Rivers of the Night

Theron stepped out into the night air. By this point, the sun had fully set, but he hadn't even remotely recovered. There was fatigue between his brows, his skin painted pale. Beads of sweat would have formed if not for the cool wind flying by his features.

Despite all of this, his steps were purposeful and calm. Taking one after another, he moved—then he suddenly vanished.

The thing with assassinations was that they worked best when no one was expecting them. No one would think that a young man whose body was so heavily injured and fatigued would take the chance to kill a Cloud Realm expert the instant he got home.

This moment right here was the one where the fewest people would be likely to be monitoring Theron.

And even if there was someone…

What could they do against [Entangling Silence]?

With his current Dark Mana Control, this technique made Theron's body practically fade into the wind. Someone who had eyes on him from the moment he left his Immortal Cave would have only sensed a pulse of Mana before his body became wisps of darkness blown away by the wind.

[Entangling Silence] was a technique that worked with [Entangling Blood Vein Pupils] to match one's aura to the Mana around them. This essentially made you disappear in the eyes of any Third Eye senses below a certain level.

If you were especially familiar with the Mana in the atmosphere around you, this technique was even more potent.

Just now, Theron activated [Shadow Step], turning himself into wisps of darkness. Although he only "teleported" just ten meters, the same as always, the act of doing so made it impossible for anyone to track exactly where he appeared after the fact.

In the end… he became little more than a fog of shadows.

…

Theron walked forward almost boldly. He didn't make any attempt to hide himself, at least not overtly. However, [Entangling Silence] was very much still active as he entered the location of the Core Elder's sanctum.

He spread his Third Eye calmly, feeling out one location after another until he sensed a familiar aura.

Theron made it to the entrance and then waited.

The Fourth Elder was in an Immortal Cave much like his own. Its protections were no less than that of the Core Disciples. So, there was only one entrance, and there was no easy way to sneak in.

This sounded like an impossible assassination, but Theron felt that this was only more perfect for him.

The more it was like this, the less on guard the Fourth Elder would be, and the less likely people would be to jump to the conclusion of assassination.

Theron seemed to have the patience of a saint. He stood right next to the entrance.

Logically, much the same way everyone would be expecting him to be recuperating, the Fourth Elder should be doing the same. Waiting here seemed foolish, and once the sun rose for the morning, the Dark Mana concentration would weaken and it would be harder for him to hide.

What he was doing now didn't seem to be the smartest, but Theron continued to stand there.

Not more than 15 minutes later, his patience was rewarded.

The Immortal Cave doors slowly opened, and Kaelen walked out.

Despite Theron being less than half a meter from him, Kaelen didn't sense the slightest thing. He didn't even look in Theron's direction, feeling that nothing was wrong.

Lost in his own thoughts, his split lip leaking blood, he didn't seem to be in the mind to try and find hidden enemies. So, how could he notice when Theron slipped in right behind him, vanishing into the Immortal Cave?

The Immortal Cave door rolled closed, and Kaelen gritted his teeth before walking away.

…

Theron walked into the dark Immortal Cave calmly, his feet not making the slightest sound.

From the start, he had known that Kaelen would be here.

He had fought both master and disciple. There were too many mannerisms that Kaelen had that mapped right onto Bylo's to be a coincidence.

Theron hadn't been here long enough to know who was whose master, but he had the intelligence to make it out for himself.

He had noticed Kaelen on the battlefield, though the latter didn't dare to make his presence known, and he could easily imagine that he would be involved.

After that, it was just a matter of waiting for Kaelen to be kicked out of his master's Immortal Abode…

Allowing him right into the man's den.

Theron strolled into Bylo's meditation room. The latter was in an absolute state of focus, his eyes tightly closed and his breathing even. The Dark Mana around him seemed to enter a rhythm with his lungs, his body breathing along with the Mana in the air.

If nothing else, Bylo displayed the patience of a cultivator. Unfortunately for him…

Chi.

Theron beheaded him with a single swift motion, his spear returning to its box form on his back as though nothing at all had happened mere moments later.

Eyes open wide in disbelief, Bylo's head rolled to a stop a short distance away from his body. It seemed as though his final sight was that of Theron—something that would be burned into his retinas into the afterlife.

Theron stood over the body for a moment, thinking of what to do with it.

After a while, he put it away into a spatial ring. The Alpha would benefit from the Core. Then, he used his Water Mana to clean up the blood.

Then, he walked around the entire Immortal Abode, taking everything that was of any value. He decided there was no need to publicly broadcast his kill.

Luckily for him, robbing Bylo and making it seem as though he fled in the night required exactly the same actions. They weren't mutually exclusive.

After he cleaned out the Immortal Abode, he turned and left, leaving an untouched Immortal Abode behind him.