by KSY
Ragnar was unable to escape the clutches of the wraiths, however. They quickly caught up with him and one of them attacked the energy barrier around Ragnar with its sharp claws. It shattered with a single Claw attack from the wraith and the four remaining wraiths immediately attacked Ragnar with their sharp claws.
“Arghhhhhh!” Ragnar wailed in pain. His body was covered all over in lots of deep cuts, which emitted Death aura and the flesh around them had already started decaying. Not being able to sense or see the wraiths at all frustrated Ragnar incredibly.
Ragnar knew that if this continued he was as good as dead, as he could tell that the wraiths were way stronger than he was. Ragnar had a Cultivation Level of Immortal Emperor Realm whereas they had Cultivation Levels two sub-realms higher at the Immortal Saint Realm. Ragnar also knew that fighting with the wraiths was of no use, as that would only quicken his demise. He wanted to kill Emilia for putting him in such a situation, but he knew that was impossible as five wraiths were still by her side. He cursed his luck. If he’d known she had such a powerful artifact, he would most certainly not have messed with her.
Ragnar quickly conjured his Martial Spirit. A Giant ape appeared next to him, hundreds of meters in height and shrouded in a powerful aura. Its most striking feature was its violet eyes. Ragnar’s Martial Spirit resembled a Violent Purple Eyed Ape, an Earth Attribute Ancient Elemental Beast and the next moment it merged with Ragnar.
Immortal Realm Martial Artists can merge with their Martial Spirit in the times of crisis to gain temporary boost in their combat prowess. The Martial Artist would be unable to use Spirit Power for a number of days once the Martial Spirit separates from its body.
The Martial Artists gain the racial traits of the being their Martial Spirit resembles to certain extent after the merge. Ragnar’s body transformed. His height increased by a meter or so until he was three meters tall, his body bulged with muscles, and his face had ape-like features. Ragnar took a defensive position, as he wanted to stall for time until help arrived. Ragnar was certain that now he would be able to hold for some time. Violent Purple Eyed Apes are known for their defensive capabilities, so it is not at all easy to injure them. After Ragnar had merged with his Martial Spirit, his defensive capabilities had increased manyfold, though it was still incomparable to a real Violent Purple Eyed Ape.
The wraiths flew straight towards Ragnar but this time they didn’t attack him. They entered his body! Ragnar suddenly felt a cool sensation inside his body and suddenly realized a dreadful possibility – but it was already too late. The wraiths knew that they wouldn’t be able to lethally harm Ragnar after he’d merged with his Martial Spirit, so they attacked his weak spot, his soul.
Wraiths lack powerful Physical attacks, but specialize in Soul attacks. Ragnar’s body twitched soon afterwards as the wraiths were using their Soul Devouring Innate Ability to devour Ragnar’s soul while he was still alive. It was so painful that Ragnar fainted in excruciating pain. He fell from the sky and heavily slammed onto the ground below, where he soon reverted to normal.
Ryan was in the know about all of this. He’d previously instructed the wraiths to inform him if his mother was in any kind of danger. They’d followed his instructions and informed him of the situation. He’d asked them only to torture Ragnar and not kill him, as he belonged to the Heaven Sundering Family Clan. He knew if Ragnar died, it would create a lot of problems for his mother.
The wraiths continued devouring his soul for a few minutes before exiting his body. Ragnar’s soul was badly damaged, but he wouldn’t die, though it would take him thousands of years to make it whole again. Soul injuries are never easy to heal and a single mistake while healing it can result in disastrous consequences.
After dealing with Ragnar the five wraiths returned to Emilia. All the ten wraiths then turned into beads, the beads joined together to form a necklace, and then the necklace flew onto Emilia’s neck. Everyone was stunned on seeing this, especially Emilia and her parents. The previous time they hadn’t seen it, as they’d been focused on Ragnar.
After a few minutes, some Ancestor Level Martial Artists of the Heaven Sundering Family Clan reached the Ceremony Hall. All of them had astonished expressions. One of them carried Ragnar who was sealed inside a Light orb to stabilize his condition, but he was still unconscious. After seeing his condition everyone felt a shiver down his or her spine as they subconsciously looked towards Emilia’s neck. They felt a deep sense of fear of the bead necklace.
