"The Academy expelled Shen!" Annie said furiously.

"What!?" Darius frowned. "Did he commit some crime?"

"No." Annie shook her head and forced the words out through gritted teeth. "It’s Wolf Fang Guild. They sent an envoy named Cody! He brought with him a teacher from the Academy and expelled Shen for no reason at all! He even said... said that it was because Shen was a friend of Big Brother Darius and a member of the Immortal Pavilion."

Instantly, Darius’s eyes became as sharp as swords as rage slowly rose within his heart. He had not even begun selling the pills or expanding his reputation and influence, yet his enemies had already begun targeting him. Not only that, they were planning to do it slowly and painfully, first targeting his members to discourage anyone from ever considering joining him.

’Cunning, truly cunning.’

He had read countless novels in his previous life and had rarely seen villains act this way. They usually came directly to cause trouble at the Pavilion or sought confrontation face-to-face. He had never expected they would be so vicious and cautious in dealing with him.

’Troublesome. I can’t possibly deal with an entire guild unless...’ Darius suddenly paused as he recalled something important. ’Who leaked the information about Moon being the assassin in the first place? No one knew except Moon and ...’

Wait!

The customer was the only other person who knew about this...

"Cody is completely out of control. He had his lackeys injure Shen and force him to lower his head, and the teacher from the Academy actually pretended not to see anything at all! When I saw things getting worse, I immediately rushed here and hoped that Big Brother Darius could uphold justice for Shen!" Annie said as tears welled up in her eyes.

If Shen were truly expelled from the Academy, then he would never be able to hold his head high again. The future of the Pavilion would also become bleak, as very few people would dare approach it. Moreover, Shen’s own prospects would become extremely limited.

A strong fury appeared on Darius’s face.

He had already expected that Luke, his father, or perhaps the people behind the man he had killed would eventually seek revenge. He was not afraid of that. As a cultivator, how could one possibly avoid offending people throughout a lifetime?

Yet Wolf Fang Guild had actually targeted his Pavilion members.

That was simply too shameless.

It was just that he had never expected the enemy seeking him out would be an entire guild. This was by no means a trivial matter. If he wanted to resolve this problem, he needed to do something different. His personal strength was insignificant in this matter, and he would need to use the rules to his advantage.

Still, despite all of that, he was genuinely shocked that they had targeted his members.

’Is this even a cultivation world? Why are the supposed villains so cunning?’

Thinking this, Darius felt a headache coming on.

It seemed he had taken this life far too lightly, especially with the broken cheats granted by the Pavilion System and the Supreme Pavilion Master Set. In fact, he had taken things so easily that he still had one hundred and ten years of accumulated power sitting unused on his panel, waiting for the pill ingredients to arrive so he could maximize the benefits and save even more power.

Suddenly, the cold and robotic System notification rang inside his ears, causing an unusual grin to spread across his face.

"Ding! A member of the Immortal Pavilion has been targeted."

"Ding! Host, remember that this is a fantasy world. Power is everything. No matter how much help the System can provide, everything ultimately depends on how powerful and cunning you are."

"Mission: Temporarily close business operations and deal with the problem."

"If the members of the Immortal Pavilion are targeted without consequence, then the Pavilion will never attract visitors again. Take this opportunity to show the various forces of Dragon City that you are not someone to be trifled with. Otherwise, no one will dare accept missions from the Pavilion anymore."

"Rewards: One Fragment of the Supreme Pavilion Master Set."

"Additional Reward: ?????!!!!???"

Fire burned inside Darius’s heart.

The anger he had been feeling was quickly washed away by the System mission, but he also understood why the System had reacted this way.

Just as it had said, if this truly happened to Shen and eventually to the other members as well, Wolf Fang Guild would spread the matter throughout Dragon City. Once that happened, no one would dare take Pavilion missions anymore.

Not only that, but once all his members disappeared, they would eventually target and eliminate him as well.

’So ruthless.’

Darius chuckled. ’But you messed with the wrong enemy. I’m not nearly as easy to bully as you think.’ Looking at the panel, Darius waved his hand toward Annie and instructed her.

"Do not do anything. Wait for me here. I’ll be back shortly, and then we’ll go together." He was about to head upstairs when he suddenly halted and turned around to look at John. "If your decision is what I expect it to be, sign that paper and wait here for me. If not, then you may leave. Your life belongs to you."

He did not bother checking the potential Guardian’s reaction before quickly heading toward the second floor.

No matter what was said or done, being too soft or too harsh would only push people away. One had to remain somewhere in the middle.

Darius had no intention of bootlicking John.

If John wanted the benefits offered by the Pavilion, then Darius was more than willing to provide them. But if he had other plans, then it had simply been nice meeting him. There would always be another Guardian.

Annie repeatedly nodded her head.

No matter what, she had no one else she could rely on in this situation. Even her master could only swallow his anger. Although Wolf Fang Guild was considered a low-tier guild, its strength was by no means weak, and its influence throughout Dragon City was quite considerable.

Knowing all of this, Annie obediently sat down at one of the tables and waited.

Sitting on his bed, Darius’s eyes flashed with excitement as he spoke.

"Use four years of power to enhance the Golden Bell Shield!"

Earlier, he had used three years of power to break through to the Fifth Layer of the Golden Bell Shield. With only the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Layers remaining, four years should be enough to push it all the way to the peak Ninth Layer.

However, the outcome was not what Darius had expected.