Chapter 160

: His Fifth Surprise

The interrogation continued.
After seeing the first man spilling the beans, the other twos jaws loosened too. They blurted out everything they thought Baiyi wanted to hear. How they were introduced into the sect through an anonymous man, as well as the benefits of being a low-rank member of the sect, and then lastly, how they were trained into half-baked ‘Shadow assassins’.
Only the last man was still stubbornly tight-lipped. His eyes reflected pupils that were dilated by both fear and rage as he glared at Baiyi. Seeing his companions confessing, he shrieked in fury,
You fucking traitors! Master Butler wont let any of you go! Not even your family!

The last cry seemed to have pierced through their minds, forcing them to remember what was at stake. Baiyi was about to ask them about the purpose of their assassination but the resulting fear had crushed any last semblance of cooperation.
The captives were completely paralyzed by the name of the Butler guy.
Baiyi walked slowly towards the last man who had interfered with his interrogation.
Maybe I should up the ante a little bit. Introduce myself more thoroughly. I dont want all of you to be afraid of that Butler guy whos over there, while ignoring the real 
monster whos right here 


The man was shaking as his eyes darted all around Baiyi, but his eyes had revealed that he would rather die than submit.
Just as Baiyi was about to fix that, the female assassin, who had previously targeted Mia, let out her last breath as she had lost too much blood.
Suddenly, flames burst out from the other four people.
The ensuing screams rang through the air, which was already boiling as the erupted flames consumed their silhouette. Baiyi quickly doused the flames with water magic, but what were once humans had turned into carbon. Even their weapons were gone, turned into ashes that dispersed when the flames had finally ceased. The only concrete thing left was the snake-shaped kris.

Damn it!
Baiyi slapped his thigh a little ruefully. The female assassin had been too quiet despite being tortured and that had created a false sense of control. Baiyi had ignored her even though she was alive as he turned his attention to the other men. He did not expect that the females death would trigger the mechanism of an assured destruction within the other men.
He was finally getting them to talk so willingly and freely, too but just like that, they were gone.
The sudden immolation came out of nowhere, all while Baiyi was distracted by both the analysis of the information and the discussion between him and the Voidwalkers. He had not noticed the change in magical vibration within the captives body.
Very fortunately, he had previously retrieved a storage pouch from the man who was the most cooperative. Whatever was stored in the pouch should have even more clues
But gods! To be able to kill off my captives right in front of me and to do that without me expecting it! 
It was the third time he was surprised by the shadowy society. Whatever cult it was, Baiyi found himself embarrassed at always being a step slower.

Judging from how fast the spell worked, Id wager it started from within their bodies. That was why you didnt see it, my pupil. In fact, Id wager its from that tattoo.

Just like Jimmy Jr., those five people all had tattoos on them that were invisible to the naked eye. The position of their tattoos varied. The men had them on their back, or the back of their hand, or their neck while the female had it on her breasts.
According to the assasins, the tattoo was compulsory upon joining the cult. The tattoo resembled a black, burning flame. It was said that the larger the area of the black flame, the higher their position. If that was true, with half of Jimmy Jr.s face being covered with the tattoo, that man must have a higher position than the half-assed assassins 1 
.

Ah, well. They were just five nobodies,
The Soul Armature Practitioner said good-naturedly.
Lets get that big one!


Already on it.
Baiyi was sprinting outside into the town. He had already disposed the burnt corpses, while the snake-shaped kris was still in his hands.
There was nothing he could glean from the blade. Even the craftmanship was mediocre. The toxins coated on the blade, the only thing that might help them trace the origin, had long vaporized when its previous owner erupted into flames.
Yet, he kept it in his own storage pouch. There was no such thing as automatic streamline production in this world. Meaning, even a mediocre item was crafted by a pair of hands. And when it was made by humans, there was bound to be a craftsmans personal mark left behind.
Of course, if he could get his hands on Jimmy Jr., that would be the best.
The merchants had previously declined to stay in the villagers home, opting instead to set up their own camp on the outskirts of town. Their reasoning was of convenience; that it was because their departure would be very early in the morning,
It didnt set Baiyis alarm off back then, but he finally realized that they were planning to flee in the middle of the night.
Just as he had suspected, the caravan had long left once Baiyi found their campsite. The only things lingering were trash and food waste. The fire place wasnt even hot, nor did it look like it was lit.
Yet, judging from the tracks freshly carved on the earth, Baiyi could tell that their departure was very recent.
Certainly recent enough to catch up with a simple flying spell.


Have a modicum of wariness! This cult had been surprising us with their dexterity so far. And now we dont even know what else is up their sleeves,
The Archmages voice was full of concern as it rang through Baiyis consciousness, just when he was about to take off.
Youre very skilled in combat, I know. But you, an Earthling, should also be familiar with the trope Dont underestimate your friendly neighborhood hero!

