The grip of the harbormaster was intended to restrain Anton, but instead he had used the contact to use his own technique. Seconds passed awkwardly as Captain Wangi and Jamilah both took in the revealed cultivation of Harbormaster Bachtiar. Anton was surprised at his restraint to not immediately attack. That was a decision good for his health. Sure, Anton wasn’t terribly confident in close quarters combat… but that was against people of similar cultivation.
“This is a trick,” the harbormaster said, squeezing Anton tighter. “This criminal is attempting to set me up.”
“Is that so?” Anton asked. “Then how about we both submit to being arrested and these two here make sure there is a very thorough investigation?”
“Preposterous. Allowing such a thing would bring shame upon the Azure Sails.”
“I’m sure you would care about that if you were truly part of them,” Anton admitted. “But as the head of the Order of One Hundred Stars, submitting to a just investigation would be my pleasure.” Anton casually looked towards Jamilah, “If you decided to execute this guy before you are done investigating me, make sure to destroy his soul so he can’t report back. Same goes for the other three in this building.”
“They won’t be doing anything of the sort,” the harbormaster said. “I’m in control here.”
“Are you?” Captain Wangi’s cultivation appeared as calm as the sea on a clear day, but Anton could sense the volatility beneath the surface. “Because not only did you deny his version of the report, but you also acted like I was not attacked at all. And taking these reports seriously is literally your only job.”
“The Azure Sails-”
“Will understand why we are bringing you in,” Jamilah said. “It will be just a momentary inconvenience for one of you.”
“Come on, Jamilah. You know me.”
“Do I? Because the person I knew wasn’t a member of the Twin Soul Sect. But I feel your cultivation clearly.”
“I told you, this is a trick!”
Jamilah nodded, “And if it is, then when we separate you and constrain your energy, the illusion will fade.”
“Make sure he doesn’t have time to rebuild his facade,” Anton said. “Unless you want to practice that technique. You should probably get things moving along, though. One of the three below seems likely to slip out the back in a moment.”
“Everyone!” Jamilah called out, projecting her cultivation and voice. “Lock down the building! No one in or out!” She looked straight into Bachtiar’s eyes. “Any objections?”
“I can’t believe my own allies would suspect me on the word of a stranger,” Bachtiar sighed. “Fine. Do what you must.”
As one of the highest ranking members of The Reef’s Expanse, Jamilah happened to have on her several pairs of energy restraining manacles. When she took them out, Anton easily offered his own wrists. She put them on Anton first, giving him a side-eye as she then continued to shackle Bachtiar.
Anton breathed a sigh of relief, as he was not a hundred percent confident in defeating the man with his energy restrained. Not without binding the local star. Perhaps he should do that, but he hated to do so without permission of the system. Times of war were a special exception, and he also preferred to not be at war. Then again, the man was not even peak Life Transformation, so Anton at least felt confident enough to resist a single blow while shackled.
It was impossible for people to not feel the conflict in the building even before Jamilah called out to the entire harbormaster’s building. So curious onlookers and cautious protectors crowded around. Jamilah waved them all away. “Everything will be explained later to the elders of the Azure Sails. Tell them Jamilah requests their help with an investigation.”
Before they left, Anton intended to point out the others. But Jamilah found them without his help. She must have spent the entirety of the previous afternoon and perhaps into the morning practicing the detection technique. Though having successes still required a good head on her shoulders.
Now Anton had to hope that the elders of the Azure Sails weren’t stupid or overly concerned about face. Because he really didn’t want to have to break his way out. At the very least Bachtiar was the only member of the Twin Soul Sect with a notable cultivation, so they shouldn’t be corrupt in that particular way.
-----
Anton was humming to himself when Jamilah appeared in front of him next.
“You’re awfully chipper.”
“You gave me a good cell,” Anton said, inclining his head towards the tiny barred window. “A view of the sun.”
“Confident you can escape?”
“It would be difficult,” Anton said. “I’d rather not have to try.”
“What if I told you we already cleared Bachtiar? His testimony against you is enough for an execution.”
Anton shrugged, “I would then suggest you take a careful look at the people who made that decision. But you haven’t done that.”
