In the Streets of Sun City, cultivators and mortals mixed.
In the crowd, a figure wearing a dark cloak tightly held a long object wrapped in black. They moved through the ocean of people at a steady pace and entered an inn specially meant for cultivators.
"Ah! Hello sir, please come sit!"
The cloaked man was brought to a table and sat down. They ordered and listened to the gossip as they waited for their food.
At the table next to the cloaked figure, two cultivators wearing robes from the Unmoved Spirit Sect conversed.
"Hey, did you hear about the battle last month?"
The Disciple raised a brow, "The one with the Demonic Sect?"
"That's the one! The Demonic Sect lost to a lone cultivator! I hear they're coming to Sun City to hide!"
On queue, another person entered the inn, the person was tall and menacing. Both their arm were charred black. A red light would sometimes glow and force their arm to expand.
The Disciple at the table next to the cloaked figure gasped, "It...It... It's Xue Gong! He's the one who fought the Demonic sect and won!"
Heads turned to look at the man of the hour. Xue Gong narrowed his eyes around the room and found the cloaked figure was the only one not looking at him with amazement. The cloaked figure wasn't even looking at Xue Gong at all.
The Cultivator frowned and walked over. Sitting opposite of the cloaked figure.
"Fellow Cultivator, you look like you are not from here, may I ask where you come from?"
"The mountains." The cloaked figure let out in a raspy voice.
"Mountain....Hey, I've been looking for a Demonic Cultivator who escaped, you have an awfully evil smell, care to lift your cloak?"
The cloaked figure replied, "No."
Xue Gong frowned, he then stood up and slammed his hands on the table.
"Demonic Cultivator, I'll kill you if you don't surrender now!"
With Xue Gong's reputation, he felt he could easily kill someone with the excuse that they were a Demonic Cultivator. He was licking his lips thinking what goodies the cloaked man had on him.
"I'm not a Demonic Cultivator." The man snorted, patiently waiting for his food.
Xue Gong roared, "I say you are a Demonic Cultivator so you are, now fight!"
It was a simple case of arrogance and power. Xue Gong wasn't a good-natured man, nor was he righteous or kind.
The 7 Providences weren't kind to begin with, slavery was rampant and power was the only thing that mattered in these lands.
Throwing a punch, Xue Gong used his Black Corrosive Martial Art.
The Marital Art required Corrosive Spirits in both the user's arms and the arms and spirits themselves had to be tempered, leaving the arms black and the spirits inside them becoming the Black Corrosive Spirit Variant, a man-made spirit.
The sound of air splitting resounded but it was stopped by the crisp sound of impact.
Xue Gong stared at the cloaked cultivator, they blocked his attack with some weapon covered in black rags, most likely a sword of blade.
"You dare!"
"Don't do this." The cloaked figure warned.
Xue Gong didn't know what stage the man before him was at, but Xue Gong himself was at the Peak of the Founding stage, allowing him to harness another spirit which allowed him to complete his Martial Art, even First Step Growth Stage Cultivators would fear him.
Backing his fist, Xue Gong winded up and struck again.
"Wrong choice..."
As the fist closed in, the cloaked figure kicked the table up. Xue Gong's fist smashed through it as his fist continued.
The black wrappings around the cloaked figure's weapon unraveled and circled the air, revealing a blood-red sword with a single edge. The sword glowed as in the blink of an eye it moved.
Xue Gong was alarmed but he was already throwing his first.
It was too late, Xue Gong felt his arm become warmer only to realize there were multiple incisions all across it, leaking blood. The blood-red sword was already gliding underneath his arm heading straight for his ribs.
"Fast!"
Forcing his entire body to move, Xue Gong barely missed the strike, his shirt gained a large hole with a thin cut dripping blood. He thought he would have time to breathe but the sword was already heading towards him again.
Moving away, Xue Gong found the Sword and its user followed him like an arrow, no matter how he moved the sword would cut off his escape and take a few strikes, leaving his body with more wounds.
"What type of sword art is this?! Enough!"
Smashing his hands together, black energy exploded from his arms, causing the whole inn to be covered in thick smoke.
Whoever breathed in the black gas born from the attack would cough up blood, even the furniture was melting.
Yet the cloaked figure still pursued Xue Gong. Cut after cut, gnash after gnash, Xue Gong couldn't escape as his opponent was slowly adding sword energy to his attacks.
"Enough! Die!!"
If things continued, Xue Gong would die. In light of this, he used his trump card, his hands expanded slightly as mass amounts of energy were released from his hands.
The released energy homed in on Xue Gong's attacker.
The result seemed good, but his opponent smartly backed away. Yet, they still swung their sword, not only from a distance but their attack was way too slow!
Taking this opportunity, Xue Gong beelined it to the exit of the inn.
"Haha! Idiot! Die to my corrosive fog and become food for the fishes! I'm leaving!"
Just as his hand reached for the outside light, a blue wave swept out instantly and Xue Gong found his hand had vanished. It was now on the floor, cleanly removed from his body.
"AHH!!!!"
Xue Gong fell to his knees as he grasped at his wrist with blood gushing from it incessantly.
Before he realized it, the cloaked figure was behind him. They showed no signs of injury and their blade pushed through Xue Gong's skull, coming out the other end.
Crimson flowed down the blade, dripping from the tip, creating a pool below it.
Those watching the scene looked on in horror. A Peak Founding Stage Cultivator died just like that.
Suddenly, the figure who killed Xue Gong vanished.
No one knew where they went but they didn't want to follow and end up like the corpse before them. The crowd dispersed like rats and no one spoke of what they saw.
In an alley, the cloaked figure appeared and removed the hood from their head. It was Cain, his face was covered in sweat and he was panting like an old dog.
"I....hah....used way too much Spiritual Qi. Sword energy is so draining!"
He collapsed to the floor and took out a few pills, swallowing them and beginning to cultivate.
'Pills sure are useful. Who knew putting different plants in a furnace could have such effects? Too bad there aren't any alchemists that can make pills useful for the growth stage and up. It would be great to have pills the whole way to the top! Unfortunately, Master said no one is talented enough and most of those recipes have been lost....'
Cain recovered his spiritual qi before standing up and covering his face again. He then returned to the streets.
'Master sent me here to meet with an old friend. He said it would be a good learning experience and help me gain friends in high places...I'm supposed to go to the wealthy district and meet at the Golden Flake Inn? Or was it the Golden Fluke Inn?'
Scratching his head, Cain moved through the crowds with ease and made his way to the meeting location.
...
"Xue Gong died?"
"Yes my lord....." A weak Harnessing Stage cultivator quivered before his master. He was only a weak 6th-tier Demon who got lucky and possessed his host early on.
"Hah, we built that reputation so he could get close to the righteous cultivators and become another spy in our arsenal....tsk, find out who killed him and bring them to me. I'll either kill them or have someone possess them to fill in Xue Gong's spot."
"Of course my Lord!"
The weak possessed bowed and left. He truly was the weakest of the weak, he barely inherited enough authority from his ancestor to make it to the 6th Tier, he will even lose to some wild 5th Tier Demons.
'I must succeed, perhaps the Master will let me possess the killer of Xue Gong! Sun City here I come!'