Reaper of the Martial World

Book 4: Chapter 53: Mortal – Flesh

The ranking of the bottom ninety was really nothing to speak of. Maybe the most entertaining event were Ri’s fights, but that was mostly because she was angry beyond belief that she didn’t get an opportunity to fight Ulu and take revenge how she wanted. After she had so easily suppressed Eboni, Ulu was intelligent enough to understand that she was no match for Ri, and thus directly conceded their bout.

Truthfully speaking, this was because Ulu didn’t care much for Ri’s animosity. The only thing she had in mind was the success of her Planet’s goals. She hadn’t attacked Ri out of any petty hatred or jealousy, although her means had been despicable and unforgivable. At the time, she had seen an opportunity to drastically increase the chance of their plan’s success, so she had acted – not hesitating to attempt to trample over the futures of both Ri and Dyon. Unfortunately, she had paid for it … The only hope she had of curing herself was Dyon’s sympathy or Dyon’s submission.

After realizing this, she decided to no longer fight with his wives. Because, if Zabia somehow failed, building any more animosity would only burn more bridges for her.

Ulu was intelligent. Despite the hopes and aspirations her grandmother and the clan elders tried to butter her and the rest of the younger generation up with, she was fully aware that they were nothing but pawns. There would be no pity for her. If her husband couldn’t win, she would have to resign herself to never again think of continuing her or her husband’s bloodline.

She had acted knowing that there was a certain ruthlessness required to succeed in the martial world. Thus, she had to be willing to accept that reciprocated ruthlessness.

**

Back in the mortal realm, President Gallagher’s brows were furrowed as he looked toward the calm and collected General Mace across from his office desk.

“You’re telling me that this plan is meant to be executed today?”

General Mace nodded, “Today is the day. In fact, I’m quite sure they’ll be sending over someone much more powerful than me quite soon once they realize I haven’t completed my end of things properly…”

He was oddly calm. For a man who had basically had his will bound, his demeanor was enough to put an experienced man like the President ill at ease.

The truth of the matter was that Dyon had left General Mace there, knowing full well the likelihood of his seal working on a large scale was nearly 0. These were the plans of celestial beings. In fact, they were celestial beings who used to have the horizons of a dao formation expert! How could their plans start and end with a measly mortal who couldn’t even cultivation through the foundation stage without their hands-on help?

No, General Mace was nothing but a delay tactic because Dyon knew he had one trump card that hadn’t shown up quite yet: Bai Meiying.

On the day Dyon reluctantly sent Meiying away with the Daiyu, he had implanted within her a few things. The first and most important was the key to unlocking her consciousness from her deadened state. With the use of it, she would be fully aware of everything going on around her, while maintaining the outer appearance of being sealed.

The second thing was a communication array. And the third was a concealment and teleportation array.

The problem with his third implanting was that his soul had been severely damaged at the time. He had even had to use Ri’s help to even must enough soul strength to complete the task. This meant that the teleportation array was nowhere near his max at the time – or 10km. In fact, it was barely a few hundred meters. In addition to that, his concealment array was pitiful as well. Let alone celestial experts, even an essence gathering expert would be able to see through it.

However, Dyon had tried his best with what he had and he hoped that Meiying would be intelligent enough to make full use of it.

“Tell me again exactly what it is you were supposed to do,” President Gallagher asked for what might have been the hundredth time.

“It’s quite simple really. Well, maybe not so much for someone who hasn’t cultivated… But, the intuitiveness is there, at least to some extent.” General Mace didn’t seem bothered by having to answer yet again, it was as though he was certain they had won anyway, “There were multiple seals placed on our people. Those seals have been accumulated power for hundreds of thousands of years now. Quite frankly, our recorded history doesn’t go back so far, so I’m not sure exactly how much time. But, it’s at least that much.

The purpose of these seals is for the benefit of a being on a plane we can’t fathom. It’s best you don’t ask, because if I’m forced to answer, I’ll die. Then, they’ll know that something is wrong.”

President Gallagher nodded, concentrating on the minute details.

“My job was to ensure that during the transfer process of these seals to this individual, that there was no backlash. The will of the universe is quite vast and powerful, it’s something that even this powerful existence is wary of. To steal the destiny and talent of so many individuals for yourself isn’t something the universe would be fond of. In fact, there’ll be quite a large disturbance when it happens.”

