They had only just stepped off the ship when Theron felt it. He was the first; the disciples lagged well behind, and it was Matriarch Macie who realized what was happening second.

The docking zone of the Connect Planet was quite spacious, and there were five dedicated landing zones, one for each of the significant powers of this region.

The Nightingale vessel had landed on their own, but there were none of the expected attendants. Usually, there would be a swarm of shipboys getting ready to refuel the ship, do routine maintenance, and lead them to their sleeping quarters.

Instead, there was just a single old man with an expression that seemed it was trying its best to remain calm and unbothered but had very clearly been through a lot nonetheless.

This man was the Sixth Elder of the Nightingale Sect, and he was in charge of their presence on this Connect Planet. Since it was one of the more important locations—as it was the closest to the Hall of Ice and Heart—they sent someone particularly strong by their metrics.

But even he didn't seem to have been able to do anything.

Matriarch Macie, to her credit, was even better than the Sixth Elder at hiding her reaction. In fact, Theron could tell she wasn't acting at all. She was truly unbothered.

'Interesting.'

The Matriarch was practically being eaten alive by her own Heart Demon, but curiously enough, it wasn't harming her as much as it should. In fact… it was very much the opposite.

Theron had already noticed the oddities of the Matriarch on the way here, and he was beginning to think that there were many more interesting things happening in the Nightingale Sect than just the Haven and the Nightingale Ancestor Bird.

Maybe Sadie hadn't picked the Matriarch as her master for no reason…

The Sixth Elder approached the Matriarch and gave a respectful greeting before he began to speak in hushed whispers. A strong Third Eye barrier appeared around them as they communicated in silence.

Though Theron felt that he might be able to forcefully listen in, his Third Eye wasn't nearly strong enough to do so without being detected, so he simply continued to pretend as though Lyra had all his attention.

'We do have an audience, though…'

The Resonate Eye Sect and the Bronzed Earth Sect were both already present, and rather than dispersing and going about their own activities, many of them were still loitering around their ships, watching the shipboys work and even watching silently. It was as though they were all waiting for a show.

What Theron also noticed, though, was that the Patriarchs of the two Sects were not present for this. Which meant…

A boisterous laughter filled the air, but the first thing Theron felt was the wall of heat that slapped against his face and blew his hair so far back he thought it might shred his scalp apart.

As powerful as this wind was, though, it didn't step over any bounds. No disciple was sent flying, at the very least, as a man who stood at least eight feet tall and had steel cords intertwining beneath his skin for muscles appeared.

On his back, a huge pair of double scythes carved of a crimson steel arched in opposite directions, looking almost like hovering pauldrons over his shoulders.

The aura of this man was quite… peculiar. Not because there was an oddity in his cultivation, but instead because his cultivation was too high.

From what Theron could tell—though he certainly shouldn't be able to at his cultivation level—this man was a First Resonance Treading Cloud Realm expert. Or, in other words, a Seventh Resonance Cloud Realm expert.

The Treading Cloud Realm was the highest of the three divisions of the Cloud Realm, and even the dead Patriarch Nightingale had only been in the second of the three divisions: the Ascending Cloud Realm.

Patriarch Nightingale was about on par with the Patriarchs of the Resonate Eye and Bronzed Earth Sects as well. The appearance of this man here was a complete shift in the power balance that didn't quite make sense.

'I guess this is also probably my fault, then,' Theron concluded.

News of the appearance of a Demon Chosen had certainly spread after the Nightingale Sect failed to catch him. The fact more powerful powers would try to move in on this wouldn't be a surprise.

Even so, from Theron's understanding of the political landscape and the Mercenary Guild's place in this world, there was no way that the Mercenary Guild would ever pressure or suppress the Nightingale Sect without the tacit agreement of the Hall of Ice and Heart.

In the eyes of the Hall of Ice and Heart—probably—if Patriarch Nightingale hadn't been so greedy, trying to use Theron's head to exchange for rewards, and had instead reported this matter as quickly as possible, Theron would have never escaped.

That said…

A Sect has to manage its own face. Using an outsider to deal with their own subordinates would be a foolish ceding of territory—not to mention completely unnecessary. Which probably means that their Third Elder is involved.

Elder Lyrah wasn't a fool. Patriarch Nightingale died right around the time he was chasing a Demon Chosen. While Theron was scheming to deal with her, she was scheming to protect her own life as well. In fact, her arrogance was probably all an act to make Theron lower his guard against her, believing her to be an overconfident woman.

From Lyrah's perspective, the most likely person to end up with the King Soul Lamp was the Demon Chosen. But the King Soul Lamp being in such a person's hands was far worse than if it was just Patriarch Nightingale.

She needed confirmation for this, and the best way she had for now was poking and prodding at the Nightingale Sect to see how many of the rest of them knew about the King Soul Lamp.

The more pressure she applied to their Sect, the more of their secrets they might show.

Now, this brute had come to flaunt what power the Hall of Ice and Heart had allowed him to.

In a few blinks, Theron had already deduced the whole matter.

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