In the underwater section of the Enchanted Palace, Crystal and Mari stood looking at a list of assassins available for hire. The document was extensive, organized by cultivation phase and specialization.
There were Mortal Phase assassins—the most numerous and least expensive. These were skilled killers certainly, individuals who'd trained extensively in the arts of stealth and murder, but they lacked the supernatural abilities that came with higher cultivation. They could handle normal targets, merchants and minor nobles and common folk, but against cultivators of any real power, they would struggle.
Then there were Master Phase expert assassins. Far fewer of these, and correspondingly more expensive. A Master Phase cultivator could destroy entire buildings with their techniques, could move faster than normal eyes could track, could kill dozens of people before anyone realized the attack had begun. These were the assassins you hired when the target was dangerous, when failure wasn't an option.
But the phases after Master—the higher realms that even discussing out loud was considered dangerous—those cultivators weren't currently available as hired killers. If assassins of that level existed at all, they wouldn't be taking contracts through a simple black market broker. They'd be treasures of kingdoms and sects, strategic assets too valuable to risk on mercenary work.
Crystal studied the list carefully, her eyes scanning the details of each available contractor. The problem was obvious—Master Phase expert assassins were not easy to control. When you hired someone that powerful, you couldn't be entirely certain they'd follow through on the contract exactly as specified. They might interpret orders creatively, or decide the risk wasn't worth the reward and disappear with your deposit, or even turn on you if someone offered them more money.
Her maid Mari was at the Master Phase herself, which gave Crystal a baseline for understanding what these assassins would be capable of. Getting an assassin that couldn't be reliably controlled was bad for her plans. The variables introduced would be too great, the potential for things to go wrong too high.
But at the same time, she acknowledged, she would need at least one Master Phase assassin for what was coming. Some of the targets she had in mind were too well-protected for Mortal Phase killers to handle.
After thinking for a while, weighing options and probabilities in her mind with the calculating coldness she'd developed over years of military command, Crystal looked at Mari and pointed toward the entrance of the building they were in.
Mari, understanding the unspoken instruction, nodded and left. She would wait outside, keep watch, give Crystal privacy for negotiations that were better conducted without witnesses.
Crystal continued to look through the list after Mari departed, considering each option with careful deliberation. Eventually, she made her selections, marking several names with the small writing implements the broker had provided.
She walked over to the man who'd greeted them initially and handed him the list with her chosen contractors.
"These five," she said simply, her voice muffled slightly by the mask she wore. "I want detailed information on each of them—success rates, specializations, any known failures or complications. And I'll need to arrange meetings to discuss specific contract terms."
The man took the list and scanned it quickly, his expression remaining professionally neutral despite whatever thoughts he might have about her selections.
"Of course," he said smoothly. "This will take some time to arrange. Perhaps a few days. Shall I send word to the Asura"
Crystal cut him off with a slight gesture. "No. I'll return in three days. Have everything ready then."
She wasn't about to give him her actual identity or location. The masks were meant to provide anonymity, and she intended to maintain that protection. If this man somehow discovered she was Crystal Aserra, the information could be sold or used against her.
Then Crystal added another request. "I would also like to purchase some information. About the current power structures of the kingdom's major factions. Political alignments of the noble houses, recent shifts in alliances, movements of key players. Everything you have on the current state of kingdom politics."
The man's eyes showed interest at this. Information was often more valuable than physical goods in the black market, and someone willing to pay for comprehensive political intelligence was usually planning something significant.
"That can be arranged as well," he said. "Though such information doesn't come cheap. The sources required to compile accurate political intelligence are… expensive to maintain."
Crystal nodded. She'd expected this. "Price isn't the primary concern. Accuracy is. I need information that's current and verified, not rumors or speculation."
"Understood. I'll have a package prepared for you within the three-day timeframe as well. Both the assassin details and the political intelligence report."
With her business concluded for now, Crystal turned and began walking back toward the entrance.
Meanwhile, when Mari had reached the outside of the shop, her eyes immediately locked onto the two figures who had been following her and Crystal through the marketplace.
She was a bit surprised that Crystal had noticed them. The young miss's cultivation was sealed, her spiritual senses should have been significantly diminished. Yet somehow she'd detected the surveillance and had known to send Mari out to deal with it.
But then again, Mari reflected, she'd begun to suspect that her lady's Mind Sea might have advanced to another stage entirely. The mental acuity Crystal had been displaying, the strategic thinking, the cold calculation these weren't traits of a fifteen-year-old girl, sealed cultivation or not.
In this world of cultivation, there were three energy sources that everyone possessed. One was located in the head meaning the mind. One in the chest meaning the heart and soul. One in the lower abdomen meaning the stomach or dantian. And all three were represented in a cultivator's Chaos World, the internal realm where true power was developed and refined.
The Mind Sea in the Chaos World manifested as the sky itself. Stars, sun and moon, cosmic elements floating in that vast expanse. The more developed your Mind Sea, the clearer your sky became, the more celestial bodies appeared, the greater your capacity for insight and understanding.
The Soul Light in the Chaos World appeared as a transparent humanoid figure floating between sky and ground. This was your true self, the core of consciousness and identity. It looked like the cultivator themselves but rendered in pure spiritual energy, visible because of its transparency. Most people never developed their Soul Light beyond the basic level.
