Chapter 633: Footholds

Liam might have set out to grow strong enough to kill leafing experts, but five months couldn’t possibly have sufficed to achieve such an absurd goal.

If closing the gap between cultivation stages were easy, everyone would do it. Moreover, that nigh-insurmountable wall grew steeper the higher one went.

Liam’s experience with leafing experts was also limited. The Kingdom didn’t have many such cultivators to begin with. The branching stage wouldn’t be considered a great divider otherwise, and Liam even had those lucky interactions when he was far weaker.

Liam might have had a better chance of gauging a leafing expert’s prowess now. However, as things stood, he had no idea what to expect and only possessed one trump card that might do something against those far superior beings.

When Liam included the wider power differences the leafing stage could feature, the situation looked hopeless.

"None of such mighty experts were present during the attack," Laurel explained, taken aback by the strange question. She checked the others for clarification, only for her confusion to deepen at Rachel’s proud expression.

Even Uriah and Amber didn’t seem to mind the question’s implicit meaning. Everything Liam revealed that day had already filled their shock meter.

Besides, it made sense that the son of an Ancestral Beast would view power levels differently. Liam killing Andrew even proved he wasn’t all talk.

Of course, Liam didn’t care about such reactions. The back of his mind recorded them, but his conscious side only explored the issue at hand.

’Is Laurel’s testimony even reliable?’ Liam wondered. ’Can any branching expert’s testimony be reliable?’

Laurel had admitted that the attack had taken her Tribe by surprise. In a place big on tracking methods, the achievement basically confirmed the use of powerful cloaking devices.

Moreover, leafing experts likely had access to far stronger methods. Liam had his sixth sense to go by, which had worked against the Church’s purge, but the leafing stage could easily be its limit.

The looming catastrophe could be so far above Liam’s level that his very being might fail to conceive it, sending no warning signal.

In short, Liam couldn’t be sure about the actual danger level. He only knew that running was the only option against leafing experts, but the predicament also had a very promising opposite side.

The Dark Heaven Tribe now had Uriah, Amber, Liam, and Laurel. A fully recovered Caspar would soon join those ranks, too.

The enslaved magical beasts bolstered that power even further, and some might be level three specimens. Liam didn’t know if Laurel’s orange centipede had survived, but both she and the Dark Heaven Tribe could have more assets with similar power.

Most importantly, with Liam, Uriah, and Amber, the Dark Heaven Tribe could cover all three noble arts, enabling methods that could surpass the sum of their power.

Defending was easier than attacking, especially with such assets. On top of that, Liam’s poisons were uniquely suited to taking control of battlefields, bringing the very world to his side.

Liam didn’t know if Uriah and Amber possessed similar methods. However, he could probably remove any threat below the branching stage on his own, and that had to count for something.

So, victory wasn’t entirely out of the picture, and achieving it might bring the greatest pay-off of Liam’s life.

’If we win this,’ Liam thought, his greed flaring, ’Wouldn’t the entire Aetacia region be ours?’

The Poisonous Refinement Liam was still perfecting could theoretically allow him to absorb any resource, no matter how unsuitable for his cultivation. A share of an entire region meant plenty of those, promising a loot that would surpass Archbishop Ignatius’ inheritance.

’Well, nothing would stop other foreign forces from conquering the region afterward,’ Liam realized. ’But we could win, plunder anything valuable, and leave.’

Liam wasn’t too clear on the politics the Tribes employed to keep the Aetacia region from falling into the hands of stronger forces. Still, he had never planned to stick around, and the Dark Heaven Tribe’s acceptance hadn’t changed his stance.

The family seemed able to read the wild plans in Liam’s mind. When he returned to reality, he found Rachel grinning at him and her parents shooting stern but approving looks. His feral face had given him away, but in a good way.

"Rachel, accompany me as I escort Laurel and Young Miss Catherine," Amber eventually announced, flashing a small smile at the two outsiders. "We can continue this conversation once you are rested."

Everyone understood the unsaid part. Just as Liam couldn’t intrude on Uriah and Amber’s private meeting, Laurel and her daughter needed to leave the room to the Dark Heaven Tribe’s leaders now.

Liam didn’t care for the departure. He wouldn’t have even watched if it weren’t for two curious instances.

The first involved the brown-haired woman, Catherine, who approached Liam to bow politely before joining the departing group.

The second obviously came from Rachel. She still wore her well-behaved facade, but it was a facade. Before she could leave the hall, she peeked at Liam while caressing the swollen spot hidden under her short pants.

Anyone would see that as a casual gesture, but it had a unique, private, and seductive meaning for Liam and Rachel, like a secret language he couldn’t ignore since Catherine had forced his brain to pay attention.

Still, Liam’s brain switched gears quickly, especially since Uriah didn’t hesitate to throw a question as soon as privacy arrived. "What do you make of this?"

Mincing words had never been Liam’s style, or lying, for that matter, so his answer was as honest as they came. "Unless you know something I don’t, the Aetacia region is lost."

"I know plenty of things you don’t," Uriah snorted, crossing his arms, before diverting his gaze. "But yes. Now that foreign interests have been allowed inside, there’s no pushing them away."

The reply matched Liam’s understanding of the situation. Even if the Dark Heaven Tribe emerged victorious from the imminent tribulation, only servitude could allow its survival.

Uriah would basically have to put his force at the service of superior foreign powers to prevent them from swallowing it entirely.

"Houses can be rebuilt," Uriah continued. "New resources can be conquered. The Tribe isn’t so weak as to disappear out of a mere relocation, and we aren’t without foreign footholds, are we?"