Dire Straits

The first thing that came out of Shui's mouth was enough to stun Bartos. He could easily ignore this comment if it were coming from any other child, even if one of his other apprentices said it he wouldn't necessarily believe them. But this was Shui, and he wasn't the type to joke around with such a serious matter. Furthermore, though there were no more major incidents in recent times, Bartos still remembered when the children were killed by assassins. Therefore, though he would feel much better if he didn't have to, Bartos took his words seriously.

"Did something happen?"

"Yeah, I found a scout in a forest, late Soul Realm. He drew a map of the perimeter before leaving."

It seemed unbelievable that Shui could detect a scout without being detected himself, but Bartos was aware of the protection and detection arrays that Shui set up. Well, Shui didn't actually need the support of arrays to watch the scout without being spotted, but that was irrelevant at the moment.

It was only one incident, but if there was a scout then the main force would likely be close behind so they couldn't waste time doubting this information.

"Do you have an idea which group he's from?"

"I'm not sure, but if the scout is in late Soul Realm, they probably have at least a few Earth Realm cultivators."

Shui had the suspicion that it was the Black Dog Bandits, but it was just a suspicion without much evidence.

Bartos agreed with Shui's response and wondered what their next step should be. While he was in the midst of pondering, Shui said something else though he knew it wouldn't be very welcomed.

"Uncle Bartos, I think we should get Aunt Lilia to escape with the baby."

What he said made it obvious that Shui didn't think they would be able to make it out safely if they were attacked. Anyone else would be immediately condemned as a coward but Bartos held in his anger and talked to Shui in a grave tone.

"Why do you say that?"

"If there really is a force planning to attack us, I find it hard to believe that there won't another group that will take advantage of the chaos even if they didn't organize this, the Clite clan for example."

Just like Nalos, Shui also didn't tell Bartos that the Clite clan ordered Kate's assassination, but he felt that he needed to hint at it for Bartos to understand how dangerous their situation actually was. If the Clite clan teamed up with whatever force was going to attack them, they would be completely inferior in battle potential. Sure, there was a protection array that could hold up against the attacks of cultivators at peak Earth Realm, but it was only as long as they had spirit gems to sustain it. Shui didn't know the amount of resources kept by the clan, but Bartos believed that they would only last two weeks at maximum even if they emptied out the treasury.

If they were really attacked by the Clite clan and another force, then he doubted they could expect reinforcements, in other words, they would be trapped like rats. Bartos had the mentality to die with the clan if they were attacked by outsiders, but he definitely wouldn't consign his wife and son to the same fate.

"Will you go with them?"

"I want to say no, but you don't look like you're gonna allow that."

Just as Shui said, if Bartos made Lilia escape with the baby, Shui had to go as well. The boy had no reason the die with the same clan that ostracized him. Of course, Shui didn't plan on wasting his life. Though he wouldn't mind staying, that would only be to forcefully escape with Bartos once the situation became dire. It would certainly be dangerous, but Shui didn't want to be so powerless that he couldn't do anything but run when his uncle was choosing to die.

With his current knowledge and equipment, Shui was confident that as long as there was no middle Sky Realm enemy attacking them, the two would be able to sneak away amidst the turmoil. Bartos definitely wouldn't want to leave, but once he got tired it would simple for Shui to force him to do it.

"Of course not. You're talented, if you really want to help then you have to escape so that you can take revenge. Got it?"

"Yeah."

'Yeah, I'll just pretend to leave and then come back.'

"Good. I don't know how seriously he'll take us but let's go inform the Patriarch."

Bartos and Shui then moved to Sky-wind Pavilion. While Bartos was allowed further in, Shui waited for him outside of the door to the Patriarch's office. As he waited, Shui's heightened senses picked up on a conversation that instantly drew his attention.

"You have no choice. You ... switch ... charms. If you don't cooperate then ... once you ... a traitor, you ... executed ... cultivation crippled and then our attack ... easier. Either way ... but if you want to keep your life, there's only one choice."

"Damn you!"

The conversation was happening behind closed doors with an array that isolated the sound and auras within the room. Since it was near the Patriarch's office, the one who owned the room was obviously of high status but the conversation he was having was disturbing to say the least. Even with his nebula two-star soul and deep understanding of arrays, Shui could only pick up the voices, but that was enough for him to identify the owner of the room.

"This is..."

The shock from discovering that this person was likely a traitor caused a hint of distress to infiltrate his mind. This onset of distress disturbed Shui's focus and allowed the owner of the room to detect his presence.

"Who's there?"

Since he was already angsty, just the thought that someone found out about his treachery made him fire a spell at this presence without caring if the person died or not. This was an attack in a different league from anything Shui had ever been attacked by before. The protection array that was inscribed on Shui's wheelchair could barely last a second before a blue energy spear pierced through it. Shui had immediately activated the levitation array that he had recently added to his wheelchair, but it could only be used to make the spear hit his wheelchair and allow him to escape. As Shui and his broken wheelchair flew through the sky above the clan to the forest, a gruesome hole had been made in the left side of his abdomen.

This type of injury was quite simple to describe despite the number of organs and bones that were damaged; it was fatal. Even when he slapped on five layered 'Stasis' talismans over it, he was still losing vitality and his consciousness was becoming hazy. Luckily, with a bunch of 'Protect' talismans his landing only damaged the trees and their branches.

Shui could barely get back on his feet and hurriedly tried to find his coordinates. Though his injury was fatal, as long as he went to the Primordial Library to settle his mind, he could use the items he had collected over the years to fix himself up. Now that he was in a wheelchair, he normally only went to the Library after lunch so fortunately he could still enter it.

Shui used the trees around him to stumble towards where the waterfall was but a presence coming towards him made him pause his steps. With his face become even paler, Shui looked at the man dashing towards him. It was the same scout he had seen and based on the circumstances, he was likely connected to the other man who was talking with the traitor.

This scout was shocked to see that the brat in front of him, that was in the fifth level in the Mortal Realm, was still alive after being attacked by that person's spell. Even he would be killed if such an attack hit him off guard. However, as expected, he would die soon. The scout took out a knife and walked closer to Shui. Rather than wait for the unfortunate boy who had likely been in the wrong place at the wrong time to die, he decided to finish him off personally.

In this state, Shui only came up with a sure way of getting out of this. This method was assured to work but it would also ruin his body.

'So either I stand here and die or do something that might kill me along with him. Heh, I guess that's not much of a choice.'

Instead of leaning on a tree, the seriously injured Shui stood on his own two feet and clumsily ran away from the scout.