“So, you wanted to use the influence of martial law to explain away the feeling of everyone having something torn from them.

You’re saying that we still have a chance to fight back and regain our talent from this individual?” President Gallagher asked his first question in all this time.

“I guess so,” General Mace said nonchalantly.

“Good. Then we fight.” President Gallagher said with a serious expression on his face. “If they think we mortals are so easily bullied, they’ll be in for a surprise.”

General Mace stayed silent, but he was inwardly sneering. He knew more than anyone in the mortal world that his role in all of this had long since been fulfilled – any importance he had was gone.

He hadn’t lied, of course. His purpose, now, was to ensure that the will of the mortals didn’t fight back for their talent once it was time for that individual to absorb them. But, his role was truly nothing but an after thought… In fact, he had lied about more powerful experts coming… They wouldn’t care enough to come.

This individual could hardly care about whether or not they fought back or not. Why? Because 7 billion mortal wills couldn’t match up to even a percentage of his own will.

Their destiny was set in stone. To forever be mortal.

The tension in the stadium was building.

The smell of blood and sweat permeated, creating a stifling atmosphere that the crowd couldn’t bring themselves to cheer under. However, the slow rumbling of stomping feet had replaced it all, sending vibrations throughout.

Excitement. Anticipation. Glory.

“This is the final round. What you’ve all been waiting for.” Elder Den’s voice filled into the stomping of feet. Even he had begun to be affected. Days of battles, thousands of eliminations, hundreds of deaths, all led to this very moment.

“You are the top ten.” He said, sending a heavy gaze toward the final ten. “You are the future of this universe. People will speak of you in legends for decades to come, and should you live up to your potential, you can be written into the annals of history of millennia to come.

Prepare yourselves.”

There was no need for Elder Den to explain anything. Everyone knew the rules. The remaining ten would each fight against each other once for a total of nine fights each. Whoever had the highest ranking in the end would be crowned as the best.

Each match would be completely randomly chosen by the monitors for all to see.

“The first match!” Elder Den paused, looking toward the monitor and causing the crowd to lean forward in anticipation.

“Vidar Ragnor Vs….”

Vidar grinned in anticipation, seeing the name come up before Elder Den’s voice sounded off. ‘Ten moves, hm? We’ll see! You think I used my best against a measly 7^th ranked?!’

“The Demon Sa –“

Dyon froze, his ears filling with a voice that he immediately recognized. “Dyon, Help!”

Without so much as a small bit of hesitation, Dyon’s two pairs of wings tore his shirt away, causing a gust of wind so powerful that the ground beneath his feet shattered completely.

The top ten rankers standing around Dyon looked at him in shock, but he didn’t have any time to explain himself. Only he knew exactly what was going on, and if he delayed for even a moment, she’d die! He couldn’t have that guilt on his shoulders.

He wasn’t an essence gathering expert yet, so he couldn’t send messages with the much more efficient essence energy. All he could rely on was his wind will to do so, but over a long distance, especially when he was moving so quickly, it was a pipe dream to get a message to his mother and father in law.

Regardless, they couldn’t show themselves. Not yet.

Dyon flashed into the air with speed that only a saint could match. The shock that his actions created couldn’t be understated.

‘Was he running?… No. Something so shameful couldn’t be possible…’

Dyon didn’t have time to care. Madeleine and Ri could only watch with worried eyes, having no idea what was going on as Dyon disappeared into the distance.

Vidar was stunned before he suddenly started laughing so hard that clenched his stomach, unable to control himself. “I’ve seen cowards in my day,” He said between labored breaths, “But, this is just a new level.”

No one understood how to react. Did he really just cower?… But, that didn’t make sense… Even if he would lose, it shouldn’t have been by a large margin…

What was going on?…

However, despite how much they wanted to know, Vidar’s laughter was the only answer they got.

**

Bai Meiying sprinted with every bit of speed her meridian formation cultivation allowed her, stumbling along the way with a shoddy concealment array practically falling apart around her.

She had been able to continue to train under her imprisonment, but the Daiyu barely had any cultivation resources. Just like Chenglei’s father had lamented, they needed to use all of their remaining pieces to maneuver and garner allies. They simply couldn’t afford to divert any away to the younger generation.