“Can anyone explain what exactly happened here?” one of the Ancestor Level Martial Artists asked the people in the Ceremony Hall. He had a twisted expression, as he was unable to understand the situation. He had received an SOS that Emilia was in danger, but when he and the others arrived, he’d found Ragnar half dead at some distance away from the Ceremony Hall.
Emilia came forward and did all the explaining. Blasius and Alexis appeared next to her. They had only sustained minor injuries which would heal in a day or two. The expressions of all the Ancestor Realm Martial Artists changed as they looked intently at the necklace around Emilia’s neck.
“Emilia, can I take a look at your necklace?” one Ancestor Level Martial Artist asked. He was from her branch and also her Master. His name was Sabinus and he was also one of the reasons that Emilia hadn’t been scolded or punished after her to return to the Family Clan.
Sabinus was furious when he came to know that Ragnar had been hurting his disciple. He had come here with the intention of ripping Ragnar apart, but after seeing Ragnar’s condition his anger calmed down.
“I don’t know. Ryan asked me not to give this to anyone. He didn’t tell me everything about the necklace. He just told me to always wear it and that it is a Life-saving artifact,” Emilia said in a respectful manner. She was afraid that the wraiths might attack her Master.
“It’s OK. I was just intrigued by this bead necklace and nothing else. By the way, you have a good son,” Sabinus said with a smile. He knew that Emilia hadn’t given him the necklace fearing that the wraiths might attack him. He complimented Ryan for giving his mother such a powerful artifact: one required a big heart to do something like that.
Emilia felt giddy on hearing her master compliment her son. Every mother is happiest when her children are complimented and Emilia was no different.
“We can’t let such a dangerous and powerful artifact stay in the hands of someone who can’t control it,” an Ancestor Level Martial Artist named Stigr said. He belonged to the Second branch, to which Ragnar also belonged. The Second branch was unable to accept the maiming of one of their Ancestor Level Martial Artists, as it was akin to a slap to their faces.
“The Life-saving artifact only activates when I am attacked. Otherwise, it is perfectly safe,” Emilia protested. She had no intention of handing over the bead necklace to the Heaven Sundering Family Clan. She was able to understand the intention of the Second branch – they wanted the Family Clan to confiscate the bead necklace.
“That bead necklace almost killed an Ancestor Level Martial Artist of the Family Clan. How is it safe? If tomorrow you again commit a mistake and an Ancestor Level Martial Artist decides to punish you a little, what do you think will happen to him or her?” Stigr said with an ugly expression. He wished to kill Emilia for humiliating his branch.
“Then don’t attack,” Sabinus said with a mocking expression.
“Sabinus, don’t take her side. She committed a grave crime by disobeying the will of the Ancestors two decades ago and now she has seriously injured an Ancestor Level Martial Artist of the Family Clan,” Stigr roared, the veins bulging on his forehead in anger. If his glare could have killed Sabinus, then Sabinus would have already died a hundred times.
“Just because she refused to marry into your branch two decades ago, you people are trying to create a situation to implicate my disciple,” Sabinus said as a blue aura erupted out of his body. How could Sabinus not see through the situation? He was already losing his patience.
&nb
sp; Two decades previously, Emilia had run away from the Family Clan in order to avoid marriage with a top genius from the Second branch of the Heaven Sundering Family Clan. The marriage had been decided upon by the members of the Upper echelons of the Family Clan. Running from the marriage was equal to smacking the Second branch in the face.
The Second branch had wanted to wash the shame from that day by making Emilia suffer, but things hadn’t gone according to their plan, but on the contrary, one of their Ancestor Level Martial Artists was almost killed which made their hate for Emilia increase further.
“Let’s decide this by asking Ryan about the bead necklace. He knows the most regarding it,” an Ancestor Level Martial Artist named Simon suggested. He was from the Fourth branch and other Ancestor Level Martial Artists also nodded their heads in agreement, and even Sabinus calmed down on hearing the suggestion, as he also found merit in it.
