Chapter 188: Phantom Reaver Quintet
Chapter 188: Chapter 188: Phantom Reaver Quintet
Chapter 188: Phantom Reaver Quintet
The moment Liana spoke, every head in the immediate vicinity snapped toward the newcomer.
Sylvan, who had been quietly sharpening a chisel at the adjacent station, froze.
His eyes locked onto the dark-robed figure standing at the end of the workstation row, and his expression instantly darkened.
"Rhain?’ Sylvan’s mind buzzed with sudden turbulent thoughts. ’Why is he here?’
They hadn’t crossed paths in nearly a month.
Since they had arrived at the Stormveil Academy, the vast divide between the Outer Palace and the Inner Palace had acted like an insurmountable wall.
Sylvan had genuinely begun to believe that their paths had finally diverged for good.
He was hoping that Liana would slowly forget about the unreachable man and perhaps, eventually, turn her attention toward someone who had always been standing right beside her.
Once enough time had passed, he planned to step in and finally win her heart.
But this damn man had to show up again!
His eyes landed on the gleaming Gold Badge pinned to Rhain’s chest, and a complicated expression flickered across his face.
This was the exact same person he had once mocked as weak back in the Silvercrest estate.
And now?
Now he was just an Outer Palace disciple, while Rhain had already ascended to the highest echelon of the Inner Palace.
The gap between them had grown so ridiculously vast that it was impossible to ever bridge.
Unbothered by the stares, Rhain walked closer.
"I came looking for Soul Power controlled weapons," Rhain said, his dark grey eyes softening slightly as he looked at her soot-smeared face. "But I hadn’t expected to see you here."
Liana wiped a streak of black soot from her cheek with the back of her heavy glove, a genuinely bright smile blooming on her face.
"How could you forget?" Liana chuckled, "Our Silvercrest Clan’s foundation is deeply tied to forging. I learned the fundamentals of smithing from my grandfather since I was a little girl. So, when I learned about the Forging Division here, deciding to join it was only natural."
She set her oversized hammer down onto the workbench and dusted off her leather apron.
"If you are looking for Soul Power based weapons, they are kept in a highly specialized sector of the division," Liana explained. "I can take you there."
"That would save me a lot of time," Rhain accepted with a nod.
Liana turned to Sylvan and the other Outer Palace disciples who were still staring blankly. "I will be back in a while."
Without waiting for their response, she stepped out from behind the anvil and walked away alongside Rhain, leaving the group behind.
As their figures disappeared down the corridor, the lanky disciple beside Sylvan finally exhaled, his eyes wide with awe.
"I didn’t know Lady Liana was friends with a Gold Badge Inner disciple!" the disciple exclaimed. "If she knows someone that powerful, why doesn’t she just ask him for help? With a Gold Badge senior backing her, her problem would be solved in an instant!"
Another disciple nodded eagerly. "Seriously. If a Gold Badge disciple put in a good word for her with a Preceptor, half her problems would vanish overnight."
Hearing that, Sylvan’s face turned incredibly ugly. He forcefully slammed his chisel down onto the workbench.
"They don’t know each other that deeply!" Sylvan snapped annoyingly, "Mind your own business and get back to work!"
The disciples exchanged awkward glances but wisely chose not to press the matter further.
_______________
As Rhain and Liana walked through the sprawling corridors of the Forging Division, Rhain glanced at the girl walking beside him.
"How have you been doing in the Academy?" Rhain asked casually.
A brief trace of sadness and exhaustion flashed in Liana’s beautiful silver eyes, but she quickly hid it, forcing a bright smile onto her face.
"I am doing fine," she replied, her tone upbeat. "The competition here is incredibly fierce, but I am managing well. How about you and Seris?"
"I am doing good," Rhain said. "Seris is well, too. She was accepted directly as a Core Palace disciple by the Vice Dean, and she is currently in closed-door seclusion preparing for her breakthrough to the Spirit Manifestation Realm."
Hearing that, Liana’s eyes lit up with genuine joy.
"That’s wonderful!" Liana smiled warmly. "I always knew Seris was extraordinary. When she comes out of seclusion, please tell her I said congratulations."
"I will."
After walking for another ten minutes, they arrived before a secluded chamber tucked away in the deepest section of the Forging Division.
The specialized weapons vault was unlike anything on the main workshop floor.
Hundreds of weapons hung from reinforced display racks lining every wall, each one sealed behind individual protective array barriers.
