Chapter 1224 The Lawless Zone's Political Landscape

w.a.n.g Wei entered the Dark Cloud and met with a beautiful female receptionist. After glancing at him, she checked something, and a slight surprise flashed in her eyes.

"A n.o.ble guest," she said with a bright smile. Their pavilion treated all Empyreans with the utmost respect.

"Are you, by any chance, a VIP?" she asked

"No."

The receptionist jolted something down on a piece of paper. "Do you have a members.h.i.+p card? If not, do you want to apply for one? The price is only a small fee paid every 10,000 years, and you get a discount on all our services."

"No, thank you," w.a.n.g Wei refused. She nodded and kept her gentle smile.

"Are you a buyer or applicant?"

"Buyer."

"What are you here for? a.s.sa.s.sination, Mission, or Information?"

"Information," w.a.n.g Wei replied. The receptionist finished writing before handing him a talisman. "Someone on the 11th floor will be waiting for you." w.a.n.g Wei activated the talisman, and he disappeared from the first floor. The smile on the receptionist's face disappeared.

'Is that a new Empyrean?' If that person was not hiding their appearance, it meant a new powerhouse had entered the Lawless Zone. 'Based on what he does, the current situation might be shaken. She immediately reported this news to her superior before attending to the next person in line.

w.a.n.g Wei found himself in a well-decorated room with beautiful vases and paintings. A middle-aged man dressed in flowing green and an infectious smile awaited him. "The name's Tang Yi and it's my pleasure to serve your excellency."

"Empyrean Restless," w.a.n.g Wei replied succinctly.

'An odd t.i.tle which can mean many things,' Tang Yi thought. "Please, sit in. I've served tea." w.a.n.g Wei immediately noticed this room did not have cus.h.i.+ons and a small table, but two comfortable chairs and a medium-sized table. It felt like he was at a restaurant instead of a personal meeting, but there was still a sense of intimacy to the decor.

"I'll be straightforward," w.a.n.g Wei said after sitting, not touching the tea or snacks. "I just arrived here and need to know who not to offend."

"You've come to the right place," Tang Yi replied. "The most powerful forces are the 1 Hidden Master, 2 Kings, 3 Pavilions, 4 Gangs, and 5 Demons. These forces have the highest combat powers and the highest number of powerhouses, and they control most of the resources. You can join them but must avoid them if you want to remain independent." Tang Yi closely observed all of w.a.n.g Wei's reactions.

"Interesting name, but it would have been better if they went to nine."

"There used to be 6 Halls, but not long ago, it was revealed that one person secretly controlled all of them, and he died, so the other forces divided his a.s.sets."

"Oh? Who is so capable?" w.a.n.g Wei asked.

"A man named Gu Xuan."

"The one who cultivated Deception Dao?"

"You know him?" Tang Yi asked.

"He has some fame on the outside."

"I see."

w.a.n.g Wei was not surprised that Gu Xuan had its own power in this place. As a Dao Monarch, he was on the list of people to be hunted down; this place was the only way to hide. He even knew that Gu Xuan had left his treasure for re-cultivation in this place. However, he did not know the exact details of Gu Xuan's power since w.a.n.g Wei only had his partial memories.

"How much do I need to pay for detailed news on information about these factions?"

"How detailed are we talking about?" Tang Yi.

"The highest level your pavilion is allowed to sell."

"That will be costly," Tang Yi replied, rubbing his hands.

"I'm good for the money."

Tang Yi pondered briefly before mentioning an absurdly high price. w.a.n.g Wei did not hesitate to pay no bargaining whatsoever.

'This sucker must be a nouveau rich, spending money like it means nothing,' Tong Yi thought. Little did he know that w.a.n.g Wei did not care about the money because it would return to him a hundredfold after conquering this place.

"Excuse me," Tong Yi went to a backroom and returned with a talisman half a minute later. w.a.n.g Wei used his divine sense to receive the information it contained. His first major observation was how little information about the Dark Cloud Pavilion this thing contained, which made sense they would not sell themselves out. His second observation was about the Hidden Master.

