating a good portion of them. Of course, it was a lie from beginning to end. There was no such thing as weapons being forged in secret. They only needed an excuse to sell the weapons they made themselves.
The elder used a Jade Slip to record every word and didn’t question; the proof was already in her possession and that of the sect. But clearly, her eyes seemed to tremble slightly when he mentioned that this was where secret weapons were forged.
After she recorded, another ring was handed over with an exaggerated reward for the two missions. Then the whale opened his mouth again, saying what the elder most wanted to hear at that moment. "Now, let’s get down to personal business," he said, smiling and handing a ring back to her. "As promised, you’re the first to see everything. But I need someone to secretly sell everything."
The elder almost fell backward when she saw the contents of the ring. There were hundreds of various weapons, completely intact, as if they had been forged not long ago; the entire fictional story of Alm and Bruno was created for this moment. Bruno didn’t want to provide information to help these evil cultivators, although, in the end, there wasn’t much difference between them and ordinary cultivators.
"I... will do it," she murmured with her eyes shining.
The whale nodded, saying, "You get 20% of the profit. I stole everything they had there, and that wasn’t even half. If everything is done correctly, we can profit a lot together. But if you leave me behind, I’m sure several elders will be happy to know how and who was in possession of everything."
That was also a lie, but they intended to forge more in the future and sell with the elder. This elder had great greed within her, but running away with all this would be foolish. If Goku spread this information, the entire sect would pursue her. All evil cultivators were marked with the symbol of the Evil God; if the patriarch wanted to find someone and he was on the planet, he would find them quickly. And these weapons were enough to attract even the patriarch.
She accepted everything, trying to calm down, and waved, trying to give all the millions of crystals she had as security, but the whale denied it as an act of trust. They bid farewell, and she, knowing they would go for the test, ensured that she would have sold a good portion when he finished the test. The profit would be astronomical for this elder, even if it was only 20%.
In the early morning, the group returned to the Celestial Abyss City, and everything was cold and silent as always. At that moment, Langrum said goodbye, leaving Loeus with them and saying it would be just a favor that would not be repeated in the future.
’I would say she’s going to start an intense and fierce double cultivation session until the test time. It’s just that her intentions seem different. Well, no matter,’ Alm commented, pretending not to be very interested.
’Her eyes seemed to exude regret, as if she were making a difficult decision. Well, as long as she doesn’t do anything to a child, it’s okay,’ Bruno said, and they entered their room.
Everyone prepared for the test. Ruri practiced her new mental technique. Since it was simpler than the previous one, she could already consider herself much more efficient than the late Anfi. Alm and Bruno even believed that the elder, who was Anfi’s master, was not as good as Ruri in this technique.
Almin headed to the central building and, using his crystals, acquired a significant amount of herbs from the sect. The sect maintained a stock of these herbs, as they were useful and could be consumed directly to heal wounds and other ailments; however, everyone knew that this practice was a waste. Now, Almin was fully dedicated to alchemy; he couldn’t disappoint the women who stayed in the city and longed to revive his beloved as soon as possible.
Loeus meditated in a corner, and at that moment, he broke through to the sixth level of the Qi Gathering Realm; he now had the same cultivation as Ruri. Bruno analyzed his physique admiringly. Langrum did a good job in these three months; Loeus now looked like a boy who was just a little shorter than the average at his age and not a malnourished child. He seemed to be a natural physical cultivator, just like Langrum, and would grow explosively in no time. Above all, he was much older than Ruri. That’s why he caught up to her so fast. Ruri’s age was her main limiting factor when it came to cultivation realms.
The hours passed calmly, and then, at noon, they slowly headed toward the center of the city. Again, they were the last, and everyone was waiting for them as if the whale were the center of attention there.