How Much For Your Soul

Shen Yue was currently sitting in a private room of an inn close by the Alchemy Association. He was waiting for Su Mei to bring back the person he invited to meet with him. Standing outside the door to his room was a black-gold expert on loan to him from the Divine Family.

Although Shen Hong has not tried anything in the two months since he cut ties with them, it was only a matter of time. The only thing that annoyed him was that Shen Xui never came to see him.

Money was pouring in and he had splurged and bought a heap of items needed for his future subordinates. Stocking up on seal stones, he also got an interspatial ring of medium quality (50sqm space) for everyone with a high position in his plans.

A knock sounded on the door and he yelled out for them to come in. Two cloaked women entered, one his maid and the other the beauty Yang Xin. As she removed her cloak, he was treated to a picturesque face, framed by long black hair with a slight violet tinge. Her body was already fully matured and possessed a womanly charm.

He had debated if he should reveal his identity to her, as he did not want his name tied to the Immortal Elixer Guild, but in the end, he had to. She was too sort after and would be extremely cautious of a mystery backer asking to put a loyalty mark on her, a six-year-old might have a chance.

"Greeting miss Yang, please have a seat." Said Shen Yue standing and saluting to show her respect.

"I was going to turn down your maid's request when she asked me to meet with her 'young master', but when she mentioned it was the famous Runaway Prince, I had to satiate my curiosity. What could young master Shen Yue want with an alchemy apprentice?"

"Don't put yourself down miss Yang, I hear you are already preparing to take your masters exam, one of the youngest in history if you succeed. Today I invited you here to make you an offer, become the GuildMaster of my Immortal Elixer Guild. Before you say anything take a look at this list." Shen Yue said, handing her a piece of paper with a list of pills and the descriptions of their effects.

"These are the pills my guild will be producing and selling, of course after we have registered them with Saint Judgement Hall. You are an orphan, but with strength alone, you have raised yourself up and I have nothing but appreciation for your effort. I want this type of person leading my guild!" He knew from the book she despised people who thought she got where she was by looks, so he made sure to not mention it.

"The only problem is that all my employees will swear an oath to serve me for life and have a loyalty mark inscribed on them, as Shen Hong has shown me, even family will stab you in the back. I hope you can see beyond this, as I can't think of anyone else to run a guild capable of rivalling the Association." He finished his speech hoping the mark was not a deal breaker, he really wanted this beauty!

Yang Xin's cute mouth was hanging open! Some of the pills on this list, have only been referenced to in books, as many of these pill formulas were lost during the Age of Darkness. The rest, were all pills the Alchemy Association sold but the effects were greatly enhanced! This little monster would destroy the Association! To be able to lead a guild with these pills would let her rival the major Families! Too many shocking thoughts were running through her head.

"What is this loyalty mark?" She asked.

"It is an inscription that links the target to a seal stone and if they have thoughts of betrayal it will turn red. Since the person has betrayed their oath, they will be blacklisted and killed!" Clarified Shen Yue.

"What about the running of the Guild? What level of authority will I have?"

"I do not want to be associated with the Guild, that is why you wore a cloak when coming here. You will be running it in its entirety but will have to follow any orders I give concerning the direction of the Guild or request for aid. All the people you employ will need to swear an oath to you and then take a sleeping potion so I may mark them without my identity exposed. Only you will know of my connection to the Guild. To sweeten the deal, I will even design a tailor-made cultivation technique for you, guaranteeing you will reach legend rank!" Said Shen Yue hopefully putting her mind at ease about the seal.

"WHAT! How can you guarantee that? There is only one legend rank in all of Glory City!" Yang Xin shouted. If this was true, it was heaven-defying!

"You know the story of me remembering a third of the books I read? It's wrong, I remember everything and I can read the forgotten languages." Knowing he had won her over, Shen Yue was not afraid to let her know a bit of his ability.

Yang Xin left the inn once again cloaked. She sported a new ring containing a list of pill formulas that were once thought lost. She couldn't keep the smile off her face! Not only did she get a chance to head an organization that will rival the major Families, she even got a new cultivation technique. It had taken two tries before Shen Yue was happy with it, but she could tell just after activating it, that it was many times more powerful than the one she was given by the Association.

Luckily there were no rules about quitting the Association when joining, as it was only a way of preserving the art of alchemy. It had been on the decline for ages and her new guild will be the death blow.

