I Build a Shelter in the Eternal Night

A curved shadow blade shot out from the darkness. The glint of its edge ricocheted off the walls several times, silently slicing across a throat with each pass. The wounds were as fine as red threads, and only after a long moment did they begin to bead with blood.

In the blink of an eye, all six men had fallen to the ground without ever seeing their attacker.

Elimination complete.

From the initial throw of the Thin Jade Slab, the entire operation took only seven breaths of time.

Seven breaths.

A secret outpost of the Wind and Rain Tower was thus completely eradicated.

...

"..."

Inside the ground floor of the pawnshop, Shao Qiu walked in from the stables, a grim look on his face. He stared at the two men he had sent out initially and said hoarsely, "This was just an unofficial outpost. Its strongest Assassin wasn’t even as skilled as one of the ordinary ones who ambushed the Domain Lord."

"And you still needed me to step in."

"Why did the first two make a sound when they fell, exposing our position?"

"What did I teach you?"

"Weren’t you supposed to immediately use spider silk to secure the body so it wouldn’t fall?"

Shao Qiu walked to a nearby counter, dragged an unconscious man up from a chair, and propped him up on his feet. The unconscious man’s legs went soft, and he was about to collapse.

With a flick of his wrist.

Several nails with spider silk tied to their ends shot out, hitting their marks with precision. The silk pulled taut. With a light dance of his fingers, Shao Qiu made the unconscious man, like a puppet, actually start to dance on the spot.

"I don’t expect you to learn this trick anytime soon."

"But you should at least be able to keep a body from falling, shouldn’t you?"

"Give these two the antidote and begin the interrogation."

"The rest of you, search for anything of value."

Shao Qiu shot them a disappointed glance, then began to search the area himself. Their mission this time wasn’t just to eliminate all of the Wind and Rain Tower’s outposts; one of their other tasks was...

...to find the location of the Wind and Rain Tower’s main headquarters.

To completely uproot this faction.

...

「One hour later.」

Everything of value had been taken. The two men who had been unconscious were woken up, interrogated, and then had their throats slit with a single stroke.

Before leaving,

Shao Qiu, with a serious expression, used the dead man’s blood to draw a minimalist symbol on a Stone Slab inside the room.

A short blade wreathed in shadows.

This was the "emblem" he had designed for the Dark Pavilion. He then took out a Token he had Xiaoyu forge before they left and placed it nearby. This was the "Dark Pavilion Pursuit Order," which he had specially created for the Dark Pavilion.

Hitmen kill for money, leaving no name.

But he was an Assassin.

For him, killing was about making a name.

He wanted the name of the Mortal Realm Dark Pavilion to be known by all.

Only then did he look down at the Kraft Paper in his hand and mutter, "Sea Embryo... I remember the Domain Lord saying he needed this Heavenly Material and Treasure."

The intelligence report said that the Wind and Rain Tower had recently obtained a Sea Embryo, a Heavenly and Earthly Treasure, and was urgently transporting it to their main base.

This information couldn’t be reported to the Domain Lord.

They were currently too far from the Mortal Realm.

They were beyond the maximum range of a Sound Transmission Talisman.

The Mortal Realm’s intelligence and communication network was not yet complete. Right now, his group was acting completely independently. In other words, even if he were to take his men and leave Jiangnan, head south to the Guanxi Plain, and rebuild his own faction, no one could stop him.

The Domain Lord had given him an immense amount of freedom.

It was just that he had no intention of leaving.

"Go."

The group quickly withdrew from the pawnshop, intending to find a place to rest for the night and act again the next day.

...

Time flew by.

「Five days passed.」

It was now only one day until the "Mortal Realm Auction." The auction was tomorrow, and even though it was only morning, many factions had already sent people to Mortal City to buy a batch of Skeleton Horses and attend the event.

The sun hung high overhead.

In Mortal City, Chen Fan listened to Wang Kui’s report. "Seven factions have now paid their trust deposits in full. We’ve received a total of 730,000 Ghost Stones."

Several days had passed since the Mortal Realm Marketplace opened.

In that time, business at the Mortal Realm Marketplace had been booming.

"We’ve finished acquiring all the supplementary materials needed by Pavilion Master Zhao. We’ve purchased a large quantity of Ghost Materials these past few days. Ghost Corpses were a small fraction; it was mostly Ghost Bones. We also acquired some scattered Exotic Treasures, seeds, daily necessities, and so on."

