Legacy of Hatred

Chapter 313: Flaw

Tension filled the air, unnamed, but easily recognizable even without words.

Liam had sensed Julian right after his battle had ended, but he hadn’t shown himself throughout the looting of the corpses or the pillars’ inspection.

That behavior reeked of distrust, which wasn’t exactly irrational. Liam was surrounded by naked corpses, and not anyone’s. Even Melissa had reacted with wariness back in the ruins.

However, Liam smelled something different about the current situation, enhanced by Julian’s behavior in the Trial of Greed. Yet, the two were still teammates, at least on the surface.

Of course, that hunch was also why Liam had placed his bow on his shoulder instead of storing it in the ring.

"Master William, your perception technique is extraordinary," Julian broke the silence, calmly folding his cloaking mantle. "I couldn’t even feel that you had discovered me."

Naturally, there was no perception technique at play there, but that was hardly different in Liam’s case. His senses captured too much and on different layers, creating a supernatural passive awareness when they joined forces.

"If it isn’t too much to ask," Julian continued, jumping to the crossroad to show his folded mantle, which had stopped copying the environment. "I designed this cloaking item myself, so I would be grateful if you could tell me its weakness."

Liam diverted his gaze from the pillar, and Julian halted his advance when the hood targeted him, stopping a few meters from him. The tension intensified as the two inspected each other, as if something was about to reach the critical point. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

Moreover, Liam felt beyond a shadow of a doubt that Julian sensed the tension, too, but still wore a smile.

"It’s off on everything," Liam responded. "There’s a slight delay in what it copies, creating a noticeable irregularity."

Of course, there was more. The mantle hid Julian’s scent and sounds, which left a hole in the world, but he didn’t need to know about that.

"It seems I have to forsake precision to hasten the adjustment rate," Julian nodded to himself. "Maybe the material is also a problem."

Then, Julian did something that could only be by design. He waved his hand, and the mantle disappeared. He revealed his ownership of a storage device, adding fuel to the general tension.

"Master William, I explored the area in the past week," Julian changed the topic, feigning ignorance. "The others should already be inside the Cathedral, but there are five more teams from the Church in locations similar to this one."

Liam responded in kind, summoning his pipe to start smoking. Julian pretended not to notice, but still kept his distance from the dangerous smoke, calmly moving to another pillar.

"Fellow Daoist, about these corpses," Liam spoke now, emboldened by the fact that he had already solved Julian’s doubts. "Do you have a method to hide how they died?"

While the enmity with the Church was pretty much ensured now, Liam could at least attempt to cover his tracks. If anything, to give Grace time to adjust to the political situation.

Sure, Liam’s cloaked attire allowed plausible deniability. Still, the poison those cultivators had been infected with might connect their corpses to what he had revealed in the tournament.

Trying to hide that might only amount to a mere delay due to the magical methods cultivators possessed, but that was still better than nothing, especially against a force as fearsome as the Church of the Man.

Now, Liam wasn’t a newbie to covering his tracks, but the best he could think of involved melting the corpses with his venom, which didn’t involve bones, which could still reveal his methods.

But Julian might have better solutions through his inscriptions, and Liam even had another reason behind his request.

’The spirit should have heard me, right?’ Liam guessed. ’Would he cover for me since I’m helping him out?’

Thinking about the spirit brought Liam’s attention back to Julian. Liam was inclined to believe that only he had seen Archbishop Ignatius’ ghost, but he couldn’t be certain, and wouldn’t probe.

Questions would be the same as admissions, and Liam wanted to keep that potential secret to himself.

"I have a use for these corpses," Julian revealed. "There won’t be much left of them once I’m done, but I can also handle those remains for you."

"I’d be grateful for that," Liam replied.

"Please, it’s my pleasure," Julian chuckled. "I believe I should at least attempt to restore your trust in me."

Liam didn’t reply. Both sides knew that things were tense, but neither acted. Liam merely smoked, while Julian went over the battlefield to lay the corpses at the center of the bed of wilted petals.

