Chapter 418: Drum
That had been Grace’s first time using the rank 3 cloaking item. It was a tool with limited uses, so she had always relied on something weaker but reusable while Liam had been indisposed.
That was why Grace hadn’t dared to move too quickly once Jessica had appeared. She was unfamiliar with the item’s limits and didn’t know what could give her away in the eyes of a branching expert.
However, it was over now. Grace’s earrings might have saved her from the violent gale, limiting her injuries to shallow cuts, but there was little to be done now that the branching expert had found her.
Grace had magical items, but nothing at Jessica’s level. She had learned some of Liam’s rank 3 martial arts, but using a single one risked exhausting her on the spot without improving her situation.
Liam was another big problem. Grace couldn’t involve him, no matter what. Knowing him, he would probably do something crazy, even if it killed him, and Grace just couldn’t bear to see him hurt.
There was also another issue, the main one. Grace had to avoid capture. If she went through any mind-probing method, Liam’s secret would be exposed, and that would mean death for both of them.
In short, Grace could only resort to lies.
"Senior, forgive my subterfuge," Grace exclaimed, standing and performing a polite bow. "I was so terrified of your might, I activated my technique in panic. When you gave your order, I had already disobeyed it."
Those improvised words carried a lot of reason and even had a sprinkle of flattery, but Jessica was too old and experienced not to notice the flaws.
"Other than my ingredients," Jessica announced, looking coldly at Grace, "What else do you have in your ring?"
Grace wore a perfect smile, reminding herself to breathe under that suffocating pressure. She had used the word "technique" on purpose to hide her storage item, but the branching expert had seen right through her.
"Se-," Grace began to speak the first lie that came to mind, but the suffocating pressure suddenly skyrocketed, clogging her throat, her eyes going wide since Jessica had teleported right in front of her.
"Your ring," Jessica ordered, her meaning obvious.
Grace held back a gulp. She was too good a merchant to show weaknesses, her mask remaining perfect while she did a quick review.
The space-ring contained an immense amount of wealth. It would be a massive financial loss, so big that it would probably start an investigation on Grace.
Yet, Grace’s review mainly involved anything that might allude to Liam’s lineage, which didn’t exist. She had made sure of that for safety reasons.
So, despite the bleeding heart, Grace reached for her ring, only for her survival instincts to sound the alarm.
Grace jumped back in time to watch a silver wall stretch diagonally in front of her, zigzagging as if it were a lightning bolt, its wild energy releasing screeches.
It was an attack of massive proportions, sharp and violent, scarring the ground, but Grace didn’t stay there to admire it.
Grace sharply turned and tapped the ground softly, her figure falling prey to a sudden acceleration that made her slide over the area at high speed.
Two figures soon caught up with Grace as she stopped her martial art to summon her six rank 2 flying swords. Lucas and Troy had let the storm blow them away because it was the best way to escape the branching expert, but the latter’s fuming weapon hinted at something else.
"Are we picking fights with branching experts?" Lucas cursed. "Again?"
Lucas didn’t seem too surprised that Troy had intervened. Even as a Demonic Sect, there was safety in belonging to the Heavenly Sword Cult, and the mess on the mountain could provide a way out.
However, the reply arrived from above.
"Are you?" Jessica’s voice resounded in the sky, making the trio halt their tracks to look up, only for her figure to be already among them.
"I’ll give the Heavenly Sword Cult face," Jessica emotionlessly said, slowly waving her sleeves upward, something building up throughout the gesture.
In a fraction of a second, two upward gales enveloped Lucas and Troy, and they were powerless to oppose them. Their feet left the ground as their figures flew away, one down the mountain, the other toward its peak.
Grace’s swords converged on Jessica, but a booming gale blew from her figure, bending those weapons and sending them flying. Blood flowed down Grace’s nose as the mental connection with those items shattered, followed by the explosion of her hairpin.
There seemed to have been no attack, but Grace’s rib cage caved in. Her chest released cracking noises and exploded into a tide of gore, sending her to the ground, her eyes wide at the sky, blood filling her throat.
"Another life-saving item," Jessica commented, showing no surprise or emotion. "I look forward to seeing your ring’s contents."
Jessica was about to finish the job when a thudding noise resounded behind her, deep but short, as if coming from a single beat of a huge drum.
Jessica had sensed that newcomer but had disregarded him until that drum resounded. However, even then, she merely peeked behind her shoulder, not even bothering to turn.
Liam was there, standing on one leg a few dozen meters behind Jessica, his eyes wide in fury, his hair fluttering softly as black Qi leaked from every inch of his body.
Then, Liam crossed that distance with a single step, appearing right behind Jessica, a louder thudding noise echoing when his right foot touched the ground.
Jessica’s eyes widened a little at that point.
Liam’s skin writhed, bloating and tensing nonstop. Blood flowed out of his nose and eyes, and the black Qi leaking from his figure became dense gales of energy that lifted his long hair completely, making it wave wildly.
And that was only a superficial aspect of what was truly unfolding inside Liam. Jessica obviously couldn’t see it, but she sensed it. That black Qi was inferior to her standing, but her instincts perceived the newcomer as a fellow branching expert.
Jessica flicked her hand, releasing a booming noise. It was the same spell that had hit Grace, just in stronger fashion.
An impossibly dense bullet of air slammed into Liam’s chest, threatening to crush it, send him flying, and more. Yet, there was so much energy inside him, more than he could contain, and definitely more than he should have, and part of it went to enduring the spell.
Liam’s face contorted in struggle as the sheer weight of his Qi rooted him to the ground and kept his chest intact. He gritted his teeth, hissing between them, his cry no different than a hoarse growl.
And Jessica saw something impossible at that point. Her bullet was still pressing on Liam’s chest, invisible but dense enough to twist the sunlight. However, Liam actually leaned forward, pushing it back.
The event was so shocking that Jessica didn’t notice that Liam had lifted his left foot, but she heard him bring it down since a third thudding noise resounded, this time echoing far beyond the area.
Entire chunks of Liam’s body exploded into geysers of blood and black Qi. The third energy build-up had generated so much of it that it pierced him from within, overcoming his flesh’s structural integrity.
Liam was exploding, but he only needed his body to last for a fraction of a second.
Jessica finally felt fear. She saw Liam’s left punch rise at her, so she relied on a defensive spell, waving her sleeve upward to deflect the attack, only for the apocalypse to unfold.
This time, Liam was the cause of the apocalypse.
A torrent of black Qi blew through the area, as if a massive river had materialized on the mountain, carving through the entirety of its side.
The ground opened and evaporated due to the shockwave that spread. Trees flew away, either after their trunks snapped or were directly uprooted.
When the mayhem settled, Jessica found herself lying at the edge of an enormous crater, inside a deeper groove cutting through it. Her perception had actually failed her for a few seconds, but his brown eyes reflected only emptiness now.
There was no Liam, no Grace, no trace of anyone, really. Even when Jessica focused, she could only sense distant traces of life, but nothing that matched those two.
Jessica promptly jumped to her feet, but pain hit her before she could use her Qi to blow away the dirt on her clothes. She lowered her gaze, and her eyes went wide when she saw that a bleeding stump had replaced her arm, everything below the elbow nowhere to be seen.
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