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nXiao Gun clenched his fists lightly as a glint of pain, anger, and helplessness flashed in his eyes before it transformed into a renewed will.

n“I, Fu Yong, and Yao Chang have known each other for close to 800 years, and in that time we formed a deep bond from surviving countless life and death situations with each other…” Xiao Gun said as he smiled fondly, possibly recalling a memory of the trio.

n“When you become a rogue cultivator, you have no one to rely on but yourself. The experiences you have make you wary of almost everyone you come across. Those within established organizations look at you with disdain, while when it comes to your fellow rogue cultivators, you can’t trust them either.

nThe life and experiences of our kind are not easy, especially on the mind. Whether one admits it or not, recognizes it or not, it does something to us, and almost always the effect isn’t good. Some end up twisted because of it.

nThere have been cases of some rogue cultivators, because of the bitterness and resentment they have accumulated from being shunned and mistreated, turning that anger on other rogue cultivators to the point of openly attacking one whenever they came into contact with one, with others even going to the extent of capturing some and torturing them…”

nXiao Gun paused as fear from a long-distant memory flashed in his eyes briefly, and he wasn’t the only one, Yao Chang had the same reaction too.

n“Us three brothers, I, Yao Chang, and Fu Yong knew each other because we all got kidnapped at the same time by the same rogue cultivator. He was at the late stages of the foundation establishment realm, while we were in the early stages.

nWe were all kidnapped at different periods. Of the three of us, Yao Chang was the one who was grabbed earliest, while I followed later. When he grabbed me, Yao Chang had already been there for almost three years, and after me, Fu Yong was brought in three months later.

nWe were all taken under the same guise. The rogue cultivator in question was a skilled alchemist who purported himself as a kind figure. At markets frequented mostly by rogue cultivators, he sold pills and potions at an affordable rate and even had bonus services such as providing free check-ups as he had some skills in medical cultivation too.

nFor rogue cultivators like us who constantly flirted with death and always had to penny-pinch every resource we had, someone like him is a boon for us. So it wasn’t hard for us to let down our guard around him.

nThis is not to say that we were careless around him. In our way of life, you become inherently suspicious of everything and everyone, but if there’s in anyone skilled enough to breach that line it would be one of our own, as they know exactly how we think and judge situations.

nTan Song, his name was. He worked me for two years. Though he offered friendly rates on the pills and potions, it wasn’t overly friendly to the point that it would trigger alarm bells in my mind, as occasionally he would ask for favors in return, such as sourcing a certain herb for him, or as additional manpower when he went harvesting and the like.

nAsking for favors was his way of lowering our guards, after all, an overly kind person would trigger the highest suspicion among our kind. We would more easily trust a villain than we would a saint.

nTan Song asking for favors as a form of repayment, helped reduce that suspicion, which was why a few years later when he asked me to acquire a certain herb for him at a particular location, I didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t something I hadn’t done a million of times before, and I assumed it would be the same as all the other runs I had done before..” Xiao Gun paused briefly before he continued.

n“Only this time, it wasn’t. The location he had sent me to was one of his abodes, which was powered by a carefully laid array and hallucinogenic red mist spider lily flowers that paralyzed me the instant?I stepped foot in there.

nOnce captured, he took me where he had the rest, who just like me, were rogue cultivators. He would experiment with various recipes on us. If it wasn’t for the euphoric look he had on his face whenever his failed recipes tormented our bodies, or the look of disdain he had whenever he grabbed us to experiment on us, I would have mistaken him for just a passionate alchemist who was too cheap to buy pill slaves, or pay someone to willingly be a guinea pig for his recipes.

nThe hate he had for us was clear as day, I never knew his full story, only that at least hundreds of rogue cultivators died at his hands.

nEventually a few years later, thanks to the noble efforts of a desperate member who couldn’t take it anymore, we found a window to escape. Fu Yong, Yao Chang, and I partnered up and eventually, we managed to get away from him.

nA few others got away too, and with it the news of what Tan Song had been doing. He got killed by a core formation rogue cultivator whose sworn brother had been one of his victims.

nAs for us, having survived that ordeal together, we developed a sense of kinship. Though because of that very same ordeal, and the experience we had with Tan Song, we could never completely trust one another. But that did not stop us from working together.

