Gunther and Tia accepted William's offer to meet at Wild Clover in an hour. Following their conversation, William proceeded to approach the others.
When Yuming heard William's voice, he was both startled and touched. He never expected William to think of him as a friend, since the only time they had spent together was while Will was helping at the Alchemy Hall Competition.
Truth be told, William felt closer to Yuming than he did many of the others. While he hadn't known Yuming for very long, they spent many hours together for an entire week. Those moments didn't count for nothing, and the two had learned quite a bit about each other.
Will was sad that Charlotte wasn't in the Sect, but he returned to the Wild Clover at the planned time regardless. The others were already waiting, with Carl, Tia, and Gunther in one part of the line and Yuming in another.
Yuming knew William, but he didn't know the rest of the group. Other than hearing about their feats during missions outside the Sect, Yuming knew nothing of these Outer Core Disciples, especially Filipe who he didn't even recognize.
William walked up to the group, but none of them recognized him. His oval-shaped face was very different from the previous look, and even his hair had slightly changed from black to a light brown. His unique facial features made William look very plain, like any random Disciple you'd pass on the street.
"It's me." William said in his natural voice, temporarily surprising the group although they mostly expected this.
Yuming laughed upon seeing William's new appearance, "Man you're ugly! What happened to you?"
William's face contorted, "This isn't the real me, shut up!"
The group chatted for a while about non-serious matters for a while until they were finally seated at the restaurant. The area was packed with people today, most of whom felt the same thing William did when he first ate there.
Not only was the food tasty, but many of the Players that discovered Wild Clover found that it provided many powerful stat boosts that could help them during their next missions. While the effects were temporary, their speed of clearing missions increased greatly.
Because of the sudden influx of people, Wild Clover ended up increasing the prices of its Spirit Food, while also requesting that others make a reservation before coming into the restaurant.
William and the others were presently in the line of people who had made a reservation, which attested to how many Cultivators were inside. He was thankful that the others knew about the situation in Wild Clover and had made a reservation in his place before-hand.
While William's group was eating in the Wild Clover, another conversation was taking place in Retribution's underground base.
A man wearing a tattered black cloak exited a portal with a tired expression. He had been teleported straight to the main room where the other Region Leaders were waiting silently.
"Master Black, what happened to you? Did everything go well?"
Tenebris shook with anger, "That damned Supreme Left! I thought I had killed him, but it was only his clone!" ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by novel•fire.net
The red-cloaked Region Leader's eyes widened, "It was only a clone? How could you not tell the difference? Were you in an illusion of some sort?"
"The clone was extremely life-like and I couldn't tell until the very last moment of its life. It even released a Soul, but it was yellow.
Normally, Souls were an ethereal blue in color. For a Soul to be yellow, it meant that the person had already died long before. Tenebris assumed that Supreme Left reanimated a substitute body and imprinted a small portion of his own Soul inside to fool any who might wish to do him harm.
While it was a very smart move, Tenebris was pissed. Over ten years of waiting for a perfect chance to assassinate Supreme Left, and all his preparations were wasted. There was zero chance that he would ever get close to the man unnoticed again.
The yellow-cloaked Region Leader spoke next, stroking his long white beard that stretched down to his knees even while standing. "Our purpose on the surface is to support the Yu Royal Family and keep both the criminal and righteous organizations under control. Since that is no longer possible, what do we do?"
Tenebris looked at the old man silently for a moment. His expression turned grave as he spoke, "We're changing our strategy. It's time to go on the offensive before Supreme Left has time to prepare.
We haven't been able to suppress the Pillars of Justice, but many of the Sects and even the Thieves' Guild is under our control. We have the manpower to start a war, and I strongly believe we can win, although at the cost of many of our own."
"It's time for a war then?" the yellow-cloaked old man looked worried on the surface, but inside he was teeming with excitement. It's been a long time since I fought a war! Isn't this what I've been waiting for, ever since I joined Retribution a hundred years ago?
The others felt the same way. Many chose not to conceal their excitement and allowed the smiles to creep up on their faces. If a few powerful Cultivators with otherworldly treasures died, they would most likely fall into the hands of these old fellows. It would be a perfect chance to Ascend!
"So, you're saying you want us to come with you?" Yuming asked from the other side of the table while chewing on a mouthful of Forest Pig meat.
William nodded, "I hope you will accept. I have a feeling that something bad is about to happen, and the Sect won't protect you. Do you know why I disappeared for multiple days after the contest against Yu Ren?"
"Yu Ren?" Tia whispered to Gunther.
"The girl that William fought against who's from the Yu Royal Family. She's super powerful and has tons of treasures. I swear Ti, you're so bad with names..." Gunther replied.
"Oh..." Tia looked at William, "Why?"
"Because..." William leaned in close to the others at the table and controlled his voice very precisely with the Sound Element, "the Sect Master turned me into a slave."
The entire table's eyes widened with shock. Filipe had heard rumors of people becoming enslaved in the Sect, but he thought they were just that. Hearing it directly from William, however, was a different story.
William pulled back the neckline of his robe to reveal his bare shoulder, where an imprint of the Enslavement Array was still present. This wound had already healed long ago, but William recreated it on his skin to show the group what it looked like.
"If this means what I think it means, then we might be in trouble after all." Yuming said.
"Why's that?" William asked. He felt that Yuming knew something he didnt.
"When a Sect is associated with Forbidden Arrays or outlawed Magic Spells, the Pillars of Justice usually come in and "clean up" the Sect. In this case, we might be caught in the crossfire."
William nodded his head in understanding, "Does that mean you'll come with me?"