The Legend of Min Hong

"Our men should be very close to them now. It was very fortunate that we had a 'snooping mouse' sniff the remnants of their belongings we got from wreckages of their homes."

"It will track them everywhere they go, except if they tread through the void."

General Luo also stabilized his level or reliability and importance with a detailed introduction to the results of his tasks.

"Furthermore, since the men we sent were way stronger then even their beast, they would definitely lose their massive head start and by our calculations should have caught up to them by now." He added.

"Good. I want to know why those kids were not only tied to the massacre that useless Tian Xing is trying to cover up."

"That massacre must be one of his grand plans to usurp my reign, because if you come to think of it, it is located in the most naturally secured and safest part of the empire."

"A natural fortress, surrounded by massive mountains, cliffs, and sharp whirlwinds, leaving the famous Mist Marshlands and its jungle-like, beast-populated surroundings, as the only possible point of entry." 

"Even I would make such a place my base of operations. You want to pull the strings from a safe vantage point… It wouldn't be that easy." Emperor Duan Ji muttered in deep thought.

"Find out all you can about that his lackey; Lu Chen… I have plans for him." Emperor Duan Ji began to reorganize the plans he had planned to use in defending his reign.

"Those kids are so surrounded by so many valuable clues needed to help me defeat the enemies within…"

"We must make sure we are the first to get a clear explanation of how the infected zone came to appear… If it possesses power, then if we can harness it and control it, we will have a better chance at winning this rebellious scandals..." 

"Our men will definitely retrieve them before the rebels can get to them…"

General Luo reassured his emperor which seemed to work as Emperor Duan Ji actually heaved out a sigh of trust.

"How many of the spies did you manage to find amongst the men you sent?"

Emperor Duan Ji abruptly asked, out of the blue, as General Luo's mind was shaken to its core at the realization that even the emperor, himself, was actually doing some reconnaissance work by himself.

"So, you are also cautious unh? It is good that I didn't make a mistake when I chose to follow you…" General Luo thought before replying smilingly to the emperor;

"We discovered two of them already out of the twelve men we sent. I also disguised one of the commanders under my tent as a normal soldier to follow them undercover… he would be our fail safe and guarantee of the mission success."

General Luo replied with his brightest but still ugly smile as the face of Emperor Duan Ji brightened in relief. 

Back at the Sunfire City was a bustling street with stalls set up on either side of the road, with several goods being advertised, sold and even bought.

At the first turning on the right of this bustling street was an unassuming inn.

If one were to look at this inn from the outside it would look like the poorest inn one could ever think of lodging in.

But only the selected few who were chosen and cleared to use it would ever know just how much of a bliss was within this seemingly unassuming inn.

When one enters this inn, it would feel as if they have entered a different dimension…

That was how contrasting the exterior of this inn was to its interior. In fact, it seemed like the poorer this inn looked on the outside, the grander and heavenly its interior became. 

If one was taken across the corridor of rooms they had vacant for rent, one would discover a simple cupboard at its end.

But many might see, but only few were allowed to know what lurks within this cupboard.

But to the twelve experts who had been sent to retrieve Min Hong's group, they were extremely familiar with this door...

It was the only place people like them gather to hide under the nostrils of another empire whilst they carry out the intentions of their own empire.

It was a hub of spies, mercenaries and assassins… if one opens this simple cupboard, they would discover that it was actually concealing another secret corridor within.

Only when one gets to the end of this corridor would they discover the 'Inner Inn' which is a place only the richest, strongest, bravest and most capable of every empires spies reside. 

Within this inn was a semi corridor that housed ten rooms facing each other; five on either sides. This entire place was bought by the twelve hooded figures sent from the East Wind Empire.

The captain of the team decided to share the room with the only female in the group, whilst the rest picked a room each to themselves leaving only the person whose turn it was on guard duty.

Surprisingly, for the past three days now, only a young, sickly, weak looking youth was standing guard without complaint.

Then he saw Jun Yue walk out of what seemed to be their bath area with clothed in nothing but the cloak of the captain which she covered herself with.

Then she tiptoed across the corridor dripping some of the water on her skin 'which was left after her bath' on the floor, as this young boy just watched and shook his head smilingly at Jun Yue. 

About two minutes later, the captain also came out from the same room as he was also having water droplets on his body which he only decided to cover his lower body part with a wrap of sheets.

But for some unknown reason, the captain's breath was still heavy and rapid as he looked towards the boy and said;

"Guan Jong, you need to take a rest and allow the others to do their guard duty shift."

The captain advised with concern, he had also noticed that Guan Jong had refused to shut his eye even once since the past three days they have been here.

"I have a mental condition that prevents me from resting whenever I am on missions. It prevents me from sleeping even if I wanted to, so I could at least use this to help the team." Guan Jong replied with a bright and honest smile.

Then the captain sighed helplessly as he spoke;

"Fine, but don't over exert yourself. Everyone needs to be sharp should in case we have to fight our way out of here…"

Then he walked on and entered the same room Jun Yue just sneaked into.

When Guan Jong was introduced into the team, the rest of them looked at their commander like they had just seen a joke.

But when they heard him mention; "General Luo has ordered that he was to use this mission as a training experience…" they all kept their mouths sealed.

But despite his youthful and inexperienced appearance, they had noticed that he didn't draw them back at all, throughout their journey.

