“Vice Sect Master Mercy? Oh, so you know the boss. At ease, my friend. Are you little Crimson, then? Well, he’s still down there,” Jodye Trill pointed back towards the dark cave innocently, his tone suddenly far more respectful. He was now treating Sirius as a peer performing his duty, rather than a hostile stranger. “He saved me from some ghouls, then retrieved the thing that Sect Master gave me, and told me to return alone while he finished his mission.”
Sirius Regal was very skeptical, but as soon as he heard the words ‘little crimson’ he subconsciously lowered his guard. Only that lunatic would casually disrespect him with his family nickname through one of his disciple40discipleone who accepts the knowledge of and assists in spreading the doctrines of another, taking them as a master.s. He probably hoped that Sirius would kill the boy out of anger, perhaps he wasn’t allowed to make a move on this guy himself!
What foreign negus? This boy sounded more like the Sect Master’s favored student! Using others to do his dirty work, this was very Oulan Mercy in style.
Sirius wouldn’t fall for it.
After all, if this boy was some particular secret disciple of White Serpent Cove, then he could honestly do nothing to him. Nonetheless, he decided to probe a bit more asking, “My name is Sirius Regal, a captain in the Crimson Riders Mercenary Legion. Do not let your superior’s lack of respect continue to influence and endanger you. What’s your name, boy, and why are you here?”
“I am Jupiter,” said Jodye Trill emotionlessly, as he walked past Sirius Regal fearlessly. He continued with sarcasm, “I am here to recover a particular ingredient. Do I truly need to explain my mission to you? How about this, accompany me to the base in the Evil Wonderland to have a chat with my master. I’m sure he’d love~ to share.”
Jodye knew he couldn’t easily fight this guy, but he felt like he could escape if he had enough time to restore his astral force. Only then could he use his titanic rage force! Thus, he decided to use the intel he had collected to dupe this dummy. People of this time were brilliant, but only the Sages were crafty. Saints typically lacked this quality.
“Mission? You? Alone? Your senior didn’t even try to help you? You and the old man must have had some sort of conflict?” A rough and manly voice called to the boy from behind. Jodye found himself a bit impressed. Sirius Regal was meticulous. Despite no longer having any deep suspicions, he still probed for more information, he wanted to see the limit.
“Are you implying that I am incapable in some way, sir Regal?” Jodye Trill stopped walking and turned to face Sirius once more. The origin energy in him revolving as a small battle force momentum started to build.
“Hmm?” Sirius Regal immediately noticed the change in Jodye’s eyes and aura. This kid was more like an expert than a rookie! He truly had the talent to be so arrogant. He was definitely some powerhouse’s direct disciple. “Well, no need to be so tense, young friend. I do not wish to hurt you. There is no problem between us.”
“Oh, but there may be,” said Jodye Trill smiling mysteriously. Sirius frowned but didn’t say anything as he stared at the beast like eyes of the youth in front of him. Seeing this Jodye continued using his fake status to swagger, “There’s an unconscious girl in your camp. She’s mine. I would like for you to release her to me.”
“Girl? What girl?” sneered Sirius Regal. Who did this kid think he was, some pushover? No one could take an opportunity from him so easily.
Jodye Trill’s smile disappeared, and his face turned cold as he swiftly pulled out a serenity crystal, “The vice sect master told me that she was lying unconscious on the second floor. Are you telling me that my senior lied to me? Are you truly trying to sow dissension between the upper echelon of White Serpent Cove?”
“Hey! Kid, wait a minute,” when Sirius saw the kid pull out a serenity crystal and mention that lunatic, he decided to take a step back. “Okay, the girl’s in my camp. However, that lass promised me sumfin, and I aim to get it!”
“What could she have possibly promised you? Nothing that she owns belongs to herself, it all belongs to the Sect Master!” shouted Jodye Trill as if he had just heard his life’s greatest insult. “Do you truly dare to say you don’t know that girl’s body is special somehow? Do you think I’m an idiot?”
“The Sect…” Sirius Regal suddenly felt a headache. Well, once he considered things carefully it made a lot of sense. After all, how could such a little lass find some awesome treasure that could talk? Obviously, the treasure was trying to use himself to change its fate. Sirius remembered thinking that this was too big a burden for his karmic wheel. To think he had almost been fooled by his greed! “Little brother Jupiter, please relax. I only misspoke. If the items this girl possesses are in association with your White Serpent Cove, I am willing to relent.”
