Death Cultivator : Rise For Revenge!

Chapter 8

The journey East toward the City of Shadows was a grueling three-day trek. Huo Li Yu, still physically frail and spiritually battered, pushed herself relentlessly. She was sustained only by the burning ember of vengeance and the steady, protective presence of her brother.

Unlike the well-ordered cultivation cities with their clear, crisp spiritual auras, the City of Shadows felt suffocating. It was a place of gloom and stagnation, where the Qi in the air was a muddy slurry of the pure, the dark, and the profane. Built into a massive ravine that the sun rarely touched, the city was eternally draped in a thin, spectral mist.

"This is not a place of peace, Sister," Tian Xian whispered as they passed through the unguarded gates—marked only by a massive, cracked monolith of black stone. "Here, power is measured in coin and secrets. Never draw your blade unless you intend to end a life."

Li Yu nodded, her grip tightening on his arm. She realized that in this den of thieves, her brother’s sword was the only thing standing between them and the abyss.

They secured a room in a dilapidated, inconspicuous inn. Once he was certain Li Yu was safe and the perimeter was warded, Tian Xian prepared to venture out. He discarded his blood-stained crimson robes for a nondescript set of black traveler's gear, concealing his demonic blade across his back. He donned a mask of cold indifference—a calculated blend of weariness and lethal arrogance.

In the City of Shadows, the black market was the only pulse that mattered.

Tian Xian entered a crowded tavern tucked into a jagged corner of the city. This was no mere alehouse; it was a clearinghouse for forbidden goods and whispered sins. Assassins, information leeches, and peddlers of tainted artifacts gathered here under the flickering light of tallow candles.

Taking a seat in the darkest corner, Tian Xian ordered a cup of bitter wine and let the ambient noise wash over him.

The gossip was predictable: the fall of the Meng Clan. The news had traveled fast, painted in hues of blood and "Demonic Cultivation." Tian Xian’s grim reputation had outrun him.

After a few minutes, a rotund man in plum-colored robes, his fingers heavy with oversized rings, slid into the seat opposite him. This was Old Broker Luo, one of the most reliable—and expensive—leeches in the city.

Luo offered a greasy smirk. "Good evening, Young Master. Your face is new, but your aura... it smells like someone who has walked through the gates of Hell. How can I serve you?"

Tian Xian placed a small pouch of high-grade spirit stones on the table. "I seek two things, Luo. Information, and a person."

Luo’s eyes gleamed as he weighed the pouch. "Secrets are a premium currency here. But if you’re looking for the 'Demon' who slaughtered the Mengs, I have nothing new. He vanished into thin air."

"I’m not looking for him," Tian Xian replied, his voice a low chill. "I want to know about the White Shadow Gate and an artifact called the Starlight Stone."

Luo’s smirk vanished. His pupils dilated with genuine fear, and he shot a reflexive glance over his shoulder.

"Young Master... you are playing with fire. The White Shadow Gate is not a name spoken aloud in places like this."

Tian Xian slid a second pouch across the wood. "Speak. Who are they, and why do they want the stone?"

Luo sighed, his greed finally outweighing his survival instinct.

"The White Shadow Gate is a shadow-council. They pull the strings of dozens of minor and mid-tier sects across the continent. They operate under the mask of the White Army of Wisdom—a group that poses as righteous guardians but serves as a cleanup crew for the true powers above them."

"They seek the Starlight Stone because it is the Ancient Key to a Primordial Heritage Cave. Legend says the cave houses lost cultivation scrolls that could make a man invincible. The Mengs were purged because they held that stone. But here is the kicker: the stone was stolen the moment the Meng manor fell."

Tian Xian realized with a jolt of frustration that he was trailing. His enemy wasn't just the Gate; it was the ghost who had snatched the prize before the dust had even settled.

"Who took it?" Tian Xian pressed.

Luo shook his head. "That is the mystery. No one knows. There was only one trace left behind... a spiritual signature of absolute purity, almost divine, yet laced with the faint metallic scent of blood."

Pure aura, laced with blood? The description triggered a memory. He thought of his own original Spiritual Core—the one Li Yu had found in the earth. It was pure, yet it had been violated by the Mengs.

As Tian Xian processed this, his inter-dimensional pouch began to thrum. The small, weakened silver core inside was vibrating in a rhythmic, frantic pulse.

Beneath the table, he pulled the core out just enough to see it. It was glowing with a pale, stuttering light, as if "sensing" a twin nearby.

Suddenly, Broker Luo’s face went pale. "Cursed luck! Young Master, I must leave!"

A female cultivator stepped into the tavern. She wore elegant, charcoal-gray robes and carried a slender, wickedly sharp rapier. Her face was beautiful, but her eyes were the cold, calculating eyes of a predator.

What caught Tian Xian’s attention was the silver badge on her shoulder—an engraving of an ancient gate. The mark of a White Shadow Gate Scout.

The woman scanned the room, her gaze ignoring the common rabble. Her eyes locked onto one person: Huo Tian Xian.

She walked straight to his table, ignoring the fleeing Broker Luo.

"Young Master Huo Tian Xian," she said, her voice like cracking ice. "My name is Yan Su. I am an operative of the White Army of Wisdom. I know exactly who—and what—you are."

Tian Xian remained seated, his hand hovering near the hilt of his hidden blade. "My reputation travels faster than I thought."

"The reputation of a Meng-slayer? No," Yan Su said with a faint, mirthless smile. "I know you as the boy whose core was torn out. We did not come to avenge the Mengs. We came to ask: why does your Spiritual Core react so violently to the War God’s Trace in this city?"

Tian Xian’s heart stopped. The War God’s Trace? And this woman could detect his core's reaction—something even he had barely realized?

Yan Su leaned in, her aura flaring just enough to suppress the surrounding air.

"We don't want to kill you, Young Master Huo. We want to recruit you. You are the only one who can unlock the secrets of the Huo bloodline and reclaim the stolen Starlight Stone. Join us, and you will have the power to truly rule this cultivation world."

The offer was staggering, but Tian Xian saw the hooks beneath the bait. He wasn't looking to be a pawn in their game.

Tian Xian stood up, his demonic aura beginning to seep from his pores like black ink. "I don’t work for shadows, Yan Su. I only work for blood."