Chapter 66: Chapter 5 – A Conspiracy

(Author's Note: NON-EDITED CHAPTER!)

I formed a mind link and connected it with Cai Yi this time, "Have you been to Vance city before?"

Hearing my voice coming out of nowhere, she seemed stunned at first since this was the first time that I used Mind link on her, but she quickly understood and replied, "No I have not, but I had seen pictures of it and this is the road leading to it."

Pictures? I had no idea why this struck me as odd, maybe the medieval setting with the carriage and horses. I did not except to hear pictures, but it was not the time to waste on unimportant matters.

Also, goddamn finally a long sentence from Cai Yi.

"So, I suppose it's safe from here with the carriages leading the way?", I asked because I had to go bring back Shams and wondered if I could leave them to continue alone till I catch up with them.

"Yes, it should be.", After that she went along and passed the message. Jia looked at me and nodded and they continued walking across the fields on their own while I waited for a bit to make sense nothing goes wrong in their way there.

I flew towards the top of a tree while Cai Yi waited below, as I kept following them with my eyes. After I made sure they arrived behind the moving caravan and nothing seemed to be wrong I jumped down.

"Ok, let's go!", I let Cai Yi jumped on my back and hurriedly retracted my steps.

Thankfully, the map had an ability of being able to save whatever it had come into contact with, so finding the correct way back was not an issue.

However, I was worried about that man and donkey. But, I had a slave's imprint and quote on quote my master was on my back.

It did not take me a while to arrive at the previous place where we met him, because previously I had to fly a bit slowly due to the nature of the bag I was carrying. But now, I could fly at my maximum speed.

I looked in the forest's direction and continued flying. Closing my eyes, I could sense that Shams was still there unmoving.

I hurriedly entered the forest and followed my senses.

-Ding-Ding-Ding!

Then, I suddenly heard the system's alarm. But, I did not check and just continued after all Shams was above Foundation Establishment so he met the conditions.

As I approached the place I sensed he was in, I sensed something with my High Spirit attribute.

Humans!

Their energy was somehow always different than that of monster, it had a different fragrance.

I hurriedly opened the map, only to find that northeast from my position there were three big blue dots surrounding a flickering green dot!

I knew all too well what all of that meant.

Three unindentified humans stronger than Mid Foundation Establishment surrounding Shams. I immediately focused my gaze on those dots to see what was happening.

I closed my eyes, and soon enough I started seeing what was happening, but the moment I did I was livid!

Shams was deep down in a hole, body covered with blood. His right front limb and right leg's bones were detached from his body and tilted in an unnatural way. However, what made me furious what those people were doing.

They were sitting by the hole and playing some type of card game, and whenever someone won they'd put what looked like a wheel of steel on top of him. From what I heard from them, they were also betting for who would place the most steel cases on top of him thus play a bigger role in his death.

What the fuck was wrong with these people?

Shams already had three of those steel wheels on top of him, he seemed to be in extreme agony suffocated under all of that weight with an already severly injured body.

Also seeing how slow one round was, I could tell that they were here for a while. I could not help but feel guilty at leaving the poor guy.

A vicious glint appeared in my eye and a smirk could not help but naturally form, from my previous experience with the bandits I knew how much I liked making these types of people get a taste of their own medicine.

Since the forest was dark, I was once again at my peak form. I opened my Skill menu and directly upgraded Fiery Charge from Advanced to Perfection using 9 points.

[Fiery Charge(Active): Once activated the user will be set in flames of their main element for 8 seconds. Deals Intelligence(x4) in damage in a 8 meter radius. Cost (150MP) |Advanced|]

[Fiery Charge(Active): Once activated the user will be set in flames of their main element for 15 seconds. Deals Intelligence(x5) in damage in a 15 meter radius. Cost (70MP) |Perfection|]

Seeing the huge transformation when it reached the Perfection realm, my smile got even wider.

Especially the increase in damage. I had a total of 187 Intelligence, which would deal a staggering 935 a second.

The previous apprehension I had towards facing three High Foundation Establishment for the first time instantly vanished, because I already had a plan in mind.

