Chapter 135: Introduction
’That’s how they cooperated so perfectly,’ Liam realized. ’That’s how they found
afterward. That’s how even distant Sects learn things instantly.’
The last point had nothing to do with Liam’s current predicant but had been a topic he had been wary about ever since Carl from the Recruiters Guild tested his talent.
Everything about the cultivation world was straight-up magical, so it made sense for forms of communication to be in that category, too. Liam had always suspected that, and tangible proof had arrived.
As for the current predicant, Liam found the claim reliable since it explained Cecilia’s Junior Brother’s suspicious gesture. Still, he needed to ask another question before letting go of his prey.
"Why are you alone?" Liam questioned, his killing intent inevitably receding.
"Senior Cecilia split us up!" The green foundation expert replied in a hurry, not noticing that he was partially saved already. "To encircle you! I had to take a longer route due to the lairs!"
That also made sense. Liam’s many twists and turns had been due to that higher population of magical beasts, but a different point stood out in that revelation.
Cecilia and the others were coming, so Liam couldn’t waste ti.
"Stay down," Liam ordered, jumping back and diving his free hand into his pouch, retrieving the glass shard and showing it to the foundation expert. "Were you talking about this?"
"That’s the shard of the See-through Mirror," The young man confird, nodding while holding the spot where the knife had been.
Liam’s next gesture made the foundation expert gasp. As soon as the confirmation arrived, Liam slamd his wooden knife down, repeating the action and increasing his strength since the item kept resisting the assault.
By the fourth attack, the shard gained cracks. The fifth widened them, and the sixth finally pierced the glass, which leaked Qi as it shattered into many pieces that fell into the red waters.
The foundation expert couldn’t believe his eyes, only managing to mutter when Liam wiped the remaining shards off his palm. "That was the Crimson Warrior Sect’s treasure."
"The what?" Liam casually asked, his eyes snapping on his surroundings, checking if anyone else was coming.
"The See-through Mirror is a precious item the Crimson Warrior Sect has held on to for a long ti," The foundation expert explained before lowering his voice. "Its shards are limited and can’t be fixed."
Liam could understand that. A magical item’s rank didn’t always describe its value. Useful exceptions like that communication device existed, but Liam couldn’t see how that involved him.
"They used it against ," Liam said with the sa nonchalance as earlier, "So I broke it."
Things were really that simple in Liam’s mind. The mont sothing ssed with him, he felt every right to do what he wanted with it. That applied to items and people’s lives. It was only fair, especially when Liam hadn’t done anything to earn that enmity.
Nevertheless, the matter revealed a more important point. For the Crimson Warrior Sect to share such a valuable item, its role in the collusion had to be big. It might have even started it to begin with.
’Crimson Warrior Sect,’ Liam thought, killing intent returning to his face, terrifying the foundation expert when he approached him, only for his fears to be unfounded.
"We have to move," Liam ordered, pulling the foundation expert up from his collar.
Relief washed over the foundation expert, prompting him to share his strategy. "My Senior Sister and Brother planned a safe area near the Battlefield’s exit. If we hurry-."
"I’m going deeper," Liam interrupted, already departing. "Hurry. On the trees."
Liam jumped before the foundation expert could say anything else, his hunter’s mindset in full display. He climbed a nearby tree, already leaping toward the next one by the ti the young man realized what was happening.
The foundation expert could only chase after Liam, panicking at the sight of his distancing figure. He followed Liam’s orders, climbing trees and moving through them, but his advance left much to be desired.
’It’s like with Adrian all over again,’ Liam sighed internally as endless snapping noises reached his ears. He hadn’t expected his newfound companion to be as good as him, but being quieter when people were chasing them would have been appreciated.
Sadly, the foundation expert failed to realize that point.
"Liam!" The young man cried. "Liam, wait for !"
Liam held back a curse as he crossed a few more trees before stopping on a tall branch. He quickly oriented himself, eventually turning to look at the ss the foundation expert was making.
’How can cultivators be so clumsy?’ Liam wondered.
It turned out the foundation expert wasn’t even trying to be quiet. He simply jumped from trunk to trunk, dismissing any branch that snapped at his passage and fell into the red waters.
Yet, the young man only showed a bright smile when he slamd on Liam’s trunk, clinging to it while looking up at him.
"I’m humbled, Fellow Daoist," The young man praised. "Your Qi mastery must be unmatched among foundation experts."
’Was I that fast?’ Liam considered, realizing that the increasing distance wasn’t only about the man’s poor climbing speed. ’But I know I can get faster.’
Liam couldn’t help but look down at himself. Lucy had shown a similar surprise at his first attempt at the circulation technique. It seed his divine talent played a role in that aspect of the Qi, too.
’Right, my body is more suitable for the Qi,’ Liam recalled sothing from his lessons. ’The body is the soil after all.’
The finding was good, but useless now. Liam had more pressing problems to tackle. He hadn’t put as much distance from the tracked area as he would have liked, but the ti to address his new companion had co.
"Help
understand sothing," Liam said. "Why is the Swallowing Forest Sect helping ?"
"I’m not sure," The foundation expert admitted, slowly reaching for a nearby branch to imitate Liam’s stance. "The order ca from the Elders. Maybe our Sects made a deal, or there’s enmity with the Crimson Warrior Sect I’m not aware of."
’Politics,’ Liam cursed in his mind, feeling so annoyance in being caught in a ga far bigger than him that didn’t take into consideration his opinions or desires.
"And how did you plan to help with Cecilia?" Liam questioned.
Despite the politics, that support was good. It seed that the Pale Moon Sect had prepared more than Maxwell to protect Liam. He just didn’t know how useful that clumsy foundation expert could be.
"I had to give you this to allow you to escape to my Seniors," The young man said, supporting himself on the trunk with one hand while using the other to open his green robe, revealing a cracked, rectangular pendant.
Liam tilted his head in confusion, but the young man promptly followed with an explanation. "This is what stopped your magical weapon earlier."
’Oh!’ Liam realized. ’It was a life-saving magical item then.’
Of course, Liam didn’t feel bad about breaking the item. The Swallowing Forest Sect should have expressed its support earlier if it didn’t want Liam to attack.
If anything, Liam felt good that his knowledge was finally allowing him to keep up with the cultivation world, leading him to his last doubt.
"I found this following a map from the Rising Waterfall Sect’s disciple," Liam revealed, drawing the pouch found in the trunk. "It’s full of level two magical beasts’ cores. Why were they hidden?"
The foundation expert gasped, imdiately believing Liam and voicing a complaint. "Those cheaters! The Rising Waterfall Sect must have hidden them to ensure its victory in the following missions. It’s manipulating the stakes to earn big in one win!"
Liam wasn’t big on gambling, but that practice happened in Krosstoen village, so he knew how it worked, allowing him to guess the sort of plan that Sect had.
Betting everything in the mission that the Rising Water Sect was sure to win would recoup any incurred losses to prepare it.
’I guess it’s worth collecting more of these,’ Liam decided, storing the pouch. As long as it hurt his enemies, he would pursue sothing he still didn’t know how to benefit from.
Still, as Liam was about to resu the journey through the trees, the foundation expert seed to rember sothing. He even let go of the trunk, fighting through his poor balance to cup his fist and bow down.
"Liam, I apologize for the late introduction," The young man declared. "Mitchell from the Swallowing Forest Sect greets Horace Rauret’s disciple. I’m at your service."
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