Rivers of the Night

Ippe's lip twitched. This Theron was really lawless. Did he not know what the Mandate Guild was?

Maybe the only power that brazenly ignored them was the Seijin—and yet, it wasn't because the Seijin were so much superior to the Guild, but more like they were on an equivalent level in terms of power and influence.

No, it was probably more accurate to say that the Seijin were just at a level of power that no one dared to casually offend them without cause or reason.

The Seijin practically always monopolized half of the top ten spots on the Mandate Leaderboard. The problem was that their existence itself would always call down the most powerful Tribulations, because the Heavens carried the most ire for those who played with and looked into Karma.

Worse than that, if one extended this beyond the pure Seijin to their subjects, they probably controlled over 20 to 25% of the list.

Even so, the Guild was probably still stronger than the Seijin in terms of raw power—because there were simply so many of them.

If one were to talk about the two powers that stood at the peak of the continent, these two were definitely neck and neck.

To offend either of them was ridiculous. Never mind the fact that Theron had almost crippled three Tyres today, and was a powerful Water Mancer, which meant he would almost certainly turn heads from the Black Clan as well.

Ippe's head snapped in a certain direction, and he slowly shook his head.

It seemed that problems were quick to appear. They were already here. That plaque had been in Theron's pocket for all of three seconds now, but…

In a flash, a man dressed like a white ninja appeared. His ankles and wrists were wrapped in bright gold bands, half of his face hidden behind a mask.

He had a quartet of katanas at his hips, two on each side. And yet, his hands were still clasped behind his back as he swayed on the branch.

Ippe knew that this man had certainly been here from the very start. The Guild had people everywhere, and they would always appear when a Mandate Badge was activated—even if they didn't show themselves right away.

Now that this man had appeared, it was clear he had seen Theron's actions.

The man was about to speak, but Theron spoke first.

"You're weaker than him. Why bother?" Theron asked.

The pupils of the white ninja constricted into pinholes. He was, indeed, weaker than Raan. But was that what mattered here? Did this child truly not know the weight of the Mandate Guild?

Finally, the eyes of the white ninja narrowed.

"Are you aware of what you're doing?"

"If you want to complain to someone, complain to my master," Theron said calmly. "He told me to do as I pleased. Anything else has nothing to do with me. I'm interested in this plaque, so I'm taking it."

With that, Theron turned to leave.

"STOP!" the white ninja roared. An aura radiated out from him—the capital behind his arrogance.

The Mandate Guild was open to many, but very few were actually able to become its members. Being on the Mandate Leaderboard wasn't even a requirement.

Theron felt a strong psychological pressure descend onto him. But the moment it touched him—

CRACK.

The sound of shattering glass echoed.

Theron had only just snapped his head back toward the white ninja, but the latter had already fallen out of the tree, collapsing to the ground. Foam spilled from his mouth as his eyes rolled back.

He convulsed on the ground, shivering from head to toe.

Theron blinked, not quite understanding what had happened. Was that a soul attack just now? Why was it so weak?

Was this the result of the evolution of his Third Eye?

After a moment, Theron looked away and continued walking until he vanished into the distance—leaving the convulsing Guild member and the bleeding Raan on their own.

He had said that he would make a mess for Ott, and now he had. Something told him the Scholar would have a lot of trouble to deal with in the next few days or weeks—and he also bet that very little of it would come back to him.

If Scholar McIntyre thought he could comfortably test Theron as he pleased, he had another thing coming.

This was actually the best outcome too.

Theron wasn't a fool, and he wouldn't make enemies just for the sake of his ego. However, while observing the complete Mandate Badge up close, he had noticed something very interesting. The material it was formed from…

It reminded him a lot of the Tribulation Bloomstone burning a hole through his spatial ring right now.

Were the Mandate Guild and the Luminescent Moon Sect connected? It wouldn't be the first time he had seen wood used to mask Bloomstone.

With that thought, Theron vanished into the distance, returning to his living quarters.

Ott stood on the very same balcony. He hadn't stopped Theron because, from the start, it was quite hard to do so. He could have interrupted the battle between Theron and Raan, but as Theron had speculated, he wanted to see how much Theron really had…

Only to find out that Theron was even deeper than he thought.

This now… well, this was nothing short of a massive problem. Dealing with it wouldn't be remotely easy. If anything, he was kind of screwed.

And yet, Ott found himself chuckling.

If it had been possible, he would have liked to take Theron as a disciple. But a boy like this… this wasn't a boy you controlled. He wasn't the sort capable of reciprocating kindness or gratitude either.

Theron seemed to be the type willing to resort to anything—to do anything—for the sake of his goals. He wasn't someone you could trick into becoming an adopted son, even if you wanted to.

He… needed a very different pair of gloves.

The kind you'd use to pull out a lethal weapon.