Chapter 58 : Unexpected Encounter

Arthur was momentarily surprised by the sudden appearance of Zodiak, he stood there dazed for some time before he came back to his senses when Lucy called out to him.

Like last time, she didn't see Zodiak's corpse appear, the only thing she saw was Arthur looking in one direction and carefully listening as if he was hearing someone.

After Arthur managed to calm down, he sat down next to Lucy and explained what just happened, she naturally knew what happened with the black chains as he already narrated that to her when he woke up, and now he told her what Zodiak just said.

He honestly surprised as he didn't think Zodiak was this powerful, he easily got rid of that woman with that vortex, it was horrifying, every time Arthur remembered it he would unconsciously shiver.

Previously, he only thought that Zodiak was a mythical being, true he must be very strong, but not THIS strong, although he died he still managed to insert some of his consciousness or whatever it was into his dead body.

He also mentioned 'Divine being' which was an indication to that woman, unfortunately, Arthur didn't mean what it exactly meant and he was hoping to get answers from Zodiak but he had gone back to his storage too quickly for him to react in time.

The rest of the day, Arthur continued testing some techniques then chatted with Lucy, as for Saly, she passed the whole day practicing, she had Astrith with her who helped her a lot plus she was wholly dedicated to becoming stronger.

Arthur obviously wasn't stingy and had already given her every item or Elixir that could strengthen her, he even cleared the Acupoint which increased her stats by 300, although she is 5-years-old, her prowess is no joke, she just has to gain combat-experience and learn some good skills.

..

The next day, Arthur went to talk to Anastassia privately about some things, plus he was going to compensate her because he shattered his dagger, it's not like he was too concerned about that, he just picked a somewhat strong dagger from his storage and decided to give it to her.

There were many weapons and treasures still inaccessible by him or some which cannot even be appraised, he discovered that everytime he powers-up, he would be able to yield some, it was not a lot of items but there were some nonetheless and the dagger was one of them.

He was sitting in front of Anastassia in the yard without anyone disturbing them, Lucy stayed with Saly in the room and Astrith is inside Arthur's consciousness.

Wuji, Sonia, and Mary went to the elven city as Mary wanted to bring the little kids here and after some persistence from Sonia, Anastassia finally accepted.

As they were both staring at each other, Arthur could see that Anastassia was still angry about yesterday but she could not bring herself to talk about it, so he didn't either, he merely retrieved a dagger from his storage and threw it at her.

She easily caught what seemed like a normal bronze dagger, she frowned for a second before her eyes widened, although it looked like a completely normal bronze dagger, she felt an icy feeling coming from it, she couldn't guess what it is but she definitely knew this was not a mere dagger.

She began inspecting it and casually slashing in the air, and after a couple of minutes, she nodded with a satisfied look on her face, she didn't fully use it but she kind of grasped it, from her perspective, it was not stronger than her previous dagger but Arthur knew the truth, and that dagger most certainly way better, it's just that Anastassia still didn't uncover it's truths.

He, who had [Peak sword mastery], it worked on all types of swords, although daggers cannot be considered swords, the passive skills strangely worked with daggers and when he tried using that dagger, it's prowess was by no means weak.

He felt some kind of bloodlust and coldness coming from it, however, he didn't dwell on it that much, it was a reasonable compensation so he gave it to her, now it was time to talk about some things.

"From the look of it, you are satisfied... then let's move on to the other things."

She finally stored the dagger and lifted her head to look at him, she slowly nodded as she knew he wanted to ask her a few things, just by his look she can tell.

"First, where is that young master?"

"... He is currently out of the clan along with the Grand Elder to finish some matters, they should be back soon.."

Arthur put his hand on his chin as if thinking about something then he proceeded asking other things

"So it's like that... then what's the difference between the Mortal Realm and Spirit Realm?"

He kind of knew some information about that but it was not detailed so he wanted some explanation.

Anastassia was shocked when she heard that, for someone like him who is this strong to not know about this basic knowledge left her confused and stunned, however, she didn't question him about why he is asking that and just replied to him.

"The Mortal Realm is for those who are under LVL1000, as for Spirit Realm, it's for those above LVL1000 such as me and you, once you reach LVL1000 there will be a slight boost in your stats, but there are some cases when some people in the Mortal Realm defeat those in the Spirit Realm but that's very rare..."

"... There is also several Realm above the Spirit Realm but unlike the two first ones, the next Realms are not biased on the LVL but on the strength, I was told that one must achieve a specific condition"

Arthur listened carefully to not miss anything, then when she finished, he moved onto the next question without letting her rest

"Hmm and what about Acupoints?"

"There is 361 Acupoints in our bodies and by clearing one or several, your strength would significantly rise, it was said that if someone managed to clear them all then he would become an existence above gods or deities.."