"Cai Yi, there are three strong people ahead. I want you to go there and just act naturally, it'll be risky but don't be afraid. I would not let anything harm you ok?", I looked at her with a serious gaze and asked her to volunteer.

"Okay, sure.", She replied without even batting an eye. That was what I liked about her, it seemed like her close shave with death made her so courageous that some might even on the verge of being suicidal. She just did not give a fuck anymore.

Hearing her reply I smiled, then I directly entered her shadows and hid there.

As Cai Yi was walking towards them slowly, I was still using my map's function and observing them only to see them add another steel wheel on top of the others.

Shams below made a low grunt due to the sheer pain they were feeling, which made them all break into laughter.

"Laugh all you want for now.", I muttered under my breath.

The oldest one of the bunch was a bit on the heavy side with a bald head and a full thick beard and a scar across his face and had two nail like earing, he was standing at two meters tall and looked very tough.

The other man was had medium length dark brown hair pushed back with a clean shave and a gorgeous robe, he looked refined. He was neither skinny nor burly he just seemed average, but I knew that he was the strongest one of the bunch.

The woman looked to be her early thirties, she had a long red hair tied into a ponytail, wearing what looked like a spandex suit just more durable and had a quiver and a bow by her side.

I hurriedly appraised the stronger one of the bunch to see.

[Appraised Target: Tan Zhen

Cultivation Realm: Foundation Establishment(High)

Health Points(HP): 478/478
Magic Power(MP/Mana): 497/497
Spiritual Power(SP): 355/355

Magical Resistance: 75
Physical Resistance: 68
Spiritual Resistance: 51

Vitality: 217
Strength: 221
Stamina: 198
Intelligence: 233
Agility: 226
Spirit: 177

]

Seeing his Stats I was indeed a bit of stunned since this was the strongest person I had ever encountered, but if there was one thing I gained in my weeks on the dark forest hunting by myself was confidence in my ability and how to to best use them. Especially now that I learned a new trick.

As Cai Yi, got closer the party of three all turned their heads at the same time.

Tan Zhen was the first speak, "What's a tiny Body Refinement weakling doing here on her own?", But he quickly lost interest and continued playing while yelling for the others to hurry up and play as well.

The woman also quickly lost interest and continued played and she did not say anything about Cai Yi's presence.

The tall and bald guy was the only one who thought differenly, "Why are all of you guys stupid? Why would someone as weak as her just barge in to the outskirts of the Still Hollow forest if there was not something wrong with them?", He stopped playing and had a focused look on his face as he looked at Cai Yi's direction. Then, he continued, "And the way she's just walking very slowly is all the more strange."

Hearing that Tan Zhen roared with laughter, "Hey Old Wang, the rumors about you are true. Since that last job you did you became more and more cowardly. Relax, we were just asked to investigate and the nobles said act as if you did. Nothing dangerous why are you all jumpy?"

When I heard their conversation and from something Jia told me about in our first meeting, a bold and terrible idea popped into my head.

'Could it be?' I thought.

The bald guy did not seem to mind what the other guy was saying, but he stood up and walked in our direction.

Shit! This was not good for me, I needed them to stay close together. Who would have thought this guy was going through something making him all paranoid that he stood up to look out for a Body Refinement.

I made a mind link and hurriedly intsurcted Cai Yi, "Someone is coming. Act normal, but I need to go back with them and make him get closer to the other two if you can."

Hearing that, she nodded.

Fuck!

The moment the bald guy saw her nod her head he grabbed a big hammer from his storage ring and dashed in her direction. He was planning to kill her merely based on some ungrounded suspicious, he did not care at all.

Seeing him charing wildly, the other two thought he saw something serious so they are stood up and brandished their weapons, but they did not rush to his aid.

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The bald guy was getting taller and burlier with every step he took, once he was less than five meters from Cai Yi he was a mini giant of a ten meters tall with red eyes.

The previously huge hammer now looked relatively tiny.

Cai Yi started running from the direction she came from, but her speed was incomparable to a High Foundation Estbalishment cultivator, even one who was at its lower ranks.

When the bald guy was less than a meter from her, his hammer suddenly started radiating with red lights that jumped towards Cai Yi making her unable to move. The hammer was raised set on smashing her to pieces.