“Sensible,” sneered Jodye Trill. What a simp, he thought.
“Take me to her, then.”
“SHE TRUSTED YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!”
Sirius Regal was shocked to see little Aiken Moon hurling a full force kick towards this Jupiter brat from the sky. However, startling still Jupiter merely sidestepped the attack and grabbed the lad’s leg. He then proceeded to slam him viciously on the ground!
Bang. Bang.
“I saved your dog life at her request, and this is how you say thanks?”
Bang. Bang. Bang.
“I simply didn’t even try to settle accounts after your partners jumped me. You dare assault me?”
Bang. Bang.
“Who taught you how to use the forces you possess currently? You pathetic whelp, what are you if I had left you alone?”
Crash!
“Bag this one up for me too. This dribble dared to assault my honored body? The brat is unworthy of a simple death. Why do you even have children here in the first place? What kind of fetish do you old men here have? Yet, you saints claim to be so much better than us priests, hmph.” Jodye tossed Aiken casually through a tree, secretly covering Aiken’s back in his divine awareness and using calamity qi to make the throw look far more aggressive than it was in reality. Many of the impacts on the ground were the same. Jodye’s concept gave his calamity force an explosive quality that could provide quite the visual effect. Jodye Trill actually felt a bit guilty, but secretly gave Aiken an enormous thumbs up. He was sure that this little show had all but proved his alibi.
Plus, now he didn’t need an excuse to take the boy as well.
In fact, Jodye was correct in his analysis.
Sirius Regal changed the way he looked at this brat now. He was ruthless enough, that was for sure. This boy’s master was likely an official even more powerful than Oulan Mercy! Why else would that madman not harm this child in the least? Sirius Regal felt terrible for little Aiken, but his hands were now tied. Sirius made a hand gesture, and two experts hopped out of the thick bushes nearby and tied the boy up.
Who told the child to throw his life away over a slave girl?
Sirius wasn’t going to offend this little madman for an errand boy. They had already gotten a great harvest from this trip, was there a need to be so greedy? At least, Sirius didn’t believe so at this moment. There were more pressing matters.
“You must be kidding, young brother Jupiter, matters of circumstance at best. Yes, just circumstance, circumstance… anyway, let us talk about fair trade.” Sirius Regal was, of course, a businessman before anything else, “I’m fine with handing over the girl, but I’m sure you know I can’t do it for absolutely nothing. Even if I discount our loss of an errand boy due to his own arrogance.”
“Yes, yes, the vice sect master said that you seemed to be seeking the dark jumble fruit, yes?” said Jodye Trill glancing sneakily at Sirius Regal. This was actually just a guess! However, to Jodye it made the most sense. Why would Oulan Mercy travel into the depths of Dark Cave? Because he had a method to subjugate fiends! He wanted a treasure! The only real treasure Jodye had encountered in Dark Cave was the Dark Jumble bushes. Sylvester said there was a third level fiend on the floor below.
Thus, he presumed that this was the last interest and reason that this team would still be camped here. They waited for Oulan Mercy, as they wanted their cut of the rewards! Jodye nonchalantly removed two Dark Jumble fruits from his space ring, and instantly the light in the surrounding dimmed a bit as it was drawn into the glowing bright purple crystal textured fruits, “I have with me here two Dark Jumble fruit. He told me to be wary of you sneakily trying to take them or scam me out of them. However, I am willing to part with one for you in exchange for the safe passage of the girl. The other is currently for sale.”
“Wah? Why are you just storing them raw, all the origin energy will leak out!” Sirius Regal’s eyes brightened as he appeared directly in front of the fruit, and immediately cradled one in his arms before berating, “Why are there only two? There should have been loads of ’em!”
“Indeed, 16 in total,” answered Jodye Trill with a shrug. Inwardly, he took note that he indeed needed to procure a magic jade container. “The vice sect master kept the rest and told me to scram back to the top.”
“Ah!” Sirius felt like he finally understood the situation in detail. The Dark Jumble Fruit was a premier Earth Science rank Origin Fruit. It possessed the original potency to advance someone in the Earth Science realm an entire rank! Oulan Mercy was in precisely this realm! Even though the effects of eating more than one Dark Jumble fruit would be significantly reduced, it should still help him in breaking through to the next realm. No wonder he sent a junior back in such a dangerous location, he was probably cultivating down there!
