Chapter 368 : : Intention

The ground floor of Spirit Tower...

Rex was bathing while he thought of the most possible reasons behind Ria's action. According to him, someone possessing Treasure Artifacts won't try to steal Spirit Rank tools at the very least especially knowing that there are Calamity Lords who live in the place where she was stealing from.

When no one was looking, Rex used his smart band to see the video recordings dome by hidden camera and indeed, Ria was the one who did it, she collected all her stuff in the storage ring, she didn't even try to hide her face or anything which only made him feel weirder.

[Maybe she was trying to anger you....]

'Already considered that... Let's start from the beginning. If Ria was an idiotic short-sighted girl then she would have stolen them for business and money but even considering this possibility is idiotic as she could have asked for a lot of expensive things from me when I was here but no she didn't, most importantly if her intentions were of robing me she would have never revealed the fact that she has Treasure Artifact in her possession, would she? Think about it, if you are in her place and want to rob me from the start then there was no need for you to show me how rich you were,' Rex said.

[That too is a problem, so what are the other possibilities?]

'In the second possibility, consider her as a mediocre girl, let's say she was in some serious problem, she loves me and believes that I cannot help her, as a result, she stole them so that I became angry and don't intervene in her problem to help her even after I somehow came to know it,' Rex said.

[Oh, this one has fewer loopholes, it seems matching,]

'Wrong,' Rex shook his head.

[Why?]

'As I said, this possibility is when she is a mediocre girl but you know what? She is the most cunning girl I have ever met in my life, I can assure you that much. Her behaviour is not of someone from her age, her past may be the reason for her different personality but she didn't want to go into her personal life so I never asked.

She could guess the first and second possibility, she should also be aware of what people here will think of her, she knows that there are Calamity Lord level experts in the force of Frozen Flame, making an enemy out of us won't do her any good especially when she had seen the growth speed of Frozen Flame with her own eyes,' Rex said.

[It is only making things more complicated, maybe she is in just need of them or something,]

'What are you even talking abou- Huh? In need of them? In a way, it sounds logical but what would she do with them? Wait... would someone like her really leave without hiding her tracks? She did it on... Purpose,' Rex suddenly came to a realization. He quickly finished bathing and went to the room of the snake sisters.

The room was the same as before, Jiang Shuang didn't do anything to harm it.

Rex started searching through the stuff, it was hard to tell what he was thinking but just when he lifted the mattress to check if there was something on the bed, his nose slightly twitched.

Because of his enhanced senses, he smelled the faint fragrance of perfume she usually used, he ripped open the mattress and found a white envelope with a concealing array on it, hidden inside the mattress.

'Just as I thought,' Rex quickly opened the envelope and found a letter and a storage ring inside it.

He didn't check the storage ring instead read the letter first.

Hehe... So you found it? As expected of my Rex. Ahem, let's get to the topic, I wanted to buy your stuff but how to say it... This miss doesn't have the appropriate $$ so I just followed the barter system. Er... One more thing, don't go around looking for the traces with my picture, you will only cause problems for both of us. Oh, are you getting emotional? Don't worry baby I will come to take you from that Shadow### when I have taken care of my stuff.

Either way, if I don't come within 100 years then don't you dare wait for me, I don't like sassy boys. Anyway, take care of yourself, strength is the priority, always remember that. By the way, the letter will get destroyed after 5 minutes of opening it.

- Ria Anchor

Rex's lips twitched when he saw his own title name being cursed at like this.

'Hehe... It's harder to raise smarty pants,' Rex sighed, he placed the letter aside and checked the ring, surprisingly it was the same ring he gave her when she became assistant head maid, the lock on the ring was something he placed on it so even if someone else found it they couldn't force their way through.

He emptied the ring without checking, he expected one or two things to come out but a shower of Elemental Spirit Stones flooded out and covered the bed making a small heap on it.

Rex picked up one of them and observed, it was spirit stone with mixed purple-blue shade and a little transparency in it.

'Poison element? Barter system... She really meant it, but why did she have so much stuff from the higher realm, her body lacks nourishment of spiritual energy a Higher Realm person usually has, maybe an Heir Candidate? But Heir Candidates are usually those with strong innate talent and are regarded as a born genius by many, his cultivation talent didn't seem that out of ordinary. No, I should reach to conclusion blindly,' Rex thought, he then looked at the letter, the ink used to write on it had turned purple, with a sizzling sound the letter caught fire and instantly burned to ashes.

Rex also noticed a jade slip mixed in these Poison Elemental Stone or we can say Poison Elemental Spirit Stones.

From the looks of it, it was a one-time use jade slip containing a cultivation technique. Even without using it, he could already guess its content.

'This girl, she left a poison element cultivation technique with these Poison Element Stones for me to cultivate faster and match her cultivation technique, while also trying to give Shadow Lord a huge loss so that I will be throw out or get a demotion... Seriously? No matter how much she wants me to leave Frozen Flame she won't do this just for that, what could be her intention...' Rex thought.

Rex decided to contact Sung Lee, the first order was to find Ria and Mia's traces.

{Don't worry Master Rex, leave it to us, they shouldn't have gone too far we will try to catch them,} (Sung Lee)

{No, there is no need to try and catch them, just trace them. More importantly, can you send someone to the Snake Kingdom and search for them, searching in the whole kingdom may seem like finding a needle in a haystack but if my guess is right then it won't be that hard,} (Rex)

{Understood, I will mobilize my men in Myriad Beast Continent for this,} Sung Lee said then Rex hanged up the call.

