Immortal Cultivator System

Chapter 45: Peizhi Kingdom

The group of three had been on the move soon after they woke up. They covered a lot of ground and were about to reach the peizhi kingdom in no more than an hour. It was a small kingdom located near the Wukong Empire, and one of the only country said empire never tried to conquer.

Although it was small in comparison to most other kingdoms, it still wasn't to be triffled with, especially after the sects living on it's territory began to actively help protect the country. It went without saying that not all the sects on the continent did that. Most sects in the Li Zhang Kingdom wouldn't lift a finger to help if the kingdom went to war.

Now the Peizhi Kingdom wasn't a peaceful heaven, as was proven with the checkpoint the group had to go through. The kingdom was still terrified of the Worms, and had to put checkpoints and outposts everywhere, and with the citizen being equally terrified, they had no shortage of soldiers to throw around.

Surprisingly enough, those soldiers seemed quite trained for people who were normal everyday citizens not long ago. Jian found himself looking at them in amazement, using the system to analyze them.

They were all between Qi core 2nd Step and 7th step, which was quite impressive. Of course if they were attacked by the Zhao Warriors, this wouldn't suffice.

However the group of three were quite stunned when they were denied entry on the territory.

"What ? Why ?" Uma asked. She wanted to yell at them, but kept herself in check. The soldier who had denied them looked quite apologetic after all.

"You see, we are having a bit of troubles to be honest. You can go to any cities you want, just not the capital." He said, pointing his hand at the forest on their right.

"What do you mean ? We will reach the next city in a week at least ! You know damn well how isolated the capital is !" She exclaimed as the soldier sighed. His colleagues behind were looking at the ground while biting on their lower lips. It seemed the situation was more serious than they believed.

"Okay, what's going on ? We are from a powerful sect, if there is any problem we can help." Zhao Shu said. Given that Jian was wearing his cloak, Zhao Shu his zhao warrior robe and Uma her servant outfit, it was quite normal the soldiers hadn't even noticed they were from a sect.

That revelation brought a smile on their face, while Zhao Shu wondered about something.

'Maybe I should buy some clothes in the capital.....That outfit is sure to get some unwanted attention. Zhao Warriors out to be shunned as soon as the news hit everyone. The Peizhi Kingdom has a terrible information network and they have no ties to the Buddha Free States, they don't seem to be aware of what happened. If they are and don't mind me, it's good, but I should be cautious.' He thought.

"Well, I guess we can tell you, though I'm not exactly sure if you should intervene. We already have disciples from the Bleak Water Sect coming to help us. They should've arrived by now actually." The soldier said. Another of his colleague suddenly gasped as realization dawned on him.

"Guys...Maybe....Maybe they got killed too !" He exclaimed in horror. All the soldiers recoiled from the shock, while the one who had been talking to the group shook his head in denial.

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" Impossible ! The Bleak Water Sect is one of the most powerful sect in the country ! They couldn't have been killed....That can't be true..." He said, his expression slowly morphing into one of horror as he realized it could have actually happened.

"Explain already !" Zhao Shu yelled as the soldier shook.

"You see....We received an odd message a few weeks ago. The Luzhi, a noble family that lives in the capital, told us that one of their personal guards had suddenly disappeared. We ignored this, as the noble families are horrible with their servants and it's not rare for one of them to escape and never return. However a week after that, a member of another noble family disappeared. And this time it was the heir of that family, so there was no chances they could have just escaped. We tried to understand what had happened, but the day after we received the severed head of that heir. It was put right in front of our barracks. " The guard said.

".....Some sort of declaration of war ?" Jian asked.

"....No....It's even worse. We have a serial killer on the loose. One strong enough to take out mortal realms cultivators and skilled enough to avoid being detected by pretty much anyone." The guard said, looking completely dejected.

"A serial killer ?! " Uma exclaimed. Zhao Shu and Jian looked quite perplexed by this sudden revelation. Though Jian had other thoughts.

'Skilled enough not to get detected by pretty much anyone.....That's quite useful.' He thought. He was aware that this wasn't exactly the type of person he should go for, as criminals aren't the most loyal bunch and were difficult to deal with. But everyone wanted to get rich, and he would provide a good opportunity for it. That and everyone could learn. He could get them to learn, to work as a group. Or he could force them to respect his rules, if he was a bit stronger though.

But he still had at least a year before creating his little group, whatever it will turn out to be in the end. However the killer wouldn't last long if he was hunted down by the guards and even sect disciples.

He needed to get his hands on him before them !

"We'll help you catch the guy, or just get him away if we can't catch him." Jian reassured the guard, who looked stunned for a second.

"Get him away ?! With all the people he killed ?!" 

"Yes, he needs to be punished, however nothing tells us we'll even be able to catch him. In that case, scaring him away might be the way. He will end up terrorizing another country, but at least you won't have to deal with him. Plus you shouldn't be that used to dealing with killers, given you deal mostly with sect members, the other neighbouring countries have much more experience than you with those things." Jian said.

The guard ended up nodding, as he knew the killer wouldn't be caught that easily. He still had hopes however, and he had to.....For he had people he couldn't afford to lose, and the killer seemed to execute whoever was on his way. He had no definite targets, he just killed whoever he could kill.

This being said, the guards allowed the group to pass, but told them to get into an inn or an hotel and not go out until the sect disciples were there.

