Kaelan transformed into Void Energy and slipped away.
His body dissolved into the surrounding Void Ocean, becoming indistinguishable from the endless currents of Void Energy.
Within moments, he vanished from the cultivator’s sight.
However, he did not flee far.
Several thousand kilometres away, he stopped.
Then he turned and observed the battlefield from afar.
The cultivator remained vigilant.
The silver sword stayed in his hand.
The phantom mountain continued floating above his head.
Neither disappeared.
Clearly, the cultivator feared Kaelan might return.
Then a new disturbance appeared.
The Void rippled.
A wooden ship slowly emerged from concealment behind the cultivator.
Kaelan’s eye narrowed.
The ship appeared ancient.
Cracks covered its hull.
Several sections looked as though they might collapse at any moment.
Most importantly, he sensed no Tier Five aura coming from it.
Not even close.
The ship barely possessed the fluctuations of a Tier Four treasure.
The realisation immediately dawned on him.
He had been fooled.
The attack had not come from a hidden Fifth Tier Transcendent.
It had come from the ship.
Somehow, the treasure had unleashed a single Tier Five attack.
The cost, however, was obvious.
The ship was heavily damaged.
Its aura had become unstable.
Several runes on its hull had completely burned out.
The treasure would likely require decades, perhaps centuries, to recover.
Kaelan remained motionless.
His first impulse was to charge out and attack again.
The cultivator was clearly exhausted.
The treasure had already been expended.
The opportunity seemed excellent.
Yet he quickly dismissed the idea.
The silver sword energy still posed a threat.
Every strike bypassed his Void Monster Way and attacked his True Spirit directly.
His body could regenerate.
His True Spirit could not.
Another few attacks might cripple him permanently.
No treasure was worth such a risk.
Instead, he continued observing.
The cultivator carefully entered the wooden ship.
Moments later, the vessel began moving.
It sailed through the Void Ocean like an ordinary ship crossing a sea.
Kaelan silently followed.
The distance between them remained vast.
Far enough to avoid detection.
Close enough to maintain visual contact.
As he followed, curiosity gradually replaced caution.
What was a Tier Five cultivator doing at the edge of the Void Ocean?
There were no valuable resources here.
No powerful worlds.
No famous ruins.
Nothing that should attract a Fifth Tier existence.
Hours passed.
Then days.
Finally, Kaelan stopped.
His body materialised from the Void Energy.
Ahead of him, the wooden ship approached a world.
The vessel sailed directly toward the crystal barrier surrounding it.
Then, without slowing, it passed through.
The barrier opened.
The ship disappeared inside.
Kaelan stared thoughtfully.
Then his gaze shifted.
Only now did he notice something unusual.
Another world floated nearby.
Not far away.
Close enough that both worlds remained within his perception range.
Kaelan frowned.
Then he slowly turned his eye in another direction.
A third world.
His eye widened slightly.
During the battle, he had sensed a faint fluctuation somewhere nearby.
At the time, he had been too focused on surviving to investigate.
Now he finally understood.
The fluctuation had come from a third world.
Three worlds.
Located so close together.
The realisation surprised him.
“I am inside a world group.”
Sometimes, multiple worlds formed within the same region of the Void.
Their mutual attraction kept them relatively close to one another.
Such formations were rare.
Yet they were far more valuable than isolated worlds.
Where there were multiple worlds, there were often portals.
Trade.
War.
And opportunities.
Kaelan looked toward the world the cultivator had entered.
Then he shook his head.
No matter what secrets existed there, entering immediately would have been foolish.
The cultivator remained inside.
His injuries had yet to recover.
Most importantly, another world remained unexplored.
Without hesitation, Kaelan turned and headed toward the location of the third world.
Inside the first world, Clone Kaelan returned to his room at the inn.
After closing the door, he jumped onto the largest perch.
The Memory Seed floated before him.
He pressed it against his forehead.
A thread of Spiritual Power entered the seed.
Immediately, a vast stream of information flowed into his mind.
The Shadow Demon Hand Spell.
Kaelan closed his eyes.
His Spirit rapidly processed the information.
Minutes passed.
Then hours.
Every detail of the spell unfolded before him.
The ritual.
The energy circulation patterns.
The methods used to sever and refine the shadow.
The dangers involved.
The possible mutations.
By the time he finished, he fully understood the spell.
Yet a frown appeared on his face.
The Shadow Demon Hand was not a spell that could be practised immediately.
Before cultivation could begin, a ritual had to be performed.
And the ritual required resources.
Special resources.
Rare resources.
Resources that cost money.
Kaelan sighed.
“I only have eighty Low-Quality Spirit Dew.”
He silently calculated the cost.
The answer was uncertain.
Perhaps it would be enough.
Perhaps not.
There was only one way to find out.
He left the inn.
The streets remained crowded despite the approaching evening.
Demons of every race moved through the city.
Some carried goods.
Others sold wares.
Several groups of adventurers and mercenaries wandered through the markets.
Kaelan headed directly toward the first store he had visited after arriving in the city.
Soon, he arrived.
A large crowd had gathered outside.
Curious, he stopped behind them.
Most of the demons appeared heavily armed.
Fresh blood stained some of their clothing.
Several carried beast corpses.
Others hauled carts loaded with bones, herbs, and monster materials.
Their excited conversation quickly revealed the reason.
They were members of a mercenary team.
The group had recently returned from hunting ferocious beasts in the Dead Bone Mountains.
