Chapter 156 - Deception

Right at the next second, powerful presences suddenly flooded Sesrir’s senses.

Sesrir’s head snapped back instantly.

Xin, Tian, Ruche, Flinn, and Mark erupted from the water simultaneously, landing on the ship completely unharmed, quite dry despite the blood like red water.

"You! You fuckers! You left us to die while you people hid underwater! Shameless!" Sesrir roared, his fury was evident.

Cale immediately stepped in.

"Ahh, you people don’t know how valiant and brave Lord Sesrir was to save a burden like me! To think he nearly killed such a beast alone!" he exclaimed.

Sesrir sighed, staring at Cale with squinted eyes.

What could he even say? It’s not like these people will believe the truth.

Tian walked forward with an infuriating grin plastered across his face.

"Look here, Vash, you can change sides now if you want. I know it wasn’t killed; it was likely sealed somewhere by you," he said pointing at Cale.

Cale raised an eyebrow with surprise.

"How do you know that?"

Tian then pointed at his own eyes.

"My eyes can sense soul essence of any living being. I can sense faint essence of the turtle from you. It means it’s still alive and you have it sealed in something."

The other cultivators’ eyes widened with renewed interest and greed.

Since now they can potentially get it, even if they failed before.

’if I release it alive, they might still benefit.’

But there was a problem, and it didn’t take long for Cale to recognize it.

These people thought that: he didn’t actually have the dead body of the beast. He had the live creature trapped within some item.

But in reality its soul was still being absorbed. If he released it, they’d have to fight it again — this time with a prepared, angry opponent rather than one caught off-guard like before.

They were hesitant. That was obvious.

But Cale didn’t actually possess the sealed beast at all. What Tian sensed was the genuine soul essence still being absorbed into his body.

What was he if not resourceful?

Cale changed his face into an expression of defeat and resignation. He sighed as if finally caught.

"... to think you can actually sense something like that. And now that we both are cornered, what can we even do if not surrender..."

The others’ eyes lit up, though hesitation still lingered on their faces.

’I need to push them more.’

He looked at Sesrir, who was observing him with an unreadable expression.

"Lord Sesrir, just imagine what all benefits we could’ve gotten selling this. Even the beast core can help one cultivate and even grant them some skills... sigh, to think..." he trailed off.

Then he looked back at the others and withdrew a blackfin storage box from his spatial storage.

The box was creepy-looking — a dark, sinister-appearing container that radiated an unsettling aura.

Such boxes were sold at many merchant houses for approximately ten thousand low-grade spiritual stones. They functioned as live beast containment items, capable of sealing living creatures for at least a month, unless the user opens the seal of course.

Cale had purchased three of these at the Golden Toad Merchant Organization for future travels.

He had many plans for them.

Although he had originally bought them for future use, who could have predicted they’d become essential in this exact moment?

The box was rigged.

By Cale himself.

Inside it wasn’t the sea turtle at all, it contained a Hailing Black Sea Serpent, an Emperor Stage beast that had cost him two hundred thousand spiritual stones to acquire alive.

He agreed to the purchase because it was a lifesaver in desperate situations. And now it was saving his life in the most elegant way possible.

It was a trick he perfected in his previous life: throw an even greater enemy at your current opponent and run away as fast as possible.

He extended the box forward as if offering it freely.

Tian reached out to take it, but Cale suddenly pulled it back with perfect timing.

"What now?!"

Cale sighed with regret.

"Although I can’t get this beast back, me and Lord Sesrir did capture it. Don’t we deserve at least something out of this trip? This box costs quite a lot, you see. And only when beasts are weakened can they be stored inside it."

Ruche and Flinn stepped forward immediately.

"What do you want? Tell your price," Ruche said.

"Kid, don’t try to act smart by asking too much, else you won’t get anything!" Flinn warned too.

Cale smiled with innocence.

"Oh, of course, of course. Don’t worry, I just need five million spiritual stones... from all of you combined. That should be easy, right? Even Lord Sesrir has tens of millions," he added, the last line was essential to manipulate them through comparison.

Without it, they would have outright rejected the price. But now that he has implied Sesrir alone had tens of millions in spare change, they felt compelled to match that level of expenditure.

Mark, the quiet one, nodded immediately.

"Alright, that can be done."

Seeing his agreement, the others nodded as well.

Cale’s smile widened.

"Now that was the secondary thing. The main thing I want is..." He looked directly at Xin. "The mana armor. Give me the technique."

Xin’s expression hardened in refusal.

"I can’t, you don’t have enough—"

Cale raised his hand before Xin could complete his sentence.

Potent, rainbow-colored glowing mana of all elements began flowing through his palm—earth, fire, water, wind, lightning, all cycling in harmony.

Xin’s hand trembled visibly.

"You... you have all elements!" he shouted, his voice stuttering with shock.

Cale nodded back.

"Well, I’m a special case. So, how about it?"

Xin’s expression transformed instantly;

"Oh, of course! I will give it to you! Just promise to visit the Flame Magic Tower once you’re free! It will be an honor to have an all-element genius like you!"

Of course it was rare, and all elements was the rarest, being born one in ten million.

In case of cultivation, the more spiritual roots you had, the more you had to cultivate and stabilize all roots. But in mana manipulation and magic, the more elements you have, the more opportunities and spells you can learn.

It was like being the god of magic.

He quickly produced a scroll containing the Mana Armor technique and handed over an additional card bearing the insignia of red flames. It was a location-detecting artifact used only by high-ranking personnel.

If injected with mana, it would lead the holder directly to the Red/Flame Magic Tower.

’To think this Xin was a mage too. I never expected to find others following such a cultivation path like me, Father and Uncle... though I suppose it makes sense, since he couldn’t advance beyond five-star...’