In the sky, three experts scanned the empty city. They couldn’t understand why they hadn’t found her yet, the streets were so barren than one lone girl running should have been easy to spot. Even if she entered one of the buildings, as experts, they should have been able to sense her.

They continued to send cursory scans around.

Bai Meiying was truly worried. She had already used Dyon’s teleportation array to cross the natural moat around the Belmont Holy Land, after all, she couldn’t fly and she couldn’t very well swim – that would be too slow! But, that meant if she was found now, she would have no chance of escaping.

She had been sending help signals out using Dyon’s communication array all this time, but she had no idea what the range was. Judging by Dyon’s other arrays, and the state he had been when he gave these things to her, it couldn’t be that far. But, Dyon had to be in this city! The World Tournament was taking place, he couldn’t miss that given his personality!

Suddenly, one of the experts in the sky chuckled, “Now where did she get her hands on such a thing…”

“Did you find her?”

“Haha, you’d never guess. I have no idea how she did it, but she probably stole one of our concealment array plates. No wonder we didn’t detect her immediately. Too bad that concealment array is much too weak to hinder my senses. This way.”

“Don’t you think it’s a bit of an overkill to send us after one little girl?”

“Think about it.” The expert who found Meiying’s position spoke, “How could she have escaped right under our noses? Clearly someone is helping her!”

A sudden realization hit the other two, before serious expressions appeared on their faces. Indeed, how could she have even regained consciousness without the help of someone with extremely powerful array alchemy? Someone capable had helped her, for sure.

In an instant, they had appeared over Meiying who was trying to remain as still as possible, hoping they hadn’t noticed her in the concealment array.

“Little girl, I think you’re done hiding now,” The expert grinned, baring his crooked and yellowed teeth.

Meiying’s heart seized as her head slowly turned to the skies, ‘It’s over…’ Tears fell from her eyes as she looked down at the box she was holding against chest, ‘I’m sorry…’

“Now, come along obediently. You’re still the young master’s favored wife, he’ll definitely treat you well.” One of the experts smiled, trying to coax Meiying into returning willingly. After all, should their plans succeed, their clan would rise to unprecedented levels. At that point, even should another Meiying come along and offer herself up, even they might not give her a second look.

Suddenly, the sound of whipping air and breaking glass resounded. The experts turned pensive gazes toward the distance to see a young man with two pairs of wings flying toward them with speed that shouldn’t have been possible for someone his age. Little did they know he was severely torturing his body by flying at this speed. After all, his wings were spurred by his soul cultivation, but, his energy and body cultivation couldn’t keep up.

That said, his presence had the desired impact.

“Dyon?” Meiying’s eyes turned misty. She had a sensitivity to the truth of things only True Empaths could match. Despite Dyon’s speed being far beyond her cultivation’s ability to see, she could just feel that it was him.

Dyon’s ring flashed, causing ten saint level Demon Generals to appear. This was overkill, considering the three experts were only at the lower saint stages, but Dyon wanted to ensure that they knew that they had no chance whatsoever.

In an instant, Dyon had appeared before Meiying. The usually domineering and oppressive wind will that circulated his wings became a gentle gust that wrapped around her protectively.

Even in this situation, Meiying giggled, “It seems I should apologize for all those times I teased you.”

Although Dyon wasn’t facing her, he grinned, “You mean all those times you almost coaxed your dad into killing me. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Pft. You were so intent on getting your own self killed that you hardly needed me.”

Dyon’s Demon Generals stood in the skies above the cowering experts. The familiar and graceful figures of River and Ronica stood at the forefront, leading their oppressive aura.

Seeing that the situation was handled, Dyon turned to Meiying frowning once he noticed the injury to her leg.

“Let me heal that for you…” He said solemnly, bending down gently rotate his aurora around her wound.

Meiying grit her teeth in anger, “I have that bitch Jade to thank for this. If not for her, I would have escaped without anyone noticing at all!”

Dyon’s brows furrowed, “I’m sorry. I should have given you better arrays.”