"Why is there so little known about this Hidden Master?" w.a.n.g Wei asked. There were no pictures, information about his realm, or even his Dao. The only information was that whenever the Time Eater came to this place to clean it up, the Hidden Master would appear and band everybody together to deal with him. Afterward, he would disappear and never show his face to the world.

"I'm sorry, but this is the only information that our pavilion is willing to sell about the Hidden Master," Tang Yi swiftly replied, his face showing genuine regret. Their pavilion did not even have much information about this person, so there wasn't much to sell in the first place.

w.a.n.g Wei nodded. "What about independent powerhouses? Is there anyone I should be wary of?"

"There are a few. Although they don't have a large force behind them, their fighting prowess is top-notch," said Tong Yi. "Do you want news about them?"

"Yes."

"A moment."

w.a.n.g Wei then paid an exorbitant price before receiving the talisman. He stood up. "Well, thank you for your service."

"Wait," Tong Yi said before handing him a purple card. "This is our VIP Card. Next time you arrive, someone from the 12th floor will serve you. Additionally, the card comes with a free mansion."

w.a.n.g Wei took the card and received the information it contained before calmly putting it away and leaving. His new house was in a prime area near the pavilion, meaning he did not have to travel too far. The card served as the control center of the mansion's formations, so w.a.n.g Wei took control of them.

'They should have done a better job monitoring this place,' he thought. He removed all the flaws in the mansion's formations and the ones on the VIP card. w.a.n.g Wei found a room he liked and settled down.

'Let's get some more information.' He used his Baxian Turtle Sh.e.l.l to divine more information on these factions and their leaders especially for the Dark Cloud Pavilion.

'The effect of my divination has dramatically decreased in this place,' w.a.n.g Wei complained. 'But even so, it's odd that I found nothing about this Hidden Master.' He was not satisfied with the result of the divination, but it still provided him with crucial detail/information.

'The best place to start is with either the 2 Kings or the 5 Demons,' w.a.n.g Wei thought, and after a.n.a.lyzing everything, he chose his first target the Barbarian King.

'The man is simple and lives his life by the creed that strength is above everything. So, as long as I can defeat him, he will willingly become my follower,' w.a.n.g Wei concluded. Now that he had a plan, it was time to execute. However, he did not immediately leave this city.

Instead, he spent the next few days traveling around this city, observing and leaving the seeds for when he conquered the Dark Cloud Pavilion. Once that was done, he headed for the Battle Colosseum, ruled by the Barbarian King.

After flying quite a distance from the city, w.a.n.g Wei stopped and turned around. His gaze focused in one specific direction, and a group of people appeared after a minute.

"So, you found us?" said a pet.i.te woman, accompanied by a thin man beside her and a dozen more individuals behind them. "It seems we underestimate your capabilities."

w.a.n.g Wei looked at this group composed of two Empyreans and a few more Great Emperors. He did not care for them since the highest cultivation was the woman with a 73% Grand Dao Source comprehension. However, he detected a strange aura from them.

The pet.i.te woman frowned, displeased at his lack of response. However, she controlled herself for the sake of the mission. "Our Pavilion Master would like a meeting."

w.a.n.g Wei did not answer, focusing on these people's strange aura. His intuition told him it was valuable information once he figured it out.

"Are you not going to give our Pavilion Master face?" The woman asked in a grave tone while releasing an intense killing intent.

"How annoying," w.a.n.g Wei uttered before his soul released a fluctuation that knocked out all these people. He immediately searched their souls, and as expected, they had restrictions. However, by all standards, these restrictions were sub-par in quality despite containing the power of a peak Empyrean.

w.a.n.g Wei pondered briefly before placing a Deceiving Heaven Array in these people's Sea of Consciousness to deceive their master from knowing when he breaks and replaces the restriction in their souls. Once that was done, it was easy for him to search their memories before enslaving all of them.

"Master," said the pet.i.te woman while kneeling in the void. The other people followed him.