"Maybe it's because he was drunk?" Chase quickly came up with a plausible excuse."Maybe," Hal said as he took out the portrait to compare. It was indeed the same person.The people in the inn were shocked to see a regular customer killed just outside the door. They stood there, feeling stunned."Someone's been killed!" After a moment, the inn's patrons realized what had happened and shouted, waking up many in the dead of night."Hal, let's take the body back to claim our reward. This isn't the place to stand around," Chase reminded Hal while lifting the corpse though he actually wanted more people to witness the scene. Hal agreed."Right," Hal responded, shaking off his confusion. This was not the place to hesitate, so he followed Chase to Toledo's shop.The sound of their knocking echoed at the door of the closed shop."Who's there?" A lazy voice answered from inside. It was Toledo."Toledo, it's me and Hal!" Chase replied eagerly."Who are you?" Toledo still did not recogni
"This is Master Shadeless. Why haven't you greeted him?" Toledo scolded Chase and Hal as he brought the old man over."Greetings, Master Shadeless!" Chase and Hal both said in unison, lowering their heads respectfully. Hal was sincere in his hopes of joining Shadow Pavilion. As for Chase, he also showed sincerity as he wanted to play his part convincingly."These are the two guys I mentioned earlier. They brought back our target. The one on the left is Chase, and the one on the right is Hal," Toledo introduced Chase and Hal to the old man."Mm," the old man replied indifferently, turning his attention to the corpse on the floor. After examining it briefly, he pulled out a dim crystal from his pocket and began to sense it.After a moment, he said, "Yes, it's him. But the item we're looking for is no longer on the body." He then glanced at Chase and Hal.Toledo quickly asked, "Did either of you take anything from the body, something that looks like this crystal?""No, Toledo. After
Watching Chase and Hal leave, Toledo turned to the backyard where Shadeless was still examining the corpse."Master Shadeless, since we didn't retrieve the item from the target, why did we still reward those two?" Toledo asked."Even though we didn't find the item, this is definitely the right person. You don't need to worry about this anymore. Just focus on your own tasks. After reporting these two, they'll fill the vacancies left by those who were lost earlier," Shadeless said, dismissing Toledo.Shadeless then took the body and left the shop from the back, pulling out a crystal to sense for any traces. Sure enough, the body had a faint hint of the divine crystal's presence, but it was on the verge of dissipating.Either the divine crystal was handed to someone else by the deceased, or it was taken after he was killed.The only ones with the opportunity to take it were those who had fought him. Shadeless' eyes darkened as he thought about this.Even outside the shop, he could n
Chase only had time to shout a warning before a powerful force struck him from behind, sending him flying dozens of meters and tumbling several times before coming to a halt.He was badly injured and struggling to get up when he heard another thud and saw Hal lying on the ground in the same position. It seemed Chase's warning had not been effective.Chase finally stood up, spitting out several mouthfuls of clotted blood. He looked back. As expected, it was Shadeless from Shadow Pavilion. After attacking them both, Shadeless did not make another move."Master Shadeless, what's the meaning of this?" Chase asked.Shadeless just stared at Chase and Hal, not intending to answer. These two did not have the power to fuse or absorb the divine crystal. They probably did not even know what it was.Seeing that Shadeless was not going to speak but also was not attacking again, Chase helped Hal up from the ground.Hal was clearly more seriously injured and was barely able to stand with Chase'
"Chase, have you encountered any difficulties? Is that why you're leaving in such a hurry?" Harold asked in the hall of the city lord's manor."No, no. It's nothing serious. I've already troubled you for a long time, and I have some important matters to attend to," Chase replied smoothly.He thought it best not to mention his infiltration into Shadow Pavilion to Harold. Although they had gotten along well in the past few days, their relationship was not deep enough to share such secrets."Does this have to do with the fleeting battle in the city last night? Don't worry, as long as you're within Eagle City, no one would dare cause trouble," Harold said, his confidence and imposing presence making Chase believe Harold could indeed stand up to Shadeless."Lord Scanlon, you're overthinking it. There's nothing wrong. I simply want to travel and gain more experience."For a moment, Chase considered staying in the city lord's manor and dealing with Shadow Pavilion from there.However, h
After leaving the city lord's manor, Chase waved to the Scanlons and swiftly departed.Shadeless had been in a foul mood recently. The great opportunity that had been within his grasp disappeared because of his hesitation to take action personally.He toyed with the crystal in his hand. He had obtained this one by ambushing someone on the brink of breaking through to the martial lord realm.Upon returning to the Eagle City base, Shadeless planned to refine this crystal, which was not a true divine crystal. However, he sensed another divine crystal through it, leading to the subsequent events.Detecting that the divine crystal was in the hands of a young marquis at the early stage of the realm, Shadeless wanted to avoid alarming Harold. He assigned the Shadow Pavilion operatives to handle it, thinking four individuals of the same level would easily capture the young martial artist.Shadeless was already imagining himself refining the divine crystal and ascending to the martial mona
