Rivers of the Night - Chapter 665

Chapter 665: Utmost Respect

Theron had personally experienced the strength of the Dagger Call Platform before. On the surface, it was a treasure capable of forcing those under its influence to tell the truth. But this was too simple an explanation for what it was.

For one, the Dagger Call Platforms Theron was personally familiar with were mere replicas of it. Second, just what did it take to force a cultivator to tell the truth? What mechanisms were required to sense a person’s truthfulness, and then further to force them to veer away from falsehood?

Simply put, the Dagger Call Platform was an incredibly powerful Soul Treasure, the sort of existence that would cause a great amount of shock the moment it appeared. But Theron was not only not aware of this, he had no choice.

He couldn’t take the chance of facing off against a Dome of Heaven expert directly, not like this.

Deploying the platform itself, though, was more complicated than it seemed. If using it to restrain souls the same way the Old Assassin had used it to keep him restrained was easy, Theron would have used it a long time ago.

However, as far as Theron could tell, it required a very special set of circumstances.

When he was restrained by it, he had been heavily injured, his soul was compromised, and the Old Assassin had caught him off guard. He had quite literally been undergoing one of the worst mental episodes of his life, one that was only surpassed by his recent Soul Tribulation.

In this case, Theron could restrain the Nightingale Ancestor Bird so easily because, no matter what, he had refined the weapon already. Macie had yet to wipe his imprint off the weapon entirely.

The instant the platform appeared, the black fog and howling icy spirits wafting from the scythe vanished. The aura of the Nightingale Ancestor Bird was suppressed, and the scythe collapsed back into the shape of a box.

Chains lashed out from the bronzed platform, wrapping around the box and chaining it completely in place.

BANG!

Theron grunted, coughing up a mouthful of blood. His face paled considerably, but a second lashing didn’t appear.

He knew what it was.

A warning.

The Nightingale Ancestor Bird was telling him that if he dared to try and use this opportunity to kill Macie, it would lash out. It seemed that Theron’s soul wasn’t nearly strong enough to completely suppress this spirit.

The Nightingale Ancestor Bird might be weaker than its peak, but that was because it no longer had its body. The trade-off to this was, obviously… that it had its soul.

In a battle, it was at a disadvantage, but it was still confident in deterring the Matriarch of the Hall. A Dagger Call Platform struggle would be purely one of the soul, though. Meaning, Theron had absolutely no chance of winning such a thing if the Nightingale Ancestor Bird chose to resist.

Theron had known this already, but it was something he had no choice but to do.

Without the Dagger Call Platform, the Nightingale Ancestor Bird could choose to lash out at him at any time. But like this, there was a buffer that he could prepare for.

Clearly, they were in a deadlock.

Though the Nightingale Ancestor Bird was powerful, it had a limited amount of power left—power it clearly wanted to use to help Macie complete the last steps of her evolution. If it fought Theron, it couldn’t do that.

By the same token, Theron couldn’t touch its bottom line either and had no choice but to leave Macie alone. Otherwise, the Nightingale Ancestor Bird would undoubtedly risk it all.

It had picked Theron before because it believed the Nightingales would truly be finished. But now that Macie had appeared, how could it still settle for Theron?

It had a duty.

Theron was the more talented party, but Macie was real family. And… there was no guarantee that Theron would still be the more talented party after Macie’s baptism.

It had waited for so long already; what was some more time? Maybe it could make a deal with Theron.

Theron leapt onto the Dagger Call Platform. It was time to go.

Just as he was about to shoot into the distance, though, he frowned. A subtle aura had fallen around him.

From what Theron could tell, it wasn’t subtle by design, but instead the impact of the Dagger Call Platform significantly weakening what the Matriarch of the Hall was capable of levying at him.

Theron’s frown deepened. He didn’t have the time to deal with this.

Macie would undoubtedly be relentless, there was still Kempe to worry about, and now the Matriarch seemed to have woken up at the most inconvenient time.

Theron’s head snapped over with sharp eyes.

The Matriarch was still standing in the same location, not moving, and seemingly pretending as though the stalling had nothing to do with her at all.

However, Theron could feel her eyes getting brighter and brighter.

‘She’s probing the Dagger Call Platform.’

The bronzed platform was frozen in place. Theron wasn’t withstanding any of the burden, but that didn’t mean that he could move. He could just put the Dagger Call Platform back, but he didn’t want the Nightingale Ancestor Bird to see his other treasures, and there was no telling if the suppression would be as strong if it was in there.

Plus, if the Dagger Call Platform was gone, he would have to personally deal with the suppression of a Dome of Heaven expert.

“Are you going to make an enemy out of me?”

The sentence was simple. It didn’t carry any fury or rage. In fact, it was as gentle as a flowing spring, as delicate as the touch of a feather to grass.

The Matriarch’s pupils constricted into pinholes, and then fury sparked in her eyes for a moment before vanishing.

Her head slowly turned toward Theron.

In that moment, Macie had finally swayed up to her feet, the world spinning around her.

Theron’s eyes narrowed as the scene unfolded before him.

In the skies, Kempe soared down, landing with a BOOM.

At the same time, the Matriarch of the Hall likewise landed.

Both of them to a single knee.

Their direction of utmost respect?

None other than Macie.