Chapter 58: Naive


    "Be careful!" Carlos shouted as loudly as he possibly could with a heavy expression on his countenance, but before his voice even faded, the entire forest was covered in the foggy mist. Carlos'' vision was hindered, and he turned around and realized that he actually could no longer see his unit behind him.


    Carlos'' face hardened before growling, "Dammit, how could this happen?" The fog floated around, and Carlos, who had beenpletely enveloped inside the fog, tried retreating backwards, but he couldn''t see, he couldn''t hear, and he hadpletely lost his sense of direction. He was simply like a blind man.


    Carlos frowned as he looked at the fog. He couldn''t help but mutter, "Mystic Arts Technique?"


    The Mystic Arts Techniques were a group of cultivation techniques from the Middle Eastern countries, brought to the country of Argria by foreign travellers hundreds of years ago. However, the foreigners who taught the Mystic Arts to the Argrians weren''t experts, but simple merchants who were fascinated by the mysterious cultivation techniques that they had never seen. As such, the Mystic Arts Techniques that are avable to the Argrians were simple martial arts techniques rather than theplicated ones.


    Unlike the Argrian cultivation techniques, which were mostly direct in their implementation and giving more importance to offence, the Mystic Arts were moreplex with their implementation, focusing more on covert and irregr warfare, deception and surprise attacks. As most of these techniques were deemed dishonorable and beneath the honor of what the Argrian cultivation stood for, they didn''t get too much traction in the country, but it''s said that there still existed a few cultivators who practiced them.


    ''Who''s attacking us?'' Carlos'' perception stretched out, trying to identify the culprit who was responsible for the fog, but much to his surprise, he couldn''t find anyone.


    Just then


    Whoosh!


    All of a sudden, a silhouette appeared right behind Carlos.


    Bzz!


    The silhouette rushed forward, as a transparent sword, akin to a bolt of lightning, appeared in his hands, unleashing an attack towards Carlos. The speed with which it moved was so quick that most cultivators wouldn''t even be able to respond to it.


    "Do I look like an easy target to you?" Carlos, who had sensed the danger, immediately turned around and swung his fist, and streams of runic outlines appeared on his arm, glowing brightly as his fist collided with the transparent sword, resulting in a thunderous explosion.


    BOOM!


    The explosion pushed the silhouette backwards, as he tried to regain his footing.


    "Where do you think you''re going? I ain''t done with you!" Carlos, who seemed to be unperturbed by the explosion, wasn''t nning on giving his attacker a chance to recover. He rushed towards the mysterious person with a speed as fast as lightning and swung his fist once again. "Get over here!"


    Whoosh!


    Right before Carlos'' fist struck the mysterious attacker, a bright light enveloped his body and he vanished like smoke in thin air.


    ''Where''d he go?'' Realizing that his opponent had disappeared into thin air, Carlos looked around, frustrated that he couldn''t defeat his target.


    At this moment, a voice drifted over.


    "I''m right here," As soon as the voice faded, the silhouette suddenly appeared behind Carlos, wielding a terrifying scythe.


    Before Carlos could make a move, the sound of the scythe slicing through the air had already rang out, as it chopped down on him.


    ng!


    Right in the nick of time, Carlos raised his arms to his chest, and the scythe struck down with an immense force, sting out a terrifying attack.


    BOOM!


    The runic inscriptions on his hands exploded upon contact with the scythe and a resounding thunderous explosive sound echoed out, as the attack sted Carlos backwards, leaving behind bloody wounds on his body as he groaned in misery.


    "The Golden Hands Technique? I thought that technique was lost forever. Interesting...." A malevolent look shed on the mysterious attacker''s face as he looked at the injured Carlos and licked his lips. "Very interesting.."


    "Do you think you have the time to daydream?" Carlos roared as he jumped up from the ground, stretched his arms out and rushed forward, lifting his fist and sting it forward. "I ain''t dead yet!"


    Zoom!


    As he swung his fist, his entire arm was enveloped by an azure light, illuminating the area around him and a terrifying torrential force shot out from his hands and in the mysterious attacker''s direction.


    "You really are a strong opponent.. If it was any other person, they would''ve definitely struggled against you," the mysterious attacker murmured as his body disappearedpletely in the mist, and Carlos'' attack passed through the fog, hitting nothing but air. "But unfortunately for you, you''ve met your match!"


