The information shopkeep started to talk about the dragon eating sect:
"It's the other son of the emperor, he, well he got jealous of the crown prince and tried to attack him, so he went and created this dragon eating sect as a type of revenge on his brother gaining the throne after his father went into seclusion."
The shopkeep shook his head as he said:
"The sect can't even be called a sect, the young man created it out of spite and he has some of his loyal subordinates protecting him, it's more like a child playing house, but he sent some flyers here and there saying they recruit, most of the free practitioners wouldn't approach his sect though."
Yun Jhin nodded at the shopkeeper as he left the shop and thought to himself:
"A very good way to infiltrate the palace, I can kill the son and take over his identity after I get this body to the ki cultivating realm, it's way better than trying to seduce the princess, it's simpler and takes a shorter time too."
As Yun Jhin finished his plan he left the capital and directly went to the headquarters of the dragon eating sect, there he met with some guards that looked like they came straight out of the empire's military because they did, they were subordinates of the general who had to take care of the second prince.
They immediately shouted at Yun Jhin:
"Halt who dares to trespass into the territory of the dragon eating sect, state your name and business!"
Yun Jhin stopped and put his hands up as he said:
"I'm a now wandering pugilist called Sun Sisheng, I have heard this sect requires personnel and I would like to join it!"
The guards looked at each other, and thought, did this guy read one of their flyers? one stood at the gate as he observed Yun Jhin and said:
"Our sect master will invite you for an interview if he agrees for you to join."
The other guard came back after a while and said:
"The sect master agreed and he would like you to come inside."
The inside of the sect wasn't anything grand as the second prince didn't have enough time to create a proper sect, inside the main hall of the shabbily built palace stood the second prince on his throne, he was a well built tall young man looking to be around 17-18 years old, he had short silver hair and a fair countenance, he also had deep blue eyes and wore a yellow imperial robe.
Behind him stood a man that burst with muscle, his face was hidden under a samurai mask and his heavy armor didn't do anything to impend his muscles as it seemingly plied on his body, he was the general that was supposed to protect the second prince, he was one of the weaker generals as the prince fell out of grace so he was only at the 1st level of the Ki Cultivating realm.
The prince got up from his sect as he looked Yun Jhin up and down and said:
"You have come to join my sect but it seems you aren't that honest with me, what's with that cloak hiding your body? Do you have something to hide?"
Yun Jhin shook his head as he said:
"I have trained in a special undead technique, sect master please bear with my looks."
He dropped the cloak from his body showing his horrid visage to the prince and the general behind him, the prince observed him with a critical eye while the general's eyes looked as steely as before, as he identified his cultivation realm which stood at the peak of the heavenly realm.
The second prince clapped as he looked at Yun Jhin's body and marveled:
"How interesting, such a corpse technique existed in this world? you are living undead, very interesting, very interesting, why would you want to join this prince though? You should have heard what happened between me and my elder brother."
Yun Jhin nodded as he opened his mouth said:
"Yes I have heard what happened between your highness and your royal brother, but I have also heard Long Sunwing was the one who offended you, I know you are good friends with the minister of the right, even though the minister invited me directly to his home I'm of lowly standing and I didn't even break through to the Ki cultivating realm yet so I'm too ashamed to present myself to the minister of the right like this."
At the mention of Long Sunwing the prince's eyes clouded over as he finally remembered the name and laughed:
"Oh, I remember now I got a report saying that Long Sunwing was killed, so you were the one who did it? marvelous indeed he was a cousin of mine so I couldn't kill him myself as it would have angered royal father, but you killed him so it has nothing to do with me right?"
He winked at me and said:
"So you want to connect yourself to the minister of right through me? Quite smart of you, you are also at the peak of the heavenly realm from what my guard told to me, with the resources of the imperial palace we could make you a ki cultivating expert."
Yun Jhin bowed as he kept his fists cupped at the prince and said:
"Your highness, my cultivation technique requires special nutritious objects, I want to join the war efforts and serve the dynasty as a soldier, I know this is a sudden request that shouldn't be even appointed towards your highness, but I do not want to go through the normal joining efforts, I would like to join your highness personal guards."