“Emilia, contact Ryan and ask him about the bead necklace in detail,” Sabinus said. Emilia nodded her head as she took out her Mental-message transmission orb from her Spatial pouch. She immediately contacted Ryan and placed her Mental-message transmission orb on multi-mode so that everyone could connect with it and hear out Ryan.
“Mother, what’s happened?” Ryan asked, his voice utterly calm.
“Ryan, where did you get the bead necklace from?” Emilia asked.
“I recently went to Desolate Graveyard. I found it on a corpse outside a Shrine. I have already tested the bead necklace and it works like a charm. It is capable of slaying an Ancestor Level Martial Artist extremely easily,” Ryan said with a laugh.
The expressions of many people in the Ceremony Hall changed, as they had already seen the necklace almost kill an Ancestor Level Martial Artist only some minutes ago.
“Emilia, let me talk to Ryan,” Sabinus said. Sabinus felt that Emilia would take a lot of time, so he asked her to switch with him as other Ancestor Level Martial Artists didn’t have that much patience. Emilia nodded her head.
“Ryan, I am giving my Mental-message transmission orb to my Master. His name is Ancestor Sabinus. Be respectful to him and answer all his questions truthfully,” Emilia said as she handed over the Mental-message transmission orb.
“Hello Ryan, can you divulge some information about the bead necklace?” Sabinus said.
“Hello, Ancestor Sabinus. The bead necklace is a Death Attribute artifact. I formed a Spirit-link with it and sent it to mother, because she would be unable to do that seeing as she is a Water Martial Artist. I instructed the wraiths to only interfere when mother’s life was in danger. They get to decide whether to leave the person or being alive or kill him or her according to the situation. I also asked them not to protect anyone else except my mother, grandparents and uncles,” Ryan explained. He also made it clear that he had no intention of sharing the bead necklace with anyone except a few people.
The facial expressions of Stigr and other people from the Second branch twisted. They wished to rip Ryan apart, as it was now clear that he was responsible for Ragnar’s condition.
“Ryan, can you be exact about the location of the Shrine?” Sabinus asked, as he wanted to investigate it.
“The Shrine is in the middle of the only grassland of Desolate Graveyard. You won’t miss it as it is very eye-catching,” Ryan said.
“Did you find anything else?” Sabinus asked. That was the question in everyone’s minds. They wanted to know if there were any more bead necklaces, since Emilia’s was quite powerful and Normal Ancestor Level Martial Artists had no chance of defeating it. That alone made the necklace quite valuable and worth vying for.
“No, as I mentioned before, I took it off a corpse, which was wearing only one bead necklace. There were thousands of human corpses littered around the Shrine. That was the only thing I found of any significance. The rest was just junk, so I didn’t take anything else,” Ryan said.
He had to make a credible excuse, otherwise, he would face unnecessary problems in the future. He knew that the Shrine was the best way to cover up his lies. It was ancient and had lots of corpses around it with artifacts still on them. His excuse was bait. He wanted to divert the attention of the Ancestor Level Martial Artists of the Family Clan.
“What???” Sabinus was shocked when he heard this, but the other Ancestor Level Martial Artists were no different.
In their eyes, Ryan was just a young boy who lacked worldly knowledge, so it was highly possible for him to have missed out on a few powerful artifacts just like the bead necklace because of his inexperience.
“Ancestor Sabinus, it is not easy to reach that Shrine. Countless Immortal Undead creatures guard it,” Ryan said in a grave tone.
“Then how did you reach it?” Sabinus asked. He found Ryan’s warning extraordinary, as he was manyfold stronger than Ryan. If Ryan could reach the Shrine, then why couldn’t he?
“I formed a Floral contract with a Viper’s Touch Immortal Plant Spirit. It became many times more powerful after it formed a Floral contract with me, and it can now easily kill Ancestor Level Martial Artists. It formed a toxic barrier around me as I traversed through Desolate Graveyard, which made sure that no Undead creatures attacked me. I had a free run in Desolate Graveyard,” Ryan said with a laugh. Everyone in the Ceremony Hall looked at Emilia with weird expressions.
