Outside the office.
Wang Mingâs ears were perked up when he happened to casually pass by Liu Yanâs office. Moments later, Hu Hao and Li Meng came down the hallway, deep in discussion with document folders in their hands. They seemed to be working as they passed by.
Seconds after that, Wu Chao and Chen Jian loitered outside the offices as if they had reports to make. After a while, even Yun Yao walked over wearing her special glasses.
Liu Long in a trench coat rounded out the crew. He joined the group and growled, âDo none of you have work to do?â
Wu Chao winked and waggled his eyebrows, tilting his head at the office. âChief, your girlâs being stolen! Vice Captain Liu and Li Hao are too much, doing this in broad daylight!â
âGet outta here!â Liu Long cursed. Your girlâs being stolen! But he has a point, this is broad daylight... and Li Hao... is really...
He was too embarrassed to extend his senses into the office. Canât you two consider the impact of this? Doing it right in the office with everyone listening outside... Liu Long was mortified on their behalf!
How shameless!
When Wang Ming passed by again, a gossipy look couldnât help but dawn in his eyes.
âDirector Liu, is office romance allowed in our department? Does this count as Li Hao abusing his power for personal gain?â he asked with a hint of glee.
Liu Long didnât know what to say. Are even supernaturals this interested in gossip? All of you have too much spare time on your hands! He suddenly tensed and sprang away.
The office door opened. Liu Long immediately turned like heâd just arrived and roared, âWhat are all of you doing here? Do you have nothing to do?â
Li Hao looked wordlessly at the scene. Do you think I didnât sense that you were also here earlier, chief? Who wouldâve thought that the coldly arrogant Captain Liu would know to put on this act as well?
Still wearing her cropped vest, a flushed Liu Yan poked her head out to look at everyone. She smiled radiantly. âYouâre all here, huh?â
â......â Ringing silence answered her.
âShameless!â Yun Yao couldnât help herself.
Li Hao was going to give himself a seizure from all his eye rolls. He didnât bother explaining. âBrother Chen, Brother Wu, come in!â
âUs?â The two looked at each other with a slightly guilty conscience. What? We didnât say nothing.
Wu Chao was the more guilty of the two as heâd said that Li Hao was stealing the chief's girl. The lad wouldnât take his anger out on him, would he?
âCome in! Does the word of a deputy director hold no weight?â
The two hemmed and hawed, highly reluctant to enter the office. They looked pleadingly at Liu Long a few times, but the man remained noncommittal like he didnât see them. He wasnât going to get involved at all.
Despair crept into their hearts and the two resigned men entered the office. The door shut with a bang, leaving Wang Ming and the others looking at each other. What was going on?
Moments later...
âAh!â The groaning started again. It was Chen Jianâs voice.
Wang Mingâs eyes shot wide open and he couldnât help but look at Liu Long, then at Yun Yao. This was astounding! What the heck was this?? Had the Demon Hunters always been this lewd? First Li Hao and Liu Yan, now Chen Jian... Wu Chao was inside as well, would he be moaning later too?
The look in Liu Longâs eyes changed and he uttered, âTheyâre training!â
âOh, okay!â Wang Ming quickly nodded. Who the heck would believe that? Heâd never groaned like this when he trained, and with that kind of tone! Heâd never seen anyone moan like that, who was Liu Long kidding?
Screaming with agony was more like it!
Cultivating with mysterious power was a very painful affair; it sometimes felt like endless knives scraping through flesh. Wang Ming often heard anguished wails as mysterious power rampaged through the body, but that was plainly not coming from the office. It was obviously cries of pleasure!
Oh heavens!
What an affront and complete decimation of his values!
The three supernaturals from White Moon looked at each other. Was this the key to why the Demon Hunters were so united? They subconsciously took a step away from Liu Long and Yun Yao.
The latter two were quite resigned by this reaction, but they could more or less determine that those inside really were training. Something else might be afoot when it was just Liu Yan and Li Hao, but after Chen Jian and Wu Chao also entered, they were obviously involved in legitimate affairs.
Expectation shone out of Liu Longâs eyes when his thoughts turned to the blood pearls... Could Li Hao, or rather, Yuan Shuo, have a way to make it easier to absorb the blood pearls? The ones inside all possessed one, and they were all martial masters!
Wang Mingâs scalp turned numb at the look in Liu Longâs eyes. Li Meng also sidled up to him and breathed, âBrother Wang, does it look like Director Liu wants to be inside as well?â
Wang Ming nodded his head imperceptibly. It was obvious to see and truly terrifying!
Liu Longâs ears twitched. Do those two think I canât hear them? Forget it, I canât be bothered with them. He continued to wait, highly anticipatory of the results.
If Wu Chao and Chen Jian broke through as well, then the entire team might be Sunderers after today. Theyâd only had one a few days agoâhim, and he was now a Dominator!
As small as the team may be, one Dominator and eight Sunderers or Darkmoons were a formidable force no matter where they went. Silver Cityâs defensive capabilities would reach a new peak!
The time spent waiting was quite a torment; Wang Ming and his comrades didnât leave. They first stayed out of an overabundance to learn more gossip, but they gradually knew that something was amiss as well.
