Rivers of the Night

Nightingale Sect Territory was, expectedly, vast.

Of the maps that Theron had found, many of them contained overviews of the entire territory to various degrees, but there were some more detailed ones of the planet as a whole.

Amongst one of the maps Theron had found, he discovered a peculiar chart of what looked like stars and moons.

At first, he didn't understand it. But night fell a mere few dozen minutes after he left the Sect. All he had to do was look up into the skies to have his answer.

Wow…

Theron was taken aback as he realized that in this world, there really was no glass ceiling. People treated the stars not as something to just look at from a distance and admire, but as things to reach toward and travel through.

It was hard for him to wrap his head around it, but there was no doubting it. He could perfectly map the stars he was seeing with a tilt of his head right now to the stars on those maps.

It seemed that he was on what those books had called a "planet," and this planet was just one of many across this star system, while this star system was just one of many across the galaxy.

For Theron, a young man who very much liked to grasp an intimate understanding of everything he learned… this made his head hurt.

How could anything be so vast? If the scaling of that map was correct, even if he spent his entire life running at his fastest speed—assuming that he could run through the air, that is—he wouldn't even make it a fraction of the way to the next planet.

In fact, even making it to the moon that seemed so close he could reach out and touch it… just seemed impossible.

Theron looked at the silver-grey moon above. He was so used to seeing streaks of blue, but this one was too different.

Somehow, he still felt that his Water Mancy had been boosted, and it was boosted even more than it was back on the continent when the blue moon came out. And yet, he also felt that this moon simply wasn't the best for him.

If it had been a blue moon… the increase to his strength would have only been all the more.

There are too many things in this world I don't understand. But what's obvious is that if these people have a method of traveling across such impossible distances, I bet they also have a way of monitoring it all despite the ridiculous vastness.

In that case, making it off of this world is probably impossible right now—not until I understand it all…

For that, Theron would need time to read. The number of books in the library had multiplied too much. It would take him years to finish it all unless his Third Eye could evolve once again.

But even if it did evolve once more, there was no telling how much improvement there would be.

As far as Theron saw it, there were only two ways to deal with the current situation, and neither of them included escaping the planet. Not for now.

If he wanted to survive, he would have to stay in this lion's den.

The first of the two paths was to head to one of the nearby cities. This was one of the best ways to learn about a new place and adjust. He could pick up cues on their culture, how to interact with people, he could learn about the cultivation realms, what was expected of him as a 14-year-old, etcetera…

However, this path was dangerous.

These cities were the most likely to have hidden eyes in walls and ears on floors. He would have to be wary of every little thing he did, wondering who might just decide to report him for the smallest thing.

Cities also had people, and people had egos—there would be nobles, young masters, a sea of folks and personal vendettas out for themselves that he could easily get clipped by.

That left path two.

Stay here.

Right in the heart of Nightingale Sect territory, the place their disciples frequented the most, and amongst the most dangerous regions of the planet as a whole.

The Nightingale Sect itself was in a relatively safe place, but that was only because of the presence of all its formations and powerhouses.

When it came to its surroundings, the further you got from the Sect, the more dangerous it would become until things tempered down and you reached society once more.

Theron had already decided that he would take this path for the time being.

Quite frankly… he was absolutely sick of people. He hadn't even truly interacted with anyone in the Nightingale Sect, but they left him feeling sick as well.

To use your own disciples as bait while chasing him down as though he was the monster in this situation…

Theron took a breath, and a chilly wind left his lips, frosting over the air.

He tapped a foot and then accelerated again, bursting through a clearing and coming to a sudden stop up high in a tree.

Up ahead, there was a raging river. And yet, it wasn't until Theron stood here that he had heard it at all.

This was one of the most fearsome parts of the Nightingale Forest. The Dark Mana concentration was so high that it had a dampening effect on sound. It was hard to hear what was happening just a few meters from you, so much so that even a river that seemed as wide and thick as an ocean itself was deathly silent until you touched its shores.

The density of Dark Mana on top of it was also such that Theron didn't even feel a flourishing of Water Mana either. If he was correct, he'd have to dive quite deep before he could get to the Water Mana that made up this peculiar river.

Without the maps, he would have never found this place.

But it was about to become his sanctuary…

And the Nightingale Sect's nightmare, for that matter.

This would be the place he consolidated his new abilities, where he learned of this world's secrets, and where he started his slaughter.