One week quickly went by. During this time Lute informed Isla of everything that had occurred in the past four months as well as what he planned to do. She wasn’t interested in the petty schemes of mortals like Elias, but instead it was the Heavenly Tribulation Valley she wanted to learn more about.

On a planet like this that wasn’t suitable for cultivating, it was of great interest to hear that whoever entered this valley and survived would grow strong enough to have been considered to step halfway onto the Divine Path. This half-step was far more important than it appeared. To have achieved this, one would be unmatched in the Mortal Realm. They would become second only to a true Divine.

Lute didn’t understand the meaning of this. The differences between a Mortal and a Divine, he couldn’t picture it within his mind. When he heard about the half-step between a Heavenly Emperor and a Divine, he thought that if enough Heavenly Emperors grouped together and fought in unison, a half-step Divine could be killed. He couldn’t be more wrong; however he didn’t voice his thoughts to Isla because of this ignorance.

Instead, Lute went back to the smithy and spent the whole week modifying his gauntlets to make the blade slide forward to its extended positon instead of halving it rotate. Now, it could be unsheathed and sheathed faster, his movements also became more fluid when he constantly changed forms while fighting.

But today, today was the day that he left on the month long mission. Lute already applied for extended leave. When he grabbed the mission from the Requests Hall, Lute understood why it would take so long.

Jade Skies Valley, this was the area that he needed to go to. It was a valley that was fraught with Vicious Beasts that were typically late stage Nascent Qi, Rank Two beasts. For one month, these beasts needed to be hunted and have their cores extracted. Then, upon the night of the Blood Moon time became of the essence.

On the night of a Blood Moon, the Scarlet Demon Orchid bloomed. It was a terrifying flower that absorbed the blood essence and Qi from any living thing that came into its surroundings. Aside from collecting Vicious Beast Cores, this flower was the main objective.

In order to pluck it from the ground without dying from its devouring strength, anything with Qi or blood essence needed to be absorbed by it as a distraction; this was because the Scarlet Demon Orchid could only devour one target at a time. If a core was first thrown into its range, then a cultivator could quickly rush in and pluck the flower out of the ground. It would then need to be stored in a spatial ring or anything else that had a separate dimension until daybreak and the Blood Moon had passed.

It was now finally time to leave. Lute had made all of his preparations. He had read all of the books he’d gotten from the Library and returned them. However he didn’t rent anymore. Right now, all he had in these spatial rings were his gauntlets and boots, as well as daily necessities.

Lute withdrew his weapons from his spatial ring and equipped them. The ornate black gauntlets were hidden inside of his robes. With a simple flick of the wrist the blade would easily extend, ready to slash and pierce. The boots were not hidden, they shined with a dull luster, and the black color seemed to absorb light from the surrounding area, making them stand out even more.

Lute actually didn’t mind this because he believed that if his opponent’s eyes were drawn to the boots, his opponents would assume that he planned to do combat with his legs, allowing for his blades to slide out while they were focusing only on defending against his legs.

With his weapons equipped, and having finished checking that he had all provisions for this trip. Lute left, heading to the entrance of the Fallen Tide Hall.

When he got there, Lute found Elias already waiting. Elias wasn’t wearing a robe like Lute. Instead he seemed to be wearing a protective armor made of Vicious Beast Hide and he was holding a spear in hand.

‘Interesting, he’s a spear wielder, and with his families’ wealth, with the spear and the armor made from a Vicious Beast, he should be able to fight above his cultivation level, especially since he probably has a few life-saving artifacts upon him provided by his family.'

When he noticed Lute, Elias walked over waving his arm. He had a thin smile upon his face, however Lute could easily tell that schemes were floating around in Elias’s head, he was constantly plotting something. This was something Lute was sure of after interacting with him for a few months.

Elias narrowed his eyes as he saw two approaching disciples “Are you ready? I hope you weren’t bluffing about being able to fight against eighth level cultivators.”

Lute looked in the direction Elias had turned to. There were two disciples within view. One of which was male, the other was female. Ironically, they seemed to be polar opposite of each other.

The male disciple seemed to be ice cold. The aura he exuded was heavy and cold. His eyes seemed to be permanently squinting. His body seemed frail; as if it was so brittle it would fall apart under the slightest pressure.

Strapped on his belt were two small daggers which surprisingly were emitting auras. They were authentic spirit armaments that had a blue hue to them. They seemed even colder than the aura that the youth was emitting.

As for the female disciple, her aura was comparable to a volcano. It seemed to ferociously move about in unrestrained waves. She seemed robust and full of life. Strapped to her back was a massive Warhammer that seemed out of place because of her petite body. It was also exuding a fiery aura, seeming to increase the temperature around. There was no doubt; these were the two henchmen of Lena that were going to accompany them.