Wang Mingâs eyes darted around before he looked at Liu Long and lowered his voice, âDirector Liu, what are they doing inside?â
âItâs our teamâs unique training method,â Liu Long answered without skipping a beat. âWe cultivate in the most comfortable way possible. Itâs a secret, exclusive method that will usually help one through a bottleneck! I dare say that both Wu Chao and Chen Jian will become Sunderers this time.â
âHow is that possible?â Wang Ming started. His thoughts turned to the blood pearl. Although heâd taken one before to good effect, Wu Chao and the others had received similar ones to him. The effects werenât so swift!
Not to mention, he hadnât moaned like this when he digested the blood pearl!
A blood pearl without the supplement of sword energy wasnât that agreeable to the cultivator. The effects were middling and one had to endure the eruption of scarlet shadow energy. To be frank, it wasnât a pleasant experience. Thus, Wang Ming highly suspected Liu Long of lying to him!
After roughly another hour, the door to the office swung open again. Wu Chao and Chen Jian were both flushed and exceedingly animated. Chen Jian ignored the fact that he was dripping with sweat and excitedly swung his fist. Faint internal force emanated from it.
âChief!â Chen Jian hollered energetically. âIâm a Sunderer!â
It used to be that people were dejected when they broke through, not sure if they should be happy or regretful. But after Liu Long set foot into Dominator, the teamâs craving for the supernatural was greatly extinguished. Breaking through to Sunderer was massive progress!
Wu Chao laughed spookily. âMe too!â
Behind them, Liu Yan had thrown on an inspectorâs uniform that hid her curves. âIâve also improved slightly.â She smiled faintly. âI can project internal force from my four limbs. Iâm not yet mid Sunderer, but Iâm almost there.â
Wu Chao and Chen Jian could only just begin to project their internal force whereas sheâd taken a step forward. Liu Yan was a hair away from mid Sunderer.
Wang Ming and the others gaped with shock! This was real! All of them had advanced!
âDoes this mean...â Hu Hao raised. âThat every single Silver City Night Watcher is either a Darkmoon or Sunderer?â
âLi Hao...â Wang Ming wanted to say that Li Hao wasnât when the young man interrupted him bashfully.
âOle Wang, I advanced last night too.â
â......â Silence.
Wang Mingâs eyes shot wide open and he looked at Liu Long and the others, too flabbergasted for words. âThe entire team... has broken through!â
One Dominator, eight Darkmoons or Sunderers. This level of strength outstripped the other Night Watcher branches and placed Silver City second to only White Moon and Flare City! Flare City was the second largest city of the province. It had several Sunflares and more than a dozen Darkmoon in residence, making it stronger than Silver City.
Other cities that boasted of Night Watcher branches typically had one Sunflare, a few Darkmoons, and several Starlight. Some weaker ones didnât even have a Sunflare.
Silver City had been the weakest as it was newly established, but itâd vaulted to number three within the province in the blink of an eye. If they counted Yuan Shuo who was out of the system... that gave them a fighting chance with headquarters!
âI need a moment...â Wang Ming found it difficult to accept what he saw. âBut this is impossible! I know about blood pearls and that theyâre very useful for martial masters to advance to Slayer or for Slayers to continue improving. Their effects shouldnât be this good, should they?â
These effects were too good!
âOf course not, but donât forget who my teacher is,â chuckled Li Hao. âA master of martial dao, he naturally brings about different results with the addition of some unique methods. Not only that, but if we can get our hands on more blood pearls, these items may not be as useless to supernaturals either...â
âWhat?!â Wang Ming gasped. âThey work for supernaturals too?â
âYes!â Li Hao grinned. âSupernaturals absorb mysterious power to strengthen themselves. But if blood pearls are combined with mysterious power and my teacherâs exclusive method, they are effective for supernaturals as well! Brother Wang, for example, is adept with the metal attribute and abilities. If equipped with a blood pearl and a few other things, youâll absorb metal energy at a faster rate and grow stronger. I think youâll soon set foot into the Plenilune stage or even Sunflare!â
Wang Ming lit up! Did he mean that?
Li Meng and Hu Hao were also slightly tempted. Hu Hao couldnât help himself and asked, âUm, Iâm... Iâm a flight...â
âThat has to do with the wind element. You normally absorb wind energy, right?â
Hu Hao nodded. Flight did indeed have to do with the wind; it was a kind of mutation. Not all wind supernaturals could fly.
âWhat about me?â Li Meng asked urgently. âItâs so hard for my third eye to improve. If I could absorb energy whenever I wished to, I wouldâve advanced a long time ago. I can only absorb some unattributed power to strengthen myself, but itâs not a good match for me...â
None of the three supernaturals from White Moon could sit still, not when they watched the martial masters in front of them improve at such a rapid pace. They remained rooted in the same position while the rest of the team advanced. People said that it was hard for martial masters to improveâmuch harder than supernaturalsâbut why did they suddenly feel that it was the supernatural that was hard and martial masters had it quite easy?
âAlright, donât think so much for now since weâre out of blood pearls,â Liu Long brought up. âBoth Wu Chao and Chen Jian have made progress today... oh, and Li Hao.â