After all, he could subjugate fiends!
Oulan didn’t even give the boy a proper way to store the precious origin fruits, he probably really planned to get him robbed! How cunning, “That son of a bitch. Fine, take the girl and the brat and get out of here. Walter back there is my vice-captain, you can arrange the sale of the next fruit with him, we’ll give you a fair deal.”
After talking, he took out a serenity crystal and explained the situation to the gang of warriors camping on the other side of the clearing. Turning back to Jodye he said, “Sorry for the trouble, kid. Listen, you and I, we’re square. Let’s do business again in the future. Remember the name, it’s Sirius Regal!”
“Sure,” responded Jodye Trill with indifference. After slapping Jodye’s palm, Sirius turned around and jet into the cave, but suddenly tumbled backward back out as if he had been run over by something.
This was because he had.
A few seconds later a golden Twilight Sphinx cub with a sparkling pink aura hopped intimately into Jodye’s bosom, then dropped a strange demonic looking finger into his hand. On this ancient claw-like finger, there was a luxurious platinum ring with a sapphire gem in the middle of it. Jodye was surprised and quickly stored the finger away. Now wasn’t the best time to investigate.
A couple of seconds later Jodye felt the wind and found Sirius Regal glaring daggers at Eureka in his embrace, “This beast dared to assault me, it ran me over!”
“Oh relax. Little Reka didn’t mean it, she simply didn’t even see you. This pet belongs to my master, you see, many normal experts are simply not in her eyes at all.” Jodye Trill was cold as he deactivated Pharaoh’s law then turned and ran towards the camp, dragging a bound Aiken Moon behind him. This may have appeared brutal, but Jodye had the incredible divine source energy! He used his divine sense to protect Aiken’s face from harm, but only his face. Jodye simply didn’t have the focus to worry about the rest of the kid. Aiken was a saint anyway, he should be fine.
Sirius Regal watched his departing figure. As his wrath subsided bit by bit, it became replaced by a slight fear. If such a small beast could run straight through him like he was never there, how strong was this boy’s master? Luckily, he hadn’t been impulsive. No fortune would have been worth the trouble.
If Sirius knew Jodye had absolutely no connections with any significant powers in the south, he might have vomited blood.
Once Jodye Trill arrived at the camp, he walked to the old man with purple hair who was also approaching him. The old man greeted him with a smile once he got close, “Greetings are due to you, young noble Jupiter. This humble one is called Walter. Please, have a seat.”
Jodye sat on a bench of the table Walter indicated. He withdrew a dark jumble fruit and spoke of his aim directly, “Listen, I have a lot to do so let’s cut to the chase. You are familiar with just how much you can make for auctioning a Dark Jumble Fruit, yes? Well, I simply don’t have the time or luxury. You can buy it from me for half of the lower estimate. Apart from that, I need two horses, a high-grade magic sword, some food rations, and a magic jade container.”
Walter’s eyes lit up in excitement, but he kept his face the same otherwise. He didn’t question any of the boy’s requests, not even the magic jade container, as they were all typical items used on a journey. He had noticed that the dark jumble fruit was not inside of a container, and assumed his captain had ranted on the importance of one. It was normal that the boy wanted one for himself now.
As for the supplies and rations, he felt the boy only needed to purchase it because he already used up the resources he ventured out with. Of course, he needed more to return. After all, he likely didn’t have much experience outdoors yet. Wasn’t this the purpose of sending him out?
Walter actually admired this kind of young adventurer, for he was once like this as well, “That is more than fair, indeed, young noble. You are quite shrewd for your age. The supplies are yours, and I can even provide you higher quality goods for 50 gold extra.”
Fifty gold crystal notes suddenly landed on the table in front of Walter, who looked down startled. He had actually intended to just deduct it from the total, but there was no need now? When he looked at Jodye again, he saw those same indifferent blue eyes staring back at him silently. Walter stood up and cleared his throat, “Ahem, well then, we’ll fulfill this order right away.”
Thirty minutes later Jodye was teaching some pure force principles to a skinny man with crooked teeth and an ugly mug named Dave, “I see the problem. You have refined your heart and a single kidney, but not your lungs. All of the books may list the heart first, but the lungs are truly fundamental in guiding force through your body. Without refining your lungs, your foundation will remain shaky. With a shaky foundation, your pure force will be brittle and weak. Anyone near the same level could easily crush you.”
