Chapter 94 - Beneath Still Waters (Part IV) (Patreon)

“He’s late,” Lucian muttered. He stood up and spread his senses through the surroundings, capturing distant sounds and scents.

It had been three days since his return to Three Feathers City, yet Little Crab still had not appeared.

During that time, Lucian had spent nearly nine-tenths of his Blood Essence reservoirs cultivating. He had fully stabilized the Root Chakra and was now opening the second chakra point, located at his lower abdomen. It was called the Sacral Chakra.

Whether from Xu Hua’s memories or his own perception, Lucian felt that the Sacral Chakra possessed a much deeper influence over regeneration and stamina, complementing the durability and endurance granted by the Root Chakra. Naturally, opening the second chakra proved significantly harder than the first. Even though both of them merely represented the lower stage of the Qi Refining realm.

The third and fourth chakras represented the middle stage, the fifth and sixth represented the upper stage, and the seventh, the final chakra point, marked the peak of the Qi Refining realm. Each realm, as far as he knew, followed the rule of four stages.

In previous days, Lucian had considered hunting a few people in the Broken Maze to replenish his Blood Essence. However, he prioritized meeting Little Crab first and understanding the situation. That's why he waited while cultivating as much as he could.

But now that he needed to preserve the little Blood Essence he still possessed and could no longer continue, curiosity and concern began creeping into his thoughts.

If that kid truly ran away, it would make me look rather ridiculous, Lucian thought with a faint sigh. Unfortunately, I cannot gather Blood Essence from the air the same way cultivators gather Qi. I need to leave.

He was not the type to waste time lamenting his limitations. Once he decided to leave, he stood up and stepped outside. Covered by his black robes, he expanded his awareness to the greatest range possible without overloading his hearing and sense of smell. With this, he immediately noticed dozens of people directing their attention toward him.

This kind of perception originated both from his senses and mostly from his endless battle experience.

They locked onto me very quickly, Lucian noted inwardly while walking through the Broken Maze.

He had long been interested in understanding how cultivators recognized him so easily.

Choosing to probe them, he zigzagged through the maze of ruined houses, some occupied, and others abandoned, heading directly toward two of his stalkers. The poor duo realized he was approaching, but they were far too slow to escape him. 

Lucian pursued them leisurely while observing the changes in his perception brought by cultivation. He had a feeling that cultivators relied on this Qi perception to better grasp their surroundings.

With this Qi perception, distinguishing cultivators from mortals was simple enough, since Qi entered and exited a mortal’s body freely, while within cultivators it circulated through structured paths, the meridians.

However, Lucian had never believed that alone explained how others noticed him so quickly. After all, one would normally need to stand quite close to observe such details.

Only when he finally sped up and caught the fleeing spies, grabbing both men by the backs of their heads, he noticed what was happening.

I am a fool, Lucian thought, clicking his tongue. If someone showed a painting to a blind man, what would he perceive? The gasping sounds of others? Xu Hua’s memories were filled with paintings, but I lacked vision.

Lucian was not fully accustomed to using his new Qi perception, and only when observing those two cultivators did it finally occur to him how much knowledge from Xu Hua’s memories he had failed to grasp simply because he previously lacked the proper senses to perceive it.

Deciding to revisit those memories later, he refocused on the main reason behind his insight.  Around those two, Lucian could perceive streams of gaseous Qi flowing through their meridians like drifting currents of mist. One man possessed four elemental affinities within his circulation, and the other possessed five.

But what truly mattered was that Lucian’s own Qi flow was inverted compared to theirs. In fact, it was inverted when compared to the world itself.

It should have been obvious, Lucian thought calmly. A small light amidst darkness is impossible to ignore. Even from afar, my inverted cultivation must stand out. If this is how cultivators had noticed me since I arrived in the city, everyone must have known I'm different.

With a tightening motion, he crushed both men’s necks. Their corpses collapsed onto the ground lifelessly, and at the same time, Lucian sensed the remaining stalkers fleeing in every direction, some much faster than the others.

Unconcerned about them, he nodded in satisfaction at his latest discovery. Knowing that Qi perception was useful and that he was found was great! Then, casually waving his hand, he conjured the Rune of Greed, and a red eyeball siphoned the blood from the corpses in thin streams. The time it took was a bit longer than a blink of an eye.

It had always been easier for Lucian to siphon blood from the dead, and now that he had grown stronger, the process had become faster. After absorbing it, the blood was refined into Blood Essence while Lucian walked through the Broken Maze.