Uma was quite scared due to the serial killer and urged the two boys to move fast so they could get to a hotel quickly. Jian knew exactly why that was the case. Uma had always been the soft slave, the one no one would want to hurt due to how kind she was. As such sometimes she was used to deter the more...Agressive slaves, and make them calm down. However she had to deal with a serial killer one day, and had it not been for the timely intervention of the kind noble who was named Zhi....She would've been strangled to death and most likely defiled later on. 

As soon as they reached the hotel, Uma told them they would get totally different rooms, as it could be seen badly for her and Jian to be too close with a Zhao Warrior during those times. The Peizhi Kingdom didn't seem really aware of what had happened, but once it had become common knowledge, it would be a problem for Jian and Uma to be seen with Zhao Shu. He would spend most of his days training, so in the end Zhao Shu didn't really mind. 

On the first day, Uma set off to negotiate with the officials of the governments, while Zhao Shu and Jian wandered the street, searching for informations on the serial killer.

"We should split up. We get back here every hour to report what we've found." Zhao Shu proposed.

"Okay. No trying to attack the killer on your own though. I have a bit of experience with those type of people, and serial killers in countries filled with cultivators are usually complete nutjobs." 

The two split up and went into opposite directions. However Jian waited until Zhao Shu was far enough and entered a small alley. Contrarily to Zhao Shu, he really had experience in dealings with criminals, and since the flies were most likely present in that city, he knew where to search first.

The Flies always had several warehouses in the different cities they were in. Now those warehouses were simple buildings, however they were filled with ressources the Flies couldn't stock anywhere, lest they get noticed by the governments.

Those warehouses were also homes to the scums of society who went there to get food, blankets, drugs or even weapons. As long as you were willing to work for the Flies a bit, you could get whatever you need. And coincidentally, those warehouses were also the best places to hide. The Flies always said they only accepted the ones forsaken by society, the weaklings no one looked at. They liked to say they would never take monsters in, for only THEY were allowed to be monstrous. However they did have to get their members from some places.

That's what Jian feared. He feared that the serial killer had already joined the Flies, for had he already done so, Jian would never be able to get him on his side. The flies wouldn't offer him as sweet a deal as Jian would, however no one could leave them. One simply doesn't leave the Flies.

However he could only know the answer if he asked the killer himself. Jian had learned to recognize those warehouses over the years, having talked to many members of the flies who had been captured and sold as slaves. Now no one exactly knew how to recognize them, as there wasn't any definite signs to mark the places. If there were, the spies of the governments would've known a long time ago. There were many signs and none of them meant anything. They would simply represent the members of the Flies owning the places, and the Flies had just too many members for the spies to catch on. Literally any type of drawing, sign or mark could belong to a Flies' member.

And yet Jian had cracked the code so to say. It was rather easy actually. The little drawings put in front of the warehouses represented the members of the Flies yes, but also no. The Flies never wanted the governments to know they themselves had an elite group that controlled everything. The Flies were supposed to be a disorganized group, working only because some of the richest members had enough charisma and funds to recruit other members. However that wasn't the truth at all. Only a few of those symbols represented the members, the others were totally fake, they only existed to confuse all those who were tracking the Flies.

The Flies had apparently 7 elite members, which meant only 7 valid symbols. And Jian quickly found one building sporting one of those symbols on it's front door. 

He knocked on said door, and was shocked when it suddenly opened and he was allowed inside. Then again with his cloak he did look like some shady assassin or something close to it.

He wasn't even searched or anything. He was simply allowed inside and no one gave a damn about him.

'They are quite good at making it seem like the Flies are a disorganized bunch of savages. I would call that genius if I didn't hate those monsters so much.' Jian thought as he moved his feets carefullly so as to not hit any of the people sleeping on the floor. The entire building had an horrible stench to it, a mix of everything that smelled bad in the universe, contained in a small building with only a few rooms. As he went down a staircase, Jian reached the room where the actual members of the Flies were giving out ressources to the scums of the city. 

Rapists, thieves, killers, rogue cultivators. All sort of disgusting monsters were there. However they didn't look even remotely dangerous in that place. For this was perhaps the only place where they allowed themselves a little breath. No need to look though, no need to intimidate anyone. 

They were all the same here, people who couldn't or wouldn't fit into society. Yet not everyone was actually the same, at least they didn't seem the same. There were those who were wolfing down the food they were given, those who were using their newly acquired drugs...And then there were the dangerous ones, getting equipped with not half-bad equipments and seemingly getting ready for a war. They seriously looked like soldiers heading out on the battlefield like that. Only their ennemies would be poor innocent citizens minding their own business.

Those were the real criminals. The ones who were ready to die, for they had already taken lives themselves. And out of all of them, one in particular stood out. Clad in a mistmatched outfit composed of bits of guards, royal guards, sect disciples and poor citizens clothes....The one figure everyone in the room dodged. 

" So you're the new killer in town ?" Jian asked, trying to act tough as he stared down at the figure who was still laying down against a wall, chewing on a piece of meat. Jian had never seen meat like that and he honestly prayed to god...That it wasn't...

"Human arm...That's what I'm eating, kiddo, in any case you were wondering." The figure said, flashing a smile at him. His unease disappeared a bit when he saw the pale eyes of the figure who was most likely blind...Or it would've appeared so to anyone who had never encountered such a creature before, contrarily to Jian.

" So the new killer in town is a Chiroukin, huh ?.....And a woman at that."