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Earlier, when the pressure had landed on him he felt as if he was going to be crushed. Thus, even though he suffered a huge loss, the manager gritted his teeth and remained silent not wanting to anger the man. 

But soon, as the wine flowed, Duncan\'s brows eased and he lost himself in enjoying the wine and meat. After having a hearty meal, Duncan\'s irritation seemed to have been smoothed over and he left the bar without making any more fuss. 

However, he didn\'t forget about his sudden urge to kill. Duncan made a note of it and decided to pay special attention to intense emotions like these that came to him suddenly. This wasn\'t normal and he knew that he needed to figure it out sooner rather than later.

If not, these kinds of strange emotions will one day lead him to his death. In the cultivation world, one wrong move could spell disaster. Duncan knew his strength may afford him to run roughshod in this tiny city, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn\'t much. 

Until he became powerful enough, he should be wary of being led astray by his emotions. He still hadn\'t grown powerful enough to do whatever he wanted to do, whenever he wanted to do. Until then, it was better to keep a low profile. 

After the commotion he created in the bar, there was no opportunity for him to learn about the changes in Starmist City recently. So, Duncan decided to go to the seedier part of the city and try his luck.

Leaving the bar, Duncan made his way into the seedier section of the city. The place wasn\'t far off from the area where the rich and powerful lived. Both places were divided from the poor sector that was used by the common people. 

While the area where the rich and powerful lived was guarded by the gates, the seedier parts sort of seamlessly merged back into the common area covering them as well. Duncan had ventured a bit into the seedier area in the commoners\' section when he was working as a mercenary. A mercenary was originally a job that dealt with things for money.

It was undeniable that some of the jobs that were posted would be somewhat shady. Even though Duncan didn\'t come into contact with such things while he lived in the city earlier, he knew of them due to his status as a mercenary.

Moreover, Duncan had haunted almost all the bars in the commoners\' section during his first stay. The things he learned at that time naturally included some details on shadier things as well. He knew where to go and who to approach.

So, without any hesitation, Duncan made his way into a large building in a gloomier neighborhood. The building he entered was three-storied and didn\'t look that much different from other buildings in the neighborhood. But, very few people entered it due to the notorious nature of its inhabitants.

The building he entered was related to a lurking power known as Shadow Pavillion. Shadow Pavillion undertook missions related to information brokerage and assassination. It can be called as the home of assassins and people who lived in the dark.

If Blue Wind Society Hall were the merchants of the cultivators with branches all over the world, then Shadow Pavillion can be called as an assassin organization scattered across the world.

Wherever there is a Blue Wind Society Hall, there will be a Shadow Pavillion. These two organizations struggled both openly and covertly vying for domination. From the notes present in the sect, Duncan knew that both these powers had backings that originate from the Central Continent.

It was their reliance to operate in every city in this vast world. Due to the deterrence of their backing, not many powers want to tangle with these two parties. 

However, these two powers were also sensible enough. They never tried to become dominant powers regardless of their power. They both tended to stay away from the center of power and did things that were in line with their original intention of establishment.

When it comes to Shadow Pavillion, things were a bit different. They will assassinate and provide information on anyone as long as their price can be met. They had no taboos and were willing to bloody their hands. 

However, the price that the Shadow Pavillion set was way higher than normal. This acted as deterrence. Moreover, they also had the policy of not acting against Sect Heads of First-tier Powers and Monarchs of a Kingdom. With these two policies, they didn\'t create chaos and maintained stability.

Duncan naturally knew of these things after his stay in the sect. He wasn\'t as ignorant as he was before. He knew that if he paid enough, he could order the Shadow Pavillion to wipe out the Wang Clan without much hassle.

But, this was personal for Duncan. And this was also important for his cultivation. So, he had no intention of doing such a thing. Moreover, the spirit stones he had wasn\'t abundant either. 

Right now, Duncan came here because he wanted to know the current power structure of the city. In the bar, Duncan realized that soliciting information from common people might seem easy, but they would be unreliable.I think you should take a look at

Most people wouldn\'t know the behind-the-scenes power struggles between cultivation clans in the city. The power structure and the hierarchy of clans are often hidden from common people. Especially, the trump cards and interwoven relationships of each clan.

Those kinds of information was only available in two places. Blue Wind Society Hall and Shadow Pavillion. Compared to Blue Wind Society Hall, obtaining information from the Shadow Pavillion was a lot more secretive. Duncan didn\'t want to alert the Wang Clan of his movements yet. So, he came to the Shadow Pavillion to obtain information.

*****

Duncan frowned a bit as he walked out of the Shadow Pavillion.

The information he had obtained from the Shadow Pavillion was a lot more detailed than he first anticipated. And it was good that he spent precious spirit stones to enquire these details.

As he had suspected, the Starmist City he left and the Starmis City he arrived in were entirely different. On the surface, there weren\'t many changes. However, the power structure of the entire city had shifted in recent months causing a shuffle in the status of several powers in the city.

During the beast tide, the City Lord\'s office had moved their hands and feet secretly and gave a severe blow to several clans present in the city. Earlier, even though the City Lord\'s office was the most powerful, there were several powerful clans in the city who were able to restrict the City Lord\'s power.

But, after the beast tide, this situation had changed drastically. The Ling Clan and the City Lord\'s office had colluded together and caused huge damage to the power of the other clans during the beast tide.

Ling Clan was originally a medium-level power in the city. They didn\'t have any presence one year ago. Even the strongest person in the clan, their patriarch, was only at the Blue Sea level of the Spirit Sea realm.

However, the patriarch of the Ling Clan was lucky enough to have a beautiful daughter who gained the appreciation of the City Lord. With this relationship, the Ling Clan colluded with the City Lord\'s office and started rising in power in a short time.

Moreover, the Star Imperial Family, the Xing Clan had also secretly ordered the officials to reduce the power of cultivation clans in their jurisdiction. This coincided with the beast tide that erupted. As a result, several cultivation families lost their most powerful members to the beast tide, causing their power to deteriorate rapidly.

On the surface, everything was calm. But, under the surface, the Ling Clan had been muscling in on the declined clans with the support of the City Lord\'s office. Currently, almost all the clans were suppressed by the alliance of the Ling Clan and the City Lord\'s office.

The Wang Clan wasn\'t an exception to this either.

The Wang Clan was one of the top powers in the Starmist City, one year ago. However, they were also the ones to suffer huge damage during the beast tide. Immediately after that, the Ling Clan annexed most of their assets and become the top power in the city.

If not for the Wang Clan Patriarch\'s shrewd move that was executed immediately, the Wang Clan might have been swallowed up immediately. Luckily, the Wang Clan had a prodigy in the form of the boy who had sparred with him. Using him as the lynchpin, the Wang Clan had earned some breathing space.

After knowing this, Duncan couldn\'t help but twitch his lips. He never expected that kid he sparred with would be accepted by a first-rate power as a disciple and thus becoming the savior of their clan. This was an unexpected surprise for him.

And the thing that made him frown a little was that this little kid was currently practicing in his sect and wasn\'t in the clan. Duncan knew that leaving out weeds like this would come back to haunt him in the future. But, there wasn\'t anything he could do about it now.

This was an unexpected hitch in his plans.

*****

A/N: Check out my other stories and let me know your thoughts...

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