Rivers of the Night

Theron honestly didn't know what he expected to see when he stepped back out into the Sect. A part of him knew that the Matriarch's words of stirring anarchy would have their issues, but he didn't expect it to go this far in just a short two and a half months.

However, after Theron thought about it for a moment, he felt that maybe this was only the natural course of things.

The Matriarch had made those rules not just to loosen the chains on the disciples, but to actually stir them. If she felt that things were still too peaceful after enough time passed, she might even go as far as to incite incidents herself from the shadows. At the very least, she would certainly instigate her subordinates to do so.

When he looked at things like that, it only made sense that things would end up like this. The only oddity was that no one had come to bother Theron.

The wards on his Immortal Cave were tough, but it was nothing a meddling Matriarch couldn't deal with. But… maybe the Matriarch wasn't in a rush to test Theron.

Theron had already proven himself to be someone who could defeat their number one disciple with ease. He wasn't the sort to need this push in the first place. Anything he dealt with out here would be child's play.

That said… there would certainly be others who felt stoked by greed. Amongst them, there were definitely elders who would want his spear. After being given free rein by the Matriarch, none of them made a move when things had already reached the stage of putting Core Disciples up on a stake?

Theron didn't believe that.

In that case, the only explanation was that someone had been protecting his peace these last few months, and the only one with incentive to do that was the young woman who had gone out of her way to bring him to the two towers.

If not for Lyra, it might have taken him a bit longer to get his footing, and he wouldn't have made as much progress as he had.

In truth, Theron didn't actually care much for Lyra at all. But, the fact she had helped him and the fact it had been a while since he stretched out his legs…

This seemed as good a reason to jump into the battle, now wasn't it?

Now, it was just a matter of who was in the dark stirring this.

Theron didn't care much about taking the clever approach. With calm strides, he entered the square that had become flaming chaos, a bloody battle of both wild abandon and attrition taking place between disciples who seemed to have separated into two main factions.

…

"Master!" Kaelen rushed into a small shack in the middle of the woods. "The scouts have come back. Theron has stepped out of his Immortal Cave, finally!"

There was a flash as the Fourth Elder of the Sect slowly opened his eyes.

The Nightingale Sect had had nine main elders beneath the Patriarch. Setting aside the former Grand Elder Macie, there was still the First to Eighth Elders.

Kaelen's Master was now technically the Third Elder, but he was still formally the Fourth Elder, as the new Matriarch Macie was still grieving and had yet to hold a meeting to properly re-establish and stabilize things.

No one dared to step on Macie's toes at this point. She seemed to have completely lost her mind, so Fourth Elder Bylo continued to go by this title, not overstepping his bounds. His disciples were also clever enough to keep up appearances, and together, they had used this situation to their benefit.

Bylo stood when he heard this. "It seems it's time to put the next phase into motion, then. Go on. I will be there when the timing is right."

Fourth Elder Bylo was no fool. He knew that there was no way he would be able to keep the spear even if he snatched it from Theron. In fact, if he outright killed such a talent, given how unstable Matriarch Macie was these days, she might outright kill him before taking the spear back.

So, Bylo had laid out a meticulous plan.

First, he had to get rid of Lyra's master. If Kaelen had a master, Lyra certainly did as well. It was just that Lyra's master was a bit restrained because of the meeting Matriarch Macie had had with her.

Not every master would be willing to put their neck on the line for the disciple in the face of an eccentric cultivator many times stronger than them.

However, that didn't mean that the Second Elder, Lyra's master, would just stand by and let them do anything.

And that was precisely the opening Bylo took advantage of. Setting up a situation where Lyra was in over her head, forcing the Second Elder to step in, only to run face-first into the wrath of Matriarch Macie had been nothing but child's play.

The fact that Lyra was so worried about them interfering with Theron only made it easier. Clearly, she wasn't mature enough to understand the ins and outs of the situation.

Now… the last piece of the puzzle had finally made his appearance. Things were going perfectly, they just had to stick the landing and hope no one else tried to swoop in for the prize.

Bylo's gaze flashed.

…

Theron's appearance on the battlefield seemed to be like ice and hellish waters over a stoking flame. Countless pairs of eyes landed on him, and yet no one seemed sure of what to do.

Some groups were using guerrilla tactics, hiding and chucking consumable items to bomb other parties, some were clashing in battles that sent violent winds kicking up, and yet others were waiting for their opportunity to move.

No one would just casually stroll onto such a battlefield, and no one knew what to do.

However, when it became clear that Theron was walking toward Lyra, the group trying to stop her from being taken down realized Theron's side of the conflict was obvious.

Gritting his teeth, the Seventh Core Disciple roared and raised his bow.