Cain Khoren gave a smirk and replied darkly, "I got my hands on this Blood Cloud Flower from the last auction in Ugburg! I've only managed to snatch it after spending a hefty sum, as well as paying tribute to that old bastard!"
At the mention of the 'High Priest' or the 'Old Bastard', the expressions of the other four Martial Masters changed and they took deep breaths in silence with wary looks in their eyes.
A long time later.
Gao Hu said, "Dear friend Cain, why don't you ask us along the next time you go look for such treasures or when you plan to attend another auction in the future. That way, we can look after one another as well."
"Heh! It might be quite a while before I will have the chance! This one flower cost me most of my savings… as well as some trickery for the old bastard! If I return there… I would probably meet a rather grizzly end!"
Mighty Cain Khoren remarked with a sense of trepidation, "That bastard is probably still raging at the thought of being fooled. I'd rather not poke that snakes' den anytime soon!"
Tom Horl replied with a bright smile. "It seems like you take this Aiden guy rather seriously don't you, Fellow Master Cain Khoren? To think that you would be willing to make use of an extinct ancient fiend flower, the Blood Cloud Flower just to deal with him."
"Isn't it excessive to use the Blood Cloud Flower against a Martial Knight martial artist? He is barely more than a snot nosed brat! That devilish flower is best used against Martial Grandmasters after all…" Gao Hu asked moodily.
The Blood Cloud Flower restricted one's usage of internal energy absolutely.
Putting away the Blood Cloud Flower, Mighty Cain Khoren said coldly. "I've already said that even a lion uses its full might to chase down a rabbit! I won't allow any mishaps to happen for this attack! That kid cannot survive!"
Tom Horl nodded. "With the Blood Cloud Flower, the kid's greatest trump card, his secret skill which allows him to conjure a divine dragon, is now useless."
"Furthermore, even if he enters the Martial Master realm, it's useless! With his spirit energy locked, he won't be able to use any techniques as a Martial Master and with the formation set up outside, he won't be able to escape even if he has that strange wings on his body!"
True Fire Sect's Sezud Nida's eyes lit up and he got increasingly excited as he spoke.
"Wings? What wings?"
Mighty Cain Khoren sneered, "Don't forget, he won't even be able to use his mysterious transformation technique, and spread those big wings at his back with his internal energy locked! He can only stand on the ground and look up to us!"
Gao Hu grinned. "In that case, all we have to do is stand in midair and that kid won't be able to hurt us no matter how many tricks he has up his sleeves or how strong his body is. On the other hand, all of us can just attack him as we want to!"
"That's right."
"That's great!"
The five of them exchanged glances and laughed with relaxed expressions.
"Let's discuss how we want to distribute his treasures after killing him first, lest we get into needless arguments later on," Lian Hen remarked indifferently.
"Don't worry, we'll go with our initial agreement."
Mighty Cain Khoren said with a deep voice, "We'll give that kid's dragon summoning mysterious secret skill and peak artifact weapon to Lian Hen as we agreed. His body tempering technique, whatever its name is will be for Gao Hu. His sword techniques he got from the Sword Emperor's Metal Tree Groove will be for Tom Horl. As for the core in him, they will be for Brother Sezud Nida. My reward would be the despairing look in his face as he dies."
"Lastly, we'll divide the remaining gold, elixirs and artifact weapons he may still have equally among the five of us!"
"That's good!"
Lian Hen and the other four nodded delightfully.
Gao Hu was a body tempered warrior to begin with and the thing that attracted him the most was Aiden's body tempering technique.
Everyone got what they wanted.
Just as everyone was about to leave, Sezud Nida frowned and asked, "I have heard that he has a brother that is the supposed monster successor of the Holy Fire Island. Do you have anything for how to tackle the wrath of that beast of a man?"
"Yeah that monster has humiliated and killed the top disciples of the strongest sects and clans without remorse. I don't think he would let the matter go." Tom Horl was calm.
"Humph!"
Mighty Cain Khoren harrumphed coldly with a glum expression, "You do not need to worry about him. I have everything planned, if he do comes he would only meet his death!"
