Legacy of Hatred

Carriages were unsuitable for the cultivation world, especially when branching experts were involved. Trips that would take them mere days turned into week-long journeys with those vehicles, even involving plenty of detours due to environmental barriers.

Yet, the Guilds were true miracle workers when they could coordinate within a wealthy and stable political environment. In a day’s travel by carriage, Felix escorted Liam and Grace to another solitary mountain, which the northern region seemed to be filled with, its base featuring an ordinary structure that hid extraordinary details.

Wooden pillars supported a series of bridges, stairs, and plateaus that converged into a large balcony without handrails. The structure resembled the Roaring Thunder Sect, just with a vaguely pyramidal shape.

Since the building rested on the mountain’s slope, visibility should have been poor, but Liam could see everything perfectly, even when it came to the balcony at the peak, the reason being magical. He tasted some wrongness in the air, as if it had been twisted to improve the bystanders’ viewpoint, like tilted mirrors of sorts.

Talismans could easily explain the occurrence, but the truly extraordinary details came from the wood itself. The pillars were in perfect condition, but Liam’s unique perception could spot traces of the passage of time, which didn’t apply to the structure’s higher levels.

’Did they build the upper levels in the past two weeks?’ Liam thought, reaching the only conclusion that sounded reasonable, no matter how shocking.

Liam had seen a similar arrangement in the tournament, but the valley had already hosted that event countless times. The Guilds hadn’t needed to prepare anything on the spot there, but they had still achieved a poorer result compared to the current scenery.

Of course, building things was hardly challenging with cultivators. Through the Guilds’ manpower and magical items, they could probably erect a whole city in a day.

The issue was with the inscriptions all around the area. There were the usual reinforcements of the various materials, but Liam even smelled cleaner air and barriers in specific locations that kept away sound and more. Everything was also warmer and properly illuminated despite the grey morning sky.

’Did they have inscribed surfaces lying around?’ Liam wondered but felt like rejecting that easier explanation, the scene providing proof of a more surprising alternative.

A series of open tents stood at the structure’s bottom, among the pillars that supported it. Inside, foundation and rooting experts sat on their knees, brush in hand, staring intently at the items below them.

The items had no pattern. Some were swords, others were shields. Liam even spotted jades of various colors, while a few tents just had raw metal, wood, or other basic materials.

While Liam had never seen the process in action, he could understand what it consisted of. The tents reeked of a greatness he knew too well to have any doubt. Their occupants were inscription masters, suggesting that the structure’s symbols had been laid out in the past weeks.

It was a first for Liam to witness so many practitioners of a noble art in one place, but it fit with the progressively better systems for cultivators the closer he was to the Inner Circles. The Roaring Thunder Sect had probably established something similar after his lessons.

Besides, it made sense why such tents were there in the first place. Liam spotted Colleen and other blue-wearing experts running around to establish stalls with magical items. That was literally what Grace had done with him.

The merchants weren’t the only ones there. Brown-wearing cultivators patrolled the area, and Liam caught a faint whiff of Red Boar’s scent, too, placing him somewhere far higher in the mountain.

Whispering Wind was absent, but yellow-wearing cultivators stood all around the area, black jades firmly in their hands.

There was a small audience, too, gathered on a vast arrangement of mats just past the various tents and stalls. Most wore the Guilds’ colors, but a sizable share seemed to be unaffiliated.

Naturally, Liam’s arrival didn’t go unnoticed, and the attention he received was as general as they came. Everyone focused specifically on him after checking Grace, and he felt excitement-induced heat coming from the unaffiliated cultivators.

’What do they want?’ Liam thought. ’They remind me of Brother Lancelot.’

Liam had received attention all his life, but it usually was of the bad kind, ranging from wariness to cynical interests to proper fear. Lancelot had been different, but he was crazier than average, and his lineage was to blame.

Still, it turned out a reasonable explanation existed for that predicament.

"Master Black Qi," Felix called as he faced Liam, lowering his voice. "The Guilds are convinced that you are a one-in-a-kind talent. However, I must ask you to refrain from boasting about your feats. We can scarcely contain the unrest as it is."

