Chapter 167 One Hundred and Sixty-Seven: Policies That Change Fate

Chapter 167: Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Seven: Policies That Change Fate

Volume Two: The Devil Must Pass Through Hell

Ikalat stood looking at Scarlet King with a faint grin on his face.

"Alright, Mr. Genius Planner. You do know that a person can be identified from nothing more than a description of their appearance because of the higher-level tracking techniques in the Second Dimension."

Scarlet King replied indifferently as tentacles began emerging from behind his back.

"I know."

"That’s why I have a method to change both our appearances and our auras until recognizing us becomes nearly impossible."

"As for changing our auras, we’ll refine a weak secondary Path so that our auras change."

"Once the mission is over, we’ll sever that Path, and our original auras will return to normal."

"However, a faint trace of the secondary aura will remain."

"So we need to choose Paths that are easy to connect with and extremely common."

Lin Yuan tried to raise his hand.

Scarlet King answered before he could even ask.

"Lin Yuan, we’re not in school."

"You don’t need to raise your hand."

"And I already know your question."

"Imagine the Core Aperture as a tree, the dantian as its roots, and the tree’s branches as your Paths."

"When you sever a Path, you’re cutting off one of the tree’s branches."

"That branch will regenerate after some time and become a vessel for a new Path of your choosing."

"It’s that simple."

"The dantian is the Dao’s recognition."

"The Core Aperture is the foundation of cultivation."

"And the Paths are your understanding of cultivation."

"But my connection to the Dao has been severed, so my aura won’t appear in the first place."

"I’ll be responsible for planning, while Liu Zai Hang, Ikalat, and Wei Xia Mo will be the ones attacking."

"I’ll also modify your appearances and help you choose Paths that are easy to sever."

"But not yet."

"And I won’t attack directly because I’m still considered someone from the First Dimension."

"That means the overwhelming superiority here would crush me."

Ikalat thought:

(Well, his answer makes sense, but there’s still a risk.)

(We’re still at the Beginning of Path Realm, which is weaker than even the weakest normal cultivation realm in the Second Dimension, where cultivation begins with Bone Refinement and continues up to Body-Soul Fusion.)

(But perhaps we’ll encounter a caravan guarded by weak cultivators.)

Liu Zai Hang moved his hand and fired an energy shot from his finger with all his strength.

Yet the most it accomplished was destroying a large rock.

And that was despite him using his full power.

It clearly demonstrated the crushing qualitative superiority of the Second Dimension.

He thought:

(Damn it.)

(This makes me ridiculously weak.)

The tentacles moved and wrapped around everyone’s waists as Scarlet King flew into the sky, carefully scanning the surroundings so they could strike immediately if they found a caravan.

"Quickly refine any secondary Path."

"It doesn’t matter how skilled or knowledgeable you are in it."

"What matters is that it’s common, easy to refine and sever, and changes your aura significantly."

They rose to roughly five hundred meters above the ground.

Inside Scarlet King’s eyes was a system resembling the artificial intelligence of a super suit.

It analyzed everything in front of him, recorded and clarified information, and allowed him to magnify or reduce his field of vision.

"Hmm... no nearby signs of life."

From above, the scenery was silent except for the violent scream of the wind deafening everyone because of Scarlet King’s speed.

Below them, the landscape gradually became clearer.

They were near a forest containing a dirt road.

In every other direction, the surrounding land was flat and covered in pure green grass, with a few rocks scattered across the ground and several distant trees.

Everything looked peaceful and clear from every direction.

There was no obvious sign of anything worth investigating.

But Scarlet King’s reconnaissance system immediately noticed wagon tracks along the dirt road inside the forest.

"Looks like we’re close to somewhere inhabited."

Scarlet King thought:

(Wheel tracks indicate that something is traveling toward an inhabited location—or the opposite.)

(It may have come from somewhere populated.)

He stopped briefly in the sky and magnified the tracks.

After examining them carefully, he saw that the indentations pointed forward and were accompanied by horse-hoof prints.

That meant there was currently a caravan ahead of them.

(Good.)

(This will be useful for now.)

He accelerated forward at full speed.

