CHAPTER 107: A DEMON IN THE WASTELANDS

The journey to the Mainland continued. For the next two weeks, Jaxon was the perfect host. He did not ask any probing questions.

He did not try to find out the identity of the invisible person he knew was with Rhys. He simply provided the best of everything his ship had to offer and waited for his guest to speak.

Rhys, in turn, played his part perfectly. He acted like a young master from a reclusive, ancient clan, travelling the world for experience.

He was polite but distant. He would occasionally join Jaxon on the deck for a cup of tea, and they would talk.

They did not speak of their own origins. They spoke of cultivation theory, of the nature of the elements, and of the state of the world.

Rhys, with his deep understanding from the Labyrinth and his lessons with Seduction, together with the analysis of the system, spoke with a wisdom that was far beyond his apparent age.

Jaxon was consistently amazed by the depth of his knowledge.

Finally, one evening, as they sat on the balcony watching the sun set over the endless ocean, Jaxon gathered his courage. He had to know.

"Fellow Daoist Rhys," he began, using the name Rhys had casually given him.

"My mission here was to investigate the Wastelands, the direction you came from. My sect lost a team of disciples there. I was sent to find out what happened, and to punish those responsible."

He looked at Rhys, his expression serious.

"You have travelled from that direction. You must know what happened. What kind of power exists there that could kill a team of cultivators from the Mainland?"

Jaxon did not dare to directly ask if he was the one who had killed their disciples. If the answer was yes, Jaxon had no idea what he would do. The death of every disciple had to have a reason.

Rhys was silent for a long moment. He looked out at the dark water, his face a mask of cold memory.

"The Wastelands are no more," he said, his voice quiet and heavy. "The province you are looking for, it is gone. Everyone there is dead."

Jaxon felt a chill run down his spine, despite the warm evening air.

"Dead? All of them? What happened? Was it a plague? A natural disaster?"

"It was a demon," Rhys said. "A single blood demon. The last of its kind."

Jaxon’s blood ran cold. He had read about blood demons in the most ancient and forbidden texts in the sect’s library.

A demon... and a blood demon, too. They were creatures of nightmare, beings who could not be killed by normal means, who could regenerate from a single drop of blood.

They were a calamity, a force that could consume entire worlds.

"A blood demon," Jaxon whispered, his voice full of a horrified disbelief. "Here? In this forgotten corner of the world?"

"It had been sealed there for a long time," Rhys explained, his voice flat.

"But it broke free. It found a host, a talented but foolish young man from one of the local families. It used him to spread its blood, its poison. It consumed the entire province. It turned every living thing into its puppet, its food source."

He looked at Jaxon, his pitch-black eyes holding a deep, cold light.

"The disciples your sect sent were not killed by the people of the Wastelands. They were simply unlucky. They walked into a land that had already been devoured by a monster. They were just insects caught in a demon’s meal."

Jaxon was silent, his mind struggling to comprehend the scale of the disaster. An entire province, consumed by a single, unkillable demon.

The mission was not just a failure; it was a suicide run from the very beginning. Elder Jian had sent those disciples to their deaths. He had almost walked into that same meat grinder himself.

"But you... you survived," Jaxon said, looking at Rhys with a new level of awe.

"You escaped a land ruled by a blood demon? No offence, the last time one of them appeared in the Immortal realm, it took a few Immortal Kings’ lives to seal it..."

Rhys could feel his heart drumming against his own chest.

’Damn it... These Azure guys have connections above the mortal world.’

[Well... every sect has its legacy. To form a legacy, they must have at least a single Tier 8 cultivator ascend into Immortality.]

’You should’ve warned me about it...’

[You didn’t ask...]

Then he had to redesign his act.

"I did not escape," Rhys said, his voice turning cold. "I killed it."

Jaxon stared at him, his mind blank. The words did not make sense. Kill a blood demon? It was impossible. The ancient texts were clear.

A blood demon could not be killed unless every single drop of its blood was erased from the world.

How could one man do that when an entire province was its blood bank?

It was literally impossible to erase an entire province unless...

Jaxon shivered. He looked at Rhys’s calm, confident face, and he knew, with a terrifying certainty, that this man was not lying.

He did not want to think about how, but this young man, this traveller from a forgotten land, became more terrible than that blood demon in his mind.

For a moment, Jaxon wondered how this young man was going to explain this in his ascension. Jaxon was sure a man from such a background would surely know the consequences of mass murders.

Still, if he had erased every living being in that province, millions of people...

’I hope to return to my cave, now.’

The fear Jaxon had felt when he first saw the Titan returned, a hundred times stronger. He immediately cancelled any thought of going to the Wastelands.

The rest of the journey was quiet. Jaxon no longer tried to probe Rhys for information. He was simply grateful to be in the presence of and breathing the same air as a being of such terrifying power.

The coastline of the Mainland finally appeared on the horizon.

"Daoist Rhys," Jaxon said, his voice full of a fake respect, but mostly fear.

"You say you are just travelling. The Mainland is a vast and dangerous place, even for someone of your power. The Azure Sky Palace would be honoured to host you. Please, come back with me to my sect. We will give you the finest guest quarters. You can rest, and we can offer you our full support for your travels."

It sounded fake. Rhys tilted his head to stare at his flinching hands and evasive eyes, then offered a small smile.

"Thank you for the offer, Jaxon. But my path is my own. I am just a simple traveller. I do not wish to be tied to any sect or power."

Sighs of relief could be heard from the other cultivators on the ship. Jaxon’s face fell with disappointment, or at least, he tried to show it.

"I understand," Jaxon said. He reached into his robes and took out a small, intricately carved jade token. It was a deep, azure blue, and it pulsed with a faint, powerful light.

"Then please, take this," he said, holding it out to Rhys.

"This is an Elder’s Favour Token. There are only a few in existence. If you ever find yourself in need of assistance, if you ever require the help of the Azure Sky Palace, present this token to any of our sect’s branches.

It will grant you any one favour, no questions asked. Consider it a small token of my respect and gratitude for the... enlightenment you have given me on this journey."

Jaxon believed a person like him would never need it, or he hoped so.