Chapter 240 July 17th, 2032 | Grave Robbers

Kaze overlooked a satisfying plot of land that his Immortals plowed under the supervision of his professor, Fey Roybock.

"Is this to your specifications?" A redhead next to him asked with a slight smile.

"It's excellent." He smiled, looking at his teacher with a fond gaze. She momentarily caught sight of it and blushed, returning to giving directions to a volunteer in embarrassment.

"Do you think that she alone had made this happen?" Sage mused, narrowing her eyes.

"Of course not." Kaze smiled, turning to her, "You have different roles, and you've both performed them well. I've already praised you, have I not?"

"I'm glad that you genuinely see a positive aspect in me." She smiled amusedly, "I was beginning to think that you only saw my bad ones."

"I've noted many positive aspects of you." He scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Like what?" The redhead mused, challenging him.

Kaze glanced at her breasts, ass, and mouth before locking eyes again with a charming smile. "That's a secret."

"Proof that hard work isn't enough for men." Sage scoffed, trying not to smile but failing, "Isn't it time for you give your sex ed teacher the same praise?"

"While I'd love to, I can't." He smiled, "She deserves more than a token of appreciation, and that's all I can give at the moment."

"What are you doing?" Sage asked with narrowed eyes, "Or [who]?"

"I'm searching for something, and I assure you it's not sex." Kaze replied mysteriously, "Were it a potential service, I would ban it in the Underground Bizarre."

"Hoh?" The redhead mused, "After experiencing every fantasy and nightmare imaginable, you're searching for something that no person would ever seek?"

"More or less." He winked charmingly, "If I find what I'm looking for, I might be willing to let you try it with me. While I'd make this offer to a sane woman, you may be twisted enough to inspire an exception."

"Will you at least give me a hint?" Sage requested with a hypnotic smile, "It's a woman's job to keep a man guessing, not the other way around."

"Must you imply I wouldn't have told you had you explicitly asked?" Kaze scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"What would be the fun in getting a straight answer?" She mused, raising her eyebrows, "Imagination is the best part; I just want [a taste]."

"What I'm looking for is similar to bondage gear." He responded hypnotically, narrowing his eyes in a predatory gaze, "Something I could use to tie you up and punish you for your misdeeds."

"Sounds thrilling." Sage bit her lower lip with her left canine, using her hands to adjust his collar. "I suppose I'll have to be an extra bad girl. You know, to give you [a real reason] to use it on me."

"You needn't worry about that, Sage." Kaze chuckled, turning and walking toward the forest on the east side, "I already have plenty; I'm just not in the mood."

The redhead's chest tightened as he disappeared into the forest, increasing the pressure on her lip to contain the thrill and anxiety crashing into her. "My imagination is on fire; now, I want [a real taste]. So I suppose I'll need to get you in the mood."

═─┈─═

Kaze walked to an area a few miles east of Immortal Skye that he put under a persistent concealment technique using Soul Qi as the medium.

It had metal walls like the private cultivation grounds, topped with Spirit Qi-enhanced razor wire that could shred through his cultivators.

"Thank god it was the blood of a Cultivation Lord, weak as she was." Kaze scoffed, entering through the gate, "Otherwise, the stench would be unbearable."

The area was nearly identical to his private cultivation area. However, instead of the pond containing frigid water, it was overflowing with blood from Malitan soldiers, sick civilians, and the Silver Medallion cultivators.

It would smell putrid were it not for Mary Emerson's blood, which continually purified it.

"I know you vile mongrels lack honor like your master." Kaze scoffed bitingly, searching through the reeds around the pond intently, "So you needn't hide—speak of the devil."

When he saw a red plant sprouting, seemingly lined with silver leaf, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, no longer concerned by the smell.

"I never thought I'd be grateful to fight cowards." Kaze chuckled bitterly, "Or that I'd be excited to see you, but here I am."

He kneeled and closed his eyes, putting his left hand above the plant and his right hand under it. His body radiated with a golden light as he churned his soul core slowly.

Snap!

Kaze snapped his fingers, and sickening wind blades cut his hand, pouring golden blood onto the plant. It instantly shot three feet above the ground, wrapping around his arm with razor-sharp leaves.

"Don't be greedy." Kaze grinned in pain, feeling it constrict like a python, "I'm not going anywhere."

As it squeezed, the blades cut through his un-tempered divine body constitution like mortal skin.

The thirsty plant drank the blood from his wounds, turning the plant red and gold. Veins in the ground lit up and pulsed, revealing a fishing net of roots underneath, feasting on his blood.

"Yes, that's right." Kaze grinned, "My blood is far more nourishing than Mary's, is it not? It's because I'm better at soul cultivation than her.

Once you remember that the difference between our cultivation is correlated with our strength, you'll understand how foolish it was to attack me."