[After One Hour of Flight]

While Scarlet King was flying through the sky, he suddenly noticed not one caravan—

but two.

Both had stopped, and the merchants appeared to be discussing something among themselves.

Scarlet King immediately recognized the perfect opportunity.

He descended beside the road and entered the forest with the others, pulling them along with his tentacles.

They moved until they were close to the caravans, remaining hidden behind the trees.

Liu Zai Hang spoke aloud:

"Alright, we solved the aura problem, but what about our appearances?"

At the same time, he thought:

(Alright. The aura problem is handled.)

(I connected with the Soul Path, Wei Xia Mo with the Sword Path, and Ikalat with the Ice Path.)

(But we also need to hide our faces so the merchants won’t recognize us if we ever encounter them again.)

Scarlet King approached Liu Zai Hang and began altering his facial features.

A completely different Liu Zai Hang appeared.

He now looked like a young man in his mid-teens, with short hair and youthful, almost feminine features.

Scarlet King said:

"Good."

"My medical skills haven’t disappeared."

Liu Zai Hang thought:

(Every time I learn something new about this devil, I realize I know only a tiny fraction of what he is and how much experience he possesses.)

Scarlet King moved to the others and did the same thing, altering their appearances as well.

Everyone looked at one another’s faces and struggled not to laugh.

Liu looked like a feminine young man.

Ikalat looked like an ugly young man.

And Wei Xia Mo looked like a fat young man.

Scarlet King immediately snapped his fingers.

"We don’t have time to laugh."

"I’ll launch the first attack from a distance."

"The moment I attack, all of you charge in."

Scarlet King’s Shadow began moving.

It emerged and traveled between shadows while examining the cultivators’ auras.

There were five cultivators at the third level of the Beginning of Path Realm.

Two at the fifth level.

One at the seventh level.

And one cultivator at the Bone Refinement Realm.

That last one was the team’s greatest problem.

[Scarlet King’s Side]

Scarlet King looked toward the group.

"There are five at the third level of the Beginning of Path Realm."

"Two at the fifth."

"One at the seventh."

"And one at the first level of the Bone Refinement Realm."

The three looked at one another.

Wei Xia Mo said:

"Well... that’s an enormous risk."

Liu Zai Hang chuckled lightly.

"Hah. This devil has a weapon capable of injuring someone at Bone Refinement."

"We can handle the others, although it won’t be easy."

"But they may send out distress signals."

Everyone looked toward Scarlet King.

Lin Yuan and Wei Xia Mo did not know what Liu meant.

Liu Zai Hang and Ikalat did.

Scarlet King reached behind his back and pulled out the pistol, which now had a name:

The Dimension-Piercing Pistol.

It ignored the qualitative, existential, and quantitative superiority of one layer of superiority.

Scarlet King said:

"Alright."

"I’ll use this..."

"If I still possessed the Infinite Narrative World, I could create a Transformation or Form that would let me use this pistol freely."

Scarlet King raised the pistol and aimed it toward the Bone Refinement cultivator.

"The instant I fire, you attack as well."

"And I’ll have the Hybrid and Shadow support you from behind."

Scarlet King’s fingers began trembling slightly.

Then he pulled the trigger.

A bullet shot forward with enough power to cause a slight disturbance in the surrounding flow of time.

That distortion accelerated the projectile even further.

The Bone Refinement cultivator suddenly turned and sensed the bullet.

He tried to move backward.

But the bullet struck his arm—

and severed it completely from shoulder to hand.

He screamed:

"The caravan is under attack! Bandits!"

Liu Zai Hang and Ikalat immediately rushed out from between the trees.

They attacked the Bone Refinement cultivator.

The cultivator drew his sword and blocked Liu Zai Hang’s blade, then lightly evaded Ikalat’s attack and began fighting both of them.

At the same time, Wei Xia Mo was dealing with three guards.

Two were at the fifth level of the Beginning of Path Realm.

The third was at the third level.

Wei Xia Mo raised his sword and blocked the first fifth-level cultivator’s strike.

Then he kicked him hard in the stomach.

He swung his sword through the air and collided with the second fifth-level cultivator’s blade.

Sparks erupted from the force of the impact.

The aura released by the collision frightened the horses so badly that they refused to move.

