Chapter 24: Ki cultivating realm 1st stage
Yun Jhin started feasting on the body as his teeth started to rip and shred the meat of the bones, he swallowed and munched on the meat as his body started to glow a peculiar red light, the bones crunched under his sharp fangs, a sickly sound could be heard as he drank the blood like it was water, the meat was hard but his teeth were sharp so he could chew it easily.
After the 1st stage of the ki cultivating realm the body will be refined again using the inner ki one would cultivate at this stage, it was way stronger than the outer ki you would use to cultivate your body at the earthly realm as it was of higher quality.
As Yun Jhin feasted on the body inner ki started to appear in his ki pathways around his body, a fire started to burn inside his stomach area that went and extended to his whole body, at first the blue fire was weak but as he feasted on the body parts and reached the bones the fire increased it's an intensity to a point that his ki pathways started to visible harden, they became just like pipes in a machine that couldn't be dislodged, this was a benefit of the living undead constitution.
His ki pathways couldn't be broken by inner ki attacks that would attack his organs so his ki circulation couldn't be disturbed reducing any ki deviation and inner injuries.
As the body was finished Yun Jhin sat cross-legged on the ground and he started to cultivate, the inner ki started to quickly work in his body's ki pathways, as it spun faster and faster his face and skin tone started to change his fangs disappeared as the claws retracted, he returned to his former appearance, but then it changed again!
He became a hunchbacked old man with white hair, his voice became hoarse and he looked like he had one foot in the grave, he nodded to himself as he felt the transformation and reverted to his former appearance as he left his room, he met with general Susang and said:
"I have finished cultivating, I'm ready to set out and deal with the traitors."
Susang looked at Yun Jhin up and down and nodded his head as his appearance thoroughly changed and he could feel the 1st stage ki fluctuations from his body and said:
"I will inform his majesty, I will go and get the map of the layout of the heavenly feather's sect, and also some information about the habits of the men you have to kill."
He looked around before saying:
"We can also give you some weapons to make the assassination easier, we have quite a lot of hidden weapons that could help you in this situation, just tell us what you are more experienced with."
Yun Jhin got some hidden weapons from Susang and the map and a scroll with information about the targets.
As he read through them he burned the map and the information scroll afterward then made sure all of the weapons were hidden properly on his body, then he left for the heavenly feathers sect. it was nearby the capital for about a 50 minutes walk but with Yun Jhin's new speed and power he got to the sect in 1 minute.
He stood in the shadows as he observed the sect and according to the layout he used the surroundings to hide, the formations around him were no problem as he easily saw holes through them that he exploited, as he thought about the formations he sneered:
"They didn't give me information about the formations, they thought that they could test me here and even get rid of me, I will make sure to reward them properly later."
He easily dodged the formations and got near a courtyard where the men were supposed to be relaxing, as they were under the protection of the sect master they had guards near the courtyard's door 24/7 but Yun Jhin didn't need to go through the door, his body turned spectral as he went through the wall!
Assassination techniques weren't his favorite but he had quite a high proficiency in them as one of his former lives embraced this type of attacking technique, however, due to the limitations of the techniques the former life ended dying before he even achieved the god realm, which was pretty much a failure in Yun Jhin's opinion.
Yun Jhin looked as two men were doing a certain activity inside the courtyard and shook his head, a different type of people exist everywhere and he wouldn't judge them but he came at the right time to end them, while they were distracted with their 'wrestling' Yun Jhin threw two kunai's direct to their necks, their arteries easily cut as two fountains of blood worth amount of blood appeared on the ground, he looked at the disgusting scene and nodded his head as he left, turning spectral again he left through the shadows.
Suddenly as there was no more sound coming from the room behind them the guards entered the verify if anything happened to the darlings of the sect master and he gagged as he saw what happened, not only was the image disturbing to the guard, two men, atop of each other naked with their throats slit, but the guard immediately stopped thinking about the image and started trembling!
He was dead as well, the foster sons of the patriarch were dead and he was going into their footsteps soon!
Instead of letting his death be arbitrated by the sect master he took his sword and driven it through his stomach committing suicide.
Yun Jhin was already away from the sect quickly reaching the dragon eating sect grounds as his form changed from the hunchbacked old man that he used to kill the traitorous duo and went to his normal human form of Sun Sisheng.
He met with the second prince and bowed as he said:
"The deed is done, you can send some spies to confirm, I couldn't take their heads as it would have alerted the patriarch of my presence, their location was littered with formations that could have been triggered if I entered unknowingly."
The second prince smiled as he nodded his head and said:
"After the kills will be confirmed I will get someone to send you the death water, of course, their death is very sad, our empire lost two great men."
He sarcastically said as he waved his hand indicating that Yun Jhin could leave him alone, Yun Jhin bowed again as he left after he got his hands on the death water combined with the other materials he could finally evolve his main body's form again!