The prince looked at Yun Jhin and took a pondering look on his face, he would need a special unit with Yun Jhin at the head, from his observation he realized that Yun Jhin was stronger than the average 9th stage heavenly realm and he didn't break through the Ki cultivating realm yet, how strong would he be then?
The prince continued looking at Yun Jhin as he waved his hand at the general behind him and said:
"Welcome our friend to the dragon eating sect, however for his other requests I would have to ponder some more by myself, get him something to cover himself in our sect colors, also make sure you help him break through to the Ki cultivating realm sooner than later, at that time based on the results I will give him a satisfactory answer."
Yun Jhin bowed again and followed the general that waved to him, the body snatcher followed the general towards a rather luxurious room as he said:
"You are one of the first disciples with such a high cultivation base, so you can be the second sect master, here in the room you will find a robe of our sect, I will send a maid to modify it so you could hide your appearance, I will need some time to get the needed materials to help you breakthrough, what do you need?"
Yun Jhin's passive face turned into a deep smile as he said:
"Any corpses at the 9th stage or above, a corpse of a Ki cultivating realm expert would immediately propel me near the Ki cultivating realm."
The general nodded his head as he looked at me through the slits of the helmet and said:
"Quite a strange cultivation technique you have there my friend, you wouldn't mind if I."
Suddenly he attacked with lightning quickness as his hand directly went to Yun Jhin's neck, the man clasped Yun Jhin by the neck and picked him like one would pick a little chick. The man's eyes narrowed as he said:
"I Bong Susang never saw such a peculiar cultivation technique that can transform one into a living undead, where are you from Sun Sisheng, you can't be a normal patriarch from a small sect at the borders of the empire, you also came to the capital fast based on your cultivation base, you are trying to infiltrate the imperial family?"
He sneered as he clutched his neck harder and said:
"Tell me who sent you? The Heavenly turtle sect? the Bagan Empire?"
Yun Jhin shook his head and said, he didn't need air as a corpse as he unclasped the man's hands from his neck using his superior body strength, the man didn't use his Ki as he thought he could easily deal with a 9th stage heavenly realm practitioner.
Bong Susang's eyes widened as he looked at his hand and then at Yun Jhin as he said:
"I have underestimated you, but that won't mean I'm done with you."
He started powering up his ki as he was ready to start a fight here and there when Yun Jhin opened his mouth:
"I have gained this cultivation technique during one of my travels outside the sect, I have based my sect on the borders because I have heard about a tomb of an expert in corpse refining, luckily with tens of years of searching I finally found the tomb with the corpse technique, I'm not sent by anyone, you can ask the spies you have near that region, this is my first time in years I have left the sect grounds."
Bong Susang narrowed his eyes as he took his helmet off his head showing his scarred bald head and mutilated face then he said:
"If you aren't a spy then I will give you my apologies, but up till then my men will keep an eye on you."
Bong Susang lived through countless wars since he was a young man, he became extremely paranoid and immediately suspected something when he saw such a high-level patriarch would like to join the army, most of the time patriarch's from small sects would be too prideful to do such things on their initiative, as they would rather be the head of a snake than the backside of a dragon.
The general would immediately get in touch with the spies at the border to make sure what Yun Jhin said was the truth, the man abhorred traitors and spies as a traitor that turned out to be a spy was the one who got the emperor injured. As most of the soldiers from the army were brainwashed into loving their emperor, especially as the emperor had quite a high martial might, most of them wanted to be taken as apprentices by the emperor so they could learn the imperial cultivation technique.
Yun Jhin shook his head as he entered the room and cracked his neck, even though the hold on his neck didn't hurt him it made his neck rather stiff. He knew such things would happen if he tried to suddenly join the imperial family but the best way to destroy them would be from the inside. He just had to go through some screens but they wouldn't be able to find anything on him as his past was pretty clean, the disciples didn't even know the elders were eaten as they thought they were all in closed-door cultivation, and the patriarch left for greener pastures so they could do whatever they wanted.
Yun Jhin knew he was already in the army at this point, he just needed to wait for a little to get his confirmation.