Chapter 551: Collars

When Liam woke up, he made full use of his education at the Grace Academy, no matter how trivial he found that aspect of the cultivation world.

Reputation was a big thing among cultivators, and it started with appearances. Liam had no idea what style was, but he knew Grace’s was impeccable, and she had picked plenty of clothes for him.

While Grace usually dressed Liam, to the point where he was more familiar with women’s clothes, he knew how to do it. He donned his devilish attire, the black robe with blood-red floral patterns on its sleeves.

Next, Liam combed his hair into a half-up, half-down hairstyle, a strip of black cloth keeping the bun in place. That rekindled the discomfort of being without Grace due to how often their brushing sessions happened, but she had miraculously predicted it.

The sudden buzzing surprised and worried Liam, but he shook his head upon addressing it. Grace’s message had nothing worrisome. It was instead purely dirty.

’That woman,’ Liam cursed internally, not even pretending to be unhappy. ’Did she predict how my sleeping patterns would change after the breakthrough? How does she even sound so refined when saying such stuff?’

Grace wouldn’t have risked waking Liam up for a tease, meaning she had predicted he would have been awake. She had probably even expected his discomfort.

Liam couldn’t ignore that care, and he had started that game, too, so he sent back a message according to the rules established the previous day, storing the communicator next.

However, the message’s contents stopped Liam before he could leave the hall, bringing his hands to his mouth, where fangs had appeared.

Grace had already reassured Liam about his inhuman aspects, and in quite an enticing manner, but his alchemical immersion might have prevented him from discovering others.

The fangs obviously were the main suspect. They were crucial to snakes but rather impractical on a humanoid body. The only time they might have helped Liam was against the jailer.

Liam tried to spread his mouth and stretch his neck, using snakes as a guideline, but nothing inhuman unfolded. His fangs seemed mostly decorative, not a weapon optimized for a human body.

’I guess I could still start biting people when no one is looking,’ Liam decided. ’Though it would have been more useful if I could release venom from my fingers.’

Of course, Liam couldn’t complain at that lack of optimization. The Ancestral Snake’s bloodline had already given him more advantages than he could count. It would be up to him to adjust his fighting style accordingly.

The greatsword also fell in that category, but Liam was out of time. He undid the underground hall and jumped on the fan as soon as the desert’s scorching sun greeted him.

Liam’s mind switched gears now that the face-off with the Dark Heaven Tribe was imminent, reviewing what Grace had shared.

The southern region looked barren on the surface, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. The desert hid plenty of valuable cultivation resources, mainly minerals popular among inscription masters.

The weather was the issue. It was deadly for weaker cultivators. There were tamer areas, but the deserts weren’t among them. They were basically quasi-forbidden zones, which humans had failed or given up on taming.

Still, riches created an incentive cultivators couldn’t ignore. Taming the deserts was impossible and pointless to some extent, but creating living areas was well within magical items’ power.

According to Grace, the southern region had few but massive cities where most human life gathered. They were sparse, leaving the majority of the deserts empty or in the hands of magical beasts.

That was why Grace had migrated through the southern region back then. The harsher but emptier environment offered higher chances of avoiding her Clan’s assassins or being spotted.

Guilds settled in those megacities, while Sects and Tribes occupied isolated but valuable areas, using the harsh environment as an additional defense. Grace’s knowledge stopped there, but what Liam had learned from Rachel enabled educated guesses.

The Tribes sounded similar to the organization Liam and Grace had been meaning to establish. They probably were forces between Guild branches and Sects in terms of power, like stronger versions of Mairis with a more unified leadership.

Sporadically using the fan’s ability got Liam in the general area half a week before the deadline. He slowed down before reaching his destination, smoking to be ready for the confrontation. He was even about to message Rachel when his skin captured a curious detail.

The detail was an almost-imperceptible tremor, but Liam recognized it. At least, his skin matched it with sensations he had captured in the past. It was the echo of a far-distant shockwave, one caused by Qi.

