Chapter 985: Eventuality P9: Full Circle

Kanis took a moment to organize his thoughts before answering Rumaal’s question.

"To understand why we’re here, Lord Rumaal, you’ll have to understand what happened to Prince Varesh before his disappearance. The Swordfall King used a special tracking technique to locate him, but the technique wasn’t entirely accurate. In fact, it had quite a few limitations, especially when the target region was as far away as Orveth."

He paused briefly, glancing at the vast expanse of the Orveth Sea beneath them before continuing.

"After all, we’re talking about a subcontinent separated from the Shinayin Empire by several natural barriers and an enormous distance. Even a technique personally employed by a Nascent Soul King couldn’t provide us with a perfectly clear picture of everything happening there. Still, it gave us enough clues to work with, and we eventually confirmed some of them through our intelligence network."

Rumaal listened attentively. Although he belonged to King Runiye’s faction, he was well aware of the limitations of tracking techniques. The more powerful the target, the more difficult it became to obtain accurate information about their whereabouts, especially when they were separated by such a great distance. If the target was deliberately concealing their traces, the difficulty increased further.

"According to what we learned, Prince Varesh had assisted Lord Droven of the Northwind Domain and his subordinates in their attempt to subjugate a native sect known as the Eastern Limiya Gate," Kanis continued. "Initially, the imperial cultivators held the upper hand. However, the situation changed when the Eastern Limiya Gate joined forces with its long-standing rival, the Western Limiya Gate, to resist the invasion."

Rumaal raised an eyebrow.

"Two native sects joining hands to resist the Empire? I suppose the pressure must have been considerable for them to put aside their differences."

"Indeed. And they fought harder than the imperial cultivators had anticipated." Kanis nodded. "The battle eventually reached its peak, and that’s when Prince Varesh intervened. He killed the Lordess who led the Eastern Limiya Gate and severely injured the leader of the Western Limiya Gate. With two powerful opponents eliminated or incapacitated, the imperial forces were finally in a position to claim victory."

Kanis paused, his expression turning somewhat peculiar.

"Unfortunately for them, victory didn’t mean they would get to keep their spoils."

"Oh?" Rumaal leaned forward slightly. "What happened?"

"Before Prince Varesh and the others could properly collect the spoils of war, another native Lord intervened. He took advantage of the chaos and stole the core inheritances and resources belonging to both sects right from under the imperial cultivators’ noses."

Rumaal’s expression changed.

"Someone actually dared to do that with four imperial Lords present?"

"Not only dared to do it, but also managed to escape with the stolen treasures." Kanis chuckled faintly. "Prince Varesh and three other Lord-level cultivators from the Empire immediately pursued him. Naturally, they couldn’t allow someone to walk away with such valuable resources after they had gone through the trouble of fighting for them."

Rumaal nodded thoughtfully. He could understand their reaction. Core inheritances of the sects known as Big Five in Orveth weren’t ordinary cultivation manuals even in the eyes of imperial cultivators that were supposed to have access to Connate techniques. This was not weird considering the fact that the techniques obtained from Orveth could be converted into Connate techniques by the imperial cultivators using the special methods available to them.

Furthermore, the resources accumulated by two established sects over generations could amount to an astonishing fortune even for imperial cultivators’ standards. After all, this was an organizational wealth as opposed to individual accumulation.

Losing both would be humiliating enough, but allowing a native cultivator to steal them in front of an imperial force would be an even greater disgrace.

"Did you manage to identify the thief?" he asked.

"Eventually. After gathering more intelligence from the surrounding regions, I learned that the person who had stolen the treasures was a sect master belonging to one of the major native sects of Orveth. Before the recent upheavals, the natives collectively referred to their five most powerful sects as the Big Five. You should already know about them."

"Of course, it can’t be the Purple River Lord because our faction was in charge of destroying the Purple River Sect and we have kept tabs on him." Rumaal shared the information from his side.

"Yes. The man we’re talking about was the sect master of the Sun Ocean Society. He’s known as the Sun Ocean Lord."

Rumaal stroked his chin.

"So, the Sun Ocean Lord stole the inheritances, and Prince Varesh went after him alongside three other imperial Lords. That explains why your investigation led you to Orveth, but it doesn’t explain why you’re wandering around the middle of the sea."

