"I guess all I can take from you is that you will need to think about it? Even though you know full well the price I can offer." after a short but very heated exchange, Jianmen looked up at the paper sigil he stuck onto the top of the fireplace, and found that he only had less than half a minute's time: "Are you that cautious, that you are only willing to do petty and unsavory deeds like collecting souls through your conduits and sacrificing your own believers and followers, but not engage in a fight against those who may have a lot to do with your fall in the first place?"
"That is because you are asking me to fight against the very beings that are capable of felling Gods!" the entity at the other side of the vortex answered with anger: "And yet you provided no proof that you have a plan!"
"The plan is not to be shared with you unless you agree to the terms and are willing to swear with True Words." Jianmen sighed and said: "Alright, give me a name to communicate with you. I am not going to do this again."
"Hoztang, it is the name I used in your realm." the entity answered, just when the paper sigil was finally burnt up and the orange and golden vortex disappeared.
"You fucking coward." Jianmen cursed under his breath.
During the short exchange, Jianmen also asked a few probing questions about Hoztang's activities on this world, in the name of "understanding its situation", and Hoztang was actually slightly proud of his dealings on earth with his believers and conduits, even though Jianmen was quite clear in his line of questioning that he did not approve of them. It also mentioned, quite flauntingly, that it had dealings with rivaling groups on earth in exchange for sacrifices and offerings of energy.
And now that Jianmen knew about the name of this fallen god, a few dots had connected for him. The Coven of Crows, the relatively unknown coven to Jianmen, whose members tried to break into the site infested by malice he and Josephine Wong visited earlier had some dealings with Hoztang, according to Tze Cha. Yet it also had direct dealings with Bleeding Daggers, a faction of players that according to what he heard Josephine Wong was no way on good terms with the Coven of Crows.
Double dealing with two parties at war, something could get someone court-marshalled should they dare try to pull that in the civilian world, yet it turned out perfectly reasonable for this fallen god. If Jianmen did not have to conserve his energy and power and speed up his recovery, he would try to do a sneaky divination on Hoztang behind its back to see if its had its hands, or rather tentacles and spikes, in other parts of the world as well.
When he got out from under the ruins and debris of this house, Jianmen saw that the black cat that came to his inn with Aimee was standing on the side of the road licking her paw.
"What brings you here?" Jianmen asked: "Aren't you having a rest at my inn?"
"So you HAVE seen my sister. That scent she left wouldn't lie to me." the black cat answered in a voice that was very similar to that of Mr. Night Owl's, with only minor differences: "My name is Katherine Akahoshi, as you can tell, I am a Nekomata. I am Christina's older sister. Since you've met her and know where she is, can you bring me to her? Our family called for her and she's gone out for way too long."
"Um… sure." Jianmen thought for only a short moment, as he did not sense ill will from this Nekomata, she also looked and sensed very similar to Mr. Night Owl, and just like Mr. Night Owl, she was much older than he was: "I thought you had ways to track each other? Especially those related by blood."
"She's gone out of her way to hide her tracks." the black cat looked at Jianmen with sharp eyes: "And we need to find her, now."
"Okay. But bear in mind that she's technically a guest in my inn now." Jianmen nodded: "Convince her to go with you if you can, no harm can be inflicted upon my guests while they're in my inn, no forced removals unless I or other co-owners say so."
"... I understand." the black cat narrowed her eyes for a short moment and said: "She will not be harmed."
"Alright." Jianmen put down his hands and put them onto two symbols on the side of the wheels of his wheelchair, and his wheelchair started lightning up and shooting out small bolts of lightning, "Come on up, grab something."
"A simple portal would do, why the movie reenactment?" Katherine hopped onto the left armrest of Jianmen's chair and stabilized her position with her magic.
"Well, that would be no fun." Jianmen laughed out loud and rolled towards the road outside of the fence with great speed, the wheels of his wheelchair left two trails of flames. And after a flash, they just disappeared after a blinding flash of light and electric bolts.
Jianmen and Katherine reappeared just outside of Xianshi Inn. And when Jianmen rolled through the front door, Katherine jumped onto the ground and instantly found the black cat who was sleeping on the reception's desk.
"Christina!" Katherine yelled at Mr. Night Owl.
Mr. Night Owl opened her eyes, jumped in the air as if she saw something really scary, and ran out from the backdoor.
Katherine let out an angry and frustrated meow, then ran out the backdoor as well, passing by Rash.
"Another cat fairy?" Rash chuckled and looked back at the two cats running around in the garden and parking lot.
"Yeah, she's the older sister." Jianmen rolled to the reception's desk: "How's the spies?"
"They're all awake now." Rash answered: "The other two were quite unfriendly, so it's going to be a tough chat."
"Hmm, leave that to me then. I have some new questions to ask them."