Red Talon Piercing The Darkness

A few months past with Hong Zhao instructing Zhu Bai on both techniques and cultivating. Under his tutoring, the young boy had passed into the eighth star student rank. The jump in strength raised more than a few eyebrows, but because of who he had been spending time with, they didn't have the strength to question him. During that time, Hong Zhao had been close to the bottleneck to the fourth star of the warrior rank. He cultivated diligently as there was not much else for him to do.

Hong Zhao had been set in a sort of routine for the time that Zhu Bai would come around. He knew the times that the servant would come to his room. He ensured to send out his shadow puppets before he showed up. During the time that he had been confined to his quarters, he had learned Yeng Feng's routine as well.

The man truly did spend most of his time at the tavern. He did what he could to convince the others within the drink house to give him an ale or something in return for favors, yet the man truly had not even a copper to his name. When the tavern kicked him out for pestering the patrons, he would go home. Yet home was a far stretch from what it was. The shadow puppet would follow him as long as it had qi, which would be a week and a half. When it dispersed, Hong Zhao would be able to see the findings that his creatures had uncovered.

Yeng Feng's supposed home was just a small hut outside the city. He had a small cluster of herbs which he seemed to be cultivating himself. Not one herb seemed to be mature enough to pick yet, and he spent most of his time tending to them with a mirthless smile on his lips. He truly was penniless.

The shadow puppets also picked up on gossip about the alchemist. It seemed he was once the disciple to an esteemed alchemist. He had always played around, yet when he refined pills, they nearly always came out perfectly. He had always been a curious man, wishing to gain all knowledge of alchemy. He spent more time reading his master's books than he listened to the man.

While looking through a few books, he found a few recipes he wished to try. One was a silent whisper powder. Such a powder was an odorless and tasteless substance which could end the life of a cultivator up to the rank of disciple, and cause immense discomfort to a warrior ranked expert. When he saw this recipe, he was hooked. He didn't know that alchemy could be used for more than just improving the foundations of a cultivator. He worked tirelessly until he created five vials of the powder and gave them to his master.

The alchemist looked at the powder in disgust. He had told Yeng Feng that he had focused on another side of alchemy that was considered taboo within the Yuan Continent, let alone anywhere which had the reach of Li Xiao. The punishment of such experiments was meant to be death, yet he couldn't bring himself to kill his disciple. Instead, he publicly banished Yeng Feng from his teachings.

At first, Yeng Feng arrogantly went against his teacher's banishment. He still tried to concoct more silent whisper powder to sell, yet each time he tried, his master would send the guards to raid his home and obtain the powders. After he had learned that he could no longer refine the medicine in peace, he tried other pills to sell for his livelihood, yet he was also raided for these. It was clear that Yuan City wouldn't work with him at all. This threw him into despair and into the tavern daily to try to drown out the years of research and study.

As Hong Zhao learned more of this man, the more interested he became. The silent whisper powder would be more than useful to him as an assassin. All he would have to do is gain some of this powder, and any enemies he would come across within the city would be dealt with easily. All he would have to do is get invited to dinners or even just a drink in order to finish a mission. He wouldn't even have to use his devouring qi claws unless he wished to.

Knowing that meeting this man in the open was nearly impossible, Hong Zhao would wait until he knew Yeng Feng was away from his dilapidated shack. After a check up by Xuan Hua, he would tell Zhu Bai that he was tired and needed time to sleep. When he sent the servant away, he took his qi talisman and poured his energy into it, putting it under his blanket and left his lavish cell. Instead of going to the tavern which he knew Yeng Feng would be, he went to the man's home and placed a few gold coins on a note under his pillow. He also decided to put a few pill recipes with the currency before leaving once more.

After getting back to his room, he released his shadow puppets to search for him as well as any other esteemed experts within the city. Over the last five months, he had learned a lot about the support system within the city. He knew who was for the city lord, and who was still hoping for Wei Rong to return.

Other factions had also began to appear in order to fill the power vacuum within the city. If Wei Rong truly was ran out of the city, it was because of Zheng Guo's hunger for power. He wanted no opposition, instead he wanted complete submission. This gossip started small, but after five months, it was all anyone would talk about.

Hong Zhao smiled as he looked out at the city. Everything seemed to be going into motion quite well. It wasn't going to be long before he was able to act. The novelty of him being within the city was beginning to die down. Even Zheng Guo seemed to be forgetting who he had trapped in these lavish quarters. Soon, he would regret even sending for him in the first place.