The four young people were sharing a single courtyard at a large inn. Essentially, there was a small courtyard, about forty feet square, which was surrounded by a building on three sides and a wall on the fourth. There was a gate on that wall which led to the inn. The Inn was large and expensive as it had eight of these courtyards with eight rooms each. There were only four in their party, but they didn’t hesitate to rent the whole courtyard. For one, they didn’t want to have to share with strangers, and more importantly they had others coming to join them.

In the afternoon, the arrogant kid wearing a vest with a fur collar finally showed up. The long-legged redhead greeted him happily, and then immediately started berating him. The baldy made fun of his injuries, and the other two greeted him politely without saying much of anything else. The redhead, Baozhai, continued to ask questions and interrogate the cocky new arrival, Jiyao, while the hairless guy, Tujiu, waited to the side and poked fun at the answers. Surprisingly, Jiyao didn’t get upset at the constant questions and snide remarks. He answered the questions with vague claims of his own greatness, and completely ignored everything Tujiu said.

Their mission had been going on for three months now and it was finally the day they were supposed to be meeting with their boss. Baozhai couldn’t hold down her excitement and she kept pacing around and bombarding the others with questions. They were starting to get as anxious as she was, but none of the others spoke it out loud. Just as the sun was setting, they saw a few birds flitter past overhead and they all jumped up excitedly. A few moments later, there was a familiar pattern of knocking on the gate and Baozhai ran over before quickly pulling it open.

A very average looking fellow walked in. He had long black hair pulled back by a blue silk sash, simple grey robes, and a blue belt around his waist. If it wasn’t for the startling golden color of his eyes, he would look just like dozens of other martial practitioners walking the streets.

“Boss!”

“Lang Sheng!”

“Big Brother!”

The group of youngsters called out many different titles at once and then quickly assembled to greet the new arrival with cupped fists and bows. The new arrival gave them an equally low bow and then smiled, “You all made it! Perfect.”

That new arrival had a face that hadn’t been seen for quite some time. Sage had recovered his original face. After going on the run from the Shihu Kingdom he’d altered it, but now that he was back, he’d returned to his original look, though his eyes were too powerful now that even his human form was affected.

They nodded their heads vigorously and the whole group walked to the courtyard to sit around a stone table. Baozhai eagerly moved to pour tea for the new arrival while the rest engaged in small talk. Only after the tea was poured and they all had a few sips did they get down to business.

“Juzui.”

“I traveled to Endless Valley Province and tracked down Abbot Kunga. The Jade Horde is only a middling mercenary group there. They have a good reputation in the province for helping those in need. It took some effort, but I finally arranged a meeting with Abbot Kunga. I convinced his subordinates that I sincerely wanted to thank the Abbot for saving my life. I saw others try to bribe their way into an audience and fail, so I was pleased to see the Abbot still had high morals.”

The other four youths sat quietly, waiting for their turns and also paying attention to the story. Sage still reserved his judgement and was carefully scrutinizing Juzui’s words.

“Abbot Kunga was confused by my appearance. He said he did not remember saving me, but I told him that his actions saved one of my dearest family members. Someone so dear that if I lost them I would send myself along to the yellow river with them. I treated him to wine and once he had a few cups he started to loosen up. He told me of his regrets. There were three.”

“As a young man, there was a girl he was involved with and for the sake of his cultivation he did not treat her well enough. She left him. The second regret was related to his martial brothers. He once stumbled upon a valuable treasure while on an expedition and didn’t want to share it with his fellows. Using an excuse he went off by himself to retrieve it. While he was gone, a Demonic Beast attacked and one of his friends was killed while another was disfigured. That failure is what made him leave the Eightfold Kingdom as he couldn’t face the brother’s he’d wronged. He gave them the treasure and took a new name, exiling himself from there.

“The most interesting was the third regret. A man Abbot Kunga admired was betrayed by his subordinates. By the time he learned of it, it was already far too late. I wasn’t sure if Abbot Kunga had discovered who I was, but afterwards I checked with some of the Jade Horde in the province and it seemed that others had also heard him mention the story.”

