Chapter 146 - Chaos

A giant sea dragon erupted from directly beneath the ship’s edge, making the entire vessel tremble violently in the churning waters.

Its scales were blue-silver, each one the size of a dagger, overlapping in perfect layers that caught the sunlight like liquid metal. Its eyebrows were wickedly sharp, angular and aggressive, lending its face an expression of primordial fury as it rose from the depths with apocalyptic intent.

The sect leader’s voice boomed across the chaos.

"Attack! Don’t let it reach the shore!"

The elders below Emperor Stage were panicking, their faces pale as they realized they were facing something far beyond their capacity. Those above Emperor Stage were already airborne, launching themselves skyward to escape the dragon’s immediate reach.

One of the elders, Elder Yan — was caught directly in the sea dragon’s massive jaws.

The creature’s teeth clamped down with bone-crushing force, and the elder’s body simply came apart under the pressure. Blood erupted everywhere, painting the ocean water red as the shattered remains fell into the sea.

"Oh no! Elder Yan is dead!" someone screamed.

"Somebody help!"

"Sect leader, why are you not helping!"

"Lord elders, please—aah!"

Cale watched from high above, having already crossed enough distance to place himself beyond the dragon’s immediate reach. He stood with the group of cultivators who had successfully made it to shore and were now racing inland.

The Sage Stage elder who’d just arrived beside him glanced down at the chaos below, then fixed his cold gaze on Cale.

"You! Go become the bait and help us buy time!" he ordered hastily.

"Huh? Why should I go?" Cale protested while maintaining his commoner facade. "Lord elder, we should just run upwards. We’ll reach a high point soon where the dragon can’t reach us."

But the elder, along with two others, simply waved their hands.

Cale immediately felt an overwhelming force slam into him, sending him tumbling backward down the slope toward the shore.

Although he could have reacted, fighting two Sage Stage and Great Sage Stage cultivators would have been problematic. His cultivation was only at Apex Stage.

He crashed onto the shore hard.

At that exact moment, a woman landed directly on top of him, her body slamming into his with considerable force.

"Argh! Fuck, who the hell is—" Cale started to curse, then quickly pushed her away.

’Saving my own ass takes priority!’

He scrambled to his feet and ran, heading toward the forest as quickly as his feigned mortal speed would allow.

Seeing him flee, the woman screamed.

"You! You slave, save me! I’m the daughter of the sect leader of the Soaring Crane Sect!"

’Yeah, hell if that matters.’

She pulled out a whip from her spatial storage and swayed it at him, attempting to ensnare him.

Cale dodged, but the whip’s end managed to wrap around his ankle with impossible precision, sticking to his leg like adhesive.

He looked back incredulously.

"What the... hell is this artifact now?"

He’d never encountered such a bizarre artifact that could simply stick to an enemy like that. What possible application could such a thing have?

The woman was in her mid-twenties, with dark black hair and vermillion eyes that marked her as someone of high breeding. Her figure was objectively attractive — a slender waist and humongous breasts that would normally draw attention. But in front of saving his life, becoming someone’s romantic interest was the last thing on his mind.

"S-save me! Please! I will give you this artifact and spiritual stones too!" she cried, desperation making her voice crack.

Cale tried to break the whip, attempting to snap it or sever the connection. But it refused to come off, the adhesive properties holding firm no matter what he tried.

Sighing in resignation, he called back to her.

"Do you have any map of this place?"

She cried harder.

"Y-yes! Yes! I do! Please... please save me!"

’Sigh, she was just calling me a commoner a few seconds before.’

He held the whip firmly and pulled her in one swift motion, bringing her to her feet right beside him.

"What are you looking at? Run!" he shouted, and started sprinting into the forest with her in tow.

"W-wait for me!" she gasped, struggling to keep up with his pace.

As they retreated deeper into the forest, Cale attempted to cut off the whip, but that didn’t work either. The artifact refused to release its hold.

