B2 - Chapter 100 |
William finally stood up and scanned the room, ignoring Shitou’s ready pose and the corrupted avatar’s raised brow.
If he couldn’t directly touch Kae without being knocked on his ass, he had to quickly confirm that the corrupted avatar truly was incorporeal and not just another projection.
He had a tough choice—one he didn’t even know he could do. Before he would take the step to try and take Kae’s life, he needed to be sure there was no other alternative.
William’s body blurred as he left the hall, intending to explore every room possible to see if there was a sign of some sort of anchor the corrupted avatar was using. It was a stretch, and he honestly had little hope.
The corrupted avatar did nothing when he left.
That reeked of confidence that he couldn’t find anything to make a difference. He ignored that nagging voice in his head, telling him he was wasting time searching for something that didn’t exist.
As large as the estate was, there weren’t many places to search. Other than the entrance hall and the hall where Kae’s body was resting, the only other places he saw were a massive Qi refining room that had to take up half the estate and several small storage rooms filled with red elixirs in small vials.
“If it gives you any relief, he won’t feel anything,” the corrupted avatar was behind him. William didn’t look away from the elixirs as he slowly came to terms with what he had to do.
“Shitou,” William finally turned to her. “Why is he listening to you? He calls you a ‘witch’ and then acts as your guard dog. He supposedly cowered during Kae’s rampage, but I assume that was also an act.”
“Besides my pet turtle, which you destroyed, there are only two other truly sentient beings in this prison. What do you think happens after thousands of years of silence?”
William shuddered involuntarily at the thought of being in that situation. “Insanity.”
“That,” the corrupted avatar nodded, “and a desperation for escape. However possible.”
“So, the Greeter and Shitou are helping you escape?”
“Not at all,” she chuckled. “The Greeter is stubborn and refuses to think of speaking to me. Though, it has now reached the point of going through the motions and doing whatever Shitou asks, which is enough for me.”
“Shitou is the reason for all this,” William wanted to hold on to that. This would be the way he avoided the torment of being partially responsible for Kae’s end. “I’m guessing you’ll take those two out with you.”
“Don’t be silly,” the corrupted avatar shook her head gently as if she were a teacher chiding him. He didn’t like that. “They are linked to this dimension. There is no leaving for them.”
William paused, realizing what that meant. “They want to die.”
“As I said, however possible.”
That settled it. He had been thinking of ways to try and pull Shitou on his side—as unlikely as that would have been—but if the stone spirit was hoping for death, there was nothing he could do to sway him.
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“You—” William paused, cutting himself off when he felt the frantic pings of the spirit beast egg. He didn’t know the egg could take the initiative and contact him from the spatial stone.
Despite the urgency of the current situation, he sent his Qi into the spatial stone to ensure the egg was fine.
William sensed it jump—yes, jump—in place as it pushed an image of a vial containing red elixir.
He cut off his flow of Qi and frowned.
“So that’s why you stored my Flesh Puppets. To have such an artifact at your cultivation…” the corrupted avatar muttered beside him.
William knew that his interaction with the spatial stone had been discovered, though he didn’t really care too much about that. At least, that’s what her words implied since she must know about Kae’s bracelet, a normal spatial artifact.
He set that matter aside and gave the spirit beast egg what it wanted. He focused and surrounded everything in the storage room with his Qi—vials, shelves, anything that was detachable—and pulled it into his spatial stone.
“… What are you doing?”
William glanced at the corrupted avatar after her question. He found that she had become more transparent than a few minutes ago. That just made him work faster.
He emptied all the storage rooms in the estate, five of them, and had given the spirit beast egg thousands of those red elixirs to do whatever it wanted with them. It took him less than a minute to do so, and it also came with the added benefit of making the corrupted avatar furious.
A first since he had been playing to her tune until now.
“Control yourself, boy!” The corrupted avatar’s visage darkened. “You might be a pure human, but even a talent like you can cross boundaries I cannot forgive. Return the elixirs, and I will forgive your stupidity.”
“I don’t think so,” William rushed back to the main hall where Kae was located.
“What need do you have for the Flesh Creation Elixir?!”
He blinked in surprise and saw that she had reached the tipping point. Her aura was exactly like why he had seen at the gate—something Lord Paddlington assured that he didn’t have to worry about.
William still wasn’t overly concerned about the corrupted avatar. If she had been able to stop him, he would already know by now.
As for the red elixirs, it made sense why his spirit beast egg wanted them with what they were named.
“I’m guessing that’s how you make your Flesh Puppets?” William commented as he stormed into the main hall with the corrupted avatar fuming beside him.
“Yes,” the corrupted avatar replied through gritted teeth. “Last chance, boy. Killing you would be regrettable, but the human race is numerous. Another like you will eventually be born.”
He still had no idea why she was so stuck on the ‘human race’ nonsense. Perhaps some conflict in her era consumed her mind, making her into her current corrupted form.
Whatever it was, he hadn’t paid her seeming ramblings any mind the entire time, so why start now?
“I can’t imagine why you would need them if you succeed in escaping.” William wondered why she hadn’t called in some of the many Flesh Puppets stationed outside to deal with him instead of ineffectively threatening him. “Unless you plan to use them as your army?”
He said that last part with some humor, but the corrupted avatar’s expression told him that his guess was correct.
She was insane. William concluded that with certainty.
There were cultivators at the Spirit Severing Realm watching over the Tianxia Empire. Even if she had millions of Flesh Puppets, there would still be a less than zero chance of succeeding in whatever she had planned.
“Do I need to deal with him?” Shitou inserted himself in the conversation, still standing on Kae’s forehead.
The corrupted avatar looked tempted at the offer but still shook her head. “No, don’t waste the body’s energy.”
William was happy to let the two ignore him as long as the corrupted avatar didn’t accelerate her rate of becoming transparent. He had been glancing at his status screen to check the time remaining for the [Force Multiplier] penalty.
Spiritual Energy: 1843/1940 (20% per Hour)
A hundred Spiritual Energy had been spent to heal his hand, with another two hundred to activate [Force Multiplier]. Factoring in a small amount of Spiritual Energy he recovered on the walk through the garden, only a few more seconds to be free of the penalty.
“Another Soul Lotus will need to be used at this rate if you are this eager. Calm yourself, Shitou.”
That got William’s attention.