He was in the middle of climbing out of the cave through the crack in the ceiling, when Gorgo offered him his forearm.

  “Thanks, brother,” Cade said in a weary voice as Gorgo pulled him up with a single, smooth motion.

  He sat down heavily on a nearby rock, not bothering to wipe off the cold morning dew, and took a deep, shuddering breath of fresh air. With his newly acquired knowledge, he felt as if the weight of all those lives sacrificed to the ancient beacon had somehow settled on his shoulders.

  “Is it done?” Gorgo asked, his voice low.

  The young Asura nodded, releasing a heavy sigh before relaying the whole, ugly story to his friend.

  “That’s seriously messed up,” an expression of disbelief settled on Gorgo’s face as Cade’s tale concluded.

  “She’s barely twenty,” Cade said, his voice flat. “The lives of others don’t mean a thing to her. She took part in capturing and selling hundreds of innocents, though surprisingly, she had never actually killed anyone herself. The parents who resisted were beaten by her thugs. In the end, I didn’t take her life, though I made sure she paid an adequate price.”

  He held up his hand. Between his thumb and index finger, he pinched a small, glowing ball of light. His nail folds were caked with specks of dried blood. “Other than her arm, she’s now missing something else.”

  “A pre-core?” Gorgo’s eyes narrowed, a flicker of shock passing through his expression.

  Cade nodded. “Over the next few days, she will gradually lose the benefits of her cultivation as the spiritual energy in her body disperses. By the end of the week, she’ll be no different from a mortal. Knowing she’ll never recover her cultivation or regrow her arm, she’ll wander those tunnels just as I did, growing weaker with every breath. There is an exit, though her chances of finding it aren’t good. If by some miracle she manages to survive, it would mean fate wasn’t done with her yet. In that case, who am I to interfere?” Cade shrugged.

  “Even a tiny chance at life is more than she deserves,” Gorgo growled. “What about the henchmen and her brother? Any leads on where that little bastard is hiding?”

  “Most of their helpers from back then are either dead, or long gone. Who knows where they are now. I have to be realistic about who I can track down. Snooping around human cities is out of the question, as I’ll immediately bring attention to myself. Now that Veronica is gone, time is limited. I need to prioritize Griswold. Fortunately, I learned a lot about him and his habits. I just don’t know how to deal with their father yet. I might have to come back for him when I’m stronger.”

  “He’s that dangerous?”

  “Seventy-two years old but supposedly looks forty at most. He’s in the middle stage of Foundation Establishment and has mastered two of the Sword Sacrament’s three battle arts, not to mention having fifty years of sword training. He also has an early True Core bodyguard, a criminal who ran away from a powerful noble family in the south. As we are now, the two of us together would be sending ourselves to our deaths. Marius is behind everything. If Griswold was the sword that took my mother’s life, then the Baron was the arm that swung it. The old man meticulously planned each raid—location, frequency, even who to take, using census records. He controls his greed well and is very patient. He’s building up wealth to break into True Core through pills alone.”

  “That… the cost would be outrageous. Well into the millions!” Gorgo’s eyes widened, imagining the mountains of spirit crystals needed to purchase enough spiritual pills. The ingredients were exorbitantly expensive.

  “For him, there is no other way. With his aptitude, he’ll be long dead before he advances naturally. In the next three years, Marius wants to enter True Core. Veronica admitted he’s not far from reaching the late stage. As far as she knew, she was telling the truth.”

  “Shit. If he breaks through into the next realm, he’ll become several times more powerful,” a troubled look crossed the gray warrior’s face.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I’ve already removed his daughter from the picture. If we deal with Griswold, it will disrupt Marius’s plans and cut him off from resources, at least for now. As for what he’ll do… It’s difficult to predict how someone as callous as him might react,” Cade sighed.

  “Whichever way this develops, from everything you’ve told me, I think it’s best we don’t hang around here for too long. I have a lot of work waiting for me in Xia’lah, and you have to go to Sword Dao Monastery. We could meet up in Kettle in, let’s say, a couple of years. What do you think?” Gorgo proposed.