Kaelan listened quietly.
The name meant nothing to him.
He had never heard of the Dead Bone Mountains before.
The owl’s memories contained only limited information regarding distant regions.
After observing for a while, he lost interest.
Eventually, the mercenaries completed their transactions and left.
The crowd gradually dispersed.
Only then did Kaelan enter the store.
The familiar scent of herbs and pills greeted him.
His eye swept across the room.
Soon, he spotted the Rabbit Demon.
She stood behind the same counter as before.
At the moment, another customer occupied her attention.
Kaelan calmly walked over.
Then he stopped several meters away and waited.
Patience was one of his greatest strengths.
After all, he had already spent two thousand years drifting through the Void.
Waiting a few minutes cost him nothing.
Eventually, the customer finished their business and left.
Kaelan stepped forward.
The Rabbit Demon’s eyes immediately brightened with recognition.
“Senior, welcome back.
What can I do for you?”
Kaelan began listing the resources required for the ritual.
“Shadow Dust.”
“Blood of a Shadow Crane.”
“Shadow Spirit Dew.”
“Shadow Leaves.”
The Rabbit Demon nodded repeatedly.
“Yes, Senior.
We have all of them.”
Kaelan then specified the quantities he needed.
The Rabbit Demon performed several quick calculations before looking up.
“Three Intermediate-Quality Spirit Dew and seventy-six Low-Quality Spirit Dew.”
Kaelan fell silent.
The amount was not outrageously expensive.
The problem was that he did not have enough money.
His thoughts immediately turned toward creating another spell.
A new spell could easily earn the difference.
Then he dismissed the idea.
No.
He had already sold six spells.
Selling another one so soon would attract attention.
A mysterious crow producing high-quality spells one after another was bound to invite investigation.
The fewer eyes on him, the better.
Absentmindedly, he raised a wing toward the counter.
Then he froze.
Right.
He was a crow.
A habit from his previous life had resurfaced again.
Originally, he had intended to tap the counter with a finger while thinking.
Instead, he lowered the wing and began lightly tapping one claw against the floor.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
As he considered his options, the image of the mercenaries outside suddenly surfaced in his mind.
The Dead Bone Mountains.
Perhaps there were opportunities there.
The Rabbit Demon waited patiently before asking,
“Senior, should I prepare the materials?”
Kaelan stopped tapping.
“Wait.”
His eye shifted toward her.
“Do you know where the Dead Bone Mountains are located?”
The Rabbit Demon blinked in surprise.
Then she answered,
“Farther south.”
Kaelan nodded.
That was enough information.
He turned, preparing to leave.
At that moment, the Rabbit Demon spoke again.
“Senior…
are you short of money?”
Kaelan stopped.
Slowly, he turned his head and stared at her.
The Rabbit Demon felt a trace of pressure.
Still, she continued.
“The manager examined the Flesh and Blood Pill you sold previously.”
“He said its quality was exceptional.”
Kaelan remained silent.
The Rabbit Demon hesitated briefly before continuing.
“Our store currently possesses several human captives.”
“Warriors.”
“And Spiritualists.”
A strange expression appeared in Kaelan’s eye.
The Rabbit Demon lowered her voice.
“If Senior is willing to refine them into Flesh and Blood Pills, we can pay for the service.”
Silence descended between them.
Kaelan contemplated the proposal.
To the demons, humans were resources.
To humans, demons were resources.
Neither side viewed the other differently.
From a purely practical perspective, refining them into pills was no different from refining a demon corpse.
Yet another thought surfaced.
Two thousand years ago, he had been human.
A faint sense of discomfort appeared within him.
Not guilt.
Not exactly.
More like a distant memory.
A lingering attachment to something that no longer truly belonged to him.
Then he recalled the gang leader whose soul he had destroyed.
The memory quickly weakened the hesitation.
He had already crossed that line.
Long ago.
The only reason he felt conflicted now was that these were humans.
If they had been demons, he would not have hesitated at all.
Kaelan quietly analysed his own thoughts.
The conclusion was simple.
He was changing.
Two thousand years in the Void had worn away much of what he once considered important.
Survival.
Strength.
Knowledge.
Those had become his priorities.
The rest mattered less and less.
Eventually, the hesitation disappeared.
He needed the ritual materials.
He did not wish to waste additional time earning money.
Cultivation remained more important than morality.
Kaelan looked directly at the Rabbit Demon.
“Take me there.”
Relief immediately appeared on her face.
“Of course, Senior.”
She stepped out from behind the counter.
Then she led him toward a small door at the rear of the store.
Beyond it, a staircase descended deep underground.
Kaelan followed silently.
His claws clicked softly against the stone steps.
Neither spoke.
The deeper they descended, the stronger the scent of blood became.
Soon, the staircase opened into a vast underground chamber.
Rows of iron cages lined the walls.
Inside them sat humans.
Men.
Women.
Warriors.
And several individuals whose Spiritual Energy fluctuations marked them as Spiritualists.
The moment Kaelan entered, countless eyes turned toward him.
Fear.
Hatred.
Despair.
Hope.
He saw all of them.
Yet his expression did not change.
The Rabbit Demon gestured toward the prisoners.
“Senior.”
“These are the materials.”
Kaelan stared at the cages for a long moment.
Then he slowly stepped forward.
The Tier price will remain 12 dollars for 48 hours from now.
After that, it will return to $20.