Chapter 72 - Thorned Lotus
"You’re all too slow," Cale scoffed, casually dusting off his white sleeves as Javier and the defeated disciples groaned.
But the second Derek stepped forward after taking a Qi gathering pill, his face twisted in fury, summoning a dazzling array of floating golden swords.
"You bastard!!", With a flick of his wrist, Derek sent the blades shooting toward Cale in a deadly rainstorm.
Cale didn’t bother taking one of the fallen weapons, he quickly moved. He dashed through the forest, leaping from rocks and dodging Derek’s golden streaks of deadly qi with quick agility.
’Now I look like the fool acting like some hero of justice there, who knew my sword would betray me this easily?!’
Spotting a passing spirit crane in the gorge, Cale vaulted off its back, launching himself high above the chaotic battlefield, and opened his own wings.
Descending like a falling star, Cale completely bypassed the flying sword defenses.
His fist connected with Derek’s arrogant face in a satisfying crunch, sending him tumbling helplessly through the air. However, the bruised enemy wasn’t ready to give up just yet.
"Take this, see how you survive!". Roaring in anger, Derek tossed a glowing green jade seal into the sky as Javier struggled back to his feet to support him.
The artifact erupted into blinding light, instantly manifesting into a massive, crushing labyrinth of thick, mystical wooden roots.
The sky went dark as the gigantic structure plummeted down to crush Cale flat.
Dazed by the overwhelming spiritual pressure, Cale somehow planted his feet into the earth and raised his arms.
"Kughh...this..."
His muscles bulged and his robes fluttered wildly as he single-handedly held back the crushing weight of the cube like artifact.
"Argh!"
With a deafening shout, Cale sent huge amounts of black flames inside the artifact and shattered the magical wooden prison from the inside out, sending green splinters raining across the valley.
He burst from the smoke, a white phantom closing the distance before either enemy could blink. A final, flurry of unarmed blows sent both Derek and Javier crashing back into the grass, leaving Cale standing victorious alone.
"Fuck you! I’m never fighting without a sword again. Didn’t even let me make one of those talismans for testing first." He spat.
After slitting all their throats, Cale finally settled beside a massive rock, breathing somewhat heavily.
The system screen materialized before him:
[Quest: Refine Thorned Lotus]
[Reward: Telekinesis]
’Heh, finally,’ he exhaled with satisfaction.
He glanced around the battlefield, confusion crossing his face. "But what even is this Thorned Lotus? Where would I find something like that?"
Then, Derek’s corpse suddenly glimmered with residual energy.
A wooden box materialized from his spatial pouch, floating towards Cale before stopping directly in front of him. The lid opened slowly, revealing its contents.
What lay within took his breath away.
It resembled a Japanese folding fan, except it was crafted entirely from high-grade steel or something far superior.
Eighteen slender blades fanned outward from a dark metallic pivot point, each blade roughly the length of a forearm—maybe a few inches shorter.
Their surfaces were forged from deep black steel, polished until they caught even the faintest glimmer of starlight. Intricate silver patterns adorned their upper edges, resembling runes though technically they weren’t.
The tips ended in razor-sharp points, edges so thin they could slice flesh with casual negligence.
When closed, it appeared as nothing more than an elegant ornamental fan.
When open, it transformed into an assassin’s ultimate weapon. Each blade itself was like a sword.
"They were hiding something like this?" Cale breathed. "No, wait... an assassin’s weapon. So each blade can dismantle independently too, right? W-whoaa! I can use telekinesis with flying swords then! Keke."
Then memory surfaced. "Right, the system wants me to refine it first. And of course I’ll use those Ashes of Undying to accelerate the process, turning this simple assassination tool into an OP artifact."
His mind raced, if refined with the Ashes of Undying, this fan could literally phase in and out of existence at his will.
