The voice of a stranger from nowhere startled everyone. Even Xie Mei, who was prepared to break her vow and use the bow due to an emergency, got surprised by the new entry.
Soon, the demon materialized himself and appeared before the assassins.
"Who are you?" As they felt nothing from the demon king, they were more alert.
Bael smiled in response, "well, who am I is of no importance. What's important here is that you aren't here to assassinate the girl but to give answers."
"Kill him." The leader of the group codenamed Falcon, ordered the others. As they tightly gripped their daggers and were about to charge at their new target, Bael snapped his fingers and all of a sudden, large bones looking like tusks erupted from the ground and pierced each of them in their legs or thighs.
"Aaaah"
The four assassins of the 7-circle realm screamed in pain as their movements are halted. Xie Mei was stunned by the sudden move from her savior and she continued to stare from above.
Meanwhile, Bael used bone prison once again to imprison everyone during the next few seconds and spoke to them, "Now, shall we go?"
Bael slowly flew higher and so were the four bone prisons while the trapped assassins were trying their best to escape but couldn't do it. Even their teleportation scroll is not working inside the bone prison.
As the demon king was about to fly away, Xie Mei shouted, "wait." But Bael didn't stop.
Xie Mei ordered the griffin to follow him. After blocking his way for a moment, she thanked him and asked his name.
Bael waved his hand in response, "as I have said earlier, my name is of no importance here. If you want to thank someone, you can thank Lu Zhen because he was the one who gave me this mission, although he was also the one who used you as bait to draw them out."
"Eh? I'm the bait?" Xie Mei was shocked again. When she heard Bael's first half of the sentence, she thought Mark was looking after her but the latter half of the sentence made her realize why she was left behind.
She couldn't help but ask, "Who are they?"
Bael shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows? You can ask Lu Zhen by yourself. I'm going to Kunyu Mountains to meet him. You can tag along if you want."
"Isn't he at Eastern Sun?" Xie Mei was once again surprised by the demon king's words. She looked at him warily. After being fooled once, she couldn't trust a stranger's words despite the fact that he helped him.
Bael understood what she was thinking and he didn't mind it. "If you don't want to come, then, don't. You can still wait for his return and then ask him the questions. I'm leaving."
Xie Mei thought for a bit and made her decision, realizing that if this stranger is strong enough to defeat those assassins of the 7-circle realm with such ease, then, he could kill her anytime he wants.
"Wait, I'll come with you." She said.
The demon king took her along with the four prisoners to Mt. Lan where the ruins of the Lan sect are located. He could directly go to Eastern Sun and it wouldn't even take a minute for him to cover the distance but Mark decided Mt. Lan as the place to interrogate them.
After reaching the place, he sent a message and waited.
And it didn't take long for a portal to appear and for Mark to walk out of it. The latter wasn't informed about Xie Mei's presence and hence, was taken aback when he saw her standing beside the demon king. Naturally, he didn't like it.
"What are you doing here?" Mark furrowed his brows in displeasure.
Xie Mei replied, "To get the answers."
Mark meaningfully looked at the demon as if he was asking what mischief is this.
Bael shrugged his shoulders calmly in response, "You never said that I shouldn't bring her with me."
Mark wanted to get angry at him but the demon king is useful to him in many ways. Hence, he clenched his fist and controlled his annoyance before speaking to the 15-year-old.
"I need to draw out the members of the 'Soul' organization to interrogate a certain matter but I can't put my loved ones in danger. Hence, I used you." Mark said it in a way without using any apologetic tone, hoping to use this situation to get rid of her. Seeing the look of shock on her face, he further said coldly, "I will do it again without hesitation even in the future. This is one of the risks you will have to bear if you want to live with me along with facing unexpected assassination attempts."
"But, why save me?" Xie Mei was intelligent enough to understand the hidden meaning behind Mark's words. However, Mark underestimated her willpower and determination. Before he gave her the answer, she answered her own question, "It's because I'm your guest and you hold yourself responsible for my safety. Isn't it?"
Mark's face darkened, feeling like he failed to get rid of her. "I have my own principles that I follow." After a brief pause, he added, "I'm not a god. Just because I believe in something, that doesn't mean I would accomplish it without fail."
Indirectly, he was saying that he cannot save her all the time and today is just an exception. However, the determined teenager responded positively and even put him in a difficult spot with a surprising question. "I guess I should work hard then. By the way, I need a weapon to protect myself. Since I gave the bow because of you and since you said I'm suited for firearms, I guess I will have to depend on you to lend me one. As you said earlier, there will be future assassination attempts on me. I should protect myself."
"Well…" Mark was stumped for a second by her request but it is also a fact that he is responsible to make give up the bow, he also agreed to let her live with him, and he also put her in danger. So, he thought she was logically right and it shouldn't be a big deal to give an ether weapon. "Fine, I will give you one."
Just as he thought about giving her an ether sniper rifle that can be used by her, Xie Mei reminded him, "I will soon make a breakthrough to 7-circle, by the way."
"Alright. Wait here for a while." Mark promised her and shifted his focus to the unconscious prisoners.
"Bael, can you seal their cultivations?" He asked the demon king. The latter replied by shaking his head. "I'm not good at sealing techniques but I can destroy their cultivations though."
"It's even better. Do it." Mark gave his permission to act.
The demon king let out a smile as he raised his hand, "with my pleasure."
Concentrated demonic energy erupted from Bael's right palm before taking the form of four sabers.
He released the bone prisons and attacked them.
The four assassins woke up with a painful scream and continued to scream as the demonic energy was attacking their spirit core while destroying their cells.
Unlike Mark who had gone through gene mutation and don't need a spirit core to cultivate, the cultivators/spirit warriors of this planet were born with spirit cores and they enhance these cores through constant training or absorbing energy from third-party sources and refining them.
This is also why their spirit path and attribute are fixed and cannot be changed, unlike Mark who can just have multiple attributes and spirit paths/professions.
As the respective spirit cores of the assassins were destroyed, turning them into mortals/civilians, Mark walked toward them.
"Lu Zhen?" "This…"
The assassins just went through hell but upon seeing Mark, they felt like their death is near.
However, none of them begged for death as they were already dead inside with the loss of cultivation. They lost their will to live and were not afraid to die. And Mark wasn't interested to deliver their death so soon.
Taking out a handgun from his inventory, Mark pointed it at the woman first. "Now, Ms. Huang Jing of Qilin Empire, we shall start with you."
The woman's eyes widened in shock when her name and homeland is revealed by Mark. Even her teammates don't have any idea.
Mark didn't care to explain himself and proceeded with the interrogation. "Now, I will ask a question. I hope I won't be disappointed."
"Ten years ago, your organization took an assignment related to Huotang village. The names of the victims are Lu Yimu and Yi Zexi. The incident is disguised as burglary. Now, who is the client?"
