"What?! That dao protector escaped?!"

  The founding partner stands from his seat upon hearing the news.

  "Grandfather, you need to see this for yourself."

  Since this news comes from none other than Dark Root.

  They both head towards the dungeon, specifically to an underground room where the war artifact should be, but now there is nothing left but scattered blood on the floor and a severed arm.

  "What the hell happened here? Where is the war artifact?"

  Dark Root recounts all the information his subjects were able to gather in this short period of time. From the events in this room to their arrival, more than an hour has elapsed.

  "Golden Green and Wicked Fortune have disappeared, while Lawrence escaped from the dungeon with severe injuries on his body."

  The eyes of the founding partner tremble, because the image formed in his head...

  "That Protector Dao witnessed something very important or--"

  "Whoever is behind him, is making us believe that."

  But this last theory is not without errors, because if that were the case, Lawrence risks being caught before he can escape. Which does not mean that the first theory is the most accurate.

  "Whose are that arm and the blood?"

  "The blood belongs to Lawrence and Wicked Fortune, as for the arm, it also belongs to the latter."

  The founding partner is surprised. "Isn't there any blood from that woman?"

  Dark Root shakes his head.

  There was a fight in this place, whether it was Golden Green or Wicked Fortune, one of them was on the side of good and the other on the side of evil. Someone contacted the enemy of the Unquenchable Fire Brothel and both disappeared along with the war artifact. The question is, why? For what reason?

  The war artifact is an item that cannot be obtained with money, even the contacts of the Unquenchable Fire Brothel were only enough to get one. After this day, it will be impossible for them to get another for at least years, were they after it from the beginning? But if so, then, is it Wicked Fortune after all?

  Whatever the answer, the biggest winner of all this is Lawrence, who could not use mana and took advantage of the situation to escape. Because during the conference, his innocence was demonstrated, they cannot dismiss their suspicions towards him.

  The founding partner sighs and asks Dark Root: "What news is there of him?"

  Dark Root communicates with the brothel guards and his gaze soon darkens.

  "A guard saw him, he has already left the sub-space."

  "Let them go after him now!"

  After receiving authorization from the founding partner, hundreds of guards are deployed in search of Lawrence, but whether they will succeed or not, only time will tell.

  The founding partner and Dark Root walk away from the crime scene and once they reach a safe place, they begin planning how to divert attention elsewhere. Because the second biggest winner of all this is none other than Dark Root. Who not only cleared his name from all suspicion, but his biggest enemy in this brothel has disappeared.

  At some point in the discussion, the name of the sects comes up.

  As soon as this happens, grandfather and grandson know that this is the best scapegoat.

  All the partners have some relationship with the sects, so the loss of clients is extremely painful not just for the brothel, but for them as well. The death of Thousand Leaves is the clearest example of this, whose loss deeply hurt the founding partner.

  It was this very spark that triggered the breakdown of relations between the Sacred Rock Sect and Lunar Cascade Sect, without realizing that the one who gains the most from this dispute is none other than the Eternal Wind Sect, the most powerful sect of the Heavenly Path Kingdom.

  If they direct the attention towards any of them, explanations would abound.

  When the topic is settled, Dark Root frowns.

  "Why hasn't the kingdom spoken up? Agares City hasn't been the same since those sects began their dispute."

  "The king, his subjects, and the highest ranks used the Emotion Suppression Technique. They are no different from autonomous dolls, they will do nothing unless it affects the kingdom. Only the City Lord could do something, Ha! But he won't, he's a coward."

  The founding partner mocks and continues saying: "You should worry when they act, they will not hesitate to cut off the heads of all involved. They do not tolerate corruption."

  This is the main reason why the Heavenly Path Kingdom and Immortal Radiance Kingdom have had such good relations and why they have lasted for more than 500 years.

  Because both kings ceased to be human.

  First the kingdom was founded and then the sects, but time corrodes everything and the sects extended their claws into the kingdom. It wouldn't be strange to say that the three major sects controlled the Heavenly Path Kingdom as their backyard, but everything changed 500 years ago.

  When the war between both kingdoms reached its peak, they noticed the malice of the five kingdoms and decided to stop the war immediately, preparing to defend against the attacks from the outer kingdoms. It was then that the idea of fighting together with their enemy to prevent their kingdoms from falling came about, but, since when has it been so easy to make an alliance with the kingdom that just killed millions of your citizens?

  The only solution was the Emotion Suppression Technique.

  Through it, the most important ranks of the kingdom lost all emotion and attachment to post-war losses, being capable of making a peace treaty with the former enemy kingdom. But this brought a drawback.

  All the sect infiltrators who controlled the kingdom had lost their emotions.

  "Losing their emotions doesn't mean they lose their memories, they are still capable of feeling something akin to nostalgia, because of that they still favor the sects and hire their disciples in important positions. Though if they want to climb in the hierarchy, the use of the Emotion Suppression Technique is mandatory. And it is irreversible."

  Dark Root understands everything and sighs, "Will we lose clients?"

  "I will not allow that to happen."

  The founding partner plans to fish in troubled waters, he will not let go of the fishing rod until he profits.

  "Let’s go, the others must have arrived. We'll continue at the meeting."

  At the partners' meeting, the topics discussed included the disappearance of Prescribed Dream, Golden Green, and Wicked Fortune, as well as Lawrence's escape. Although they managed to shift the attention toward the sects, the Founding Partner had no choice but to threaten Dark Root's life in front of all the partners. One more problem arising around him, and losing his status as a partner would be the least of his worries.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  There is still an enemy plotting against the Unquenchable Fire Brothel, and they will not rest until they find it!

