Rivers of the Night

Chapter 792: Run

Theron walked right up. Or, rather, Alpha did. But thanks to Alpha’s height, Theron was pretty comfortably eye level with Master Uyon... or he could have been, had the latter’s head not been hanging limply.

Seemingly sensing that there was someone right in front of him, Master Uyon looked up. He hardly registered who it was at first, his vision blurry. But when he did, he seemed to use all the strength he had left in his body to widen his eyes.

"You..."

The word came out in a raspy breath that sounded as though his throat had become so dry that air scraped across it like metal against metal.

Honestly, Uyon couldn’t believe that Theron was standing in front of him right now. If he had to guess what the state of Theron was after almost a year and a half...

That would have been dead.

He watched personally as Theron left for the wilderness, and he knew exactly what kind of dangers were out there. Quite frankly, he never expected to see this brat another day in his life. The fact he was standing right here was one of the most baffling, cognitively shaking events he had ever experienced... and that was including being eaten alive by these damned beetles.

"Now, old man, what’d you do to get yourself caught like this?"

Master Uyon’s response was a heavy cough.

Theron pulled out a beast-skin gourd of water. The aura of the beast skin alone made the hair on Uyon’s body stand up tall, but the members of the audience were such laymen that they couldn’t feel or sense it at all.

The cap popped, and the water casually drew itself out. Theron didn’t seem to be trying very hard at all, and yet the water sensed and acted on his intentions with the smoothness of an action that could only be described as magic.

Master Uyon tried to dodge, but failed miserably as the snaking line of water flooded into his mouth and down his throat. In that instant, he very nearly moaned in pleasure, his body convulsing as the wounds on him actually began to rapidly heal.

Theron hadn’t even cast any spells, but this water...

"Pretty good, huh? It’s the best water I’ve ever come across. I’ve been trying to distill a replica of it from atmospheric Water Mana for a while, but I haven’t managed to just yet. I think I’ll probably have to become a Transcendent first before I can do that, but I’m a bit stubborn."

Master Uyon felt as though his body had been revitalized in ways he couldn’t describe. Even the beetles in his flesh ran away as signs of life and vitality bloomed from him.

Then, in an instant, it was like he had grown dozens of years younger. His loose skin regained elasticity, and his Mana actually began to circulate once more. Yet, what was more important than all of that was just the protective barrier that formed between his skin and the stake.

It was like the heavy death and rotting aura couldn’t approach him at all.

Deep inside, Master Uyon was beyond shocked. Theron was talking about distilling this water from the atmosphere, but didn’t he realize that it should have been impossible for a King to even begin to control this Water Mana?

In fact, even a Transcendent Water Mancer would likely have a few issues.

Wait... when did Theron become a King?

It had only been a year and a half, and the last time Uyon had seen him, he had only just stepped into the Cloud Realm.

No, Theron wasn’t even a normal King. He was just a step away from the Fourth Kingly Resonance. Meaning, he was only a step from becoming a Middle King.

How could anyone improve that fast in a single year? And how had his foundation not become a crumbling mess as a result?

Cultivation was supposed to slow significantly after the Gold Mancy Realm. That only became more exaggerated after the Cloud Realm and the Dome of Heaven Realm beyond. The fact that Theron had shot all the way up to King... and had even made progression within the realm...

How?

Just how?

"You..." Master Uyon’s voice came out much smoother now. It was like he had never been hung out to dry in the first place.

"You haven’t answered my question," Theron said with a smile.

"...You should go," Master Uyon finally said, looking around a bit frantically. While his expression was calm, Theron could practically feel the panic radiating from his soul. He wasn’t nearly as calm as he was pretending to be.

"Should I?" Theron chuckled. "But I feel like joining the Demon Corps."

"What are you thinking?" Master Uyon hissed.

In Master Uyon’s opinion, the only way for Theron to have made it so far in cultivation was by focusing on speed. But the Chosen of the Demon Duke were on another level entirely. These were existences that used cultivation only as a shell, deciding to fill it up in ways others couldn’t fathom.

Chosen Ishwelu’s cultivation was weaker than his brother’s, but not a single person would ever think that Lenwu stood a chance against his elder brother. It would have been the pinnacle of nonsense.

He could tell that Theron was arrogant, and maybe he had the right to be. But this was a completely different world, and Uyon was starting to get frustrated that Theron couldn’t see his good intentions.

"Run, dammit!" Master Uyon turned in a certain direction to see a young man walking across the roofs of buildings. Every time he came to the edge of one, he would seemingly take a step off to fall below, only to somehow seamlessly appear on the edge of the next building without missing a step.

It was a mind-bending sort of sight that was hard to truly parse, but in another flash, it was like he was already there right in front of them.

Chosen Ishwelu landed before Theron.