CHAPTER 92: LEON VS CULTIVATORS!

Leon calmly walked toward the portal, his heart thumping wildly with excitement. Each step he took made his blood boil hotter, not with fear but with anticipation. He didn’t even bother to check the countless notifications that had bombarded his system interface. He didn’t care—not now. The only thing that mattered was stepping out of this cursed dungeon and back into the real world.

From his spatial ring, he retrieved the black mask he had stored away back when he had just entered the dungeon. Back then, he had been cautious, almost timid. Now? He strapped it onto his face with steady hands, his silver hair brushing against the edges of the mask as if declaring that the Leon who had entered was not the same Leon who was leaving.

He came close to the swirling vortex. Its spiral pulled at him with irresistible force, each rotation distorting the space around it. Without hesitation, he let himself be sucked in. His vision blurred, then turned completely black.

So this is it... Leon thought, his lips curving faintly beneath the mask. I guess the saying is right—there’s no place like home.

Meanwhile, outside the dungeon—on earth...

The night air was thick with tension. Multiple silhouettes lingered at the edge of the village, some hidden in the shadows of rooftops, others crouched in trees, while a few stood openly in the moonlight. Their breaths were controlled, their hands on weapons, their gazes locked toward one spot—as if expecting someone, or something, to appear.

Among them were Alex, Nux, and three elite guards. Their postures were stiff, their eyes sharp, every sense alert. Alex’s usually cold face was marred with faint worry. Her gaze kept shifting between the darkness ahead and the calm yet unreadable expression of Nux, the Baron’s son.

"Do you really think he’ll come?" Alex finally asked, her voice low, betraying a rare crack in her confidence.

Nux exhaled slowly, his eyes narrowing. "From his tone two hours ago, I’m sure he will. The chances of him showing up are high. But..." He crossed his arms, his tone grim. "There’s always the chance that he lied. There’s also the chance that he’ll bring back others with him—a gang, maybe even bandits. Only time will answer that."

For the past two hours, they hadn’t been idle. Alex had called in additional fighters from Spider, the shadowy organization she secretly commanded. Nux, in turn, had sent men to investigate Leon’s house. But they had found nothing.

No Leon. No trace of where he’d gone.

The uncertainty gnawed at Nux. He had long suspected the thief might be Leon, but he couldn’t bring himself to accept it fully. After all, Leon was a cultivator. The thief? By every report, he was a mere mortal. His father himself had confirmed that fact. For a cultivator like Leon to be the same mortal thief—it was ridiculous. Impossible.

And yet...

"Where could he have gone?" Nux muttered to himself, running a hand through his jet-black hair in frustration. His mind raced through possibilities. A dungeon? At night? Impossible. Even cultivators with night vision hate moving in the dark. They prefer rest. Sleep. Even the strongest need it.

His teeth clenched. His fists balled tightly. When did catching one mortal thief become so troublesome? He wanted to curse. He wanted to strike something. Those idiots let him escape right under their noses. And now Leon is gone from his house as well. Am I surrounded by fools?

Nux’s expression darkened as he thought of the wasted hours. If the thief didn’t appear tonight, Alex would regret dragging him into this. He swore he would teach her a bitter lesson.

Then—his eyes suddenly widened.

He froze. His head snapped toward the left. He could feel it—spatial essence. A strange, oppressive energy warping the air.

The guards and Alex immediately followed his gaze, though unlike him, they couldn’t sense the subtle ripple of space. But their doubts vanished the next moment.

A swirling vortex bloomed into existence, white and luminous. The ground shook faintly under its presence. Even the weakest among them could feel it—the thick void and space essence radiating out of the portal.

"As expected of the Baron’s son," one of the guards muttered under his breath, impressed by Nux’s sharp senses.

Then it happened.

A figure emerged.

Dragged out by the pull of the vortex, a bloodied silhouette stumbled into the night air. His clothes were torn and drenched in crimson, his silver hair stained dark with blood, his aura heavy with battle. He didn’t look like a weak thief anymore. He looked like a warrior who had clawed his way out of hell itself.