  "So far, we have not been able to make public the faces of those women because we would reveal our internal problems, but the same does not happen with the faces of these three."

  At the large table, the portraits of three people are handed to each partner.

  "Find Golden Green, Wicked Fortune, and Lawrence. One of them is our enemy!"

  +++

  In the personal dimension.

  Lawrence has his eyes closed, his tranquil gaze occasionally shifts to a troubled one. He has remained like this for about an hour, trying to discover the causes of this storm and eliminate it at the root.

  "Tsk, I can't stop it... Every time I'm about to succeed, something prevents me."

  He opens his eyes and looks up at the sky. This is not his day, only misfortunes have occurred.

  First, he was kidnapped, then they asked him about a woman he doesn't know, and now this. A storm that even he, the owner of this dimension, cannot stop.

  "The only thing I can do is mitigate its effects."

  In a thought, he teleports over the lake, which has received the worst face of this storm. It is overflowing, the beautiful landscape around it has turned into a muddy one, with small streams deriving from it every minute.

  Lawrence creates an image in his mind and then a marvelous event happens in front of him. The land around the lake disappears, all the overflowing water stabilizes, resulting in an enlargement of the lake. If before it was a large lake, now it is an extensive lake.

  A mortal would take dozens of minutes to row from one end to the other.

  His next action is to further balance the storm, increasing the intensity of the rain over the lake and decreasing it in the rest of the personal dimension.

  "I'm not happy with the outcome, but that's the best I can do for now."

  After solving the problem, he heads to the Inferior Plane. Unexpectedly, there is no one waiting for him, his women must be busy dealing with the consequences of this fateful day.

  He extends his senses and can feel Coldness Divine, Golden Green, and Wicked Fortune in the same place. She is torturing Wicked Fortune, and if Golden Green is by her side, it means they managed to manipulate her mind successfully. Although it would have been easier to brainwash him, the torture is no less effective. In fact, it's more satisfying.

  It will take time before they can extract all the information from that guy, so Lawrence decides to go to where Serene Will is.

  Before he can open the door, it is she who does it.

  "Lawrence, this war artifact is really impressive."

  Her innate ability Omniscient View allows her to obtain a detailed description of objects, so when it's time to evaluate an item, there's no one better than her.

  "What do you know about it?"

  Serene Will doesn't hide anything and explains what she has discovered about the war artifact. Lawrence's smile widens with every word he hears.

  "Levels, techniques, innate abilities, inclination towards good or evil, diseases, curses, and a myriad of other characteristics that can be useful if used properly. We will no longer have to rely solely on my mind reading, with just touching this war artifact we can infer a person's life."

  Such an important item has fallen into their hands, having it is no different from having multiple extraordinary innate abilities.

  "Although it's too early to call it a disguised blessing, this has improved my mood..."

  After explaining to Serene Will what happened with the storm in the personal dimension, she frowns. Her innate ability also did not yield good results, she hoped Lawrence could discover something, but even he failed.

  It seems there are still things in this world that simply have no explanation.

  "I can't believe how everything fell apart because of some nameless bitch..."

  Since Coldness Divine's disappearance from the brothel, they decided not to lay their claws on any other woman from that brothel. Lawrence didn’t choose any woman with an extraordinary innate ability to avoid drawing attention, but in the end, a bitch disappeared and they immediately blamed him. Without a backup plan, Lawrence would be dead!

  If Sky Petal and the rest had not previously acquired information about a magic artifact capable of hiding his innate ability, those few hours would not have been enough to achieve it!

  The worst-case scenario was avoided with much luck, but that does not mean this is a better scenario than the previous one. Lawrence has lost his job as a dao protector, he can no longer open a back door to enter the Unquenchable Fire Brothel.

  It is not safe if that stationary door works now that he is on the blacklist.

  "Do you want to try it?"

  His internal thoughts are read by Serene Will, he looks her in the eyes and then sighs. Although he is currently being searched by land, sea, and sky, no one would believe that the fugitive would return by himself to the snake's nest.

  "Why not?"

  Lawrence smiles and creates a Dimensional Rift. "After you."

  "Hmph, your courtesy has a hidden intention."

  Serene Will pretends to be angry and walks towards the Dimensional Rift, the first thing she feels is the rain falling on her body. A second later Lawrence appears and looks at the stationary door in front of them.

  As soon as he creates a Dimensional Rift that connects with the Divine Plane, the stationary door in front of them activates.

  "That stationary door leads to the Unquenchable Fire Brothel, it's our only connection to that place. You can still back out."

  Serene Will doesn't respond. She admires the environment for a few seconds and then makes up her mind.

  She walks through the stationary door and disappears. Her life or death is uncertain.

  Lawrence waits impatiently for her return, but when a minute passes, he clenches his fists. He regrets having fallen for this woman's temptation.

  Now they will have to repeat this damn day once more--!

  "Did I scare you?"

  All his negative thoughts disappear when he sees Serene Will return.

  "The stationary door is working properly, we avoided the worst-case scenario."

  Serene Will's joyful smile makes Lawrence forget her bad joke. He enters through the stationary door and the next moment everything around him darkens. Despite this, he smiles. Because this is the place where he hid the stationary door, hundreds of meters underground.

  After ascending to the surface, he looks around and then his gaze stops in the distance. At the barrier of this sub-space.

  If they managed to return to this place, it means that that barrier is not original to this sub-space.

  Then, who created it? Who could have been capable of creating it?