Shi Lang walked out of the room and was surprised to see a pristine white palace standing in the middle of a vast clearing. Looking around, he found many doors erected around the place.
He gulped and said, “The legendary artificial small world.”
Old Yu was shocked. He remarked, “You even know about this? Kid, you sure have some secret.”
Shi Lang gazed at him, and the elder replied, “Don’t look at me like that; everyone has a secret, and I do not covet yours.”
After saying that, Yu Xian walked ahead with his hands crossed behind his back. Shi Lang turned to look at the closed door behind him and knew that the only option before him was to follow this old man.
The terran followed the old man and asked, “Where are we?”
Yu Xian replied, “We are in the secret world of the head hunters.”
Shi Lang asked while gazing around, “All the head hunters know about this?” 𝑜𝑣𝐋xt.𝗇𝓔t
Yu Xian shook his head and replied, “Head Hunters work with ranking systems. Only Platinum-level hunters know about this place.”
Shi Lang narrowed his gaze and asked, “I am not a platinum-level hunter.”
Yu Xian nodded and said, “Indeed, you are not. However, the task you completed to get accepted into the organization was a platinum-level task handed to you by mistake. I have to say, not only did you find out the real colluder, you even dealt with the corrupted ones.”
Shi Lang did not say anything. He was trying hard to wrap his mind around the proceedings of this stupid organization. One part of his heart even wanted to quit because he originally wanted to make a name for himself, but he had already contacted Amelia and was not desperate to get fame.
He asked, “So, does that mean I will be promoted to the Platinum level directly?”
Yu Xian nodded and said, “No, you will get the silver rank. However, as compensation for putting you at risk, one of the high elders wishes to meet you.”
Shi Lang raised his brow and asked, “Can you tell me why? Why did you bring me to the inner sanctum of your organization? What if I am a traitor?”
Yu Xian turned to cast him a gaze, but his steps did not stop. He smiled and said, “The high elder has spoken highly of you. It was his guarantee.”
Shi Lang nodded, but he sensed Raksha getting agitated the next moment. He understood what was going on and who was the high elder that wanted to meet him. He said solemnly, “Immortal Sovereign Tian Long.”
Yu Xian was shocked and did not expect this guy to figure things out so quickly. He asked, “How did you know? The identity of the High elders has always been a secret.”
Shi Lang replied, “That is the only person I know who can hold such a high position and even vouch for me. The rest of the Immortal Sovereigns are too arrogant to look at an immortal lord like me.”
Yu Xian nodded but still found it unfathomable that this guy could figure things out so clearly. Yu Xian said, “Every Head hunter has to hand in ten consecutive successful tasks to get promoted to another rank.”
Shi Lang nodded as Yu Xian explained to him further. The terran discovered that the Iron-level head hunter was the lowest level above silver, gold, and platinum. Platinum head hunters had to hand over five successful tasks consecutively to get promoted to the Elder level.
The elders also had a strong classification. However, Shi Lang’s volunteering skipped the details as it was too useless for him. As he finished speaking, the old man brought Shi Lang to the palace gates. He said, “Submit all your weapons here.”
Shi Lang narrowed his gaze, but he did as he was told. He placed his space ring under the custody of the guards at the gateway. He found that all of them were early-level Immortal Kings. His heart shivered a bit because he did not expect the security detail to be made up of a few immortal kings.
If he did something, then he would not be able to withstand the outcome. Shi Lang walked behind the old man. He asked, “You guys sure have a heavy security.”
The old man replied, “They are not security. They are only here to train. When someone reaches an Immortal King realm, their mindset becomes too delicate. They are here to recover from that. Immortal Kings think they are the almighty and become arrogant. However, that is not the correct way of thinking and is not progressive.”
Shi Lang nodded. He figured out that these people must be head hunters also. Yu Xian led Shi Lang to a garden on the side. He was confused, and the old man said, “The palace is not somewhere you can go at your current level. Only Immortal Emperors can withstand the pressure inside.”
Shi Lang raised his brows and said, “An Immortal God left this place behind.”
Yu Xian’s pupils constricted, and he froze. At this moment, a calm voice sounded, “As expected, always quick on the uptake.”
Shi Lang turned around and said, “Old man, you are acting cocky again.”
Yu Xian was shocked to the core of his existence. He did not expect Shi Lang to greet the new comer in such a manner. When Tian Long said, “Elder Yu, you may leave, he wanted to say something. We have a few things to discuss.”
Yu Xian bowed and quickly left the place. Tian Long waited for him to leave before he erected a spiritual barrier and said, “Bastard, you have to malign my image everywhere. I will kill you one of these days.”
Shi Lang shook his head and said, “To think you would never grow up, ancient man-child.”
Tian Long developed a twitch at the corner of his eyes. He clenched his fists, and Shi Lang sighed as he asked, “Come on, don’t be like this. Old friends are supposed to joke with each other. Don’t you feel alone and isolated with no one to bring out the real Tian Long?”
The sovereign was shocked at this moment. Shi Lang asked, “Fine, since you think you have grown too old, I will not banter. Tell me, why did you call me here? I have to go and visit the cloud pavilion.”
Tian Long took a deep breath and said, “You have joined the head hunter organization, and I hope you can speed up the tasks a bit. In three months, rise to the level of a gold-level head hunter at the least.”
Shi Lang raised his brows and asked, “What is the hurry for?”
Tian Long looked at the sky and said, “It will be blood moon night in three months. During that time, the demonic cultivators go mad from the raging demonic aura in their bodies, and they raid the villages near the border and slaughter many people. This happened five years; we do not know why it happened but it is a headache for all the forces.”
Shi Lang asked, “What do you mean? Can you all not hold them back?”
He could not fathom this. To think Tian Long seemed so helpless about things. The latter replied, “We cannot handle it because the raging demonic energy tends to corrupt our own if they fight the demonic cultivators for too long. Another thing is that a common Demon Lord can fight with the battle capacity of an Immortal King at that time. Our forces are useless for an entire night. We prepare evacuations, yet the death toll is very high.”
Shi Lang’s face turned solemn; he could not understand the situation, and Tian Long said, “The only consolation is that the next morning, these demonic humans are lambs for slaughter. They become so weak that we can just kill them as easily as if killing a chicken.”
The terran shook his head and said, “That is not a good thing, Long. You know that once you lose a war the impact on your brain is permanent. The forces cannot suffer such things every year.”
Tian Long nodded and replied, “I understand what you are saying. That is why if you can rise to the gold level, then I will let you assume command of the dragon army.”
Shi Lang nodded and said, “At times like this I would love to bring some mechs from the federal reserve and give the enemy a glimpse of hell.”
Tian Long smiled faintly and Shi Lang said, “Fine, I will try my best, if that is all, I will be heading back.”
The sovereign nodded and they said, “Do you remember Fairy Moon jade?”
Moon Jade was the nick name of his dao companion, the lady who ascended to the immortal world with him. Shi Lang froze for a second and then sighed, “Do not tell me she still have not forgotten me? I am a married man now, I cannot uphold this debt of love.”
As he finished speaking he let out a sigh and walked away. A few moments later, the entire palace rang with a strong roar, “Shi Lang, you bastard!!”
Shi Lang had already made his way to the gateway and was collecting his space ring.