"Master William, may I inquire what alchemy’s stance on corpses is?" Julian asked once he finished arranging the corpses.

"They are terrible alchemical materials," Liam explained. "While each embodies one of the Heavens’ elements, the impurities are just too prevalent."

Horace’s inheritance had featured that lesson for purely academic purposes. Corpses were too full of useless materials to work as ingredients.

"Inscriptions feature a similar stance," Julian revealed, "Albeit for different reasons. Unless refined through a long and thorough process, corpses have too many innate resistances to inscribe."

Despite those words, Julian squatted down and stabbed two fingers into a corpse, his presence surging with something more intense than mere Qi.

The event resembled what had happened in the maze, but Liam saw it in its entirety now. Julian carved intricate symbols into the corpse’s very flesh, his elegant, firm gestures carrying a domineering intention.

It was as if Julian were a painter, his fingers his brush, and his will his paint.

Liam knew almost nothing about inscriptions, but recognizing greatness didn’t require knowledge. Julian was showing vast expertise and unfaltering mastery.

"But that resistance is power," Julian added, moving to another corpse, "Power that can be harnessed."

Liam watched all of Julian’s moves. The latter’s brushes remained smooth and perfect, only slowing down when he got to the rooting expert’s corpse. He carved inscriptions in the very exposed organs, but sweat and traces of struggle afflicted his sharp face with every line he drew.

Once Julian was done, he stood up and drew a tissue from his robe, calmly wiping off his sweat before closing his eyes. Some of his Qi leaked, descending toward the corpses, and resonating with the symbols he had carved.

In a few seconds, the symbols began to glow with a blood-red light that echoed Julian’s Qi, no differently than how magical items would carry their binder’s power. Then, the corpses’ blood moved.

From organs to the tiniest blood vessels, all the blood those corpses held flowed toward the symbols, leaving every tissue they abandoned withered and dried up.

And, upon reaching the symbols, the blood rose into the air, carrying an ethereal, glowing version of those inscriptions on its liquid fabric to create floating humanoid silhouettes.

’These are magical items,’ Liam concluded. ’Sort of.’

The silhouettes looked unstable and frail, but no less powerful. The one created by the rooting expert even mimicked part of its cultivation stage, being in the second rank.

"Master William, I can attempt to tamper with these rank 3 items," Julian declared. "However, I’ll need the token in your possession to control them."

Liam glanced at the metal token still in his hand. He hadn’t risked binding it after his experience in the Mutated Battlefield. He even had half a mind to leave it behind out of fear of being tracked, but those words raised some hesitation.

"Fellow Daoist, you have yet to tell me what these items do," Liam pointed out.

"My apologies," Julian said, opening his big eyes to look at the black hood. "During my investigation, I discovered that the Church built a direct passage toward the inheritance’s core through these items. I can open it for us if I take over them."

It would make sense for the rank 3 pillars to have conditions that merely wielding the metal token wouldn’t meet.

It was also reasonable for Julian to have understood the pillars’ functions during that week and after a close inspection. After all, Liam had learned as much after a single conversation.

Yet, Liam couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong. He couldn’t read it on Julian. His demeanor was too perfect, but the hunch remained, and racking his brain eventually revealed a flaw.

"How do you know that the others are inside?" Liam questioned.

Liam had taken his sweet time to reach the true inheritance due to his injuries. Still, as far as Julian knew, that could be the norm. After all, according to his words, Liam was the only one he had met from the team.

Either Julian had guessed due to the time that had passed, which went against his previous warnings, or he had lied, partially, that was.

Instead of a guess, Julian knew that the others were inside the Cathedral because he had seen them enter it and had chosen not to join them.

There was also another point, one Liam didn’t need to voice. Since there were more locations similar to that one, Julian had never needed to wait for Liam to use the shortcut. He could have just killed those cultivators himself, and Liam was sure he could.

And Julian calmly smiled, his following words carrying no trace of concern. "Master William, instead of killing each other, would you hear my proposal?"