(Brendan POV)
Things have been happening so fast in the last few hours I haven't had the chance to fully comprehend what was going on.
First, I almost got mauled by Sylphy, then unintentionally trespassing Master Lin's courtyard which led to me meeting two of his disciples who proceeded to string me up after they woke up.
Just before they could make true to their promise of torturing information out of me, Master Lin had shown up in the nick of time to stop them from doing so and told me of my talent as an alchemist.
That was when I learned of a godlike pill that Master Lin had created, something that would have shook the entire continent and disrupted the balance of power between all the existing power houses should it be allowed to go public.
And thus came the biggest surprise of all: Master Lin actually accepting me as his disciple.
This was something I had never even dared dream about. I had hoped, at most, I might somehow manage to get a lesson or two from Master Lin and nothing more.
Although he had revealed that my talent as a Practitioner was lacking, my saving grace was that I possessed untapped potential as an alchemist and researcher, something that seemed to have caught his attention enough to want to teach me.
As if that wasn't enough, Master just had to drop another shocking fact on me.
When he showed me the storage ring, I had initially thought it was another creation of the Merchant's Guild.
As a former merchant, I shared all the other merchants' grievances on how we could only rely on the Merchant's Guild for such an important item. But yet I also held awe for such a wondrous creation.
I would admit that I had tried researching into the ring myself before, but the results had been less than satisfying.
What we all know is that it involves the usage of Space Quarks during its crafting, though what other components were involved were lost to us. The more wealthier merchants had even hired top Practitioners to aid in understanding the rings but no one succeeded till this day.
Within the black market, extremely generous rewards had been posted for anyone able to uncover its secrets but no one has been able to do so.
Some had even theorised that the rings might have been created by gods and the Merchant Guild had discovered them and capitalised on them. That hypothesis was quickly debunked since new variations of the storage rings were made infrequently.
The storage ring itself has different grades for the size of their storage space. The lowest being about a bag full in volume while the highest might be able to store an entire house without issue. Even the smallest of them would cost a fortune for one to lay their hands on.
For Master to have cracked what should have been the Merchant's Guild's most closely guarded secret so easily, I have no words to describe my awe and respect for him.
And that's not all, from what he showed me afterwards, the ring vastly surpassed the known limits of what a storage ring should be capable of. The idea of such a scale is just beyond the scope of my comprehension.
Before I could come to terms that I was now learning under the most legendary Practitioner of the known world, Master had teleported me with him to Death Pass Town. He mentioned something about Sect Master Qing telling him something regarding this town so I can only assume that it's a top secret mission.
Things were obviously not going well from the start when we came across a scene of a massacre.
Master once again showed the difference between us when he could discern what had occurred there with just a glance while I was simply lost in what was going on.
I will give the excuse that my mind was still trying to process the previous few revelations to even properly comprehend that I was standing in the middle of a murder scene.
But when that scruffy piece of nobody tried to take advantage of Master's benevolence… I had wanted to clock him there and then. Master was beyond people like him.
Once again, Master showed his boundless benevolence by acquiescing to his demands.
At least that nobody was truthful enough, or else I might need to do something…
Unfortunately, my goodwill towards him was all but destroyed when a group of men showed up to arrest us, saying that we were the ones who had caused this massacre.
It was obvious that waste of space had told them we were coming here, most likely for some form of monetary reward as well.
"So… Who are you guys?" Master asked, showing no concern that we were surrounded by about twenty armed men.
"We're the elite guards of this town! Give it up, you don't have anywhere to run!"
I chuckled, "'Elite' eh? I suppose the 'elites' of this town aren't elite enough to stop a massacre from happening and can only pay off thugs to bark for them?"
The man I assume to be the leader bristled at my comment, "Hmph! Say what you like, but we caught you now!"
I laughed, "And why do you assume that the killers would return to the scene of the crime? Sounds like a dumb thing to do even for a brainless guy like you."
The guard grinned, " Heh, trying to bluff eh? We had arrived here just as the killing was done, preventing you guys from looting this place. You thought we wouldn't think you would come back to try again?!"
Master raised his hands in a placating gesture, "Gentlemen, let's all be civil here. You guys are here to bring us to your Lord right? Then by all means please do so."
I gave Master a quizzical stare, why didn't Master just reveal his identity to shut them up? Just by showing them his Sect Crest would be enough to have them retract their accusations while begging for mercy.
Master's answer was to shake his head slightly while smiling. Most likely Master has realised something that I didn't again. I just have to put my trust in Master.
The guards tied our hands behind our backs with the ropes they brought with them before manhandling us out of the building.
The guards lead us to the Death Mountains, using a small, winding path to ascend it. I would've thought they were planning to bring us there to finish us off if it weren't for the building at the top of the cliff.
"Is that… Your town hall? Why is it built up there?" Master asked, perplexed.
"Shut up, that doesn't concern you," The guard shot back.
Master shrugged and made no more comments.
I made a mental note on adding this guy into my shit list.
After the perilous climb that almost killed us, the leader of the guards told us to wait outside while he entered the town hall to look for the local lord.
Not even a minute passed before the doors were opened again, revealing a tall, thin and bespectacled man whom I assumed to be the city lord standing at the doorway with his sword drawn.
Neither Master nor I had the chance to speak before the man had flung himself towards Master, impaling the sword into Master's sacred chest.
Master looked down at where the sword had pierced him, his eyes wide with surprise. He coughed out blood, the man ignoring the droplets that hit him while he drove the sword deeper into Master's chest.
"MASTER!"
