Chapter 216: Collateral damage.

Teacher Lin looked at Haru for a few seconds with confusion. It must have been something serious for Haru to call him over.

"What is it? You could have come to see the sect master in person you know?" Teacher Lin said. He was only an elder in the sect and didn't have permission to decide on anything that would impact the sect on his own.

Big decisions were left to the sect master alone so he felt uncomfortable being dragged to talk about something serious.

"It's urgent. I just need you to relay something to the sect master." Haru replied, calming teacher Lin's anxiousness a little bit as that was something that he could do.

"A message? I will make sure that he gets it as soon as possible." Teacher Lin looked down at the ground for a moment before glancing back at Lao.

"Okay well listen carefully. I want to ask if he can spare a few of your strongest cultivators to help me fight against the demon clan.

They have just sent a cursed beacon down with the soul of a demon inside to try to find me. So we had no choice but to kill him and alert the rest of the clan that I am here.

I got into a little bit of trouble in the soul tempering grounds and they want to kill me and I can't fight against an army of them. I am going to gather as many people as I can and gather them all at the serpentine resort and spa in shanghai.

If he can spare any people then I will meet them there." Haru gave a brief explanation of what was going on and then gave him the message that he wanted to relay to the sect master.

"The demon clan?!" Teacher Lin said with anger in his voice. As if just hearing their name sparked a fire within him.

"Don't worry I will make sure that he gets the message. What time should they meet you at the resort?" Teacher Lin slashed his hand down and opened a void corridor before looking back and asking.

"It doesn't matter. I own the place. I will have someone entertain the sect members until I get back. But I think I will need to take a little trip before then." Haru said with a smile. He was thinking about gathering people and knew just where he could go to gather them.

"Okay, I will let him know. Be safe until then and let me know if you run into any trouble. Farewell." Teacher Lin said before stepping through the void corridor he had just created and, going back to the sect to tell the sect master about the situation Haru was facing.

"We're going on a trip?" Lao asked, confused. It was the first that he had heard about it. He figured that all Haru had to do was to make a few calls on his phone and have people gather for the meeting on Friday. So it was strange that he would have to go in person.

"No not we. I am going on a trip. I am going to get that girl for you first. So you can look after her while I am gone. She will be your responsibility from now on so make sure that you raise her to become strong.

I don't know what will happen during the next couple of weeks so I can't promise I can help you with much. Just let me do this for you." Haru said. He was feeling guilty that something this urgent had popped up.

He had promised Lao that he would help him adopt the young girl he had met when taking down the evil sect because she had the blood of Lao's ancestor running through her veins.

But he didn't have enough time to do it the right way. He was planning to go to the association and demand that they hand her over to him or else he will take her by force since he didn't have the legal requirements to adopt a child.

"We are getting the girl now? But I thought you didn't want to make the government angry?" Lao asked as Haru had just contradicted himself.

"I don't care about the government anymore. I could die in a few weeks so I am not going to let a little organisation scare me anymore. If they have an issue with it then they can come and do something about it." Haru said with a grin.

He was always one to follow the rules and make sure that he didn't do anything that would make him seem like a delinquent. But now that he didn't have anything to fear it made him want to be rebellious.

He felt hungry for power now that his life was on the line so he didn't think twice about abusing the power that he had already gained. And with both Lao and Teacher Lin promising to help him if he ran into trouble he felt stronger than he ever did before.

"Wow, that's a big change in attitude. I suggested we do that right from the beginning." Lao said with a smile.

"I know you did. You were right, okay. Let's just get it over with before I change my mind. That way I don't need to worry about you killing anyone while I am gone." Haru sighed before once again taking off into the air alongside Lao and heading for the cultivation association headquarters.

As they arrived at the heart of the city, lights illuminated the sky making it hard for them to hide from anyone who decided to look up to see the silhouettes of two people floating in the air.

The city was just as busy in the early hours of the morning as it was in the middle of the day and that was made evident by the number of cars racing up and down the streets and the crowds of pedestrians pacing the sidewalks.

"Is everything okay?" Lao asked, seeing that Haru had stopped flying to look at the city below him.

"Yeah… It's fine. I was just thinking that it would be a shame to see this place destroyed because of me. I want to make sure that the collateral damage is kept to a minimum." Haru said with a sigh. He didn't want to see the destruction that he had seen during the war ever again.

He was sick of seeing innocent people injured and killed for selfish gain. It didn't quite sit right with him that he would be putting thousands of people in danger just to survive. It was selfish but if he wanted to survive he would have to do whatever it took.

"Like you saw before. The government of this country has some strong people within it. I doubt they will let anyone destroy their country. But that also means that they might target you to try to get the demon clan to spare them…" Lao said with a hint of suspicion in his voice.

If Haru wanted to make sure that the government didn't target him instead of the demon race he would have to gather an army of cultivators to stand by his side. Hopefully, then they would side with Haru over the demons.

"If only the upper realm knew about this," Lao said quietly. The whole human clan was once controlled by Li Jun and Lao had been with him the whole time to see the number of people that had once sided with him over their own families. He hoped that Haru could one day reach the heights that his teacher had once reached.

"Hm?" Haru didn't hear what Lao had said from the sound of the wind blowing past his ears as they floated over the city.

"Don't mind me. I was just talking to myself." Lao dismissed him and then looked down at the ground too. He looked at all of the humans below him like they were all ants serving their queen in a colony. It was peaceful and organised. Unlike the place that he called home.

"That's it over there," Haru stated and pointed his finger at one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city. The building was made up of steel and glass on the outside and the windows were covered so they couldn't see the interior.

"You found it that quickly?" Lao said surprised before following behind Haru as they headed towards it once again.

Haru laughed slightly. He had seen the logo of the association on the business card that Lian had given to him when they first met each other. And the logo was also on illuminating from the side of the building with a backlit sign.

They both descended down to the ground on the street outside of the association headquarters and then made their way up the stone staircase towards the revolving glass doors at the front of the building.

The street was empty and the lights on the inside were dimmed since they weren't open for business yet and the only people who could be seen inside were the janitors that were cleaning the floor.

As soon as Haru and Li Jun entered through the revolving doors they were approached by a man in a black suit.

"Excuse me, gentlemen. We aren't open for business yet but you can feel free to wait outside until we open." The man in the black suit said politely before raising his finger up to the side of his glasses.

Suddenly a loud bang rang out throughout the building as the glasses on his face seemed to explode and the man fell to the floor, clutching his face.