He still did not know what had happened to Little Crab, and in his opinion, searching for Wang Chen or Bai Xiaomeng first would merely waste time. Thus, he wanted to check in with Grandmaster Miao and Bo Qing directly. If something happened with his associates, those two should've known.

However, the instant he stepped into another alleyway, Lucian’s senses screamed in warning. Without hesitation, he sidestepped before throwing a punch toward his right.

He halted the strike midway, revealing it as a feint. Then, using the momentum, he pivoted on the balls of his feet and launched another punch. His movements were swift and precise, and it almost looked as if he was battling an invisible opponent.

Surprisingly, his fist met resistance, and a figure flickered into existence behind him.

The man wore ordinary cultivator robes and possessed an utterly unremarkable middle-aged appearance. Also, his arms were crossed defensively in front of him, blocking Lucian’s strike. Despite successfully defending himself, the man’s eyes were wide open.

Lucian could hear cracking sounds, like stone shattering, coming from the arms blocking his punch. He glared at the man, ready to follow with another attack.

“Wait!” the man shouted, taking two hurried steps backward. “I am not your enemy!”

He raised his trembling arms cautiously, while Lucian studied him from head to toe.

“You were following me under a concealment technique. That hardly makes you my friend," Lucian said coldly.

“I came to make a deal.” The man gulped. “My name is Wei Zhang. I am a humble servant of the Feathered Serpent Castle and currently act under the orders of Vice-Lord Verdant Creek.”

Failing to detect anyone else nearby, Lucian nodded slowly. “I never heard of her.”

Wei Zhang’s mouth opened and closed in disbelief. He had expected a more fitting reaction. Nonetheless, he awkwardly laughed the remark away, choosing not to address it directly.

“Lady Verdant Creek wishes to meet you near the Feathered Serpent Castle,” Wei Zhang said carefully.

Frowning, Lucian’s black eyes shimmered crimson. “You were the one sending people to stalk me in the Broken Maze,” he said calmly. “I assume you had my associates followed as well.”

Wei Zhang nodded and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Please do not take offense, Fellow Daoist. We merely wished to avoid disturbing you while ensuring we did not lose track of your whereabouts.”

“Tell me where Little Crab is,” Lucian said. “I will consider your proposal afterward.”

Wei Zhang frowned slightly and muttered, “You do not know?”

Lucian stared at him in silence. He judged such a question idiotic at best and insulting at worst.

Under that cold gaze, Wei Zhang forced out a wry smile.

“Almost three days ago, your three followers were ambushed,” he explained. “Little Crab was taken to the East Bo Merchant Chamber by members of the Azure Royal Fleet under the accusation of causing unrest and damaging property.”

Hearing that, Lucian’s eyes grew colder. At the same time, he caught a detail hidden within Wei Zhang’s wording.

“You said my three followers,” Lucian said slowly. “Explain what happened to the other two.”

Wei Zhang bowed slightly.

“We are uncertain about their exact situations,” he admitted. “Bai Xiaomeng disappeared after finishing her duties at the Sailor School. Wang Chen searched for her afterward, but he too vanished near one of the Tidal Church branches. I’m not accusing anyone, simply speaking about where the couple was last seen!”

“Interesting,” Lucian murmured with a faint smile. “You are trying to throw me against four major forces simultaneously. Your Lady Verdant Creek is either testing my strength or testing my principles. Poor thing.”

Wei Zhang clenched his fists. “That is not what—”

“Stop the act,” Lucian interrupted coldly. “Your heart is calm like still water. This performance of yours is wasting my time. Speak your piece and scram.”

Wei Zhang’s expression froze briefly. Then the warmth vanished entirely from his eyes and, after a short silence, he spoke in an even tone, “I was not lying.”

“I believe in that,” Lucian replied with a nod. “Little Crab and the others likely did disappear. However, I also believe you could have intervened if you truly wished to. At the very least, this is your faction’s attempt to test me. You must be bored.”

The two men stared at one another coldly. Their eyes showed they didn't care about each other's opinions and were both following their own goals. When Wei Zhang opened his mouth to speak, Lucian cut him off.

“It does not matter,” Lucian said, walking past him. “Watch from afar and do not interfere. After I visit those two in the mansion, I will show your Lady Verdant Creek exactly what she wishes to see. Let's hope she won't regret it.”