Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1761: Pressure Point

"You don't want to use the Legendary City Stele for the Petals of the Seeing Thorn anymore?"

Cassarae was a bit shocked by this.

It had to be remembered that not too long ago, this was extremely important to them. That was because making sure the Petals of the Seeing Thorn chose them over the Thryskai—namely the Kaelthar-was the only thing that stopped Cassarae from being heavily punished by them.

In addition, stalling the Kaelthar before they could gain strong control over this Sector would mean less likelihood that Sylas would end up being punished for the killing of one of their heirs. Plus, having this Sector in the hands of a power so much stronger than everyone else would restrict Sylas' movements too much even if he wasn't punished.

Although the Kaelthar seemed to be jokes, this was only a matter of relativity.

They certainly didn't have any F-tiers that could defeat Sylas at this point. He had long surpassed them. But, in order to put the matter into perspective, the Kaelthar definitely had many E-tiers that even the current Sylas couldn't defeat.

As one of the seven Mortal Clans of the Thryskai Race, while they were weaker than the Purvon, that didn't mean that they were weak on the scale of the universe as a whole. They had many B-tiers, and these B-tiers were certainly among the strongest B-tiers beneath the Demi-God Realm in the entire Heaven.

Sylas would never take them lightly just because he had outmaneuvered them several times, and his Legendary City Stele was a huge part of how he had managed to keep them at bay.

It was because of this Legendary City Stele that the so-called future Matriarch of the Kaelthar Clan had been forced to target Sylas and Cassarae on her own, a choice that ultimately ended in her death.

She had lacked the support of the Petals of the Seeing Thorn when she acted, and the ultimate result was clear for all to see.

If Sylas suddenly chose to renege on that deal, absolute chaos would be the least of their worries. Cassarae might lose her life—.

Sylas tossed something over and Cassarae's lip twitched when she saw that it was the affiliation removal treasure.

"You want me to leave Petals of the Seeing Thorn?"

"There's a problem with them. I just haven't confirmed it or put my finger on it quite yet," Sylas replied.

"You know, you're terrible at explaining things. Your end-of-year professor reviews must have been absolute shit."

"The exact opposite, actually," Sylas replied perfunctorily, his mind practically pacing on its own. Currents of emerald spiraled around him like rolling winds.

He had never gotten a bad review in his life. But that was because teaching was his obligation, so he had always executed it perfectly like he did all things.

When he was out here, it wasn't an obligation for him to explain things perfectly. If anything, it was a waste of his time. The only reason Cassarae was even getting so much was because she was his wife.

But that was also why she had gotten so good at reading his intentions from the smallest clues. Right now, though... she was still completely lost.

"Then should I do it now?"

Sylas suddenly looked at Cassarae, his expression calm and serious.

"You don't have to worry about the Petals of the Seeing Thorn anymore. In this Sector, they can't touch us. In fact, they presumably wouldn't dare to touch us."

Cassarae was speechless for a moment. "What the hell did you do?"

Sylas chose to give her a basic rundown of what happened.

"Huh? But if that's true, the Petals of the Seeing Thorn have even more reason to come after us. They were already leaning toward the Thryskai anyway. And now that the Kaelthar know the Purvon lost their easy path to Demi- Godhood, they'll think they have a chance again.

"In their eyes, if they take us down, the Gods might reward them with a path forward. They'll know it was your fault. How the hell are you so calm about this?"

The more Cassarae spoke, the more she felt like she was losing her mind. She had known that Sylas had to have done something big, but this was just ridiculous.

"Not if the Petals of the Seeing Thorn have bigger fish to fry," Sylas said a bit absentmindedly.

"...What?" Cassarae was still not getting it. "English, please."

Sylas's response was bringing out a corpse.

Salivar's body plopped down, dead and lifeless. Raising a palm, a complex seal appeared above his hand. But, just when it looked like he was going to smash it down, he stopped.

The Death Seal of Reaper Sealwright.

"Do you feel that?"

Cassarae fell into silence for a long while and then pressed a hand to her back, her fingers gliding along the etchings of a tattoo-the tattoo given to all members of the Petals of the Seeing Thorn upon joining.

"Is he a member of the Petals of the Seeing Thorn?"

"No. He's the E-tier Cryst Emperor of the Seeing Eye Guild that I killed."

Cassarae's eyes narrowed and it finally clicked for her.

Sylas received a Quest from who he presumed was the God Thryskai Clans. They knew more about the subterfuge of the Seeing Eye Guild than they were letting on.

So the question was, what did that mean for the current Petals of the Seeing Thorn if they were related to the Seeing Eye Guild?

Clearly, the Petals of the Seeing Thorn were meant to be the eyes and ears of the Seeing Eye Guild, but they had been separated and severed from one another for a very long while.

It was to the point the power gap was too large. The Petals of the Seeing Thorn didn't have a fraction of the power it should for an organization that entered from such a powerful guild.

Why was that?

This was a story that Sylas didn't know. What he did know, though, was that the Ancestors of the Petals of the Seeing Thorn would know. Which meant that they'd want to stay as far away from any matter related to this the moment Sylas pressed on that pressure point.