The Messenger of Death

Amir resisted the urge to laugh at his father's fearfulness towards his mother. Although he was trying his best to resist it, his lips were still twitching under the bucket hat that he had on.

"If your lips don't stop twitching, I will make sure that I replace your teeth with flower seeds." The sect master threatened.

"Yes, fath – I mean sect master," Amir replied and fixed his composure.

-Ting!

From afar, a gold-colored orb flew at a neck-breaking speed. It appeared from within the forest, changing the QI naturally gathering on the island with its presence and alerting all the cultivators of its arrival.

Not all of them here knew what that orb represented, but they weren't careless enough to approach it as they all could feel the way it bent natural QI to its will.

But Amir and his father knew exactly what that was. With this, they were certain that the Midas seed carriers did indeed come here, and were somewhere on the island that they could not access at will… or so Amir and the sect master thought.

"This means that a Midas seed carrier has died, right?" Amir asked to confirm.

"Yes, the Midas seed is gathering the QI around and will use it to directly charge back to our sect in the Celestial plain realm." The sect master answered.

"So there's no need for us to take it there because it looks like these people are planting their eyes on the Midas seed," Amir whispered as he looked at the greedy eyes the people around used to look at the Midas seed.

"Foolish boy! Even if we were not here, do you think any of them have what it takes to stop a Midas seed from returning to its programmed point of return? These people are not the first to have such ideas for the seed. Over the years that we have been charged with the task of overseeing Midas seeds, have you heard of any Midas seeds going missing?"

"No, sect father." Amir twisted his words unintentionally. Not that he is a dumb person, but Amir is someone with a special constitution that at times impaired his ability to think properly or make his thought process no different from that of a child that is yet to reach teenagehood.

His powers came with harsh conditions, although some in their sect will say that it was worth it. The sect master and his wife didn't think so. This was why they had him doing specific jobs in the sect.

This was also why Tuck was afraid that Amir will disclose what the sect master asked the other elders not to say to their families when the Midas petal went missing before the competition for the petals started.

"How did I get such a stupid son like you, Amir?" He asked with a pained tone because of his son's condition.

"I also don't know, sect father… I mean master." He corrected after a few seconds, smiling at his honest mistake. "I will make sure to ask Mother how, when we get home, so worry no more sect master," Amir said mischievously.

He always avoided his father back at the sect because his father could lie to his mother about why he was bullying their son. He would often hide under the disguise of saying that Amir played a prank and that was why he was being punished. But outside the sect, Amir's mother was confident that Amir could control himself. She was this confident because of the things that she made her son carry and wear on him.

"You foolish… Cough, cough!!" The sect master regained his composure and made a mental note to bribe his son with something later so that he doesn't go ahead and ask his mother such a question. The sect master turned his attention back to the greedy cultivators that were watching the traveling Midas seed with desire.

"I will assume that most of you do not know what that orb is. As the sect master of the sect charged with overseeing the Midas seeds by the creator of the Midas seeds and petals, and also by the Imperial decree of the 7th Emperor of the Celestial plain realm; I will take it upon myself to educate the ignorant ones." The sect master's voice resounded in the whole forest.

He did that for two reasons, the first being that he wanted to alert the guardian that he was here. And although they had never met, he was sure that the guardian of the petals was well aware of the sect tasked with finding suitable bearers for the seeds before another epoch of Midas petal arrive. The sect master just wanted to meet the guardian for the first time, and since such an abnormal event led to his presence here, he didn't see why he shouldn't try his luck.

Secondly, it was to warn those that really didn't know that the shining orb is a Midas seed. Those that do know, he couldn't care less of what would happen to them if they tried to acquire a Midas seed here.

"That is a Midas seed… this usually happens after all the petals of an epoch have been obtained or after a carrier dies. The seed will be returning to where it was programmed to return. Now if you try to stop the seed, you do know that you would be showing some disrespect to that whom you should not disrespect." The sect leader finished.

Not wanting to say more than that. Those that were wise enough to understand what he said understood and restrained themselves for the love of their lives. The sect leader was trying to tell them that it is evident that the Midas petal, the carriers, and the guardian were all in a place somewhere close to this place.

The fact that the seed appeared here to accumulate QI before heading to the Celestial realm confirmed to them that the guardian wasn't far off from here. They didn't want Mr. Guardian to see their actions as disrespectful so they all held themselves back.

Even without the presence of the guardian, those that would have made an attempt to take it with them would have been killed by Midas seed itself. It didn't differentiate between friends or enemies, nonetheless, they all held back their desire to attain the Midas seed.

The sect master nodded in response to their decisions. If any of them still plan on going for the Midas seed, he had no intention of stopping them from going to their dooms. On the other side, the sect master was disappointed that the guardian didn't respond to him anyway.

"Tuck," The sect master called to a space beside him and Tuck appeared with the coming of the wind.

"You called, sect master?" Tuck answered.

"How is the subjugation of that disciple of the Necromancer, Bram was it?"

"It has been a hassle, according to the reports I read when I contacted our people that has been chasing after him for months. They have been running around the Lower plain realm all this while. The Necromancer's disciple is being careful not to return to this master's side with an unwanted tail. He can shapeshift, and this ability of his makes him almost impossible to find most of the time. But due to the few methods that we have, they have been able to not lose track of him, hence the constant pursuit." Tuck replied, summarizing the report that he received from their men.

"Make sure that they don't cause too much trouble by using their actual cultivation ability unless it is called for, I don't want to have to deal with the wrath of those other families too."

"Then would prefer that I join in on the pursuit, with my abilities, it should be easier to capture him, and then we can interrogate him and find out about his master's whereabouts."

"No, you can't join in. I foresee a lot of problems because of this abnormal occurrence concerning this Midas petal. Many people from the Celestial plain realm arrived here, and so is the attention of those that maintain the rules. Having you here, pursuing a criminal will make things harder for us later. The moment Bram tries to use an ability that surpasses the constraint of the Lower plain realm… that would be the moment that he will lose his life. Leave this task for our men…" The sect master looked towards his son, Amir,

"Amir, what do you think about taking a mission on?" The sect master asked in a rather complacent tone.

"Huh? Will I have to fight?" Amir asked.

"Fight? No, I just need you to capture someone for me and then bring that person back to the sect."

'Sect master, will this be okay? If Amir mistakenly uses an ability surpassing the constraints of this plain realm,' Tuck started, transmitting his words directly to the sect master's mind.

'Don't worry, most of his abilities were sealed by his mother. The only one left is his ability to manipulate plants. With most of his abilities sealed, he is no different from a wood elemental cultivator, so everything will be alright.' The sect master disclosed, with the same method Tuck used to converse.

"Okay, I will go for the mission, sect father, I mean father, I mean master," Amir replied merrily.

'Or maybe not… Tusk, go with him and watch over him. This is a chance for him to roam around freely without much worry for trouble, I always feel bad for keeping Amir locked up in the sect. After all, he didn't ask to be born this way.'

'Yes sect master, I will watch over him.' Tuck replied before he vanished with Amir…