Coming upon the first expert, kicked back unawares in his chair drinking tea, a dangerous smirk fell from Li Yu Rong's lips. He stole up as silent and unnoticed as the shadow that follows when one walks. It was as if he were so part of the 'every day' that he was ignored from conscious thought.

He moved, reaching out to grab the experts chin, forcing his face look at his own. At first, the expert tried to struggle out of the hold, his mouth opening to speak, however, after looking into the one gleaming crimson eye he simply fell back into his seat.

"Your name?" Li Yu Rong murmured.

The expert's eyes stared out in a daze as his voice drawled out his words in a dragging tone, sounding as if possessed. "Long Yechen."

A subtle energy began to rise in the air. It collected at Li Yu Rong's pointer finger, gleaming a pale scarlet. He drew out a seal above the man's heart in elegant and swift movements. "Long Yechen, by thine soul I bind thee to this seal."

This seal would encourage this Long Yechen to give his complete cooperation. This expert would not move from this spot. If the commander questioned him, then he would spill all he knew without the slightest provocation. His mind wouldn't spare a thought toward loyalties, toward suicide to encroach what was known into darkness, and nor would it consider trying to escape.

Satisfied that the seal was well in place, Li Yu Rong left the man. The expert, as he left him, was exactly as before; carelessly sitting in his chair and drinking tea as if he did not see the masked man from beginning to end.

The next martial arts expert was a bit more alert than the first, or rather, it should be said that he was not slacking off with a cup of tea. Li Yu Rong came upon the next one just finishing up his rounds patrolling the area he was to guard against intrusion.

Waiting for the moment when his guard would be at its weakest. Thus when he relaxed after finding nothing wrong, Li Yu Rong slipped up beside him. He grabbed the man's chin and forced his gaze to peer into the lone crimson eye visible from the ivory mask. The expert struggled at first, but soon it fell away to a sort of dazed compliance as if he were possessed.

As he opened his mouth to ask after a name, Li Yu Rong felt a sense of imminent danger racing toward his side. Using some light footwork, he side-stepped the strike, his eye drifting to the left. The strike grazed past upper arm flesh with a glint of silver as it smashed through the heart of the man he bewitched. Damn, he'd been nicked, not reacting quick enough.

With a sickening squelch, the sword was retracted.

The man fell to his knees as blood poured from his mouth and with a few heaving breaths, he died. Due to being bewitched, he died without ever realizing it.

When Li Yu Rong turned his gaze from the corpse to the third and final expert, the man stepped back as he drew in a sharp breath. "Demon," he breathed in fear when his gaze fell upon that brightly gleaming crimson eye.

"Your name?" Li Yu Rong demanded.

The expert did not utter a word, sword poised to strike. He was too cautious with the demon in front of him to be bewitched.

'Ah,' Li Yu Rong thought, 'to subdue without killing is going to be difficult.' The expert before him was highly skilled; to go easy and not get injured himself was also going to be a chore.

However, perhaps it was due to fear of the demon he was facing, but the third expert immediately struck outward with his sword. Though Li Yu Rong's bicep twinged and spurted forth blood from the neat slice, he had no troubles dodging the sword jabbing toward his body.

Even though it would have been the choice of most to go after his injured arm, this expert just continued to stab wildly. Did this man not know what lied below their feet, or was he just that scary as a demon?

Well, at least the rising fear in the other made it easier to bring the struggle to an end.

Dodging a couple more jabs, Li Yu Rong slid up sideways on the last forward thrust of the blade. Taking hold of the expert's wrist he dealt a palm strike on the side of his elbow causing it to bend oddly and the sword to drop. He then swiped his feet from underneath him, following the man to the ground, as he muffled his screams with his other hand.

"Your name?"

"Da Chao." The expert finally answered, his expression dazed and his voice as if possessed.

Li Yu Rong quickly drew out a seal above his heart. "Da Chao by thine soul I bind thee to this seal."

Standing to his feet, he dusted his dark robes and walked off toward the inner part of the compound.

----------------------

Lu Se Ying shot a glance at the ever silent An Ying and then shifted his gaze back to the front as they walked down the stone steps leading into the underground research facility. Though he was worried about the partner at his side being able to keep cool, it was mostly a shallow worry.

It was rare that An Ying was unable to control himself after directly being warned by their master.

The researchers were said to be ones with either little or no martial arts training by the intel Commander Jiang's men had gathered over the past few days. He assured that he would have the fight over before An Yin could even consider running amok. He nodded to himself, 'yup, nothing to worry about.'

As they got deeper in they began to hear more clearly the broken howls of the spirit beasts, the rattling chains as they struggled for freedom, and below that the muted conversation between the researchers. "An Ying," Lu Se Ying murmured, "stay at the entrance and remember master's words. After I have them all tied up help me to watch them as I check on the spirit beasts."

An Ying nodded without a word.

Lu Se Ying rounded the corner and strode through the entrance. All activity ceased. There were a total of four humans in the room that stopped and turned their confused gazes upon him. This was good. None of them were experts, and only one of them appeared to have a slight martial talent. This was even better than what had been expressed.

Though the ability was far weaker when away from the Palace of Four Gates or from the Spirit Realm, the spirit energy he held was enough to deal with these four people without needing to expend effort. Taking advantage of their confused state, with a wave of his hand, he bound them to the floor in spirit chains.

Though they struggled and shouted out in protest, none had the strength to break free.

"An Ying," he threw over his shoulder while walking toward the only other room, "watch them until master comes to bind their souls."

He did not waste time to confirm as An Ying was always quick to follow so long as he felt it was what their master would want him to do. Pushing through the door that had been left ajar, he felt himself go still at the amount of spirit beast locked behind the cages.

There were at least twenty adults and even more young of varying ages. It was hard to take count by sight due to many of them hiding the moment he walked through the door. "Don't worry," he murmured to calm them, "I'm with the Gate Guardian... we've come to bring you home."

He continued further in, moving toward the first cage, lifting his hand. He sent out a pale green energy before retracting it as he fell to his knees, hacking violently. Looking up at the spirit beasts, his gaze pained, he thought through his gut heaving coughs. 'What the hell did they do!?' Eventually he vomited up everything in his stomach all over the floor.

Standing on wobbling legs, he left the room with great difficulty. Dropping to hands and knees, he heaved as he tried to catch his breath under An Ying's confused gaze. He stayed like that for what seemed hours as he tried to wrap his mind around the data he collected before becoming overcome by such intense waves of pain.

Reaching into his robe, he placed the pill he received into his mouth and swallowed. Concentrating, he began to cleanse himself of the poisoned energy pulsating through his veins.

Tap, tap, tap...

Incapacitated as he was Lu Se Ying didn't notice the approaching presence until he could hear the footsteps coming to the entrance. Trying to gather himself he threw a look toward An Ying, to gauge his reaction...