“I don’t believe you. How could you work up the courage to kill Lord Zaro’s grandson?”
Angelica had actually looked slightly impressed for a moment, for killing a sect member in peace time was taboo within the Bloodhand Sect and the boy that Brud was bragging about killing—the boy that Nolan had killed by the skin of his teeth on their last day at Redfox Village—had been the grandson of a very important person within the sect. This look of acknowledgement disappeared when Jason conjured an adult-sized Crippling Blood Palm and grasped Brud by his entire torso with it, before abruptly tossing him far into the distance with a high-angled throw. As the boy disappeared beyond the low-riding cumulous clouds
Looking back at the four around him, Jason put on a calm face and addressed them all as if nothing had just happened. “Havel’s in charge until me or Sersa gets back. As for these guys—”the two hundred captives that he’d allocated to Brud shot past him as they fell to the ground in unison, no longer supported by Brud’s energies—“divide them amongst yourselves, but save thirty or forty for Brud.”
“Master really is the best,” said Angelica, who gave a full-lipped, alluring smile.
“I’ll be back in a bit. You guys keep an eye on things for now.”
Jason summoned a crimson serpent that was about thirty metres long and flew off with 155 of his own disciples to cultivate. As he’d just recently recovered from overdoing things in regards to refining disciples with the Blood Burning Heart Technique, he decided to find a spot in the forest to trap them within a unique sort of barrier that involved altering the gravity around a target to keep them trapped in place. This way, he wouldn’t cause any suspicion amongst the disciples that had targeted Calmer when he eventually sought them out, for showing up with such a large number of their captured companions would only serve to complicate his cause.
He eventually found a discreet spot between two tall hills that were steep and side-by-side, both covered in trees and undergrowth. He spent over ten minutes drawing out the arrayment diagram in question, and failed on his first attempt at activating it. The results were the same for the second and third attempts, but his luck took a turn for the better when he tried again for the fourth time.
“W—what is this?” grated a young man with long, thin hair and wide, terrified eyes. “Why can’t I move?”
“What’s with this pressure?” cried another man. “This…this isn’t aura suppression!”
“Didn’t you see?” grated a third, panicked person. “This was brought on by an arrayment, you fool!”
A fourth began to cry, this one only a twelve-year-old boy that Jason had caught cutting fingers from the hands of children half his age. He’d been laughing wildly, insanely, and had seemed very content with what he’d been doing. “What kind of arrayment can do this?”
As they laid there face down and spread eagle, Jason left without offering even a hint of an explanation, climbing up into the clouds atop his expendable summon while recalling the sensation of Angelica’s chest pressing up against his own.
That was actually pretty cool.
He couldn’t show any vulnerability in front of his followers, which included being openly seduced by such a pretty girl as Angelica. He had no way of knowing for sure, but he felt that he was a fairly good-looking guy these days, his hair about especially since he was literally in the perfect physical shape. Even so, he couldn’t help but think that back on Earth he would never have even had a chance to interact with someone like her let alone be the object of her advances. On Venara, however, he was now one of the most capable people on a continent with a population of untold billions. He had looted a massive fortune from his efforts in Hauss that he judged to be the equivalent of tens of billions of Canadian dollars, and was quite possibly the most talented Arrayment Master in this world by current standards.
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Who cares if I’m a virgin? I can learn the craziest arrayments by practicing them for like half an hour. Strength is the most attractive thing in this world, so my day will come.
In truth, Jason had been quite a loner during his days in the Toronto suburb where he’d lived with his parents, rest their souls. Growing up, he’d never gotten particularly close to any of his teammates in organized sports, and had been obsessed with gaming on any system that he could convince his parents to buy for him. Now, just a handful of months after the Interspatial Migration—he had no idea how long he’d actually spent in that independent space, for at some point in his stranded sufferings an hour and a day had gained the same weight—Jason was a completely different person.
My place in society’s definitely higher than it was, he thought as the first bit of sunlight peaked over the distant mountains of the Dragon’s Tail and washed over the surrounding lands with a lazy sort of grace. Maybe I should try to make my day come a bit sooner? He looked down upon the landscape with a nervous sort of excitement, unaffected by the scheme that he was about to carry out on the disciples up ahead. He’d heard that there were thousands of villages, towns and cities hidden within the Dragon’s Tail, and he had visited several of them himself in the days that followed his escape from the chained woman’s clutches. Perhaps one of these days he would sneak off for a week or two to enjoy a little vacation?
Since there was nobody around, he allowed a shadow of shyness to slip onto his face as he decided to take the trip that he’d just considered. Sometime soon, he would go and enjoy ordinary life for a short period of time, just to take the edge off of the daily grind of life-and-death battles and traumatic encounters.
When he was only a couple of kilometres away from the large war band, he contacted the red-eyed elder via sound transference talisman and ordered her to have the disciples separate into ten groups of six hundred. These smaller war bands would then set off to create camps at seemingly random spots, though in reality each location would be at least seven kilometres apart from one another in order to ensure that none of the war bands would be able to sense the situations of their counterparts.
As he closed in on those ahead, he quickly changed into the robes of one of the countless core disciples that he’d killed since his arrival in the embattled kingdom and then focused his vision on the top of the large hill that served as the gathering point for the sect’s forces. He then told the woman to lie to the war band and introduce him as her new direct disciple, at which point he planned to lead one of the groups away to their fates.
It was quite chilly this morning, especially so high up in the air. Still, Jason felt perfectly comfortable and was in quite high spirits as he descended from the skies before thousands of bewildered gazes.
“He’s her new disciple? But he’s only at the seventh level of Integration.”
“Maybe he hasn’t taken part in the Acquisition? If that’s the case, I’d say his cultivation is pretty decent.” In a jealous voice, the speaker added, “I’m sure he’ll get to eat his fill now that he’s here.”
“Did we really wait here all this time just for this guy?”
“He looks sort of familiar. Where have I seen him before?”
Although those below did their best to limit their voices to a whisper, he picked up on countless of comments, most of them impatient.
Jason discreetly contacted the woman, who had a subtle glint of anger in her eyes as she stood quietly at the centre of the hill’s crest. After hearing his order, she rose up into the air to float at his side and then addressed everyone present with a stern voice.
“This is the one I just mentioned. From now on, his word is my word, so be sure not to show any disrespect.” Crossing her arms—evidently she’d had the sense to change into a spare set of her original robes before appearing before her subordinates—the red-eyed woman said, “Now, for the next few days we will be spreading the scope of our influence in the area. You’ll break off into ten groups of about six hundred each before going off to make camp at different areas. After that, rest a while as you await further orders.”
When people began to mumble in confusion, the woman barked out another order, her anger seeping into her voice like water from an untapped faucet. “I won’t tolerate any insubordination. Do what I’ve commanded, or suffer the consequences!” Two disciples flew out of the huge crowd at random, both appearing in front of the red-eyed woman with looks of astonishment on their faces before they were abruptly beheaded and their bodies refined.