She was under strict instructions to build her own strength first and then quietly recruit members from the poor commoners. She understood how dangerous it would be if anyone got wind of what she kept in her ring. In one year, she would dominate this city!

A week later and this scene was repeated except with five commoner blacksmiths with financial problems. This time, Shen Yue never showed himself and had Su Qiang conduct the interviews while wearing a mask. Only three agreed and took a sleeping potion so Shen Yue could mark them and design a cultivation technique for them. That turned out to be tedious as he needed to knock them out again after they tested their techniques.

They were ordered to reach the black-gold rank before he would contact them again with enchanting and smithing techniques. They were sent off with enough demon spirit coins to pay their debts and concentrate on training.

Thirty fighters were gathered in a private room of a cheap inn, wondering if they were part of a hoax. They had answered an advertisement in the Fighter Association, about a rich merchant starting a demon beast hunting team. They were promised high wages and the chance to become demon spiritualist, but everyone knew that was impossible. Fighters were people born with red soul realms and found it too hard to gather enough soul force needed to become a demon spiritualist.

A masked man entered the room and instantly the chatter stopped. After looking around and making sure no one else was coming he closed the door and addressed the crowd of potential minions.

"You have gathered here today because you dream of becoming demon spiritualists. The fighter profession is not one you chose, but one chosen for you! That is unless you join my Celestial Brotherhood. Know that this choice is for life and will require your oath and a loyalty inscription mark. This mark is an inscription that links the target to a seal stone and if they have thoughts of betrayal it will turn red. Since the person has betrayed their oath, they will be blacklisted and killed! If any of you find this unacceptable please leave now."

The masked man then waited as five of the fighters left with a few negative comments. "The rest of you, please follow me to another location so we can apply your marks and begin training."

What followed was a long tedious affair of applying marks, creating a technique and having them test it only slightly in case they were incompatible. They then had to wait for their second assessment while the others were receiving their marks. Ten hours later and the group gathered together once again to listen to the masked man speak.

"You can all feel the difference in your cultivation speed and now have no doubts that you have chosen the correct path in life by joining my Celestial Brotherhood! Each of you will receive two thousand demon spirit coins and will focus on training for the next six months, no slacking! After, we will gather again and train together to hunt demon beasts. I look forward to seeing your progress brothers!"

Shen Yue had set things in motion to dominate Glory City, he now just needed to wait. At the moment he did not have the power to protect his techniques from being stolen as the Saint Judgement Hall could only protect against attacks in the light. It was the attacks in the dark that had him worried, the Dark Guild and other nobles would not hesitate to torture the techniques out of his minions as they were powerless commoners with no backing. As long as there was no evidence, they could then claim the techniques for themselves.

Shen Yue had given strict instructions that they were to tell no one, not even their wives or children. They were permitted to recruit members and slowly introduce their new products into the market after copyrighting them only when they were given permission and following the rules he had set up. He had clearly listed the rules they would have to follow, making sure his minions had them memorized, as breaking them knowingly would turn their seal stones red.

He tried to stress the importance of this, and Su Qiang, the masked man, had assured him that he had followed his instructions to the letter. Unfortunately, six months later, when the Celestial Brotherhood met up, they were four members short.

When the members met at the new Celestial Brotherhood headquarters, they were greeted with the sight of four decapitated heads underneath a plaque that read, 'Oath Breakers'! Shocked at this scene they were once again reminded of the seriousness of the oath they took, as six months of raising through the demon spiritualist ranks had dulled the edge of their pledge.

All the surviving members were at gold rank with one even being at black-gold rank! This sudden rise in power and status had gone to a few of their heads, they had believed they were special. Some held ideas of extorting a higher place in the newly formed mercenary group, but that was quickly suppressed by the sight that greeted them upon entering their new headquarters. Suddenly a powerful voice called out to them.

"Greetings brothers, I'm glad to see that most of you have honour, and have remained true to your oaths. If you can't even stay faithful to your oath, then how can our brothers trust you to have their back when fighting demon beasts?"

These words struck the group like lightning, they had not even thought that far ahead. They had only come for benefits, but after thinking about fighting in the wild, they agreed fully with these words. They had all heard of stories about being betrayed, commoner fighters with no backing used as bait or worse. Suddenly they felt pride that maybe their new 'Brotherhood' might be something more than just a mercenary group out for profits!

This was the moment that the strongest mercenary troop to ever exist in Glory City, was established.