"Cultivators? what's that?" Hiari exchanged looks with Myzer before looking at Xue Mo with confused eyes.
"Let's drop the act, shall we?" It was Lu Yao who spoke, surprising both Myzer and Hiari.
Xue Mo didn't want to go back and forth in this conversation, and he guessed that they wouldn't talk unless he showed them evidence that he knew what they were talking about.
"Two puny guys in the last stages of the Arch Sensing realm, don't waste my time." Hearing what Xue Mo said, the two dropped their act and looked at him wearily.
How did he know? That question lingered in their mind, but they didn't care. More importantly, if he could sense their cultivation, he must have higher power and cultivation than them. The thought of it scared them.
"Senior, what do you need from us?" Acknowledging who they were up against, they changed how they talked, taking on a more subservient tone. They had decided to see if they can handle the situation as they had been trained.
"Hmm, you two remove your cover!" Xue Mo demanded. He wanted to check something.
Seeing that no one was around and that the senior in front of them didn't ask, but demand, they complied.
Myzer uncovered his face first. He was a tanned skinned man, with black hair and blue eyes. His sadistic side was apparent on his face with the cruel look that shined in his eyes.
Hiari, did the same. However, his frame seemed tiny compared to the bulging muscles that Myzer had, shiny golden hair, and a serious look adorned his black eyes, showing his authoritarian personality.
"Hmm, humans!" Xue Mo said with disgust. He didn't do anything else, though. He calmly looked at the two humans in front of him and asked, "Why did you kill Dio?"
Hearing the change of tone, Hiari carefully answered, "It was a mission."
'Mission? Well, they do look like assassins,' Xue Mo thought before glancing at Myzer. He guessed that he was the muscles in this team of two, so he would answer more directly.
Seeing Xue Mo looking at him made Myzer uncomfortable, "who's your employer?" He asked the bulging mass of muscles with the same cold tone.
"We don't have one, Senior!" Myzer tried to be as respectable as possible, and it seemed to work as Xue Mo seemed calmer.
"But, that guy said it was a mission!" Xue Mo stated in a cold tone showing his displeasure.
"Yes, Senior. It is a mission from our Academy." Hiari spoke, trying to appease the senior. He didn't know why, but Xue Mo scared him. He felt that if he made any wrong move or uttered an unnecessary word, he would die.
"Academy? What Academy? Know what! Just speak everything at once!" Xue Mo got sick of extracting info slowly.
Cursing his bad luck, Hiari looked wearily at Xue Mo and spoke, "Senior, please ask anything but this!"
"Are you perhaps under oath?" Xue Mo asked casually. However, to the two in front of him, his words made them even wearier of him.
He even knows about oaths! Not only does he know about cultivation, but also the secret oath! Only cultivators knew about oaths, so for Xue Mo to know meant that he was a genuine cultivator. They finally confirmed that Xue Mo wasn't a fake but someone strong, and with them not being in a higher realm, they couldn't sense his cultivation. That left them guessing, but the way he talked assured them that he wasn't bluffing and indeed knew what he was talking about.
"Hmm, let me guess then! Is this Academy for mercenaries or assassinations?" With widened eyes, Hiari and Myzer looked at Xue Mo while thinking, 'how did he know?'
"From your facial expressions, I am going to assume, yes!" Xue Mo said, making Hiari finally realize why they were asked to remove what was covering them.
"Don't worry; I won't do anything to you!" He said to the scared duo, 'for now that is.' Keeping the last thought to himself, Xue Mo looked at the now two afraid young teens trying to keep their composure.
"Was your mission to kill Dio?" Learning from the first time, Hiari and Myzer kept their calm, displaying no expression for Xue Mo to catch. But, that didn't stop him as someone who was a master in lying and pretending, Xue Mo was able to confirm that it wasn't the case.
"I think it was those three students, right?" Still trying to keep their calm, they didn't speak anything, but they unconsciously made a flinch that verified Xue Mo's doubt.
"Senior, what do you want from us?" Hiari asked, trying to change the subject.
Since he got the info he needed, Xue Mo didn't mind changing the course of the conversation. "Is your Academy the real powerhouse of the Ash Expanse?"
This time Hiari sighed in relief. It seemed that the question Xue Mo asked wasn't a problem for them to answer, "of course, senior!" Myzer spoke in a proud tone.
"Then, what are the requirements for joining?" Lu Yao, who was tired of being silent, butted in.
"Responding to senior, you have to be someone of potential, talent, but most importantly, calmness and the drive to do anything for strength!" Hiari answered in a solemn voice.
"And those three are qualified?" Xue Mo asked mockingly.
"Senior, among the five that were at the scene, those three were the only ones who were thinking of escaping. The other two were two scared, thinking that Dio would kill them with his attack!" Myzer answered thoughtfully, showing that he had enough space to pay attention to his surroundings, even though he was fighting the third strongest person of the Battle Mage Academy.
"As for their talent, they were accepted in the Battle Mage Academy, and although that place isn't as good as our Academy, we can't deny that they know how to choose talents!" Hiari praised unexpectedly.
'Hmm, these guys thought of everything. Maybe they really are better than the Battle Mage Academy!' It seemed like Xue Mo had made a decision.
"What if none of the students qualified?" He asked again.
"That would mean that our intelligence failed and that the Battle Mage Academy's standards had fallen. But, this wasn't what Senior meant, was it? To answer Senior's queries, I would say, leave no evidence!" Hiari spoke in a cruel and emotionless look, showing qualities that assassins had.
Xue Mo nodded in understanding, even though he seemed nicer now, but he was still the Sage Of Nightmares, someone who would make people in the Divine Hell Universe shit themselves from hearing his name. Killing to keep a secret and collateral casualties wasn't something new to him.
"Would your Academy accept a half-breed like me?" Xue Mo asked probingly, still in his disguise.
"Senior, it would be our honor to accept an accomplished cultivator like you!" Hiari spoke in excitement. It seems that Xue Mo's question made him happy, and why wouldn't it.
To the duo, Xue Mo was an unfathomable expert who could hide his presence in front of them; someone with that capability would be a great asset to their organization. And although they didn't fight, the pressure that Xue Mo unconsciously exuded affirmed to Myzer and Hiari that they wouldn't even know how they died if they tried anything.
Unlike his previous mindset, Xue Mo seemed to have gotten used to his emotions and didn't mind them. He could now even control himself when he was around humans, and females, without showing his apparent disgust.
Although Xue Mo didn't like humans, he didn't mind working with them. He also knows that not all humans were evil and corrupt. If they were, he would have killed every last human on the Divine Hell Universe.
Moreover, even though he changed his race and became something else, he now felt more human than he ever did. He wouldn't abruptly change his preview of how he perceives them, yet he wouldn't limit himself to his small and narrow-minded view of making every human seem bad. He was slowly changing.
"If you would accept us, then we would like to join!" Xue Mo wasn't trying to be humble, but to the duo, that's what he seemed, which made them frantically shake their heads and say, "No seniors. It would be our pleasure to have you!"
Remembering that he still didn't know their names, Xue Mo asked expressionlessly, "what are your names anyway?"
Realizing that they hadn't introduced themselves, the duo felt embarrassed.
Hiari took a step forward and replied with a now more relaxed manner. "My name is Hiari."
At this day,
Myzer went forward and bowed before speaking with respect. "My name is Myzer Senior."
The fate of the duo assassins,
"I am Lu Yao." The fox lazily spoke.
And the two partners changed forever.