Noah came out of the Broken Cup in a hurry.

His hair was messy and disheveled and his robe was untidy and open in many spots.

Yet, Noah didn't seem to care and ran directly from the gate leading to the countries of the empire.

'That damned woman will cause me troubles for sure!'

It was with those thoughts in mind that he hurried for the gate, it was time to leave Slyfall!

Meanwhile, back in the underground room of the tavern.

Gillian was still laying naked on a bed, pensively looking at fifty thousand Credits that were in front of her.

"Was he to your liking, Matriarch?"

A waitress neared the bed, handing Gillian a clean robe and her pipe.

"Well, yes, he was less inexperienced than I thought. Yet, he kept on interrupting the positions required for my technique, he maintained his awareness of me even while we were at it."

The waitress opened her eyes in disbelief and covered her mouth with one hand.

"Matriarch, don't tell me, did he discover our secret technique?"

Gillian shook her head and took the pipe from the bed.

"No, the diagrams of the Charming Demon Sect are long lost, the orthodox sects of the Papral nations have made sure of it when we were forced to escape. He must have simply felt the danger coming from our positions."

The waitress heaved a sigh of relief.

"Then, what should we do about him?"

Gillian took a long drag from her pipe and stared absentmindedly at the walls of the underground room for a while.

"I didn't manage to absorb any of his yang during our intercourse but he was still tainted with the scent of the Pink Rose, tracking him shouldn't be a problem."

She fell silent again, taking her time to slowly smoke.

"Go after him and retrieve the item, he should also have a considerable number of Credits due to how detached he was with his purchase."

The waitress bowed and turned to follow her orders but Gillian continued to speak.

"Oh, try to capture him. He has such a strong body for his age, I'm sure he can survive our cultivation method for many years."

The waitress bowed again and disappeared in the darkness of the room, leaving Gillian alone on her bed.

.

.

.

Noah left the city of Slyfall, a few thousand Credits had to be spent to bribe the soldier appointed for that gate but that wasn't a problem for Noah.

He didn't really care if the investigations of the Royals would ultimately reach that city, he was sure that they couldn't operate so openly in another area of influence.

'I have finally managed to escape the domain of the Utra nation, there should be only nations affiliated with the Shandal Empire from now on.'

Noah had finally escaped the area of influence of the Elbas family!

However, there was no happiness or relief in his expression.

'That damned woman, she has actually tried to use me for a demonic technique! Having sex with her is a thing but being part of her cultivation technique? She can just keep dreaming.'

Gillian was quite beautiful, he didn't mind her request too much.

Yet, he had already noticed that something was wrong with her gestures but he didn't pay much attention to it while they were conversing.

However, after they had laid in bed, she had started performing strange positions which alerted Noah's senses.

'I couldn't even enjoy it because I had to change position every time to interrupt her The map is the real deal at least.'

He had bought the most expensive item of the three and he was pleasantly surprised by its quality.

The map depicted the entire continent and highlighted all the known danger zones.

Also, it had the geopolitical division of each country and one could use his mental energy to inspect what information the map held.

The information mostly regarded their alliances and other general aspects but the owner of the map could add more details if he wanted.

The only flaw of the map was that it didn't show any detail of the three big nations, there were basically three large empty spots on the picture of the continent.

However, that was far more than enough for Noah.

'With this, I can stop running blindly in other countries and can actively choose a route. The only problem is, will Gillian let me go?'

The reason why he left in such a hurry was that he wasn't sure about Gillian's reaction.

He had done his best to please her without endangering himself but that didn't mean that he was out of troubles.

'Killing her wasn't an option, I can't just fight her in her own home and hope to escape the city afterward. Also, the maps were locked by the inscriptions on the tables, I needed her to be willing to hand them to me.'

Noah reviewed the events of the previous night before shaking his head.

'I did everything I could, now it's up to her. Well, if she really decides to rob me, I will just kill them all.'

Noah didn't think that Gillian would personally come to rob him, her position seemed quite important in that secret market, she couldn't just leave it.

'She seemed strong but I should have hidden my power quite well, there is a high chance that she will underestimate me.'

Noah had, after all, the aspect of a young man, most of the people that met him wouldn't believe about the rank of his centers of power.

'It is better if I don't make many stops though, I should get away from here first.'

The city of Slyfall was quite isolated from the society and the mountain range repelled strong magical beasts, preventing danger zones to form.

Basically, the area around the city was quite deserted.

'Dammit, they have come already.'

Noah felt ten presences in the distance that had their focus on him.

'I should let them follow me for a while, they might have reinforcements in the city, I'll just wait till I reach that mountain to kill them.'

Noah's eyes shone with a cold light as he continued to run with his usual hurried pace toward a mountain in the distance.