Chapter 285: Arrival

***

"Do you think that bastard would help those folks?" A male asked a female who was by his side in a curious tone.

"Definitely" She replied.

"It's as if you know him so well" The male said with surprise in his tone.

"Hahaha." The female only laughed raucously and didn't say anything else.

Without surprise, these people were Lenna and Maxwell. They had revised their plans thoroughly and then decided to change it. Then they came up with a scheme which was to send Alex far away, to a place where his uncle wouldn't be able to rush over to quickly protect him if his life was critically endangered.

Not long, the palace arrived at Jameson state. Then moving at an high speed, it blazed through space to the city where the Song of Sinners valley was located.

Swoosh!

Space warped and Alex appeared.

He had been brought out by the palace-spirit, and in the a place where no one would see him.

***

- Song of Sinners valley -

In a particular secret cave in a mountain...

"Has he left Smith city?" Someone who wore a blue cloak asked a group of people around him.

"We don't think so. Because if he had, the guys we put out there to monitor him would surely tell us that they saw him leaving in an ultivehicle or any other form of transportation vehicle to this city. So, since they didn't see him leave in any transportation vehicle, it's possible that he hasn't left. But we aren't absolutely sure, as he could have left using another transportation means" Someone replied.

"Hmm." The blue cloaked person said.

"He can't be that heartless to ignore the old folks that went to meet him right?" He asked the cloaked people around him in a curious tone.

"Definitely" Another person replied.

"Then that means he had left using a transportation means that we couldn't detect. The bastard could even be in this city by now." The blue cloaked person said.

Then he looked over at someone who wore a dark cloak which had a large hood pulled over his head to hide his face. This person was actually very cautious that he had to even hide his face amongst these people that were around him. However, no one could look down at him as he radiated a pulse of power that caused them to look at him respectfully and without arrogance in their eyes.

"I heard that he's powerful. That he could beat peak-phase, Earth Adept stage cultivators while being an initial-phase, Earth Adept stage cultivator." The blue cloaked man said to the male who wore a large hooded cloak.

"Yes. What you have heard is true. But he shouldn't be a problem to you or your men, right?" The person in the large-hooded dark cloak asked.

"Sure. I and my acolytes are soul cultivators, while he's an energy cultivator. He can't stand a single fighting chance against my men in which just one of them is enough to grievously injure and completely damage his soul" The blue cloaked person said confidently.

Then the male wearing a large-hooded black cloak nodded his head.

"However, you guys still need to be careful. I have a feeling that the boy is hiding majority of his powers." The male said.

"Hiding his powers? Haha! What can that do against a soul cultivator? Like I said earlier, he's an energy cultivator, while I am a soul cultivator. I would unleash attacks that would simply rip his soul into shreds. And when he is dead, I will cut his limbs away from his body and throw them into the different rivers in this city. Haha." The blue cloaked man said and laughed.

"Right. Energy cultivators, and even other types of cultivators are powerless against soul cultivators. However, don't forget that if the target intended to be destroyed is too powerful, your attacks would be meaningless. Let me show you an example of how the target I want killed, chased off a soul cultivator who was supposed to dominate him in battle." The large-hooded black cloaked male said.

Then he brought out something from his spatial ring which was a crystal orb.

Once he brought it out and sent a sliver of his perception into it, a large screen that began to float in the air expanded forth from within the crystalline orb.

Then images began to move within the screen.

Everyone in the room began to watch what was going on in the screen.

They saw how Alex who was overwhelmed by Soulstorm suddenly erupted with tremendous power in the form of raging and blazing flames that radiated intense heat which chased Soulstorm far away from the battle stage. And from what they were watching, if Soulstorm had waited a second more, he would have sustained extreme-degree burns that would spread throughout his entire body and could even result in his death as the greatly ferocious flames could spread to his body and burn him to death and eventually to ashes. 

"You see what I am talking about?" The person wearing a large-hooded black cloak asked.

