The exploration of a place crawling with magical beasts stronger than Liam wasn’t sothing he could tackle lightly.
Liam couldn’t change the number of resources in his possession. Yet, he could devise a plan worthy of a seasoned hunter, as well as improve where he could.
The incomplete map gave Liam much to work with. The Mutated Battlefield’s layout wasn’t complicated, but the magical beasts that lived there made it extrely perilous.
Still, albeit probably outdated, the information about the place’s packs helped a great deal. Liam could devise a strategy with that, which had to remain fluid until he checked how much he could rely on the incomplete map.
Devising the strategy took Liam no ti, which didn’t apply to the other project. The circulation technique was necessary to improve his just-discovered Qi mastery level, and each training session lasted hours on end.
But ti wasn’t really an issue for Liam. He had to wait for the chaos of the outbreak to stabilize anyway, and the longer he remained hidden, the more lost anyone searching for him would be.
Of course, the possibility that Maxwell could pick Liam up during that ti existed. Liam had guessed that his Senior Brother would wait until the last possible mont since it would be safer for him, but plans could change.
Still, if that happened, Liam would bla his luck. He was already planning on doing sothing reckless. Worsening the odds out of impatience would be courting death.
Truth be told, if the Mutated Battlefield had packs of cultivators instead of magical beasts, Liam wouldn’t have even considered the idea.
However, the fact that the danger involved magical beasts played to Liam’s expertise, bringing a modicum of confidence. Unlike the ruins, the Mutated Battlefield was also an open space. It wasn’t a mountain, but Liam could definitely work with it in far better fashion.
By the second day spent doing nothing but resting, cultivating, and smoking, Liam had resud wearing his robe and pouch. He didn’t plan to leave yet, but he believed it was good to be ready.
Nevertheless, when the morning of the fifth day arrived, sothing snapped Liam out of his ditation. He obviously didn’t know the exact ti, but that had little value when a tremor spread inside the underground chamber.
Nothing similar had ever happened in the previous days, but Liam didn’t panic. He didn’t know the full extent of that chamber’s capabilities, so the explanations for that tremor could be countless, and most wouldn’t demand a response.
However, a second tremor soon followed, more violent than the first, even opening a small crack in the ceiling. Liam snapped to his feet at that sight, not knowing what was happening, but ready for it.
Liam had put aside the book and most of his remaining food, and his stash of poisonous powder had grown smaller after those days, allowing him to fit everything else in his pouch or robe.
Only the strips of inscribed paper were left, which Liam quickly retrieved from the various surfaces and stuffed inside his pouch before his attention returned to the ceiling.
’Ally or enemy?’ Liam wondered, placing himself under the crack, which began to leak red water when a third tremor expanded it.
In either case, Liam’s plan of action would be the sa. He was in top condition and had been ready to leave for days. He would have resurfaced on his own tomorrow, so it was all a matter of facing that disturbance.
’At least I’m not breaking anyone’s orders like this,’ Liam thought, finding a positive aspect in the unexpected event. The Sect wouldn’t be able to punish his greed if sothing else was to bla for his early departure from his hiding spot.
When the fourth tremor arrived, the crack collapsed into a hole that opened more fissures through the ceiling. Plenty of red water flowed down, too, almost hindering the sunlight shining onto the now-dark room.
The connection with the surface updated Liam’s perception, but he jumped while his mind was still absorbing the new information, rising through the falling water and kicking himself away as soon as he found mud.
The direction of the kick wasn’t random. Liam pushed himself away from the presences that had touched his perception, only to stop when they also moved, encircling him.
Liam could now see the morning, as well as the place’s condition. Clear traces of battle had marked the swamp, and a handful of huge, horrid corpses even floated on the shallow waters.
Yet, the figures right around Liam imdiately claid his attention. Two red robes, one yellow, one green, and one dark grey had surrounded him, solving his previous doubt.
Sohow, four foundation experts from the other Sects had found Liam, and that wasn’t the end since the red duo featured a familiar face.
"Did you really think you could hide?" Cecilia snickered. "Liam, I told you the Crimson Warrior Sect wouldn’t have forgotten about you."
Liam showed no fear in the face of a hostile rooting expert. He acknowledged the danger but had never been readier to face it.
If anything, Liam doubts involved sothing else.
