Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 1461 - 1460 - Disruption in the Shadows

Lind's recovery was the focus of almost all his family and disciples. The Harmonic Dragons had even more respect for their ancestor as he had demonstrated unrelenting conviction to become victorious.

To dragons, his actions were not nearly suicidal but worthy of reverence.

Shoti smirked at those thoughts as she sat in a ratty tavern far from the Throne of Defiance. After her loss to Cyntilla, she was freed up to pursue her directives more vigorously without drawing attention.

Evie had been hard at work as she never entered the tournament. She was no longer directly tied to them but Fiends brought all to the same side.

The masters in seclusion were too neat to overlook but Shoti wanted the flipside. Generally, even if they were Fiend agents, elders and masters of sects or various powers, would still act like their status on both sides of the war.

Thus, she reviewed their targets and narrowed in on the guilds. A sect elder was harder to investigate not only because they were behind the high walls of a sect, but any double agents would be easily mixed in among weaker disciples that could be disposed of easily.

They would know nothing of what she needed either way as they would simply be obeying orders without context.

Guilds, on the other hand, often had to give context for resource orders and other needs. An elixir master and refiner both needed elemental crystals but quality and quantity varied. Simply going out to get some was insufficient.

Thus, any lower intermediaries would need far more information. Information that Shoti could use.

A figure in a dark cloak did not stand out in the tavern as she was one of many. In fact, she was in a worse cloak than most. The worn and broken edges combined with caked earth on her exposed arm only affirmed her poor status.

She milked the excuse of an ale the tavern boy had brought her. It could not harm her at all but her taste buds had limits! Whatever was in the wooden mug was not ale!

She began to wonder if she should change the food but a glance at other tables disabused her of that. Some of it was moving!

What was wrong with these people?!

Thankfully, a slim figure seemed to appear from nowhere across her table. The figure was in a much finer cloak but not a single eye was drawn to them.

"Not bad, one of ours?" Shoti seemed to surprise the figure before they nodded. She smirked at them. "Don't be surprised, we don't send out creations without knowing how to negate them or counteract them."

They pulled back their hood to reveal a young demon. He was very slim but Shoti could feel the power in his limbs. Anyone that attacked the demon would be in for a very rude awakening.

"Mistress Evie found the information you wanted. The Veiled Stars Guild was the home of candidate Lir. His master, Evald Gor, went into seclusion with the rest of our list but he did leave instructions behind as you suspected he would."

Shoti knew the Fiends would be keeping an eye on their tools. If any were suspected of being taken, and they were thralls, they would be taken off the board before she could get what she needed.

Fortunately, both Fiends and their agents took for granted the way of the world. No one suspected servants or merchants given incomplete information could cripple them.

Lind had been one to bring that to her attention in the Floating Isles. The thralls he had found were due to the actions of a syndicate, not the Fiends themselves.

It made her cast a larger net and thus they had caught Fiend agents over her long life.

She took the jade slip and the young demon seemed to blend back into the crowd without so much as a ripple.

"Honestly, Lind made a monstrous force of production specialists." She left a few World Stones behind, an exorbitant cost for such a poor drink, but it kept eyes off her. It was the right amount but indicated a very poor person as well.

She left without incident to a decently busy alley. She swiftly left the odorous place to the cleaner street. It was heavily trafficked with wagons, flying artifacts, and general people milling to go deeper in or make their way out.

She waved her hand and the ragged cloak vanished as well as the illusion on her. Her normal short green hair and violet eyes returned as she quickly put on a simple gray cloak. Her battle dress was not her normal white one either.

She had changed to a leather armor that still allowed her to use her Whip Arts and free movement. It was different enough that she would not be immediately recognizable but she always assumed the enemy was better than the casual observer.

It meant she was alive where others were not. It was also a harsh lesson from when she nearly lost her soul.

She moved with practiced ease while reviewing the slip. She dismissed a lot of potential targets as they were either too low on the totem pole or were simply from before seclusion began to have the knowledge she was searching for.