"... For example, I cleared 12 Acupoints in my feet which is why my speed is like that, just clearing one Acupoint in someone's foot increases the agility by a tremendous amount and I only managed to clear 12 with the help of my master..."

Once she talked about her master, her tone seemed to become slightly sad yet you can notice a hint of killing intent, Arthur didn't ask much about that matter and continued asking her about what he didn't understand.

She was surprisingly helpful unlike what he thought her to be, perhaps it's because he became a guest Elder which is considered to be a member of the clan, plus him being an Elder is a huge help to the clan, especially if it ever faced danger or an attack.

After 1 hour of asking and answering, Arthur came to know a lot of new things such as the existence of several other strong clans like the Yan Clan, the Xi Clan, and the Aristocrat Family Yun, these were the ones Anastassia said to be on par with the Ma Clan, and like them, these clans were not known to the world.

Each Clan has it's unique techniques except a few known ones such as the breathing technique and so on, there were some friendly clans while rival ones, the competition was fierce between them but they would not engage in a reckless war like kingdoms or the war between Humans and Demons.

..

After talking with Anastassia, he went back to his room only to find Lucy and Saly there, the silver-haired beauty was brushing Saly's hair with gentleness while chatting heartily with her.

Just seeing this warm sight made Arthur brightly smile, it was heartwarming to go back to your room and see your family waiting for you.

Although Saly is said to be his companion, he already considered her to be his family along with Lucy, he treated her like a father would treat his daughter.

Yesterday, he gave her the breathing technique and taught her how to absorb Qi, he guessed that for a beastmen with superior strength, practicing those martial art techniques may be better than magic, of course she can use her skills that he gave her but using the martial arts with them would lead to a better result.

What was kind of annoying is that sensing 'Qi' and absorbing it way harder than Mana, which is why people who can manipulate Qi are very few.

The little girl sat cross-legged on the carpet with Arthur behind her, she used the breathing technique and tried her best to sense it but it was just too hard, fortunately for her, Arthur was behind her and guided the Qi around him toward her so it would make things easier.

Lucy didn't want to practice martial arts, she was already proficient with magic and a decent fighter, furthermore, she wasn't someone who could gain someone else's skills like Arthur, she had to begin from scratch so she was unwilling.

Naturally, Arthur didn't force her and spent the next few days helping Saly who finally managed to sense the Qi after the thorough and huge help of Arthur.

Compared to the other 5-year-old kids, she would be considered a little monster as her stats are unbelievable.

Arthur urged her to go around the area to meet new kids and perhaps make some new friends and even spar with them, Saly happily agreed but not after Arthur ordered Astrith to go with her.

He told him to not let anyone, literally anyone harm her, it's alright if she practices with others but if the opponent tried to heavily injure her then Astrith was instructed to protect her and punish whoever wanted to hurt her.

Arthur and Lucy were sitting on the quiet Yard enjoying their time, he was absorbing Qi as he discovered that after passing some time absorbing it, he is getting strong, slowly but surely, it was a very meager increase but it is nonetheless an increase in his power so every day, he would use some of his time to absorb some Qi from the surroundings, or more precisely, the earth.

Qi is much abundant in the earth, Anastassia also told him that this place, where the clan is located has a high density of Qi, which is why they built the clan here.

There were several yards around the pagoda, some of them are used for practice for the female disciples and others are private, Arthur and Lucy were using a private one given to them by Anastassia, since he was considered an Elder now, he had his private room and yard in the pagoda.

Lucy was leaning on his shoulder and staring at his face while smiling as for him he was using the breathing technique and relaxing his mind.

All of a sudden, he sensed 3 powers with [Sixth Sense] coming with extreme speed toward the Pagoda, from their speed, he was sure they were not just disciples as it is impossible for them to be this fast.

Since they were not bothering him, Arthur didn't pay them any heed and continued what he was previously doing without a care in the world.

However, not even 10 minutes have passed when some people barged in, it was Anastassia and 3 people, there was an old man wearing a black robe, another old man wearing a grey-robed so it was obviously an elder, and the last was a youth, he was wearing some tight black leather clothes, with a somewhat long vest which looked kind of weird.

Just as Anastassia was about to talk, the black-robed old man advanced toward Arthur while roaring angrily

"So you are the one who caused that mess and killed the elders, what right do you have to do that!"

The Grand Elder was only told by Anastassia that an individual killed the elders and he was staying at the clan, he was confused on why she would keep him alive but after some thought, it was to be expected as the two areas were not getting along recently, it's as if it was two different clans.

Arthur ignored the roaring old man and gazed at Anastassia while calmly saying

"Who are these people and why did you bring them here"

"It's the Grand Elder, his grandson, and Elder Chenyu."

