Every step he took felt heavy with mounting rage.
"If that arrogant brat Garrick hadn’t been thrown down the mountain, Master Silas wouldn’t have pushed my training schedule so hard," Malakor growled under his breath. "And now I have to hear that some outer sect trash is treating the containment zone like a playground?"
He reached the doors of the containment block and kicked them open with enough force to dent the metal.
The moment he stepped into the dim corridors, he activated his Blood-Iron physique.
His muscles expanded rapidly, tearing the sleeves of his expensive robes.
He needed this transformation just to withstand the murderous aura that constantly radiated from the caged beasts.
Ten seconds later, Malakor froze dead in his tracks.
The second-tier zone was a cavernous room filled with reinforced steel pens. Normally, the beasts here would be thrashing against the bars, roaring in a frenzy of bloodlust at the sight of a human.
But right now, the cavern was dead silent.
Sitting cross-legged in the very center of the room was Theo.
He was just sitting there, surrounded by at least twenty cages of the most lethal predators the sect owned.
And every single beast was absolutely terrified.
Theo’s Primordial Abyssal Meridians were passively devouring the ambient demonic qi in the room, creating a vacuum of tyrannical pressure.
Malakor’s eyes widened in shock.
"Hmm?"
Theo opened his eyes, ending his meditation, and looked over his shoulder.
Standing at the entrance of the cavern was a guy who looked like a walking corpse covered in gray scales and jagged claws.
The guy was breathing heavily, his eyes bloodshot, projecting a wave of bloody qi.
Theo blinked. What the hell is that? he thought.
Did Vespera let one of her half-finished experiments out of the lab again?
Curious, he activated his Predator’s Eye, scanning the gray creature standing in the doorway.
[Name: Malakor]
[Structure: Blood-Iron Demonic Physique (Flawed)]
[Evaluation: An inner disciple who ruined his human foundation to forcefully graft beast traits. Highly unstable. Currently experiencing severe emotional distress.]
"Oh, it’s just a disciple," Theo muttered, losing interest immediately.
He checked his internal status again. The ambient qi in the second-tier zone had dried up. His meridians had sucked the room clean, and the beasts had nothing left to give him.
His evolution was stalled at the very edge of a breakthrough...
"Well, this room is empty," Theo sighed loudly, stretching his arms above his head and yawning. "My body is tough enough now anyway. I should probably head down to the third-tier zone. Vespera said she keeps the really weird stuff down there."
Without a second thought, Theo stood up.
Theo just dusted off his pants, picked up his mop and bucket, and walked past the cowering beasts toward the entrance to the third-tier death pit.
He pushed the vault door open with one hand, stepped into the abyss, and let the door slam shut behind him.
Malakor stood frozen in the corridor.
Something deep inside his chest shattered into a thousand irreparable pieces.
It was his Dao heart. His hard-earned pride.
He had allowed his master to torture him. He had willingly given up his humanity, his handsome features, and his sanity just to stand in this room without collapsing.
He had viewed the third-tier vault as a myth... a death sentence that even the mighty sect elders avoided.
And he had just watched a sixteen-year-old janitor walk in there with a mop, looking utterly bored.
"Why...?" Malakor choked out, his voice cracking as his knees began to tremble.
The scales on his arms began to writhe uncontrollably, rejecting his human flesh.
"What right does he have?!" Malakor screamed, gripping his own head as the demonic blood in his veins flared up.
Inside their cages, the beasts slowly lifted their heads.
They sensed that the predator had finally left the room, leaving only wounded prey behind.