Gravis scratched his chin in thought. 'Underworld is a loose organization similar to a black market, mercenary army, and an assassination organization. They shouldn't care about loyalty for the members that don't know the really important information. This means that they and I are not enemies. I was simply a target of a squad and killed them.'
'I should come into contact with Underworld. If the Peak Sects try anything underhanded when I discuss my grand plan with one of them, Underworld might be able to help me,' Gravis thought.
'Well, let's meet them.'
SHING!
Gravis teleported away and appeared in front of the tavern. Then, he entered like a normal guest.
Gravis saw a couple of Nascent Nourishing Cultivators sitting around. He even saw some loose Law Comprehension Realm Cultivators, and there was even a Peak Immortal. The Peak Immortal acted like the owner while the bartender was only an employee. However, the bartender was the one truly in control.
"Welcome!" the bartender shouted with enthusiasm. "Do you want to drink something? First one's on the house!"
Gravis chuckled a bit and walked closer to the bar. Then, he simply sat down in one seat.
"I think you don't want our conversation to reach the ears of the other guests," Gravis transmitted to the bartender.
The bartender looked confused. "Is there something, sir? We already paid our protection fee."
Gravis had to chuckle. Extorting protection fee from a Major Circulation Immortal Emperor. Sure.
"Now, before we begin talking for real, let me first establish something," Gravis said calmly. "The entire Nine Elements Sect is obviously in my Spirit Sense's range. So, if I wanted to do anything untoward to you, I wouldn't be sitting here."
The bartender only looked with a genuinely confused expression at Gravis. One had to say that he was very good at acting.
"You are at least a Major Circulation Immortal Emperor in hiding, and below us is probably a stronghold of Underworld," Gravis said.
The bartender looked afraid as he stepped back in shock. "Underworld? I assure you that our fine establishment has nothing to do with Underworld! Only an idiot would create a stronghold so close to the Nine Elements Sect!"
The bartender sounded genuinely scared and shocked. Of course, everything was being said via voice transmission.
Gravis only smirked. "I am absolutely certain that you are at least at the Major Circulation Immortal Emperor Realm," Gravis transmitted again, but this time, he used his Law of Honesty.
The bartender seemed to calm down as he sighed, but at the same time, another voice transmission appeared in Gravis' head. "Quite interesting," the cold and emotionless voice of the bartender appeared in Gravis' head. "If you hadn't proven that you didn't want to go against us, you would have already died. I hadn't thought that someone would use the Law of Honesty to uncover us. Quite creative, I must say."
Gravis only smiled.
"So, what do you want?" the bartender asked.
"I'm planning to talk with some Peak Sects about something quite big, and I'm afraid that they might go against me if they disagree. So, I want to protect my life," Gravis transmitted.
"We are talking about some high-quality goods here," the bartender transmitted as he cheerfully served another customer. "For that, I need to know what you have planned. You don't need to tell me the details, but since you already know the Law of Honesty, you can tell me if it involves Underworld or not."
"It won't damage Underworld, but Underworld might be tangentially affected. However, it won't make a big difference. Instead, my negotiation has something to do with the beasts," Gravis transmitted with his Law of Honesty.
The bartender inspected Gravis very thoroughly, and then he uncovered why Gravis was so careful. However, Gravis had already expected to be exposed.
"I see. Yes, someone with a beast body should have a chance to negotiate with the beasts," the bartender transmitted. He wasn't surprised when Gravis' expression didn't change. Gravis seemed to be quite smart, and by appearing here like this, he probably didn't mind being exposed by Underworld.
Gravis had been in such a situation before. Back when Gravis was a Lord, he had met Styr. Styr could have killed him with a thought, and Gravis could have killed Styr with a thought. Both of them had the life of the other in their hand, ensuring the safety of both of them.
However, the bartender was incredibly shocked deep inside.
After he knew that Gravis had a beast body, he noticed that nearly all the beast crystals in the town were shining. However, nobody cared, and nobody looked at them. It was like they didn't exist.
This made the bartender realize that Gravis was someone extraordinary.
This might be big money.
"By the way," Gravis transmitted. "I was once the target of a squad from Underworld, and you know what happened to them since I am still here. I hope this won't be an issue."
"Not at all," the bartender transmitted directly. "Most of our members are freelancers. They take up the mission, and if the mission fails, we simply ask for more money from the contractor and send in a stronger team. I guess the contractor didn't pay for you to be exterminated."
"I killed the contractor," Gravis transmitted.
"There you go. No problem," the bartender transmitted.
"So, can I purchase your wares now?" Gravis asked.
"How do you want to escape from a Peak Sect?" the bartender asked.