Only one in a million cultivators could use their Soul Light to create a Soul Sea—a concentrated orb of soul energy that served as a separate power source. This was what the system was asking Crystal to create, and what was proving so impossible with her sealed Chaos World.
The Dantian, or stomach energy center, manifested as the land itself in the Chaos World. Mountains, rivers, continents—the foundation of cultivation. This was where most cultivators focused their efforts, building up their internal landscape through the twelve realms of advancement.
These twelve realms were grouped into five distinct phases. The grouping existed because at certain thresholds, world-changing transformations occurred within your Chaos World. Qualitative shifts that marked you as fundamentally different from those in lower phases.
The first grouping was the Mortal Phase, which contained three realms. This phase was about building your body, strengthening your physical form so it could handle the energies required to properly create and develop a Chaos World. You had to start with a strong foundation, make your flesh and bones capable of channeling power without breaking down.
The second grouping was the Master Phase, which also contained three realms. After your body was ready, properly conditioned and transformed, the Master Phase marked the true beginning of Chaos World creation. This was when the internal landscape started to take real shape, when mountains began rising from the void and rivers started flowing.
After that came the third phase, the fourth phase, and the fifth phase. But even thinking about those higher realms was dangerous. Just hearing their true names spoken aloud could make you deaf and blind if your cultivation wasn't strong enough to handle the conceptual weight. The power differential between phases was so vast that lower cultivators couldn't even safely contemplate what the higher realms entailed.
Since Crystal was still dealing with the Mortal Phase and its limitations, there was no reason to delve deeper into knowledge that wouldn't be relevant for years or decades.
Mari looked at the two men who'd been following them. They were positioned on a walkway above the shop entrance, trying to maintain visual surveillance while keeping distance. Both were Mortal Phase experts based on the aura they were projecting—skilled, but nowhere near Mari's level.
She smiled slightly. They were looking down at her from their elevated position, probably thinking the height advantage gave them some tactical benefit.
Then Mari moved.
Her hand came up in a smooth, deliberate motion. She drew a line in the air in front of the shop entrance, her finger tracing a path from left to right. To observers, it looked like a simple gesture, perhaps adjusting her robes or brushing away an insect.
But to those two men watching from above, death arrived instantly.
Their heads separated from their bodies in the exact pattern Mari had traced with her finger. The invisible slash she'd projected traveled upward through the air, maintaining the precise angle and trajectory of her gesture. It struck both men simultaneously, cutting through flesh and bone and spirit with equal ease.
The bodies remained standing for a fraction of a second, brains not yet processing that they were dead. Then the heads toppled, falling toward the marketplace floor below. The bodies followed a moment later, collapsing in sprays of blood.
The entire execution had taken perhaps two seconds from Mari's initial movement to the men's deaths. It was clean, efficient, utterly professional.
Mari didn't even wait to see the bodies fall. She turned and entered back into the shop where her lady was conducting business, her expression unchanged, as if she'd just returned from a brief walk rather than executing two trained killers.
Meanwhile, in the underground room of the Enchanted Palace where Lyra had been earlier, a wall panel opened to reveal the stairs leading down to the underwater marketplace.
Lyra stood at the top of the stairs, looking down into the dimly lit passage. She was lost in thought, her mind replaying the confrontation with Raven, the pain in her ribs, the humiliation of being thrown across the room.
This was her life. This had always been her life. The Chaosless daughter, the mistake, the thing her family wished they could erase.
Just then, Miralyn entered the room. She looked at her younger sister standing by the revealed staircase and asked a simple question.
"Has sister Raven returned yet?"
Lyra shook her head slowly, not trusting her voice. The motion made her ribs flare with pain, but she didn't let it show on her face. She'd learned long ago how to hide physical suffering.
"I don't know," Lyra finally said quietly. "She left after… she hasn't come back to this room."
A moment of silence stretched between the two sisters. Miralyn studied Lyra with those unsettling purple eyes, perhaps noticing the bruises on her neck or the careful way she was breathing to minimize rib pain. But if Miralyn noticed, she didn't comment on it.
Instead, Miralyn looked toward the stairs leading down to the black market.
"Let's go then," she said simply. "There's business to conduct, and we shouldn't waste time waiting for Raven. She'll find us when she's done with whatever tantrum she's throwing."
There was no sympathy in Miralyn's voice, but there was also no judgment. Just matter-of-fact acknowledgment of how things were.
Lyra nodded and moved toward the stairs. Each step down would hurt her damaged ribs, but she'd endure it. She'd endured worse.
Together, the two Valen sisters entered the staircase, descending into the underwater marketplace below. Miralyn led the way, her purple hair visible even in the dim lighting. Lyra followed behind, one hand pressed subtly against her side where the ribs were worst, trying to manage the pain without making it obvious.
They had their own business to conduct in the black market.
And somewhere in that same underwater marketplace, Crystal Aserra was concluding negotiations with an assassin broker, arranging for deaths that would ripple through the kingdom's power structure in ways no one yet anticipated.
The pieces were moving. The board was being set. And in three days, when Crystal returned to collect her hired killers and her purchased intelligence, the game would begin in earnest.