There was a reason for why Rex thought that he can find details there, it was because now he thought of the past, Ria had avoided going to the Beast God Temple so he guessed she may be trying to hide her face, he wasn't making a loss even if his guess was wrong as the Black Scorpion Sect was now his subordinate so he decided to do it.

Rex checked the time and it was afternoon, he wanted to rest but in the end, he decided to head to Zakiya's residence to check up on the things first.

He first went to his workshop, took out a transmission array platform, and used it to reach the other transmission array platform he left inside the tomb, Luna didn't restrict him so he was able to reach the place.

He had just entered the main hall, he saw Zakiya leisurely sitting on her red-black sofa near the fireplace, Rex looked around and realized that the furniture around in the hall looked very similar to the one in her room.

"Teacher, you have moved residence to the tomb?" Rex asked as he walked near her and sat on the other sofa.

Zakiya shook her wine glass in circles then took a sip and stared at him.

"What can I do? A dumb disciple of mine threw a tomb on my previous residence out of nowhere," She said in a sarcastic tone.

Rex's lips twitched, he looked at Luna on the side who quickly avoided his gaze and got the basic idea of what happened.

"Now tell me what transpired on the trip, that clone only said that someone from Higher Realm was after the tomb you conquered, I put this tomb under concealing barrier so it will remain undetected, so speak fast or if we left behind a loophole then it can cause a problem for me too," She said without waiting for him to speak.

Rex nodded, he understood how serious the matter was, that's why even when he was tired he decided to come here instead of tacking a good night sleep.

He told her everything precisely while avoiding some R-rated part for safety reasons.

After hearing the whole story, Zakiya slightly frowned.

"Tomb's matter aside, you said the person that came was from Heaven Devouring Snake Clan? If what I'm thinking is right then it's a problem, listen thro- I mean send those two snakes living in your castle to a faraway place, erase their traces too if possible," Zakiya said.

Rex frowned.

"Teacher, do you know anything about their disappearance? Is the Higher Realm targeting them? Are they Heir Candidate? Tell me," Rex said as he explained about the robbery matter.

After listening to him, Zakiya relaxed her brows.

"It's good that they left," She said but then she saw the displeased expression of Rex and chuckled.

"Brat doesn't think that much, that girl is not as naive as you thought her to be, on the contrary, she is very smart. She isn't from Higher Realm but soon, she will be from Higher Realm," Zakiya said.

Rex didn't understand her meaning, he saw Zakiya taking out an orb which was similar to a memory orb in appearance.

Under her control, the orb flew into the air then released a white light in all directions, suddenly a holographic projection of a jungle-covered the hall.

"I know that girl way before you even met her, so just sit back and watch," Zakiya said, she snapped her finger and a change occurred.

Rex saw two shadows darting through the woods, both of them were being chased by several men in black attire that completely hid their appearance.

When the shadows stopped, Rex saw their appearance, surprisingly they weren't humanoid but had the appearance of two big snakes, but somehow those snakes gave him a sense of familiarity.

Both the snakes were identical in shape and size but one of them was covered wholly in glittering emerald green scales from head to tail tip while the other had glittering crimson red scales.

One looked full of vitality while the other seemed like a faint wisp of crimson fire was covering its whole body. Both of them had pale yellow eyes with a vertical black slit at the center. Their long fork-like tongue whipped the air as they hissed at the incoming men.

The men in black grew suspicious because of the sudden change in their actions, they reacted and surrounded the two of them.

A huge battle unfolded, from the level of battle Rex could guess that it was a battle among Heaven Venerable stage experts with a man in black reaching the Core Formation stage.

The two snakes were around Heaven Venerable peak stage experts but because of their snake body covered in rock hard scales, they were able to compete against them. Soon Rex noticed and realized that the snakes were using a different type of force. It was an internal force used by body cultivators.

His eyes slightly widened, he had a guess and as he thought, after injuring around half the men but getting more cornered, the snakes transformed into humanoid silhouettes.

A blinding light covered their body and when it dispersed, Rex saw two familiar girls standing before him.

It was Ria and Mia. They stood with their back touching each other as they eyed the men surrounding her.

Ria raised her hand, a golden snake tattoo shined on the back of her hand then a long golden snake staff appeared in her grasp.

She moved her body and skillful spun the staff in her hand. Mia repeated her actions and summoned a long silver snake staff just like her.

When the men looked at the staffs their movements halted and they hesitated to advance further.

Seeing the situation turning around, the leading man at the Core Formation stage frowned.

He stepped forward and shouted at them.

"You cowards! What are you getting scared about, they got it by luck, they don't know a single thing about how to use them, caught them and we all can get a VIP status there and a spirit weapon as rewards, if we succeed then we can enjoy the rest of our lives in pleasure," He shouted but then his eyes flickered.

He saw the silver staff in Mia's hand shining, she raised it in the air then slammed it on the ground.

A formless wave of energy moved in all directions, it had no sound nor did it carried any destructive power, it didn't even manage to sway the leaves of the trees but...

Thud... Thud... x 2

The leading man saw four men around him fainting on the spot, he was still thinking how did it happen, when he felt a deep pain coming from his soul, he wanted to scream but the second he opened his mouth, he spurted out a mouthful of blood.

The morale of the group instantly fell.

Rex looked at the staff with wide eyes.

"What do you think it is?" Zakiya asked with a smile.

He didn't reply, there was only one thought in his head.

Ancient Artifact!