The three Death Dao cultivators stared at him with hate in their eyes, but his utter lack of spiritual fluctuations was enough to hold them in place. Considering the performance he had just given, there was no reason for them to believe his cultivation was low—quite the contrary.

  This was exactly the result Cade was counting on.

  “Here’s the situation,” he began, his voice measured and calm. “You Death Dao lot want to turn this carcass into a ghoul. Well, I can already tell you that’s not going to happen.” He waved in a theatrical gesture, making a large amount of mist incorporeal and sending it underground. The move revealed a big pile of over twenty unconscious bodies, with muffled screams coming from the bottom.

  The gathered cultivators let out a collective gasp, and the faces of the three Death Dao spies fell. What manner of expert could have dealt with so many second-tier disciples so swiftly?

  “As you can see, there are only three of you left. Our side has three cultivators in early True Core and one in early Muscular Enhancement, and that’s not counting me. Since I’m in a good mood today, leave your storage artifacts, and I’ll let you off. You know your days are numbered anyway.”

  “Hmph! You have no proof, who do you—” Lyra’s words were cut off as Cade slammed his palm on the armrest.

  “Is this carcass really worth dying for? I can get all the proof I need from your skulls,” he said, his voice as cold as a grave. “I can see those little worms wriggling inside your brains. You’ve all been infected only recently. None of you have the means to survive this fight. Leave your rings, or leave your lives.”

  The three glanced at each other, indignation flickering in their eyes. But beneath that, there was something else—fear. No one reached the third tier of cultivation without understanding their own limitations.

  Lyra knew that while her cultivation was the highest here—not counting the unknown armored man, a wild card—with only three of them left, their chances of surviving an all-out battle were slim. After the newcomer neutralized over twenty opponents with seemingly no effort, it became glaringly obvious that they would likely die if a battle broke out. The living would have to pay a price to kill them, but that was little consolation for those on the losing side.

  After exchanging a few whispers, they finally removed their rings. A tendril of mist erupted from Cade’s chest, forming a hand that plucked the three artifacts from Lyra’s palm.

  “Alright. Now scram,” he waved them off.

  “This is not over,” Lyra gritted through her teeth, though her eyes betrayed a flicker of unease as she turned and fled. The two Death Dao cultivators followed closely behind her, their expressions gloomy.

  Cade dissolved his throne, drawing the mist back into his body, then glided to the ground, turning to the remaining cultivators with the pile of unconscious bodies behind him. Beyond Cara, Elanis, and Aria, he recognized another prodigy—a pale-skinned female elf with lustrous dark hair named Syllia. She was a Tower of Arts core disciple, a genius from the Water School, in early True Core. All these people stared at him—some warily, many with gratitude, and only a couple—Cara and Elanis—glowered in silence.

  “Fellow Daoists, I intend to take this carcass,” Cade announced. As he spoke, the gathered cultivators’ faces tensed instantly. Several mouths opened to argue, but he didn’t allow a word. “However! I’m not a thief. Since you all fought and bled for it, it’s only right for me to compensate you. I have over two dozen storage rings here,” Cade opened his armored hand to reveal a large stack of rings, each of different designs and sizes, “which you can distribute among yourselves. There are crystals, cultivation arts, and artifacts inside. I haven’t removed anything. If you don’t take my word for it, send someone you all trust to confirm.”

  He decided to keep three rings for himself. If there were any valuable death arts to be found, they’d undoubtedly be carried by higher-ranked Death Dao members, not these weaklings.

  “And who are you to tell us what we can or cannot take?!” Cara snarled. Elanis, standing behind her, nodded vehemently. She had reached the peak of early Muscular Enhancement thanks to the Spirit Pool but hadn’t broken through. Still, her cultivation was the highest among the gathered disciples. None of the other cultivators appeared offended by his proposal. After all, the carcass was something they’d have to sell anyway, and its condition was uncertain. Its value lay in crystals.

  Cade turned toward her, his empty eye sockets locking on her stubborn gaze. “You might not be aware, but you were on the losing side. I’ve turned the tide, possibly saving your lives. If you can’t understand that, it means you’re stupid, and I have no patience for idiots. I’ll give you three options: fuck off, accept the deal, or fight me to the death.”

  He faced the rest of the disciples. “This applies to all experts here. If you believe you’ll make more from selling the carcass, feel free to try and take it from me. Strength rules. But let me make it clear—I won’t hold back, and I’m not big on mercy.”

