Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 929 - 928 - Cloaked Assassins

There were 3 corpses laid out on a slab inside a sterile room. They were human, demon, and even an aether child. Their bodies were mutilated but not by the attacks that killed them.

They had no genitalia and their bodies were manipulated to the ideal balance of strength and speed for each of their builds.

Qing and Mira were examining them. Mira looked like she could kill with a glance but Qing was only second to her!

There were also the tattered remains of 3 black cloaks being examined by Shoti and Kora. The 4 women were not the only ones working but thankfully no one was killed or crippled.

Despite breaching their security, the figures had been quickly detected due to the fact that the Frey Clan had a weaving that reacted to movements with no feedback of Qi. It was something rather basic.

People tried to hide their auras, Arts, or other ways their identity could be confirmed but few thought about the gap that could make if all the security looked for was movement without the associated Qi trace that should be there.

Everything had Qi so the absence meant something was hidden. It worked on living and items. If the Clan wanted to hide something, there was a way for that as well but few knew about it.

Thus, the instant that 9 movements were detected with no Qi trace, they moved quickly to find them. The cloaks had been more effective but once they tried to attack the 9 remaining candidates for heir, the emerald cloaks and Lind caught them.

Lind had gone out to add his Talents which did help zero in on their targets.

He had just happened to be near Abby and saved her himself. The others were saved by the guards with minimal loss. Abby had surprised them as she demonstrated an expert use of a grade 5 combat Art.

The door opened and Lind came in looking grim.

"There were more in the city. Once I knew what to look for, I found them all. They were going to kill other critical members of guilds, administration, and so forth." He looked at the bodies and frowned.

He could see that they had been manipulated but were definitely thralls.

"How did they even get here? The teleportation array would have detected Fiend Qi or anything odd like the cloaks." Cyntilla followed him in and had some blood on her clothes. She clearly had been out fighting with him.

"Lysanna is checking but I suspect they came the long way. They used the chaos of the branches being built to slip through. We had to alter the security we had set up. Annabelle is working with the Formation and Weaving Halls to immediately modify the new outer detection arrays." Lind spoke up as he moved near the slabs.

The aether child was the most disturbing to him. A demon and human would be tempted or forced by Fiends easily in his mind but aether children normally were anathema to Fiends.

Why was one made into a thrall?

"I have checked what records we have but none of them match anyone previously noted in the known powers." It was actually a long held practice in the Alliance to record the features, foundation, and other details of all members. Even if they were assumed dead, the record was kept.

Thralls were the reason. Since a prisoner did not mean death, many powers were able to confirm their members being turned into the puppets of the Fiends if they fought later.

"Lind, there is a different scent in their blood." Ethry suddenly spoke up and took a vial from her. It had demon blood in it but his own senses already told him there was something else in it.

His eyes narrowed as he recognized it.

"It is blood from a beast. I think it is close to the Illusion Pythons." He quickly reviewed what could be close to them and his eyes narrowed.

"Ambushing Cobra." It was a beast native to deserts but had an interesting ability similar to the pythons. It could blend in perfectly to its surroundings to strike prey from what they thought was a sand dune, stone, or whatever.

Highly venomous but unlike the Illusion Pythons that relies on Qi to project an image, the cobra could shift its own skin!

Lind looked at the 3 bodies in a new light.

"They are thralls made for a specific purpose. These cloaks are finely made as well. It must be grade 7 materials to make both of them!" Such assassins had never been heard of in the million year war in the Heaven Realm lands.

Lind's words made the women pale as they understood the Fiend threat was evolving to become a more indirect threat unlike any time before against Immortals. It also became far more terrifying for lower realm cultivators.

The Frey Clan could be considered the worst place for Fiend agents let alone Fiends. Yet, here was proof there were more layers to their enemies.

"These were never intended to be spare bodies for the Fiends, just tools that were extensions of their wills. How much have they gotten about us?" Lind looked at Qing but knew already it was too much.