“Ah!” Dave looked like he had been enlightened! “Bloody ‘ell, I should’ve long since refined mah lungs if that’s the deal! There goes smoking.”
“Does it have to be? If you smoke only the proper medicinal herbs, you could even help strengthen your foundation more. They have even stronger effects than the tar plants everyone smokes on around here!” Eureka lounged on top of his head as Jodye Trill kept schooling these blockheads while he waited next to Dessa, who was naked underneath a white cloth cover.
Where Jodye currently sat was coincidentally the same spot the captain usually sat. However, no one had time to complain about this as this Jupiter kid was truly wise when it came to cultivation! Many warriors were gathered around to ask him questions about the Fledgling Saint realm.
Even a couple of True Saints came to listen to his opinions on the pure qi.
“Keep training guys, I’m sure your branch will do big business with us one…” Jodye Trill was in the middle of his closing statement when he was interrupted by a soft moan behind him. It gave him goosebumps in a good way.
“Uhn…”
Turning back to look, Jodye’s eyes landed on a pair of smoky azure eyes that were trained on him from the moment he turned around. Dessa Chimes blinked a few times slowly before her eyes entirely focused. She made an excited yelp and jumped up to hug Jodye and kiss his face all over.
Jodye quickly covered her body, which was slowly growing sexier due to her essence cultivation, with the white cloth cover. He mushed her face without force making Dessa fall back on her bum. However, Dessa quickly scrambled to her feet and gave a deep bow then salute, “Subordinate Dessa Chimes greets the young master!
“Less of this, girl.” Jodye Trill said gently, as he gently rubbed Dessa’s head. Her eyes teared up, and she buried her face into his chest as she cried silently. Jodye Trill frowned, and looked at the men around himself.
Walter hurried over and consoled him, “Young noble Jupiter, do not be alarmed. The captain found her in the Dark Cave with all of her clothes ripped off. She was surrounded by fiends! Surely you know that no good will befall any man taken down by such perverse creatures.”
“Are you implying that fiends have violated her?” Asked Jodye Trill icily, the rage inside slowly threatening to build. Now that Jodye had fully integrated with the memories of T’Zhane, he knew this was the awakening of an ability that belonged to the next stage. Somehow, Jodye was already beginning to show sign of awakening this skill. Merely, he couldn’t control it yet.
“I don’t dare to assume sir. However, I assure you that none of us have touched her, she was like this when we met the captain here,” replied Walter. Jodye Trill caught the implied meaning. They didn’t dare to touch her, but what about the captain? Jodye looked down at Dessa, who didn’t make eye contact with him.
“Dessa, what’s wrong with you?” as cruel as it was too imagine, Jodye Trill knew that Dessa wasn’t so weak as to crumble because some man had violated her. It may be tragic to admit, but it was a fact that she was nearly numb to this. Whether these guys were right or wrong, something else had to have happened. However, Dessa simply swept her eyes around the crowd surrounding Jodye before looking away again. She didn’t think he would misunderstand her, and she had the street sense not to speak right now.
Jodye seemed to suddenly get it and stopped inquiring altogether. Inwardly, he applauded Dessa for not blowing their cover. He would make her answer him later. He pulled Dessa close making her blush intensely, then whispered into her ear at an excessively low volume. After all, experts had excellent hearing. He said quietly, “We’ll talk later. Don’t worry about Aiken, it was I who beat him up.”
Dessa’s eyes flashed with worry and confusion as she whipped her head to look at the bloody boy who was bound not far from herself. She hadn’t even realized this was her friend Aiken Moon! However, she nodded her head obediently. The warriors around all drew their own conclusions about what Jodye had said to Dessa.
“He probably threatened to have her end up like the boy if she’s touched again!”
“Walter told us the boss said she’s the property of some big shot. She’s in for it now!”
“Serves her right, she should’ve been up front.”
“Yeah, it’s not the boss’ fault!”
……
Jodye Trill was significantly annoyed, but his face didn’t change a bit. Dessa Chimes’ face grew frostier, but she also remained quiet. Without communicating, they both knew how important it was to escape the current situation. For Dessa, it was simple to adopt this composure as Mr. Jupiter had warned her many times what to do if they were captured by the enemy. For the most part, she just stayed quiet and followed his lead. Before long, Walter led Jodye over to two large steeds with bright red fur, fiery spiked manes, and flaming hooves. Next to the horses were the supplies Jodye had asked for, an indeed the quality wasn’t bad.