’Should I just kill her... but her father is the sect leader. I shouldn’t be getting targets on my back this early. My cultivation isn’t even Emperor Stage; how could I ever fight thousand-year-old sects?’

After running for some distance, she collapsed from exhaustion, her breathing ragged and desperate.

"Wait... let... let me rest for a few minutes," she gasped.

’Useless woman.’

"Have you seen any other clansmen?" she asked between breaths.

"No, well, as you can see, I’m just a mundane human," Cale replied, perfectly maintaining his facade.

"Tch, and you dared to run away without saving me," she snorted.

’And you were going to give me that whip, spiritual stones and a map you fucking bitch!’

"Milady, at such crisis, a man thinks of saving himself first. How can I, a normal human, match the speed of you esteemed cultivators?" he acted as if angered by the injustice of his mortal status.

"If you try something shady, I will make you regret it," she said coldly, then turned and continued walking ahead.

"I wouldn’t dare."

Another hour passed as they traveled through the forest.

Then they encountered a group.

"Senior Sister Xiong! You’re here!" a boy shouted, relief evident in his voice as he spotted her.

He rushed over to her. "It’s good to see you alive. Thank god, or the sect leader would have killed us all."

Cale felt weird walking with this woman. The others clearly assumed he was her servant, dutifully following along. He caught several of them exchanging amused glances at what they perceived as a mundane commoner being dragged along by a cultivator.

’A man eventually becomes a woman’s slave one way or another. Our Emperor Sirius said the right thing...’

Xiong asked the man, "Aren’t there any more? What about the elders? Didn’t anyone other than the ones who retreated survive?"

The man sighed heavily, pointing at his small group of four people.

"Senior sister, even we barely escaped from that abomination. Even our elders couldn’t sense it! Those who were already at the coast were truly lucky."

This group of cultivators used Cale as fodder throughout their journey — making him eat suspicious fruits to test for poison, throwing him as bait in every monster encounter, and generally treating him as expendable.

Cale didn’t mind much. As long as his cover remained intact, it wasn’t difficult to deal with. If he wanted, he could easily kill this entire group without breaking a sweat. But just as they were using him as fodder, he would use them in return. Two could play at that game.

As they traveled deeper, they came across a cave entrance.

As always, they pushed Cale forward to scout.

’No... no way. There are bloodwing bats inside?’

His senses immediately detected the presence of the creatures. Their collective presence made the cave radiate with bloodthirst and hunger.

Cale acted as if he went deep inside to scout, but he actually only hid himself at the entrance for a few minutes, waiting.

Then he turned toward Xiong with a bright smile.

"My lady, I think there is some special treasure here. I can’t see anything beyond a wooden door inside, but I sensed something powerful."

As soon as they heard the word "treasure," their eyes glinted with unmistakable greed.

One of them even ran inside faster than everyone else, his voice filled with excitement.

"Haha, I will take it first! It’s finders keepers, hehe!"

But two minutes passed in complete silence.

Then, a scream that sounded like pure agony erupted from the cave’s depths.

"Argh!!!! S-save me! Somebody save me—"

The screaming continued, increasingly desperate, increasingly pained.

Hearing the terrifying wails, the others in the group turned toward Cale with sudden realization and accusation.

"It’s him! He gave us false information to kill us!" one shouted.

"Yes, that must be his plan!" another agreed.

"Lowly commoner, just show them some kindness and they backstab you!" a third ranted.

One of them even moved to punch him from behind, fury contorting his features.

"It’s all... it’s all because of you! Filthy mongrel!"

But Cale was ready.

He easily sidestepped the punch and bolted into the forest, moving with far more speed and agility.

"H-he’s not a commoner!"

"He was hiding his cultivation!" another shouted.

Cale threw several bomb talismans behind him as he retreated, using tree branches to vault between them. The explosions created a wall of fire and shrapnel that forced them to slow their pursuit.

’I can’t show my full cultivation here. If I do, higher-rank monsters will start targeting me first. Better to maintain the pretense of being a random npc.’