Then the Shadow appeared behind the fifth-level cultivator.

It drew a sword and stabbed him through the chest.

The attack distracted him.

Wei Xia Mo immediately swung his sword—

and severed his head.

The Shadow and Wei Xia Mo then moved to face the remaining guards.

"Well, Shadow, I really like you."

Wei Xia Mo said this while charging toward the seventh-level cultivator.

Meanwhile, the Shadow dealt with two of the third-level cultivators.

The Hybrid fought the other two.

On Ikalat and Liu Zai Hang’s side, black smoke suddenly appeared behind the guard.

The cultivator was startled by its sudden appearance.

A hand emerged from the smoke.

It held a pistol.

The gun fired directly at him.

His head exploded.

Blood, fragments of skull, and pieces of brain scattered everywhere.

One fragment even flew into Ikalat’s mouth.

He immediately began spitting and wiping his tongue.

"Aaaagh! Disgusting!"

Scarlet King stepped out of the mist.

He now appeared as a young man with long purple hair tied into a bun and golden eyes.

He had altered his own appearance as well.

Meanwhile, Wei Xia Mo, the Shadow, and the Hybrid successfully killed the remaining guards.

The area became eerily quiet.

Nothing could be heard except birds chirping, while the lingering scent of blood filled the air.

The merchants had hidden themselves inside the caravan compartments.

One of them slowly opened the door.

"Guards, did you kill the band—"

He looked at the scene.

He fell silent for a moment.

"My apologies."

Then he slowly closed the door again.

Ikalat and Liu Zai Hang looked at each other.

"Doesn’t that usually happen in comedy plays?"

Scarlet King moved forward and ripped the door off with force.

The others gathered in front of the entrance.

Meanwhile, Liu Zai Hang and Wei Xia Mo headed toward the second caravan.

The Hybrid and Shadow began monitoring the surroundings.

Then the Shadow contacted Scarlet King and informed him that it had sensed distress-signal frequencies traveling toward a specific location.

Scarlet King thought:

(Hmm... they sent a distress signal.)

(We need to take only the Primordial Stones and leave quickly.)

Ikalat stepped forward and said:

"Alright."

"Give us everything you have, and we won’t kill you."

Scarlet King placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We only want the Primordial Stones."

Ikalat contacted Scarlet King mentally, confused.

At the same time, the merchants were terrified, with some kneeling on the ground.

"I don’t want to die! Please!"

They hurriedly began taking out their Primordial Stones.

As they did, Ikalat asked Scarlet King mentally:

(Why only the Primordial Stones?)

Scarlet King replied:

(Goods and items carried by caravans can be tracked.)

(Even if we take them and place them inside the Sealed World, there may still be methods capable of tracing them.)

(Sooner or later, that could expose us.)

(Primordial Stones, however, are simply impossible to track.)

Ikalat contacted Liu Zai Hang.

(Don’t take the goods.)

(Take only the Primordial Stones.)

Liu Zai Hang replied while Wei Xia Mo was already gathering items from his side:

(Why?)

Ikalat answered:

(I don’t have time to explain.)

(But they sent out a distress signal.)

(The best, fastest, and safest option is to take only the Primordial Stones.)

(Those are Scarlet’s orders.)

The trembling merchants pulled out a bag.

It was filled with Primordial Stones.

Scarlet King took it and left.

Liu Zai Hang and Wei Xia Mo emerged from the second caravan as well.

They immediately moved at high speed toward the forest.

[Ten Minutes Later]

They emerged from the other side of the forest.

Lin Yuan was waiting there, leaning against a tree.

"Did it work?"

Liu Zai Hang raised the bag of Primordial Stones with a smile.

Lin Yuan then looked toward Ikalat.

Ikalat shook his head, confirming that Lin Yuan would receive none of the profits.

Scarlet King spoke.

"Alright."

"Let’s put the Primordial Stones inside the Sealed World."

Wei Xia Mo immediately took out the talisman and handed it to Scarlet King.

Scarlet King opened the gateway.

They placed the bags inside.

Liu Zai Hang asked:

"Where to now?"

Scarlet King replied as his tentacles emerged once again.

"To the nearest city."