Feigning His Obedience

The light arrow shot out of the Bloodvein Café, and the patrolling immortals had seen it. Thinking that Xu Rouguang had run into some problem inside, the immortals prepared to block the exits while some raced to catch up with the general. Xu Rouguang stopped and materialized on top of JT and looked around the entire city. With it being the highest peak in Crimson City, he should be able to find that person in seconds from here.

"General Xu!"

The deathless general turned to see one of the patrol leaders. He cupped his hands towards the general and asked in an apprehensive tone. "General Xu! I'm Patrol Leader Zhao! We're watching Bloodvein Café when we saw you escape from the place. Did they attack you?"

Xu Rouguang hid his panic and shook his head. "No, leave them be. Leader Zhao, can you find Radiant Serpent East for me?"

"Please wait, General Xu, I'll call him." The patrol leader sent his other men to go back and withdraw the others from besieging the café. He then brought out a phone and fiddled with it.

Xu Rouguang narrowed his eyes at his actions; he did realize that if he used one to contact Heaven's produce dealers, it's very probable that the other immortals would make use of it as well. Unlike other devices they had, phones only needed to be connected to the Internet to be used. The speed of response was akin to a messaging token which costs a lot more due to the currency used by the immortals.

From one side of the city, Brother Blue was in a library, reading through old materials about the old world. However, instead of books, they seemed to be fictional magazines and softbound accounts of studies. His phone that was on his pocket suddenly vibrated which surprised him. He only got a phone from the Head Patrol Commander which they treated as their new—and cheaper—messaging tokens. It was so simple to use, and a message could be sent to a hundred in a split-second. It was awfully fragile, though, so they might have to reinforce the phone by enveloping it in essence to protect it from breaking.

Brother Blue put down the magazine he was reading before fishing for his phone. It looked simple, and it was undeniably an old model as well. He opened the chat notification and saw a message from Patrol Leader Zhao: "Brother Blue, General Xu wants to see you. JT."

General Xu was calling for him? Brother Blue knew it wasn't a good thing when General Xu wanted to meet all of a sudden. However, he could only get up and return his materials read before leaving.

He replied with a short message: "I'll be there soon."

Upon receiving a reply swiftly, Patrol Leader Zhao sighed. He then chuckled, forgetting that he was talking to someone with a rather high position. "Ah, this little thing is really wonderful. We don't need to expend a lot of essence sending messages; neither do we need restrictions because no one could scan a phone and read the message sent."

Xu Rouguang also fished for his phone and remembered how much he learned from Severed Glacier when he first had his phone. Recently, he got connected with Liu Qiu and the others after she gave them their IDs for the chat. He only nodded in response. "You're right. Very convenient."

Patrol Leader Zhao froze as he remembered who he was with. Ever since Xu Rouguang joined their ranks, everyone else had said he was hostile and would strike at anyone without warning. The people around him had painted a rather bad image of Xu Rouguang. No one from the lower ranks wanted to get close to this general at all.

The deathless general fiddled with his own phone. "Patrol Leader Zhao, can I join your chat group? I don't want to bother anyone when looking for someone again."

"Y-Yes, General Xu... but I can't approve your application..."

Five minutes after, Brother Blue had finally arrived. He noticed that Xu Rouguang was standing alone on top of the highest peak. He then landed next to him and clasped his hands to greet the general. "General Xu, I have arrived. Did something come up?"

Xu Rouguang glanced at him once before locking his phone and keeping it. "Any confirmation about the existence of that cult who worshipped the old demons?"

Brother Blue was stunned. It was even less than twenty-four hours from when they reported about it. His face grew grave, wary of disappointing the general. "G-General Xu, our scouts haven't found any leads about them."

"No matter. Serpent East, I heard there was a blood ritual that happened a year ago in an abandoned barn house in the south of the city. I have reasons to believe that it was done by the cult... they tried to raise the old demons." Xu Rouguang almost never managed to look him in the eyes. For some reason, he hated the thought that he was called to the world through the blood of humans. His eyes grew clear, and he looked at Brother Blue straightly this time. "Try to find other similar events within the century. We need to find this cult fast."

"We'll get to it, General." Brother Blue clasped his hands again. He noticed the frustration in Xu Rouguang's eyes, but he spoke nothing of it. If anything, he was getting confused by how he saw General Xu right now. Even though he was a monstrous fighter, he was not as monstrous as a person. He had emotions leaking from his gazes—aside from anger and fury.

Perhaps, this was why Severed Glacier served this deathless man. He was able to see the humanity buried deep enough General Xu and so managed to stay by his side. Brother Blue didn't think too much before asking the general before him. "General Xu, anything else you'd ask of me?"

Xu Rouguang shook his head and turned away. "Without finding our enemies in this vast world, we couldn't be too careful. We still have no idea of their goals and methods; might as well wait for them to play their cards first."

Brother Blue only agreed softly before he remembered something. It had been bugging him, but he was afraid to speak out... considering how Xu Rouguang protected Lai Mingjie. However, he shook his head and steeled his heart. "General Xu...

"Not that I suspect him to be involved with this, but Emodao and Dunzhao were talking before they started fighting. It seemed that Dunzhao didn't come to kill him at first notice." He gritted his teeth as he felt the warnings of death from the depths of his soul. "Emodao had been enslaved by Her Eminence for so long. It wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that he would be leading a revolution. If his sentinels kept on showing up, the Council of Heaven might hold him responsible."

"You think someone like Emodao would sit through the goddess' games while scheming for his release?"

"...Emodao wasn't a smart demon, but he had a strategist sentinel named Bingxing. They said all he successfully infiltrated and brought down cities because he relied on the great mind of this demon sentinel." Brother Blue felt a little relaxed with the warnings fading. "If Bingxing handled everything outside the city, he could continue feigning his obedience."

Xu Rouguang remained silent. He then turned to Brother Blue. "You think the Council of Heaven would think about this that way? They would condemn Emodao for this?"

Brother Blue stared for a while before nodding once. To be honest, he was always get sent to that court of old fools and buffoons; he knew how they think. "Sooner or later, they would send someone to prosecute Emodao."

The general's frustrated eyes suddenly turned cold and almost gave Brother Blue's soul frostbite. "Hmph, find me my answers before then. Until you do, don't you dare show your face to me."