    "Dammit! Where the hell did he disappear to?" Carlos'' turned incredibly unsightly and he retreated.


    Just then...


    "You''re not looking too good, Mr. Messenger!"


    "What?"


    Startled by the voice, Carlos swiftly turned around, and discovered that behind him, three silhouettes had appeared, all of them sharing the same facial and physical features.


    They were the same person!


    "Incarnation Technique?" Carlos'' countenance changed as he stared at the three identical silhouettes.


    "Ha ha ha We''re ttered, but you seem to be overestimating us, Mr. Messenger!" One of the silhouettesughed coldly, as he brandished his weapon; a Double-ded Scimitar. "We''re just triplets!"


    *******************


    Crust and Bread Inn, Canteburne City.


    Inside the secret room under the inn, a group of men sat around a table. The person in the lead chair was d in simple clothing and yet he was exuding the aura of a tyrannical cultivator.


    "Are you sure we made the right decision, Elder Arvid?" A voice asked. The person who spoke was Eira Borghild, the Fifth Elder of Trinity Academy, and her words caused the rest of the group to turn their attention to her. These people were none other than the faculty members from the Trinity Academy, who were also part of the Reformation movement.


    Other than the Fifth Elder, the Third, the Sixth and the Eighth Elders were present in the room as well.


    At this moment, the Second Elder of the Trinity Academy, Elder Arvid''s eyes gleamed with sharpness as he stared in the direction of the Fifth Elder. He coldly spoke, "Could it be that the Fifth Elder is regretting your decision? Do you not wish for the safety of our country, Elder?"


    "I do wish for my country to be safe, Second Elder. If I didn''t, then I wouldn''t have agreed to co-operate with the Royal Family. But I do feel as though wepletely ignored the Reformation Movement, which wasn''t necessary," the Fifth Elder''s brows were furrowed. She had joined the Reformation Movement because she believed that people deserved freedom from the shackles of Monarchy.


    "I joined the Reformation Movement because I believed we were standing up for what''s right. I still believe that it''s the right cause, and honestly, I do not think that we need to bury the Reformation Movement to protect our country. We can fight for the country and fight for the freedom of the people at the same time!" She spoke calmly, and the Sixth Elder coldly snorted in response, but didn''t speak.


    The Second Elder, Elder Arvid''s gaze descended onto the Fifth Elder, and a strand of coldness shed within his eyes, before disappearingpletely. "I understand your frustration, Eira. But it is definitely not as simple as that. I''m sure you know this, but we can''t work alongside the Monarchy while also nning to take them down. It''s simply too naive of a n!"


    "But Second Elder!" The Fifth Elder clenched her fist and looked around, trying to find anyone to support her argument. But unfortunately, she couldn''t find any allies, which only made her more frustrated.


    "Do not worry too much Fifth Elder," In the end, Elder Arvid let out a sigh and replied in an attempt to calm her down, and continued. "Of course, we''ll deal with the problemter. It''s not that we''re ignoring itpletely. We''re just extending it to ater date. I''ll make sure that wee back to itter, but right now, we have more important matters on our hands. I hope you understand."


    The Fifth Elder didn''t seem like she was satisfied, but she reluctantly nodded her head, and the discussion soon moved on to a different topic.


    After the discussion which seemed both long and short, only two people were left in the secret room.


    "What did you think of the discussion?" The Second Elder turned to the only remaining person in the room, his personal guard.


    "The Fifth Elder might be a problem in the future. I think we''ll need to deal with her," the guard spoke with almost no etiquette, and sat down in one of the chairs. It wasn''t the behaviour of a guard at all.


    "I agree. I''ll find someone to take care of her," the Second Elder nodded his head, not minding his guard''s attitude at all. He continued, "What about the messenger unit that Navaz mentioned?"


    "The triplets will take care of them. They''re extremely reliable," the guard replied, as he picked up a cup of coffee from the table and drank it all in one gulp.


    "I am disappointed that you killed Navaz as well. I liked the kid. He was a hard worker," the Elder Arvid shook his head as he spoke. "He would''ve understood if we exined everything to him."


    "I disagree!" the guard shook his head with a disapproving expression. "The kid was too naive. And in the martial world, naivety is simply a burden not worth carrying!"