“Don’t be like that. I saw first hand how tired you were that day. The fact you gave me any at all is the reason why I made it here. If I didn’t have your teleportation array, I would have never made it across that moat fast enough. And if I didn’t have your communication array, I would have likely been forced to go back before I even helped and all of this would have been for naught.” Meiying suddenly shook her head, “We don’t have a lot of time. The only reason I was able to escape is because they’re busy executing some of the most important parts of their plan. Although, hehe, they may find that they’ll struggle to do even that.”

“Oh?” Dyon looked up, seeing the box clutched to Meiying’s chest. “You didn’t do anything too dangerous, did you? You know Madeleine just about killed me when I told her what I let you do, right?”

Meiying giggled, “Big Sister Madeleine getting angry? I’d like to see that.”

Dyon suddenly turned back, “Kill them. We can’t let them report back too soon.”

The demon generals didn’t need any more prompting. The experts lasted a mere instant before their lives were erased from the world.

The only problem with Dyon’s plan was that to the Daiyu, every member they had was a precious existence. In the end, he was still too inexperienced about the martial world.

As a clan living in poverty for the sake of their future, how could they afford to lose saint level experts so easily? This was why, much like the Sicarius clan with Arios and Ava, the Daiyu had soul tied stones to their members. The instant those experts died… Elder Daiyu knew.

“Tell me everything you know.” Dyon said, turning back to Meiying.

Meiying nodded, “Most of what I know is limited to what Chenglei would know, so I’m not sure if I have a whole picture of things since Elder Daiyu is very close to the vest even with him.”

The truth was that Meiying was sure that she had slowed them significantly. Without what she had taken from them, it was likely they wouldn’t even be capable of executing their plans.

“The first thing I should probably explain is what this box is,” Meiying started, “If it wasn’t for Elder Daiyu being worried about losing his life in the battle to enter the Belmont Holy Land, he would have never passed it on to Chenglei. But, luckily, he did. So, I was able to use that opportunity to steal it.”

Meiying smiled, holding out the box from herself, before opening its lid, “This is – “

Suddenly, Meiying froze, her face looking ghastly pale.

“Meiying?” Dyon stood from his kneeling position, a worried expression on his features.

“It’s – It’s gone…” Meiying’s eyes reddened. She had thought that she had done great. How proud had she been? Even while running for her life. And yet, everything she had worked for… It was gone!

Dyon circulated to Meiying’s side, his eyes narrowing as he looked down at the box. What he saw was something that he had seen once before.

Two beautiful feathers lay in the box. One was an ice blue that had flames cold enough to freeze a meridian formation expert in an instant. The other was a feather of some of the purest flames and heat in existence.

These were the feathers of the ice and fire phoenix!

Meiying’s hand trembled as she reached for them.

“Meiying wait! You’ll hurt your –“ Dyon’s words stopped mid-sentence. The next sight he saw was truly sickening, even with all the blood and gore he had become accustomed to.

The image of the beautiful feathers immediately disappeared, replaced by a lump of bloody flesh…. Human flesh…

In the cave within the Belmont Holy Land, Jade’s grating giggle still filled and echoed through the space.

“Chenglei.” Elder Daiyu’s voice lost its usual calmness. “What happened?”

“Grandfather… I –“ Chenglei didn’t know what to say. He knew that his grandfather only intrusted him carrying out such an important task because he had no choice.

Although the Belmont family only had two celestial experts, one of which was King Belmont, and the other of which was their protector, Head Sicarius, their protection arrays were on a level that couldn’t be looked down upon. This was exactly why King Belmont had felt it fit to focus his attention on the world tournament, keeping his eye on the movements of not just the Ragnor, but also the oddities of Planet Nix and Mino.

Luckily for the Daiyu, they had a certain level of assurance that they would succeed. But, it still required putting their lives on the line.

Elder Daiyu knew that if he lost his life, his possessions would fall under the control of the remaining Belmont – something that would make all of their previous effort useless. As such, he gave them to Chenglei, who was obviously too weak to participate.

As for why Chenglei was there at all, it was for the same reason why the World Tournament was being held to decide who entered. Chenglei’s father, and Elder Daiyu’s son, had said it once before. Chenglei’s talent was enough to match up almost anyone. The problem was that the Daiyu had diverted all of their resources toward their plans away – focusing instead on building up allies and setting their plans in motion. This was meant to be how they repaid Chenglei for all of his sacrifices and patience. He was their future!

