Chapter 116 - Unexpected Revelations

When Hei arrived at Sok Yeong-Gi's villa, he noticed that surveillance was even tighter than the time he first came. It was strange since Sok Yeong-Gi was a spirit soldier, a martial artist at the top of the martial artists’ society. Not to mention the fact that it was evening at the moment, and nobody would have liked to spend an entire night working as a sentry.

Either way, Hei followed the guard/emissary who had gone to call him. Their two entered the villa until they reached the room where the Sok Yeong-Gi was.

“Welcome, Hei. I am glad that you arrived immediately, despite the sudden summons."

As usual, Sok Yeong-Gi's tone was a farce of courtesy and education. If Hei had been late for some reason, even if it wasn't his fault, Sok Yeong-Gi would have punished him.

It was why Hei didn't like hanging out with people very much. Many of them pretended their true nature to maintain appearances. With spirit beasts, however, everything was more straightforward. Of course, not all humans were like this.

“I am sorry if I kept you waiting, even if it was for a short time. You summoned me. I suppose you have an assignment for me, don't you?” Hei didn't let his feelings cloud his judgment and asked about the reason for his summons.

“You are very witty despite your age. Yes, indeed. I received a letter from Captain Ho Ri-Na. You and your crew have been admitted to the main base of our crew.” Sok Yeong-Gi communicated in a striking way as if it were one of the highest honors that could be received.

Hearing what spirit soldier Sok Yeong-Gi said, Hei was confused. After all, it had been told to him that only after completing three missions, he would be admitted to the main base. That location was where the Pirate General Ho Ri-Na resided, after all.

At the moment, he had completed only two of the three missions required, and pirates weren’t the type of people to give discounts. Therefore, there had to be something behind these changes.

“Sok Yeong-Gi-nim, can I know why I was admitted to the main base? If I'm not mistaken, I was told that only after completing three missions, I would be officially accepted into the crew. But I've only completed two so far."

Sok Yeong-Gi, listening to Hei's question, laughed amicably, "Yes, you will still have to the third mission. It’s just that you will do it on your way to the main base."

"On the way to the main base?" Hei asked, still confused.

What kind of mission was it that could be done on the way? Was it another naval conflict again?

“No, it's not a naval conflict if that's what you're thinking. However, I wouldn’t feel like ruling out that this could happen during the mission. No, your job is simply to escort a person until you reach your destination - the main base of our crew."

When Hei heard Sok Yeong-Gi's words, he frowned. Escorting someone involved many things, but first, he needed to know something.

"Who should I escort?"

Exact. Before Hei could speculate or prepare himself, he had to know who was the target to protect.

Sok Yeong-Gi smiled and rang a bell on his desk. From outside, the sound of footsteps could be heard as the office door opened. In the doorway stood a beautiful young gray-haired woman.

'She's the woman of this morning!'

Yes, Hei knew that woman. It was the same one who had tormented him with her questions at the tavern. The gray-haired woman also recognized Hei.

"Ah! It is you! Uncivil, you left without warning.” Ho Yeon-Hong retorted as she puffed. Her two soft cheeks swelled as if she was a small tender animal.

Sok Yeong-Gi was surprised by that interaction between the two and asked the young woman.

"Yeon, do you happen to know this guy here?"

"Yes, I met him at the tavern this morning. But he was vulgar and went away without answering my questions."

Hei frowned even more at Ho Yeon-Hong's claims. It was clear that the young gray-haired woman had an important background in Pirate General Ho Ri-Na's crew.

'Ho Yeon-Hong. Ho Ri-Na. Could it be that...? '

In order not to make matters worse, Hei promptly apologized, "I apologize for my behavior. I'm not a sociable guy, and I don't like anyone who investigates me. I didn't want to offend the young lady. I hope you can forgive me."

"Humph! Just an apology won’t be enough. If you really want my forgiveness, then you will have to answer my questions."

"As the young lady wishes." Hei could only accept reluctantly. Obviously, he wouldn't answer sincerely any questions that were too personal.

