Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 442: Artist?

Ozul took the dead body as far as he could before Rai appeared before him.

When he tried handing over the body to him, Rai refused, "Keep it wrapped in thatthing. Even I can’t sense his Spiritual Essence in it. Hmm... is that the reason I don’t feel Spiritual traces from you?"

Ozul ignored the question and posed one of his own, "How long do I have to keep it?"

"Oh my, don’t worry. You have already done your job. This is just a favor since it makes things easier. You just have to bring it inside the estate."

Ozul simply nodded and sped toward the estate; he was heading back anyway. As people who saw him with a floating cube of darkness, he couldn’t be bothered about it.

...

They both arrived at the estate no longer than a few minutes as Rai kept pestering him to run in circles multiple times instead of heading straight there.

Once inside, Rai brought him to a corridor he had never set foot in before, and after taking a few ominous turns, they entered a room with dim light.

As he stepped inside, he could feel a cold layer of Spiritual Essence enveloping his entire body.

"You can leave the body here. His Spiritual traces can never be felt from inside this room."

Ozul left the dead body there and they made their way toward Ember’s office again.

With her abilities, she knew the moment they came back and was waiting for them to show up, "So, how did he do?"

Ozul took a seat and couldn’t help but feel a little displeased at being appraised like a Spiritual Tool.

But Rai too was enthusiastic as he gave his input, "He’s better than you described, Lord. That man even had a Blood Amulet, but this kid wasn’t even phased!"

"What is a Blood Amulet?"

"It’s an expensive Spiritual Tool that not even Transcendents can easily obtain. The Amulet only breaks if it absorbs a death blow. As you saw, it basically gave him a second life." Rai described the Blood Amulet as yet another invention of this vast Realm.

Before he could ask any more questions, Ember took Rai’s attention.

"So?"

Nodding his head, Rai replied, "Unless it’s an experienced middle-ranked Transcendent, this kid can handle anyone."

"Hmm. That’s good enough," Ember fell into thought.

Meanwhile, Ozul eyed Rai warily. This man was able to gauge his strength exactly as he had estimated.

Unexpectedly, Rai wasn’t done, "There’s also something else. This kid can also erase another person’s presence with his uncanny abilities. It makes things so much easier!"

Before Ozul could reply, Ember shook her head and answered, "Keep your fantasies to yourself. Unlike you, he doesn’t serve me. There are only so many things I can ask him to do."

Standing there, he couldn’t help but cringe at the fact that they were talking about him as if he wasn’t literally sitting in between them both.

"But-" Rai began.

"No buts," Ember cut him off before he could say anything, "Persuade him yourself if you so wish to. I will have no part in it."

Finally turning her head toward Ozul, she smiled, "Thank you, again. I still need more people dead, though. Can you do that?"

Ozul considered the offer and began to think.

Raven, Blaze, and Zier focused solely on cultivation, and with Ember occasionally guiding them, they were progressing faster than ever before, at a speed that astonished even her.

On the other hand, he didn’t have anything better to do. He could try to find artifacts dense in Spiritual Essence to absorb, but anything that could really benefit him wasn’t easy to come by.

Even the Mind’s Eye was so rare that Ember’s enemies let her live, never expecting her to find one in her entire lifetime.

The only way forward for him was to either gain experience or start hunting for rare artifacts.

Having thought out the options, he agreed to help her.

Though he would rather just sleep until he saw an opportunity to get his hands on something dense in Spiritual Essence or the trio became strong enough to do the work for him.

But the anxiety of not doing anything about his situation had started creeping up his neck whenever he was taking a nap.

’I really am changing the more I grow...’ he reflected internally.

He had a suspicion that it was related to his growth. Whenever he absorbed something so pure that his abilities grew, it might have also given him the emotions that he never had.

’As if they were always there, just not in my grasp.’ Even his powers gave him the same feeling; that he wasn’t actually growing stronger, but regaining something lost.

Lost in his thoughts, he left the office and went to his room. The only thing that protected him from his thoughts were naps.

