Reaper of the Martial World

Book 8: Chapter 17: Never Piss off a Woman (2)

Aritzia smiled lightly.

“What do you want to do about this?” Primus asked. Considering his demeanor, he had suddenly flipped from doting elder brother to subordinate in an instant. It didn’t even matter that he sat atop a throne looking down on Aritzia.

“We can use this to our advantage.” Aritzia said softly. “According to the Sapientia Towers, there are odd energy fluctuations coming from the Dark Ocean. Though, it’s hard to tell since we obviously haven’t built any Towers in the Dark Ocean itself.

“However, we need to do this delicately. We can’t antagonize the Elves. Civilization of the past or not, they definitely have some hidden trump cards.

“Luckily, we have the Water Mist Sect… They can be our useful idiot in this situation.”

Primus snorted. “Something like this is going on in their own backyard yet they have no idea. ‘Useful idiot’ might be giving them too much credit.”

“I actually don’t believe it’s all their fault.” Aritzia said pensively. “About two years ago, the Sapientia Towers caught a wave of evil qi. After some investigation, it was found that it originated from the Palace Master’s island… That event happened the very same day word of Anak being heavily wounded swept through the Emperor Giant Clan and the same day Clara, Ri and the masked man returned from the Dark Ocean.”

Primus’ eyes narrowed. “Evil qi? Are you saying that the Elves have fallen so far?”

“It’s impossible to tell.” Aritzia said. “We also can’t use this as evidence to turn others against the Elves, or else the fact that we’ve been monitoring the quadrants through the Towers will turn everyone against us instead.

“However, this is still useful information. We can likely conclude that the Palace Master was coerced into hiding this secret for the Elves. Maybe she received something in exchange, or maybe she received nothing but her life as thanks. We have no way of knowing.

“But, what I can confirm is that the Palace Master has indeed been stalling. Before these events, the Mist Clan had been very eager to excavate the Dark Ocean, yet, in these past two years, there’s been nothing.

“I found this odd, so I did a little digging. It turns out that recently the Mist Clan has been the victim of numerous mysterious attacks from an unknown individual. This has given them such a headache that they have no choice but to focus their efforts on dealing with that problem.”

“I see…” Primus said. “So the Elves have likely enlisted the help of the Palace Master to stall for time. But, stall for what exactly? Also, wasn’t the Palace Master under a tacit house arrest? How has she left her island?”

“I can’t know any of these things for sure either, but I do have a plausible hypothesis…”

Aritzia paced, her pretty brows furrowed slightly. “The odd energy fluctuations coming from the Dark Ocean contain higher than usual bursts of Gama, Spatial, and Time qi. This could be the result of anything from building a spatial tunnel akin to the Void Clans Void Tunnels, to the release of powerful techniques capable of shattering space…

“However, I’m of the belief that it’s something far more serious than this.” Aritzia suddenly looked up toward her elder brother. “Are you aware of how the Elves so suddenly rose to power?”

Primus nodded. “Records show that they had the ability to seal their territory from easy entry. This gave them the ability to attack at will, while also easily protecting their own territory. This treasure is nameless and often goes by the Jafari Clan Treasure since they’re its creator…

“You mean to say that the Elves are currently sealing off the Dark Ocean for themselves?!” historical

“It’s highly likely. But, once more, I can’t be certain. You have to remember that the most recent Power to use the Jafari Clan Treasure wasn’t the Elves, but the Demon Sage and his branched off Pakal Clan. It’s a stretch on my part to conclude with absolute certainty that this is what is going on… I have no real proof.”

“Then what do you plan to do?”

“Like I said, the Water Mist Sect will be very useful idiots… There are also members of our Sapientia Clan in practically every quadrant but the top 3. They will make their use known as well.

“If my plan works out, then we’ll not only gain a good portion of the Dark Ocean’s resources for ourselves, but we’ll also have the Elves in the palm of our hands…”

Primus chuckled. “It’s no wonder the Esteemed Ones are so eager to take you in. I don’t know why you resist them so much.”

“I’m just a woman.” Aritzia said indifferently. “Can’t I want a simple life without ambition or headache?”

“You can say that, but no one will believe in your sincerity when you’re manipulating Sects as large as the Water Mist to do your bidding from the comfort of your home.”

Aritzia shook her head, ignoring her brother’s words. “You’ve distracted me, this isn’t what I came here for. I’ll ask you again, have you heard about the matters that just occurred on the celestial floors?”

“Of course I have. True God Sacharro’s background is even deeper than we believed. However, he’s bullied my little sister, do you think I’ll be in the mood to give him anything?” Primus frowned, a faint killing intent wafting from him.

“We are Sapientia.” Aritzia said indifferently. “What we should be worried about most isn’t our faces or prowess, we should be most worried about our knowledge.

“Only when all the knowledge in the world is in our hands can we make those who’ve slighted us pay.

“I’ll accept True God Sacharro’s offer of 30%. Even if he insisted on 40%, I’d accept it. In the end, which of us will win will become clear.”

Aritzia never needed to speak with anyone at all to make this decision. However, Dyon didn’t know that. Dyon also didn’t know that Aritzia had already considered the worse case scenario. Even if Clara and Dyon banded together, she was prepared.