  Every time Cade thought about the monastery, he was reminded of his biggest weakness: his poor combat ability. It was still based on what he had learned as a child, and his experience fighting other cultivators was limited to a few low-ranked bandits. Training in the monastery could correct that, but with Veronica gone, he had to deal with Griswold as swiftly as possible. Marius would have to wait. The Baron was beyond his current reach.

  Cade had gone through rebirth only recently; his growth had just begun. He also had those puzzling prismatic spherules. While they apparently made his cultivation more difficult, they also made his physical abilities grow far beyond what the Blood Transformation realm was supposed to offer. In his eyes, this was a worthy tradeoff. Time was on his side.

  “Two years is a sensible amount of time. It should be enough for things here to calm down after I poke the hornet’s nest with a burning stick,” Cade concurred.

  “I got us a couple of aura severance pills. They’re damn expensive, but I’d love to watch them try to find us after we take them. The Empire is just a tiny fraction of the Sun Continent and one of the weakest factions, lacking powerful inheritances. It only stands thanks to the Emperor’s early Soul Avatar cultivation.”

  Cade knew Gorgo was right. The Brightheart Empire was roughly six hundred miles in diameter, while the continent was so enormous it was difficult to even put a number on its size. If the Brighthearts somehow learned their identities, in the absolute worst case, they would have to avoid Kettle and the Empire until they were both stronger.

  As long as he had access to potent blood, Cade didn’t believe he’d need more than a year to complete the First Chapter. If those prismatic spherules continued to multiply as he progressed through Flesh Fortification, the power of his physical body would reach unpredictable levels. If he then learned to utilize that strength with the help of the Law Severing Art… The prospect made him excited.

  “Thanks, brother. You’re completely correct. Your words have relieved me of my worries,” Cade smiled, no longer concerned with what the Brighthearts might do. “By the way, you won’t believe where Griswold is currently staying.”

  “Don’t tell me he’s in Kettle?” Gorgo’s eyebrows lifted.

  “What are you, a prophet?” Cade laughed. “Not just in Kettle. That pockmarked turd is staying in the Tower Inn.”

  “What?! We’ve been in and out so many times. We’ve seen, what, a hundred people come and go? I might not recognize him at first glance, but you certainly should, right?” The gray warrior’s eyes widened in disbelief.

  “Oh, yes. Unfortunately, that lucky bastard recently became acquainted with a son of a Trade Lord. His new best friend got him a flying permit. Even better, Griswold has occupied one of the top-floor apartments with its own personal transportation formation. He can come and go as he pleases. We would have never known he was a couple dozen floors above us all that time.”

  As Gorgo listened, his brows drew together, his expression gradually darkening. “This really complicates things. Getting to him could be hard,” the giant said after some thought.

  “Luckily, he still ventures out. He has no reason for concern, after all. It’ll be some time before anyone starts wondering where Veronica is. The siblings are often away from home for two weeks at a time, following the schedule set by their father. And she knows her brother’s vices quite well. There is one place little Griswold visits on a regular basis.”

  Cade began to explain his idea. A short while later, Gorgo nodded with a decisive look. “Simple plans are the best. Let’s do it.”

  The young Asura realized he had forgotten something. He quickly pulled out the diamond-encrusted ring with a sly smile. “Gorgo, if you take from those who rob others, does that make you a robber?”

  “I suppose so. A highly specialized robber. Why, is that her ring?”

  Cade nodded, his lips stretching from ear to ear. “I can see why people do this. Robbing isn’t very hard, and it pays quite well. There are a lot of crystals inside, not to mention an older Arrow speeder and an expensive-looking brooch releasing spiritual fluctuations. I’ll leave the selling of those to you; your haggling skills are way better than mine. Unless you want to keep the brooch to complement your eyes,” Cade grinned, passing the ring to Gorgo.

  “No problem, I’ll pay a visit to the Treasure Emporium first thing tomorrow,” the warrior replied absentmindedly, his thoughts already consumed by the ring’s contents. Gorgo’s expression shifted rapidly, now bordering somewhere between excited greed and childlike joy.

  “That’s… 60,000 spirit crystals?! Brother, we’re rich!”

  "Hell yes! It brings out your softer side. Ladies like a man who's both hard and soft, you know," Cade said with absolute conviction.

  "You fucking wear it then!"

  ----

  We're getting close guys! Next chapter is titled "Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance".

  Because it does. Occasionally :)