Rivers of the Night - Chapter 659

Chapter 659: Breach of Trust

The words the Matriarch spoke were the last piece of the puzzle that Theron needed to grasp.

He was wondering what Patriarch Nightingale had been planning out this entire time, and how it related to Lyrah.

Suddenly, everything made sense. In fact, from what it seemed, Patriarch Nightingale had probably been the one to set Lyrah up with the current Patriarch of the Umbra, orchestrating Lyrah’s existence and even her path to becoming a disciple of the Nightingale Sect.

In fact, he had probably purposely slowed Lyrah’s cultivation, taking her soul not just as a matter of control, but so as to weaken the Umbra Clan’s wariness of her as well.

If Lyrah had her complete soul, she would have long reached the Dome of Heaven Realm, and such a person would be too much of a threat for the wives of Patriarch Umbra to ignore. If Lyrah ended up dying too early, it would be a huge detriment to Patriarch Nightingale.

This also explained why Lyrah was so close to the Quasi Dome of Heaven Realm, and yet Patriarch Nightingale didn’t seem to have any plans in place to kill her any time soon.

He had never wanted to kill her in the first place. He wanted to use her.

He had another method of controlling her, that being none other than Lyrah herself, just as Theron had deduced.

Someone as cautious as Patriarch Nightingale—a man who also knew for a fact that he couldn’t control Quasi Dome of Heaven Realm experts with his King Soul Lamp—wouldn’t have waited until the last hour to deal with Lyrah. To avoid mistakes, he would have dealt with her long ago.

Theron couldn’t help but shake his head inwardly.

Patriarch Nightingale was truly scheming. Maybe it made sense for someone who was so old, but he also somehow felt wise beyond his years.

Yet, he had fallen to Theron’s blade nonetheless.

Even Patriarch Nightingale couldn’t have possibly imagined that while he was orchestrating the fall of the Umbra, it would be a child who was a mere fraction of his age that took his life in the end.

But this was the reality of the martial world.

Scheming, books, intelligence, planning, and forethought… it could only take you so far.

Maybe this is also why no one ever questioned how old Patriarch Nightingale was becoming. He was in the spotlight for so long, but no one ever wondered just what he had stumbled into to allow it. Maybe those clever enough or strong enough to want to find out were also wary of the Umbra and what the Nightingales had once been…

“I’m sorry to inform you, Matriarch, but I have no idea what this Soul Method is,” Theron said before the Nightingale Ancestor could reply.

The Matriarch’s gaze sharpened. “It seems you didn’t—”

“I understood what you said perfectly well. But I think you’ve also misunderstood something as well. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m no Dark Mancer—I’m a Water and Dark Dual Resonance Mancer.”

The pupils of the Matriarch constricted into pinholes.

“In fact, my Dark Mancy is far weaker than my Water Mancy.”

Theron lifted up a palm, facing it toward the skies. All the water in the courtyard thrummed, releasing a resonant hum.

The temperature plummeted, a deathly chill hanging in the air. And yet, the water continued to flow.

Ancient markings danced in the depths of Theron’s eyes, silky strands of blue Mana hanging in the air, threaded with Rune-formed lace.

Primal Resonance.

The Matriarch could hardly hide her reaction at all.

“As you can see, my Water Mana Resonance is at a Primal Resonance Grade. My Dark Mana Resonance, however, is still just at Celestial. You seem to have a lot of questions about the Dark Resonance half of my family. Why haven’t you asked anything about my Water Resonance half?”

Theron smiled a gentle smile.

Maybe this wouldn’t work if the Matriarch hadn’t already seen how deep his connection with the Nightingale Ancestor Bird was. Someone as wise as a Dome of Heaven expert wasn’t so easily fooled.

But it was much easier to drink long after you had been led to a stream. The Matriarch was already under the assumption Theron had a deep background. Accepting that it was deeper than she originally assumed was far easier.

However, Theron had no intention of banking on this alone.

When placed with an opportunity of a lifetime, real cultivators wouldn’t give up so easily. Even if it meant going on the run, if she had a chance to change her station in life, the Matriarch might even decide to outright abandon her Sect.

This was the way of the cultivation world.

Right now, they were in her palace. Who knew what sorts of traps and other hidden advantages she had here?

They had had no choice but to follow her here for reasons that became obvious after she revealed her understanding of the Umbra and Nightingales. If she had revealed that in public, it would be far harder to suppress.

But now that they were here, they had to deal with the situation as it came.

Luckily, Theron didn’t need an Ancestor Bird to help him out of this. His intelligence wasn’t something he wanted to rely on, but that didn’t mean he would ignore it.

Not yet.

“In truth, I did come to your world here for a reason,” Theron continued.

“… And that is?”

“An Ice Spirit.”

The Matriarch’s pupils constricted once more. Theron could even feel that the Nightingale Ancestor Bird was agitated. It had seen Theron take the Ice Spirit, but it didn’t expect him to mention it here.

“I’ve already taken it and fully integrated with it. No need to look.”

“You expect me to believe that?” the Matriarch asked coldly. “Only a Dome of Heaven expert could possibly do that.”

“How many Voidwroughts do you know, exactly?” Theron asked, his smile meaningful.

The Matriarch froze, and Lyrah tensed, her knees bending as she almost fell to the ground once more. Luckily, her resistance to the word seemed greater this time.

“I didn’t tell you this to rub it in your nose. It’s just that I found something very interesting when I was there. A trio of Mercenary Guild members somehow got there before me, and they were using a special method to restrain it.

“Now, if you ask me, it’s impossible for a trio of weaklings like them to do such a thing. Not to mention the fact that making it to the core—where the Spirit was—should have been impossible, but having such a unique method is at least unheard of to me.

“I, myself, used quite a special method to learn of the Ice Spirit’s existence ahead of time. Forgive me for not telling you the details, but family secrets and all. That said, I believe that this was quite the overextension on the part of the Mercenary Guild, no?

“In fact, I felt that the master of that trio was quite peculiar as well. From what I could tell, his reaction when you said the word Voidwrought was quite fake.

“Now, I don’t want to overstep any bounds or anything, but what sort of compensation do you think you could get from the Mercenary Guild for not only the loss of an Ice Spirit but such a breach of trust?”