  The muscles on Cara’s jaw twitched uncontrollably. She was irate. However, glancing at the others, she didn’t see anyone preparing to back her up. Quite the contrary; most seemed to be mentally spending the crystals from those two dozen rings.

  “Fellow Daoist… may I ask your name?” Syllia stepped forward, cupping her fist.

  “Lao Ren,” Cade answered, and in the periphery of his vision, he saw the corners of Aria’s lips curl up. “Daoist Syllia, right?” He cupped his fist, and the young elf nodded with a pleasant, slightly surprised smile. “You’re free to assess the value of the rings’ contents and tell me yourself if I’m ripping you off.”

  “I’ll do that, then,” Syllia said, approaching him with barely any hesitation, though she remained alert. His armored form towered over her like an ancient crimson giant—Syllia’s head barely reached the lower part of his chest. After slight hesitation, she took the rings from his outstretched hand, removing their spiritual marks one by one and examining their storage spaces. Her eyes occasionally flashed, and gradually her expression softened, her lips forming a genuine smile. She returned the last ring to Cade, then turned to face her battle comrades.

  “Daoist Ren is speaking the truth. These rings have plenty of crystals and other valuable goods that can be sold or auctioned off. We can divide them equally based on estimated value. There’s no way to know how much of that carcass is still usable. What if it’s falling apart? The rings are guaranteed, sizable profit. My suggestion is to go ahead with Daoist Ren’s proposal,” she said brightly.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  They looked at one another, Cara muttering something offensive, but eventually, she relented. Cade sighed, passing her the rings, and watched as the cultivators gathered around her, discussing the spoils. Moments later, no one bothered to glance his way; they were all arguing about distribution. Aria used this opportunity to approach him.

  “Nicely done, Martial Brother,” she whispered, letting out a barely audible chuckle. She covered her mouth to prevent any of the disciples from noticing.

  “Thank you for your kind words, Martial Sister. As cultivators, we can be predictable. When crystals add up to the right amount, we tend to be accommodating,” Cade said, grinning beneath his helmet. “By the way, I saved a ring for you—it’s from one of the True Core disciples who just left.” He flicked his finger, and the diamond-encrusted band slipped silently into Aria’s hand. She lifted her brows and made a gesture to return it, but Cade shook his head. “Please, keep it. Let your Martial Brother treat you to some illicitly appropriated goods.” He had already scanned the ring for death arts and found none; the rest of its contents now belonged to Aria.

  The fey stifled a laugh, covering her mouth. “In that case, thank you for your generosity, Martial Brother. I’ll make sure to repay you when the opportunity arises.”

  Cade nodded, his smile hidden beneath the helmet. Aria returned to the group to ensure her portion of the spoils, and he turned toward the massive, terrifying mantis-ant.

  He wasn’t sure what kind of insect it was exactly or what its strengths were, but he could bet it was at least Rank 4. Being enormous, it must have contained tons of potent blood essence, perfect for his cultivation. Hopefully, it wasn’t as Syllia had warned—rotten. The bubble was now on the cusp of dissipating, and the massive creature was being slowly lowered to the ground as the flow of time accelerated.

  Fortunately, his red band had a vast storage space designed specifically for holding massive beast corpses. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to take it away—and cutting it up wasn’t much of an option given its carapace and presumably high cultivation.

  A resounding thud attracted everyone’s attention as the black mantis-ant was released from its containment amid the quiet fizzle of drained spirit crystals. Cade stretched out his hand, palm forward, sending a flood of blood qi into his red band. It immediately grew scalding hot, devouring his qi and sucking in the complete carcass within a few heartbeats. What remained was a foul, nose-wrenching odor. With a satisfied grunt, Cade turned to face the disciples, who stared wide-eyed.

  “Thank you all for being so reasonable. Please bring those Death Dao disciples to the attention of your Elders, and enjoy your spoils,” the Asura said, cupping his fist toward the group before rising into the air. A wry chuckle escaped him as he noticed a flicker of indecision in Cara’s eyes. She clearly debated whether to follow him, but she couldn’t leave her share of the loot—not when so many cultivation arts were laid out on the ground and barely half the rings had been examined.

  Keep courting death, and the reaper will surely come.

  He wrapped several tendrils of mist around Jade’s body before flying away unhurriedly, heading toward a half-destroyed palace where Reeve and King had agreed to meet him. There was nothing of interest nearby, which was exactly why he chose that location. Once his life sense indicated he had flown far enough, he dissolved his Life Armor, then restored his spiritual fluctuations, setting them to the peak middle stage of Skeletal Reinforcement.