[Shadow Clone]

I hurriedly let out my clone who had 60% of my offensive attributes and launched both Predator's WarCry and Piercing Gaze at the same time.

It was also worth mentioning that sixty percent of my 306 Spirit attribute was a whopping 183, something even the strongest one of the group did not have.

The hammer that was about to smash Cai Yi into mince meat suddenly lost all of its previous might and vigor, then with a thud fell to the ground. The bald guy did not fall but his arms lost all control as they dangled by the side of his body. I hurriedly took advantage of that opening and sent several Wind blades towards his chest and neck area.

All of them landed but the damage they did was very insignificant since he seemed to be wearing a Low Foundation Armor underneath his clothes.

Thanks to my main body's acute senses, I was able to dodge several arrows that I could not sense with my clone at all. Then, all of a sudden a freezing chill descended on the place we were fighting in.

Just as I wanted to move and dodge another arrow, several roots sprouted from the ground catching my clone by surprise. But I was already prepared, as the guy called Tan Zhen was about to cleave my clone in half I got out of Cai Yi's shadow since my purpose was already achieved.

I launched Predator WarCry with both of my bodies thus stunning Tan Zhen and making the attack that was about to severe my clone in half lose all of its might.

The archer further away was the least affected, but she was nonetheless. The bald guy who had just woken from his stupor, suffered the greatest damage especially since he was weakened because he just gained consciousness and the fact that I attacked with my main body this time.

This was the trick I recently learned, I remembered how the Mama bird once time used Predator's WarCry in a Mandrill attack without affecting my siblings and I learned it from her.

Not waiting to lose this opportunity, I hurriedly activated Sky Dash boosting my Agility to 212 and launched my new Perfected Fiery Charge with both of my clones and charged towards the stunned Tan Zhen and the unconscious bald guy who by now fell to the ground.

*BANG!!*

A thundering sound resounded as we managed to smash into him claws first, but he was also wearing an armor which seemed to be of even higher quality than the bald guy a Mid Foundation rank.

Taking advantage of our close proximity and the biggest weakness of his armor which was the head, I launched a wind blade towards his head which landed directly!

But, I was shocked to see it only leaving a shallow wound, so I started blasting one Wind Blade after the other while simultaneously throwing several Tenebrous Breath at his unprotected head while he was bearing the full brunt of my now improved Fiery Charge that dealt 935 of damage a second.

[You have Killed a Foundation Establishment(High) Human |Experience Points +20000|]

Hearing the notification, I knew that it was not Tan Zhen who died by the guy who fell unconscious and was just receiving Fiery Charge's damage.

After what felt like an eternity, but I knew it was just three seconds Tan Zhen woke up and several thick roots enveloped him in a thick cocoon while also pushing me out of his body that I had my claws stabbed into.

My Wind blades and Tenebrous Breath seemed to be useless in the face of this new defensive skill he used, they did not even manage to leave a scratch. I decisively left the clone beside him and chased after the woman who ran away just a second ago after regaining her composure and seeing the severity of the situation.

She did not have my speed nor Tan Zhen's defense, so the moment I caught with up her I created one Umbra Hand and tripped her which made her fall face first into the ground.

"No please we did not do anything!", She yelled with a panicked voice.

So, the gentleman that I am, I stopped and let her take a breath.

Yeah, right.

With my Fiery Charge still active and jumped on her claws first with four wind blades by my side which managed to do a number her since she was so defenseless.

Just as she was about to die, I jumped back and made my clone move towards her while I returned to Tan Zhen's side.

Due to the couple of seconds the root cocoon was in my clone's Fiery charge I noticed visible marks and damage on its previously invincible exterior, so I did the same thing.

I landed besides it and waited.

Then, an almost eerie quiet descended except for a crackling sound as my Fiery Charge's flames kept eating away at the wood cocoon.

The moment the 15 seconds duration of my skill ended, I noticed a visible opening on the cocoon. So, I continued throwing Wind Blade at it.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

One after the other, then I was able to see Tan Zhen's eyes inside of it. They looked dead, lifeless, and horrified.

[Piercing Gaze]

I did not give him anytime to recuperate or something. Just as my strongest spiritual attack landed the cocoon started crumbling away, it seemed like he was using all of his mana to keep it up and when my attack landed all of his control was released.

