A Bold lie:

The minute Tal disappeared from the mysterious space; Rigel woke up with a start. His mind was reeling, and he felt as if he had been asleep for an eternity but before he could understand what was going on, his face froze as he saw a man standing in his room with a shocked expression on his face.

Deep in Rigel's sea of consciousness, Tal was floating with a cold expression on his face. Just now, he had to wake Rigel up forcefully. Though he would have liked to take control over Rigel's body again, it was no longer an option.

The current Rigel was a lot different from before; the spiritual energy surrounding his soul was like a protective barrier which was protecting him from external attacks. Tal looked at the Black Current flickering within the condensed spiritual energy and narrowed his eyes as he remembered something.

Rigel was stunned to see the man. Even before the man took a step forward, Rigel jumped to his feet and retreated to the wall. The man himself was shocked to see Rigel waking up with a start. He was careful not to make the slightest noise and was thus surprised.

However, his surprise lasted only for a second before a vicious light appeared in his eyes. Rigel didn't miss the change. His face flickered as his spiritual energy surged out of his body and scanned the man.

A look of surprise appeared in Rigel's eyes as he felt the change in his spiritual energy for the first time. His spiritual power was no longer weak; it was like a surging storm and yet, it was precise like an arrow.

Rigel could immediately tell that the man before him was in the sixth level of Qi condensation. In turn, the man's face froze as he felt Rigel's spiritual energy scan him.

"Impossible, how can you possess Divine Sense? You are still in the first level of Qi condensation." He roared as he looked at Rigel.

Rigel mind became blank as he heard the man. "Divine sense." That was divine sense. Why would he possess it? Divine sense is possessed by only experts who are in the fifth level of Qi condensation. Rigel questioned himself, but he immediately put aside the question because he was sure that the man didn't come to his room to only talk.

"Who are you and why are you here in the middle of the night?" Rigel asked in a cold voice.

The man looked at Rigel with narrowed eyes and snorted coldly. He shook his head and said in a cold voice, "Get real kid, why would I tell you my name? Even if I did say my name, what would you do? You are going to die today, we both know that for sure."

Rigel's eyes became serious as he heard the man. He understood the minute he woke up that he was in trouble. As he saw the vicious expression in the man's eyes, he knew that he had come to assassinate him.

However, he didn't let the serious expression reach his face. His face was still as indifferent and arrogant as ever as he looked at the man. Rigel sighed lightly and took out the flying sword out of his bag of holding.

A look of ridicule appeared on the man's face as he saw the chipped away flying sword. He laughed loudly and said, "Just because you can use the divine sense, you want to contend against me using that piece of junk."

Rigel looked at the man coldly and said, "I won't fight, and you won't kill me because this isn't a sword. It is a soul linked weapon given to me by my grand uncle. You should know him; he is Patriarch SilverLeaf."

"What!!!" The man screamed involuntarily in shock as he heard Rigel. He looked at the sword and then at Rigel. He couldn't believe his ears but what he heard was certainly what he heard.

He looked at Rigel and roared in a loud voice, "You are lying. There is no way Patriarch SilverLeaf is your grand uncle."

Rigel looked at the man with pitying eyes and said, "Try me. Let me warn you though, even if I am in the first level of Qi condensation; I have a large arsenal of weapons which can kill even a spark formation stage cultivator with ease."

The man narrowed his eyes and said in a cold voice, "Don't bluff. You are..." His words froze in mid sentence as he saw a black fog emanating out of Rigel's body.

Everything the black mist touched began to corrode away at a speed visible to naked eye. In the man's eyes finally appeared a glint of dread. He looked at Rigel with a serious expression.

Rigel looked at the man and said in a calm voice, "I am not a man who shows mercy to someone who wish to harm me, but I am not a person who goes around killing people for no reason either.

I can tell with certainty that you aren't here on your own because we have no conflict between us. You should have come on someone's orders, but now you are trapped with no way out. You can't defy that person, and you can't kill me either.

No matter how I convince you, I can't show you proof that Patriarch SilverLeaf is my grand uncle and no matter what, you can't prove that I am lying either.

We are now in a stalemate. You kill me, and you will die for certain, but if you cooperate with me, I will show you a way in which both of us will benefit from this mission of yours." Rigel said with a calm face.

