The Divinity's smile was that of a parent who had managed to trick their children into revealing the truth. It was the same smile that he had when he had caught the Immortal in his lies. Now, he believed he had caught Pearl in the same lie. "Just you, huh? And you managed to not just survive their attacks, but also kill a few of them in return," he said.
Pearl slowly nodded. "Yes, senior. That is what happened," he said.
"And how did you do that?"
"I fought," Pearl said. "I'm good with that."
"So you had no other help?" the Divinity asked.
"Oh! No, I did have help," Pearl said, sounding as though he had only just remembered something so crucial.
The Divinity smiled as though he had gotten to the good part. "Finally. Who helped you?" he asked.
Pearl gestured toward Yuren in the distance. "That kid."
The Divinity's smile faded slowly. "I am in no mood to joke," he said. "If you won't tell me the truth then I have no need to question you. I shall punish you for what you deserve."
"I am not joking senior," Pearl spoke back. "What would I get here from lying? I was attacked. I managed to fight back, and even then not so much. If you hadn't shown up, I would have most likely died."
"And you had no one else to help you?" the Divinity asked back.
"NO!" Pearl said.
"What about this thing that is restricting your cultivation base right?" "That was the kid's doing," Pearl answered. "Is it so unbelievable that I survived on my own through trickery, artifacts, and running away?"
The Divinity looked at Pearl for a bit longer. "Are you willing to speak an oath for it?" he asked.
"Yes!" Pearl said. "I see." The Divinity looked around. "Take him away. Try to understand what exactly happened with him and send someone to check on the courtyard where they came from."
The people who came with the Divinity followed up on his words and quickly left.
Pearl was pulled to the side, and taken away to be singled out from the other Immortals. He met up with Momo and Yuren, who looked at him with worry.
"Senior, are you alright?" Yuren asked.
"Uncle, you're bleeding," Momo said with a worried look. Pearl smiled and sat to the side. "I'm fine," he said. "It's just a bit of blood. How are the two of you doing?" "We're fine," Momo said. "You should eat a healing pill soon. Do you have one?"
"I will," Pearl said. His Qi still wasn't working as well, so he decided to give himself a bit longer before he ate a healing pill, just in case there was some sort of issue there.
"Where's Moss?" Pearl asked after not seeing the lizard with Momo.
"He's safe. In his beast space," she answered.
Pearl nodded. "Well, as long as you two are safe, that's all that matters."
They were still by the side of the road, waiting for whatever was going to happen. After waiting for what felt like half an hour to an hour, the Divinity walked back to Pearl once again.
"Are you alright? Are you still bleeding?" the man asked.
"No, senior. I've eaten a pill. I'm fine now," Pearl said.
The man nodded. "Are you an Alchemist?" he asked.
"No, just a bonded beast of one," Pearl said.
"Oh!" the man said, slightly taken aback. "And your master, are both of these two his disciples?"
"No, just one. I'm looking after the other for someone else who has to be away for a while," Pearl said.
After a bit of back and forth, the Divinity finally explained what they were going to do. "It is clear you are not the one who instigated this battle, even though they tried really hard to make it sound like it, so you will be allowed freedom."
"As for the ones that attacked you, we will have to hear each one's case individually and decide. I cannot tell you what their punishment will be, but I promise you they will be punished."
Pearl nodded. "Do you know who they are, senior?"
The man shook his head. "They are low-level thugs if you can call a group of Immortals that, who go around attacking people based on requests and missions. Like a low-budget assassin group. They don't really have much association with each other, so punishing them all at once is a little difficult."
"What about their master?" Pearl asked. "They came after me because apparently I killed their young master the last time we were randomly attacked."
"No clue who their master is," the man said. "But we'll try to find out. We have pills to help with that."
"And what about the ones that escaped?" Pearl asked.
The man paused. "Escaped?" he asked.
Pearl nodded. "There were 23 people that attacked me in the courtyard. How many corpses did you find?" he asked.
"6," the man said. "So there should have been 17 others."
"There were only 14," Pearl said.
"I see. A few escapes us then. Do you remember their faces?" the man asked.
"I do. I should be able to give you all of their silhouettes if you want it," Pearl said.
"That would be great," the man said. "What now? What are you guys going to do? I suggest you leave town and go somewhere these thugs can't follow you."
Pearl shook his head. "We can't leave just yet," he said. "We need to wait for their masters here."
"But they know where they live. Even if you stay somewhere else, they might find a way to you," the man said.
"I don't see what other choices we have," Pearl said.
After a bit of contemplation, the Divinity spoke again. "There is a place on the other side of the town. It's one of the worst places out here, but they won't think to look for you there. While you wait for their masters to e, you can wait at that place."
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