Emilia informed them about Ryan’s Martial Spirits and many felt envious deep down. They knew that with a Viper’s Touch Immortal Plant Spirit at Ryan’s side his achievement in Poison Elemental Laws would be incredible.
“OK. I will contact you if I need to know anything,” Sabinus said as he hung up. He had a big smile on his face as he looked at Stigr, because he now knew Emilia had an extra layer of protection, seeing as her son was such a genius. Her status would receive a significant boost. Stigr and the other people from the Second branch understood the reason behind Sabinus’ smile and they cursed their luck.
“There is no point in blaming Ryan. He set general rules for the bead necklace. He didn’t expect that someone from his mother’s own Family Clan would attack her,” Sabinus said sarcastically. The faces of Stigr and the other people from the Second branch became exceedingly ugly, as they knew Sabinus was trying to vilify to them.
“As you can see, the artifact follows the rules set by Ryan. It is not a dangerous artifact that would hurt anyone without reason, so it’s best that it remains with Emilia as only she can use it,” Sabinus said. The Ancestors had to agree with that and they could tell that Ryan wouldn’t agree to giving the necklace to anyone else.
In the end, it was decided to let the bead necklace remain with Emilia while a team of Martial Artists would go to investigate the Shrine. The bead necklace was remarkably powerful, so it was natural for the Heaven Sundering Family Clan to be interested in finding some more of them.
Many people were envious of Emilia as she had the protection of ten wraiths that were as strong as Ancestor Level Martial Artists. That also increased the overall strength and powers of the Fifth branch by a level, as they had now ten additional beings of the Immortal Saint Realm in their branch now.
Emilia and her parents soon returned to their home.
“Sorry, Emilia. We didn’t expect them to be so brazen,” Alexis said with a sullen expression – and Blasius was no different. They regretted their decision to force Emilia to go along with them to the wedding.
Emilia shook her head as she said, “It’s okay. I also thought the same. Let’s not talk about it.”
Alexis and Blasius nodded their heads. They knew that Emilia was not in a good mood.
Emilia entered her Cultivation chamber soon afterwards. She didn’t like being oppressed.
She had decided to increase her strength and powers as quickly as possible.
Ch.24
Ryan had returned to his Cultivation chamber soon after sending the bead necklace to his mother. He had not been expecting such a big ruckus to occur but he was certain nothing big would come of it as his story was fool-proof. If the Ma
rtial Artists from the Heaven Sundering Family Clan went to investigate the Shrine, the corpses of the Life Stealing Sect’s Martial Artists would do the rest of the work for him. Those corpses would make the people from the Heaven Sundering Family Clan assume that the bead necklace belonged to a Martial Artist of the Life Stealing Sect.
After a month, Ryan got a confirmation that his plan had been successful. He had a talk with Blasius and Alexis. The people who’d gone there to investigate the Shrine had just returned and they’d reported things as Ryan had predicted. The bead necklace was assumed by them to be the property of the Life Stealing Sect, but their trip was not in vain as they had found lots of Immortal Artifacts. It was not that the Heaven Sundering Family Clan lacked wealth but they brought them back because of the difficulty involved in forging Immortal Artifacts, which meant they were always scarce even in powerful factions.
The Life Stealing Sect had wanted to enslave Isa at any cost, so they’d sent their most powerful lineup to Desolate Graveyard armed with their Sect’s most powerful artifacts, but they’d ended up losing their Martial Artists as well as their Immortal Artifacts. The Life Stealing Sect’s losses were so high that they didn’t even have the strength to go back and claim their Immortal Artifacts lying in the grassland. At the time, Ryan hadn’t picked up any artifacts as he knew they would attract unwanted attention. He could use Death Sword under the guise of its being his Life Weapon, but powerful artifacts were a different thing. They would unnecessarily invite trouble. He was very happy that he hadn’t picked any of them up.
The gains of the Heaven Sundering Family Clan were quite big that time. They were unable to understand why Ryan had ignored so many Immortal Artifacts and had just taken the bead necklace. They thought it was Ryan’s inexperience that had made him make such a mistake, nevertheless, the members of the Upper echelon decided to reward him.