Susang came quickly as he approached the prince and kneeled as a victorious smile appeared on his face:
"Sisheng didn't lie, he did it, our spies in the sect confirmed the duo's death, um it was a little bit strange but their death was confirmed anyway, will you truly give him the death water? Your highness, you should know that the water would be useful for you as well."
The second prince shook his head as he said:
"I promised him the death water and I cannot go back on it if I will my future subordinates believe in me? It's just some death water, next month there will be another batch."
Susang nodded his head as he looked at his liege and asked:
"Should I go and collect this month's worth for you?"
The prince nodded and waved his hand indicating that the general should go and as he said. The general bowed and left the prince behind.
Yun Jhin nodded his head inside his room as he eavesdropped on their conversation, he was ready to go and kill the duo if they refused, he would take control of the prince using his remote control and eat the general, then he would use a fodder soldier to get the death water.
Yun Jhin waited as Susang entered the palace after a few hours of waiting but his face was red with anger as he reported to his liege:
"I'm sorry my liege I... I failed you, such a simple request, the princess said that she wanted some beautifying pills and she took your death water quota, when I came there she was just retrieving the death water and I couldn't stop her or else she could have even tried to execute me."
He dropped to his knees as he started kowtowing and shouted:
"Please punish this subordinate."
The second prince frowned as he looked at Susang and said:
"Sister Mumu? I remember she doted on me when I was small, why would she?"
He frowned as he thought about it and then he shook his head as he said:
"Did she got roped into elder brother's faction?"
Susang stopped kowtowing as the prince waved his hand and said:
"I'm not sure how are we supposed to explain things to Sun Sisheng, after all, he did his job and we don't have the pay for him, this will turn things awkward between us, as cultivator who practices such an evil incantation I'm not sure how he will react to this, after all, I know that such techniques tend to warp the user's emotions quite a lot, even if he is at the early stages."
The second prince frowned as he started to think about what he could do to help Yun Jhin get his death water, he looked at Susang and asked:
"Is the black market selling any contraband death water?"
Susang frowned as he looked at this liege and said:
"Your highness you know that the contraband death water is extremely expensive, it might even cost us 90% of our funds."
The second prince frowned as he heard this, he still needed funds to rope in other cultivators in his sect, this was a job the right minister gave him to infiltrate in the inner circle of the outside sect and invite them towards the side of the empire, his job was to get the sect's to fight the enemy kingdom and defend the empire if he did that he might get a chance to overthrow his elder brother as the crown prince.
That was the promise the right minister gave him!
Yun Jhin frowned inside his room, the princess took a hold of the share of the second prince death water, this was a troublesome matter to him, but he broke through the ki cultivating realm so he could act on his first plan, he had a lot of seducing techniques in his arsenal and the young princess shouldn't be able to resist his charm, after all, Sun Sisheng wasn't an ugly man.
Yun Jhin left his room as he seemingly got in the moment the duo was talking about how to get him his reward, the imperial duo looked awkwardly at each other as they spotted Yun Jhin entering the hall and they coughed awkwardly as they said:
"You didn't hear our conversation did you?"
Yun Jhin frowned as he looked at the duo, his expression told them what they needed to know and they sighed as the second prince said:
"I cannot do much about what happened, friend Sisheng, please don't get mad, I will try my best to get my hands on another death water vial."
Yun Jhin shook his head as he looked at the man, he knew he was just bluffing right now, he wouldn't want to waste his money on a 'subordinate' like him, even though he did his job they were skimping on payment, it wasn't their fault but Yun Jhin was still quite angry, but he decided to rein in his anger as he said:
"I wonder if the second prince could make me and princess Long Mumu meet, I might be able to persuade her to give back the death water and even join the right minister's side."
Susang frowned as he said:
"You eavesdropped on the whole conversation."
Yun Jhin just smiled at the man's words, Susang shook his head, they were in the wrong on this one so it didn't matter if Yun Jhin eavesdropped, these were things he needed to know anyways. The second prince took a better look at Yun Jhin and said:
"You want to talk with my sister? It can be done quite easily, but my sister is quite fickled and ill-tempered, I wonder how will you charm her into giving you the death water and even betray my eldest brother?"
Yun Jhin chuckled as he said:
"I have my ways second prince, just leave it to me, you might even have to call me brother in law in the future."
The second prince chuckled himself as he said:
"Susang, arrange a meeting between my sister and my future brother-in-law here."
He looked quite skeptical as he chuckled but since Yun Jhin offered himself to do this he didn't refuse, after all, it would save him time work and money if Yun Jhin got his reward himself.
Yun Jhin thought about thanking the princess if she didn't take the second princes' death water he wouldn't have been able to get near her as easily!