Sezud Nida and the others felt their hearts skip a beat.
From the murderous and cold look on Mighty Cain Khoren's face, it seemed like he was already prepared for such a matter and was adamant in order to kill Aiden!
"That traitor of our kind will be hunted by everyone as soon as he shows his ugly face! We merely need to make sure he can't come unnoticed!"
Mighty Cain Khoren narrowed his thin eyes and declared frostily, "I would actually hope for his presence! In that case we could deal with both problems at the same time!"
…
Azure Myst Sect's grounds, a couple of days later.
Aiden was in a meditative position in his cave abode. His palms rested on both his knees and faced up while his eyes were in a seemingly closed state as he breathed steadily. From head to toe, he exuded an extremely serene intent, akin to an immortal.
A long time later, Aiden opened his eyes and took a long breath, waking up from his meditation.
"I still can't do it… I need an opportunity…"
Aiden shook his head.
For the past couple of days, he had been relentlessly meditating, and trying to push his Soul Power while comprehending the Dark Blade Manual and Asura Saber at the same time as a conclusion to the many secret skills he had obtained after stepping onto this strange journey of his.
Although he had to form cores for his unique martial path, they were starkly different.
His technique required him to subdue his raging mind and soothe his soul while condensing Soul Power repeatedly. At that point, things would come together naturally and he could form his Inner Core.
However that process required more comprehension and understanding.
If he tried forming a core forcefully, it would not only lead to problems easily, the Martial Master phenomenon that he created might not be up to his expectations as well.
Therefore, Aiden did not dare to be careless.
Half a month ago, he had already reached the limits for his spirit energy and his spirit sea could not expand further.
In other words, he was already at the peak of Extreme Martial Knight realm!
Given those circumstances, he attempted to form his Martial Master.
His martial path up till this point had been overly complex and apart from all the other techniques, he could only rely on himself, his experiences, and gathered knowledge.
However, the differences between his ideas and what were the norm were way too vast.
Immortality, the path to divinity placed emphasis on nature and being one with the heavens.
However, on the other hand, the dark, so-called 'evil' path was obsessed about the extremities of things.
By nature, the spiritual energy that Aiden cultivated was of the fire attribute. However, many of the martial techniques he had seen and read such as the Void Splitting Manual, Dark Blade Manual, and the Azure Myst Sect's Secret Technique were all related to water.
Like in legends, devils, and angels, were irreconcilable as was fire and water.
After so much time and effort, Aiden still did not manage to cross that gap.
If he tried forming a core forcibly, there would definitely be a large problem!
"The timing isn't right. I just can't do it now."
He went deep in thought.
On the path towards godhood, if one wanted to break through a major realm, they would often have to require the synergy of multiple factors, such as the environment, comprehension of the heaven and earth, fate, and their mental states.
Some people gain enlightenment at the lakeside.
Some people gain epiphany after traveling through mountains and valleys.
Some people form their cores in the spur of the moment while they are listening to the wind and looking at rain fall.
But of course, there were even more people who died of old age with regrets without even getting to form a core!
Rising, Aiden got off his bed gently and murmured to himself with a clear and deep gaze. "Seems like it's time for me to head out and take a walk."
Right then, a soft knock came from his door.
Aiden waved his sleeves and the door opened correspondingly.
Nora Zell stood at the entrance, gazing in left and right.
"What's wrong?"
Arriving beside her, Aiden looked at the gray crystal in her hands and asked softly.
The gray crystal was one of the most commonly seen messaging tool in the martial world and it was a type of talisman, readily available to martial masters.
Nora Zell handed him the gray crystal. "This is for you, young master. It states that it's from an old friend of yours…"
Aiden furrowed his brows slightly.
There was probably only a single person who knew about his current location and could have messaged him. Still, it was weird that he used such a method and not the one… What could have happened?
Aiden did a quick check and indeed felt some disturbance in their connection, making his heart skip a beat…
Receiving the crystal, Aiden slowly poured some of his internal energy into it.
In the next moment, a short message appeared in his mind…. A familiar woman spoke to him in a troubled manner…
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