"Although, it's true that you guys are the most powerful. But you are only powerful and fearsome when you reach the stage to be able to leave your body and enter into the body of others to absorb their soul or slay it. But since you haven't reached that stage, don't consider yourself as the most powerful. If it was a life or death battle between that boy and that ignorant soul cultivator, he would have perished because the boy would unleash towering streams of seeming mountain-consuming flames" The person who wore a large-hooded black cloak said further.

"Hmm. I see reason in what you said. Thanks for the heads up. We would be careful in handling the boy. However, he is still no match for us. My men are in the initial-phase, Firmament Soul rank which is the same stage as Sky Lord stage for energy cultivators. While I am in the peak-phase, Firmament Soul rank. So, how much power would he be able to erupt with to counter our powerful and deadly soul-attacks? Besides, he is not a soul cultivator. And even if he is, he couldn't have cultivated his soul to the point where it would be able to resist our powerful and fierce, soul-annihilating attacks. Therefore, what he can only do is to have his soul bombarded by the formidable attacks of my men and be dispersed by them. Haha" The cloaked person said and cackled demonically.

"Just do a clean job, for many things are at stake" The male wearing a large hooded dark cloak said. Then he stood from where he sat and said "I am going back to my academy. But as a reminder, don't underestimate the boy, and once again, do a perfect, untraceable job"

Then using his Saint-level power, he vanished from where he was to the city-teleportation station in the city, which he appeared at to teleport to Smith city after paying the exorbitant, great-distance teleportation fees to utilize the massive teleportation array or transference array installed in the inter-city teleportation centers.

Once Drille left this place, the leader of the small, mercenary group of soul cultivators who was Rebuke by name, said to the people in his group.

"I believe you all heard that Man." Rebuke said. Then he spoke further "That sly bastard would have used a form of transportation which my men over there couldn't detect to arrive stealthily in this city. He could be anywhere now. So, I want to us to be prepared for him. His uncle is tremendously wealthy and quite powerful, and so, that boy would certainly have many different types of high-quality treasures on him, and even a shocking sum of yellow sapphirstones. That boy is our jackpot. When he arrives, we would kill him, and take all of his possessions. Then we would be rich. We would be fucking rich. I am starting to have a problem imagining how wealthy I would be because of that bastard. Haha! Hahaha!" Rebuke said and laughed unbridledly.

As Rebuke was laughing, infecting others with his loud, maniac-like laughter, someone suddenly said "But boss, since you believe that boy is going to carry many tons of treasures and massive amounts of sapphirstones with him, instead of killing him, why don't we make him a captive and ask his uncle for money. That way, we would be more richer."

Once this person spoke, Rebuke arrived by his side and gave him a slap in the face.

"Greed would ultimately lead to one's downfall. Focus on the mission and accomplish it. Then every other thing would be added. Got it now?!!" He said and angrily questioned the person that he furiously slapped.

"Yes I do" The person immediately said with anguish radiating off his tone.

"Good." Rebuke said. Then now looking at his men, he said "Get ready"

***

Once Alex appeared in the forest, he stowed the miniaturized Azure Beastsman palace into his mom's spatial ring.

Then he walked away from where he had appeared in towards the chain of mountains in the Song of Sinners Valley.

After many minutes of walking, he arrived before the chains of mountains. Then not wasting time, he quickly deployed his far-seeing vision to look into the distance. And being someone that was able to split his mind into many places to multi-task, he pushed his vast power of feel-perception from his feet into the far distance. This sensory power spread out to actually cover the entire valley. And immediately he did this, he could perceive all the vibrations in the earth. Some were natural seismic vibrations in the earth, while some were unnatural. He knew what those unnatural vibrations were.

Then with a smile in his face, Alex said with a booming voice to draw them out from their hideout "Bastards, the boy that you want is here now. I advise that you surrender those kids, or be killed"