Exchange

As a major shipment of Nephrine Jadeite was being transported from Hell Mountains to Glory City, a mysterious force ruthlessly attacked and robbed the heavily guarded cargo. All thirty guards were completely massacred, leaving no witnesses, of which there was an early Black Gold Ranked expert from each of the Divine and Snow Wind Families, who were leading a group of Gold Ranked experts. This was an extremely strong group and although the loss did not impact the core strength of these two major families, it hurt nonetheless.

While they were caught unawares and sending a reinforcement team to Hell Mountains, the very next morning, news arrived that another sizeable shipment of spirit herbs coming from Devil's Drop was also stolen. Once again, the guards transporting the cargo were completely wiped out, leaving none alive!

The leaders and key members of the Glory Sect and Elixir Sect quickly scrambled to hold an emergency meeting as they faced this brutal and targeted attack.

"The Dark Guild have finally acted and their hidden strength is far greater than we thought! To be able to take out a unit consisting of two Black Gold Ranked experts, along with numerous Gold Ranked forces, without a single one being able to escape, means that they have forces at the peak of Black Gold Rank or even Legend Rank!" Ye Zong exclaimed with a grave tone.

"How do you think we should respond?" Chen Zhenlong, the Patriarch of the Divine Family, asked. "If their forces are at this strength, every time we transport any of the mined goods or spirit herbs, they can attack any time and we won't have the power to defend on so many fronts!"

Ye Xiu stroked his beard as he thought through the circumstances. "There is one encouraging thing, if we want to try to find a positive angle," he began. "If they were truly confident in their strength, they would have attacked and taken over our mining or spirit herb operation directly. This means that their strength is not at a level they have assurance in attacking our bases at those locations yet."

He frowned as he continued thinking deeply. "What worries me is that they are willing to reveal some of their hidden strength just for a shipment of Nephrine Jadeite and spirit herbs. Yes, it's valuable but what strategic advantage does it give them? It's not their style to reveal such a big move unless they can gain something beyond materials. My gut feel is that they haven't revealed their true intentions yet. All this is just a smokescreen..."

The faces of all those present sunk as they heard Ye Xiu's analysis. His travels and experience gave him a highly refined instinct for danger and for seeing the truth behind the veil of distractions, and he was able to cut to the root of the issue immediately.

Xiao Yunfeng rubbed his forehead in worry as he considered Ye Xiu's words. "We don't have sufficient resources to cover so many fronts before we understand their true intentions. We've already sent out a force to reinforce Hell Mountains, and today mobilised another team to bolster the set up in Devil's Drop. At this rate, we're going to be spread too thin."

Ye Zong turned to Ning'Er who had been sitting quietly at the side of the table. "What do you think of the current situation, Ning'Er?" he gently asked. He had come to be impressed, not only at her abilities and accomplishments, but also her perspective and analysis of things that went on.

She slowly spoke, half to herself and half to those in the room as she thought through the different angles. "Senior Ye Xiu's words are what we need to focus on. What has become so tempting to the Dark Guild recently to cause them to move in such a big way? And what is the intention of putting our attention on things outside Glory City, where it's been necessary to even send out reinforcements?"

Her eyes opened wide in realisation and she gasped as she exclaimed out at exactly the same time as Ye Xiu, "The elixir recipes!"

Ye Zong did not hesitate as he turned straight to Ye Shuo who had stood in the background quietly listening in. "Send all available forces to reinforce the headquarters of the Alchemist Association immediately!!! Put the city's police on red alert that there is an imminent attack by the Dark Guild!"

Ye Shuo's body flashed as he exited the hall in an instant.

Ning'Er murmured under her breath. "I just hope we're in time..."

In the next hour, all the combat forces of each family and the main authorities of Glory City were in a state of tension as they braced themselves for any of the Dark Guild's activities. The Alchemist Association had not faced any attacks, especially near its main vault, where the precious recipes were kept. The only thing unusual was that President Gu Yan and Director Yang Xin had not come in to work this morning, but everyone had just assumed that they had an important meeting somewhere else.

Ye Shuo quickly dispatched his forces to check their homes and they returned with a letter that they had found on Yang Xin's bed.

'We have kidnapped President Gu Yan and Director Yang Xin. In three days, bring the four elixir recipes to the Heavenly Dawn Tree at sundown if you want to see them alive again.'

