"Haha, Young Master must be joking, I already said we will cover it, I will not renege on my word," Tiffany laughed painfully and tossed 1545 medium Qi Stones on the counter. The seller's face revealed a hint of disdain for a split second, almost unnoticeably, before it regained its cheerful appearance again.
"That's not good, Senior Sister. Didn't you see his disdain? You should round it up to at least 1550 as a tip for his service, his employer takes most of the fees," Ken said, forcing the bitter woman to fork out 5 more medium Qi Stones.
While the price was easily affordable for Ken, it was extremely expensive for others. In the city where most residents were under the fourth stage, an average family would have to save for years to rent it for a single night for their descendants' weddings and other events.
"I would not dare show disdain to my esteemed customers. Thank you for your patronage," the seller bowed with much more respect now. He supplied them with a map leading to the city, the necessary documents, and the keys to the castle.
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The group of six had an uneventful trip in the city to the castle. On their way, they passed through the market at Ken's request, but there were mainly products up to the third grade that could be gathered outside the city. Overall, there was nothing rare to find there, and it was a worse version of the sect's market.
"We are here, what's the plan now?" Tiffany turned to Ken.
"Now you four can go to report to Mr. Darma that you are keeping me here. It's better if Maria remains behind with me since I know you must be hurting over Uriah's death," Ken said gently.
"He might not accept us right away. He is almost always busy with his research, and it takes time until he meets us," Yuri said, explaining why they might get delayed.
"It's fine. Please, try to bring him here only in 4 or 5 hours, I'm tired and need to rest first."
"Of course, Young Master," they thought it was true because he still needed more sleep as a child, and he was awake for a long time since he embarked from the sect.
"Young Master, are you sure you want to wait here alone with Maria? why not let one of us remain behind?" Octavia tried not to appear suspecting, but Ken already knew she was.
"I will be fine, now that Maria knows you guys don't trust her anymore, she won't try to do anything funny. Anyway, I'm strong enough to fight back."
"Let's not argue anymore. Since he wants to remain here alone, let him. Everyone has their secrets to protect," Tiffany scolded her doubtful teammate and pulled her away.
The group of four left the castle, leaving Maria behind with Ken.
"Wait until I finish the Concealing and Silencing formations, and I will give you more details about your mission. First, take that pill I gave you, I don't want to hear any more lies."
Hearing Ken's words, Maria took out the pill he gave her when they met earlier and swallowed it instantly, wary of angering Ken.
Ken worked diligently and efficiently, creating formations on the castle's outer walls. By placing the Silencing and Concealing formations there, they won't be canceled when Darma activates his Formation Suppression Scroll.
Once he was done, he began working on the interior, simultaneously talking to Maria who could only sit down and watch since she knew nothing about formations.
"Tell me, do you still intend to set yourself free?" Ken asked the former bandit. He wanted to make sure that reminding her of her trauma was enough to regain her loyalty for a while.
"No, Young Master. Being your subordinate is my good fortune, I will not forget you are my only hope to advance," Maria was internally happy that she truly thought that way right now; she couldn't lie after taking the truth drug.
"Good. I hope you can remember those words since you will not get a third chance. My task is simple, I want you to search for my family and locate them. They were in the branch sect near Golden Feather City, but they probably left two years and nine months ago. Their names are Mei Jinn and Haoran Sue, and they should have a young child called Aaron."
Maria almost gaped when she heard her task. Ken never spoke about anything personal, so it was the first time she learned his family didn't reside in the main sect.
"Young Master, could it be that your robes…" She said hesitantly, not sure how to ask her question.
"They are real, I am from an elite family. Only my parents and little brother were banished, and I want to find them. You should still have a lot of Qi Stones from the last batch of pills I gave you to sell, but here are some more anyway. If you perform well, I promise you will find out how the sixth stage feels during this life."
Ken understood she was worried that he only faked his elite status and explained the situation. With the final promise of power, he gave her the carrot. The stick of fear was not enough to motivate her to do her best.
"I will complete the mission. What should I do when I find your family, Young Master?"
"If they're hidden well, just contact me. If they aren't, help them hide and contact me. How many antidotes do you have against the poison in your heart?"
"Only one, but I have to take it in a matter of days. Mr. Darma's antidotes only help suppress the poison for a single month," she answered truthfully.
"I see. Here are two pills that will last for three months each. If you can't find anything within half a year, you can just pick your favorite grave," Ken waved his hand and two blue pills floated out of his storage rings to Maria.
"Thank you for giving me another chance, Young Master. I will not let you down." She bowed and returned to her seat.
Ken used the rest of the time until his guests arrive to place formations all over the hall. There was a triple Suppressing Formation to weaken his enemies and a triple Illusion Formation meant to trap the enemy.
'Now I need more formations just to suck the scroll dry before he can kill us all. Wait, instead of using random formations, maybe I can remove their functionality and only keep the Qi-draining part?'
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