The world's myriad professions are roughly divided into the Upper, Middle, and Lower Nine Professions, a system that reflects society's prejudices and preferences toward certain occupations.
Under the influence of the Darkness, these professions have now given birth to Path Mystic Skills. However, this so-called "upper, middle, and lower" distinction does not signify a Path's strength or peculiarity.
Many professions that involve working with the dead are feared and are thus mostly classified among the Middle Nine Professions.
As for the Lower Nine Professions, they mostly consist of shady lines of work that cannot see the light of day. The most notorious among them are the so-called "four vices": kidnapping, swindling, thievery, and prostitution.
Swindlers are known colloquially as "Thousand Gate Generals." Zheng Xiu had recently encountered—and killed—quite a few of them.
As for the "Thief Sect," it sounds grand, but in reality, their business is just as furtive and illicit.