Jade giggled, “Let’s just say the impotent boy tried to prove the doubter wrong and ended up paying for it.”

Chenglei was without a doubt someone who was calm and collected. But, for some reason, whenever it came to this Jade, he couldn’t seem to withhold his temper.

His veins bulged and his skin reddened, but how could he not know what Jade meant?

At the end of the day, he was a teenage boy with a wife he couldn’t make use of. Day in and day out he would see Meiying’s beautiful countenance. And then there was Jade, ever since she had started to wear that mask to hide her scars, she had become more and more alluring to him everyday. Despite her face being ruined, it didn’t change the fact her body was near perfect.

The worst part was that Jade didn’t see a problem with flaunting her body around Chenglei. She constantly kept her scars covered, but that didn’t stop her from wearing skin tight clothing and trying to seduce him at corner. Then she’d giggle, knowing fully well he couldn’t act on it even if he wanted.

Whenever he lost his cool and fondled her to his heart’s content, she wouldn’t even give him the satisfaction of reacting the way a normal woman would. There was no resistance in her eyes, nor were there any signs of her hating it. In fact, she invited it. However, in the end, Chenglei would inevitably be unable to finish his deed, causing Jade to once again laugh at him.

The Black Jade legacy that Chenglei practiced was unforgiving. It channeled all of his yang toward power in the initial stages, super charging his comprehension ability toward yang type techniques and wills. After he stepped into the last stage, which should coincide with him becoming a saint, he’d reach an all new level and also regain the freedom of his yang. In fact, that would be a point where dual cultivating would give him benefits few others could match.

Unfortunately, Jade didn’t seem to care.

If Chenglei was more versed in the ways of people, emotions, and namely women, he might have noticed that Jade didn’t show any adverse reaction to his sexual harassment because she practically lived for it. A woman like her, who had placed all of her worth in her looks because that was all anyone ever cared about… For her to suddenly lose all of that… The moments Chenglei lost himself in lust were the only moments Jade didn’t feel an undying pain in her heart.

“What happened, Chenglei?” Elder Daiyu asked again.

Chenglei paled. He couldn’t find the courage to answer.

“I’ll answer for you then,” Jade said, her smirk nearly penetrating her mask, “The impotent young master thought that this was as good a time as any to have some fun with his one and only loving wife. So he did so. Unfortunately… That loving wife of his wasn’t exactly so loving.”

Elder Daiyu frowned, “Impossible. Meiying has been sealed. Her actions are limited to listening to what either Chenglei or I say.”

Jade giggled, “She hides herself quite well. She doesn’t even flinch when the impotent young master asks her to strip. A commendable woman.”

Elder Daiyu frowned, looking at his grandson. It wasn’t as though he cared, in reality, Meiying was his wife. The problem he had was the timing.

“How could she…” Elder Daiyu’s eyes flashed. “Dyon.”

Elder Daiyu was a former dao formation expert. Although his cultivation had plummeted, he was still much smart and sharper than most. Although he couldn’t see through Dyon’s soul cultivation at the time because of his damaged dao – something highly connected to the soul – that didn’t stop him from understanding how great of an array alchemist Dyon was. After all, he had been there when Dyon showed how he had sealed 14 sub families on his own to protect his secrets!

“Ah, my first love,” Jade said reminiscing. But, given her tone. No one could tell whether she was serious or not. “Yes, it was likely him. But, that hardly matters now, because… Let’s say I’ve helped you out quite a lot.”

Elder Daiyu’s eyes narrowed. He had brought along this girl because she might have been useful. In the end, he was right. But, she was also out for herself. And he knew that. He also knew that if she was confident enough to step to him like this, the items they needed were likely hidden. In a time sensitive mission like theirs, they couldn’t afford the time to look for it!

Taking a deep breath, Elder Daiyu settled his emotions. Trying to convince himself that this wasn’t as bad as it could be. “What do you want?”

Jade’s light laughter once again filled the cave.

The truth was that she had always known that Meiying had the ability to unseal herself. In fact, it was partially because Elder Daiyu knew that Jade would be able to see through something like that that he hadn’t even considered the fact Meiying might have gotten help from Dyon. That said, the other reason was because he had personally witnessed Dyon’s soul fatigue – he didn’t think that, at that point, Dyon could do anything about the array even if he had the mind to.

