Chapter 267 Chapter 267 – Henry's Assignment
A few weeks ago:
Henry walked into Ken's house after being called and sat in front of the young master.
"I have a task for you. Nice new blindfold by the way."
Henry turned his head toward Ken in silence. Since he did not have something important to say about it, he remained quiet as always. A black blindfold was wrapped around his head, hiding his blind eyes.
"I have a few subordinates… a few people I have helped gather good karma before they return to the wheel of reincarnation. One was a robber and a murderer while the other two were mercenaries that did not hesitate to kidnap children."
"Amitabha."
"Indeed. To help them, I gave them a task to find my family. I need you to go to them and take my family to a designated spot, from which an elder from the Serene Lotus Sect will pick you up."
Ken and Henry already agreed on aborting the original plan of going to the Peaceful Demon Sect; Henry already had the best inheritance, and Ken was his best source of knowledge and pills.
"And the sinful souls?"
"Send them back to the wheel of reincarnation so they can become better people in their next lives."
"Amitabha. Is that all?"
"No, there's one more important matter. I have a sixth-rank alchemist subordinate who produces pills for me. I need you to collect all the money he had made for us and give him some Alchemy knowledge from me in return. Order him to immigrate to a city under the Serene Lotus Sect so he can keep working under me."
"Understood."
Henry stored the papers Ken gave him in his ring along with a few communication devices that could help him contact the people he needed.
"Last thing before you leave, you can use these pills to bribe wild beasts to serve as your mounts for a while. Just subdue them until they feel death touching their necks greedily, and then use them as mounts. After a while give them one pill, and at the end of the trip, give them another to pacify them. It works all the time."
Henry received the jade bottles containing the pills with a raised eyebrow but did not comment on it. It was the first time he heard of someone using "temporary" mounts like that. With his orders all specified, he left Ken's house to work on his assignments.
He himself had already given his wolf pup to the sect's stables after the little thing's bloodline was improved enough. He gained quite a lot of CP for it, and he had given away the other two pups that initially belonged to Diana and Jane.
Henry soon went to the sect's stables and rented a mount, disregarding Ken's dubious way of getting mounts for cheaper. He paid for 3 days in advance despite planning on using it for much longer. There was no need to worry about paying too much when he wasn't coming back.
A beautiful crane with snowy feathers followed him outside and let him ride on it, soaring to the sky under his temporary master's orders.
'Huh… The greatest eloquence often lies in the unspoken, yet words can be the bridge to understanding,' he mused himself as he looked at the communication stone in his hand. He had gotten used to remaining silent for so long that he was reluctant to speak, but there was no other way to use the device.
After staring at the device for a few minutes from atop the mount, unable to decide what to say, he picked his words carefully and activated the stone.
"Maria, do you hear me?"
It took a few seconds for the reply to come, and a lazy female voice was transmitted from the stone. It was hoarse, maybe a result of spending too many years shouting and cursing as a bandit.
"Yes, who is this?"
"Henry, I was told to meet you under Young Master Ken's orders. I need to bring his parents to him and find a sixth-rank alchemist named Darma."
Henry responded, explaining in short why she should listen to him and what his tasks were. He omitted the part about killing her, or guiding her lost soul to the right path as he preferred to call it, thinking it might cause her to be less cooperative.
"I see, Young Master did mention you in the past. Since you have his communication stone, it probably means it's safe to trust you. We can meet in Ice Feather City where Darma resides."
He stored the device back in his storage ring, the thought of affirming the meeting place completely slipping out of his mind. He navigated the beast to fly to Ice Feather City and soon reached the place. Following the instructions from pedestrians, he found the restaurant they agreed to meet at and waited for the trio to arrive.
"Henry?"
He heard the same coarse female voice from before. He only offered a nod in response and scrutinized the two ladies and the man who sat down at his table. Maria sat by his side while the other two, Yuri and Odette, sat in front of them.
"Here's the income from Mr. Darma's pills. We have already deducted the cut required for Mr. Darma's resources and for our cultivation."
Henry grabbed the storage ring and inspected its content, finding over a million medium Qi Stones. He sighed to himself when he wondered how Ken managed to find such an easy income source.
"Ken's family?" He asked.
The three exchanged worried looks between them before Maria finally spoke unwillingly. She remembered Ken's words about killing her if she failed this mission.
"We've found his parents…"
Henry's gaze seemed to pierce through her body as he waited for the bad news, and she eventually finished her sentence.
"But his little brother is missing. His parents say he had been missing since two years ago when he turned 3. We did our best to locate him, but we failed."
Henry squinted his eyes under the blindfold in worry when he received the news. He knew that Ken mainly cared for his parents and less for his little brother from the way he spoke, but it seemed that he still wanted to get to know his sibling.
Besides, his parents' mental state couldn't be good after they lost their younger child soon after his older brother was taken away forcibly. That's without even taking into account that Mei was crippled.
"Take me to Darma, then to his parents."
Henry's circumstances did not allow him the time required to launch his own investigation into Aaron's whereabouts. The child might be dead, forced into slavery, adopted by someone, or any other possible fate; it was impossible to find him within a short time frame.
Even if he had the time, he doubted he could do a better job than these three. As a person who had grown up in a sect since a young age, he did not develop the required knowledge and relationships to find a missing person in such a situation. On the other hand, the other three grew up in the open world and knew how to deal with such situations better.
"Follow us."
The group of four soon reached a modest-looking house in a good area. It was a simple brick house, but those who knew better could locate the sixth-rank formations Ken had created around the house to allow Darma silence while he experimented with his Alchemy, and more importantly, allow his neighbors some peace.
Maria entered the house without knocking, and the other three followed.
"Sit here and wait for him to come out of the basement where he does his experiments. He gets angry if you interrupt his studies."
After 16 hours, a door to the basement finally opened and a tanned man climbed out. Seeing them there, he raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar figure.
"Who is this?"
They waited for his answer, but it didn't come. Since the other three knew his identity, Henry preferred not to speak.
"He is Henry, the monk that Ken told us about. He is here to collect the Qi Stones and Ken's parents. He says he has something for you."
Henry nodded and simply brought out the materials Ken prepared for the alchemist. A wave of Qi carried them to Darma who looked at them briefly.
"Oh, great, that kid can keep his promises! I was worried he wouldn't give me new research materials as he said! Hmm, and that is… I see…"
Darma got to the last letter and skimmed through it, reading the content that declared Ken's intentions to move sects and instructed Darma to move to a city in the Serene Lotus Sect. He gave a short look of pity to the group of three in front of him and forgot about them right after as he sunk back into the theories Ken gave him, forgetting the other four presences in the room.
"We will be leaving now, Mr. Darma." Maria announced when she saw Henry's "let's go" gesture.
"Mhm."
After leaving, Maria navigated through the city, leading Henry to a fancy house surrounded by a fence.
"This is where Ken's parents stay. We made sure they have the best conditions and there's a maid cooking and cleaning for them every day."
It was Maria doing all the talking while Yuri and Odette remained silent, unsure how to behave. They were unsure if they were needed, but their habit of following someone was always with them.
Maria knocked on the door this time and waited patiently. They didn't have to wait long before a maid opened the door and bowed.
"Welcome, Lady Maria. The master and the mistress are in their bedroom, should I call for them?"
"Yes, please. We will wait in the living room."
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