Rivers of the Night - Chapter 349

Chapter 349: Annoying
Elder Kelyne Black’s gaze shifted down to Exsaa’s corpse. She looked a bit disheveled, fatigue on her face, but it wasn’t Mana depletion. It was more of a mental fatigue from staying on her toes for the entirety of the last several hours. A single mistake could have cost her life, and that was the sort of situation she hadn’t been in for a very long time.

In fact, if she was honest with herself, as a high-ranking woman of the Black Clan, she had likely never been in such a situation before. And yet, here she was, having suffered it at the hands of a child.

She didn’t know what she expected when she finally came across Theron again, but those eyes certainly weren’t it.

Now, the trio meant to supposedly keep Theron alive were dead, and there was no one else here that could be the reason for her to leave Theron alone. So why was he so calm?

Unbeknownst to her, there was already a small shadow over her heart looking at Theron now. And her sensitivity to the Mandate of Heaven on Theron’s person was even stronger than it had been on the Crown Princes.

However… she was also someone who had suppressed those ill feelings enough that she had managed to become a high-tier Gold Mancer nonetheless.

Even if she was more sensitive to it, her resistance to it was likewise far greater.

“You are… more impressive than I thought you to be. I thought I had overestimated you enough, but it seems that I still undershot it. You must be… quite valuable to the Seijin, and I can see why that is. I wouldn’t want to lose you either. If it were up to me, I would marry you to my granddaughter… maybe you’d be able to teach her some humility…”

Theron didn’t reply. His body was swaying slightly in the wind, his fatigue so heavy that his legs couldn’t stop themselves from shaking.

He was quite thankful to Exsaa for taking out Vellan for him; he didn’t know if he’d have had the energy to fight someone with stronger close combat capabilities.

But before he could even relax, here came another challenge.

How very annoying.

It was truly endless.

Theron took a breath and exhaled, sparks of heat lighting up his throat. It seemed that he was becoming angry again.

If not for this odd bloodline in him, it would be hard to tell. His control over his emotions was often too strong, and he had become so good at ignoring how he really felt in favor of what made the most sense that he had even somewhat lost the ability to see through his own thoughts…

Ironic, considering how easily he saw through the thoughts of others.

Elder Kelyne Black seemed to notice Theron’s fatigue. She looked him up and down and then slowly shook her head. There was a hint of pity in her eyes, and a hint of praise at the same time.

A cultivator that could react like this in the face of one challenge after another… was well and truly one worthy of running to the very end of their path.

“Come with me, Little Theron. There are some fates that you cannot escape. Knowing the Seijin Clan, they will be unlikely to punish you for this, and will probably reward you instead. If anything, everyone you’ve harmed here will end up suffering far worse than you.”

There was a bitter smile on her face when she said this.

This was the fate of little people. She just didn’t think that the Black Clan would end up suffering like this.

Of course, she had no idea that Theron had spared the most important pillars of the Empires. The Black Clan wasn’t nearly as crippled as she assumed.

Theron took a breath and exhaled, seeming to consider it for a moment. But then, he shook his head.

If it was any other Clan, he might accept. However, he knew that if he went to the Seijin Clan, he wouldn’t have any ability at all to control his emotions or temper.

It didn’t matter to him how much the Thistles humiliated him, how much the Nightingales looked down on him, how much the various Nobles or Crown Princes snubbed their noses at him. He could easily let it roll off his shoulders.

But this Seijin Clan… he wouldn’t last a single day before his head was on a pike.

In that case, there was only one path out.

“Little Theron, you…” Elder Black sighed again, shaking her head once more.

“I’ve always found those like you the most annoying,” Theron said calmly, his gentle tone almost soothing on the night air.

There was a flash in Elder Kelyne Black’s eyes as though she was taken aback by the words. Theron didn’t seem like the sort to talk at all. That could only mean that, despite the expressionless visage he was facing her with, he was truly infuriated right now.

“I once had a teacher, a certain Teacher Fern. She had a heart as large and luminant as the moon. She truly cared for people, and had all the patience in the world for them.

“But she was naive. She didn’t think before she acted, and she spoke without care. Of course, it isn’t entirely her fault that things steamrolled to this point, but if not for her, the Thistles wouldn’t have had such easy entry into the branch Imperial Academy, nor would I have become such a vital target.”

The confusion could hardly be hidden in Elder Kelyne Black’s eyes, but Theron didn’t seem to be speaking for her at all.

“You seem to be the same, though maybe a little worse. You aren’t as selfless as her, but you do truly care about me in your own ways. It’s just that your gestures are just as empty as hers were.

“That day, on the stage, I said it once, and I’ll say it again. It seems that my books and my love of them have no place in this world. The only thing people respect is power.”

Theron flipped a palm, and he swallowed his last Vital Bloomstone.