"Total expenditure: 73,400 Ghost Stones."

"Mm."

Chen Fan nodded lightly. The supplementary materials had accounted for most of the Ghost Stone cost. Zhao Shengping’s reasoning was that a Heavenly and Earthly Treasure like Earth Gold was exceptionally rare. Since he was using it to forge Night Traveling Clothes and Special Weapons, the supplementary materials also had to be top-quality to create even more powerful Spirit Treasures.

He hadn’t refused.

He had agreed.

"The batch of station masters from the Wang Family have all been dispatched. They’ve each established their own stations, and our communication range has increased dramatically. To the south, we can now directly contact Jiangnan Shuicheng."

"To the West, our furthest reach is Northwest City, which lies beyond Ping City."

"Sales of the large Vehicle, the ’Giant Turtle,’ have increased recently. Many factions have purchased one."

"Haaah..."

Chen Fan stretched and leaned back lazily in his chair, listening to Wang Kui’s report. "Still no contact with Shao Qiu and his team?"

"No."

The stations they had set up these past few days were all public, flying the Mortal Realm’s Banner. If Shao Qiu saw one, he would definitely use the personnel at the station to contact them.

But there had been no contact.

That meant there were only two possibilities.

Either they had gone too far, completely beyond the reach of the stations they had set up.

Or they had gone *way* too far, all the way to the Guanxi Plain, and weren’t coming back.

"Domain Lord."

Wang Kui hesitated for a moment before saying uncertainly, "Pavilion Master Qiu... he might have taken his men and deserted..."

"He wouldn’t."

Chen Fan was quite confident about this. He smiled and said, "I’m the only one who can help him achieve his dream, and I’m the only one who can help him reach the very top."

"Whether it’s Shao Qiu or Zhao Shengping."

"They both had their own factions before, but they all collapsed. Do you know why?"

"They’re each experts in their own fields—one in Artifact Refining, the other in assassination—but they aren’t good at managing a faction. Shao Qiu, especially. He only likes assassinating. But maintaining a faction requires more than just doing what you’re good at."

"You have to juggle many different things."

"Only in the Mortal Realm can they truly develop, without having to worry about other matters. I will be their safety net."

"Of course—"

"It’s also possible he found a faction that suits him better than the Mortal Realm. It’s not impossible. If he really has deserted, then it’s time for the Nine-Five Dragon Carriage to make an appearance."

Just then!

"Domain Lord!"

Xiaoyu’s urgent voice suddenly came from the Sound Transmission Talisman: "Pavilion Master Zhao has been beaten half to death by Hey Hey’s tail!"

...

「Mortal Realm.」

Chen Fan, who had rushed back, looked at the half-dead Zhao Shengping lying in the altar and then at Hey Hey, who was lying on the ground nearby with an apologetic look on its face. He frowned and asked, "What happened? Hey Hey never hurts anyone."

"I don’t know either."

Xiaoyu shook his head from the side. "I was busy inside when I suddenly heard a huge noise outside. I rushed out and saw Zhao Shengping had been knocked unconscious by a swipe of Hey Hey’s tail."

"You. Explain."

Chen Fan looked at one of Zhao Shengping’s apprentices standing nearby.

"My Lord," the man said timidly, "Master was forging the Night Traveling Clothes when he suddenly discovered that the Mortal Realm had a Heaven-Swallowing Crocodile, an Exotic Beast. He got very excited, saying that if he could add one of the Heaven-Swallowing Crocodile’s scales to the forging process, the defensive properties would be greatly enhanced."

"And then your master went up to it with a hammer?"

Chen Fan was so angry he had to laugh.

"No."

The man quickly shook his head. "Master asked the other Mortal Realm Members and learned that this Exotic Beast belonged to the Mortal Realm. So he tried to communicate with it, asking if he could borrow a few scales. Exotic Beasts are very intelligent, you know."

"And it agreed."

"I swear, I saw it nod."

"Then Master happily took out an awl, ready to pry off a few scales. He had just started—he hadn’t even gotten one off yet—and it swung its tail..."

"..."

Chen Fan was silent for a long time before turning his head to look at the Heaven-Swallowing Crocodile. "You agreed?"

The Heaven-Swallowing Crocodile swayed its body, shook its head, then nodded, then immediately shook its head again.