’How did they find ?’ Liam wondered. ’Was it a perception technique?’
Liam was ready to put that doubt aside when he noticed sothing oddly familiar in the man next to Cecilia’s hands. He wielded the sa glass shard Liam had found in the blue rooting expert’s pouch, but hid it in a hurry once he spotted that look.
Before the suspicious gesture could give Liam any clue, Cecilia took a step forward, hiding her Junior Brother, her closer vicinity reclaiming her opponent’s attention.
"Nothing?" Cecilia asked. "No pleas for your life? Not even an insulting remark like the last ti?"
Naturally, Liam couldn’t rember anything insulting about his previous interactions with Cecilia, but flagged those words as pleasantries and ignored them, focusing solely on the threat.
And Cecilia saw that readiness to fight behind Liam’s cold, resolute face, finding it more insulting than anything he had ever done before.
"Such gall!" Cecilia snorted. "Didn’t they teach you to bow your head before your Seniors? Did you let that little talent you were born with go to your head?"
Liam had to suppress the urge to check if anything was on his head, which wasn’t hard in the current situation. He had already decided that he couldn’t understand Cecilia’s words anyway.
Liam’s silent and resolute stance deepened Cecilia’s anger. He truly seed to believe he could fight a cultivator in a higher stage, which was insulting to her and the cultivation world’s hierarchy as a whole.
"See this as a blessing," Cecilia smirked. "Once my Elders are done with you, you will have learned the respect superior cultivators are owed."
Cecilia was about to take another step when Liam suddenly widened his eyes, even diverting them in thought, looking slightly hesitant.
"Oh!" Liam exclaid, having just recalled sothing, looking at the rooting expert in front of him again. "There is sothing I should say first."
Cecilia didn’t like Liam’s nonchalance, but stopped anyway. Words from him were good since she could twist them to her benefit.
After all, Cecilia still had the audience to consider. They were only foundation experts, but it was always better to achieve plausible deniability.
"The Pale Moon Sect’s Alchemy Elder is my Master," Liam revealed. "I’m Horace Rauret’s personal disciple."
Liam had yet to understand the whole face topic fully, but his Master had told him to use his na in tough situations, so he figured he would try.
And, to Liam’s surprise, the revelation had evident effects. The four foundation experts wore shocked faces, exchanging hesitant looks. Even Cecilia was taken aback, remaining stunned and silent.
However, Cecilia couldn’t remain still for long since the four foundation experts soon looked at her, silently questioning her. They belonged to different Sects, but Cecilia’s strength made her the leader of that collusion, and only she could decide on that tricky matter.
Cecilia hesitated a bit longer, even gulping in tension. The matter had suddenly beco far bigger than her. Angering the expert all the neighboring Sects relied upon was ntal, but she quickly found a different side to the matter.
That whole ploy was to remove soone with the potential to disrupt the balance among the six Sects. Now, that very soone even risked to inherit the skills to monopolize the alchemical concoctions they relied upon.
The threat Liam posed had just skyrocketed, convincing Cecilia that she had to do everything in her power to prevent that future from happening.
"This is great," Cecilia exclaid, a mad smile broadening on her face. "Juniors, this is our chance to escape the Pale Moon Sect’s future alchemical monopoly!"
The foundation experts didn’t look too convinced, but one glare from Cecilia forced them to wear battle stances.
"Your Master’s injury must have driven him mad," Cecilia declared. "To think he was stupid enough to believe we would have let soone succeed him!"
’They also know about Master’s injury,’ Liam thought, not really surprised anymore by how far and quickly information spread in the cultivation world.
Still, Liam also noticed the foundation experts lower their heads despite their battle stances. Even Cecilia’s Junior Brother didn’t feel too comfortable appearing resolute when she was insulting a literal Elder.
And Liam also felt sothing else. Unlike what cultivators tended to claim, what Cecilia had said now was a proper, clear insult, and Liam didn’t like how it targeted his Master.
Due to Cecilia’s presence, Liam had initially planned to wait for her move to maximize the surprise effect, but no more. He felt the need to be proactive to repay his Master for lighting the spark of desire inside him.
"Three should be enough," Liam calculated loudly, "But I’ll use four to be safe."
Before Cecilia could ask what Liam was talking about, he snapped his right arm downward, and his figure disappeared, replaced by a vast, advancing tide of dark smoke.
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