Theron moved like a shadow through the streets. If one looked at him now, it would feel as though he was a fleeting shadow, his body splitting into strands of black fog and white breath beneath the cool night air.
But no one did see him.
It was like he didn’t exist at all.
In silence, the Nightingale Ancestor Bird watched Theron from afar, feeling sowhat incredulous. Theron didn’t feel like soone who had been with the Dark Elent all their life. His progress in the last few weeks was too much.
Now, he felt like a master of the elent, as though it had been ingrained into his very soul.
There had been sothing contradictory about Theron’s existence that the Ancestor had never been able to reconcile. Theron was such a genius, but why was his Dark Mana Control so lacking? Why did he feel like a newbie every ti he activated the energy?
While his Water Mana Resonance was weak compared to the top-level beings, when it ca to Water Mana Control... the Ancestor could say with quite so confidence that it had never t a Water Mancer better than Theron.
Given its experience, just this conclusion was shocking beyond reason, and it made one question why his Dark Mana wasn’t at the sa level.
Could it be that Theron really hated his Dark Mancer side? But there hadn’t been much of a transition between now and then, so what changed?
No matter how the Nightingale Ancestor Bird looked at things, it almost felt like Theron was soone who had only recently gotten the Dark Elent, and now, with his genius...
He was swiftly becoming one of the best of the best.
But that conclusion... it was sothing that the Nightingale Ancestor Bird couldn’t reconcile with.
...
A looming figure slowly walked into the King Inn, so tall in stature that the door fra’s header almost blocked his path forward. Yet, in an odd sight, the fra itself bent out of the way to accommodate his size as though his aura alone was enough to force reality to conform to his will.
The rchant King.
The receptionist imdiately stood to her full height, her spine having never been straighter.
In the last day, the rchant King had made no attempt to contact her, so there had never been an opportunity to inform him that they had lost a year of their revenue.
Although, technically speaking, the rchant King had given her unilateral ability to make decisions of that magnitude, that didn’t an she was looking forward to breaking the news to him.
The rchant King swept a gaze over her, calm and indifferent. If the Shonagh Clan was already aware of what happened, how could he not be aware? What he wasn’t aware of just yet was what sort of price she had paid in order for this matter to go away so silently.
Without a word, the receptionist hurried to hand over a jade that had concisely described all such information. At their cultivation levels, communication with the soul was far more efficient than communication with words. What might have taken her hours to describe by word of mouth could be consud by soone as powerful as the rchant King in a few seconds through a jade.
Chi.
The jade cracked in the rchant King’s hand, pinched between his thumb and forefinger.
The revenue was one thing—he could almost not care about that. This wasn’t his only inn, and inns weren’t his only stream of revenue either. This loss could be easily eaten.
This much was obvious considering they had the liquid funds necessary to pay Theron imdiately and without delay. The receptionist hadn’t even needed a day or two to co up with the funds.
What touched the rchant King’s bottom line was the fact that Theron was still here.
What was this if not a slap to his face? A re Gold Mancer didn’t even fear him enough to scurry away like a rat?
The rchant King knew exactly why it was the receptionist had allowed this despite the loss of face.
For one, it was a chance to regain their reputation. If Theron chose to stay here, it ant that he didn’t believe the King Inn was involved.
Second, it allowed them to keep tabs on him. So long as he continued to return here, they would have a good gauge of his movents even if they couldn’t perfectly monitor him.
All things considered, she had made the smart choice. It was the reason why the rchant King trusted her to make such important, sweeping decisions.
But deep inside, the rchant King could feel that Theron was aware of this as well. That was why he had made the proposal in the first place.
And it was also why he knew that staying here was actually a protective shield for him.
So long as he continued to return, the King Inn’s reputation would slowly be rebuilt, while they wouldn’t dare to touch him.
"Good... good..."
The deep, rumbling voice of the rchant King shook the air, the lights of the lobby flickering for a mont as though an earthquake was sweeping through.
Considering the King Inn was built of material even sturdier than the pavilion had been... the rchant King’s power went completely without saying.
He had never been so thoroughly infuriated by a Gold Mancer before.
...
Theron wasn’t aware that the rchant King had only just found out about the revenue share between them, but even if he had known, it would hardly change much of anything.
He was used to walking a tightrope of life and death, and as the saying went, it was often safer to keep your enemies closer.
His steps ca to a pause as he stopped right in front of a building.
’What a coincidence. This explains quite a lot, now doesn’t it?’
Theron had found the assassin’s guild.
Its location?
None other than the very pavilion he had saved Chen in just this morning.
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