Walter detailed the beasts for Jodye, but there actually no need.
Level 3 Vicious Beast27Vicious BeastMonster Clan beast that possesses Second Rank lifeblood. Vicious beasts are animals that can absorb and refine the forces of the heavens and earth. As a result, they are far more powerful than the animals who can’t. Level 1 Vicious Beast = 20 bp Level 2 Vicious Beast = 60 bp Level 3 Vicious Beast = 110 bp Level 4 Vicious Beast = 170 bp Level 5 Vicious Beast = 240 bp Level 6 Vicious Beast = 320 bp Level 7 Vicious Beast = 410 bp Level 8 Vicious Beast = 510 bp Level 9 Vicious Beast = 620 bp, Flaming Stampede! Jodye’s divine energy reported to him that this beast’s bodily strength was comparable to 115 BP! Its body was even stronger than his own, causing Jodye to nod in approval.
There was also the B-grade combat gear, Scarlet Flame Magic Sword! This was a three-feet-long treasure sword with a blade made of defiant yang steel! As the name implied, defiant yang steel was a material that was very calamitous in property. Five hieroglyphs made the word flame and were made up of 50 runes each, half calamity and half fire runes. These hieroglyphs represented a deployment spell or a spell crafted into an artifact. Since there were five glyphs, this spell could only be used a max of five times before the magic energy in the magical sword had to be restored.
There was also a pile of rations and other supplies with a container made up of milky white colored jade. This was magic jade, an incredibly useful material that could prevent sky qi from leaking outwards or returning to the void. It was truly magical.
“Young noble, please accept our sincerity.” Walter gave a merchants bow and stepped aside.
Jodye Trill didn’t stand on ceremony at all, and all these items immediately vanished into his space ring. He then slung Aiken Moon over the back of one of the flaming stampedes like a sack of potatoes, before mounting it himself and motioning for Dessa to climb on to the other one. Seeing Dessa shake her head vehemently, Jodye realized the girl had never ridden a horse. ‘What an insult to her bloodline,’ he thought in disdain. If he hadn’t already killed her uncle, he would do it again. Nonetheless, Jodye tied Aiken to the horse he was on securely before lifting Dessa onto the other and mounting behind her. Eureka lay on Dessa’s chest, snuggled in her embrace.
“It was good doing business with you, fellas. I hope you guys can manage to improve by the time we meet again, or I will simply ignore you as if we never met. Meet me in the clouds above, bwahahaha!” Jodye Trill laughed boisterously as the flaming stampedes rushed off through the dark woods, and genuinely he was grinning from the bottom of his heart.
Jodye couldn’t believe he had managed to pull this off so quickly, but he was determined to vamoose before Sirius Regal could return with news of Oulan Mercy’s corpse. Luckily he had made out like a bandit! He had all the loot plus new gear! “What a deal, hehe. Those chumps never suspected a thing.”
Hearing what Jodye Trill mumbled to himself behind her ear, Dessa Chimes giggled cutely, before her smile disappeared once more. Leaning back into the chest of Jodye Trill she spoke softly. “It was I who told that evil man your location.”
…
Meanwhile back at the camp…
A serenity crystal shard suddenly lit up on Walter’s waist. Walter grabbed it and listened to the message from the other side, as his face turned slowly grim. “Boss… we can’t hold them here. They have left just now, on the two flaming stampedes we secured from Wendigo. He gave us a good trade on them… but there’s no way any of our horses can catch those two.”
“WHAT! YOU IDIOTS!! CHASE THEM, STOP THEM, BOUND THEM UNTIL I RETURN! THAT LITTLE TWERP PROBABLY STILL HAS ALL THE LOOT!” Sirius Regal’s voice was absolutely livid as it fiercely vibrated the small serenity crystal shard. Walter didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, as he had only followed instructions.
It turned out Sirius had been fooled by that cunning negus boy. It was more accurate to say that all of them were deceived. As Walter scrambled the gang together, he couldn’t help but wonder to himself. “Who the hell was that teenager?”
If they knew that the mysterious teenager Jupiter was really 6-years-old Joseph Goldwolf, who knew what they would think.
