Chapter 296: Sail

The thick mountain mist of the inner peaks gradually parted as the first golden rays of the morning sun illuminated the private training yard of the Cloud-Mist Pavilion.

Tony Clark stood calmly on the cracked granite platform, his standard lazy posture perfectly restored. Beside him, the massive Crimson Shadow Griffin sat with absolute grace, its giant, blood-red feathers shimmering with dense, natural spatial runes.

The ancient beast kept its eagle-like head lowered close to Tony’s knee, its deep-purple galaxy eyes blinking with an unnatural, serene devotion.

Thanks to the absolute spiritual synchronization of their dual-soul bond, Tony could feel the rich primordial energy of the Eternal Sun Realm automatically rushing into his open meridians at double his standard speed, rapidly solidifying his peak Elder Disciple magus foundation without him even needing to enter a deep meditation state.

Rustle.

The sudden, soft sound of leather boots stepping onto the pavilion’s marble walkway caught Tony’s attention. He didn’t even turn his head; his Truth Eye had already perceived the familiar, refined energy signatures of the Academy Grand Elder and Lady Selena Faith approaching the courtyard gates together. The Grand Elder had traveled to the pavilion early to check on his direct disciple’s recovery after the midnight assassination attempt, while Selena was rushing to deliver the first massive shipments of raw talisman materials from her guild’s central warehouses.

The exact moment the Grand Elder and Selena stepped through the arched gateway and looked onto the training yard, their entire bodies completely froze in absolute, jaw-dropping shock. Selena dropped the spatial leather bags she was carrying, the heavy containers hitting the stone floor with a dull thud as her mouth opened slightly, her brilliant mercantile mind experiencing a total, chaotic collapse. Beside her, the Grand Elder stood completely paralyzed in mid-air, his wise ancient eyes widening to the size of saucers as he stared at the colossal, terrifying ancient-lineage monster acting like a loyal household pet.

"This... this is absolutely impossible!" the Grand Elder stammered, his majestic gold-and-white robes violently fluttering as his voice cracked with pure, unadulterated disbelief. "That is a Crimson Shadow Griffin of the primordial spatial void lineage! My enforcement hall scouts reported that a rogue mercenary group captured this untamable beast from a dimensional rift days ago, and its spatial core was diagnosed as terminally decayed! How can a mere junior manually purge a cosmic soul wound and tame a monster that three supreme master elders failed to control?!"

Selena Faith frantically rubbed her eyes, her face turning an incredibly beautiful shade of pale as she looked at Tony’s lazy, unbothered smirk. "Tony Clark... you actually bought a dying, broken asset for fifty thousand low-grade crystals yesterday and turned it into an absolute, legendary companion beast in less than twelve hours?! Your physical body is supposed to be limited by local cultivation laws, so how can you perform a miracle that defies the absolute medical registries of my guild?!"

Tony let out a low, amused chuckle, his signature villainous smile curling the corners of his lips as he casually reached his hand out to stroke the griffin’s sleek, blood-red neck feathers, making the beast let out a deep, thunderous purr that shook the surrounding trees. "I already told you both before that a true villain never follows the predictable scripts of this lower world," Tony said smoothly, his tone dripping with shameless confidence. "The local vendors tried to use a cheap illusion array to execute a fraudulent scam on my name, so I simply took their asset, forced its blocked core to adapt to my willpower, and turned it into my secondary soul. Now that my defense is perfectly secured, it is time for us to change the parameters of the grand chessboard entirely."

Tony stepped forward, his dark eyes locking onto Selena’s shocked face with a sharp, predatory intensity that made her inner soul feel strangely warm. "Lady Selena, my newly reawakened foundation requires a massive concentration of high-tier resources to complete its next transformation. I want you to utilize your Golden Phoenix Merchant Guild’s private tracking networks to locate the exact coordinates of the Faith Family’s hidden subterranean resource vaults inside the central district. Do not ask questions; just provide the map, and my griffin will handle the absolute collection before the sun sets tonight."