She narrowed it down to a dozen and began to stalk her prey. Some were suppliers that had received orders. On the surface, there was nothing unusual but 2 points stood out to her.

The day Lir died, an unusual order had been delivered that no one could account for after the fact. His death obscured that discrepancy but the same thing happened when his master went into seclusion.

The start of the tournament had drawn all eyes and let another strange order seemingly vanish after it left the supplier.

She touched a bracelet on her left wrist and for all intents and purposes, she vanished from all senses.

Annabelle could make things that would terrify any power, but she rarely employed them even for family. Against Fiends, however, she held nothing back. Shoti now had a bracelet that officially did not exist.

It worked by altering perceptions rather than trying to hide the subject. In other words, trying to look for her without knowing who was there, drastically reduced being found but also made people subconsciously move around her.

It made it so that no unnatural disturbances occurred as she moved through a crowd. So long as movement was smooth, 99% of people would overlook it.

Only direct actions like grabbing someone or moving an object like a closed door would break the effect.

Still, Shoti had tested it under harsh conditions and even if it was a pounding rain, no one saw her as she moved.

She made her way to the street that held the warehouses and merchant buildings. It was a louder but less populated area. She smiled with some nostalgia as it took her back to the early days of the Moebius Sect. It had been essentially what was in front of her.

She pushed such memories aside as she knew she was bracing herself for what she was going to find. Fiend agents did not always employ fellow agents, but such large orders could not have been mistaken more than once.

She found the large warehouse looking for. She frowned as the feeling of the place made her itch. No one else seemed to notice, but she did. It was a gift from her near death experience.

Ever since, it was like anything remotely touched by Fiends, she could feel it. It was not a skill or Art she could pass on, but she never doubted it.

"Bottomless Well Depository, huh?" She read the name softly and waited to slip inside when someone opened the doors. The instant she was inside, the feeling became much worse but was farther in.

She quickly bypassed the counter and slipped through the curtain. It was a risk but it did not elicit a reaction. She walked down clean wooden halls lit nicely with light crystal fixtures but it all seemed a lie to her.

She followed her senses until she came to a wall. There was no door but she knew one had to be there. She glanced around and also found it odd that the random worker was now nowhere to be seen.

She summoned an emerald jewel framed in silver. It was no bigger than her thumb, but the instant it was exposed to air, it flared like a small sun. Black smoke appeared as a Fiend weaving was torn apart.

Even a small harmonic crystal of Lind was enough to destroy Fiend constructs. It was fairly weak as it was not an Immortal grade. She saw the wall dissolve away to reveal a normal door.

She sighed as being subtle was already gone and opened it. No vile stench or other giveaway followed but her senses were nearly overloaded. Whatever was down there was pure Fiend Qi!

She quickly descended with her whip in her hand. She also crushed a jade stone that shimmered with confirmation. If anything happened, their forces would come down like a hammer on the material warehouse.

She was now in stone and came to a large room full of vile feeling herbs, stones, and other resources. Everything a Fiend agent or thrall would need. However, what she had not expected were the bodies.

There were at least 20 dead men and women all over. They were not withered like a Fiend had done it, but all their dantians were destroyed. Their hearts were ripped out, and blood poured from every orifice.

She saw the blood was fresh. They had just died but she had not heard a single sound of violence. She saw no footprints or signs of struggle either. No one had done it.

She then held up the emerald jewel and traces of Fiend Qi were transformed around her.

"By the spirits, the breaking of the weaving killed them!" Shoti realized what had happened. It also showed the Fiends had learned from Lind. His harmonic Qi was able to negate their defenses with ease.

The new defense was to simply deny him any information. They tied their agents to their defenses! They died if they were broken! They were also killed in such a way that nothing survived!

She sighed but kept her guard up. It seemed it was going to be much harder to trace the Fiends back going forward. She waited for her forces to arrive as she communicated to them. She made note of the other targets but now she had no idea what to do.

The shadows were disrupted but they were biting back.