Corrupt Creations

Seth realized that things were not so simple as they seemed to be. Something was telling him that the fact they were secretly transporting slaves inside the Desolate Scorching Wasteland, was something he had to investigate or maybe he would be losing the biggest opportunity to quickly find his enemies. 

He also noticed that things were so well done, that not even strong cultivators would be able to notice so many normal practitioners being transported out, since they didn't emit energy fluctuations. 

"We are going to follow them." He said for Lan Xue, in a low voice only she would be able to hear. 

She looked towards him, not understanding what he was planning and why he was saying that, but when she was about to ask something, the man who was announcing the recruitment, suddenly stopped as if he had been electrocuted by a lightning bolt. 

It was as if his body and mind had stopped working, frozen on the screen where only Lan Xue's doll-like appearance existed. 

Suddenly, he jumped off the platform and approached Seth and Lan Xue. While doing so, he used his Qi to scan on both Seth and Lan Xue and noticed it returned nothing for him, meaning that they could either be stronger than him, or they didn't have any cultivation at all. But that didn't matter for now. 

Lan Xue's hand suddenly moved at a lightning speed to stop him, but Seth grabbed her hand quickly, not letting her attack. At the same time, he entered between her and the announcer that was already near them, not giving Lan Xue the chance to chastise him from touching her. 

"Stop! Who are you? What do you want from my Young Lady?" Seth started to act like he was a guard for Lan Xue. 

The man suddenly stopped in front of Seth and gave him a complete and deep look, even before he thought of introducing himself, some guards from the Scorching Trade Group were already approaching and standing behind his back. 

"Hello. I'm one of the rich merchant leaders of the Scorching Trade Group, Theodor; and you are...?" The man expected to see a reaction on Lan Xue's face, but there was none. He had purposely told them his important high status, trying to impress her. 

Up close, it was easy to realize that the man was not a pure human. He seemed to be half human and half demon, since he had some small demonic characteristics on his face. 

"I'm Seth, Lady Lan's bodyguard." 

Lan Xue furrowed her eyebrows, but didn't say anything. 

"Lady Lan? I've never heard of you before. Where are you from?" He said while looking at Lan Xue, but she didn't reply him at all. 

The man was a bit displeased by Seth's behavior of blocking his path, but he tried to be the most cordial possible, since he didn't know their background yet. 

"We are nobles from the Blue Breeze Country." 

"Oh? Blue Breeze? Welcome to the Yellowstone Pass city. I am the one responsible for recruiting valiant mercenaries to help my group transporting some supplies for a very important client of ours. I'm actually forming the caravan right now. Are you perhaps interested in joining us?" 

"Oh? Sorry but my Young Lady is not interested in taking part in dangerous activities." 

"Are you sure? We are paying a hefty sum of Skystones for..." 

"I'm sorry Mr. Theodor, but we don't need any money." 

"Is that so? Then how about coming as a guest?" Theodor insisted on recruiting them somehow, even if it meant just bringing them along as guests. He was being a bit hasty on his actions, even though he had already realized he was dealing with people that were probably stronger than him. His merchant eyes were able to realize the confidence those two emitted and that's why he didn't give the guards any orders. 

Theodor was a Profound Qi peak-stage cultivator and since his initial scan returned nothing, Seth and Lady Lan would at least be Qi Transformation Realm practitioners. But because they appeared to be too young, their status must at least be quite shocking at the Blue Breeze Country. However, he didn't bother with that, since he had some helpers that were very strong and he would be counting on them later. 

"Guests? Hm... The Young Lady had said she wanted to observe the Desolate Scorching Wasteland, but I planned on contracting a proper guide to bring us there." 

"That's it! Don't worry, I can guide you to through the Desolate Scorching Wastelands! We are going to deliver some goods to a relatively safe location, so you can come along if you want. Don't worry, I won't even charge anything from the both of you." 

"Hm... That's interesting. What do you think Young Lady?" Seth asked Lan Xue, who looked at him like she wanted to bury him underneath right now. 

Lan Xue didn't know why Seth had stopped to hear all that bullshit, why he was so interested on that and how things reached the point they are. But since she knew this whole mission was more important for him than anything, she decided to follow his lead. 

"Good." 

A simple word from her, was enough to make Theodor feel like he had won the lottery. 

"Then it is decided! We are going to leave soon after we complete the recruitment. Let me guide you to my carriage, where we can..." 

"Mr. Theodor, I'm sorry to say it, but my Young Lady likes to travel alone and in a peaceful condition." 

Seth suddenly approached him and said in a low voice: "She loves to sleep when traveling, so it would be better if you could provide a private carriage for her travel. Don't worry about the driver, I can do that menial job." 

Theodor nodded after noticing that what Seth had said made sense. While observing Lady Lan, he was able to realize she was a woman of few words, but inwardly, he was already thinking about the fact she would be soon letting her voice out for only him to hear. 

"Excuse me then, I have to finish my job here. Please go to the Scorching Trade Group headquarters. There will be a person there waiting to guide you to the place we are going to depart from." 

"Alright." 

After that, Theodor and his guards went back inside a build located behind the platform. There were some guards outside, in charge of registering the practitioners that were signing in for the job. 

Seth didn't undo his Soul Sense, so when Theodor entered his office alone and activated a Sound Transmit Formation, he was still able to hear everything. 

After the formation connected, from the other side, a male voice suddenly asked: "How are things going? They are already getting impatient." 

"Don't worry, we are going to leave from Yellowstone Pass in about two to three hours. However, this time I will need something from you." 

"Hm? What is it? You know we can't be careless, right?" 

"Don't worry, it is not a task that requires you to personally act. There are going to be two more individuals coming along this time and I think they are Qi Transformation cultivators. You could use that precious pet of yours to deal with it, since I know it must be hungry for some more snacks. And on top of that..." 

"Ah, I understand. I will give you a hand on that matter, but you know the price." 

"Don't worry. I will pay you twice that price." Theodor said. 

"Good." 

Their discussion didn't give too much information about who they were or what they were going to do, but Seth was able to hear about some interesting things. His suspicions were telling him that something with this was off, but he didn't dare raise his hopes. 

No one was able to find the Cerberus Clan until now, but Seth realized that it was because Velgor probably controlled the flux of information on the whole Demon Territory. But he knew that the Cerberus Clan needed guinea pigs to conduct their experiments and repeating the same process they did with his village back then, was out of question. So, the situation with the Scorching Trade Group, kind of fell from the heaven for him, else he would have to manually search for them through the whole Wasteland. 

While they were heading to the Scorching Trade Group headquarters, Lan Xue kept analyzing some of Seth's actions. She had no way to know about what he was doing or why, but through the way he acted, she felt like he had acquired some crucial information from that situation that happened before. But, how...? 

Scenes from the Glazed Lake stone Yushui had shown them, kept flashing inside her head, making Lan Xue realize she knew few things to nothing about Seth. Lan Xue was here as his partner, not only because it was a trade and a repayment from saving his grandmother, but because she genuinely felt gratitude. But that didn't mean she wouldn't try to discover more things about him and use it for her advantage or protection later. After all, in her conception, they were partners and not friends.