Back in the Realm of Abezan, things had gotten somewhat calmer than before.

It had been a few months since the last attack from the Coalition of the Sect and the Wilderness.

Inside Ember’s estate, Ozul was holed up in his room, with no break from his unrest. If not for the fact that it did not let him ’nap’, he wouldn’t have cared much about it.

Looking at Jinx resting with her back against him, he sighed again.

Even this quiet companion wasn’t of any help this time.

Suppressing a groan, he stood up from his bed and spotted a mirror across the room.

Evading his eyes from the reflection in the mirror, he walked across to the exit. He really had no interest in finding out what was on the other side of the mirror; what it felt like to look into his eyes.

’I can’t stay like this forever.’ The thought went through his mind as he emerged from his room.

There was only one way to subside the feeling from his 6th sense. He just had to continue growing stronger.

Raven was not too far from his room and quickly appeared by his side.

"Do you need anything?" She asked softly, careful of his heightened senses.

Nodding his head, he continued walking toward the courtyard.

"Gather Blaze and Zier," he told her, "Meet me at the gate."

Blaze was training his inherited abilities, while Zier was once again lost in his blood and poison tinkerings.

Raven did not waste another second and dissolved into her own shadow. Her mastery of the Darkness element had reached a point where she had learned advanced Spiritual Arts.

Unlike Blaze and Zier who had manifested elemental souls, Raven previously lagged behind since she did not understand her own Soul Manifestation, which was a crow with 3 bright red eyes.

She had to understand and communicate with her own soul to shape its potential without anyone else’s help.

Now that she finally had an inkling about her potential, her progress had soared and was not lacking compared to Zier’s poison or Blaze’s winter.

Her only worries now were about Ozul. Although she was unaware of his plans, it was enough for her to see that he was at least on his feet.

Ozul located Rai in the estate and went to find him

"Did something happen?" Rai asked in a serious tone. He had given up on annoying this emotionless rock.

As Ozul explained what he wanted, Rai happily handed over to him a piece of folded paper.

"Just hand it over to that girl, and she will know."

Ozul finally proceeded to head toward the gate where he had asked Raven to meet him.

He didn’t bother opening the parchment even as he felt a streak of lingering Spiritual Essence in it. He would give it to Raven, and she would handle everything from there.

It wasn’t a simple piece of paper. It was a Spiritual Tool that Rai used to record details of their potential raid targets.

It had gotten increasingly difficult for their raids to succeed since the Coalition continued to employ stronger guards. They had also caught many of their spies, limiting Rai’s intel on their activities.

But Ozul’s team seldom failed a task assigned to them. Even when they did, they made sure to retreat before engaging with the enemies.

It hurt him to admit that the men he had trained with his own hands solely for these tasks could not even compare to the ’cleanliness’ of Ozul.

’That uncanny ability of his also leaves no traces.’

Hence, Rai’s excitement in handing over the parchment. He had more of these tools at his disposal anyway.

At the gates of the estate, Raven was waiting with Blaze and Zier.

However, Ozul also noticed Alden and Rameel standing behind them, seemingly in an argument.

"No Zier, we are not taking them," Raven felt her head throbbing as she cast an annoyed glance toward him.

"But why not?" Alden protested. They had somehow convinced Zier to pitch an idea to bring them to gain experience, but neither Blaze nor Raven agreed.

"You haven’t even gotten into the Nascent Soul Realm," Blaze added in a firm voice.

Ozul arrived at that moment, not wanting to involve himself in a conversation, he quietly walked outside the estate.

"They are not coming," he said, "... and hurry up."

As he said that, he tossed the folded paper over to Raven, who caught it with care.

Alden previously used to be annoyed in his presence, but from the attitude of everyone else around Ozul, she had slowly learned to behave.

Still, she could not help but click her tongue at his indifference.

Zier smiled the two of them a helpless look and also hurried to follow behind Ozul. He had a deal with them to try to convince others in return for their blood samples for his experiments.

He could argue with Raven and Blaze, but talking back to Ozul was something he just couldn’t muster up the courage to do.

Rameel tried to console Alden as they walked back to the courtyard. It seemed that unless they had enough strength, they couldn’t ever tag along with their idols.