The man's face was ugly as he heard Rigel. He was indeed completely trapped due to Rigel's words. He couldn't make a decision. He couldn't go against Ian's orders, but he couldn't kill Rigel either. He had no proof that Rigel was telling the truth, but he had no evidence that he was lying either.

His family was a well known local power near the coast of Lake Sumatra. If Rigel indeed turned out to be Patriarch SilverLeaf's grandson then, he was certain that he would not only bring destruction upon himself but onto the entire family.

So he made a decision, he would believe in Rigel's words. There weren't many people who would lie so blatantly, and he didn't think that any ordinary first level Qi condensation stage expert would have such guts.

Besides, he saw the deadly black fog in Rigel's arsenal. On top of it all was Rigel's attitude. Rigel didn't even seem to think of the possibility that he would die in his hands. It was as if he didn't even consider the man as his opponent.

All these led to the man's decision. He looked at Rigel and said in a calm voice, "My name is Ryan, I am a sixth level Qi condensation stage expert of the inner sect."

Rigel nodded his head calmly as if he had already predicted the entire chain of events but deep inside his heart, he released a heavy sigh of relief. Rigel didn't have the time to think of an elaborate plan to fool Ryan so he said whatever he could to stop him for a moment and give himself some time to think about the entire chain of events.

Even though Rigel felt surprised at the evolution of his spiritual energy, he knew that to the current him, a sixth level Qi condensation stage expert was too big of an opponent. Handled wrongly, Rigel knew that he would die a dog's death in his hands, so he tried to talk his way out of it and to his surprise, it worked well.

Most people have never experienced deception in its purest and insidious form. People fear anything unknown; they try to manipulate the information to their point of view to escape from it. When told a lie with absolute confidence, many believe it for they fear of the unknown which comes with it.

Ryan was the same; he believed in Rigel's lie. No, he didn't totally believe in him. He made a choice and chose to believe it. If he goes against Ian's orders, he would perhaps lose his position as an inner disciple or at worse his life. However, if Rigel's words turned out to be true, he would lose all his family along with his life and thus, he chose Rigel over Ian.

Rigel chose his words knowing that Ryan would choose him over Ian. It was the Art of Misdirection. He made him think about his family and his future and prevented him from thinking of simple logic. Why would a Patriarch's grandson live in the outer sect?

Even though misdirection is just a simple manipulation of information, it is a tool used by every single strategist in the history of warfare.

Rigel prevented Ryan from thinking in such a direction by choosing his words as a diplomatic negotiation. From the very beginning, Rigel didn't want to push him into a corner. Instead, he chose to drive his purpose of assassinating him out of the picture thus giving him no choice but to follow his words.

Rigel looked at Ryan and narrowed his eyes. Their eyes met as Rigel asked in a cold voice, "You know my questions. I want my answers."

Ryan closed his head and gulped lightly, he sighed loudly and said, "Senior Ian asked me to assassinate you. As for the reason, I am sure it is because of the issue regarding the outer disciple Maze who was thrown into solitary confinement."

Rigel narrowed his eyes and asked in a cold voice, "Who is this Ian?"

Ryan shook his head and said, "Senior Ian is a conclave disciple. He came to the Rio town a few years ago from the North. Even though we both are in the Qi condensation stage, his strength is eons apart from mine. Some say that he is hiding his actual power, but even with his current strength, he can even rival mid-stage Spark formation stage experts."

"Why would such a person bother taking revenge for a puny boss of the outer sect, Maze?" Rigel asked in a cold voice.

Ryan shook his head and said, "I have no idea."

Rigel glanced at Ryan for a second and then nodded his head. He said, "Tell this Ian that my cottage was guarded by a red-robed guard so you couldn't accomplish the job. Speak to no one regarding today's night and I promise that this matter will be forever buried in my heart."

Ryan nodded his head and said, "Thank you, Young Master Rigel. I will follow your orders to the last word and in return, I hope you will keep your word."

Rigel nodded his head in confirmation. Soon, Ragnar left the cottage and slowly walked back in the shadows of the night. Rigel looked at the distant main sect and whispered to himself in a deadly voice, "Ian, is it?"

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