They had none the location of each of the 9 candidates as well as their identities. They knew the infrastructure of the city and had picked targets. They also knew that the branches were their best shot to bypass the usually tight security.

All of that was a massive amount of information that was difficult to grasp but 2 pieces were the most disturbing.

The weakened security and the heir candidates.

Such information was only known to the highest levels of the Clan.

An emerald glow suddenly surrounded him and exploded outward. The instant it touched the bodies and the cloaks, they disintegrated to ash.

The wave spread over the whole of the city and out to the very edge of their territory for all 3 existing branches.

His eyes narrowed as he found several more reactions in midair!

He tore through space and came across weavings! They had been slowly integrating into his own protections! They were anchored by Fiend pieces but were hidden in normal Qi!

Such a delicate construction was unlike anything he had ever encountered.

"So, those bastards have started to take countermeasures against you." Cyntilla had come up behind him. He could only nod as it was clear the complicated weavings were very specific to avoid his detection abilities.

"It is more than that, they are learning how to fight us by sneakier methods rather than direct warfare. They do not suffer from a limited lifespan so long as they have those damn farms." It was the key issue dealing with the Fiends.

Unless killed completely, the damn beings could shift to a thrall and recover their cultivation and keep on living while all other cultivators had a time limit. Eventually, they would die.

He examined the traces as they collapsed but still frowned as he pieced it together before slowly turning back to the city.

"There are agents in our city." His voice was cold as his aura swept the city like a wave. Anyone below the Immortal Realm froze in place or was awakened from their sleep.

Immortals all turned to the source and the guards became more alert as they recognized their master's wavelength.

Cyntilla had her swords in her hands as she awaited his next words.

[Vice-guild master of Azure Mountain Trading Company. Sia Gorvan of the Candle Star Inn. Kil Bart of…] He began to project names and locations.

It was something Lind did not advertise but no spatial treasure was barred to him. He could analyze them all if he so desired but only he could.

He had not been able to make an artifact or weaving that could replicate the result without massive side effects that were not desirable. Chief among them is the cost.

Such weavings and artifacts would consume Immortal Qi stones like candy to operate on a regular basis.

There were several hundred names he listed off and the guards moved. Cyntilla stayed with him as they flew back to the Clan Hall.

"I want to institute a few modifications to applicants in the future but most of the ones I found only had a token to identify each other. In other words, they were not actively in contact with their masters." Lind had only found a few artifacts hidden inside a storage item that were more dangerous but the vast majority only had identity tokens.

It was a wise precaution as the Frey Clan was doing constant scans for Fiend items.

Tokens were fairly benign and easy to hide. Some could have hidden functions but would be common sense like a life saving defense or similar.

Now that they knew what to look for, it would be harder but it would be a constant battle. Yet, so long as Lind was there, nothing could hide from him.

The pair vanished back into the main Clan buildings. The event was shortly followed by a detailed announcement of what happened and how all of it was resolved.

There were grumblings but enough corroborated that attacks had occurred for the public to appreciate how effective the security of the Frey Clan was.

It was, however, nothing compared to when the news reached them that various powers had suffered similar attacks! The Frey Clan was the only one where no one died!

The news was bad enough but then an explosion of emerald flames came from the Frey Clan followed by the roar of a dragon. Confusion was rising when a new rumor came through.

Valkyrie, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Maiden Sect, had been murdered not by a Fiend assassin, but by a former ally when she was injured.

The details were sketchy but the reaction of their Founder made it clear there was more to the rumor than just whispers. All wondered what he was going to do as their relationship was not exactly friendly at all times but the shadow of a dragon flying off to the horizon made it clear he was on the move.

The few close ones to him could only pity whoever struck Valkyrie as they were likely not long for the world. Frey City returned to relative normalcy as new procedures were instituted at the teleportation arrays and landing areas.