  After landing among the ruins, he glanced at his wristband—the timing was perfect, with a little over half a day left until their meeting. Plenty of time to inspect the rings and get some rest.

  He began by concealing Jade’s incapacitated body. She would remain in stasis for at least a week, and at present, her spiritual fluctuations were barely detectable up close. It would be nearly impossible for anyone to notice her unless they knew exactly where to look.

  Even though Jade had been infected with a death worm, Cade remained hopeful. His intuition told him there had to be a way to remove the worm without harming the princess; he just had to figure out how. Naturally, the first person he turned to was Night.

  “Senior Sister, is it possible to remove a death worm at an early stage of infection?” he asked into his mindscape, confident the spirit’s soul sense would notice.

  “I can’t see why it shouldn’t be possible. It’s just a parasite rich in death laws. Although I personally have little experience with the undead—as I slept through the invasion—I imagine something like your golden tribulation lightning could be ideally suited for this task. Its life-giving property would carry your powerful blood qi, easily overcoming the worm’s death energy. However, you’ll probably need to refine the spirit to the small success stage first,” Night replied after a brief delay, likely busy with Divine Realm matters.

  “So… I should practice and work on my cultivation?” Cade clarified, ensuring he wasn’t misinterpreting her guidance.

  “Exactly. After you enter Wraith Formation, your ability to control golden tribulation lightning will improve significantly on its own, and you’ll be able to start practicing it seriously. Once the spirit’s integration reaches the small success level—and it should happen quickly—you’ll be ready.”

  “Thank you, Senior Sister,” Cade said, energetically cupping his fist. His current understanding of the lightning was elementary, sufficient only to avoid self-harm. But with the path now clear, all that remained was diligent practice.

  After this brief conversation, Cade’s mood lifted further. Until he was capable, he could keep Jade in stasis, though he would eventually need a more permanent solution. A stasis pod would be solid and not overly expensive, but a stasis ring would be far better—if he could afford one.

  After spending time ensuring the princess’s safety under the current circumstances, Cade turned his attention to the two storage rings. His lips curved into a satisfied smile when he saw several bags filled with dozens of mid-grade spirit crystals. He didn’t bother counting them—there were at least a hundred, likely more, equating to at least a million ordinary crystals.

  “Looks like I won’t need to worry about obtaining funds for the moment,” Cade muttered, pocketing the crystals before examining the rings for death arts.

  Unfortunately, he found none. Castien must have been some kind of Death Dao prodigy, granted personal access to their sect’s precious death arts. This explained why he was the only one with a memory crystal in his storage ring. It seemed the undead weren’t egalitarian—similar to every other sect he’d encountered.

  He focused exclusively on Lyra’s ring, hoping to find something useful for mastering his golden lightning, as she was the top disciple of the Tower’s Lightning School. After a quarter of an hour, Cade let out a dejected sigh. The ring contained a variety of artifacts, but all were spiritual in nature—useless to him except for their crystal value. There was nothing to enhance his strength.

  At least poverty is no longer a concern.

  All in all, the trip into the Thousand Life Pavilion Divine Realm had been extremely beneficial, and with only two days remaining, he could finally relax and focus on assisting his friends.

  Yawning, the Asura retrieved a simple bed from his ring. Some time ago, he had set up a basic diagram that sent a pulse of life sense with each breath. Diagram automation was one of the most useful minor techniques he had learned; in this case, it would wake him immediately if anyone entered the range of his life sense. With his mind at peace, Cade closed his eyes and fell asleep almost instantly.

  He dreamed of the godly tribulation, its multicolored lightning obliterating his flesh and organs, only for them to regrow immediately. The cycle repeated endlessly. The pain was vivid, as in Ang War’s memory, but no matter what he tried, he could not wake from the nightmare.

  Then, his dream shifted. He found himself beneath the massive tree with the sprawling, verdant canopy he had seen inside the Immortal Realm. He was seated in a lotus position opposite Ang Yao, who said nothing and merely stared into his eyes. No tribulation struck from above; there was no suffering. It was just him and her, sitting a few feet apart in complete silence, neither able to look away.

  Suddenly, his mind jolted awake. Cade’s head instinctively swiveled as his voracious heart released another pulse of life sense, checking for nearby threats. He immediately noticed King Dong’s unsteady life signature approaching and sprang to his feet, glancing at the wristband. He had been asleep for over ten hours.

  King was approaching alone, looking like he had just endured a harsh battle.