However, Jade had chosen to say nothing, instead quietly scheming and waiting for an opportunity. And now, it was here.

“You definitely knew all of this time. Even if your True Empathy isn’t perfect, it’s enough to tell something like that!” Chenglei immediately deduced that they had been played. His anger exploded and he nearly lunged toward Jade, but, his grandfather’s withered old hand clamped his shoulder.

“Stop. What’s done is done and we’re running out of time.” As an elder, he had already regained his calm. How long had he spent in the Martial World? He was very much used to things like this already.

“You’re quite smart grandfather in law. I appreciate that.” Jade said lightly, “However, my first condition is that I am no longer a concubine of the Daiyu family.”

“What would you like to be?” Elder Daiyu asked, assuming she wanted higher status.

“No, no. I’m not asking to be a true wife. I’m asking to be released entirely. I wouldn’t mind if you burned all records of me ever having married into your family too.”

Elder Daiyu raised an eyebrow. He didn’t understand the movements of this girl. By all rights, she should need backing. She can’t go back to the Elves for obvious reasons, and she was a young girl with weak meridian formation cultivation. What could she possibly do on her own?

Jade only continued to wait for an answer, unperturbed by Elder Daiyu’s doubt. After all, as a talented True Empath, the last thing she was worried about was surviving in the world. She’d be able to see threats coming far before anyone else.

“Okay. We’ll release you from your responsibility. What else?” Elder Daiyu decided to just let it be. Although Jade’s abilities were useful, she was no longer a necessity. And, as an ancient family of this universe, how could the Daiyu not know about the Epistemic Tower? After all, much of the reason they were willing to groom Chenglei was to conquer it!

Once their Chenglei conquered the tower, they’d then be able to take their time in finding someone who had the affinity to take the True Empath trials and gain those abilities. That person should have been Jade, but since she didn’t want it, they were in no hurry to force her.

A hidden smile played behind Jade’s mask, “I’m going to have to ask you to make a soul contract with me for the rest of these requests.”

Chenglei stomped forward, “You! You’re aware that my grandfather’s soul has been heavily damaged, and you still ask for such a thing?!”

Jade giggled, “Your grandfather loves you very much. In fact, the whole Daiyu family sees you as their future. Don’t belittle yourself just because I have no interest in being your wife. Why would you assume I meant Elder Daiyu and not you?”

Chenglei froze.

Making a soul contract was little else than tearing away a piece of your soul to bind it to a set of conditions. In the grand scheme of things, it only took a few hours to restore your soul perfectly with no adverse effects – the speed was even faster if your soul talent or soul cultivation method was better. The reason why Chenglei hadn’t wanted his grandfather to do it was because this was a process far more excruciating for someone whose soul was already damaged.

However, that wasn’t why Chenglei was hesitant. The process was very painful and, he was essentially putting his life on the line. Should the Daiyu fail to meet any of the conditions, he would die.

That said, Chenglei knew that it was his fault this was happening to begin with. He was no coward. “I’ll do it.”

Elder Daiyu looked at his grandson’s side profile before nodding in satisfaction.

“Haha, I’m beginning to think that taking that pound of flesh from that little girl is the best move I’ve made in my life.” Jade giggled to herself. “Now we can get to business. Shall we?”

**

Meiying’s hands trembled. She had given up so much. Much of her life. Her relationship with her family. Her dignity…

“Hey, hey…” Dyon said softly, closing the box.

He gently cradled Meiying’s head, giving her a much-needed hug. He didn’t need much thought to figure out whose flesh that was… It was none of than Meiying’s own.

Her leg injury was much more severe than she was letting on. The fact she had even managed to run so far was a testament to her tenacity and grit. Dyon couldn’t imagine what she had been through all this time. But, what he did know was that just because she had kept her virginity, didn’t mean that she hadn’t gone through horrible things… Forced to do… Horrible things…

And yet, she had done them without hesitation, because she felt like she was doing something good. But to see her hard work mean nothing… It hurt her beyond belief and everything she had been holding in, flooded outwards…

So, she buried head in Dyon’s chest and cried…