But such a gain was excellent. The Red Magic Tower was clearly worth looting in the future.

Cale smiled and quickly handed over the blackfin storage box.

The seal would release itself in a few hours anyway since he changed the ownership from himself to Tian. And he didn’t forget to release the seal before changing ownership, so in case of the box’s mechanism, the ’owner’ has given command to release in a few hours.

The box couldn’t know the owners had changed, and neither did Tian or anyone else know that Cale gave such a command to it.

These people would then have to face the Emperor Stage Hailing Black Sea Serpent — a monstrosity that would keep them occupied for a good time, maybe even kill a few.

He grabbed Sesrir’s collar urgently and flew away from the ship at maximum speed.

"Oi... what the hell did you hand over to them?" Sesrir asked as they ascended.

"Ah, nothing. Just some parting gift. They did take care of us, after all."

"... right, as if," Sesrir sighed.

But then Cale changed their flight direction abruptly, causing Sesrir to question.

"Hey, aren’t we going back? Why are you turning in the same direction we ran away from?"

Cale sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Are you seriously asking me that?"

Something clicked in Sesrir’s mind. Realization dawned across his features.

"Oh... right. I literally forgot the main target for this trip. You’ve got a good memory."

"Or maybe yours is just too distorted!" Cale snorted.

Sighing, Cale looked at the rising mist ahead, and checked his status screen:

- - - - - - - - -

[Name: Cale Regulus Midgar]

[Age: 120]

[Cultivation: Mid Apex stage]

[Soul Cultivation: Peak Apex stage]

[Cultivation Speed Multiplier: 9.7x]

[Cultivation Technique: Supreme Nihility Chaos Genesis Scripture]

[Soul Cultivation Technique: Deity Devouring Demonic Arts]

[Breathing Technique: Taiyi All-Encompassing Breathing Technique]

[Spiritual Soul Bodies: 7]

[Blank Points: 9207]

[Body: Demonic Yin Soul Refining Body ]

[Abilities: Myriad Battle Flow of Heaven and Earth | Harem Bond | Heavenly Dual Cultivation | Telekinesis | Analyze | Poison Immunity(Mid) | Genesis | Soul Shattering Strike | Master of All Elements | Fate Shattering Technique | Mana Comprehension | Arsenal of the Infinite Heavens ]

[Techniques: Genetic Ascension | Override | Separator | Curse | Chains of holding | Paperman Talisman Substitution Technique | Air Slash | Self- Restoration | Three Illusionary Steps Mystic Art | True Flame Pill Refinement | Ailment Split soul body creation technique | Lightning Aura | Beast Phantom Technique ]

[Passive Skills: Infinite Adaptation]

[Domain: Supreme Chaos Domain, Supreme Nihility Domain, Ink Sword Domain]

[Battle Form: Zenith Heaven Asura-Slaying Sword Dance ]

[Spiritual Beast Companion: Four-Winged Frost All-Devouring Centipede Lvl.2]

[Spiritual Root: Chaos Flame (Primordial) | Sword (Primordial) | Lightning (Perfected) | Water (Perfected) | Wood (Perfected) | Earth(Perfected) | Wind (Perfected) ]

[Race: Human: 42% (Progenitor) | Elf: 93% (Primordial) | Kunpeng [Divine]: 98% (Perfected) | Dragon [Ancestor]: 91% (Progenitor) | Phoenix [Mythic]: 87% (Progenitor) ]

[Bloodline: Human | Dragon | Elf | Half-Kunpeng]

[Physique: Violet Shadow Physique, Ten Poison Immunity Physique, Vermillion Bird True Flame Physique ]

[Connate Providence: Destined Sword Sovereign.]

[Constitution: Innate Demonic Sword Heart, Demonic Dao Bones ]

[Title: Master of All Elements, Sin Of Wrath. ]

[Creation: Tier 5]

[Origin Essence: Lvl.82]

[Cultivation Concept: Ink.]

[Ink Sword Intent

Ink Sword Domain ←

Ink Sword Law (Locked)

Ink Dao (Locked)

Absolute Dao of the Painted World (Locked)]

[Steps in Sword Dao River: 8]

[Laws: Law of Adaptability(Lvl.4), Law of Creation(Lvl.2), Law of Understanding(Lvl.3), Law of Chaos and Nihility(Lvl.5), Law of Sword(Lvl.8), Law of Lightning(Lvl.5), Law of Fire(Lvl.5), Law of Water(Lvl.3), Law of Self-Restoration(Lvl.1), Law of Death(Lvl.4)]

[Dao: Sword Dao, Merciless Sword Dao, Dao of Dual Cultivation]

[Paths: Path of Refinement, Path of Creation, Path of Fire, Path of Chaos and Nihility, Path of Devour, Path of Ink, Six Paths of Reincarnation (Quasi), Path of Recreation and Regeneration, Path of Demon, Path of Supreme Souls]

[Sword intent: Chaos Flames Intent (Lvl.3), Lightning Intent (Lvl.4), Ink Sword Intent (Lvl.3), Demonic Sword Intent (Lvl.2), Bone radiate intent (Lvl.2) ]

[Artifacts: Ashes of Undying | Noxis | Thorned Lotus | Book of Endless Refinement (incomplete-13 pages) | Netherworld Prince’s Ring ]

[Inventory: Barrier Talismans, Mark Talismans, Explosive Talismans, Youth regaining pill, Spirit gathering pill, Low tier healing elixir, Blood refining elixir, Paperman Talismans, Affinity Assimilation Ring, Netherworld Prince’s Ring ]

[System Shop: Passive - Fully Activated at Emperor Stage Breakthrough]