Corrupt Creations

Valic arrived at the demon territory after traveling for an entire week. His main mission was to investigate the traces left behind by the Cerberus Clan, however, he had orders to keep an eye on Seth too. Now that he returned with his objective in hands, he just needed to report back to the superiors. 

Just as he had entered the demon territory, Tao Zhong's body started to act very strangely. His limbs contorted and his arms were flailing helplessly. After ten whole minutes on that condition, his limbs stopped moving, together with all the functions of his body. Tao Zhong died inexplicably. 

Valic could only observer powerlessly as the process happened in front of him. He couldn't even point towards a suspect, since he was alone together with Tao Zhong. It didn't pass inside his head, that Seth was the cause of what just happened, because the concept of soul attacks was reserved to a select few. Those who knew something about soul, were the elite within the elite. 

Valic made sure to inspect Tao Zhong's body, searching for signs of a poison or an illness, but he found nothing. 

After half an hour deciding on how to proceed, Valic chose to report what have happened and bear with the consequences. 

He activated a formation that was able to transmit sound, and waited for the connection. After some time, the Sound Transmit Formation shone with a different light, signaling both sides were connected. 

Valic knelt on the ground, even though only sound could be transmitted. 

"Speak." A calm voice ordered. 

"Master, your servant followed the clues leading to the Cerberus Clan, narrowing them down to a family of human fire practitioners. I discovered they made some kind of experiments with a male called Tao Zhong and managed to secure him, bringing his body until I entered the demon territory. But for some unknown reason, he died before my eyes and I'm unable to tell what have happened even after having inspected his body. This useless servant deserves to be punished for my incompetency." 

There was a silence that prevailed for more than a minute, before the conversation proceeded. 

"What about Seth? Did he discover anything?" 

"He was about to inquire information from the individual called Tao Zhong, but I prevented him from doing so. During the time he stood on the Blazing Phoenix Sect, he didn't seem to be actively searching for any clues about the Cerberus Clan. I made sure to clean their manor too, since it would be possible for Seth to visit that place." 

"Keep watching over him. If he comes near something concrete, then you must make sure to do the necessary stuff to prevent him from finding anything." 

"Your servant shall do it, Master." 

"There is one more thing. Tell Seth to come back within fifteen days from now. I plan to announce an alliance with the Lion's Pride Golden Palace, and I want him to deter them and show our superiority or else their ego wouldn't let them ally with us. Bunch of prideful fools. You are free to go now." The mysterious voice disconnected from the formation, leaving those instructions behind. 

After some time, Valic disposed of Tao Zhong's body and left towards the Blazing Phoenix Sect again. 

. 

. 

. 

The next day, Seth had sneaked out from Meiyi's house while she was still sleeping and left the Blazing Phoenix Sect grounds. He went towards the Tao Family Manor, since he wanted to investigate some things with urgency. 

He sneaked past a huge metallic gate, invading the Manor stealthily. However, when he arrived inside, he instantly noticed that there was a deadly silence. After investigating a bit further, he found out the reason. 

Everyone inside the Manor was already dead. Someone reached here faster than Seth and killed them all. It was more than clear to him that it was Valic, since he was the one after Tao Zhong. If this was really done by him, then Seth wouldn't be able to do anything. 

He kept searching for any useful information, but it was useless, since Valic cleaned the entire place. 

"Damn it!" Seth could only sigh in defeat. 

He left the Manor and went back to Meiyi's house. This was not a fruitless travel though, because now he knew that Valic was the key to reach his goals. The problem was that he could not kill Valic right now, because he didn't want to attract any suspicion for himself. He had to tread carefully when dealing with the matters that concerned the demon territory. 

He entered Meiyi's house and saw her groggy face while trying to prepare some breakfast. She was so cute that Seth's mood lighted instantly. 

"Meiyi, good morning." 

"Good morning, Seth." She woke up happy, eager to test her new weapon out. 

