Chapter 370: Leader
Chapter 370: Leader
The threat sounded ludicrous, no matter the perspective.
The tables had around a dozen cultivators, most at the foundation stage, but still featuring four rooting experts.
More cultivators stood in the intricate underground world and hill, surrounding Liam and Grace in more ways than one.
Lastly, the burly man’s presence was heavy, heavier than even Grace’s. He clearly had developed more minor roots, maybe even reaching the stage’s peak.
Nevertheless, everything had a different meaning in Liam’s eyes, with a lot being invisible.
That clearly unorthodox force played into the Circles’ trend. Such a gathering was probably unheard of in the Outer Circles Liam had crossed, but a similarity had remained.
The Axe Brigade might indeed be a force that more outermost Circles didn’t have the systems to host, but it still was a group of lone cultivators. The widespread dirt, both on the environment and on the experts, already suggested that.
There was also something else. Except for the alleged leader, everyone’s presence was weaker than Liam’s. Some rooting experts even seemed to have just begun growing through that cultivation stage.
That meant a lack of resources, which implied the absence of martial arts and other tools that made cultivators into the powerhouses they could be.
Meanwhile, Liam had multiple sets of techniques and more. His presence wasn’t the heaviest, but he didn’t lag by a lot. He wielded fourteen fully developed minor roots, almost matching what a talent of four spiritual roots could arrive at.
Unless cultivators with talent beyond six spiritual roots were involved, the gap wouldn’t be so wide. It could even be negligible considering everything Liam owned.
Of course, only Liam and partially Grace were in the know about those invisible traits. The burly leader merely saw a rank 3 weapon and two rooting experts, leading to a vulgar laugh at the threat.
"Did you hear him, men?" The leader shouted. "He won’t suffer our existence! Should we disband because of how well-spoken he is?"
The cultivators at the tables burst into laughter, but Liam had bigger problems to consider.
’Well-spoken? Me? Since when?’ Liam wondered, the hand lowering his arm snapping him out of those doubts.
"My dear," Grace called, "This isn’t the time to be jealous."
That had to be a rebuke, but Grace was glowing with happiness, that light leaking in her surroundings, no matter how good her act was.
"Axe Brigade’s leader," Grace elegantly cupped her fist. "I’m Grace. This is Liam, my Dao partner. We have traveled from the inner areas of the Kingdom, looking for a place to build our nest. We wish you to provide directions."
Grace muddied the waters with easily-believable lies. Originating from richer areas of the Kingdom would explain the rank 3 fan while also implying that the pair was heading toward its outermost reaches.
Still, there were other implications.
’What was a Dao partner again?’ Liam tried to recall, temporarily putting that doubt aside to focus on the main issue. ’Nest? Like lovebirds?’
It seemed Grace was alluding to something romantic, and Liam couldn’t contradict her in front of that audience.
Even after maturing and learning a lot, women were still teaching Liam new definitions of defeat. Actually, rather than just women, that had only applied to Melissa, now adding Grace.
’I feel I’m falling into a trap,’ Liam admitted to himself, but didn’t forget where he was.
The corpses fell to the carpets, blood spurting from their severed necks, but Liam didn’t cup his fist. Grace was the master of words, so he would let her take the lead, but his threat remained.
"So refined," The leader commented, standing up while lifting his huge axe, revealing the entirety of his frame.
The man wasn’t just burly. He was also tall, a bit taller than Liam. It was rare for him to meet people physically bigger than him, but the leader definitely belonged to that category.
There was also something strange about the leader’s skin. Now that he walked toward the pair, his exposed torso occasionally reflected the light from the lanterns above, as if his tissues had a metallic component.
The trait wasn’t quite like the Jade Skin. It didn’t even carry any suspicious amount of Qi. That skin looked like what rooting experts owned, just a bit stronger, as if establishing it as a proper rank 2 material.
"Body cultivation?" Grace questioned.
"You have good eyes, too," The leader praised. "Or were you so impressed you couldn’t stop looking?"
Grace’s question allowed Liam to connect the dots. After all, that knowledge was part of his training.
Body cultivation was an inferior branch of the cultivation journey. Instead of nourishing the dantian, it involved reinforcing the body through expensive ointments and other alchemical products.
It was no different than the Metal Hand’s conditioning, just applied to the entire body and with, theoretically, greater effects.
Body cultivation could turn skin and flesh into passive quasi-techniques. The issue was that the process was expensive and long, with relatively lackluster results, making most of the world ignore that branch.
Liam had simply learned about it because he had studied the alchemical products the branch required.
"I’m Battle-Axe Eugene," The burly leader declared once he stopped before Liam and Grace, "Founder and leader of the Axe Brigade, ruler of this area."
Up close, Eugene’s frame was even more impressive.
"Sister, why don’t you join me?" Eugene continued. "Don’t you like my place? I will give you the treatment a woman like you deserves."
Eugene glanced at the fan, the only item he deigned worthy of his concern, before adding something. "Once you try it, your Dao partner will look so tiny you will never think about him anymore."
Another round of laughs exploded into the chamber, but Grace only smiled, speaking the full truth for once.
"That’s unlikely," Grace stated. "My Dao partner is impressive to a concerning extent."
The chamber suddenly went quiet. There had been a hidden meaning to that whole conversation, one unbecoming of the elegant and refined Grace, or any polite environment for that matter.
However, Grace had responded in kind, not shying away from that vulgar topic, uncaring of what doing that said about her.
"Brother, you sure found a loyal one," Eugene broke the silence with another laugh. "She must have been the main attraction of some expensive broth-."
Eugene couldn’t finish his line since he had finally decided to turn toward Liam, only for two fingers to pierce his right eye.