Rivers of the Night - Chapter 521

Chapter 521: Plan

“Is he really going to be here? I’m getting the shivers.”

A disciple cursed beneath his breath as he looked out onto the Dark River. His teammates were around him, a group of three as usual. They were all divided into threes just like this.

One disciple of the Nightingale Sect, one of the Resonate Eye Sect, and a last of the Bronzed Earth Sect.

The Nightingale Sect member was responsible for the overall familiarity with the Nightingale Forest as well as being the main fighting force. With the density of Dark Mana here being so high, they were naturally the most comfortable.

The Resonate Eye Sect member was responsible for scouting and keeping an eye out for changes. They had the strongest Third Eye, and were the most adept at using it.

Finally, the Bronzed Earth Sect member was their tank, their defensive specialist. But they were also responsible for detecting changes in the earth and pointing out if the Demon Chosen was using tunnels or things of the sort in an attempt to escape.

It could be said that these squadrons were a dream team of sorts. With their combination, they covered the sky and earth, and there were so many of them in the general vicinity it could be said that they had blanketed the entire forest.

Normally, this many cultivators wouldn’t be able to enter the forest without being swarmed by beasts or causing a tide of some sort.

The beasts in the Nightingale Forest were powerful, and they had strong territorial instincts. On top of this, many of them were no less intelligent than humans.

If they sensed such large changes, it would cause strong pushback.

However, this was a risk the Sects were willing to take, and they had sent their elders to the vanguard to push back the stronger beasts in the Treading Cloud Realm.

Even if they understood all of this, though, it was still highly uncomfortable.

Just standing near the Dark River made one’s bones chill. It seemed to seep away more heat from one’s body than even a snowy plain. Their teeth were chattering just standing here, and they were still a ways away from the shore.

That didn’t even mention the danger.

This entire zone was one marked “do not enter” on all of their maps, but here they were.

“Time to communicate,” the Resonate Eye Sect disciple among them spoke.

There was a grumble that came from the Nightingale Sect disciple once again, but he took out his communication device nonetheless. It was a jade embedded into a wooden badge etched with runes.

“Here.”

He spoke out a single word and then put the communication badge away. It was quick and simple, but the word pinged around to the surrounding teams until it reached their nearest outpost as well.

Chi.

The pinging hadn’t even come to a stop when three heads fell to the ground.

There was a flash of crimson and a wolf with a fluttering ruby mane appeared in the clearing these disciples once stood in, a young man with piercing violet eyes on its back.

Theron reached out a palm and waved it across the air, causing a badge to fly up into his hand. His eyes narrowed for a moment as he analyzed it.

It likely wouldn’t be long before these people were found to be dead, and then the net would converge onto him from there. However, he didn’t plan on trying to escape right now.

That would be foolish.

This was already the third team he had killed. Every time, he took the same approach: wait until just after they sent in their check-in and then attack.

But right about now, the first team was likely found to be dead. Soon, the second team would be found, followed finally by this team.

They would likely figure out that he was using the river as cover to kill them. But the problem for them was that it didn’t matter.

The fact they’re here and in such large numbers can only mean that the one who entered the tertiary entrance is quite high up in the Nightingale Sect. In fact, it might be the Patriarch. However, he probably believes that I can only come out of one of three entrances, when in reality the way I entered the Dark River in the first place wasn’t through them…

Theron had entered the river through a random point. You were never supposed to do this in the first place.

The tests from the various entrances were far more systematic and easier to counter.

It could be said that Theron wasn’t just superior to the unnamed cultivator in talent—he far surpassed his expectations as well.

But Patriarch Nightingale couldn’t have guessed that this would happen.

He had spread out these disciples as a precaution while concentrating the main force near the three entrances, not realizing that Theron could come up from anywhere because he had already mastered the methods of moving through the river in the first place.

Originally, Theron wanted to just take advantage of this to escape. But there were a few problems with this.

First, he would still be hunted down, and without the cover of the river, it would be harder to hide.

Second, the sheer numbers would be ridiculous. The Resonate Eye Sect was an especially terrible problem.

And third, he would still be stuck on this planet where a Mana he wasn’t quite comfortable with was the dominant force.

However, when he was killing the first squadron… he got an idea.

His feet nudged the sides of the Alpha, and it shot back into the Dark River, sinking down with a sharp glint in its eyes.

Step one of his plan was to unleash a true killing spree. It seemed that he had been too nice earlier. He had only killed less than 50 disciples, a drop in the bucket for these Sects.

It was time to really push those numbers and see how much they could take.