I had no urge to chase after him though, he is strong, unbelievably so. And hunting him down will waste a lot of my time. I'm better off clearing the other competition first.
I looked at the map once more and found the location of my other target, he seemed to be underneath the Forbidden City. The problem is, the map isn't giving me full details on how to get down to the lower part, so I'll have to search and find a way to go down.
I headed to a nearby house, which I scanned before entering, making sure that there wasn't another person inside.
Once inside, I began sorting out my plans for the next couple days.
Hunting the underground cultivator is going to be a pain, I could wait for him to go up, but I had no guarantee that he would. He might have already cleared his goals and now is just waiting in hiding, or might have probably given up and is trying to take down another person with him.
Since if I don't catch him in time, I'll also be eliminated.
So, how can I catch a rat?
Easy, by flushing him out. The problem is, if I were to do that, and use poison to draw out everyone out, I'll probably be revealed by the guards. I need a way to solve that issue then.
I went through the rules once more and found an interesting loophole I can use.
But the problem is to try that I'll need to find a way to the lower part of the city.
Thinking about this from another point of view I smiled as I realized that I didn't need to do a lot to get the cultivator out.
I walked out of the house and began using the Traceless Steps, I moved through several blocks of the Forbidden City. In less than half an hour of moving and heading to my target's location, the sun had risen and I knew for sure that my hunting needed to stop.
I got into another house and was thankful to having done that.
The streets at night only had a couple of guards moving about in every street, but once morning came, hundreds of them were roaming about, some even were perched atop the very house I was on.
Guards of all sizes and shapes, ready to take down anyone foolish to try and assassinate another while it was morning.
I calmly remained put, and used the map regularly to scan the people around me. My target was a couple houses away from me, but was several dozen meters underground. There was a sewer system I could use but right now, I had no way to move during daylight.
And to prove me even more right, some foolish cultivator actually walked out, just across the street, he tried his best to hide in the shade that was made by some of the broken crates, but he was revealed all too easily and fast when two guard puppets surrounded him.
A massive red light like beacon shone from his plate, and rose all the way to the skies. And during that time, hundreds of Puppets came rushing toward him, weapons at the ready.
The cultivator tried to run only to find more puppets blocking his way, flight and teleportation were sealed off so he needed to actually use his legs to run away. Which was a poor display of his acrobatic and athletic skills.
The cultivator tried to jump to a nearby house and was immediately shut down by a well aimed kick to the chest that crashed him right next to the house I was in.
"Fuck, if you want to reveal yourself go die somewhere else!" I cursed as the cultivator tried to desperately open the door to the house I was in. Thankfully I had it locked in a formation, and with the guards closing in, and surrounding him, all you could hear was his last death throws as he succumbed to the mother of all beatings.
One guard, one curious and annoying guard actually snapped his face toward my location, our eyes almost met as I was cautiously peering from a crack in a wall at what was happening, but thankfully, he didn't act upon his suspicion. A puppet isn't as sentient as a cultivator so it didn't go and check which brought me some small comfort.
I remained seated and waited as time slowly trickled down.
***
Somewhere in the Forbidden City, a young man groaned as he moved his battered body through an underground alleyway.
Blood seeped out of his mouth and nose, he didn't look too well.
"Curses, I thought I grew stronger, but I'm far from it. If a single spear was able to do this much damage, how much can the Fire Lord do… Even the Spear I fought before was not as strong as this one. Granted, I'm unable to use my Phoenix Flames here, due to that damn poison, but still, am I that weak?"
The young man continued cursing as he traced the dark alleys with one palm as the other palm was desperately trying to stop one of his broken and splintered ribs from bleeding.
He sat down against a wall, and took another breath, huffing and gasping for air.
He then pulled a couple pills form his holding bag. These pills were something Shen Bao had given him before, to use in case he was wounded. Meng Hao had taken them out of courtesy to his friend, never expecting he'll ever need something like this. But now, they came in pretty handy.
This made Meng Hao further increase his respect to this friend of his.
A man who looked like a monster the first day they met. But this man, his perseverance in climbing the Mountain that would usually crush a cultivator's soul back in the Purple Cloud Sect was the first thing to impress him.
Then, that very man was able to beat even Meng Hao in alchemy where he thought he was a master, only for Shen Bao to show him with grace who is the truest alchemist.
Not only that, Shen Bao was able to fully suppress enemies in a tournament and came out as the prime victor, showcasing the ability to control another man's own puppet as if he was flipping his palm over.
Shen Bao went for that and was able to singlehandedly shut down the advance of the entire Fire Lord Fleet, for months even. By enabling a formation that encompassed the entire planet. And not only that he even managed to escape the inescapable planet net of the Fire Lord's army. He went to the vast expanse and only rumors of him were heard. That he beat the greatest engineers of the Heavenly Academy, and he managed to join the Heavenly Academy and have all of the teachers there fight for a chance to teach him.
Not only that, he even managed to subdue the illusive, illustrious, and most powerful Inscriber of the Vast Expanse, Master Rain himself who no one would ever dare to face him head-on and expect to return in one piece. He managed to make that very man his master, and from the rumors, people say that Master Rain actually dots on Shen Bao as if he was his son. He even crossed distances so great to come to the domain of his worst enemy, The Queen of the Wind Realm, the person considered the mightiest and strongest of the Vast Expanse, Master Rain had paid her a personal visit to berate her, for not having kept her word to protect him when she promised that.
Speaking of the Wind Realm, not even Meng Hao had known of the friendship and oath of Brotherhood that was between him and Zhang Tian, though Shen Bao had sworn brotherhood to Meng Hao, and Meng Hao is the younger brother, now he found out that his oldest Sworn Brother is actually Zhang Tian. Which was a blessing and a shock.
For that, Meng Hao had sworn to do his very best to get to the level of expectation that Shen Bao wants him to meet.
Meng Hao knows very well that he is not a fraction of the power, influence or charisma of Shen Bao, and for that he has continuously journeyed and tested himself to be of help to Shen Bao if he ever needed him.
He knew for a fact that Shen Bao is at the level of a hero, a hero in the very books that his mother used to read him when he was young. He was weak, and grew strong, made allies and was fighting against injustice. Even if Meng Hao was desperately fighting for justice himself, his justice was in saving his beloved, while he knew Shen Bao's justice was to get back at the Fire Lord himself for having destroyed their planet.
Their end goal may be the same, but the reasons, for Shen Bao, were far more majestic.
"I can't be like this," Meng Hao said as he bit on the pills, which to his surprise seemed to work instantaneously.
"If my sworn brother is able to do this much, I need to do more, otherwise I'll not deserve to be his brother."
Meng Hao stood up, sighed, and looked at the skies. Technically was the ceiling of the underground.
"I'll prove to the world, that I'm worth being your brother, and no one can tell me otherwise! I'll make sure that if I can't surpass you, I'll at least be worth walking the same path as you, as a peer, not baggage!"
Those very words, the moment they came out of Meng Hao's body, it was as if his heart had spiritually shuddered. Something inside Meng Hao began changing.
And like a phoenix that has passed away, Meng Hao's body began glowing, the feather upon his forehead glowed brighter as his energy began swirling inside him.
The poison, made by the Poison God himself to suppress the cultivators to below ascendant seemed to burn with this newfound power. And just like that, Meng Hao's limitations were lifted, and his body began gaining even more strength.
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