Evil Samurai In Cultivation World

"Hey man, was that really a good idea?"

"Huh?" The drunk guard turned around to see his friend look at him with a worrisome face. "What the hell are you talking about man?"

"What do you think I'm talking about?" The drunk guard's friend rolled his eyes for a brief second before continuing to talk with concern in his voice. "I'm of course talking about the stuff that you just disclosed to that stranger just a second ago. You remember that?"

"I'm not an idiot alright. I remember what just happened," The drunk out snorted loudly as he chugged down another glass of alcohol and rubbed his face. "And? What did we do wrong?"

"Dude, you do know that you just talked about the man who escaped from Miss Margaret's room to a total stranger, right?" The friend grabbed the drunk guard's collars and shook him violently, forcing the guard to push him back. "We were supposed to keep that a secret. What would happen if someone hears that we didn't keep the secret?"

The Azure Lion Clan were extremely secretive about their actions, and they'd usually go to extreme lengths to preserve their secrets, so his concerns were understandable.

"Tsk! Is that what you're worried about?" The drunk guard clicked his tongue as he stared at his friend. "No one's going to know that we said anything. Stop being so paranoid. It's just a random stranger who wanted to know about the escapades of the town sl*t. That's it."

"But, but.." The friend wanted to say something else, but in the end he simply bit his lips. The drunk guard walked closer to his friend and pressed his finger on his forehead. "You just need to keep it together and forget about the whole incident, alright? It'll only be a big deal if you make it out to be one. You feel me?"

"Yeah, yeah.... You're probably right," The friend nodded his head and swatted the drunk guard's finger away as he finished speaking. "I just need to get my mind off what just happened..."

"There we go," the drunk guard snapped his fingers and then grabbed his friend by the shoulder as he downed another glass of alcohol. "Now… Why don't we pick up some girls to have fun with? That way you'll definitely forget about what just happened."

********************

Gaston pushed the door open and walked out of the inn, feeling intrigued at what he heard from the drunk guard. He then looked around and saw Barris, who was standing behind one of the buildings, and slowly walked towards him.

The giant, who saw that Gaston had exited the inn, waved his hand at him as he smiled gently. "You find…?"

"I'm not sure…" Gaston said as he approached Barris, his hand on his chin as he spoke. "I may or may not have a lead. But right now, it might be our only lead, so we'll look into it."

Barris slowly nodded his head, although it was unsure whether or not he actually understood what Gaston was talking about. 

Someone was actually able to escape the clutches of the Azure Lion Clan? Gaston furrowed his eyebrows. The process would simply be difficult, but not entirely impossible.

But that wasn't what the suspicious part was. It was that escaping from such a secure mansion required a great amount of research, a good understanding of the place and the route, and these things required time and effort to be put into it. In other words, it wouldn't be something that one would've done prior to having a one night stand.

Although there were many nasty rumours going around the town about what happens to the men who sleep with the Clan Head's daughter Margaret, the people who tried to sleep with such a woman weren't usually the ones who believed those rumours. 

But if you don't believe the scary rumours, then one probably wouldn't have scouted the place out before and planned out his escape. And if one did actually believe what the townspeople were saying about Margaret and her long list of men whom she slept with, then they most probably wouldn't risk their lives for one night of pleasure. Who on earth would actually do that?

Of course, these reasonings would make much more sense if there was another reason for sleeping with Margaret. That was, of course, to infiltrate the Azure Lion Clan!

"Haaah… then again, this could simply be a crazy motherf*cker who just wanted to have the most exciting night with a woman." Gaston shook his head. He definitely knew some people who would actually be willing to put their lives at stake for a bit of fun.

"Well, I guess we have to get inside the Azure Lion Clan, huh..." Gaston revealed a faint smile on his pale face as he tapped Barris on his shoulder. "Barris, this is going to be harder than we imagined. So you better be up for it. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes Gaston..." Although he did not understand what Gaston was talking about, Barris nevertheless nodded his head in agreement. 

"Attaboy!" Gaston said with a sinister grin as he patted Barris on the back. "I knew you'd be on board with it."

********************

After Claude finished his cultivation training, he walked out of his residence, deciding to meet with the Headmaster to talk more about leading the Grand Astral Faction. Although he really didn't wish to take the position of a leader, he also didn't want to drive a wedge between their relationship from the very beginning itself. And although being a leader to the Headmaster's faction sounded like hard-work, the Golden Crown wasn't a team tournament. So when the Headmaster said to become a leader to the faction, he most probably meant in a general sense, which would definitely be a much less tiresome position. 

But as to how to achieve this position without angering the seniors? Claude had no clue, and he certainly wasn't looking forward to it. He wasn't comfortable being in a position which might result in him getting backstabbed.

Along the way to the Headmaster's residence, which was still the Third Elder's old residence as he had not yet completely moved out, he had to go through the Inner Disciples Division which was mostly populated by the members of the Grand Astral Faction, and many of these people looked at Claude and started to guess who he was.

"I feel like I've seen him before... Who is this person?"

"I don't think I've seen him before, but I admit that for some reason, he does seem familiar. Why on earth is he here in the Grand Astral Faction section of the Inner Disciple Division though? Is he perhaps lost?"

"Oh!! I've finally figured it out! I know the identity of that person! It's him! He is the person who fought alongside master to take down the crazy revolutionaries. His name is Claude Rayforth!" With widened eyes, someone in the crowd yelled out immediately, and almost every disciple who had come out of their residence to see what the commotion was about had a surprised look on their faces.

Well, almost all of them.

There were a few people who were staring at Claude, their faces filled with cold expressions. It seems that they weren't too excited hearing about Claude. 

"Oh no! It's Ian Jefferson and his lackeys. This might be bad. I'm sure Ian and his pals hate the idea of the remaining members of the Flying Sword Faction joining our faction. He might try to antagonize this young man. Things might get messy!"

"From the looks on their faces, it appears that they're planning on making it hard for Claude. But I heard that Claude Rayforth wasn't someone who backs down so easily from a threat. Who knows? There might be a good show later."

Claude saw the states he was getting and listened to what the crowd was talking about, and he looked at the group with an expression full of intrigue, yet he did not pay it too much mind. 

From the looks of it, the group was made up of disciples who were only one year and a maximum of two ranks higher than him. 

Although they might've reached the sky realm because of their talent, they were still young and inexperienced. 

Five guys. Two in the fifth rank, three in the fourth. As long as it was not an older cultivator or someone who's three or more ranks higher than him making a move, he had the confidence to deal with anyone. 

But of course, he wasn't going to strike first. 

"Where do you think you're going, punk?" Ian and his group of lackeys walked up to Claude, stopping right in front of him and blocking his way. Ian looked at Claude and said in a cold voice, "You think you can just jump from your weak faction to ours just because you stood behind our master one time? You thought it'd be that easy and we'll all be okay with it? Huh?"

*Sigh*

'To think there still are idiots like these around this academy…' As he stared at the confident gazes of these buffoons who were standing in front of him and couldn't help but sigh.

Oh well… I guess I could start by taking care of the trash first!

"That's exactly what I thought," Claude looked at Ian without any fear, remaining as calm as still water, and said indifferently. "Why? You got a problem?"