They are no way close to being a hero, 
Baiyi scoffed. He was already levitating to a considerable height where he could gaze far into the horizon.
He saw nothing. The surrounding was pitch-back, without a shred of torchlight. Even moonlight was absent from illuminating any moving object as dark clouds loomed low on the sky.

They are travelling in the dark, despite the numbers of their carriages and convoy?
He exclaimed.
Damn, theyre as good as an actual army.

He followed the direction of the tracks and flew full speed ahead.
It didnt take more than three seconds before he stopped mid flight. He narrowed his eyes and peered at the unending darkness.

A barrier, huh?

An invisible wall was somehow erected before him. If it wasnt for Baiyis careful nature to encase himself with Psychic Energy in a perimeter of 300 feet while flying, he would had bonked his head at the barrier.

Well, well, well. Setting up a barrier here. Trying to stop me, I presume?
Baiyi mused, then expanded his Psychic Energy to find the edge of the barrier. Instead of breaking it, he was looking to go around it.
His Psychic Energy stretched and stretched, yet he couldnt find the walls limit at all. He couldnt even find a single opening or crack either.
When that energy expanded as far as the barrier could go, as high as it could go, he was shocked to to find out that his energy had engulfed the entire area of Wyllspringshire, like an overturned bowl.
That means the barrier was an umbrella covering the entire shire, instead of a singular wall!
Wyllspringshire was not a particularly big province, but if you included the surrounding farmlands and its own mountain, the Wyllspring Beorg, it would be as large as three Celestial Fortress Academies. To construct a barrier as large as that would not be difficult theoretically, as long as you had the right materials.
But the barrier was built with a lot of constraints. They had to make it within five days, they had to evade arousing Baiyis suspicion and they had to make sure that the barrier was large and solid enough. All of that would be challenging even for Baiyi.
He might be able to construct the same within a short period of time, given the manpower and materials, but he would not be able to do that in such secrecy, let alone under the nose of a fighter as formidable as himself.

Today is officially the day with the most surprises. And I included the day when I got mysteriously summoned out of the Void!
Baiyi couldnt help exclaiming.
He touched the barrier physically and sparks immediately shot out. He felt his fingers go numb, it was a feeling he hadnt felt for a long time.
Good. This barrier wasnt made to kill.

Baiyi continued his experiments, this time with his Psychic Energy. He mustered as much as he could and willed it to breach the barrier. To no surprise, the barrier blocked his attempt again.
Lastly, he grabbed a communicating slab from his storage pouch. It was made so that Tisdale could reach him anytime she wanted, and so far every night she had been using it to bid him good night before she slept. But now, the glyphs on them had dulled.
There was no reception.
A large barrier that isolated physical objects, psychic energy and magical communication device from this province. If Baiyi wasnt here, the people would never be able to leave until the barrier ran out of power.
So what should I do now? Forcibly break through the barrier with whatever spells I can come up with, then escape before the barrier closes up again or just find the power source of the barrier and shut it down?

To be safe, Ill just do the latter. It wont take long anyway.

He expanded his Psychic Energy again, he detected the fine vibration of magic in the air that was feeding the barrier
There! 
Right in the middle of the town square
A colossal formation constructed purely out of hundreds of runes!
To be frank, as a postmodern Rohserlian sorcerer, Baiyi had inherited his masters disdain to runes and runic formations. After all, those things simplified the intricacy of magic. But now, he had to admit that there was a reason to its proliferation. The convenience and the relatively simple way of employing magic through runes were two huge advantages.
The colossal runic formation might not possess a single glyph, but their prowess was not the slightest bit dulled by it.
Whats more, they could be constructed stealthily. Some were hidden underneath the stone tiles at the town square, some were hidden behind walls, and some were even hidden within tall grasses. They could be set up without alerting anyone at all.
The way the runes were hidden was also done extra covertly, just like the one Baiyi had found on the teacup. If he didnt expand his Psychic Energy to scan the area, there was no way he could have found them.
In conclusion, Baiyi finally understood how the need to expand an underground organization, under the watchful eyes of the public as well as the legal, influential and mighty church, could train a cult to become so stealthy and inconspicuous.
And the massive runic formation was Baiyis fifth surprise for the day.

asukatarilinn
Ohhhh gosh this is sooooo exciting! A cult! I love fictional cults! Like the one in Silent Hill, and Fatal Frame 2, and Siren 2. Those are all pretty solid crazy stuffs! Fictional cults are usually pretty great additions, unless they were used for cheap thrills and shallow story-building. But still, at least they are always entertaining!
Plus! Could it be that Baiyi might have met his match? He was constantly caught off guard, and was very alarmed, although after following his adventures for a while, I think he might just quickly shift his initial surprise back into his meh I know this setting already attitudeSasuke-Uchihaly. But still! Who is this Master Butler guy? Is he Sebastian Michaelis? Is the center of the cult a 12-year-old boy or could it be someone we already know? Will Baiyi and the Walkers align themselves with this cult, or even take control of their leadership?
Lucky you, the next chapter is already published here! Read on!