Red electricity pulsed through the plant, causing it to recoil. It was only a minor shock, but the plant had never experienced something so painful and unnatural.

"I'm here to make a deal with you." The emperor announced, "If you comply, I shall reward you handsomely. Should you refuse, I will put you through torture far worse than death."

The plant sprouted around him in a dozen locations, stalking him, waiting to strike.

"I advise you to accept my generosity." Kaze grinned mercilessly, "For I know more about you than yourself—and lack mercy for your kind."

The plant retracted slowly, taking its time to strike.

"Your brethren exist everywhere that a weak coward seeks revenge." The emperor claimed brazenly, "And weak revenge seekers exist in all five planes.

Cowards carry your seeds when they go into battle, so you'll kill more enemies, destroy their lands, and reap their children's lives. Your life is proof of that."

The plant sprouted behind rocks and other hard-to-see areas, trying to catch him off guard.

"The strong have many names for you." Kaze smiled relaxedly, "They call you the Hands of Hell, Coward's Ambush, Torture Tendrils, Razor Weed—Grave Robbers."

Hearing the [praise], the plant aggressively sprouted in areas only a few feet away.

"While you have many names and backstories, there is one commonality anywhere you go." Kaze grinned murderously, "You're hated. Resented. Despised.

You've robbed us of our fallen brethren, making corpse extraction impossible on battlefields. You've ambushed our people and stolen our children. You're made us destroy our lands."

The constant reinforcement led the Grave Robbers to grow about a foot, with twenty-four sprouts twisting in the area, preparing to strike.

"And so—" The emperor began with a wicked grin as it shot at him from all directions, wrapping around his body and shredding it.

Golden blood flowed into the ground, turning the emperor's body into a crimson, twisted nightmare.

"I've seen every creative way…." Kaze laughed with a crazed grin, "To torture your kind imaginabe."

The plant panicked, feeling his sinister aura. It quickly wrapped the emperor's neck and constricted, trying to kill him instantly.

However, the moment it tasted blood from Kaze's neck, it turned green progressively, looking as though the emperor had injected it with a green syringe, creating a blotchy mess.

The Grave Robbers recoiled, thrashing on the ground as the ground pulsed and the blood pond rippled. If the plant could scream, it would be shrieking violently.

Feeling corner, tendrils shot from the lake and began thrashing the ground, chopping off the sections that drank his blood.

"Posioning one's blood, overloading you with Soul Qi, Spirit Qi techniques, fire techniques, and rupturing all the blood cells in your body." Kaze explained sinisterly, "I personally like the last one.

Not only does it hurt like hell, but you must also spit out my blood and hack off all tendrils that touched me, giving me your blood, lest you wish to die of poison.

It's brutal torture only a select few with blood techniques can inflict on your kind—and I'm one of them."

All the tendrils retracted, trying to get in the ground but falling short, still twitching as green life pushed the parasitic blood out.

By contrast, the emperor's embattled body radiated with a golden light, and all his wounds healed, making the terrified Grave Robbers recoil further.

He stepped forward, making the plants drag backward against the ground.

"Luckily for you, I'm here to cut a deal." Kaze smiled murderously, "I need you to mature a portion of yourself within a month's time for me to create tempering treasures.

I cannot allow my partners to face enemies stronger than themselves with untempered bodies.

If you comply, I shall let you temper my body directly and feed you [select] enemies. Should you refuse, I will torture you daily into forced maturity, reaping your life for subpar treasures.

Do you understand my proposal?"

All the bloody tendrils moved forward, collecting at the emperor's feet, seemingly bowing.

"Excellent choice." He said, waving his hand.

A golden light radiated in the pond, revitalizing the tendrils at his feet, healing them.

"Now, let's continue my tempering." Kaze grinned while spreading his arms, madness flickering in his eyes, "I will not move, so send as many tendrils as possible and feast to your heart's content."

The plant cautiously sprouted around him, curling around his limbs slowly before constricting, sending pools of blood crashing to the ground.

He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, summoning the blueprint for Paradox of Healing to heal his body and create blood.

"Sage dying a gruesome death here [by her request]." Kaze chuckled chillingly, "I lack the poetic charm necessary to capture such beautiful irony.

So I'll pray that she reigns in her insatiable desires for the both of us. [Again]!"

More blood crashed onto the ground after Kaze gave the order, causing the Grave Robbers to constrict again, ripping apart his flesh and drinking his blood.

After his body healed again, the plant tensed up, instinctively driven to run away to retain its gains. However, the emperor cut through the desire instantly.

"Again." He ordered chillingly, "You must mature, and I must temper. So we will do this until you can no longer break my skin.

Since you get stronger after every drink, it'll be a while. So I suggest you get started."