In fact, he even helped one of them that almost got bitten by the 'Moon Silk Spider' a Dan Formation stage spirit beast they encountered on their way here.

He surprisingly took care of himself and perfectly supplemented the team. Just the fact that he had been doing guard duty for three days straight only confirms his level of talent for missions such as this one.

But as the captain entered the room, the boy sent out a very strong mental sense all over their apartment area as he shut his eyes to return to his meditation…

In less than three breaths, three nascent souls drifted out of this youth; each different in color, aura and strength.

The first was blue in color signifying his Water Dao nascent soul, a green one showcasing his Wood Dao nascent soul and an electrifying one with a numbing feel to it displaying the prowess of his Lightning Dao nascent soul.

Then lastly, a fourth whitish one with a sharp aura billowing from it; an aura so thin and sharp it could slice ones soul in two… it was a Sword Dao nascent soul.

They were all revolving around this youth as his aura gradually became more refined and subtle… 

Yep! He was the fail safe General Luo was telling Emperor Duan Ji about.

He was actually about 40-years old but still retained the appearance of a 20-yeard old, and he was also in the 4 Star Nascent Soul stage with four Peak Intent Level Daos.

The only person who knew about Guan Jong's true strength was General Luo, and he was also the one who placed him in the commander rank where he only answers to him.

His life in the entire East Wind Empire was a total secret and for some reasons, he easily accepted it when General Luo offered him such a future.

Perhaps it was fate, perhaps not, what one should know is that; someone of Guan Jong's talent would only be below the Imperial Direct Descendants when it comes to ranking cultivation talents in the entire East Wind Empire. 

But he still decided to go with General Luo and live a secret life…

Never would he have imagined that such a decision would eventually turn out to be a decision he would be forever grateful to himself for making.

He sat there meditating and also guarding and sensing everything around their apartment area with his mental sense.

Meanwhile…

Back in District 21...

Min Hong woke up this morning feeling refreshed and awaiting the windfall they had from his death match.

And in less than an hour, his room was once again filled up with his five-man group, including the Qing sisters (Min Qing and Qing Tan).

Then Long Sha simply took his seat to the left whilst Min Qing naturally cemented hit her spot to the right.

Whilst the Mu Twins beside Long Sha and Qing Tan simply took her seat next to Min Qing. 

Apparently, the hierarchy of this future meetings was already being shaped by fate which loves to keep man's future in suspense.

Then Mu Li began his summary of the events that had transpired between the time Min Hong finished his death match till this current moment;

"Firstly, I would like to share with every one of us that the Treasure Hall of the Desert Sun Sect succeeded in making us wealthy…" He said with an excessively broad smile which transformed his eyes into slits.

Then after noticing that the entire room reacted indifferently to his statement, then he added;

"We actually won 210,000 mid-grade spirit stones and after returning the 700 we borrowed from the sect and the 700 I paid the 70 different disciples who helped me place these bets, we made a profit of 208,600 mid-grade spirit stones."

This time he got the attention of every living and non-living thing present within Min Hong's apartment. 

"The treasure hall absolutely couldn't cough out such an enormous fee, so I decided to collect only 70,000 mid-grade spirit stones and converted the rest into merit points at one merit points to one mid-grade spirit stones." Mu Li continued.

"With this, we have in total; 70,000 mid-grade spirit stones as well as 138,600 merit points."

Mu Li finally finished his explanation like the money-man that he was. Then he handed a storage ring and a purple card to Min Qing, as Min Qing sent her mental sense into it to confirm the numbers.

Then she looked at the purple card in her palm which was made from something like a smooth jade and the badge of the Treasure Hall of the sect etched on one side of it whilst the name of its holder and the amount of merit points it contained.

When she looked at the amount it contained, she confirmed it was 138,600 merit points.

But when she saw the name of the card holder, she became instantly dumbstruck because it read;

Treasure Hall – The Hong Dynasty.

She then looked towards Min Hong with a questioning and oblivious gaze.

Min Hong sensed her gaze and looked at the name written on the card and could only smile slightly at the name Mu Li just unknowingly gave their forces which would later dominate the impossible.

Seeing that Min Hong was happy with it, Min Qing's expression lost its frown only to be replaced by a look of adventure.

"Many thanks, Mu Li. You have done your part perfectly and you shall be rewarded as such." Then he turned over to Mu Bai and spoke;

"Mu Bai, I want to add two more people to this group. When we are seven in number then we will begin our plans for entering the Inner Sect…" Then he added;

"Do you have any candidate you have scouted so far and which one of them would be the best candidate to add to the primary rank of our group?" Hearing his wishes, Mu Bai abruptly delved into deep thoughts.

Then after about five full minutes, he turned to Min Hong and replied;

"I do have two candidates and they will fit in perfectly with this group… the only problem is actually convincing them to join."

"Leave the convincing part to me. This would be the last time I would interfere in your duties, but because they would be regarded as primary members like you both and Qing Tan, I might as well just complete the selection of our primary members." Min Hong responded.

"What information do we have about them?" he asked.

"Actually, they are people we all know too well…"

Mu Bai spoke as the entire room descended into a deep contemplation of the people Mu Bai was referring to.

But before they could think too long, Mu Bai gave them an answer;

"They are the Kun Siblings…"