The headless woman's body fell lifelessly on the ground, a bit of sand was raised in the process.

Noah quickly inspected her body, taking the storage devices that he found in the process before releasing some smoke from his hand to remove any trace of the battle.

Greg's lower body was somewhere behind him, Noah didn't have time to clean the battlefield since he had to chase the woman but he also couldn't bother to go back to do so.

His priority now was to find a place where to rest before resuming in his exploration, more enemies could approach him any time.

He stored the space-rings together with Greg's ones and was about to search for one of the many hills placed along the way when he felt four pairs of eyes on him.

He quickly turned toward the source of the stares, his Blood companion was still out in the open so it was pointless to hide it at that moment.

Yet, Noah quickly relaxed when he saw four familiar figures staring at him in the distance.

"Zach, is that you?"

David's voice resounded in the sandy area, Noah waved his hand toward him before greeting him in a plain tone.

"Captain, I knew you were down here."

.

.

.

Sometime later, in a cave where a peak rank 4 Bone dragon was restrained.

Noah, David, and the other three solid stage cultivators from the Chasing demon sect were speaking as they looked at a simple drawing on the ground.

The drawing depicted the known area below the ninth trial, the five cultivators had put together the events they went through after they flew through the darkness between the labyrinth and the seabed.

A dragon was quietly guarding the entrance of the cave, its tail was connected to Noah's n.a.k.e.d back as he stared at the map.

"We took care of a group of survivors that we found along the way, they were strong but injured, their fall didn't go too well apparently."

David explained with a smile on his face, the cultivators in the cave had undressed the clothes that covered their faces, they were in a relatively safe area now.

"Ehm, Zach? What exactly is that? Some sort of puppet?"

Cora, one of the two females in their group, asked while pointing toward the dragon.

"Sort of. It's thanks to it that I managed to survive the assault of those two cultivators from the Empire, I think I will call it Heilong."

Noah vaguely answered, he wanted to make them understand that his Blood companion was strong while still hiding its real power.

David's group had found Noah due to the chaos created as he fought, they were aware of some of the details of his battle and he didn't find any reason to hide his strength.

Also, he had seen how David and the other three had uncaringly abandoned the other members of his group, he wanted to appear somewhat valuable in their eyes.

"No wonder, no wonder. Let me tell you, defeating two rank 3 cultivators is a really impressive feat for someone who has just reached the gaseous stage, you have my respect."

Helga commented on Noah's explanation, her words seemed honest.

"Well, why don't we place the loot in the middle and divide it according to our needs? We all belong to the thieves' faction after all."

Nate, the other man in the solid stage, proposed.

However, Noah shook his head as he revealed a smirk.

"No way. You have a total of seven rewards from the ninth trial divided between the four of you while I have three of them on my person alone, dividing them would be as if I was giving away one of them."

Nate's smile froze after Noah's answer, he thought he could trick him using the faction as an excuse but Noah had immediately seen through his façade.

"Nate, give up, let's just exchange them."

David continued to smile as he patted Nate's shoulder, the latter could only cough a few times as he nodded wearing an awkward smile.

"Then, I guess it's up to me to start. I have a water spell and a lightning spell, both of them up to the fifth rank. Helga, do you want the lightning one?"

Nate spoke, explaining the spells in his possession.

David's aptitude was fire, Nate and Cora's one was wind, and Helga was of the lightning element.

"You know I received a spell of the earth element from the ninth trial. It doesn't match your element and its value it's also lower, what do you really want?"

Helga spoke, expressing her doubts.

The lightning element was rarer than the earth one, it was normal for spells of the former to be more expensive.

"I wouldn't mind losing a few thousand Credits if you were to put some nice words to that apprentice of yours. She thinks I'm some kind of scoundrel that wastes his time in the brothels on the surface."

"But that's exactly who you are!"

Cora complained when she heard Nate's request, she shook her head when she understood that Nate was willing to lose tens of thousands of Credits over a woman.

"Deal."

However, Helga didn't hesitate to accept Nate's offer, a scroll appeared in her hands which she quickly handed to him.

Nate revealed a happy expression and did the same, the exchange was completed.

"Do you have anything related to the darkness element?"

That time, it was Noah the one who spoke.

David sighed, he knew about Noah's aptitude, but the other three were extremely surprised.

They were mighty rank 3 cultivators, they couldn't care less about the matters between weaker cultivators.

That's why they weren't aware of his battle against Perry nor of its specifics.

"I have a spell of the darkness element, its power is up to the fifth rank. I thought I was the lucky one when I found it in the ring of those from the Papral nation but, apparently, this luck is yours to take."

Cora spoke, her eyes were sharp as she stared Noah.

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