"An emblem that teleports me close to the frontlines, but not directly into them," Gravis said.
"So, you don't want protection, but something that allows you to flee. That's easier to accomplish. You probably want the emblem to be powerful enough to ignore the Formation Arrays?" the bartender asked.
"Yes, that would be great," Gravis transmitted. He couldn't use Arc's emblem since Arc said that the emblem wouldn't work when Gravis was in danger. Otherwise, Gravis would have a trump card to fall back on while tempering himself, making it harder to increase his Will-Aura.
"However, I have to warn you," the bartender transmitted. "The emblem you're asking for only works for every Sect except for the Primordial Force Sect. The Primordial Force Sect is the hegemon over gravity, time, and space, and not even we can create an emblem that allows you to flee from them."
"That's not a problem," Gravis transmitted. "So, how much for one?"
"50 million," the bartender transmitted.
Gravis took a hidden, deep breath. That was a lot of money.
"However, since you have amused me quite a bit, I will give you a discount. 30 million," the bartender transmitted.
Gravis smiled. "Then, thank you very much."
"Here's your drink," the bartender said with a smile as he put some wine on the counter.
Gravis smiled and chugged the wine. No poison could affect him, so he didn't care.
As soon as Gravis downed the drink, something appeared in his stomach.
It was a kind of emblem, but not the one Gravis ordered. This one was black and had the crest of two snakes on it.
Gravis quickly retrieved the emblem into his Spirit Space and inspected it thoroughly.
There were no Law fluctuations, and someone else couldn't intrude into Gravis' Spirit like this. This meant that this emblem couldn't be dangerous.
"That's the token that gives you the discount," the bartender transmitted. "This stronghold is not a marketplace, but a defensive stronghold that accepts assassination missions. See it as insurance for the eventuality that the Peak Sects might become rowdy."
Gravis realized that probably several Immortal Emperors were currently below him. That was a powerful striking force.
At the same time, Gravis received some directions that told him where to go.
"Thank you very much," Gravis said with a smile. "The wine was good."
"Always a pleasure to hear that," the bartender said with a bright smile. "As said previously. This one's on the house. Do visit us again in the future."
While Gravis and the bartender were talking politely, the sole Immortal in the tavern looked with furrowed brows at both of them.
'Why is master directly trading with someone? He is supposed to be hidden at all cost, and I'm normally the one making the trades. Who is this person that he can trade directly with master?' the Immortal thought.
After some small talk, Gravis left the tavern and teleported away.
'Interesting,' the bartender thought with a smile. 'Truly interesting.'
After leaving the tavern, Gravis made a short stop at Arc's clearing to do something and teleported a couple of times more until he arrived in a Cultivation city.
Gravis entered a restaurant and sat down at an empty seat on the third floor.
"We're very sorry, but we need to see your registration as a member of the city before we can serve you," an Immortal said politely as he arrived in front of Gravis.
The Immortal put a Space Ring on the table. This was normal since everyone wanted to keep their identification hidden. They didn't want to be a victim of identity theft. Because of that, the identification would always be put into Space Rings so that only the ones with physical contact with the Space Ring could see it.
Gravis put the emblem and 30 million Immortal Stones into the Space Ring. At the same time, he informed the waiter what he was here to buy.
The waiter looked into the Space Ring and nodded. "Thank you very much. Now, what would you like to order?"
Gravis touched the Space Ring and acted like he was retrieving something, but everything inside the Space Ring had already vanished.
The waiter appeared calm, but deep inside, he was shocked beyond belief.
Only the true seniors of Underworld could give out these tokens.
This was an important customer!
The waiter gave Gravis directions of what he was supposed to order, and Gravis complied as he said the order out loud.
The waiter nodded with a smile and returned around 20 minutes later with some cooked meat.
Immortals didn't need to eat, but good food still tasted wonderful.
Gravis ate it and was quite surprised at how good the food actually was. Well, he guessed that the food had to be good so that their disguise appeared authentic.
After eating the food, Gravis acted like he was paying and left.
He had already gotten the emblem that he had asked for while eating the meat. Just like the previous emblem, this one also appeared when Gravis had finished the food.
'Hiding goods inside food and drinks. That's quite peculiar and interesting,' Gravis thought. 'No wonder Underworld is still hidden. They actually avoid having a lot of physical locations where their members could gather. Instead, some shops simply sell these goods in normal restaurants. I always thought that some hidden entrance might lead to some underground cave or something.'
'I mean, the previous stronghold probably had something like this, but not this one. Also, if someone actually put their identification into the Space Ring, the waiter would know that the customer was just here to eat.'
'Underworld definitely is quite organized and smart.'