"Now that you have finished solving your matters let's move on to the main topic. Hei, this one in front of you, is Ho Yeon-Hong, the younger sister of Pirate General Ho Ri-Na. Few people know of her existence. If it weren't for urgent circumstances, such a secret would never have been revealed to you.”

Hei's conjectures were correct. He had foreseen that she should have a close relationship with the Pirate General. A sister or daughter. These were the two most credited options, and in the end, Ho Yeon-Hong turned out to be the younger sister of Pirate General Ho Ri-Na.

“Hong Shin spent this month by investigating far and wide in search of those responsible for the attacks. Although he hasn’t been able to obtain tangible evidence, it is clear that he suspects us. After all, we pirates don't need too many reasons to kill someone. The problem is that he found out about Yeon's identity. He wants to capture her to bring out the Captain. The ship with which Yeon came was, in fact, attacked by unknown. It was only by a miracle that Yeon was brought up here.

As a result, your mission is to escort Yeon to the Captain safely. You own an artifact ship, so in case of extreme necessity, you can take her with you and run away. I'll sail with my ship with you as well. I alone am more than enough, but the Captain doesn’t want to take any risks. Therefore she has ordered me to involve you in the plan."

Sok Yeong-Gi finally revealed the reasons behind the third mission that Hei was to carry out.

“An artifact ship? Wow, do you have one on your own? Very few have one among the pirates, where did you find it?" Asked Ho Yeon-Hong. She didn't seem very upset even though she was the target of the attacks.

“A gift from some kind acquaintances. Rather than that, Sok Yeong-Gi-nim. Will it be just the two of us leaving?"

"Yes. If we were to have multiple ships, we would only stick out. I also intend to send other crews to different places to confuse the enemy. They will act as bait practically."

“And what about the other Pirate Generals? Aren't they going to move?” Hei asked.

Although it wasn't a nice thing, he didn't care much that the other pirates would be used as bait. They had already lost those rights of innocent people when they chose the pirate life. Besides, Hei only cared about the good of his family, that's all.

For this reason, he asked about the actions of the two Pirate Generals, the Red Devil, and the Storm Lightning. He wanted to know how they would behave, especially now that Sok Yeong-Gi, one of the spirit soldiers under General Pirate Steam Goddess’s command, would move personally.

“You don't have to worry about their two. The Red Devil has decided to take advantage of our bickering with the Son of Wind, Hong Shin, to settle his feud against his longtime rival, the Storm Lightning. At the moment, they are worried about amassing their forces to battle it out, which leaves us room to set up our offensive against Hong Shin. You will know the details as soon as we bring Yeon to the Captain."

"Alright. I understood everything. When do we have to leave?” Hei asked, even if he already imagined the answer.

“We will leave tonight. At three in the morning, we will set sail with our respective ships. So get ready."

"Okay. If you want to excuse me then. Sok Yeong-Gi-nim, lady Yeon. I have several things to prepare for the trip.” Quickly greeting the two of them, Hei left the room. He didn’t want to be held back further by that petulant woman. Besides, he actually had to make preparations for the mission.

Ho Yeon-Hong appeared annoyed by this, but Hei was now gone. Either way, she would see him again in a few hours. Sok Yeong-Gi instead had no change of expression and looked at that scene impassively.

Returning to his temporary home, Hei immediately went to Lian and awoke his little sisters from their sleep.

‘What is it, big brother? Why are you waking us up? It's still night.’ Ye stammered while she was still sleepy. Beside her, Xing was also opening her mouth and moving her fangs. It was her way of reproducing a human being's yawn.

"There has been a change of plans, and we have to move quickly," Hei said.

Before long, he made a summary of what had happened and the mission they were to undertake.

After having listened to the words of their big brother, the two little divine beasts recovered from their state of sleepiness. They were more lively than ever. After a full month of forced standstill, they were finally able to resume their journey. But above all, they could finally fight someone. They were curious to see their improvements after this month spent cultivating.

"I am happy that you are euphoric, but before that, there is something that we have to solve. Since we've been busy all this time, I've forgotten about it, but we've never made a spirit pact between us, right?” Hei asked Ye and Xing.

