Without noticing the guard, Hong Zhao greedily absorbed the wild energy within his devouring qi claws. If ninth star student rank was only ten percent of a disciple ranked cultivator's power, then what were fourth and fifth star disciple ranks compared to a ninth star disciple ranks power? When he had finally dispatched the last of the men, his claws had once again gained a deep red color. He had worried that he might have overdone it a little, but instead of worrying about it, he began cultivating and refining the energy like a madman.
Hong Zhao's qi reached it's peak and broke through the bottleneck to the warrior rank, yet it didn't stop there. The qi that was refined from so many experts seemed to rage like a storm within his dantian. It felt like there was no end to the energy. From one bottleneck, he made his way to the next and broke through to the second star warrior rank. It was after this that the speed of his refining finally slowed down to normal. When Hong Zhao opened his eyes, he let out a foul breath of air and stood.
His body seemed to be brimming with energy, so much so that he couldn't sit still. A smile spread on his face as he looked at his hand. "It seems I broke through the warrior rank and raised into the second star all in one go." He clenched his fist and looked at the door in front of him. "I must thank the city lord for being so accommodating. He unclenched his fist, and a ball of clay appeared in it.
Taking the clay over to the door, Hong Zhao pressed it hard against the key hole. When he took it out, the clay made a mold of a key. Smiling at his mold, Hong Zhao took an iron ingot from his ring and warmed it with his fire elemental qi. As he did, the bar became a small puddle which floated in place. He then formed the liquid iron into the shape of a key which resembled the mold perfectly.
Letting the key cool, Hong Zhao took another few ingots from his ring and began crafting a few more items he would find useful. When the key was cool, Hong Zhao fit it into the keyhole on the other side of the door. "This is better than lockpicking." He said as he beamed. In the world of an expert infiltrator, one apparently only had to be a blacksmith in order to become untouchable.
Hong Zhao smiled as he heard a click, and the door swung open. Activating his new devouring light technique, He merged himself with the shadows of the dungeon. Darkness seemed to pour out of every seam of his qi blocking uniform until he was virtually undetectable. He then activated vortex thrust and sped along the stairs as silently as he could. As he entered the estate's ground floor, he put on his new inventions. These were flat spiked platforms with leather handles to hold. He launched himself up to the ceiling and the spikes held him in place. He moved silently to a window above which he opened and left the estate.
Hong Zhao lifted himself out the window into the cold night air. His raven hair flowed free in the wind, adding to his euphoria. He didn't know how long it had been since he had been free, so he couldn't help but bask in the feeling for a moment.
Vortex thrust was still activated since it only required a trickle of qi to remain active, so he jumped at full force from the window and landed two houses down. Hong Zhao put his qi blocking mask on and began to scale the rooftops. It was night out, but it wasn't late enough that everyone was asleep quite yet. As he scaled the rooftops, he heard families hold conversations at the dinner table. He used such talks to build knowledge of the surrounding city, as well as to hear gossip on the man named Wei Rong that seemed to be the closest thing to a challenge to Zheng Guo.
After a few hours of searching the city and listening in on conversations, Hong Zhao was led to a rather large estate on the other side of the city. This estate almost seemed to be a mirror image of Zheng Guo's own. With his devouring light technique, Hong Zhao was able to scale the wall to the estate in seconds without alerting the guard.
Getting into the courtyard was the easy part. Finding this Wei Rong would be the hard part. Hong Zhao launched himself into an open window. It seemed to be a bed chamber and the owner had just walked in to see someone cloaked in darkness make his way into the room. He turned around to call out, but Hong Zhao activated qi shot faster. He shot a beam of qi directly into the man's vocal cords. He still tried to call out, but Hong Zhao just grabbed him and used his devouring qi claws to end the man's life.
Quietly lowering the man to the floor, Hong Zhao went to the door without looking out of it and shut it. Looking back at the man, he noticed a small bronze ring on his finger. Taking it off, Hong Zhao took off a glove and pricked his finger, letting a drop of blood drip onto the ring. The blood seeped into the bronze band without leaving a trace behind, then Hong Zhao felt a connection with it. He inserted a wisp of qi into it and inspected the contents.
'This man seems to be a son to this Wei Rong, or at least someone the man holds in high esteem.' He thought as he rummaged through the gold, pills and keys to the estate. Hong Zhao put the ring in his own storage ring. Then he looked up and saw a ventilation shaft. He smiled slightly through the mask as he jumped up and hung on the ceiling using his spiked glove. He then slowly took the vent from the shaft and climbed in, replacing the cover as quietly as he could.
To anyone else, nothing at all happened within this man's room. There were no sounds of struggle or even a sound of something heavy falling. It seemed as though the man had only entered his room and shut his door. Now Hong Zhao had complete access to the estate through the ventilation. 'Phase one is complete.' He thought the familiar words as he smiled, looking down like a ghost upon the rest of the estate.