The man seated opposite him smiled, taking a sip of his tea, then setting the cup down. The man wore a simple black robe with no details whatsoever, although the quality of the robe was on the same level as the other mans.
The man appeared to be in his seventies or eighties, and had a warm, elderly face, and wrinkled face. He had long gray hair, and a short gray beard, pointed down below his chin. The man's cultivation was withdrawn as well, but when looking at him, one would feel as though they were looking at the world itself.
"You are the Guildmaster of this Guild," the elderly man smiled, "can you not figure the reason out for yourself?"
"I'm not the one who created this trial," the middle-aged man, revealed to be the Guildmaster of the Shadows of Death Guild, replied. "You are. So, what's the reason? Did you just never consider the possibility of such a thing happening?"
The elderly man, the Prime Shadow, smiled at the scene depicting John swapping his weapon back and forth, chuckling lightly at the amusing scene.
"When I created this trial, I knew it would claim the lives of many passionate youths, hoping to become the next Guildmaster," the elderly man said, a slightly downcast expression appearing on his face for an instant before vanishing. "As such, I decided to add a small mercy to it. I designed the Devil to only use a weapon if his enemy was using a weapon. I figured that without the Devil using its weapon, one or two youths would be able to keep their lives just long enough to find the exit. This, however, is not what I expected to happen when I made it like that. This boy is quite amusing to not only find this exploit, but use it in such a unique way."
The two fell silent, sipping their tea as they waited for the battle to resume. A long while later, John finally recovered his Qi, and resumed the battle with the Devil.
The Guildmaster gazed for a moment at the elderly man, noticing an interested expression on the man's face.
"I have not seen such an expression from you in thousands of years, perhaps more," the Guildmaster said. "What are you thinking?"
The elderly man looked at the Guildmaster while pouring himself some more tea, then picked up his cup.
"Are you planning on challenging me again?" the elderly man asked, smiling lightly.
The Guildmaster sighed at the question, and shook his head lightly.
"I cannot beat you," he said, slightly dejected. "I have tried many times, but you are too monstrous to defeat."
"Oh? The only person to ever pass the Heaven's Shadow trial has such a defeatist attitude?" the elderly man said in a musing way.
"Both your and my talent and combat prowess has reached its peak," the Guildmaster said. "While I still have some room to grow, I have come to the conclusion that defeating you in the manner you have requested is impossible. I may be monstrous, but you are a monster amongst monsters," the Guildmaster said, then sighed lightly.
"Besides, even if I did defeat you, we would need to find someone to take my place as Guildmaster," the Guildmaster continued while watching John's battle. "If this boy manages to pass, he would be the first since me to meet the criteria for becoming the next Guildmaster, but…" his voice drifted off.
"But…," the elderly man chimed in. "You are not yet ready to step down from the Guildmaster position, and step into the shadows as Prime Shadow, are you?"
"No," the Guildmaster eventually admitted, a slight ashamed look on his face. "I…enjoy being the Guildmaster, and think I am quite good at it as well."
"No need to be so modest," the Prime Shadow said, "you are doing a better job at Guildmaster than I was ever able to. The guild had flourished with you as Guildmaster, while I was always too busy with the assassination part of our guild to focus on its growth and prosperity. That is why I created the Heaven's Shadow trial in the first place, to find a suitable successor so that I may hand over the reins of Guildmaster, and return to doing what I do best."
The Guildmaster eyed the elderly man for a moment, a sparkle of realization in his gaze. Questions unanswered for thousands of years finally made sense.
"So that's why you relinquished the position to me so early," the Guildmaster mused thoughtfully. "Before you handed me the position, I had assumed I would only become Guildmaster…" his voice trailed off.
"Upon my Death?" the Prime Shadow smiled. The Guildmaster nodded his head.
The Prime Shadow's gaze returned to the formation hologram depicting John and the Devils' battle. A smile of anticipation, one almost never seen on the elderly man's face, appeared and lingered there.
"No," the elderly man said, "you will remain as Guildmaster until you find a suitable successor, but that time will only come in tens of thousands of years, if not more. What I am interested in is finding a successor for myself as Prime Shadow."
"What?" the Guildmaster said, taken aback. "You intend to find someone to replace you as Prime Shadow? Is such a thing even possible? Even I was not able to meet your conditions, who could poss-" the Guildmaster cut off, instantly realizing the elderly man's intentions.
He stared at John, then back to the elderly man.
"The position of Prime Shadow has only ever been claimed by you, the most deadly and lethal member of the guild. Is handing it over to this boy even possible?" the Guildmaster asked.
"I created this Guild," the Prime Shadow scoffed in amusement. "I can whatever I please, and what currently pleases me is watching this child, and seeing if he has what it takes to assume the position of Prime Shadow."
The Prime Shadow glanced back to the Guildmaster for a moment.
"Besides, from what I've seen of this boy, I'm sure it wouldn't be long before he reached my level of lethality. In fact, I think this boy is still hiding his true strength, and still has more to show us."
"What? How can that be possible?" the Guildmaster exclaimed, but received only a smile in reply. The two fell silent, returning to watching the battle between John and the Devil unfold.
"This boy is quite amusing, using this battle as a training exercise," the Prime Shadow said, taking out an object, some sort of formation disk, and sending his Qi into it, "but I'm afraid it wasn't designed to operate this long, and the formational Qi reserves are running low. It's time for this trial to end."
