Chapter 85 85 – Reaping The Benefits



"I will take you down with me!"

The wounded cultivators yelled and brandished her saber. She planned to give up on defense entirely and only take the maniac's head with her to the grave. Jane didn't slow down her charge, fully intent on taking on the challenge.

At that moment, an arrow was released from Diana's bow. The support of a bow user couldn't be underestimated in a battle.

'World of Cuts.'

The woman activated her strongest technique, creating around her thousands of saber slashes around her made of Saber Qi. Each slash was weaker than an attack performed by a newly advanced fourth-stage cultivator, but combined, they were a danger to anyone.

The arrow was cut into shreds by the technique, and the rest of the Saber Qi was aimed at Jane, going for a mutual kill.

'Mind Paralyzing Mode – Single Target.'

Ken radiated a powerful bloodlust and aimed it all at their enemy. With her powerful soul as a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, he couldn't completely paralyze her despite his overwhelming bloodlust. The power of his bloodlust was directly linked to his soul.

However, it was enough to delay her. Some of her slashes hit Jane, activating her talismans one by one. Meanwhile, Swordsman's greatsword hit the woman's shoulder next to her neck, cleaving her body in two all the way to her crotch.

The saber technique collapsed and was canceled immediately, leaving Jane well and healthy other than a few shallow cuts that managed to slip through her defensive talismans.

"Ah, that fight was costly. I lost over 30 talismans in a single exchange!"

She whined as soon as she came back to her senses when the battle was over. She didn't expect the woman to have such a frightening technique.

She felt a slap on her butt and looked in surprise at Ken.

"What was that for?"

"You're not supposed to charge head-on against stronger enemies, especially when they're from stronger sects and have access to stronger arts. That art she just executed was at least Heaven-grade, and she mastered it to the peak of the Advanced mastery realm or so."

"So what? I'm fine, so what are you worried about?"

She was touched by Ken's care but felt weird about the way he expressed her.

"You were lucky enough to survive this time, but you might not be next time."

"Fine, but you're not supposed to touch my butt."

"Ah, just a habit I picked up when I was younger."

He remembered Sol and quickly banished her from his thoughts. When he focused back on Jane, he noticed her weirded-out expression. He realized his words might have come out as weird considering his age.

"Hey, Ken, what did you do there? was it bloodlust?"

Diana stepped into the cave and asked Ken curiously. While Jane was engrossed in the thrill of the fight and didn't notice Ken's actions, Diana sensed an insane bloodlust coming out of him for a short moment before disappearing. 

She wasn't sure what she felt since it was only for a floating moment and she didn't feel any of its pressure at all, but it seemed something similar to bloodlust.

"Just one of my techniques, don't think about it too much. It can intimidate enemies, but I only use it as a last resort since it's difficult to execute."

Ken explained briefly and continued to check the spoils. Diana knew better than to pry on his secrets, so she changed the subject as well.

"How should we distribute the spoils?"

"Let's each randomly pick 2 rings and leave it to luck?"

Ken offered and the two agreed. They each picked one ring from each group and moved their content to their rings. 

"What should we do with the disciple token of those three guys from the Divine Sword Sect?"

Jane asked with a contemplative tone. They'd probably get some rewards for retrieving it, but they might also get interrogated as to how they found it or why they didn't help them.

"We will take them with us along with the corpses."

The three hurriedly left and soon they could sense Miles' presence again following behind them. Diana took the lead again and the trio found another cave to reside in until the next day.

"Okay, so what about the carcass and the stone it was protecting? Let's see what it is."

Diana took out the stone and the carcass from her storage ring and three examined the former with their Qi and their hands.

"I can feel it gathers Qi, but other than that I don't feel anything. It's useless to humans if it is all it does, we have Qi Gathering formations that work much better."

Jane remarked. Diana kept quiet since she was the only one without related knowledge.

"Do you think it'd be useful for you?"

Ken asked Jane who was still scrutinizing the nearly cubic stone carefully. Raising her gaze, the woman locked eyes with Ken, her expression filled with accusation.

"You know what it is, don't you?"

"Ahm, I have some theories about its usage, so I'd like to have it if you don't have any use for it."

He admitted directly and asked for the stone. He didn't know this stone per se, but he sensed something with his soul when he touched the stone. His soul was far stronger and more sensitive than average, thanks to the relentless strengthening process he went through in the third stage.

Diana and Jane looked at each other and nodded in agreement. They felt they were getting closer to Ken during their adventure together, and everything was going in the right direction.

"All right, you can have the stone. But we are taking the carcass to ourselves, is that fine?"

"Sure."

The women could use the beast's sturdy body to create powerful fifth-grade armor. Despite the beast being only at the low fifth rank, it still had the defense of a peak fifth rank. It was only lacking in speed and offense, making it more balanced.