’I thought it would have been more hidden,’ Liam commented internally. With how much Rachel had insisted on being a guide, he had expected the Tribe would have been harder to find.

Still, when the sun was about to set, painting the desert crimson, Liam realized his expectations were on point. The mistake lay elsewhere.

The sky in the distance flickered, as if the air was a transparent curtain that became visible only when it moved, giving off an unnatural vibe. There seemed to be only empty sand behind it, but Liam knew better.

The flickering area was huge and half-spherical, like a dome, but Liam found the scene at its edge more eye-catching, and not because it was the cause of those revealing tremors.

A few dozen rooting experts wearing the light, revealing robes common in the southern region had gathered past the cloaking dome, forming a battle formation of sorts, the sand around them displaced.

Rather than cultivators, the attackers were against huge lizards with yellow scales and black patterns. They were short but thick, one and a half meters long. There were at least thirty of them, all level two magical beasts.

Most importantly, the magical beasts seemed to be defending the flickering dome. There were even a few dead ones among them.

’What even is this?’ Liam gasped internally, getting closer, eventually spotting something that could explain the shocking sight.

The lizards had dark collars around their neck, glowing yellow symbols carved into their metal texture. Liam had learned about such tools. He had even spotted a few in the battle cages but had never expected to find them on magical beasts.

’Are they slaves?’ Liam thought, unable to hide his surprise. ’They enslave magical beasts in the southern region?’

Liam’s curiosity got the better of him, bringing him right above the temporarily motionless battle. The lizards shuddered at his arrival, shrinking, but they still held their ground, warily checking his figure.

That was another surprising scene, but one far easier to explain. Liam only needed to glance at the group of cultivators to find answers.

All the rooting experts had stopped glaring at the magical beasts, instead cupping their fists and bowing to Liam. They also shuddered under his inspection, but one was brave enough to step forward to address him.

"Senior, forgive us for disturbing your travels," The apparent representative, a man, exclaimed. "We Juniors are from the Invincible Oasis Tribe and Red Sandstorm Tribe. We ask your understanding in letting us continue our task."

Liam had to hold back from blinking, but the shock still froze his mouth, the dark smoke he had inhaled leaking out. He had basically never been treated so politely. Those cultivators were even making excuses for him, taking the blame over literally nothing.

’Being a branching expert sure has benefits,’ Liam thought, connecting details he had previously ignored.

Chester and Jacob had worn blue and red belts respectively, and Liam saw the same items on the cultivators below. It seemed the looser clothes weren’t an excuse to avoid announcing political affiliations.

Still, considering what Liam had done to those Tribes, he limited his interaction with those rooting experts to a question. "Is this the Dark Heaven Tribe?"

"Yes, Senior!" The rooting expert immediately replied. "You are in the right place. The Invincible Oasis Tribe and the Red Sandstorm Tribe have a grudge to settle with it."

The last part had a deeper meaning, which Liam didn’t care about. He kept smoking while sending a mental message, leaving the politics for later.

Liam had probably already picked a side anyway by killing the two Young Masters.

In theory, Rachel could contact Liam, but his jade could also block incoming messages from certain connections. That was the first time she had ever heard from him, and the results were immediate, as well as intense.

’He is definitely angry,’ Liam understood, seeing everything clearly. The world was pushed back, displaced by the powerhouse who rushed from behind the invisible curtain to meet him.

The sand blew back, a giant clearing forming, revealing the browner soil underneath. The cultivators could only bend to endure the brief storm, but Liam was unaffected, his feral gaze on the figure flying on a familiar silver spear.

The newcomer was a tanned man in his prime, barely forty, tall and muscular, his frame matching Liam’s. His sleeveless, partially open robe exposed his thick arms and chiseled chest. Even his neck was thick, supporting a bald head with a strong jawline.

The man had no beard, so Liam could perfectly see how tightly he was clenching his jaw in fury. It was a miracle his teeth hadn’t shattered under such pressure.

"Wanderer," The man called, his voice steady but powerful. "Are you the one who poisoned my daughter?"