There was only once commonality between the two. Both of them had a cold glint in their eyes. As they approached Lute and Elias they both wore smiles of greeting, however, even if Lute hadn’t known beforehand they were dangerous, these smiles were fake, they weren’t too adept at hiding their true intentions.

Lute swayed slightly in place, but he remained silent. He stood behind Elias and didn’t return the smiles of greeting. He stood in place and coldly stared at them with piercing eyes, observing every movement they made.

“Hello Elias, Lena sent us to accompany you on the mission for the Scarlet Demon Orchid.”

The girl reached out with her right hand and pointed at herself, “The name’s Mirelda,” then she pointed to her companion, “The silent one to my right is my twin brother Kale.”

Elias nodded in affirmation, despite knowing these were adversaries, he still acted with formalities befitting a noble. He bowed and introduced himself.

“As you know, I am Elias Kaydriff, heir apparent to the Kaydriff House,” he then pointed to Lute, “This is also my friend Lute, he will be accompanying me as a companion, but please forgive him, he doesn’t talk much.”

Mirelda’s vison locked onto Lute. She had already known of Lute was someone who Elias spoke to frequently, but it was believed to be an attempt by Elias to get into contact with the Windcross House and Seren since it was known within the Kaydriff House he held affection towards her.

Surprisingly, she couldn’t sense his cultivation, but they had already done their research. He was focused on Spirit Smithing and Rune Mastery so his combat potential was probably weaker than an ordinary disciple because he didn’t bother to show up to sparring classes. He was also only at the Nascent Qi Third Level, so there was nothing to worry about. Mirelda quickly dismissed him from her vision deciding that he was of no threat.

“Are you sure you want to bring him along. He will probably become baggage; a Vicious Beast at the first level of the Nascent Qi Realm could probably easily kill him.” Mirelda said in a dismissive tone clearly meant to insult Lute as she spoke about him like he wasn’t even there.

Lute forcefully prevented Slaughter Aura from leaking out. He seriously wanted to strangle this person. However, he didn’t because he realized based on what she said that despite the people who tailed him every day, they seemed to still think he was at the Third Level of the Nascent Qi Realm and was weak at fighting.

But the main reason he didn’t speak up was because Elias looked at Lute with an unmistakable look that could be interpreted as, “Wait until later before you vent your anger.”

Elias turned back to Mirelda; he spoke in a light-hearted manner that Lute felt didn’t suit him. “Thank you for your concern, however despite what you may think Lute can at the very least run away. He has at least that much ability to survive or he wouldn’t be coming along. He’s coming because he needs to experience the outside world a bit… it was favor from the Windcross house.”

Lute felt like sighing, this person, he had a glib tongue when he wanted to. Elias spoke as if he had a completely different personality. He was light-hearted, he seemed docile, and he looked as if he acted this way every day of his life.

It was opposite of the cold, calculating, scheming personality Lute was used. Elias was lying, and portraying Lute as no one of significance and yet he was also saying that Lute still needed to be in the group nonetheless.

Elias then changed subjects to one of more importance. His mind was racing because there were still two more people that needed two show up, he needed them to arrive.

“Pardon me for asking, but are the disciples Ley and Halsten coming with us? I had heard they wanted to participate in this mission as well.”

Mirelda looked at Elias with suspicion. He changed the subject too quickly. But what made her the most suspicious was they hadn’t had any reports of Elias making contact with the Windcross House. If he really had, they would’ve known about it. There was no feasible way he should’ve escaped their detection.

“They have already gone on ahead and will meet us at our destination when we arrive. They wanted some time to train together against the Vicious Beasts on their own. I’m sure you have heard that the two always fight together. It takes a lot of coordination to not end up hindering each other’s strengths while in group combat.” Mirelda said.

“That is understandable….”

Neither Lute nor Elias believed what Mirelda said for even a second. However, this just meant they had to be on high alert when travelling to Jade Skies Valley.

“Shall we get going then?” Elias asked.

“Yes”

Finally they set off. Elias was at the front with Mirelda walking stride for stride next to him. Kale was walking just behind Mirelda, seemingly staying within her shadow. Lute was behind them, ever since they had left. He was forgotten by the Mirelda and Kale. He was of no threat in their eyes.

However, Lute silently walked behind them. He continuously observed them, judging their strengths and looking for their weaknesses. Both Mirelda and Kale were at the eighth level of the Nascent Qi Realm.

Mirelda seemed to be a type that rampaged about, releasing heavy attacks where ever she went. However she probably lacked in movement and defense. As for Kale, he seemed to be the opposite, he was lacking in offensive ability, but he was quick and agile.

‘So, they are like that huh… She rampages about, and he defends the openings in her defenses. Eventually they outlasts their opponents stamina until they overtake them, they were probably picked because Elias most definitely had lifesaving artifacts that could tip the scales in his favor….’

Lute coldly smirked, unbeknownst to Kale and Mirelda; their ignorance would be their undoing, this much he was sure of.