Selena’s heart instantly skipped a frantic beat, her mind rapidly calculating the terrifying implications of his request. She realized that Tony wasn’t planning to wait for the Faith Family’s next assassination strike; he was actively utilizing his griffin’s spatial transportation abilities to launch a total, merciless economic raid against his own proud fiancée’s lineage. "The main vault is hidden directly beneath the Northern Silk Treasury, guarded by an advanced 10th Class Grand Disciple barrier array," Selena whispered rapidly, her fanatical awe completely overriding her logical fears as she pulled a glowing mapping crystal from her spatial ornament and handed it to him. "If you can bypass the outer security line, you will find enough ancient spirit medicines and rare cores inside to buy an entire province."

Tony accepted the glowing crystal, a wide, ruthlessly brilliant grin spreading across his face as his consciousness instantly connected with the hidden system interface in his mind.

[Ding! High-Tier Villain Quest triggered: "The Subterranean Raid."]

[Quest Objective: Utilize the companion beast’s spatial void abilities to infiltrate the Faith Family’s private resource vaults, plunder their hoarded ancient treasures, and escape without triggering the grand defense arrays.]

[Quest Rewards: 3,000 Fate Points, 1× Advanced Runic Ink Formula, and 100% Instant Synchronization of the third form of the Phantom Arrow Technique.]

"Master, keep an eye on my courtyard while I am away," Tony said with a mocking touch of respect toward the Grand Elder, who was still staring at the griffin in absolute, silent amazement.

Tony casually swung his legs over the griffin’s massive, fur-lined back, his dark hunting cloak snapping in the wind as his fingers lightly gripped the beast’s silver-rimmed reins. With a sudden, deep mental command, the Crimson Shadow Griffin’s galaxy-purple eyes violently flashed, its massive wings violently expanding as a colossal vortex of pure spatial void energy wrapped around their physical frames. In less than a fraction of a single millisecond, the space inside the training yard violently distorted, and Tony and his new companion beast completely vanished into thin air, leaving absolutely no trace behind.

The transition through the spatial void felt like an absolute, beautiful fairy tale to Tony’s senses. The physical walls of the academy and the long mountain ranges disappeared, replaced by a swirling, multi-colored tunnel of raw dimensional laws that bypassed the geographical boundaries of the lower world entirely. Within less than ten seconds, the spatial tunnel violently tore open, and the griffin smoothly phased directly through a thick, ten-foot stone wall, landing with absolute silence on the cold marble floor of a colossal, dimly lit underground chamber.

Tony stepped down from the beast’s back, his Truth Eye instantly activating at its absolute maximum capacity to scan his surroundings. He found himself standing inside the absolute heart of the Faith Family’s hidden subterranean vault. The air inside the massive room was thick with an intoxicating, heavy scent of ancient spirit medicines, high-grade core inks, and mountains of glittering Aura crystals that were stacked all the way to the high ceiling. The advanced 10th Class protective barrier array that Julie Faith’s father had set up was humming violently right outside the iron gates, completely blind to the reality that a thief had already bypassed their defenses from the inside out.

"A truly magnificent, unsecured bank," Tony sneered coldly, a slow, villainous laugh breaking out from his chest as he walked down the long rows of treasure shelves.

He didn’t waste a single microsecond on hesitation. With a casual, sweeping wave of his right hand, Tony activated his private system storage space, creating a massive, invisible vacuum that began to ruthlessly swallow the family’s hoarded treasures by the thousands. Boxes of century-old spiritual ginseng, bottles of premium fire-beast blood ink, and piles of high-grade imperial banknotes vanished directly into his inventory like a roaring river. He plundered their entire high-tier stock with absolute, flawless speed, entirely unbothered by the moral implications of his actions. To him, this raid was nothing more than a justified penalty for their past attempts to poison his duplicate body.

Within less than ten minutes, the entire subterranean vault was left completely bare, turned into nothing more than an empty, dusty stone room stripped of every single fraction of wealth the Faith lineage had accumulated over the past three centuries. Tony casually walked back toward his waiting griffin, his face twisted into a mask of pure, triumphant arrogance as the system’s mechanical notification violently vibrated inside his mind to confirm the absolute success of his quest.

"Let us go home, my friend," Tony muttered smoothly, stepping back onto the griffin’s back as the beast unleashed its spatial void energy once again, dissolving their figures into the dark air right before the automated alarm arrays could even register the sudden loss of weight, leaving a permanent catastrophe waiting for Julie Faith and her father when they opened their gates the next morning.