"That’s where things became troublesome." Kanis let out a quiet sigh. "For some reason, I could no longer track Prince Varesh directly. The information provided by the Swordfall King’s technique became increasingly unreliable, and I couldn’t establish a clear connection with his current whereabouts."

"Then why not return to the Empire and request another investigation?"

"Because I had another option." Kanis smiled. "Although I couldn’t track Prince Varesh, I could still follow the trail left by the Sun Ocean Lord. The man had stolen the inheritances of two major Orveth sects and was being pursued by four imperial Lords. I reasoned that Prince Varesh and the others wouldn’t abandon the chase so easily. Wherever the Sun Ocean Lord went, there was a good chance they would follow."

Rumaal’s eyes narrowed as he understood the reasoning.

"So, rather than tracking the prince himself, you decided to track the man he was pursuing."

"Precisely." Kanis nodded. "I gathered what information I could about the Sun Ocean Lord, combined it with a secret tracking technique of my own, and followed the trail across Orveth. I expected to find some trace of the imperial cultivators eventually, perhaps even a clue that would lead me directly to Prince Varesh."

He spread his hands, indicating the endless ocean around them.

"Instead, I ended up here, in the middle of nowhere."

"Then you still don’t know where Prince Varesh is?" Rumaal asked.

"Not with any certainty." Kanis shook his head. "But I’m confident that following the Sun Ocean Lord is our best lead. If Prince Varesh and the other imperial Lords are still pursuing him, we’ll eventually cross paths with them. And if they aren’t..."

Kanis’s smile faded slightly.

"Then we’ll have to find out what happened to all four of them. After all, four Lord-level cultivators from the empire don’t simply disappear without leaving behind some traces."

Kanis then paused briefly before continuing.

"Since the tracking methods weren’t producing the desired results, I thought of checking out the Sun Ocean Society’s sect grounds to see if there were any clues.

"However, just a few hours ago, I learned that the forces of King Halthor’s Northwind Domain had almost completely subjugated the Sun Ocean Society. There was no trace of the Sun Ocean Lord, even after the imperial forces belonging to King Halthor’s faction had invaded the sect’s core region."

"Although I didn’t have any strong leads, I decided to strike a deal with King Halthor’s faction and investigate the Sun Ocean Society’s grounds. That’s why I was heading there before we met. But since I owe you a debt, I decided to change my route."

Both Rumaal and Kanis knew that Droven belonged to King Halthor’s faction. It was a faction known for its aggressiveness. Since it couldn’t secure the Eastern and Western Limiya Gate’s treasures, it decided to move on with its next target before any other faction had a chance to attack it.

Rumaal knew that the cultivators of King Halthor’s faction wouldn’t cooperate with Kanis at all. Who in their right minds would try to cooperate with sword cultivators who were known to be hounds when it came to snatching resources? That too when it was King Halthor’s faction that had already done the heavy lifting.

What rights did the Swordfall domain have to claim partnership with King Halthor’s faction? Varesh killing one of the native sect masters was not coordinated with either faction at all. As such, no reward could be claimed by the entire faction just because an individual decided to act selfishly on his own.

At the most, Varesh could seek a personal compensation for his efforts but the faction behind him could not act as if that interference was prearranged.

Then again, sword cultivators were not really known for their logical reasoning. The King Halthor’s faction might really have to compromise with the Swordfall domain a bit seeing it was Kanis who’d be doing the negotiations. A half-step Nascent Soul’s status was completely different even from that of peak Lords.

Of course, Rumaal tacitly decided not to say his opinion out loud and listened to what Kanis was saying.

"Anyway. You don’t need to worry too much about me delaying my tasks, though. I was about to investigate a dead end anyway, just to complete a formality before moving on to other methods. It’s much better to help a friend. Haha!

"And it’s not like delaying the search would have any sort of serious impact. I’m not too worried about Prince Varesh’s safety, either. That young man is a bit unruly and doesn’t respond well to authority. I’m sure he must be busy exploring this region at his own pace to deepen his understanding of Sword Intent.

"King Swordfall worries too much. He’ll eventually contact us on his own once he is done with his exploration. After all, this is not the first time he has done this act of sudden disappearance."