"The Dark Guild were able to sneak into their homes without any of the guards noticing and must have used some means to knock them out so that they didn't raise any alarm, no small feat considering that Yang Xin is at one star Black Gold Rank! They must have known that it would be harder to break through the defences of the headquarters and the reinforced vault there, and went for an easier target, hoping that the President and Director's lives were worth as much as the recipes." Ye Shuo concisely summarised for everyone.

Ye Zong's eyes glimmered with a cold fury. "How underhanded! If we give these long-lost recipes to them, they will be able to quickly build up strength and be an even greater threat than ever in the future! But they are holding the lives of our comrades ransom..."

"Give it to them." Ning'Er's voice flatly spoke out calmly. The rest in the room looked at her surprise, but could see that underneath her steady expression, there was a simmering murderous intent that scared those who were more perceptive. "Recipes are dead. People are alive. We will get our friends back and protect their lives. Even with the recipes, their alchemists still need time to refine the process through trial and error. By the time they bring it to a useful level of production...I'll be strong enough to crush all of them."

Ye Xiu subtly shivered as he heard the firm resolve in her voice that was more mature than a young girl should possess. He knew that Ning'Er would follow through on her promise and was a little glad that he wasn't on the other side as he observed her steady, controlled rage that lay deeply hidden.

Ye Zong still looked reluctant but after awhile shook his head to himself as he mutter resignedly, "The recipes were originally found by yourself anyway. I will respect your decision this time round and believe in your generation. I'll send a message to Lord Ye Mo, as long as he's back by the time you're ready to attack, he can protect Glory City while I come with you to destroy this evil guild once and for all!"

Three days later, they made the exchange under the cover of the majestic tree that towered five hundred feet high, situated around five miles to the north of Glory City. In order to ensure that the forces of Glory City didn't attack or provide false recipes, the Dark Guild had forced Gu Yan and Yang Xin to consume a delayed effect poison pill. Although Ning'Er had access to various spirit herbs, as well as Azure Water, she didn't want to take the risk that she would be able to concoct an effective antidote in time.

Ning'Er was particularly concerned for Yang Xin as she saw the blank look of helplessness and despair in the Director's eyes. She was still dressed in a sheer, black nightgown, which did little to hide her voluptuous figure and voluminous breasts underneath. As Yang Xin stumbled over to them, Ning'Er caught sight of Gui Sha's leering expression of intense lust as he stared as though staring at a prey that he was releasing after having his fun.

A sharp feeling of alarm shot through her heart as she wondered what Yang Xin had gone through these last three days. She ran forward, catching her friend in her arms, covering her with a warm cloak, and using her shoulder to support the stuttering steps. Yang Xin's demeanor spoke far louder than the lack of words which came out of her mouth. This was not a physical injury but one where her heart had been shattered.

Ning'Er glared backwards in barely contained fury as she continued supporting Yang Xin. "What did you do to her? The deal was that you'd return them unhurt if we fulfilled our end of the bargain."

Gui Sha cackled in response, "What do you mean? I can assure you that she's unhurt. I just got a bit bored while waiting for the three days to be up, and thought that I'd be more hospitable." He grabbed his crotch momentarily as he remembered the ecstasy he had experienced the last couple of days, and then smiled evilly at Ning'Er, "She loved it...and kept calling out for more."

Ning'Er almost lost all control at that moment but felt Yang Xin squeeze her hand imperceptibly, whispering, "No, Ning'Er. At least one of them has reached Legend Rank. It's enough...that I'm alive."

Ning'Er pulled back her boiling anger and remembered that the most important thing at the moment was to protect the lives of her friends. The time for revenge would come but if there were more than one Legend Rank expert in their enemy's ranks, the entire team from Glory City could conceivably be completely slaughtered. The Dark Guild had already demonstrated their total disdain for human life in the lives they had claimed the past week.

She turned to Yang Xin with a deep hurt shown in her face as she felt empathy rise up for her friend. Then she gave a deep sigh and whispered back, "I'm sorry. The day will come when we will pay them back in full."

Yang Xin's eyes welled up in tears but she continued walking forward without looking back, refusing to let Gui Sha see the hot, beads of salty liquid that streaked down her face.