Rhain stepped up to the main counter, where an older, severe-looking deacon was meticulously polishing a hilt with calloused hands.
"I need a set of Epic-Grade Soul Power controlled weapons," Rhain stated directly. "Specifically, a matched set designed for coordinated formation attacks."
The deacon’s polishing cloth froze.
He slowly raised his head, staring at Rhain with outright astonishment.
Soul Power based weapons were incredibly niche.
Because the vast majority of cultivators treated Soul Power merely as a sensory tool, the demand for such weapons was incredibly low.
To ask for a set of Epic-Grade Soul weapons was practically unheard of.
"Are you certain?" the deacon asked, eyeing the Gold Badge on Rhain’s chest. "Epic-Grade Soul weapons are notoriously difficult to refine. Because of that, their cost is astronomical. Not even the Core Palace disciples casually purchase Epic-Grade Soul weapons. A single piece can easily cost more than three million Aetherium Crystals."
Three million for a single piece!
Liana gasped quietly, her silver eyes widening in pure shock.
She tentatively stepped forward, looking at the deacon. "That is incredibly expensive... Could you perhaps reduce the price a little?"
The deacon shook his head firmly. "I apologize, but the prices for high-tier artifacts are rigidly fixed by the Academy’s appraisal board. It is completely non-negotiable."
"It doesn’t matter," Rhain interjected, his tone completely indifferent to the astronomical figures being thrown around. "I don’t care about the money. Just bring out the absolute best pack of Epic-Grade Soul weapons you have."
The attendant studied Rhain’s calm, unwavering expression for a long moment, before he stood up from his seat.
"Wait here. I’ll need to retrieve them from the restricted section."
The man hurried into the heavily reinforced vault behind the counter.
A few minutes later, he emerged carrying a long, rectangular box carved from pitch-black wood.
He set it carefully on the counter and unlatched the lid.
Inside, resting on a bed of deep blue silk, lay five identical daggers.
Each blade was roughly twelve inches long, forged from a metal so dark it seemed to swallow all the surrounding light.
Faint, luminous runes were etched along the spines. The hilts were wrapped in black dragon-scale leather, and the pommels each held a small, swirling orb of condensed spiritual energy.
"These are the Phantom Reaver Quintet," the attendant said, his voice carrying a reverence, "It is the finest Epic-Grade Soul Power formation set in our entire division. Five matched daggers, each capable of independent flight and autonomous targeting when controlled through pure Soul Power. When deployed in their full formation pattern, they create a five-point lethal array that can trap, disorient, and annihilate targets from multiple angles simultaneously."
He paused to look at Rhain’s face.
"At full power, If controlled by a peak Core Formation expert with sufficiently vast Soul Power, this set can wound, and potentially kill a half-step Domain Master Realm cultivator."
Rhain’s dark grey eyes swept over the translucent blades.
He reached out and lifted one of the daggers from the silk bedding.
The moment his fingers closed around the hilt, the runes along the blade activated, responding to the vast ocean of Soul Power within him, and the tip of the dagger shone with a chilling light.
"Perfect. I will take the set," Rhain nodded.
"Excellent," the deacon smiled, "Each Phantom Reaver is priced at five million Aetherium Crystals. For the complete set of five, the total comes to twenty-five million."
Twenty-five million!
Liana sucked in a sharp breath.
Twenty-five million Aetherium Crystals.
The number was staggering — more than many mid-tier clans in the Outer Frontier possessed in their entire treasuries.
Yet, under her completely stupefied gaze, Rhain didn’t even bat an eyelid.
With a casual flick of his wrist, a glowing spatial ring materialized in his palm. He handed it to the deacon without a second thought. "Twenty-five million. Count it."
The deacon hastily scanned the ring, his face turning red with excitement upon confirming the mountains of glowing crystals.
He handed the black wooden box to Rhain with a deep, ninety-degree bow.
"Pleasure doing business with you!"
With the Phantom Severing Daggers securely stored in his spatial ring, Rhain turned and walked back out of the pavilion with Liana trailing quietly beside him.
As they walked back through the corridors, Rhain noticed that Liana’s pace had slowed.
She was keeping her head down, nervously biting her pink lip, clearly struggling with an internal dilemma.
"If there’s something you want to say," Rhain said without turning his head, "just say it. You don’t need to hold back around me."
Liana’s footsteps faltered for a moment.
She took a breath, then spoke, her voice filled with an embarrassment she couldn’t fully conceal.
"Have you heard of the Celestial Elixir Pavilion?"