’Oh,’ Liam immediately understood. He was at the center of that trend after all.

Liam was a rooting expert who had killed a branching expert. He had destroyed a Guild’s branch without facing repercussions. A rebellion had also happened against the righteous forces on the border, and Lancelot had claimed an inheritance the Church had been stuck at for centuries.

Exceptional individuals were appearing in the world, overcoming the Kingdom’s powers on their own. What had once been untouchable, unavoidable, and unbeatable forces were suffering defeat after defeat, putting their authority at risk.

The cultivation world had plenty of discontent among unaffiliated experts, and the latter were vastly more numerous. While the Kingdom’s forces wielded true power, rebellions might happen everywhere if people started to believe they could win.

Liam’s feats could very well be the spark that could destabilize the entire Kingdom. His victories could inspire others to follow in his footsteps, and suppressing information was the only way to prevent it.

Still, rumors had a way of leaking no matter what, and the suppression was likely working against the Guilds there. Liam had never heard anyone talk about his alleged nine spiritual roots. The Church might be the only one aware, for all he knew, but that added fuel to the fire.

Lancelot seizing the inheritance was amazing but understandable. He was a genius famous throughout the Kingdom. While his gestures remained inspiring, few would believe they could imitate him since he was the accepted best the cultivation world could offer.

Not disclosing Liam’s talent made him seem closer to ordinary cultivators instead, emboldening them. If he could do it, everyone could, and it was too late to stop it. The notion that the Guilds could lose was out now.

’They’ll probably try to bide their time until the news becomes even more of a rumor,’ Liam guessed. ’With me working for the Guilds and Brother Lancelot in his Sect, they believe things will be peaceful enough to restore order and reaffirm their authority.’

That obviously wouldn’t be the case. Liam was just one necessity away from causing another mess. Still, he stored that notion in the back of his brain. He didn’t care for rebellions, but chaos had its uses. It was how he had escaped the Pale Moon Sect and obtained the Rainbow Roses after all.

Liam didn’t reply, and Felix didn’t wait for an answer, resuming his escort. Grace split up with them at that point, meeting with Colleen, the smiles the two merchants exchanged being scary beyond reason.

Bows and other silent greetings unfolded everywhere as Liam climbed the structure, reaching the balcony at its peak. Two foundation experts were already there, seemingly unaffiliated, placing a series of talismans on the floor around a black cauldron.

Felix was there, but Liam temporarily forgot about him at the sight of the cauldron. He approached it, stopping at some distance away as soon as the foundation experts froze, experiencing an urge he hadn’t thought about in a while.

’I want ten of these,’ Liam thought, pristine desire filling him. After all, the cauldron was a rank 3 item.

Liam would normally have headed straight for the cauldron to inspect it properly, but he recognized the foundation experts’ work. They were setting up a laboratory, and he respected the practice too much to disturb it. Alchemy was beyond whatever desire he had.

"Are you the alchemist?" A harsh voice resounded from the balcony’s other side. "You don’t look like one."

Liam had sensed the newcomer’s arrival. He couldn’t have missed an incoming branching expert even if he tried, but looking at him directly made him blink a few times.

A thin man in his forties had stepped onto the balcony, his loose robe multicolored, featuring purple, blue, and pink. His bony face lacked any hair, even when applied to eyelashes and eyebrows. Instead, a line of red paint covered a third of his head, including his eyes, as if acting as a blindfold.

Liam could guess who the man was, and another certainty followed. That was the most flamboyant cultivator he had ever met.

"You look more like a tamed beast," The flamboyant man said, disregarding Liam’s confusion, stopping in front of him. "What’s your business with alchemy? What do you think alchemy is?"

Liam was quite brawny. He was almost twice the flamboyant man’s size. When it came to appearances, he didn’t look like a refined and studious master at all.

Still, Liam didn’t even hear the evident bias, or rather, he forgot about it when the question about alchemy arrived.

"Life is alchemy," Liam declared.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!