. . .

On the outskirts of Phoenix City, Ozul’s group quickly phased through the city’s barrier. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The Spiritual Artifact used to create this dome was so advanced that it could even register the signatures of cultivators’s Spiritual Essence. So, the barrier barred all unregistered cultivators from entering or leaving as they pleased.

Raven was familiar with the Spiritual Tool that Rai had given them. She quickly scanned the document and looked toward Ozul for instructions.

Recognizing that look, he didn’t wait for her question and said, "Is there anything involving at least a peak Transcendent?"

Only someone at that level was of help to him. Absorbing the essence from those below that level was like pouring a drop in an ocean. Practically, it was useless.

"There are two," Raven eyed the top two lines of the paper and guided the trace of Spiritual Essence on those lines.

The words on the parchment rearranged themselves visibly and the information about those tasks expanded for finer details. These types of Spiritual Tools weren’t rare, but lone cultivators could hardly afford them.

From the two, Raven once again chose a caravan with tens of escort guards.

The other one was a place in a remote area, and even the presence of the peak Transcendent was only a rumor. The information was severely lacking.

Not to mention, she knew what Ozul wanted to do. The exact number of Transcendents was not noted in the parchment, but the chances of there being more than one were high.

"We are moving in the opposite direction-" She said and everyone stopped.

"..."

Without saying anything, Ozul began to rush toward the direction they had come from.

Under Raven’s lead, who had memorized the map and the estimated location of the caravan, they took half an hour to reach a deserted land.

The supposed caravan, however, was only two carts and almost twenty escort guards marching silently through the desert.

If not for the heavy security, even bandits wouldn’t covet the items those two ordinary carts were pulling. The high number of escorts was an indication that there was something important there.

However, to Ozul, it was an utter disappointment.

There were only two entry-level Transcendents among the escort guards. Their combined Spiritual Essence was not enough for the effort they had put in to arrive here.

"... Go deal with them." He ordered the trio, who immediately jumped into action.

Zier manifested his soul as a poisonous mist surrounded the ’caravan’, spreading confusion and panic among them.

Amidst the confusion, Raven grew out of the shadows of a guard.

Being a Transcendent, the guard moved swiftly to defend himself, but Raven was quicker and the poison had already made his movements sluggish.

Meanwhile, Blaze went headstrong into battle. He was like a bull sweeping through whatever came his way before he reached the other Transcendent.

...

It only took a few minutes before everyone was dead.

Ozul noticed that Blaze and Zier had started to make use of their Soul Manifestation after witnessing Raven’s incredible growth after gaining an understanding of hers.

Having refined their techniques and Spiritual Arts, their prowess had leaped manifold. They had now realized why Rai barred them from cultivating these days.

Raven quickly collected whatever was inside the caravan and stored it in the spare Spatial Ring given by Rai for these tasks.

"What about the other one," Ozul said, not even letting them get a breath.

Raven opened the parchment again despite knowing that this one was just a long shot. After all, it was even written there that the intel was not confirmed.

Still, she knew that he wouldn’t just give up, and so they began to march toward their next task.

It was in the territory of a small kingdom on the other side of Phoenix City. As such, they would have to travel twice as much.

"Are you sure?" She asked after explaining it to him.

"There is nothing to lose," he answered. It wasn’t like he was able to nap peacefully even if they returned to the estate in Phoenix City.

Zier was collecting blood samples from the dead escort guards.

Although Ozul didn’t know what he was doing with the blood of dead people, he still let him do it before absorbing the Spiritual Essence from their bodies, leaving only a husk of dead bodies.

Soon after, a group of disciples from the Sect appeared on the scene, but Ozul’s group was already too far away to be followed.

"Who could have leaked the information?"

"Inform the Elders about this... There are still spies among us!"

"It can’t be! It must be those Beastkin bastards secretly profiting from this..."

. . .

Uncaring of the chaos they had caused in the Coalition, Ozul’s group steadily moved toward their next target.

Even if there wasn’t any peak Transcendent, he would continue to pick on the other tasks in vain hopes of stumbling upon one.

Only in this way could he distract himself from that feeling.