章 20: Blood Bakshi
About a minute or so after Aksai retreated to the Everwood farmland, a fourth person indeed appeared and looked around himself in irritation.
This was a 7th-stage Spirit Refiner man.
"Where did those two idiots and that woman run off along with the target? Did they decide to play hide and seek with him?"
He thought to himself and then sighed as if this was the first time it had happened.
"Hm? Wait… something's not adding up here."
However, he looked carefully at the surroundings and realized that a fight had taken place there. The residual Spirit fluctuations of spells were still in the surroundings.
A few tiny stray flames left behind by Aksai's fire-type Spirit spell were still quietly dancing on the ground, slowly losing their potency and fading into nothingness.
The newly appeared man's name was Zen Pewlu, and he was one of the main retainers of Lian Lakir. He was a tall man with a lean build and sharp eyes. He wore milky white robes that stuck to his body and highlighted the fact that he didn't have much muscular definition.
However, Zen's breath as the 7th stage Spirit Refiner couldn't be questioned. Since he had been in this stage for quite a few years, his presence was much stronger than Aksai who was also at the same cultivation level as him.
Zen also had broader battle experience than the masked woman. Aksai wouldn't have been able to kill this man if he had to fight Zen upfront. At Aksai's best, he could merely manage to get away with using the oil painting after suffering various critical injuries. And at its worst, Aksai would have died at Zen's hands.
The actual battle between Aksai and the trio of cultivators only lasted for less than a minute. Aksai almost left immediately after that. There was not much commotion caused by the fight, as Aksai had taken care of the two cultivators at the very start of the battle.
Thus, Zen wasn't aware that the three-person team Lian had sent in order to pursue Aksai and check his battle skills had already been wiped out. He waited quietly for a few minutes outside the alley, expecting either the three people or Aksai himself to come out of the alley and run into him in the process.
However, when he sensed that the alley up ahead was too quiet, Zen decided to check up on the progress. Unlike the masked trio, this man was only supposed to act as a backup and not involve himself in a frontal clash. As such, he had no intentions to take an active part in the battle if he were to run into one.
"What happened to those three?" Zen mumbled as he carefully looked around. A grim picture was painted in front of him as he sensed everything using his elementary Spirit Sense.
"The target killed those three and took away their bodies? Did he have a space storage artifact on him? The report didn't mention any of this."
Zen questioned himself as he followed the fake trail left behind by Aksai intentionally. Using the Advanced Light Steps talisman, he climbed over the long walls, abandoned houses, and dilapidated ceilings at the other end of the alley before stopping his search.
"The trail ends here. I don't know where he went off to after this point."
Zen's expressions darkened when he realized that all of them, including Lian, had underestimated their target.
"Even Nesha was killed? How can this be?"
Zen was ready to accept the fact that Aksai killed the two subordinates the masked woman Nesha had. However, even he had to acknowledge the masked woman's strength and skills.
She was younger than him and only a few steps away from breaking into the 7th stage of the Spirit Refining realm. With Lian's consistent support and her own talent, she was guaranteed to reach Spirit Refining Perfection in the future. There was no way a cultivator supposedly in the 5th stage of the same realm could defeat her.
"Haah! Nesha died without getting the chance to visit the inheritance grounds. I'm sure Master Lian is not going to like this," Zen said as he pressed his forehead and temples with his fingers. He seemed to have a headache at the thought of reporting these findings to Lian.
After all, the masked woman's identity was a bit special in Lian's eyes. And he knew that Lian wouldn't be able to sit still after finding out about the masked woman's death.
However, Zen had to do what he was hired to do. He soon reported everything to Lian, including his on-field findings.
A glass of wine was smashed onto the ground in rage by Lian after hearing that Nesha had died. It seemed that Nesha was more important in Lian's eyes than she had initially thought when she was alive.
"Who… who was that man? Take a few Blood Bakshis with you and find out. I want to know everything about him." Lian said coldly, regaining his composure. It was as if the one who broke the glass wasn't him.
Lian's previous refined attitude was regained in a few breaths. Zen nodded before going back to the abandoned alley with a few mysterious cultivators in his tow.
These mysterious cultivators known as Blood Bakshis were associated with the Lakir family. They wore dark red robes and were part of the Lakir family's hidden force. They were skilled in using demonic and dark arts. However, since Aksai had not left a trace of his being on the kill site, they weren't able to find anything about him.
All of this progress spanned over about five hours. Aksai didn't try to come back to the real world during this time.
After all, he could only reappear at the place where he was previously using the oil painting. He'd be immediately confronted by the Lakir family's forces if he ran into them at that time.
During this time, the abandoned back alley had unwittingly become a center of attraction because of the Lakir family's unusual activities inside it. It would be foolish for Aksai to return to his "crime scene" anytime soon.
Blood Bakshi cultivators conveyed to Lian that they faced challenges in tracking Aksai for several reasons. Nevertheless, they successfully crafted a black bead designed to change color to red in the presence of Aksai.
The range of the bead detection was limited to a mere 10 meters and the accuracy was somewhat questionable. However, this was already the best the Blood Bakshi could do using their heretic methods.
Accepting the bead from the Blood Bakshi cultivators, Lian dismissed them and held the bead in his palm for a while, his gaze fixed upon it.
Closing his fist, he murmured, "I will avenge you, Nesha. Just wait," while peering outside the window.
クリエイターの想い 
Grayback
Grayback Walk the path of cultivation with humility, for even the mightiest mountains bow before the gentle persistence of water. Let your perseverance carve out your destiny.
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