"Want me to prepare breakfast for you?" Seth asked. 

"Hm? Will you really?" 

"Of course, I just demand a good morning kiss as my reward and it got to be paid before I do it." 

"Ah! I should have suspected you would have ulterior motives." 

Seth closed in and hugged the shy Meiyi, kissing her lightly after. 

They spent the entire morning having some funny conversations and, in the afternoon, Seth helped Meiyi with her sword training. 

She gained some insights with her new sword throughout their training session and was just adding some more finishing touches. 

"Seth, this week will be my eighteenth anniversary and I was thinking of visiting my mother to commemorate it, do you want to come?" 

"Oh? Of course. I would love to meet your mother." 

"Then it's settled. I want to introduce you to her, since we are now a couple." She said while avoiding eye contact. She was still shy around him, even after all the times he had kissed her already. 

"Ahaha, there is no need for you to be shy around me Meiyi. Come here let me hug you a bit more." 

They kept doing sweet couple things for the rest of the day. 

The next morning, Seth and Meiyi left the Blazing Phoenix Sect together, heading towards a remote city within the territory of the Blazing Phoenix Country. Seth hired a carriage for the entire travel, because the city they were heading to, was a bit far. Seth could travel easily by foot, but he would never let Meiyi tire herself with something like that. 

They would need to travel for an entire day to reach that remote city, so Seth took the opportunity to meditate and try to comprehend more of the Hades inheritance, together with his new fire attribute. If he could understand at least a bit more of those overpowered abilities, the gains would certainly be enormous. 

Meiyi too, was trying to comprehend a bit more of her "steam element" and her new sword. 

Like that, an entire day passed until they arrived right before Meiyi's former house. It was a really simple house made of stone, with wooden doors and windows. The entire house seemed to be really neat and clean. 

Seth felt that there seemed to be some kind of energy, gathering around the house, that would make people try to avoid it. Only those who have entered it before, would feel no difference at all, while people below the Mana Perception realm, wouldn't even be able to sense that there was something different with that house. Actually, they wouldn't even notice it. 

Chun Meiyi knocked lightly on the wooden door and waited for her mother to attend. A minute later, a beautiful middle-aged woman opened the door to see who was knocking. She had brown hairs and light brown eyes, that were clear of any impurities. 

Her lonely expression immediately changed to a cheerful one, since her precious daughter still remembered her and came to visit. 

"Mom!" 

"Meiyi my child, how have you been? Mom missed you so much." 

"Mom, I missed you too. It's been six months since the last time I saw you." 

"How can you be so heartless, leaving your mom dying in loneliness." 

"Oh, mom, you know that I can't visit you every day, since I have to learn things and study hard." 

"Quickly tell your mom! Is there anyone treating you badly on the Blazing Phoenix Sect? Were you able to study properly? Were you eating enough every day? If you don't eat enough nutrients, how do you expect that your chest would be able to grow more?" Meiyi's mother started to fire a question after another. She cared deeply about everything that concerned her daughter, so it was natural for her to be curious about those things. 

"Mom! Everything is alright, okay? You do not need to worry with something like that!" 

"Hehe." Seth laughed lightly. Their relationship was really funny and pure, something he missed dearly. 

"Hm? Who is this handsome lad?" 

"Mom, this is Seth. He is my boyfriend." Meiyi said with a low voice. She was more embarrassed than normally now. 

"Hello, mother-in-law. My name is Seth Caesar and I'm an inner-court disciple like your daughter." Seth made his introduction. 

"Boyfriend? Who would ever think, that my shy and reserved daughter would bring a boyfriend home in less than a year?" 

Meiyi felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Her mother was just too much. 

"Hello, Seth. My name is Chun Meihui. Please do not stand on ceremonies and come inside the house. I just prepared some fresh tea, with the leaves I collected from my humble garden. You can taste it while we have a good conversation." 

"Alright. Then, excuse me."