Could it be that after Shadeless's test, he still had doubts about Chase and Hal? Did that cause Shadow Pavilion to delay their approval of the two of them?During this period, Hal had come by to drink with Chase twice. However, it was always on Chase's tab as he had told both Hal and Shadow Pavilion that he was staying here.Their interactions were not exactly joyous, but they were amicable. They both expressed their frustration about the slow process of joining Shadow Pavilion. At least, that was the impression Chase gave Hal.Just when Chase thought today would be like any other, that there would be no response, Hal hurriedly walked over in quick steps."Chase, we've got a response. They're asking us to go over," Hal shouted from a distance, addressing Chase by the window.Upon hearing this, Chase perked up.Afterward, he left the tavern and followed Hal to the base of Shadow Pavilion, where they met Toledo. Toledo led them to the shop's backyard to report to Shadeless. This
Chase walked slowly back to an inn next to the tavern. The inn was actually owned by the same person who owned the tavern, so staying there allowed Chase to enjoy a significant discount on drinks.Once in his room, he scanned the surroundings. He found nothing unusual, so he opened the envelope given by Shadeless.Seeing the contents of the envelope, Chase was momentarily stunned. The words on the letter read: [Assassinate Hal and bring back his body.]What was Shadow Pavilion's intention? Were they planning to use and discard them?For a moment, Chase was truly perplexed. However, seeing the contents, he guessed that Hal's letter likely contained instructions to assassinate him and bring back his body as well."What's so hard to understand? Have you ever seen an assassin who cares about feelings?" Lucas said in Chase's mind.Right, Lucas' words jolted him awake. It turned out Shadow Pavilion was wary of how close he and Hal had become, so they came up with this task.It seemed
When Willow and Cyril saw Walter attack, they both thought he had acted too recklessly. As expected, alarms blared throughout the Worthingtons' ancestral home.Warning lights flashed wildly as the guards swarmed out of the compound like ants from a nest.Chase stared in disbelief.In the programming world, there was a popular principle known as the Duck Test. If it walked like a duck, quacked like a duck, looked like a duck, and pecked like a duck, then it was probably a duck.This so-called ancestral home, aside from its exterior resembling a military base, had military-grade alert systems and personnel. By the duck principle, without a doubt, this was a military base."Is this ancestral house hiding some kind of secret? Why is the defense so tight?" Chase asked Cyril.Cyril was equally stunned by the scene. "My mentors just told me the Worthingtons' ancestral home is very important. I don't actually know what's inside… But now, it seems I underestimated how much it means to the
In Walter's understanding, even among ape-type beasts, it was nearly impossible to move so effortlessly between high-rise buildings using only physical strength—let alone doing so with such speed, like Chase just did.Willow, being a practitioner focused on soul-based and spiritual techniques, had also trained her body somewhat recently. However, she was nowhere near Walter's level and definitely far below Chase's.When she sensed that Chase had surpassed her even while she was fully employing both her movement techniques and vital energy without using any vital energy at all, she went numb inside."Chase is just a genius. I can't compare…" she said to comfort herself.In the end, even with her top-tier body movement techniques, she arrived at Cyril's location more than ten minutes later than Chase. Seeing everyone already waiting on her, she felt slightly embarrassed."Sorry, I was too slow.""It's fine. We were just taking a break anyway. What's ten minutes?" Chase waved it off
Chase and his group arrived at the rooftop of a tall building next to the Worthingtons' headquarters."That whole building over there belongs to the Worthingtons," Cyril said, pointing to the rooftop across from them where the giant words for 'Worthington Group' were displayed.For Willow and Walter, this was their first time seeing the high-rise buildings of modern society. Everything felt fresh and fascinating. They were curiously scanning the surroundings.Chase glanced at the crowds below and frowned. "This isn't a good place to fight them. There are too many civilians around. One misstep and it'll be a disaster.""Is that a problem?" asked Walter, the Water and Fire Two-Headed Giant Python. Although currently in human form, he still carried a beast's mindset and did not see anything wrong with the idea.Cyril, hearing Chase's concern, immediately understood he did not want to harm innocents. However, Walter, as Chase's contract beast, seemed surprisingly indifferent to human
In the Worthingtons' headquarters, Ricky looked at Dominic, who was still stunned from the earlier battle, and shook his head.Dominic clutched his throbbing head and asked, "Is there really no way to get all this weird junk out of my mind?""To clear it out, I'd have to work with Carla and treat you for nearly a full year. And that's only if we return to the nether realm. Here? It's practically impossible," Ricky snorted."You're a peak martial nirvana cultivator, and you've already mastered the Nine Nefarious Holy Fist, a top-tier yellow-ranked technique. You even have the Two Evils of Hell by your side, so why did you insist on fighting that kid one-on-one? Wasn't his destiny aura bright enough for you to realize who you were dealing with?"After explaining the difficulty of healing him, Ricky could not help but scold Dominic in a tone full of frustration. From his perspective, their side had been at a disadvantage ever since entering this so-called Dark and Light Mineral Ore.
