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nGolden Tiger turned to the Death Crow on his shoulder, “It must have approved of me by now, yet it is so mysterious that the process isn’t over, even though its power is staggering already!”

n“With it, even my position as Immortal King is secured!”

n“I better leave this place for now. It’s not safe.”

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nGolden Tiger took out an immortal crane from his beast bag and rode it as he fled from Atlas Constellation.

nChen Ming wasn’t worried Golden Tiger would have an easy time strolling out of here, not if Nr. 6 had something to say about it.

nIf he couldn’t stop even his retainer, wouldn’t that be tantamount with weakness? How did he get to be a Faceless as Celestial Immortal then?

nGolden Tiger’s path was no secret to Nr. 6. Back in Golden Tiger’s days of loyalty, he spoke of his true name to Nr. 6′ shadow and now he could watch him whenever he wanted.

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nNr. 6 still had four Gold Immortals under him and, from Duan Shou, three of them were in hiding. These three had to be of unflinching loyalty to him.

nThat left with one Gold Immortal in the open.

nAs for how all this shebang turned up, it had nothing to do with Chen Ming since he couldn’t exactly affect it; he had to play dead, y’know.

nNr. 6 was walking to the center of the black halls of Atlas Constellation. He was making hand signs while chanting, “Qimen Dunjia(1), Nine Palaces and Eight Gates, open!”

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nThe copper tiles separated to reveal a tunnel. Nr. 6 held a white flame as he walked through it and arrived before three doors. He knocked, “Come out.”

nWith the opening of the doors, thick undead energy rushed out and froze the ground.

nIt closed in on Nr. 6 yet he didn’t feel any discomfort.

nFrom each door came out a dried-up cultivator, just like a corpse, and kneeled. Their sunken eyes were a pure white, “Greetings Lord.”

nNr. 6 nodded, “It’s time for you to go out!”

nThey let out a creepy and shivering snicker.

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nThey were tiger thralls, known in the cultivator world as tiger’s accomplices. Once devoured by the White Tiger, they could not find death and instead turned into undead, helping the White Tiger devouring even more people.

nNr. 6 took them to the black hall and ordered two of them to stand beside him as statues as he closed his eyes, “I have a blade for you to wield. Golden Tiger, I call thee…”

nNr. 6’s shadow pooped before Golden Tiger who kneeled on the spot, “Subordinate greets Sire Faceless.”

nNr. 6 nodded, but just then he saw another Gold Immortal beside him, his brother Silver Tiger.

nNr. 6 asked, “How come you’re here, Silver Tiger?”

nGolden Tiger said with respect, “Sire, Jade Tiger was consumed by greed when he caught wind of the Death Crow’s power and wanted to steal it. I almost died, but I held my own until Silver Tiger came and we managed to kill him together!”

nNr. 6 nodded, “Is that so?”

nGolden Tiger presented the Death Crow with two hands, “Yes. To prevent any others from getting it, I asked for Silver Tiger to help me deliver the Death Crow to Sire’s palace!”

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nNr. 6 smiled, “It is only normal to be careful with such a treasure. I’ll be waiting for you at Faceless’ hall to bestow you your reward!”

nGolden Tiger and Silver Tiger were in glee as they cupped their hands, “Thank you, Sire!”

nOnce Nr. 6 was gone, Silver Tiger spoke, “Brother, we need to sneak out.”

nGolden Tiger was irritated, “You know nothing! He is a reincarnated immortal. You think our cultivation is faster than him, even with the Death Crow? Our best choice is to kill him. Won’t it be better if we act in Faceless’ stead?”

nSilver Tiger let out a vicious grin, “Alright, brother, let’s do it!”

n“We are brothers, the only one we can trust in this world is each other. Come, let’s see if there’s anything of worth about this Faceless.”

nChen Ming was so bored he felt he was rusting over, The ruler and his officials have no clue if they are or not brothers.

nGolden Tiger and Silver Tiger arrived in seven days. Before the halls, a youth with sharp eyebrows cupped his hands, “Sire Faceless has been waiting for you.”

nGolden Tiger watched the youth with a curious eye. He never saw him before, “Are you new?”

nHe only smiled, “I am fortunate that Sire Faceless thought highly of me and taught me true skill.”

nGolden Tiger gave him a once-over then ignored him. He was just a peak Celestial Immortal, nothing to worry about.

nGolden Tiger and Silver Tiger were led through the city down the main street, and into the hall at its center. The youth gestured, “Please go in. I heard Sire Faceless will receive you with a great reward! Please take care from now on!”

nGolden Tiger chuckled, “It’s nothing, all for Sire Faceless!”

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nThe brothers didn’t saw a guard around and relaxed, It looks like Faceless doesn’t know of their intentions.

nThey entered the hall with the youth in the lead. He once let out a smile filled with ridicule and even licked his lips, but only for a second.

nThe two brothers didn’t even mind the extra pair of statues as they walked further in. They were focused on the man on the throne.

nFaceless opened his eyes, Give me the Death Crow.

nGolden Tiger saw the Faceless had white sunken eyes.

nHe grabbed the still crow on his shoulder and walked one step at a time.

n(1) Qimen Dunjia is an ancient form of divination from China. It is still in use in China, Taiwan, Singapore and the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia. The Qimen Dunjia cosmic board consists of a 3 × 3 magic square of nine palaces (九宮), which includes a Heaven and Earth plate, a spirit plate, eight gates and a star plate. The various symbols rotate around the palaces with each double-hour of the day, making a total of 1,080 different configurations of the Qimen Dunjia cosmic board. These situations (局; jú) are recycled four times per year, and are divided between the Yin and Yang halves of the year.

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