Chapter 134: The Name

Chapter 134: The Name

“Wait here.”

Elder Yu led William into an empty room with a bed and nothing else. A familiar setup to when Ren Bo had extracted the impurities out of his body long ago, or rather, long ago in his view.

She moved as if she was about to turn to exit the room but changed her mind at the last moment. Her hand made a grabbing motion at him before a frown showed on her face. After repeating the action without what she expected to occur, she invaded his personal space and touched the spatial stone hanging off his neck.

“What happened to the stone?”

William leaned back a little to make some space, not that it was effective. He quickly said, “Nothing.”

“I was prevented from removing the pills. I can’t even tell it apart from a regular stone,” Elder Yu said with more fascination than anything else, “The low-grade spatial stone I gave you isn’t capable of that.”

The way she was staring at him suggested that this wouldn’t let go. Call him crazy, but the need to tell a half-truth was higher than ever. Even with the Grand Elder having accepted that there was no way he could possibly know why the Shard had gone dark, one mention of Sophia and he would be strapped to a chair and interrogated, or whatever the equivalent was here.

On top of that, William didn’t think it was wise to speak of Sophia since the Grand Elder was so close to the Empire. Even if he seemed benevolent, that didn’t change the fact that the Grand Elder was an old monster with thoughts he couldn't comprehend. The Grand Elder was only young-looking on the surface, but with how he commanded respect, who knew what the true age was?

“It was one of the rewards that was given to me. An upgrade of the spatial stone,” William said hesitantly, “I didn’t notice a difference. I thought I was fooled.”

Elder Yu surprisingly chuckled before stepping back, letting him breathe a little easier. “Perhaps you have the luck to escape this situation without much harm. You were handed a treasure never seen outside the control of Spirit Severing Realm seniors belonging to a strong force.”

He immediately felt chills. She saw that.

“Keep this to yourself, Wei Liang,” Elder Yu warned, “And I will pretend this conversation never happened. No matter how much the sect values your potential in the future, that stone will be enough for someone to make you disappear. This includes the Grand Master.”

Without asking the obvious question about why she wasn’t tempted, he had another burning in his mind. “Why? What makes this stone special?”

Elder Yu stared at him for a moment. “The rumored reason I will not explain, not because I don’t want to, but because I don’t fully believe something so ridiculous.”

William couldn’t say he was happy about being told he had something great without being told why it was great. Then Elder Yu told him more bad news.

“And do not look for information personally. I will do so in your place to avoid rousing any suspicion. You can never be too careful with this.”

“Wouldn’t it have been better to keep me in the dark?” William was all for knowing things, but this seemed entirely pointless. All he got so far was that he had a super unique spatial stone that would turn the entire sect against him if discovered.

“That was a consideration,” Elder Yu said seriously, “But there’s a chance you might have used one of the known abilities of the stone by accident.”

“Yes.”

“Show me,” Elder Yu ordered.

William nodded firmly and spread the Qi in his body evenly through his body. As expected, it took a second, but it was ready to be activated. Unlike before, he would get to show off its mighty name.

“Fury of the Five Heavenly Dragons!” William roared as his Qi blazed into existence in the middle of his yelling around his body, flickering like ethereal flames.

[-200 Spiritual Energy]

Elder Yu stared at him silently for a long second. “Impressive. I sense this works as a multiplier. Attack me at your strongest.”

“... The room?”

“I isolated us as soon as we entered for privacy. There is no reason to delay, Wei Liang.”

He nodded firmly before envisioning the Seedling in Elder Yu’s place. With a guttural snarl, he launched himself toward his imagined enemy. He tried to punch his first through the featureless face with every bit of his power.

Unlike the actual Seedling, Elder Yu was not vulnerable to his attack.

William grunted in surprise when his fist came to a sudden stop, and a muffled explosion of Qi spread from the impact against Elder Yu’s palm before it was dissipated by a transparent barrier that shimmered briefly before disappearing.

“Good!” Elder Yu praised with a toothy smile, “If you can create an Earth-Tier equivalent of this skill, it will make you near unstoppable among cultivators in the same major realm!”

He was stunned at the emotion she was showing. After a quick review of his memories, he confirmed that Elder Yu had never done anything close to this.

“How long will this skill be activated?”

“One minute,” William answered, still in a daze.

“Not bad,” Elder Yu nodded, “But there is an issue with this skill that cannot be overlooked.”

He was snapped out of his daze at how the aura around her turned dangerous.

“This... name,” she spat, “I will not have a future sentinel running around shouting something so ridiculous. You don’t have to change it, but you can never say it out loud in such a manner again.”