"You are the one who was assigned the task?" The moment he stepped foot before the entrance of the two-story building, Shen Yuan froze. Not because he saw something horrifying, well... in a way it was.

One second the entrance was empty, and the next second there was a man standing before him.

The man was old; he looked around the age of 60. His build was massive, twice that of Shen Yuan. It was not just his height; even his muscles were bulky and radiated power while he just had his arms crossed.

His short white hair danced wildly in the air as he stared down at Shen Yuan with his cold red eyes. One look from the man and Shen Yuan felt like his whole body was turned into a block of ice.

He could not even feel the warmth of blood from his body. It was not a reaction he wanted to show, but it was a more primal response of his body in the presence of a being so powerful that he seemed like an ant.

"Hmm, good instincts for a mere servant." The man seemed to notice something that Shen Yuan did not even realize he was showing and grunted with the same expression.

It seemed like he had more to speak, but someone beat him to it. A figure stepped out of the building from behind the man.

"Ah, you have arrived on time." The figure was none other than Overseer Jiang. With one look, he recognized Shen Yuan and spoke to the old man. "Elder Jun. This is one of the servants from the district under my command. We should be able to work with him."

There were more than one servant districts.

That was the first thought that appeared in Shen Yuan’s mind. The information was important for someone like him who knew practically nothing about the sect.

It allowed him to gauge the level of the sect.

"This lowly servant greets Elder Jun. Greetings, Overseer Jiang." Shen Yuan cringed hard inwardly with what he was saying, but he valued his life more than his face.

He knew how important it was to respect the elders in this world, who knows which one might snap and sever his head at any time. While thinking, his eyes inadvertently moved towards Overseer Jiang.

"Hmm." Elder Jun grunted in response before leading them into the building.

"What you are about to see is confidential." Overseer slowed his pace to walk beside Shen Yuan, who was busy looking around the oddly empty street, and warned him lightly.

"I understand, Overseer Jiang." Shen Yuan lowered his head in acknowledgement. Seeing this, the supervisor nodded in satisfaction and picked up the pace.

Before he could even step beyond the periphery of the building, a thick, familiar metallic scent flooded his senses.

’Just how many bodies are there...’ The whole building reeked of blood. Why wouldn’t it, it was practically bathed in it.

The building was as vast from the inside as it looked on the outside. The name of the establishment was ’Pavilion of Sinful Strings.’

It was a place of pleasure and leisure. People would come here to drink and watch beautiful women dance for them while the courtesans poured them drinks.

But what this place currently looks like is not even the shadow of what it was intended for.

It was a slaughterhouse.

There were bodies everywhere. Blood stains on the ground, carpets, tables, and walls. He could not even tell if the wall was colored red or if it was the blood.

’Am I supposed to clean this all on my own?’ Shen Yuan wondered in his heart but did not dare to voice it out.

Then his eyes moved to the center of the room, where Elder Jun stood, looking straight at a glyph etched on the floor. In fact, that was not the only glyph; many more like it were marked all around the ground floor at certain distances from one another.

"It’s an array." Overseer Jiang Saw his curious expression and explained it. "More specifically, blood draining and conjugating Array mixed with other things. It is used to create—"

"Jiang Mochen, that is enough out of you." Elder Jun’s cold voice silenced the man before he could utter another word. "We have not reached any conclusions at this point."

He glanced at Shen Yuan, who was waiting for their command, and continued, "Let’s continue to the next floor."

Once they climbed the stairs on the side, Shen Yuan saw something that could only be called an aftermath of war.

There were bodies, but while the bodies on the lower floor belonged to ordinary customers and staff of the establishment, the ones on the second floor were different.

They were wearing the uniform of the sect that identified which peak they belonged to. There were only two sides. One wore crimson robes with green straps, while the other wore a silver strap.

Swords were lying around the bodies aside from the fluids and lingering mist everywhere around them. The only conclusion he could come to after looking at them was one.

They had killed each other.

But if they did that, who had killed the people on the lower floor? why?

"Remember, boy. You are not to breath a word of this to anyone. As of this moment, this is the secret that is related to the safety of the sect." Elder Jun looked at Shen Yuan once more; this time he even let a sliver of his power radiate off of his body.

"I understand, Elder Jun. I swear on my life to keep this secret to myself." Even though he said that Shen Yuan was cursing himself. ’Why did I take this mission? Won’t they just kill me once I am done with this task?’

The question gnawed at him like a poison slowly corroding him from the inside.

As if seeing through his thoughts, Elder Jun scoffed once more. "Don’t worry. There is no danger to your life if you follow our command and do as you are told."

There was no way Shen Yuan would believe him.

"And there will be servants from other districts who will come here to help you with the mess here. I will supervise the cleaning and tell you where and how to place the bodies." The maniac supervisor added from the side with a smirk on his face.

"I understand." Shen Yuan did the only thing he could in that moment and accepted the task. There was no way for him to go against his domineering supervisor, let alone a behemoth like Elder Jun.