Red Talon Piercing The Darkness

Having sent his small minions out into the city, Hong Zhao sat in the lotus position and began cultivating. Now that he had his shadow puppet technique, he rarely needed to leave the estate room. The only times he left was when he needed to keep up the appearances as a guest of the city lord, and to spar with Xuan Hua to sharpen his skills.

Since he no longer truly needed to leave his room, he spent most of his time gathering intelligence. He had spent three long weeks familiarizing himself with his new technique. He had chosen to mold the shadow puppets after mice, since they were naturally agile and stuck to the shadows, so many would not think to check the solidity of the creatures.

The first successful attempt had given him only three of the ten shadow puppets. When they were finally created, he instructed told them to go to the tavern where Feng Yeng frequented, yet when they reached two kilometers away from him, they had turned to smoke. Though that attempt was annoying, Hong Zhao also learned that the rodents wouldn't need to return to him for their memory to return to him. As soon as they dissipated, Hong Zhao was able to see what they saw. Unfortunately, he couldn't communicate with the small creatures after he set them out. It seemed they only obeyed the one direction the owner of the technique gave, but after that, they would just dissipate.

Though the downsides were many, so were the upsides. Since he would know what the rodents saw when they died, he would naturally know what killed them, just in case of an ambush. Another benefit was the amount of knowledge the creature would obtain before dissipating could be limitless. If he instructed one rat to shadow someone, it could essentially stay with that person until the qi in its body ran out. After perfecting the technique, Hong Zhao learned the said limit was about a week and a half.

During that week and a half, Hong Zhao decided he would get to know the staff around the estate. Day after day, he sent his shadow puppets out in the form of mice into the estate. Each one went to the various staff whether it be cooks, cleaners of storekeepers. He familiarized himself with those who seemed to be closer to his age, as well as anyone old enough to be considered an elder.

Though Zheng Guo was the city lord, it seemed that the true relations within the estate were the Zhu family. Hong Zhao learned that the city lord had originally been a man by the name of Zhu Bai, yet he had risen up against Li Xiao and built his cultivation rank up to that of a warrior ranked cultivator. He had heard through the whispers of unfairness and lamentation that the old city lord was on the cusp of entering into the knight rank when Li Xiao had come himself to Yuan City and dispatched the old man himself. The head of Zhu Bai remained on a long steak sticking out of the ground until the head became a skull, then instead of allowing the skull to rest with the body, it was mixed in with the rocks which went into making the gate.

Zhu Bai had died from confronting Li Xiao as a fly would be eaten by a frog. He had no chance to survive against the man, even at the ninth star warrior rank. Even though the man died, Li Xiao did not take out his aggression on his family. Instead, he sent Zheng Guo, a humble servant to take over as the new city lord. Now, the family of the old city lord became the servants of the servant of Li Xiao.

Zhu Bai was an older man, reaching his two hundredth year, yet with his cultivation base he had looked like a middle aged man while he was still alive. He had three wives within the estate, each one was in her forties at the oldest. Zhu-Lai Yu was the youngest of the three wives, being thirty five. The city lord had only just impregnated her with her first child who was born a boy, which she named Zhu Bai in honor of his old father.

The boy Zhu Bai had turned ten years old a month before Hong Zhao had arrived within Yuan City. As Hong Zhao observed the boy, he saw no malice when Zhu Bai looked at him in passing, nor when the young boy walked past Hong Zhao's door. Little did he know that he had a tag along in the form of a shadow puppet, tailing him at all times.

Though Zhu Bai was the youngest of the young lords of the estate, he was also the most clever. When Hong Zhao had only just arrived, Zhu Bai was the servant which had prepared the suite, just in case he cooperated with the city lord long enough for Zheng Guo's comfort before sending him into his life of luxury.

With Zhu Bai's comings and goings, he had watched the fluctuations within the energy in the air as Hong Zhao had cultivated. He had noticed the difference between a regular student ranked expert and that of a warrior. He had often sat and watched Xuan Hua cultivate. The older man held no malice towards him, so why not?

When he sensed the energy fluctuate within the room most nights, he felt the presence of a warrior ranked cultivator, not through sensing the body, but through the energy that went to the body. He would never be able to see through a higher ranked cultivator, especially not one who was two full realms above him. But he could pay attention to the surroundings and notice when the energy was funneled into a cultivator. If the funnel was small enough, it would be considered a student rank cultivating. Though as the funnel grew, so did the realm. Hong Zhao's qi funnel was anything but normal.

From the moment he noticed Hong Zhao's unnatural rank, Hong Zhao also noticed him. He kept tabs on the boy and his many curiosities. He paid close attention to anything he could learn. What the boy liked to eat, drink and play with. He also paid attention to the cultivation technique Zhu Bai used. He thought of the many ways he could help and use this boy all the while making him stronger.