"Gahhhhh!"
A tortured cry echoed within a small room as a man and a woman looked on at the one screaming. The man screaming was tied to a chair, his body beaten and bloodied.
Bam!
The man's hand slapped across the face of the one screaming, knocking out several teeth.
"Yell again and I'll knock out the rest of your teeth," the man growled at the tied down man. "We've just yet started our interrogation, and you're already yelling like this?"
He turned to glance at the woman next to him. "Seems like we won't be playing around with our food too long this time around."
The woman frowned as she heard the man's words. "We're not playing around. The captain ordered us to extract where this man's leader stored their treasures. The one paying for this job paid quite a nice sum of money, and so the captain wants no mistakes at all."
The man clicked his tongue in frustration but said nothing as he let the woman take the lead on the interrogation. A plier appeared in her hands, and she took a step towards the tied down man when a door opened behind them.
"Captain!"
Both of them called out as they saw who it was.
"What brings you here? Are you not confident in our ability to get this information?" the woman asked respectfully.
"No, it's not that," the captain replied as he walked into the room. "I'm just feeling restless today for some reason. I figured I'd walk about and see what everyone is doing to occupy my mind."
"Hoh, what's this?" the other man in the room replied. "Our captain is uneasy? Has such a thing ever happened?" he asked as he turned to the woman next to him.
The woman frowned at the man's goading, before she turned to her captain once more.
"We were just about to start extracting the needed information from him," she instructed.
"Carry on then, I'll return shortly, and hopefully will be given good news by the two of you."
Boom!
A loud boom echoed throughout the underground hiding, as it trembled violently for a short time. The three in the room struggled to stay on their feet, while the man tied to the chair was knocked over sideways.
"What the hell is going on?" the woman shouted as the trembling stopped and she finally regained her balance.
"I'm not sure, but it seems like someone is assaulting our front entrance. Let's go!" the captain commanded as he stormed out of the room. The two others in the room quickly joined him, as well as various other members from different parts of the hideout.
"Captain, what's going on?" several others asked as they caught up to the group that was speeding towards the entrance.
"I'm not sure, but gather all the members of our guild. We may have a fight on our hands soon," the captain commanded.
The man nodded his head and sped towards other parts of the hideout, while the main group sped forward towards the entrance, weapons in hand.
…
John landed at the front entrance of the hideout, and gazed around for a moment. He could tell there were two nearby cultivators in hiding, waiting for the perfect opportunity to assassinate him. Their stealth arts were quite impressive for their cultivation levels, and John was sure they would be incredibly lethal against anyone in the same cultivation realm.
However, compared to himself, they were far too weak.
'They're quite a cautious bunch. I guess without the proper invitation, they kill on sight. Not bad.'
His hands stretched in opposite directions as his fingers suddenly pointed out.
Bang!
Two beams of Qi fired out of his fingers, each followed by a pained cry. Two bodies fell out of the canopies of nearby trees, thumping to the ground.
'If only they were stronger, this trip of mine would have been more fulfilling.'
After taking care of the guards outside, John strode towards the front entrance. A large metal door was covered by vegetation, making it almost unnoticeable to the naked eye.
'This door is quite thick. It would easily stop the attack of Qi Condensation experts, and thwart Core Formation cultivators for a good bit of time. It's too bad for them that they angered the wrong person.'
John's foot suddenly kicked out, slamming against the large metal door. The metal door instantly caved in from the force, and was launched deep into the front entrance of the cave.
Boom!
The door slammed against the cave wall, creating a loud boom and shaking the small mountain from the force of the collision.
'That should get their attention,' John mused to himself as he began to walk deeper into the hideout. His eyes swept in all directions, and an approving nod appeared on his face.
'This is actually quite a nice hideout. This Stalking Mantis Assassin Guild seems to be quite capable.'
The interior of the cave was incredibly organized, and didn't look like a cave at all. The interior system was clean and easy to navigate, and contained many traps.
Che!
Dozens of knives from the wall of the caves propelled towards John as he stepped on one of the traps the guild had set up.
Peng!
Peng!
Peng!
The knives collided against John's skin, ricocheting off without even leaving a scratch. John continued on without pause, stepping on another one of the traps.
Fire shot out of the wall, drowning his entire body in powerful flames. Against almost any other cultivator in these lands, these traps would be deadly, but…
John strode out of the flames and dusted off one of his shoulders, as some dust had accumulated there. His footsteps were steady as he strode deeper into the hideout. His ears perked up as he finally heard some commotion deeper into the cave.
"Finally, someone to greet me. I was starting to think no one was home."
Before long, a large group of cultivators came speeding into his vision. The group consisted of over thirty members, several of which he recognized.
The group instantly spotted John as they rounded the corner, and came to a screeching halt.
"Who dares intrude here. Prepare to di-"
The man who had spoken out with vigor in his voice suddenly became silent as he saw who it was that stood before him. His face turned slightly pale as he noticed the cultivation level of the one standing before them.
John raised his eyebrows slightly, as there were even some Core Formation experts in the group. He had expected their power to cap out at the Qi Condensation Realm, as the captain of the group had just barely ascended to Core Formation recently, but it seemed as though hierarchy in the guild was not based on strength.
"Hi there," John called out with a large smile on his face as he waved to the captain. "I told you I would be coming back for you, and I always keep my word."