nWithout sufficient strength to prop yourself up against this world, you need the help of others to act as you support, otherwise, by yourself, you will cave and break under its massive weight.

nThus we three brothers found the perfect balance of acting as each other’s support whilst also having a healthy sense of wariness towards one another, and because of it, we created a system.

nEvery harvest we made be it ruin exploration, diving into mysterious realms, or scavenging to other places of fortune, we made clear guidelines on what our roles would be, and in case the exploration bore fruit, how the split would be, and since we couldn’t fully trust one another completely, we reinforced it through the services of a third party, the Sacred Kirin Manor…” said Xiao Gun.

nThe Sacred Kirin Manor was a niche rank two organization whose members numbered not more than twenty, and who practiced an esoteric art, that was centered on an elusive form of Dao, the Dao of Oaths which is rumored to be a vein of Dao tied to the heavenly Dao itself.

nEvery member was believed to have the bloodline of the Sacred Light kirin. Kirins were believed to be emissaries of righteousness, and the sacred light kirin especially, was believed to be the flesh and blood incarnation of the heavenly Dao itself. It served as a balancer in the world at the behest of the heavenly Dao and was rumored to have the ability to sermon a lightning tribulation to punish those who broke that balance.

nIt was unknown how true that rumor was as a sacred light kirin has never been cited, but if it really did exist, then that would make it one of the most dangerous creatures in the entire world. Lightning tribulations could ignore all defense a cultivator might employ, all was useless before its might, and no matter what preparations you made, you would still be filled with dread the moment it appeared.

nYang Qing could remember how suffocated he had felt when those clouds appeared above him either when he was breaking through to the core formation realm or the palace realm. While he went through the lighting strikes smoothly and easily, he knew it wasn’t the same for others, as there have always been recordings of those who died under their tribulations be it the core formation one, or the one in the palace realm.

nIt was when it came to the domain realm, that the danger of the tribulation was universal. Unlike the tribulation of the core formation realm or the palace realm where as long as you had a sturdy and deep foundation and accumulation you were guaranteed to have a smooth experience to the point that Yang Qing shamelessly bathed in it with smugness when it came to the domain level tribulation things were not that easy. A heaven-defying genius stood the same chance of dying as did an average cultivator.

nIf the sacred light kirin could control such a calamitous tribulation at will, how terrifying would it be as an opponent? Every domain expert who survived their tribulation did not do it unscathed, and the number of tribulations was set. As far as Yang Qing knew, there were nine of them. As long as you endured the nine, you were through.

nWhat would happen to those domain experts if they had to endure twelve, fifteen, or thirty? The answer was simple, they would die. This was what made the sacred light kirin potentially so terrifying, luckily it could not be proven that they existed, but what was true was the Sacred Kirin Manor had the ability to enforce agreements between parties.

nYang Qing didn’t know how they did it, only that it had something to do with the esoteric art they cultivated. Those who violated the terms of the agreement even slightly would face the wrath of the heavens, which in simple terms meant a white light in the form of a kirin would strike them down and kill them on the spot, no matter where they were.

nMost prominent merchant groups liked to use their services, and the Order did too, on a few agreements here and there. When it came to hiring their services they were a particularly odd bunch, for what they offered, they never charged that much, and only charged a third of the value of what was in the agreement which could be paid in whatever form the client wished be it treasures, spirit stones, or even render a service to the manor that was equivalent to the value, they would accept.

nYang Qing had once asked a few of the seniors at the Order if they did that because they were just ascetics who were indifferent to fame and wealth, and the response he got was, that the manor’s true payment was the agreement itself.

nThe Dao they cultivated grew in strength from every agreement they supervised, and it would be invaluable so, if the agreement was adhered to. The agreement benefited them just as much as it was to the parties.

nYang Qing couldn’t help but sigh at the measures Xiao Gun and the rest took. Defying even a single clause in the agreement would be counted as a violation, no matter how small, and it would invite the lightning’s full wrath.

nThe punishment was indiscriminate whether it was a small violation or a big one, the ferocity of the strike would be the same. Taking those agreements, no matter how beneficial, was extremely risky as it was no different than surrendering your lives to the agreement.

nHe could see the mistrust of the three cultivators, yet the desperation to work together.

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