Arthur only grasped the 'Grandson' part and as soon as he heard that, his eyes landed on the haughty youth not far away, it wasn't that hard to guess from the very beginning but he just needed some confirmation, he wanted to go there and finish him but it seems he willingly came to his yard, how is that not fortunate for him? It saved him a lot of trouble.

Arthur turned his head to look at the Grand Elder and casually said

"Ask your grandson and he will tell you who we are"

Momentarily surprised, the Grand Elder stood there dazed for a second before he abruptly turned his head to look at his grandson, expecting some answers, but all he received was a confused look from Chenqi, his grandson, who shrugged his shoulders as if indicating he doesn't know.

Seeing this, he looked back at Arthur again, however, his face was flushed and was ready to explode as he felt he was being played with and was merely tricked.

"Stop playing tricks and tell me who you are, or I'll stop being merciful"

Arthur burst out in laughter and retorted mockingly

"Ha ha ha, I'm not playing any tricks, your grandson clearly knows who we are, after all, he ordered to kill us.."

Chenqi, who just heard this, was slightly astonished but he still couldn't remember who these two were, after all, he ordered many of his surbordinates to kill countless people so how could he remember all of them.

Arthur also noticed the perplexed look of the youth so he continued while smiling

"... A year ago.. at the academy, blasting a demon and a new member of the council.. do you remember now? Or should I refresh your memory?"

Chenqi's pupils constricted and he immediately remembered that matter, he sent his wife to replace Sonia and ordered her to kill a man and a demon using judgment.

"Oooh! So you remember, good! good! It's better to die knowing you were killed, right?"

Just as he said that, Arthur used [Petal footsteps] and rushed at the nearby Chenqi, his sudden actions were too quick for the Grand Elder to react, by the time he wanted to stop him, Arthur was already holding Chenqi's neck, who was also shocked.

"W-What are you doing!" Roared the Grand Elder as he saw this, his doted on his grandson and although his behavior wasn't the best, he still went along with it, but now he understood that Chenqi provoked someone he shouldn't have.

Anastassia didn't do anything, for her, the life of Chenqi or anyone in the male area was not her problem, the Ma clan can still remain powerful even without that trash, furthermore, Arthur just became an Elder of the clan which boosted its strength by a huge margin.

Arthur turned his head to look at the Grand Elder who didn't dare to attack as he knew Arthur can kill his grandson with just a simple squeeze.

"What am I doing? Well, I'm returning what has been done to me and my wife obviously.."

Then he turned he stared at the panic-stricken Chenqi and coldly said

"Maybe if you tell me why you did that... hmm let's say I may spare your life.. what do you say?.."

However, Chenqi wasn't intending to reply as he slowly spoke

"... Grandpa.. Help m-me!"

His eyes were fixed on his Grandfather, expecting him to help and get him out of this mess, but the Grand Elder knew he can't act recklessly, just now, he couldn't react in time as Arthur's speed was insane, so he knew he wasn't weak.

"What do you want?"

The Grand Elder, Leiu, spoke to Arthur with a low tone, his angry shouting stopped as he thought that dealing with this situation calmly may lead to a better result and perhaps there is still a chance to save his grandson.

"What do I want? I already said that, I want to know why he did that"

Leiu honestly didn't know the reason, he just thought of it as a normal matter of Chenqi as he always kills whoever he doesn't like so he began thinking hastily, trying to come up with a reasonable excuse.

1...3...5 minutes passed without anyone speaking, Chenqi's face became pale white as he could barely breathe, he couldn't even move or resist, as for Leiu, he couldn't do anything, he urged Chenqi to speak the truth but the latter stayed silent but after 5 minutes, he finally understood that there was no way out so he said the truth.

"I-I wanted t-to... control the a-academy, and you w-were tro-ublesom-mme *gasp*"

Hearing this, Arthur wasn't angered or anything, for some reason, he felt calm, there was this urge to kill him but it was not as intense as last time, he released his grasp from Chenqi's neck, but not after Natural lightning invaded his body and instantly struck his heart, turning it into dust.

The lifeless body of Chenqi fell on the flour, and just as Leiu was going to rush toward Arthur as he sensed that Chenqi is dead, just from his lifeless eyes one could tell he died, however, to his surprise, he felt intense pain in his chest and when he looked down, there was a huge hole in his chest.

His organs were melting at rapid speed and the pain was agonizing, blood flowed endlessly from all his face, his ears, his nose and mouth, his heart was melting from the heat as drops of red liquid were visible on his bloody chest.

He soon fell soundlessly on the ground, just like his grandson. Actually, Lucy used her magma magic to eliminate him, although he was strong, he didn't expect her to sneak attack him, plus how could he resist an attack from someone with 3million intelligence, even Anastassia probably can't resist it.