Chapter 134
The bang was deafening, his dantian shattered.
Turbid Spirit energy erupted toward the ceiling like a waterfall running backward.
Cecilia was blown back, she threw up a defensive formation, two daggers appearing in her hands, crossed them, and a resonance sheathed her in light, the blast rolled over her without touching her.
"He blew out his own dantian."
"Hehe, that’s a headache, nobody’s opening that storage now."
Cecilia was half dead with rage, and more of it was aimed at herself than at him.
Since taking command of the Heavenly Demon Alliance’s assassination corps, she’d never failed a job, this wasn’t technically an assassination, and it had still gone sideways, and it had gone sideways because she got arrogant and let the window close.
Rotten luck all around.
At least she hadn’t reported the formation and the destiny back to the Alliance yet, that would have earned her a punishment worth remembering.
She sighed.
Glad about her silence for one whole second, then the worrying started again.
"The Alliance’s intelligence division doesn’t sit around eating vegetables."
"Today will get reported back one way or another."
"Ugh, annoying."
She was still curling her lip over it when Soren arrived.
He caught the Falling Cherry Spirit Emperor’s dissipating Spirit energy hanging in the air the moment he stepped in.
He paused, he seemed to have worked out what happened.
A soft huff, and he kept walking.
Those unhurried footsteps and that steady rhythm told Cecilia nothing about his confidence, except that it was enormous.
Is he this calm because he has no idea what’s buried down here?
That has to be it.
She refused to believe anything else could produce that face.
Cecilia withdrew into the void.
A second later she yelped and went flying off Soren’s backhand.
She hit the ground and skidded a few hundred meters through the dirt, certain her backside was throwing sparks, her stealth broke open.
"What is wrong with this man?"
"Same thing when he killed my clone, he knows exactly where I am, every time!"
"There is something seriously wrong with that eye."
Through the settling dust she saw the crimson glow in his eye, the demonic pattern sitting deep in the pupil.
She wasn’t done, she activated stealth again and tried to circle him.
Soren waved a hand, timing it to the instant.
His palm closed around her throat.
Cecilia felt her air go, her figure pulled out of the void again, coughing, kicking, hanging off his hand.
Contact tripped the panel, and her data filled in.
[Cecilia]
[Upper-Tier Demon Emperor.]
[Commander of the Heavenly Demon Alliance’s Assassination Corps.]
[Dual Cultivation Partners: 0.]
[Dual Cultivation Count: 0.]
Soren’s mouth curved.
By every number on the panel, she met his criteria without a gap, strong, too, and high-ranking.
There was one line that made him look twice to be sure he’d read it correctly.
He nearly lost his composure, she wore a form-fitting black dress that flattered a tall, well-proportioned figure, and the line of her waist and hips was close to flawless, it was the number above that which surprised him.
Whatever.
He let it go, probably he’d spent too much time looking at Victoria, and the comparison landed harder than it deserved to.
The question now was what sat behind the veil, if she had buckteeth under there, he wasn’t going to live with it.
That thought alone put a surge of presence into his eyes.
A soft swoosh, and the black veil went to ash.
Underneath was a face worth the wait.
Large eyes with stars in them, a high delicate nose, pale lips like carved jade, and skin fair enough to show a faint peach flush underneath, she was the kind of pretty that made a man want to bite something.
Soren let out a quiet breath of relief, she hadn’t disappointed him.
He simply hadn’t expected the Heavenly Demon Alliance to be sitting on a woman like this with nobody’s fingerprints on her.
Which was down to the Earth Demon Ancestor being her uncle, with looks in that bracket, half the Demon Emperors in the alliance would have tried something otherwise.
Let’s see the strategy first.
Soren read down the glowing lines, and his expression warmed with amusement.
Interesting.
So that’s how I have to conquer her.
Fine by me, adds some flavor to the process.
He closed the Strategy Encyclopedia.
And at that moment, the Falling Cherry Spirit Emperor started laughing.
He’d been slumped on his knees since destroying his dantian, hair loose and hanging, a ridiculous sight.
Ridiculous, but the laugh carried something complicated. Regret, and a kind of grim satisfaction.
He hadn’t known Cecilia was shadowing him until she surfaced, he’d watched her stay behind to hold Arcturus off with his own eyes.
None of that mattered now, he’d been fast enough to get the skeleton into his storage, fast enough that even she hadn’t reacted in time.
Otherwise today would have ended differently.
"So you broke into Middle-Tier Demon Ancestor, so what?"
"You’re still walking out of here with nothing!"
"Soren, oh, Soren."
"One step too late!"
"Hahaha!"
"Laugh it up," Soren said.
Demonic coercion came down on the Falling Cherry Spirit Emperor and hauled him into the air.
His body wrung out like a wet rag, twisted into a knot. Blood came down like rain.
Brutal.
That was Cecilia’s first real impression of Soren after meeting him face to face.
Not that she’d have done differently, the Spirit Emperor was useless now, she’d have killed him too, just not like that.
Her methods were more elegant, one needle and done.
Soren looked at the blood spreading across the floor and took his time.
With the Six Paths Form Diagram and the Hungry Ghost Path Demonic Form he could use the man’s blood essence to call his soul back, gather his scattered Spirit energy, and force the storage open whenever he wanted.
But that was settled business, it could wait, there was something here he wanted more.
He turned back to Cecilia, his tone didn’t change.
"From today onward."
"You are my property."
Never mind belonging to you, who are you calling a property?
"Filthy demon, keep dreaming!" With the blood and demonic energy in her throat both cut off, a film of water had come up over those starry eyes.
Soren threw her forward.
Cecilia hit the floor hard, she ignored it, scrambled up, and triggered her forbidden techniques to fade out.