I jumped on him and started hitting him with my beak, I had to save up the last bit of mana I had left in case something came up.

I was also still surveilling the archer with my clone who still had a lot of time out of its two minute duration. After all, not even 20 seconds have passed since the bald guy started approaching Cai Yi.

[You have Killed a Foundation Establishment(High) Human |Experience Points +20000|]

After dozens of direct hit at the head he finally died.

He was definitely, the most toughest opponent to kill thus far. I was sure that it was thanks to his armor which shocked me how effective it was!

The fact that I was hitting a weak point that was not covered by the armor apparently made no difference since he only had 68 Physical resistance and I knew it was not entirely because of it. The drake I fought in the forest had about the same as him or more by a small margin.

After I made sure everything was good, I moved towards the hole Shams was in.

I used my wind elements to carry the steel wheels, only then did I realize how heavy were they, almost 500 Kg each!

After I placed them by the side, I carried Shams and gently put him near the hole.

Seeing the terrible state he was in, I was infuriated. At these three sadists, but mainly at the sickly man.

I did not have any mana to use my healing skill Gentle Touch, so I brought out my last dark green pill and fed it to him.

Since he was unconscious, I did what I did last time and used the pill for him and helped him to consume it.

I also brought back the archer with my clone and threw her into the hole. Cai Yi just arrived, because I told her to run away earlier for fear of them attacking her in case things did go as planned.

Seeing the death of those two and the sorry state the woman was in, her jaws dropped. To her, those were unmountable mountains especially when the guy charged at her and the killing intent and energy he released was out of this world. If I was that there blocking most of it, she would have succumbed to just pressure alone.

Seeing Shams twitching a bit and opening his eyes, I was glad that he was alright. I made a mind link and spoke to him, "What happened? and are you alright?"

"Zed... Ugh It's painful", hearing his voice he seemed to be a bit scarred. After all it was his first time being tortured for fun like this, then he continued, "I was just recovering from the fall and as I was about to get up three humans appeared started talking and then they attacked me breaking my legs and started throwing heavy things on me. I could not move and I was barely able to hold on, but after a while due to all the pain I could not and passed out.", His voice lacked any of his usual fearsomeness but sounded agrieved.

Before I could say anything, he made a wry smile and said, "Is this the sick twisted nature of intelligent creatures, you spoke of? The unnatural desire."

Seeing that above all learning was still on his mind, I smiled. This was exactly the person who was able to unlock my party function with just a single conversation.

"Yes, that is exactly it. But as we have promised before, justice soon followed.", As I said that I moved my clone and brought back the two dead bodies with their weapons and gestured with my wings towards the hole.

"Yeah, I did not doubt that. I knew it was only a matter of time, I was only worried that I'd not be able to make it and our journey would end before it even began.", With a voice full of confidence he spoke as if it was a matter fact. Because It was, I would not have left him even if gods came to take him away. Though by then a 'tactical' retreat would be my go to until a future date.

I smiled and did not say anything else, there was nothing to be said.

I sat down and waited for him to completely recover as I was also waiting for the woman to regain consciousness.

After a while, I managed to recover the majority of my Mana, Stamina and Spiritual Energy. Thanks to my several titles, I had a total of 300% Vitality, Mana and Spiritual Energy regeneration speed and 200% of Stamina Regeneration. I did not the exact math, but it was indeed pretty fast compared to other people.

***

Then I'd ask shams, what happened. He'd tell me about the content of his conversation with the sickly man, simply how that he saved them because someone saved him before but he did not mention me and he just wanted to see how humans lived because he found them interesting.

I'd torture the archer woman and ask her about what they were tasked to investigate and it'd be the disappearance of a merchant group comissioned by the group's president but they were payed handsomely by the nobles to act as if they investigated and come back empty handed. She'd also say that the bald guy knew more due to some previous deal he made with his guild and also the most powerful one in the city ...

***

I am sorry to say this but the novel is officially dropped! I'll post a chapter mentioning the reasons if you're curious otherwise thanks for reading so far and embarking into this beautiful journey with me. I appreciate it!

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