Spirit Pact. That was the contract signed by a beast tamer and his spirit beast. It was used to telepathically link the two beings and help each other in cultivation. Since they had always been busy, they ended up forgetting about it. Even Bao Bei had no longer mentioned it.

In a sense, it was quite reasonable. Hei and his little sisters already had an unbreakable bond. It made no sense to make the spirit pact. It was like signing a sheet that said they were brothers. They didn't need such a thing to confirm their connection. But now Hei had pulled out this topic.

“With the death of mother, I thought about it several times. In the end, I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea. For me, you are, and you will always be my little sisters, this will never change. But if we can have an extra boost on our cultivation speed, why don’t we use this card? Obviously, it must be okay for you. If you don't like it, we'll leave it aside. What do you say?” Hei turned to his little sisters with a smile.

With his smile, he wanted to communicate that whatever decision they made, he would respect it.

'We will do as you advised us, big brother. We will always follow you. Always.’ Xing replied for their two. Ye instead asked about another thing. 'Lian instead? How do we do with her?’

Indeed, until now, they had always proceeded in unison regarding the speed of cultivation. If they were to sign the spirit pact, in the long run, they would have been higher than Lian as a cultivation stage reached.

“About this, Lian. Do you think you can do anything about it? I don't know, modify the classic spirit pact so that it can include the four of us if it suits you. After all, there are serious consequences if the spirit pact is broken.” Hei said bitterly.

Spirit Wound. The damage resulting from the breaking of the spirit pact. Typically it was due to the death of one of the two contractors, and it was almost always the death of the spirit beast.

Hei would never allow something to happen to his little sisters, at the cost of his own life. However, he couldn't let Lian sign a spirit pact with them, without her first thinking carefully about it. If the young girl were to refuse, he or his sisters wouldn’t certainly have blamed her.

Lian, listening to Hei's words, smiled. She imagined he would say something like that. It was so typical of him. But somehow that consideration made her a little sad. She wanted to be even closer to their family. Even closer to Hei.

"No, it's okay. In fact, during our stay at the Flower Sect, Bao Bei made me study the books regarding spirit pacts carefully. She even stole various books from the private collections of the second and fifth elders to show them to me."

Lian's confession came as utterly unexpected to Hei, Ye, and Xing. They weren’t aware of such backstory at all. Immediately, they wondered why their mother hadn't said anything to them about it or why Lian hadn't mentioned it.

“Bao Bei wanted you to desire the spirit pact on your own. She knew she was going to die sooner or later, so she wanted you to find a way to be closer. It made me promise not to say anything until the day came. I just didn't think it would come so soon. I thought she would stay with us for many, many more years."

Lian's voice grew even weaker. The pain of Bao Bei's loss had been heavy on her, and that wound was still vivid. Hei stroked her head and smiled at her.

“Tell me what mom said to you. Every word."

Lian then began to tell how Bao Bei had asked her for that favor. In the end, the two of them had devised a modified spirit pact that would allow Hei and Lian to enter into communion with Ye and Xing. All four of them would receive the cultivation speed boost, although the risks of spirit wounds would remain. However, the forced command option, that classic spirit pact possessed, had been eliminated. After all, they were brothers, united by their spirits. There wasn’t a need for an option like that.

“I apologize if I haven't mentioned anything to date. After Bao Bei's death, I wanted to tell you several times, but I had promised it to her. I just didn't want to break the promise, or it would have been like disrespecting her memory.” Lian's sapphire blue eyes began to produce drops of tears like blue pearls that slowly fell on her cheeks.

Hei reached out and wiped her face with the sleeve of his robe, "You have nothing to apologize for. You did what I, Xing, or Ye would have done. You respected our mother's wishes. Only for this, we should thank you immensely."

Ye and Xing immediately rushed to support their big brother and began to praise Lian for her loyalty, reassuring her that they weren’t angry at all.

"Okay, then. It's already been a long time, and we don't have much time. Let's continue then. Old Tohyon will be anxious about this wait."

Breaking the melancholy atmosphere, Hei urged Lian to proceed. Now they were ready as Bao Bei wanted some time ago when she mentioned them spirit pacts for the first time.