2026-08-15 20:52:15
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
20
"Burn the letter," Lucas said, tossing the purple-sealed parchment onto the small iron brazier inside the safe house.The paper curled into black ash in seconds, the silver calligraphy vanishing into glowing sparks as Esther watched with wide, nervous eyes."Are you going to meet her at the river, Young Master?" Esther asked, her fingers gripping her cloak hem as she took a small step backward. "Jessica is dangerous. She threw away your betrothal ring the second Damon declared your core broken.""Jessica is a mercenary who trades in weakness," Lucas said, his voice cold as he turned to face the bare stone wall. "She didn't send that note out of guilt. She sent it because Damon hasn't paid her family's final tribunal fee."He sat cross-legged on the cold stone floor, placing his left palm over his sternum where the inverted blood-curse rotated in a steady, liquid-silver spiral."Stay by the door," Lucas commanded flatly, closing his eyes as his consciousness sank back into the core arr
19
"Clear the entrance immediately or I will sever every meridian in your torso," Lucas said, his voice flat as he stepped out from the star-steel threshold of the subterranean cavern.The surviving Iron Blood Sect elders scrambled backward through the dark mud of the underground corridor, dragging their broken bodies up the stone steps in total terror."Retreat! All disciples fall back to the upper garrison!" Elder Kael shrieked, clutching his crushed shoulder as blood dripped onto his torn silk robes. "Don't look back! Don't engage him!"Lucas didn't pursue them up the narrow stone stairs. He stood alone in the cold subterranean draft, watching the fleeing cultists vanish into the shadows above.His sternum burned with an unbearable, violent heat.The spatial energy he had re-routed from the ruin's core array was surging wildly through his freshly opened meridians, demanding immediate refinement before it ruptured his internal organs.Lucas sat cross-legged on the cold star-steel floor
18
"Back away from the star-steel gate, coreless trash!" Elder Kael screamed, his voice booming through the cavernous underground chamber as twenty armed disciples poured down the stone steps behind him.Lucas didn't turn around immediately. He kept his eyes locked on the glowing red note in his right hand, his left palm burning with a fierce, quiet heat."This ruin belongs to the Iron Blood Sect," Kael declared, drawing a broad crimson longsword from his belt as two junior elders flanked him. "The border city sits on our territory. Any scavenger who sneaks into our ancient grounds dies on the spot!"Lucas slowly turned his head, his dark eyes sweeping over the three sect elders and the row of armed disciples holding glowing fire-talismans."You speak of territory as if you built these stones, Kael," Lucas said, his tone entirely flat, entirely devoid of fear.Kael's face twisted into a sneer, his broadsword humming with a heavy, low-tier flame aura. "I don't care how you survived your e
17
"Stay inside and seal the latch," Lucas said, pressing his bare left hand against the damp wooden doorframe of the safe house.Esther nodded, her fingers trembling as she pulled the wooden bar across the heavy oak door. "Be careful, Young Master."Lucas turned his back on the safe house, his boots sinking into the wet mud of the dark alleyway. The cold night wind tore through his thin linen tunic, but his internal meridians burned with a white-hot, suffocating heat.The residual blood-curse Damon had activated on his mother's soul-ring was pulsing inside his chest every twelve seconds, trying to rot his internal channels from the inside out. To any normal cultivator, the curse was a slow death sentence.To Lucas, it was raw, unrefined spell energy waiting to be dismantled.He walked deeper into the abandoned eastern quarter of the border city, stopping in a ruined stone courtyard where the city's old sewage channels collapsed into the deep bedrock.Lucas sat cross-legged on the cold s
16
"Hand over your storage rings and your boots, noble trash," Enforcer Garos growled, slamming his broad iron cleaver onto the wooden guard post desk.Lucas stepped out of the heavy transport into the muddy, filth-ridden square of the northern border city, his eyes sweeping across the ragged crowd of local thugs and deserters."I carry no storage rings," Lucas said, his voice flat and steady against the howling icy wind.Garos burst into a loud, wet laugh, turning to the five armed enforcers standing behind him near the stone gatehouse. "Look at this broken dog! The Peterson clan kicked him out to rot in the mud, and he thinks he can talk back to the Border Watch!""Search his servant girl first!" one of the enforcers yelled, grinning as he reached a muddy hand toward Esther's collar. "She might be hiding some silver under those rags!"Lucas didn't draw a weapon. He didn't take a step back."Touch her and you die," Lucas whispered softly.Garos sneered, grabbing a heavy glass flask of v
15
"Neutralize it now," Lucas said, his voice flat as he shoved his bare palm straight into the dense green fog.The toxic fumes sizzled against his skin, turning into white ash before they could reach his lungs.Deep inside his left palm, the geometric ghost-sign flared to life. The silver matrix spun in a tight, violent circle, drawing every drop of the Corpse-Melting Viper Poison into a localized spatial void above his skin."How... how is his body standing that?!" the shadow lieutenant shrieked, his hands shaking so hard his broadsword rattled against his iron gauntlet."Your poison is weak," Lucas said softly.He closed his fist.SNAP!The spatial void imploded, crushing the green poison cloud into a harmless speck of dry grey powder that blew away into the dark night air.The shadow lieutenant stumbled backward, his face turning pale as paper as he looked at Lucas's unmarred skin. "Retreat! Back to the estate! Tell the Vice-Patriarch he can't be killed by mortal venom!""You're not
You may also like
BEAST EMPEROR
Xamo35.0K viewsSupreme Alchemist
Know Micro41.9K viewsONCE BULLIED: LYON ARMSTRONG IS BACK.
ASystem20.1K viewsBecome the Strongest God
Jajajuba39.4K viewsRebirth of The Strongest Swordsman
King Cume321 viewsThe Borrowed Time System
abundance ke357 viewsThe Ghost Auditor
Testimony303 viewsReborn as the Zombie King
SONIA 328 views