Behind him, in the office, Ember and Rai continued their discussion.

"He was just a messenger, why did he have a Blood Amulet?" Ember spoke slowly, almost muttering to herself. Gone was the smile as soon as Ozul had left.

"The Immortal Sect and Ryujin are more intimate than expected. Only those self-acclaimed Immortals have the luxury to decorate people with Blood Amulets."

Shaking her head, "The Sect is desperate for something and we don’t know what. Target more people. I want to know what the Sect wants from our City Lord."

"If it is as you say, My Lord. Then the Sect will retaliate," Rai replied, not expressing any emotions.

But Ember wasn’t in a mood to entertain him, "Stop playing. Dye the borders of Phoenix City red if you have to. I want information."

"And the Phoenix?"

"That’s within my expectations as well. The Phoenix isn’t as unreasonable as everyone believes it to be. I think I can handle her."

Rai smirked. He couldn’t be happier, "Hahaha... My Lord. You’ve handed me the fanciest brush and allowed me to use the canvas. It would be a sin not to make art!"

"That ’brush’ you’re talking about is still my guest. It wouldn’t go well if you ever forget that."

Rai reigned in his crazy smile, "Of course. I have come to cherish your guest just as much as you, My Lord. You need not worry about him."

...

Sometime later in the City Lord’s Hall, the City Lord was informed of the situation.

"We know that his Blood Amulet broke, but there are no traces of him..."

"What do you mean no traces of him?! He is a Transcendent for Heaven’s sake!" Ryujin shouted, the furniture was already breaking apart under his intense aura.

Sweating, the man replied, "There’s also another problem..."

He paused, reconsidering if he should continue or not. After all, it was impossible to think that someone who was able to overload a Transcendent’s Blood Amulet didn’t leave a single trace of their Spiritual Essence!

"... We couldn’t find any trace of the attacker’s aura..."

Silence prevailed in the room as the table finally couldn’t bear the pressure and fell apart in two parts.

"Do you take me for a fool?! Don’t spew nonsense!" As the man had expected, Ryujin didn’t take the news well. "Find out what happened and who did it before I find someone who can."

The man bowed and went out as fast as he could, leaving Ryujin alone in the room.

"That bitch!" he cursed Ember in a fit of rage before he calmed down but with much effort.

He didn’t even know what had happened to his messenger, but there were no problems in his life before Ember had shown up. He had a hunch that only she could be behind it.

"Arrange a meeting with the Alliance Leader. That snake should know what happened and why," he seemingly spoke to no one, but one of the guards standing outside bowed in his direction and went away.

...

In another part of Phoenix City, in the same garden, the Alliance Leader was star gazing.

"What is it?"

"Ember sent two people; the Hound and one of the Dragon Hatchlings."

"And?"

"That is all. I couldn’t evade the Hound’s senses. He noticed me as soon as he arrived there, so I had to leave."

"That was to be expected. What happened afterward?"

"The City Lord’s people couldn’t find any trace of their messenger. No trace of another cultivator’s aura can be felt from the scene. It looks, even to our people, as if a ghost abducted that man and disappeared..."

The Alliance Leader stayed silent for a few seconds before he ordered, "Gather all information on the Dragon Hatchlings. I want everything there is to know about the four of them specifically.

Also, keep a tight watch on everything that Ryujin does."

"Your wish is my command." And the man hiding in the shade disappeared with the next breeze.

"Who would’ve thought that a Dragon could raise Dragon Hatchlings better than anyone else?

Haha... You never fail to entertain me, Ember."

After all, he was expecting a crude attack on Ryujin’s people followed by an all-out war between them before the Phoenix rose.

It wasn’t within his calculations that she would involve someone with such abilities that even his people couldn’t find a trace of the assassin’s aura.

’If it is that Dragon Hatchling, that will be troublesome. Even among the other Realms, no genius has ever achieved Transcendence in a couple of years!’

. . .

Among the three prominent factions of the Phoenix City, only the City Lord’s Hall was in disarray.

However, the worst of it had yet to come...