The dagger pierced through John, whose figure suddenly vanished from sight. The dagger pierced into the alleyway floor a short distance away, disappearing beneath its durable floor, carving through it like it was butter.
John instantly reappeared a short distance away, in the direction he had come from. While his control of the spatial Dao was far from perfect, traveling such a short distance through space was now something he was capable of, and was perfect for this situation.
He appeared next to a figure, one that he couldn't see, but could feel. In the dark alleyway, he felt as though a shadowed mass hovered before him, darkening the surrounding area in an even darker blackness. It was a strange thing to look at, and almost made John wonder if he was imagining things.
His instincts told him otherwise, that the blackness was real, and something was within. His hand stretched out like lightning towards the imperceptible blackness, trying to clutch onto what was within.
The blackness moved before he could touch it, like a shadow moving in the darkness. It was almost impossible to see, but the slight movements were all the confirmation John needed to know he wasn't imagining things.
He flashed forward once more, unleashing a palm-strike towards the shadow. Whatever the shadow was, it seemed to avoid direct confrontation, and it slipped away at the last moment again, melding into the darkness once more.
The nearly imperceptible mass of blackness then exploded outwards, sending off chunks of itself into the nearby area. Instantly, there were nearly a dozen masses of blackness, each similar in aura to the original.
John stopped and stared into the darkness, feeling the aura of the black shadows surrounding him. He made no move as the shadows had not moved either. Silence filled the alleyway for a short while before a voice finally spoke out.
"Impressive," a feminine voice said, sounding like it belonged to a rather young woman. John raised an eyebrow as he stared at the dark shadows surrounding him. "You're the very first person at a cultivation lower than mine to detect me in my shadowed form. And to think, you're a full major realm lower, and yet you managed to accomplish what others could not."
The last sentence seemed to be a little bitter, as if the woman was disappointed with herself for not catching John off guard.
"Thanks?" John replied, his guard raised but was otherwise calm. The woman's words had indicated her cultivation level, Early World Expansion Realm. If that was the case, dealing with her would be troublesome, but not impossible.
"When did the Phantoms obtain such a talent?" the woman asked, her shadowy forms shifting about in the darkness, making it impossible to pinpoint her true location. "And why would they send such a talent on a mission like this. Sending one of their most promising talents to their death is not something I thought the Phantoms would do."
John sighed, finally realizing, at least a little, why he was being followed and targeted by this woman. He had stumbled upon that artifact, and had no-doubt been detected by this woman, who thought he was part of the 'Phantoms', which based on her reaction, was an enemy of hers.
John shook his head at himself, as his curiosity had gotten him into a mess once more.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," John said calmly.
"Feigning ignorance will not save you," the woman replied, her figure still shifting about. "Only one from our guild can detect the Mark. Clearly the Phantom's found out the location of the Mark somehow, and sent you to inspect. Do you deny this?"
"Of course I deny it," John replied, "I still have no idea what you're talking about. I've never heard of the Phantoms, nor have I heard about the Mark."
"Hmmm, is that so?" the woman replied, seemingly amused as the lies John was telling. "Then how did you find the Mark? Did you just manage to stumble upon it?" she asked, her voice slightly mocking, as if she would not ever believe such a story.
"Well, no," John said, "I didn't stumble upon it. I felt it."
"You felt it?" the voice asked, slightly surprised.
"Yeah," John nodded his head. "I was in the city, and I felt a permanent killing intent. At first I thought it was on me, but then I figured out it was coming from some place. I followed the killing intent to that wall, and then found that 'Mark', as you call it. That's all."
"Impossible," the woman said. "No one can detect the Mark's killing intent unless they are attuned to it. Its aura is far too faint for anyone to detect otherwise, especially by one in the Dao Transformation Realm."
John shrugged, as he knew the woman wouldn't instantly believe him.
"I detected your killing intent, did I not?" he asked calmly. "And I'm sure you're quite talented at what you do, especially based on what you said earlier, so doesn't that give what I said some credibility?"
The alleyway fell silent for quite some time. The woman was clearly considering his words, trying to figure out if what he said was the truth or not.
"What you say does make some sense," the woman finally said, her words slower with contemplation. "You did manage to detect me, although I don't know how. That alone is proof that your instincts are heaven-defying. But still, to detect the mark on you own…impossible."
John shrugged again. The alleyway fell silent once more.
"If you are not from the Phantom's of Death, then which faction or sect do you belong to?"
"I don't belong to any power," John said calmly.
"Impossible," the woman replied again. "How could one as talented as yourself not belong to a power? How else did you obtain this strength?"
"I have my secrets, as I'm sure you do as well," John said calmly, "but I can guarantee that I do not belong to any faction or sect. I also have no qualms with you or whatever the place you guard is, so if you'll let me on my way, I'll forget I ever saw that artifact, or whatever it was."
"I cannot let you leave. You have seen the location of the artifact, and we cannot allow that to be leaked," the woman said, her voice growing slightly colder.
John shrugged nonchalantly again, as if her answer didn't really concern him one way or another.
"That's fine I guess," he said calmly. His gaze narrowed a moment later as he snapped his head to the side, locking onto one of the dozen or so masses of blackened shadows. The shadow seemed to freeze for a brief moment as he pointed towards it, powerful lightning buzzing on his fingertip. "But if you want to kill me, I'm afraid it's going to be a lot harder than you think."
"I don't mind burning this city to the ground in our battle," he added.
Silence filled the alleyway for quite some time before the dozen black masses of shadows vanished. A woman appeared from within the mass of blackness John was pointing at, and stepped towards him. She wore a pitch-black robe, which had the hood over her head, obscuring her features.
John tried to peer within, but there was a shadowy blackness before her face, obscuring her features. The two stared at each other for a short while before the woman spoke.
"Since you do not belong to any faction," she said, her voice friendlier than before. "How would you like to join my guild?"
"Join your guild?" John said, eyebrows raised. "And why would I do that?"
"Because," the woman said, and although John could not see her face, he could feel that she was smiling at him. "If you do, we will be able to provide you with the things you've been searching for the last few days. What was it? Information regarding oddities, and some high-level battle arts regarding the Spatial Dao?"
John frowned at the woman.
'Clearly those who were watching me the past two days relayed that information to her.'
He fell silent, considering her offer. He had no idea who this woman was, or what her guild did, but if she could provide him with the things she just mentioned, it would be worth it to at least check it out.
"What is the name of your guild? And what does it do?" John asked, although he could already guess it's true purpose.
"You should have guessed what we do by now," the woman said, "and as for its name, you can only learn that once you join. With your talent, I'm sure we'll both benefit quite nicely if you join."
John remained silent as he considered the offer.
'I suppose joining will be beneficial in the short term. And if it turns out to be a trap or against my best interests, I'll just flee. It's not like these people know who I am, so they won't be able to easily track me down. And they don't know my true combat strength, so any trap they set should they set one will not be strong enough to contain me.'
After a moment of consideration, John nodded his head.
"Fine, I'll consider joining, but only if what you tell me of the guild and what you do is to my liking," he said firmly, as if there was no room for debate.
The woman considered him in silence for some time, then nodded.
"Agreed. Then follow me, and welcome, if you so wish, to the Shadows of Death Assassination Guild."