“How do you know?”
“You’re not great at deception, and you trust me.”
“I met you two days ago,” she pointed out. “I’ve known Bachtiar for decades.” Anton waited. “So I really shouldn’t trust you more.”
“Need any more techniques?” Anton asked. “Pretty sure the soul destruction method was in my bag. It’s specially tailored for the Twin Soul Sect, you know. Were you having trouble finding it?”
“We haven’t opened your bag.”
“Why not?” Anton asked.
“Nobody wants to risk it.”
“What, you think it’s trapped?” Anton smiled.
“Is it not?” Jamilah frowned. “What are all those formations for?”
“All storage bags have formations. That one just has extra durability.” He wasn’t going to bet it would do any sun, but hopefully it would survive an attuned sun if he lost consciousness like last time. While conscious, he could keep safe anything on him.
“Still better to not. Just in case you’re cleared. Wouldn’t like to risk your wrath.”
“It’s alright,” Anton said. “As long as you don’t break anything.”
Jamilah shook her head. “Who are you?”
“Anton Krantz. Sect head of the Order of One Hundred Stars.”
“I looked it up. That’s a small sect on Aspin. The sect head isn’t you.”
“Varghese is the head of the local branch,” Anton clarified.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
“So you are connected.” Jamilah stepped closer, “But there’s another problem. What is your cultivation?”
“I reached the peak of Life Transformation over a century ago.”
“Ridiculous. I know the names of every Life Transformation cultivator. And you said you fought in the war, so don’t pretend you were in isolation.”
“I never said it was here,” Anton replied.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just what I said. I fought against the Trigold Cluster, including the Twin Soul Sect and the Void Scrying Sect. Just not here.”
“I know all names on In’istra, not just the Reef of Serenity.”
“Exactly.”
“Why didn’t you ascend?”
“Can’t,” Anton shrugged.
“I don’t believe you,” Jamilah said. With that, she left him.
-----
“Troubles with your cultivation?” Anton’s words startled the guard.
“Quiet, prisoner.”
“Not supposed to talk to me? That’s fine.” Anton nodded. “If you’re having trouble finding your Essence, I’d suggest thinking about what you gravitate towards when you’re not here.”
“You cannot beguile me with your techniques. Your energy is sealed.”
“Exactly,” Anton said. “So you could talk to me. What’s your name? I’m Anton.”
No response.
“I would suggest something that involves improving things. Not just yourself, but also others. But if you want to focus on perfecting your ability to ignore prisoners, you can do that.”
-----
A few days passed, and Captain Wangi managed to get in to see Anton. “Could you have sunk that ship?”
“Hello to you as well,” Anton replied. “Trying to find it?”
“I want to know if you went easy on them.”
“Depends. Does tracking them back to their harbor count as going easy?”
She crossed her arms in front of her. “When did you have time to track them down?”
“I’m an archer, you know. My senses extend pretty far. Did you see the techniques in my bag? No? Well, my archery master taught me Horizon Shot. For that, you have to be able to sense beyond the horizon.” Anton grinned, “She might be the worst teacher in the world. But she knew what she was doing.”
“Did she die?”
“She ascended,” Anton replied. “Last I heard, she was doing well.”
“You really made things difficult for Jamilah, you know?” the captain shook her head.
“And you, I imagine? You were supposed to be moving on.”
“After the harbormaster dealt with the pirates, yeah. But you know how that went.”
“He wasn’t going to deal with them anyway,” Anton shrugged.
“That part I fully believe. So where did the pirates end up.”
“I can tell you a distance and direction. But unless you’re an arrow, you’ll end up crashing into some reefs,” Anton said. “I could draw the path through the reefs they took, but the tides were changing so you’d have to have… good predictive abilities.”
Captain Wangi sighed, “I believe you. Not sure about anyone else though.”
“They’ll come around,” Anton said. “You can tell Jamilah I’m open to answer her questions on anything. She hasn’t been back recently.”
-----
“Did Danial manage to break through?” Anton asked. “Or is he still working on that?” The new guard just looked at Anton. “Come on, Wahyu, I can barely do anything if you won’t talk. Danial was a special exception since I could easily tell where he was stopped up.”
