Then the bandit group leader said to everyone "Let's go everyone. We would come back here another time. We can't do anything here again."

Everyone nodded their heads and then began to walk with him to where they left their beasts slightly far in the depth of the thick, massive forest.

As Xiao Lin walked with the bandit leader to where the beasts were, he said to him with a curious gaze in his eyes "I guess you were all waiting to rob items that would be transported by certain carriages at this time of the night, right? But because of my sudden appearance, and because of government officers that may already be on my trail, you have decided to painfully postpone your mission till another time."

The bandit leader looked at Xiao Lin and nodded his head.

"You are right, Bloodfang. Besides, we aren't sure if any carriage carrying a particular item will move in this forest. The information that I got from some of my men out there in the town about the movement of the carriage might be either wrong or false. However, not all of us will leave. Some of my men will remain behind to watch for that carriage. Who knows, it may eventually pass here. But perhaps later in the night." The bandit leader said while Xiao Lin nodded his head.

Not long, they got to where the beasts were in the depth of the large forest.

"Deathwind, give your beast to Bloodfang to ride. Let's treat our new member well" The bandit group leader suddenly said.

The person named Deathwind became shocked by what their leader unexpectedly said.

"But, why me?" Deathwind asked with concealed anger in his tone.

"What?!" The bandit group leader asked with coldly glinting eyes.

He then queried further with fury beginning to burn in his bright, fierce eyes "You dare to question my authority, Deathwind?"

"No, I dare not!" Deathwind hurriedly replied in fear of what their leader might do to him.

"Good! Now, go ride with anyone else." The bandit group leader said while Deathwind nodded his head while gazing angrily at Xiao Lin who only smiled amicably at him.

Then when Deathwind got to another wild beast that someone was already sitting on, he asked for the permission of that person to climb his beast which the person smilingly nodded to. Deathwind then climbed atop the back of the wild beast to seat directly behind that person that was already seated on the beast. Now, they were going to manage the beast together to go to their lair which was way deeper in the enormous forest that was heavily populated with tall, large-canopied trees.

"Thank you, leader" Xiao Lin said while the bandit group leader laughed raucously.

"Don't call me that, Bloodfang. Call me by my moniker, Nine Calamities"

"Okay" Xiao Lin spoke with an understanding nod of his head.

He then said "Thank you, senior Nine Calamities."

The bandit group leader who was called Nine Calamities only nodded his head and said "Alright everyone. Let's ride to our den to prepare for another day of robbery"

The bandits spoken to nodded their heads in agreement, then they shot away on the backs of their beasts with their leader, Nine Calamities, to the far depth of the forest where their lair which was totally hidden from view was located.

***

Moving at high speeds on their towering, grey-skinned, horse-like beasts, they eventually got to where their lair was.

When Xiao Lin saw their lair, he shook his head with amazement in his eyes.

'This should be a treasure, I guess. But these guys are kinda rich. Nice!' He said inwardly.

The lair that they had gotten to was more like a castle that was entirely painted in black. But it gave the feeling that it wasn't one that was erected here by mortals using plastering sand, concrete and cement, but that it was a treasure; a shelter-type artifact forged by master-level Artifact Casters, since it blackness, which was the color that it was totally painted with, softly gleamed like it were a polished metal in the tiny rays of moonlight that passed through the gaps between the dense clusters of trees that surrounded the castle.

And, although it looked small in size from the outside and gave the definite feeling that it should only be able to contain about ten to fifteen people, Xiao Lin however knew that once he went in, he wouldn't be surprised to find that the castle would easily hold hundreds of people at once, and would still have more space to accommodate a few hundred people more.

Then when they got down from their beasts, the bandits moved into the castle to go to their rooms and do some things that they had in mind. While Nine Calamities who was following behind them, started speaking to Xiao Lin again to inform him of some things that he won't be really aware about.

"Bloodfang, everyone here have all signed blood oaths to me, to this group. And I believe that you should know what I mean by that?" Nine Calamities asked with one of his brows furrowed.

"Yes, senior Nine Calamities. I think I understand what that is. It must either be a single or numerous contract pages that requires the Oath taker to sign with their blood. So, with the blood oath that one has signed, one will try not to do anything that will jeopardize the group, betray any member of the group, or engage in something that will lead it to destruction. Is that it, or I am wrong?" Xiao Lin answered and then questioned.

"Yes, Bloodfang. You are completely right." Nine Calamities said with a smile in his face.

He then produced a blank, white-colored page from his spatial ring and gave to Xiao Lin.

"This is the Blood Oath paper. Now, cut a finger and allow a single drop of blood to drip from it onto the contract page." Nine Calamities said, instructing Xiao Lin on what to do. .

Xiao Lin nodded his head and readily accepted the Blood Oath paper to sign on it using his blood.

Although Xiao Lin was going to sign, despite the wicked intentions that he had for the group in his heart, especially for the bandit group leader, he however felt that the mysterious power contained in the Blood Oath paper shouldn't really have any horrific consequential effect on him, since he was a dead person. He had long understood that he was a living, walking corpse who could only nourish himself with the blood of others. Therefore, with this line of reasoning, he strongly believed that the mystifying power imbued into the Blood Contract page shouldn't have any effect upon his life if he tried to hurt any of them in the soonest future, as he was a non-living entity; a Vampire. So, he wasn't worried about signing it.

Once his train of thoughts stopped, and with an indecipherable smile now surfacing on his cold lips, he cut a finger of his open with a claw and then pressed blood to drop out from the cut.

Immediately blood dropped from the cut in his finger onto the blank, white-colored page, the blood began to diffuse round the whole paper. That drop of Xiao Lin's blood actually began to spread to all corners of the white paper to dye it in the color of blood.

Once the permeation ended, a single, large cryptic symbol that was dark purple in color, instantly appeared on the surface of the now blood-colored paper. Then in the next second, the enigmatic dark-purple symbol that had surfaced on the blood-red paper, actually leaped off of it and shot straight into Xiao Lin's body like a purple ray of light.

Xiao Lin slightly shuddered as he felt something penetrate into his body. He however wasn't bothered with that thing, since he believed that the contract will fail, or be nullified due to not meeting the requirements of signing with a real living being.

When the symbol appeared and shot into Xiao Lin's body, Nine Calamities grinned and nodded his head.

He then said to Xiao Lin with a solemn expression in his face "Bloodfang, you are now one of us. And don't ever think of betraying us, or do anything that will jeopardize any of our missions, because if you do, you will die a really terrible death. That anciently occultic symbol that entered your body will see to it that you die a gruesome death, if you do anything that will bring about the desolation or ruination of this group. Am I clear?"

Xiao Lin nodded.

"Good!" Nine Calamities said with a smile on his face.

He then kept the Blood Oath paper into his spatial ring and walked away to his own room in the castle to start his cultivation and comprehension of some Battle Methods. He actually left Xiao Lin alone to figure out for himself what he had to do in this place.

But as he headed to his room with a smile in his face, he didn't know that the Blood Oath paper that Xiao Lin signed on had turned black in color, and that the binding symbol that shot into Xiao Lin's body to stay in there had lost it form and had crumbled into pieces.