Ryker Against Noble Expert

 As he becomes more and more disadvantaged, the old man realizes he needs to go all out or he will be the one to die.

 Growling, he called out his Noble Tower before having them surround him, the Noble Tower releasing the strange death cloud around him.

 Sophia tried to get close but all of her attempt was stopped by a strange barrier that prevented her from coming close, and her attack was also deflected.

 Her eyes narrowed, Sophia flew away, before having her Noble Tower empower her too, allowing her to create more barriers to defend herself.

 Growling, the old man spit a blood-colored bead before having it in front of him, the accumulated death qi gathered around the bead to form a spear.

 "This is my greatest technique, Deathly Skeletal Spear. Only three people have been hit by this technique, and none have survived. Be honored to be killed by this technique," with a great heave, he lifted the spear before throwing it at Sophia.

 The woman throws several defensive talismans and a few defensive artifacts in the hope of blocking the attack, with her technique being the one to stop it.

 However, she soon realized she had underestimated the old man, the attack piercing every single one of her defenses before the spear broke the last line of her defense. She tried to dodge it but the attack still hit her side, piercing her waist and getting stuck there.

 It is not that bad until death qi runs rampant inside her body, causing her qi to become chaotic, not to mention she could feel herself being weakened. Unable to stop herself, she fell from the sky.

-x-

 As the old man watched the woman fall, he let out a satisfied laugh. He had a grievance with the woman for making his injuries even worse. Right now, he could barely hold on against one Noble expert.

 He sighed, if he was in better health, he would have taken the woman and made her serve him, but alas, he was badly injured and could not hope to do so. 

 'Oh well, at least the woman will be a good tonic for me to heal myself, and the seed is also there,' the old man thought.

 However, he was soon under attack by a powerful Soul Technique, shredding some of his Soul and making his injury even worse.

 "Aargh!" he screamed, clutching his head. 'Could the members of the royal guard already be here?!' he thought fearfully.

 However, as he lifted his head, he saw the Genesis Lake trash carrying the woman, the look on his face could be described as furious.

-x-

 Ryker glared at the old man before whistling, Tashirn flew towards him where he deposited the injured Sophia.

 "Make sure to get away, and put her in a safe place before coming back here," he told the tiger, who nodded before leaving.

 "Bah, a mere Genesis Lake junior think he can take this old man?" the old man managed to say, but Ryker could see the attack on his Soul took a lot out of him.

 "Before, no," another Soul Technique was used, the old man screamed in pain once more. "Now, yes,"

 Without a word, he gets close before punching the old man, and sending him to the ground. The punch was strong to the point the old man lost some of his teeth.

 The old man glared at him before yelling, "You will pay for this," a death cloud surrounded him. Ryker scoffed. The Noble expert might possessed greater mastery of the Law of Death than him, but the Law of Death is not the only Path, he took.

 "Life Aura Cleansing," he said, whitish-green light pouring out of his palm, battling against the death qi. While spirit qi is of higher quality than his genesis qi, the granting Mantra is one of the best Cultivation Art, making his qi not weaker than the old man in terms of purity.

 Watching as his death qi was slowly erased, the old man growled before jumping towards him, hoping to beat him using his superior body. Or so he thought.

 Ryker activated his Celestial Gold Body, the old man's fist merely caused his body to tremble. He then returned the favor, punching the old man's face and sending him flying to a boulder, shattering it.

 As the old man slowly gets up, he spots Ryker menacingly walking towards him. Gulping, he summoned his Noble Tower but only resulted in puking his blood out.

 "That attack of yours that took out Sophia should be the last one you could do. Only after you recover somewhat can you even hope to summon your Noble Tower without repercussion," he told the old man, getting closer to him.

 As he got closer, Ryker raised his fist, the old man covering his face, not wanting to feel another punch there.

 He waited, but no pain came. He opened his eyes only to see Ryker eying him pitifully. He then took the Seed of Spirit Tree and flicked it.

 The old man yelled as the seed tore through his skin, embedding deeply inside his shoulder. Unfortunately, the pain does not end there.

 The seed grew rapidly and soon encompassed his entire body with woods and vines. However, it could only grow by taking something vital out of the old man; blood.

 As the seed grew from sapling to a mighty tree, it absorbed a lot of Bugol's blood, making him gasp in pain as he tried to thrash, but only feeling his limbs hitting his woody confines.

 Ryker watched the entire thing, feeling slightly scared out of the whole ordeal.

 "The plan supposed to go like this, I presume," Ryker said, all of a sudden.

 "I am supposed to attract the attention of the traitor. My identity will be protected by Sophia and the Duke of Elkom. If I get the chance to meet the traitor and he senses the seed with me, I will then be killed and the seed will become his.

 When he absorbs the seed, whether through embedding it inside his body to heal faster, or just consuming the seed, the trap will be activated the moment it detects his qi and blood, trapping him inside this Spirit Tree, or at least, a lesser version of it.

 To think the royal family would turn a perfectly fine Seed of Spirit Tree into this lesser version, the royal family is just too rich," Ryker then sighed.

 "Am I right, Your Excellency?" he said to a tree, before someone emerged from the shadow, wearing a black cloak before taking it off.

 Then, Ryker could see the face of the person, the very same person who handed him the money to buy the seed in the first place.