Darkness enveloped John's vision, his divine sense also restricted, making him truly blind for the first time in his life. Having neither at his disposal made him feel incredibly uneasy, but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment.
After leaving the estate, he had been blindfolded by Zuri at the Grandmasters instructions. The blindfold was covered by a profound network of runes, which was responsible for blinding his sight and his divine sense, making it so that he was unable to tell where he was going.
"Until one has been formally tested by the Guild and passes their trial, they are not permitted to know the location of the headquarters. Even then, only certain ranks are permitted to know the locations of the transportation formations that lead to the Guild headquarters. Even I was only able to learn the locations of the formations recently, when I was promoted to my current rank within the Guild. Only those at my rank and above know the way forward," Zuri had told him a while back.
Zuri held a rope in her hand, one bound to John's waist to lead him along and not get astray. He followed along quietly, trying his best to determine where they were going. He could tell they left the city, then moved through the forests nearby, over and around some mountains, then through some tunnels, eventually arriving at the first formation.
He had already lost track of his position based on his quick mental image of Clearmist City and the surrounding area, and so he stopped trying to figure out the route they were taking. Such a thing could only potentially be accomplished by someone who knew the land intimately, and he was a complete stranger to this world.
The first transportation portal took the ground an unknown distance away, at which point the group moved through the land towards another transportation formation. Six more formations were taken during their journey, making John realize the futility of even trying to figure out where they were going.
Some of the transportations lasted only an instant, while others lasted almost a second.
With the combined time spent within the formations, I would guess we've traveled several million miles away from Clearmist City at the very least,' John thought, taking note of just how large this continent was.
It was far larger than the Divine Martial Continent, and was only one of four noteworthy continents on this world. When comparing this world and his homeworld, the two were completely different.
John stepped onto another formation and felt himself speed through space for a brief moment before arriving at their destination. The still air and soft footsteps in the distance told him they had arrived at an indoor location.
"You can take the blindfold off," Zuri said to John, who did so quickly. The lack of sight and divine sense had been suffocating.
As he took the blindfold off, a large room came into view. The room was several hundred yards wide, with dark walls, almost black, with gothic style vaulted ceilings high above. Formation lights lined the walls in many locations, giving some light to the room, as there were no windows to the outside world to be seen.
John turned his head about, taking in the rest of the room. He found himself on a raised transportation formation, Zuri, the Grandmaster and the other two cloaked cultivators he had seen on it too, as well as several other cloaked members of the Guild he had yet to meet.
The rest of the room held five other transportation formations, six in total including their own. To the side of each formation platform was a large table, at which several individuals were seated. He noticed that unlike the other members of the guild within this room, those seated at the tables wore slightly different looking robes, gray in color instead of black like the others.
"I will record our arrival," Zuri said to the Grandmaster, bowing her head slightly.
The Grandmaster nodded, waiting patiently as Zuri went to the large stone table near their platform. She spoke with one of the seated personnel at the table, and then returned to the group a short while later. She waved her hand and eight items, appearing like gilded seals made from some unknown metal floated back towards each of the other members in the group, who caught the items and put them away.
"Let us be off then," the Grandmaster said, and hopped off the raised platform to the floor proper, and then proceeded towards the large double door at the opposite end of the room. The others quickly followed behind, while John fell in step with Zuri.
A flash of light indicated the arrival of a group on one of the other platforms, catching his attention. He watched them proceed towards the stone table nearest that platform and converse with those seated at it, hand over some items, and then walk away from the platform.
"Everyone's arrival to the Headquarters must be logged at those tables," Zuri explained, noticing John's inquisitive glance. "Even the Grandmaster must log his arrival, by showing their personal Guild Seal to the Archivists, who are the ones wearing the gray robes. I took the liberty of collecting the Seals of the others before we arrived so that the arrival process would be swift and concise."
John nodded his head thankfully, eyes still scanning the room for any other things of interest. He didn't find any, and followed the group through the large twenty-yard-tall open double doors, and into a hallway.
The hallway stretched out to both sides, and was thirty yards wide and fifty yards tall. The style was much the same as the room they had come from, with the walls made from some dark stone carved with some gothic designs, and vaulted ceilings high above.
Black metallic handles jutted from the wall at even intervals, each holding a formation disk that gave off light to illuminate the hallway. A red rug of some unknown material ran the span of the hallway, giving some color to the otherwise dark hallway.
The group turned left upon arriving in the hallway. As they walked, John saw other members of the guild pass them by. Some wore the same black robes as Zuri and the others, while others wore the gray robes he had seen in the previous room.
They robes seemed to all be the same, making it impossible to identify someone unless they had the hood of their robe down. About half of the people he saw wore their hood up, the other half having their hoods down, revealing their faces.
The faces he saw were a mix of young and old, male and female. The one thing in common was the respect they showed the Grandmaster, stopping what they were doing and bowing ever so slightly towards him as he passed before going on about their business.
The Grandmasters face was obscured within his hood, but his aura and cultivation level were unmistakable. The Grandmaster's aura was incredible, rivaling that of someone like Thunderzen.
'If the two of them fought, who would win?' John couldn't help but wonder. Both of them gave off the same ancient yet lethal feeling.
"How high of a status does the Grandmaster have?" John whispered to Zuri, wondering where the old man stood status wise within the Guild. If he had to guess, it was at the top, or at the very least close to the top of the Guild.
Zuri glanced at John and then towards the Grandmaster, who walked in front, hands clasped behind his lower back which faced the two of them.
"You can explain the hierarchy of the Guild," the Grandmaster said, clearly overhearing John's question. "Even if he was a spy, there's no escape for him at this point, and sending messages to the outside is also impossible, so divulging the information you are permitted to give initiates is now acceptable."
Zuri nodded her head towards the Grandmaster and then turned to John.
"The Guild is broken into multiple ranks, based on several criteria, the main two being cultivation level and talent level," Zuri said. "The bottom is made up of the recent initiates, like you, which are called the Shadow Initiates. Above the Shadow Initiates are the Shadows, like the ones you saw in the hideout."
John nodded his head, recalling the dozen or so members he had seen just a day ago.
"Above them are the Shadow Captains, which is the rank I currently hold," Zuri continued. "Shadow Captains must have at the very least Elite level talent, and also an Early World Expansion cultivation."
John wondered about the Elite level talent and what that entailed, but remained silent, as he was sure it would be explained to him before long.
"Above that are the Shadow Masters," Zuri continued, gesturing to the two cultivators who walked just behind the Grandmaster; the woman and the man John had seen in the tunnel earlier in the day.
"Shadow Masters must also have Elite level talent at the very least, and have a Middle World Expansion cultivation. Above them are the Grandmasters, who must have both a Genius level talent and a Late World Expansion cultivation at the very least. Currently, the guild has seven Grandmasters, of which two are at the Half-Step Holy Manifestation Realm," Zuri said, revealing a bit about the Grandmaster.
John raised an eyebrow, surprised to hear they had that many cultivators at the Grandmasters level. That was like having seven Thunderzen's, which was a terrifyingly powerful combat force.
"Above that is the Guildmaster, the leader of our Shadows of Death Guild," Zuri said, smiling as if proud to be part of a Guild led by this Guildmaster. "The Guildmaster is a terrifyingly powerful cultivator, one that stands on the same level as the Tier One Sect leaders, with a cultivation at the Early Holy Manifestation Realm."
'Early Holy Manifestation Realm!' John exclaimed internally. Although he was not truly shocked to hear it, it was still surprising, nonetheless.
'Someone on the same level as the Grand Abbot or the Jade Dragon Emperor.'
A true cultivation powerhouse.
