“Interesting,” muttered Belren, the intrigue on his middle-aged face mirroring that which his disciples and fellow sect members were now showing. “It used the energy of the attack to power itself further.” Turning to his cousin, he said, “Energy-based attacks will only serve to bolster the defenses of this barrier. I suspect that it can only be broken by physical force.”
One of the youths in the tub, the sandy-haired one that Tems held evident hatred for, finally looked up and laughed directly at the disgruntled sect master.
“Man, you’re like the pettiest person I’ve ever met. First your sect tries to kill me in that tower, then every time I defend myself instead of sticking my neck out to die, you get infuriated and try to kill me again. What’s next? We kill all of you guys today, and your cousins and uncles and family friends all come after me in a rinse and repeat cycle?”
“May,” said Tems, ignoring the youth as he looked up at the former elder of his sect where she sat relaxing along the edge of the tower’s rooftop. “Did you really betray us for this…this retrobate?”
“What’s there left to say?” said the woman in question, who raised a delicate hand to brush long strands of auburn hair from her beautiful, full-lipped face. “You only let me join because you wanted to sleep with me. You didn’t even allow me to leave the island on diplomatic missions, because you were worried that other officials in other organizations would take a liking to me. Tell me, Tems, what kind of woman could ever be attracted to such an obsessive man?”
“You’ve misunderstood me,” he rushed to assure her, drawing a disapproving look from his cousin. “I just wanted to make your stay with us as easygoing as possible. After all I did for you, all the sect did for you, how could you just walk away, and kill Jameson and Tegan on top of that?”
“Because they were trying to kill her, you moron,” came the ridiculing voice of the young man in the tub. “What, you think the quickest way to a girl’s heart is with a sword? Grow up, you goof. Look at all the trouble you’ve brought to your sect members just because you’re depraved and horny. What are you, thirteen? Think about how many young people died because of your selfishness. Honestly, you’re the shame of your sect and your family.”
Just then, one of the disciples from the Nightshadow Sect rushed over to Belren and whispered something in his ear. Eyes lighting up with pleasant surprise, the short elder quickly produced a scroll from his spatial bag and unfurled it with a laugh.
“What a coincidence! Cousin, it seems that our sect master put out a kill order on this young man and his friends. Last I checked, the reward had risen to over thirty million spirit stones.”
“You hear that, Nolan?” said the blond-haired young man who threw down the cards in his hand with a disappointed look. “We’ve got a bounty of thirty million on our heads.” Looking at Belren, he said, “Hey little guy, is it thirty million each, or for the whole group?”
Before Belren could respond, the one named Nolan called out with a mirthful tone.
“Hey, you called Tems cousin, right? Was his dad your uncle? You know he killed him so that he could inherit the sect, right? All that damage the spirit of the lake did back then, it was all because Tems is a greedy scum.”
“Nonsense!” shouted the sect master, who was conscious of the gazes of his fellow members. “This is slander!”
Nolan began to laugh, commenting to his friend with a smile, “Man, this guy’s a clown.”
“If I have a son like him in the future,” chucked the other, “I’ll kill myself. Slowly.”
Belren’s gaze took on a sharp edge as he glanced at his cousin, though he left the matter at that.
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“Delia,” called Nolan, who also tossed his cards atop the little wooden platform that floated in the centre of the tub. “You were there. Why don’t you tell them?”
About twenty paces above the tower, a pale silhouette abruptly appeared to look down on all around her. Long hair the colour of a swan’s feathers spilled over her shoulders and down to her toned, hourglass waist, outlining a fit, well-endowed body that could drive any man to madness. Pale eyebrows the shade of fresh snow sat above a penetrating pair of steely, silver eyes, her body wrapped in a billowing robe of cottony colour.
“Tems… If I had known of all the trouble you would cause me in the future, I’d never have helped you kill your father!” Crossing her arms with a gaze that exuded hatred and endless frustration, she continued on in a condemning tone. “Because of you, I’ve been reduced to nothing more than a simple slave!”
Her words sent a wave of murmurs filtering through those that surrounded the clearing.
Kester let out a low whistle. “Imagine having a woman like that as your slave? Now even I want to kill that guy.” The lust in his eyes was mirrored by most of the men present. “Thinkin’ of that, why are there so many pretty women in this group? Do we really have to kill them?”
“Perhaps if we capture them, we can work out a deal with Tems to let us take them back to North Island when the profound shuttle arrives?”
Even Kalvin, who had bedded almost as many beauties as he’d seen, had to admit that the White Rogue was every bit as alluring as the rumours had led him to believe. He kept his guard up, however, for as was the case with May, he couldn’t sense her cultivation.
“Little White…” huffed the sect master, who seemed to want to hug the woman as much as he wanted to hit her.
Kalvin, for one, believed the claim based upon Tems’s flushed, angry-eyed reaction. So that’s the story behind what happened back then.
“Enough of this. Little White, I’ve given you a way out. Don’t be stubborn and just take it!”
The White Rogue let out a dissatisfied snicker, crossed her arms and then turned her head. A moment later, and she dispelled a concealment arrayment that had gone unnoticed by everyone present, revealing the presence of two younger girls of modest beauty, one in her early teens and the other on the cusp of womanhood. This pair quickly dropped down onto the rooftop to join the others, though they both were quick to settle down and enter into quiet meditation.
Ah, he thought, the ones that just broke through.
“Little White,” came Tems’s voice, which had taken on a slightly pleading tone. “Where did I go wrong? What do I have to do to convince you to come over to my side?”
Obnoxious laughter broke the silence that followed. “What a bird!” After a few more moments of laughter, the one named Nolan said loudly so that all in the clearing could hear him clearly. “Look how desperate he is. Man, it’s painful to watch. How can a grown man be so cringy?”
Again, he was ignored by the sect master, though the man’s disciples and fellow sect members looked as if they had been force-fed dirt. Not only was their sect master being ridiculed and disparaged in front of thousands of people, but it was in front of several foreign parties. If word got out that a young man at the Eighth level of Integration was casually deriding the their master without seeming to put their sect in his eyes, it would damage their reputation even more than it had been in recent weeks.
Tems didn’t give up, and continued on with his mindless attempts at persuasion.
Meanwhile, Kalvin began to study those atop the tower with the astuteness that he’d cultivated after decades in the mercantile business. Judging by the unique auras that covered their clothing, their uniforms had been enchanted with several arrayments that likely increased their durability and protective properties. The youngest of the group, a boy with frizzy hair and a few faded freckles on his pale face, balanced a longsword over his right shoulder, the blade black and shiny while giving off a slightly ominous aura. This was black halmite, he realized, which was an incredibly valuable mineral that was difficult to come by even for a merchant lord such as himself.
He was quite surprised to see how many priceless treasures they wore on their persons, something that was true for all members of the group. The black-haired girl wore a golden ring on one of her index fingers, a fine piece that was inlaid with three black gemstones that gave off the heavy aura of excessively-condensed energies. Her blonde companion rested a broadsword over each shoulder, the anticipation in her eyes betraying her excitement to put them to use. One was made of black halmite, while the other had been created from an unknown mineral of vibrant gold. Like the ring that the other girl wore, this artifact showed Vespasian characteristics meaning that it had likely been looted from a Vespasian tomb. Aside from the new arrivals, everyone on the rooftop had a halmite sword in hand. Two others rested against the edges of the wooden tub where the pair of young men were still relaxing within the heated waters, one of them giving off a venomous aura.