Dropping off Xue Ai at his home wouldn't be an issue. Unlike his existence, everyone already knew of Xue Ai and her position. Only suicidal maniacs would dare lay a hand on her.
And he didn't worry about her presence revealing his identity. After all, who could connect such an extravagant figure as the little sister of him, a strange boy who disappeared from public view for the last couple of years.
As such, Xue Chang wasn't worried about a thing as he moved forward.
Putting on his Yong Heng disguise, he casually strolled over to the guild.
Entering into the bustling building, he couldn't help but be amazed how much the guild has changed over the course of the last seven years.
Thanks to the sale of the earth fire, Water Cloud City had obtained a lot of fame. Plus with the extra income, they were able to expand the borders of the city. Which simultaneously helped the guild grow its influence, as well as strengthen the populace as a whole.
Now the amount of hunter's under the guild influence nearly tripled, and more and more rogue cultivators started appearing among these individuals.
But, not all news was good.
Although their strength and land grew, as did the danger.
For some odd reason, a few years ago the beasts of the nearby forest began to become more aggressive and would go on rampages.
Xue Chang, Tian Hai, and Tian Kai had even participated in many subjugation requests in order to deal with this issue. After all, if things weren't dealt with quickly, who knows when the demonic beasts would attack the city.
But rather than the chaos reducing as time passed and more monsters were killed, it actually became worse.
Now there was a constant defensive line built around the forest to watch for invading demonic beasts.
But even with all of their new and powerful members, the beasts just kept coming. It was a bad omen.
Luckily, thanks to Xue Chang being such a respectable member of the guild, he was able to choose when he wanted to help with the defensive line. He was rarely drafted so this didn't bother his daily routine much.
But today was different. Today 'Yong Heng' had specifically been called in by the guild master for a mission.
And from the tone of the letter he received, this wasn't something he could reject.
Entering the guild and immediately walking toward the familiar stairs to the guild master office, Yong Heng moved up while ignoring the gazes of those around him.
Although he had only been active for a few years, his reputation was quite something among the other hunters.
But he wasn't interested in his newfound fame. That was useless to him.
As he rose up to the top floor of the guild hall, he entered into the office of the guild master without even knocking.
While most would find his actions to be disrespectful, his relationship with the guild master was good enough that such formalities were unneeded.
"You've summoned me?" His aggravatingly high pitch voice, due to being "ten years old", entered into the perking ears of the guild master.
The robust man looked up from the documents he had been reading and took a glance toward Xue Chang.
Without saying he word, he motioned toward a seat in the room.
Nodding his head in thanks, Xue Chang plopped himself down onto the wooden stool.
"Some of our hunters have been making a few reports lately if a certain sighting."
The guild master began to speak solemnly as he dug through the pile of papers that were stacked as high as he was.
Pulling a single report out from the mountain of documents, he slip it over to Xue Chang carefully.
"Take a look."
Curiously looking at the paper in front of him, he quickly skimmed through the document before freezing up at one part.
There, underlined with ink, was the main target of the report.
The reason Xue Chang froze at these words was because he only knew of one pair that matched the description written in paper.
The paper reading out "near the end of the trail, one could see a single beast more powerful than the rest lying in wait. The beast, which has been recognized as a sky leopard due to matching descriptions within the beastiary, is accompanied by a single woman of unknown origin…"
The rest he didn't even need to read. He knew immediately why the guild master had called him here.
And even if he wasn't drafted, if Xue Chang knew about this he would've acted anyway. With or without permission.
"Yong Heng, you have been designated the task of finding and exterminating those in the report. One of our men seemed to have found their current hideout. You are to head out and subjugate them immediately!" The guild master commanded in a powerful fashion, but these words entered deaf ears.
Xue Chang crushed the documents within his hand and slammed it back onto the table before turning around and leaving, "I'll handle it."
And with that he left the guild master's office, slamming the door shut behind him.
Meanwhile the guild master looked down at the crumpled piece of paper with his brow furrowed.
"… I wasn't even finished filling in that report yet."
________
Within a shaded area, two figures could be seen kneeling down toward another right in front of them.
One of them was a beast, rarely seen in this environment, the sky leopard. The other was a human woman who was in the third level of Qi refinement, she called herself Succubus.
Beast and Succubus, two of the main perpetrators of the current chaos within Water Cloud City.
Yet these two people trembled beneath the figure before them.
"Seven years since we've lost the pseudo nascent soul. Although I have already forgiven you for your transgression, my rage still stands. Succubus, since beast can't speak, why don't you tell me what you did wrong?"
Succubus froze as sweat trickled down the crevasses of her neck.
Parting her lips slowly, she responded, "We failed to stay vigilant for intruders…"
"That's one part, and another?"
"We underestimated our enemy."
"Good good." The man nodded three times in satisfaction, but just before the third nod he shot over and slammed his foot into Succubus, causing her to fling back and crash into the nearby wall.
"This plan wasn't something we came up with on the spot! Yet you somehow let it all go to waste. How stupid can you possibly be!"
Rushing over he stomped once more on Succubus, causing a scream of agony to sound out as tears trickled down her face.
Seeing its friend being flung aside, Beast let out a low guttural growl as it looked at the figure menacingly.
Yet a single glance from the man caused the demonic beast to pause and shrink back in fear.
"The master won't be happy with EITHER of you if we don't succeed in this task. As such we have no choice. Losing not one but TWO vital objects to the operation will hinder us greatly. So we will have to go with the backup plan."
As soon as these words escaped the figure's mouth, Succubus, who still reeled from the attack, struggled to stand and say, "But that would be a death sentence for us! There would be nowhere that would accept us, we'd be outcast hunted down for the rest of our days!"
"Don't worry Succubus, even if the Immortal Families were to hunt us down, our master would be able to guard us easily. And I don't mean those pathetic branches that publicly pretend to be the Immortal Families, I mean the real deal backing them within the shadows!"
Laughing out in confidence, he turned around to Beast. Approaching it, he bent over slowly rubbed the fur on its head. A sick smile formed across his lips as suddenly Beast's head was smashed into the ground.
"A mutt dares to growl at me?" Wiping the blood off his palms, he continued.
"But we will need to deal with one thing first. You said two reasons for your past failures, but I'm sure you know of a third no?"
"…Yong Heng." Succubus spoke this name with such vehemence and hatred that one would think he killed her entire family.
"That is right. He is a surprising and unpredictable variable to our mission, one that must be dealt with immediately. Guardian has already acted, he has sent information over that will lead Yong Heng into the forest soon enough. Take this."
A vial containing a single mysterious pill appeared in the figure's palm. Tossing it over lightly at Succubus, he muttered out threateningly, "You'll have plenty of time to set up an ambush and deal with him. So this time Succubus, don't fail. If you do fail then by his hands or by mine, You. Will. Die!"
Turning around, the figure trudged off into the opposite direction of the city. Waiting patiently for his compatriot to bring in good news.