"Aren't you going to help your companion?"Cyril pointed at Walter, whose massive python body was still twitching on the ground."Oh, he'll be fine in a bit," Chase replied calmly.He knew Walter had just been frightened by Silly Husky's soul-based attack.At that moment, Chase finally grasped the full extent of Greedy Wolf's power. The next time he encountered Dominic, he would make sure the man paid dearly.He began reciting the Tranquil Mind and Spirit-Clearing Mantra, dispelling the lingering effects of Greedy Wolf's soul attack from Willow and Walter.As for Cyril, he managed to recover on his own, which did not surprise Chase. After all, Cyril was the protagonist of this world."Just now, were we trapped in some kind of illusion left by the enemy?" Willow, still shaken, finally snapped out of it and recalled the terrifying scene."No, that was a special soul-based attack from my Greedy Wolf blade. Sorry about that," Chase offered an unusually rare apology.The indiscrimi
Although there was no physical damage, the soul damage was very real. It was exactly that soul damage that allowed Chase to subdue Walter."Master, has the soul damage on your Greedy Wolf increased again?" Walter asked.Soul damage? How could a blade cause soul damage?Willow and Cyril were both stunned.With their current strength, neither of them had experienced it directly and had no idea that Greedy Wolf had already awakened a spirit—specifically, a star spirit aligned with slaughter.Hearing Walter's question, Chase suddenly recalled that the spirit within Greedy Wolf—Silly Husky—possessed astonishingly strong soul power.When they first met, it had disguised itself as a deadly blade spirit, radiating a terrifying killing intent that had completely fooled Chase.Fortunately, his own soul was resilient enough not to be tricked. He had eventually seen through Silly Husky's bluffing and recognized it as more bark than bite.Now, Chase wondered if Dominic could have been affec
Being the only one who had previously faced Chase's Greedy Wolf, Stone stood frozen in disbelief.He had always believed that as a stage-nine martial god, the gap between himself and Dominic, a peak martial god and an elder of the Nefarious Deity Sect, was merely half a step. Yet now, he had witnessed something that shattered his assumptions.His most powerful dark beast, the Crimson-Scaled Nether Serpent, was electrocuted to death in an instant. Then, even when he gave it everything he had and struck with Greedy Wolf, he still ended up at a disadvantage.Meanwhile, Dominic had taken on Chase's full three-pronged assault—including a direct strike from Greedy Wolf—with nothing but his bare skull and stood his ground.It was at that moment that Stone finally understood. The gap between him and Dominic was far larger than he had ever imagined.There was simply no comparison.He and Cherry had once considered challenging for the Supreme Elder title at the sect's year-end assembly, ho
This should be easy enough!"You brat! Dying at my hands is your greatest honor. Save your breath!" Dominic shouted as he launched the Nine Nefarious Holy Fist.His body swelled in size, his shirt bursting open to reveal muscles that were as hard as stone. They gleamed under the morning sun. The sight left Willow and Walter utterly stunned.An opponent who exploded out of his shirt right at the start? That was rare enough. However, to see a Supreme Elder doing it against a junior… Was this not a bit overkill?Facing him directly, Chase wore a serious expression. His consciousness detected an overwhelming vitality radiating from Dominic, so dense it even suppressed the aura of killing intent.After easily defeating Stone earlier, Chase's impression of the Nefarious Deity Sect had dropped a notch. He had thought that after so many rounds of body refinement and reinforcement by the Dark and Light Emerald Lotus, his physical strength should be at the top tier.Yet this Dominic, the s
The answer soon revealed itself.A sizzling noise rang out as the Crimson-Scaled Nether Serpent lunged at Chase with its jaws wide open, clearly intending to end his life in one bite.It thought to itself smugly, 'This fool is too slow. He's dead for sure.'However, to everyone's surprise, the serpent suddenly spasmed mid-air. Electric arcs danced across its scales as smoke began to rise from its body. Twitching uncontrollably, it looked like it had been struck by lightning. It fell straight to the ground like a thick rope within seconds, utterly limp.Stone stood there, dumbfounded.He had not expected his Crimson-Scaled Nether Serpent to be defeated so quickly. Sensing that the serpent was now truly and completely dead, his eyes flared with rage.Chase actually dared to kill his dark beast?!His expression turned grim. Black energy spirit surged from his body, and the demon-headed broadsword on his back gleamed with a menacing red light, eager to be unleashed. Even those nearb