Sage nodded his head, “Well done, Juzui. You’re up next, Tuziu.”

The irritable fellow with a hairless head and iridescent eyes cupped his hands, “In Red Sand Province, I traveled to the Jade Fortress. The Jade Horde controls its own fortress town there and Bi Hongbing is the ruler. I challenged her to a test of skill and was bested. She sliced her own arm and then used her blood to form a blade of red ice. Even the flames from my Ghostly Firestorm Spear weren’t a match for her. She disarmed me and then I asked her about how she betrayed you, Boss. The blood crawled out of my wounded shoulder and formed a blade against my throat. Then she spit on the ground and kicked me out.”

Tuziu was much more direct in his approach both to the mission and the retelling than Juzui. Of course, Sage had that in mind when he chose them for these missions. He cupped his fists to Tuziu, “You didn’t disappoint me. Don’t worry about the loss, her powers are strange. Songji.”

The curvy girl with the skin tight black leather didn’t bother with any acknowledgements. She just immediately started speaking with her sweet and innocent sounding voice that completely contrasted with her dominatrix look and harsh gaze.

“The Seven Star sent to Flying Wind Province is named Zhang Tu.”

“That name sounds familiar.”

“He served with you when the ‘Necromancer’ was killed, Big Brother. Zhang Tu was a Legionnaire that followed you into the tunnels. He has a reputation for being ruthless and efficient. He formed his Golden Core after their chase for you ended and he was promoted to fill an empty spot. His manor is actually guarded by hired experts, but his Legion is rarely in the area.”

“Ahh, I remember him now. I knew he was somebody worth keeping an eye on, but he chose the wrong side. Baozhai, how did it go?”

The girl wearing a hoodie and long slim legs smiled and flipped her chin length hair, “The Brass Earth Sect was easy to talk to. They really are a bunch of perverted virgins like you said. All it took was a little bit of flirting and they told me everything I wanted to know. Liu Ao runs the Jade Horde in the Bronze Tiger Province, but the disciples didn’t know anything about any betrayal. I had to seduce an elder in their Sect before I learned that Liu Ao felt the situation shameful, but unimportant.”

“That sounds about right. All he wanted was to get an umbrella to shelter his sect. Anything else?”

“It’s so good to see you again, Boss! I missed you!”

Sage waved his hand, “Right, right. Good work Baozhai. What about you, Jiyao?”

That kid still found a way to look cocky even though he was covered in bandages, running a hand through his hair and then tilting his nose up, “One of the other new Seven Stars members was Qian De. I ‘asked’ his old girlfriend and found out that he bribed his way into the job. That really pissed me off, so I looked into his schedule. Turns out, his wedding was planned for yesterday, so I crashed it. Don’t worry, Boss. I took good care of him and removed his head from his shoulders.”

Baozhai glared fiercely across the table at Jiyou, who didn’t seem to notice. Sage let out a sigh and shook his head, “You just can’t control yourself can you? Was there any evidence of the killing?”

Jiyou looked a little sheepish and realized he’d made a mistake. He reached up and rubbed the back of his head, “Haha, sorry, Boss. I interrupted the wedding to ask him what he thought about Wu Chang.”

“So, everyone saw you? What else did you say?”

“I called him a weak little level forty five.”

“Is that it? What did he say?”

“Uhm… he said all this stuff about daring to offend him. He didn’t answer my question, but he sent his men after me. I… fought them and then ran away.”

“So, you failed the mission?”

“No! I came back and chopped off Qian De’s head and then left again. The buggers on the flying lizards cut me up a few times when I was getting away.”

“Everyone saw you fighting his troops and then you secretly killed him afterwards?”

“Err, uhm. They also saw me running away when I killed him.”

Sage rolled his eyes, “You’ve handled it terribly, but at least we don’t have to go back again. We can only hope nobody makes the connection between what you said and myself.”

“Don’t worry Boss, after twelve years, these guys have definitely forgotten you!”

Baozhai screeched at him, “You dare say Boss is forgettable!”

“I… I… I did? That’s not what I meant!”