Rivers of the Night - Chapter 364

Chapter 364: Okay
Theron didn’t immediately react to the sudden oddity.

He had heard some things about this Scholar McIntyre. He knew that he was well-respected as one of the foremost minds on the continent. But he had never heard of his cultivation level or anything of the sort.

It wasn’t as though it was impossible for assassins to have high-profile public-facing images. Theron was one such example of this. But… Theron was also an anomaly in his own right.

He wasn’t exactly supposed to act as he did—as it was very dangerous not just for himself, but for the longevity of the guild as well.

Obviously, though, Scholar McIntyre was a lot more cautious than Theron was, and his image was a lot more pruned and well-kept. Theron couldn’t remember ever having heard anything bad about the man, and for someone who was so famous, this was rare.

Very rare.

Maybe that should have been an alert in and of itself, but in truth, Theron hadn’t paid much attention to this man to begin with. If he had, he might have already sensed that there was something odd about his cultivation.

Standing across from him right now, Theron—despite having a Third Eye that was stronger than even most high-tier Gold Mancers by now—still couldn’t see through the man’s cultivation.

Scholar McIntyre looked practically like Theron had before he began to cultivate. But that was also impossible.

Simply put, there was no way that the Sangun would choose judges without cultivation level. Otherwise, how would they keep up with the military stream challenges?

Logically, Scholar McIntyre had to at least be a decent Silver Mancer. But that was what made the fact Theron couldn’t see through his cultivation all the more… interesting.

The two stood in silence, and Scholar McIntyre was making no effort to hide just how much he was observing Theron. It was as though Theron were the most interesting flower in a vase to him, and he stood over him with pruning shears, looking for the perfect amount of thorns and leaves to snip away.

“Truly fascinating,” Scholar McIntyre said calmly, finally taking his gaze off of Theron to land on the platform. “I’ve been looking for this platform for quite a while now, but Mesmeralda is probably number one in difficulty to deal with.

“Space Mancers are rare. Space Mancers that grow to such a height are even rarer. To think that her hideout’s location would end up being exposed by a little boy.”

Theron didn’t say anything. Scholar McIntyre was too intelligent to just say things like this without a purpose behind them.

Unless, of course, he was just so arrogant that he believed Theron had no chance of leaving this place. Which, to be fair, might be an adequate assessment in most situations.

But… despite not being able to sense Scholar McIntyre’s cultivation, fear wasn’t what Theron felt. Though Theron wasn’t actually sure if he was still capable of fear—not because he was so inhuman, but instead because he had something much deeper than his own basal desires driving him every day.

The truth of it was that the chink in Scholar McIntyre’s armor was that…

He had taken too long to appear.

Theron had killed his way through the Sangun Imperial Capital, slaughtered the Seijin Clan geniuses, put a Black Clan Elder’s head on a pike, and even took a good night’s rest all before this man finally showed up.

What did that prove?

It proved it took Scholar McIntyre this long to figure everything out and make his way here. On top of that, he was probably moving cautiously so as to avoid suspicion and being picked out, which meant that he had more chains on himself than Theron did.

While Theron was clear to do practically whatever he wanted in this region—at least until the Blacks reacted to Saularon and Elder Kelyne Black’s deaths—Scholar McIntyre was restricted.

He might be restricted in ways Theron didn’t understand just yet, but he was restricted nonetheless.

Which also meant that all of this talk was just a method of regaining and establishing control over a situation he didn’t feel like he had all the cards in.

Scholar McIntyre smiled, his gaze meeting Theron’s. Then, his gaze shifted down to the hand that Theron had once held the moon stone in.

“That, however… that surprised me even more. Could you be even more valuable than the platform itself? I can’t help but wonder…”

Theron still didn’t reply, and his expression didn’t so much as change, but he thought of the changes to the moon after he entered the Secret Realm of the Luminescent Moon Sect.

Could it be that this was what Scholar McIntyre was referring to?

“A lot of people have been looking for you. I can’t lie, I was very sad to see the moon stone destroyed right before my eyes. I thought that this was finally my chance to ascend.

“But then I thought… who could possibly cause the moon stone to crumble like that? It must only be someone with the one bloodline recognized by it, no? In which case, I have a feeling that whatever is in your body is far more valuable to me than anything that’s here.

“So, how about it, Theron Galethunder? Will you come with me obediently? Or will you resist?”

He smiled as though he already knew the answer. He had just watched Theron fight it out against an entire city—would he be foolish enough to believe such a young man would keel over just because?

“Okay,” Theron said.

Scholar McIntyre blinked as Theron stepped down from the platform and unceremoniously walked to his side.

Then Theron just stood there as though waiting for the Scholar to lead him away.

Theron’s expression was calm and unbothered in a way that left the Scholar feeling on edge, as though he didn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

The Scholar stood there, waiting for the other shoe to drop, but Theron just reflected his actions.