So it's you

Shui believed that the assassin with a fox mask truly wanted to work with him, but there was still another problem.

"I see, but what's in it for me?"

Shui didn't have a problem with her reasoning, but there was no point in helping her if there was nothing in it for him. Naturally, the fox assassin knew this, so she had looked through the multiple bargaining chips she had and chose the most suitable one. From her seemingly flat chest, she took out a piece of parchment.

"I happen to have something that I think you would be very interested in."

Shui took the parchment from her and saw that it seemed like a piece of a treasure map. He was about to ask what the treasure was, but then he spotted something profound in the arrangement of lines on the map. Shui quickly realised that this wasn't a simple map, but a fragment of an array. With the wealth of knowledge that he had, Shui was able to deduce that the completed array would be ranked at tier 6 in difficulty to construct.

"What is this?"

"I'm not sure myself, but according to someone I know it's a clue to the inheritance of an Array Lord. And yes, I have the rest of the map."

An Array Lord was a tier 7 array master, which meant they could make arrays that were effective against Kings. Even though his knowledge of arrays increased as he breathed, Shui couldn't help being tempted by this opportunity. With his talent, reaching the realm of Kings was almost guaranteed, but he knew that talent alone wouldn't be enough so he would love to get guidance from someone who had reached a similar level. Furthermore, even if he didn't want it, he could give it to Emily.

Of course, it wasn't like he fully trusted the fox assassin either, but this was a deal that was worth the risk.

"Fine. I'll listen to your plan."

Once Shui gave his approval, the fox assassin took out another scroll. Although they had just been briefed about their target, she already had information on her target's daily schedule. He wondered how she got it so quickly, but he felt that it was better not to dig too deeply.

After a quick look, he memorised the details and gave it back while she whispered, "This will be all for now. Be prepared at 12 midnight, I'll tell you rest then."

Then, without even setting a location for their rendezvous, she faded from the scene. If he wanted to, he could still track her, but he decided against it. A professional like her certainly had her ways of getting in contact.

With that, Shui was finally free to search for Iris, well, almost. He still had to shake off the persistent stalkers. He went straight for the busy areas so that he could blend in with the citizens. Normally this would be seen through easily, but not only did Shui suppress his aura, he took off his mask and transformed his surface aura into a duller version that wouldn't look odd in the crowd.

Thanks to these tactics, the eyes that were on Shui, lost sight of him. Now free of supervision, he quickly found an alley and set up an illusion that made the alley invisible.

Since Iris seemed to have changed, Shui chose to rely on a blood connection to find her. Shui wasn't blood related to Iris, but Nathan was and he still had his items so he took out the spear that Nathan used against him, and used it as a medium. The spear still had Nathan's remnant aura so it couldn't be controlled easily, but Shui preferred it this way.

"Alia, I'm about to search for someone. Can you keep an eye out for me?"

Since he didn't want to go to the trouble of returning to Myriad Flower Pavilion without meeting Iris, Shui entrusted guard duty to Alia.

"Okay, don't take too long."

Shui wasn't sure exactly how strong Alia was, but he was certain that few in the city would be able to see through his location in the first place.

With Alia flying out above him, Shui sent his energy into spear and waited for it to interfere with the faint traces that Nathan left. He couldn't use too much power or else he would crush the remnants, and he couldn't use too little or else there wouldn't be a reaction at all. This was a very difficult process so it took more time than expected for it to happen, but once the traces of Nathan became agitated, he could use them to help him search for Iris.

Shui spread the traces out like an outgoing signal; over time it would cover more ground until it interacted with something similar. Once the traces met with the similar aura, Shui directed his senses to that area and confirmed who was there. The location was a decent-sized mansion, and in one of the second-story rooms, he found two people. One was his aunt, while the other was man, who was washing her feet. Additionally, when he found her, he saw a strong yin aura coming from her, and yang aura leaving the man at her feet. Rather than doing it consciously, it seemed that this was a side effect of the demonic method she cultivated, and it was obvious what type of method that would be.

'The hell?'

Since he found her, he re-gathered Nathan's traces and put away the spear, but a grave expression remained on his face. Seeing that he was finished, Alia floated down and landed on his shoulder.

"So, did you find who you were looking for?" she asked.

"Well, at least I think so."

Shui was fairly certain that the woman he found was Iris, but both the position she was in as well as her corrupt aura made him doubt himself. Her being a demonic cultivator wasn't that surprising if she was the one who taught Nathan that demonic method, but for her to have reached the peak of Earth Realm in the few years he hadn't seen was unbelievable. This was especially the case with the path she was on. Advancing through dual cultivation at her speed would require very frequent use or constantly pairing up with strong partners. Furthermore, being able to tempt so many men couldn't be considered a matter of talent, but of disposition.

'I don't think Nathan would have liked it if he knew that his mother was so talented in this area.'

Although he practiced a demonic art in the trail, Shui thought it would be hard to respect her on a personal level. Nevertheless, he had to respect her drive for power.

While Shui made up his mind to pay her visit, Alia asked, "By the way, is it a man or a woman?"

Without thinking, Shui answered, "A woman."

Then, a moment later, he realised his mistake. He didn't have to check, he could already imagine that dirty smile on her face.

"Oh, I see. So you're going to take my advice and release your frustration. I should give you some space then."

"..."

He felt a strong urge to refute, but it would be more convenient for him if she was away so he kept his mouth shut and endured the shame. Alia jumped off his shoulder and went into her human form before walking away.

"Make sure to tell me if you're gonna stay the night. Hahaha!"

She left the invisible alley and went on to create several legends in the city, but that was a different story.