“...”
“Do you do the supplemental body tempering in Spirit Building? The problem is probably you standing around all day. Obviously I’m not going to tell you to do exercises and wear yourself out on shift, but I can show you a few good sets for after.”
Taking the guard’s attention as agreement, Anton went through some motions. “Now this one I can’t quite do. Short chains. So imagine this, but twenty centimeters further apart. You’ll need those back muscles for your spear.”
-----
“I hear you scared away three guards in twice as many days,” Jamilah said upon her return.
“Only technically. The first one stuck around for a full three days, and the others were pulled off duty for some reason.”
“Probably the sudden changes in their cultivation.”
“If they had a good teacher normally then they would have already been moving,” Anton countered.
“Seriously, who are you?”
“Already told you. If you wait until night I can point to my star. But I’m also from the lower realms, if that makes you feel better.”
“You don’t seem like it,” Jamilah shook her head. “You know too much.”
“Helps that we won the last two cycles. We’re not planning to let anyone reset us again.”
“... Can you really do it? That soul destruction thing?”
“If necessary,” Anton said. “Twin Soul Sect only, unless you can be very convincing.”
“How long are you going to be around?”
“Well, currently…” Anton gestured to his chains.
“Ah…” she bit her lip. “Can you forgive us?”
“Of course. Especially if you arrive at the right conclusion, which it sounds like might be the case. You learned those techniques?”
“Got four people to practice on,” Jamilah said. “And maybe… a few more I spotted around the harbor.”
“I haven’t run into false positives,” Anton said. “But if you want to be sure, revealing their underlying cultivation should clear things up.”
“I can’t do it for Bachtiar. I believe you, but the elders are still studying the techniques. It did take him most of this week to sneak his cultivation back to replicating ours. He said it took that long for your technique to fade and the truth be revealed but…”
“Should be pretty obvious it took active effort on his part,” Anton nodded. “No shackles are perfect.”
“... Why did you lie about just one thing?”
“Sorry?” Anton tilted his head. “Perhaps there has been a miscommunication. I didn’t intentionally speak any untruths.”
“I read it. Your Path to One Hundred Stars. It says your sect has a clear path to ascension. But you lied and said you can’t.”
“Oh…” Anton nodded, “I will admit that was somewhat deceptive. But also true. I can’t ascend. A forbidden technique let me steal ascension energy, but made ascension impossible.”
“Is that so?”
“It is,” Anton said. “But can you keep a secret?”
“I am capable.”
“Have you told anyone about me being from… elsewhere?” Anton asked.
“Not yet.”
“Well, I appreciate that,” Anton said. “Since there’s already enough distrust here. I kind of wanted people here to handle everything on their own.”
“And yet you led us to Bachtiar.”
“When I teach someone to use a plough, they still perform the work on their own,” Anton shrugged. “What’s the point of knowing things if I don’t pass them on?”
“You’re remarkably open with your advice.”
“It’s both my personality and actively good for my cultivation.”
“I thought you hit the peak of Life Transformation a century ago?”
“That’s the other secret,” Anton grinned. “I didn’t ascend, but that doesn’t mean I stopped there.”
“... Tell me about that.”
“Sorry,” Anton shook his head. “Not while any upper realm invaders still dwell here. Or especially Twin Soul Sect.”
“That’s… fully reasonable,” Jamilah admitted.
“So am I being released at some point?” Anton asked. “I could point you to some pirates. Would be great for picking you as the next harbormaster.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Are you certain you aren’t just a devil in disguise sent to tempt people?”
“It’ll be really obvious if they’re who I say they are,” Anton said. “And you can even bring me along in shackles.”
“... It might be a few more days,” Jamilah said. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I suggested this,” Anton replied. “Make sure to keep an eye on Bachtiar.”
“He’s as secure as you… and the Reef’s Expanse are providing the guards.”
“Good plan,” Anton said.
Hopefully she meant as secure as Anton was supposed to be. The shackles she first used should be sufficient, so that was probably what she meant.