Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 486: Changes.

"Halt!"

Jaka shouted, his voice reverberating throughout the forest.

Ozul, Raven, and Zier paused in their tracks. The scarred woman also obeyed her master’s wishes.

If they ignored him, it wouldn’t have ended well for any of them as the old man appeared right in the middle of these four in the next second.

"There is no need to continue."

"Giving up already, old man? Weren’t you confident in your strength earlier?" Rai also appeared beside him, as he mocked with a toothy grin. His haggard appearance added a hint of wildness to it.

Raven and Zier glared at him intensely. If this was ending peacefully like this, why did he have to aggravate the old man again?

To their relief, the old man did not seem to mind his taunts and continued, "I will admit our loss. We will follow you."

"But!" The scarred woman objected.

But Jaka shook his head, "Accept defeat. It is one lesson that you sisters never seem to learn."

The old man had attempted to kill Rai multiple times, but the latter’s fighting style was annoying to the point that even he had to admit their fight wasn’t going to conclude anytime soon.

On the other hand, one of his disciples was defeated while the other had four Transcendents cornering her. It was only a matter of time before she was defeated as well.

After that, any sensible man could reach the conclusion that he would slowly lose once swarmed by these Transcendents as well as Rai. Only, it was going to be a bitter defeat and one that would give them lasting wounds.

With all of that in mind, Jaka thought it wise to give up now.

"You never planned to stay here, did you?" Ozul questioned him.

The old man gave up too easily. Considering that he had lied about the Spiritual arrays laid around the forest, it didn’t make sense for him to give up right after one of his disciples was defeated.

No man who had lived for hundreds of years would give up and admit defeat so easily if that wasn’t his plan from the start.

"What makes you assume that?" Jaka turned toward him, and so did everyone else.

"I can tell when people lie," he answered, not excited to explain his reasoning.

"Ho? Old man, you were just shy to come along with us? You could have just told me in my ears, and I would have pretended to go along with you~" Rai winked at him.

’Liar. You would have yelled at the top of your lungs and told everyone to embarrass him,’ Zier mumbled in his heart, watching the hateful man act chummy with the old man.

Sighing loudly, the old man gave up.

There was no need to lie at this point. He admitted, "These brats needed to learn a lesson. However, the results surprised even me."

But that was only the reason why he wanted them to fight.

When the group of Transcendents sent by the Immortal Sect had arrived, he could gather from their information that Ember might send someone for him as well. He had already made his decision then.

"Why do you want to join Ember?"

Ozul understood it immediately, but he didn’t know why this old man who had lived in seclusion with only his disciples had an interest in her.

Meanwhile, Zier went back to where Blaze and the other woman were lying.

Fortunately, both of them were alive but suffered deep wounds. Blaze was circulating his Spiritual Essence to heal his internal injuries, while the woman was unconscious.

Seeing that Blaze was fine, Zier began to treat the woman. Having worked with poisons for so long and having experimented with his blood, he had acquired at least basic knowledge of healing other people.

"She is the youngest Empyrean of this Realm. She would be the easiest to deal with," Jaka explained.

He hid the fact that he also wanted to learn from her. If only he could glimpse her practices, he might achieve enlightenment.

Ozul did not bother to pursue it any further.

Whatever reasons the old man might have, it only mattered to him that he had lost yet another opportunity to absorb someone at the Sage Realm.

However, it was accurate to say that this wasn’t even an opportunity since the old man never planned to fight until death.

"Oi, before we return. Don’t you have to get your stuff?" Rai called out as the scarred woman picked up her sister who was breathing normally now.

"I have everything with me," Jaka flashed the Spatial Rings in his hand. He had been living in the forest for years didn’t mean he lacked basic Spiritual tools.

"Eh? What about the Spiritual arrays?" That is what he was anxious about leaving here the most.

He had been wanting Ember to get defensive arrays for their estate since forever now and she refused every time. If the old man was joining them anyway, Sage’s defensive arrays would be perfect for their home.

"Oh, about that-"

"He was lying about them," Ozul added, turning to leave.

"..."

Rai and the trio stared at him speechless. They might have held at least some doubt about the old man’s threat if not for his presence. They didn’t think he would keep the truth as well.

Meanwhile, Jaka watched Ozul fly away with interest.

"That boy is special, huh?"

"An abnormal among the Dragon Hatchlings," Rai answered before turning to leave as well.

The only thing he had gained from this trip was a good fight.

Meanwhile, Ozul landed near Blaze. He stared down at him, as the latter awaited words of disappointment about how he shouldn’t risk his life.

But nothing of such came from Ozul’s mouth.

Instead, a warmth spread throughout his body as a sheet of Purity enveloped the hole in his chest.

"You did good."

Blaze heard those words as Ozul began to fly away.

Given the circumstances, it was reckless, but the only way they could have won.

The battle between the two Sages was decided by Blaze’s action alone. And all of that was achieved without him injuring any of his vital organs. With Purity’s healing, it would at most take a day or two to heal completely.

. . .

It took another day for them to return to Phoenix City where they instantly noticed the changes.

"We went away for just 2 days-. What the fuck?" Zier couldn’t help but curse out loud as his eyes scanned through the crowd in the streets.

There were waves of people with bland, dull-colored clothes marching on the streets.

There were ten times more cultivators roaming everywhere, and most of them were in the Origin Realm! The weakest he could quickly find was at the peak of the Nascent Soul!

Ozul, Rai, and old man Jaka focused on the dense Spiritual waves coming from the center of the city.

Ignoring the bustling city, their group flew straight toward the estate.

On their way there, the number of cultivators only seemed to grow in numbers.

Consequently, the grin on Rai’s face grew wider and wider. Every day, he felt closer and closer to a full-blown bloody war.

There were unknown faces stationed outside the estate, guarding the gates.

When they approached, the two peak Origin Realm experts crossed their spears, glaring at their group despite knowing full well that they had 2 Sages.

Before Rai could slap them away, one of Rai’s underlings quickly came and whispered in the guard’s ears, who promptly lifted their spears and let them enter.

"I thought you had some authority here?" Jaka taunted, slapping the shoulders of Rai.

From the reaction of others, he had gathered accurately that they were surprised about the number of cultivators as well.

Rai strode inside, glaring at the two guards who couldn’t help but shiver under his eyes.

Finding Ember was not hard even among the swarm of cultivators. The aura of an Empyrean could not be veiled with that of the Transcendents surrounding the courtyard.

"There are more cultivators here than the Wilderness was able to train and recruit after all these centuries," Rai stated with laughter, imagining the faces of those old coots when they saw so many people lined up against them.

"And I see that you managed to convince him," Ember gave him an approving nod before moving her focus to old man Jaka and the two women standing behind him.

Having nothing else to do, Ozul also helped her heal the wounds on the way back.

"Don’t thank me. This old man was eager to come," Rai shrugged before moving on.

Jaka immediately cupped his hands, "I wish to learn from you in meager hopes of at least taking a peek into your Realm."

"There might not be much I could teach you," she replied, watching Ozul return to his reclined chair that no one was allowed to touch even in his absence.

"I would not ask you to go out of your way to teach me anything. If I do not learn anything, it must be my own inability," Jaka showed a surprising display of humility that not even Ozul was expecting from a man who had forsaken civilization, deeming it unworthy before.

Ember nodded, "Wait for my instructions, I have a lot to deal with right now."

Jaka didn’t feel offended or anything. He had seen with his own eyes the number of cultivators roaming everywhere.

He excused himself with his two disciples.

"Salar and Remal are sent here by the Lord of Shadows," Ember addressed the elephant in the room.