The woman led him to a room with a brown double door on the third floor, and knocked twice before departing. Shui stood looking at it for a few moments and then a deep voice welcomed him.
"Enter."
The large door was as heavy as an adult man, but Shui pushed it open without straining himself. Behind that door, he saw a burly man with a clean chin and a black mustache sitting behind a desk along with a slender, middle-aged man standing behind him. The man sitting was most likely the boss of Red Ravens, but he appeared to possess not only the decisiveness of a tyrant but also maintained the dignity of a noble.
'So this is him.'
With one look, Shui acknowledged that this man was no pushover, unfortunately for him. As Shui analyzed him, Ulus did the same. The inscription of 'Conceal' on the mask could only prevent Ulus' senses from seeing his face. Besides that, Ulus had a complete grasp of him. His age, gender, cultivation, it was all seen through by him. Even so, Ulus still felt like he couldn't see past the mystery that was Shui.
'Hmm, not bad.'
Without shifting his gaze from Shui Ulus said, "Alan, leave us."
"...Yes."
There was clear dissatisfaction on his face, but Alan didn't dare oppose Ulus' decision. When he walked past Shui, Alan glared at him with the intention of sending a warning.
Although he didn't think the brat could harm his boss, he was too loyal to ignore the tiniest possibility. For people in a gang, loyalty wasn't something that could be won with solely strength, that wouldn't be loyalty but dependence. The moment a stronger ship seemed to appear they would change allegiance faster than a playboy changed lovers. To become truly recognized as the boss, one must not only possess great strength but also the knowledge of how to find and use the people around them. By using his own abilities along with the skills of those loyal to him, Ulus had become the greatest boss of Red Ravens besides their founder.
Once Alan was out of the room, Ulus began the conversation.
"Are you the one who messed with Rut?"
"Rather than answer a question you already know the answer to, you mind telling me where my people are?"
After meeting Ulus, Shui was sure that he wasn't the type of person who would be fooled by flattery and honeyed words. This was a man who would kill him the moment he lost interest.
As Shui expected, instead of becoming angry, Ulus laughed at Shui's response.
"Haha, you're right, that was a useless question. Your friends have been released. There's no reason to keep hostages that have lost their use."
He said they were released, but based on his last line Shui knew that they were probably still being followed in case he needed to use them against him.
"I see. Now then, what's the real reason you killed Rut and lured me here?"
"Oh, as I thought, you did something to him didn't you? I honestly didn't expect you to come so quickly so I did consider that you put something on him, but to think I was right."
Shui might not have directly said it, but in Ulus' eyes it was basically a confession. Truly, the only other way for Shui to know that Rut was dead was if there was a mole near Ulus. However, if that was the case he doubted Shui would face him so openly.
"Well, are you going to tell me or not?"
"I could but," suddenly, Ulus' eyes turned serious and a terrifying pressure rolled off of him, "why should I tell you when I can just kill you right now?"
The pressure from a peak Earth Realm expert was enough to cripple anyone in the Mortal Realm, even kill them if they were too weak. But how could Shui be compared to others? Even though the pressure was enough to make a trickle of blood run down his chin, Shui's feet stayed firm on the ground. Furthermore, Shui took it a step higher by replying.
"Because I don't believe you wasted so much effort just to kill me."
After he gave his response, the pressure continued for several more seconds before Ulus retracted it. Ulus was internally upset by the fact that the brat in front of him could resist his pressure so well, but he wasn't rash enough to prioritize his temporary feelings over potential long-term benefits.
"You're not wrong. I've heard about how you killed a beast spirit so I'm interested in you. I want you to join my gang."
If Alan was here he would have surely objected, however Shui's response was something that would aggravate him even more.
"Sorry, I'll have to refuse." Shui swiftly turned him down, much to Ulus' surprise.
"Ahh, don't tell me you think I won't kill you."
Ulus's pressure attacked once more, this time with a bit of killing intent seeped into it. If he messed up at this juncture then his life would be over, Shui was sure of that.
"Instead, I'll give you something else that you'll want."
At this timing Shui took out a talisman from his satchel. Ulus curiously looked at the strip of paper and asked, "What's that?"
"This, is the solution to the problem you've been facing with your pill distribution."
"...Go on."
Ulus reduced the pressure on Shui and allowed him to continue.
"If you stick this talisman on the package with the pills you're selling, then you won't have to worry about them getting discovered."
"What!? You better not be lying to me!"
Ulus had been troubled by this matter a lot in recent times. He knew that the old coot that still acted as mayor would have taken his head if it wasn't for the addicts that were related to the administrative body of Cyrus. If he got a way to hide the unique presence of the pills, he would be able to spread his business further while giving the mayor the finger.
Seeing his agitation, Shui smirked and stretched the talisman with the symbol for 'Hide' towards Ulus.
"Why don't you try?"
The talisman then floated from Shui to Ulus. This wasn't the result of Shui's martial intent, but one of the abilities all Earth Realm experts could use, mental control. When this ability was perfected to a higher degree, it was possible to use it on one's own body and achieve flight, which was the main sign of a Sky Realm practitioner.
Ulus took out a small box from his desk and placed the talisman on it. Before the talisman was stuck onto it, the box released a sinister yet attractive aura, but afterwards it was completely ordinary as if it was nothing more than an empty box. Once he witnessed this, Shui was sure that the rest of their talk would go very smoothly.
After seeing what the talisman could do, Ulus immediately went into a discussion as to the price of the talisman and how they should work together going forward. However Shui recommended that they wait until he had more in stock before they finalized their decision.
"That's fine. How long do you need for let's say, fifty of these?"
"Three days should be enough."
Ulus wondered if he would purposefully ask for a longer time than necessary to escape, but Shui's response reassured him. In any case, the hostages were still there to be used.
"Good, I look forward to it. Oh, and be careful on your way back."
"...Okay."
With that, Shui left and Alan returned.
"Was that okay boss? Isn't he the one the information pointed to?"
A few days ago, a letter had reached the Red Ravens. In the letter, there was information about a boy from the Heaven Clan who knew the production method for the famous harmony series. The letter contained a sketch of his appearance, his cultivation, age and gender. Though he hadn't seen his face and the cultivation didn't match, Ulus was also sure it was him. However, he wasn't a man to carelessly get involved in this matter. Especially when he could make profit through cooperation.
"It's fine. From what I saw that isn't the type of kid who would submit to force. And even I can't get a complete read on him. Rather than act careless and mess up, it's better to choose a method that guarantees profit. Besides, if the sender of that letter intended for us to take care of him, that would mean they're willing to give up the benefits. I think they want to borrow a knife and let me take the blame."
"You mean the kid could have a strong background?"
"I'm not sure. But there's no need to destroy our relationship so quickly. If he loses his use to us in the future, we can just take care of him then."
Ulus looked at the talisman on the box in his hand and then handed the box to Alan before saying, "Get someone to analyze this and see if we can recreate it."
"Yes boss."