The properties of those ashes were already absurd—if perfected, he could increase, decrease, broaden, thin, or completely transform the weapon itself. Be it to a Sword, Hammer or even Eighteen separate spears.
Though it wouldn’t grow like a Soul-Bound weapon, it possessed potential to become something approaching a true divine artifact.
He quickly retrieved the fan and placed it inside his inner sanctum, assigning his first soul body to refinement work using the Ashes of Undying at max speed.
He understood weapon refinement far better than pills and potions anyway. He’d even worked as a blacksmith for one of the demonic sects in his previous life, and combined with Genesis, he could forge the finest weapons this continent had ever witnessed.
"I might just marry you if you ever come out, system of mine!"
***
Rexa sat cross-legged, attempting to gather energy and recover her depleted reserves.
’He’s taking too long.’
Footsteps interrupted her meditation.
"Who’s there?!" she called out, her body tensing instantly.
Sael emerged from the darkness, his expression twisted into something greedy and lustful. He could already see that she wasn’t in any fighting condition.
"Found you~," he said, advancing with slow steps. "I’ve come to claim what’s mine, woman."
Rexa stood. "What do you want? Try approaching and you’ll learn exactly what happens."
He laughed, the sound making her skin crawl. "Oh dear, why so serious? I simply want to take you to your rightful place."
Her eyes narrowed. She hurled kunais and daggers toward him while backing away in retreat at the same time.
Sael deflected them effortlessly, continuing his advance. "Stop resisting, woman."
A qi slash erupted from his sword as he jumped upward, throwing explosives towards her.
She reacted quickly but couldn’t escape the blast radius entirely. Explosions detonated around her, sending her sprawling.
Sael laughed with triumph. "I told you—don’t resist. It’s cute, but you’re annoying me now!"
He never saw Cale land behind him.
Rexa’s eyes widened in relief as Cale materialized, but Sael remained oblivious, confusion blooming across his features.
"You! What—"
Before he could complete the thought, his legs severed cleanly at the knees.
"KUARGHHHHHHH!!!"
He collapsed face-first, legs spraying blood across the earth as his body convulsed in agony. Panicked, he looked in all directions before Cale walked slowly toward him, his expression cold.
Cale crouched beside the writhing cultivator, sighing softly.
"Hmm, well, this will work as a soul now, won’t it?"
Sael’s eyes filled with desperate tears. "Y-you... how are you here?!"
"Oh, I simply killed them all. Quite the troublesome bunch, you know. All possessed potential to become typical xianxia young masters."
"X-xianxia? What... no... just... just let me live!" Desperation cracked his voice. "I’ll give you anything you want, right? My family’s assets. We will submit to your family. How’s that—"
Cale smirked, his voice dripping with contempt. "The fuck am I going to do with something like that, dumbass?"
He placed his hand on Sael’s forehead and began extracting his soul.
Sael groaned, his entire body trembling violently before going utterly still.
Cale stood, brushing dust from his white robes. "Fuuuh, I got some souls now. My soul bodies, make sure you put in some good work."
He looked toward Rexa. "You should replenish your energy reserves as quickly as possible. We need to leave this place soon."
She nodded, closing her eyes to resume cultivation.
With a flick of his hand, a barrier talisman materialized in his palm. He examined it.
"Hmm, spiritual beast hides probably yield better results I guess. Let’s try that next time."
He hurled the talisman skyward.
It activated instantly, forming a barrier of Primal Chaos Flames around Rexa’s meditating form. He possessed complete control over the barrier’s attribute type, be it fire, water, ice, lightning, whatever he required.
The divine race that had crafted the original talisman must be incredibly powerful to let the user decide what characteristic it would be. Cale doubted other talismans had such a ’feature’.
With Rexa secure, Cale pulled his entire physical body into the inner sanctum.
Inside the mindspace, his two soul bodies awaited instruction. The Thorned Lotus fan floated before them, ready for refinement. The Ashes of Undying pulsed.
"Lets begin then."