The group stiffened. For a moment, they were confused. The man in front of them wasn’t exactly the same as the thief they had seen two hours ago. He looked older somehow. Stronger. More dangerous. But the mask, the blood-soaked clothes, and those unmistakable light-blue eyes... there was no denying it. This was him.

The thief.

Leon.

The silence broke when Leon calmly lifted a hand and gave them a casual wave, his voice dripping with mockery. "Hello, friends. I didn’t think you’d actually believe me enough to wait two whole hours for my arrival. Urgh, I almost feel like a Young Master being honored by his servants."

The hideous grin beneath his mask was clear in his tone.

The words landed like a spark in dry hay. Some of the group stiffened in wariness, others almost laughed at his audacity. Alex’s face twitched faintly, half amused, half irritated. Nux’s jaw clenched. His eyes narrowed dangerously.

The guards exchanged glances. They weren’t stupid. They knew better than to fall for Leon’s easy tone. The most dangerous men in the world often wore masks of casual calm.

Alex, however, was caught in a storm of confusion. If not for the mask, the clothes, and those eyes, she would never have believed this blood-soaked figure was the same thief she had cornered earlier. But his words, his arrogance, his very presence confirmed it. This was him.

The hidden Spider fighters stepped out of the shadows, revealing themselves one after another. Their weapons gleamed coldly in the moonlight. In a matter of seconds, Leon was surrounded on all sides, the circle tightening like a predator’s trap.

Alex and Nux stood at the back, their gazes locked on him, measuring him.

Leon tilted his head slightly, his daggers materializing in his hands in a shimmer of cold steel. "To think you’d hire so many guards just for one person... impressive. But let me show you—" he twirled the blades, his voice dropping with a dangerous edge—"I am not the same person you fought last time."

The sudden summoning of the twin crystalline daggers shocked the group. Their eyes widened for an instant, but they quickly recovered.

And then the night erupted into chaos.

Without hesitation, the fighters lunged at Leon.

Steel clashed. Shadows blurred. The battle had begun.

Arrows of Fire!

Ice Spear!

Magma Burst!

Water Spear!

The dark lot exploded into color. Pillars of flame roared, spears of glacial light shrieked, molten arcs hissed across the ground, and pressurized lances of water drilled through the night—turning dust to steam and shadows to fog.

Seeing a storm of elements converging, leon snapped a thought into place and cast a mana barrier. A domed sheen bloomed around him—transparent, humming, and unyielding. Fire broke and scattered like sparks on glass. Water shattered into mist. Magma sizzled and skittered away in molten ribbons. Ice cracked and sloughed off the barrier in glittering sheets.

He stood inside the glow, almost smug. Compared to the Orc King’s bone-crushing blows, these were fireworks—bright, noisy, and ultimately harmless. Qi-absorption realm tricks. Pretty, but not enough.

The cultivators didn’t stop. Rings of glyphs spun at their feet; more talismans flashed; more chants bled into the night. The air smelled of char and metal and wet stone. But the barrier held, drinking in force and dispersing it as if the world itself took a slow breath and exhaled.

From the rear, Alex and Nux exchanged a look. Two hours ago the thief had been a weak mortal—cornered, desperate. Now this... this thing in a blood-soaked mask stood inside a tempest as if warming his hands over a campfire. The leap was obscene. No pill aura, no medicinal tang. No forced breakthrough. Just raw, cold power that didn’t fit their understanding.

They started to doubt themselves. Was this truly the same thief? Or had something climbed out of that white vortex wearing the thief’s skin?

Inside the dome, leon’s eyes narrowed behind the mask. He slid one foot back, let his weight settle, then let the barrier fall with a soft thrum. In the same breath he activated Light Steps, and the Divine Thief Dagger Sutra flowed through his muscles like a second heartbeat. His speed spiked. His path became mist and feint and ghost.

Divine Thief Dagger Sutra flowed through his muscles like a second heartbeat. His speed spiked. His path became mist and feint and ghost.