The Strength of His Servant

Despite the bruises on their skin, the three siblings didn't kneel. Jacob didn't feel anything from beating children, but he was starting to get tired of this act.

'Maybe this isn't enough of a threat.'

He didn't have the time or patience to torture these kids in public, so Jacob planned to increase the severity of their injuries before dragging them away.

"Frost Claws."

With ice covering his fingers to mimic the sharp weapons of a beast, Jacob took a step towards Ross. Since they had run out of 'Protect' talismans, Ross could only prepare his body to take the attack.

"No!"

"Stop it!"

Of course, Sia and Josh wanted to help him, but Jacob created a barrier to isolate him together with Ross.

"Don't scream so much, I won't kill him. Probably."

While he beat them up, Jacob never showed any true emotion. He didn't laugh at their misery or delight in their suffering, but that made him scarier than a crazy killer.

Jacob was going to push his hand to pierce through Ross' stomach, but instead quickly raised both hands to block the arrow that smashed through his barrier. The force of the arrow knocked him to the ground, but he was unharmed because of the defensive artifact he wore. Jacob hastily got up and stared at the beautiful young lady who had shot the arrow and was walking towards him with her bow on her back.

"Big, sis!"

The siblings exclaimed in joy as their sister arrived, so Jacob didn't need to guess why she attacked him. He took a step forward with the intention of confronting her, but the young master who had simply been spectating, stepped in front of him.

"Leave her to me."

The young man acted like a gentlemen, but the look in his eyes alone told Jacob his intent. He was especially sure of what he would do since the sect he came from had a rich variety of dual cultivation arts. After strengthening her bond with Shui, though her appearance didn't change, Lily's aura was more enchanting.

"Yes, young lord."

Jacob didn't want to let him mess up his plan, but since he was using him to lure Shui in, Jacob had to allow him to do what he wanted. Additionally while Lily didn't seem to be the one who threatened Kia, but she was likely connected to him.

'There's nothing wrong with another hostage.'

Her arrow might have pushed him back, but she was just in the fourth level of the Soul Realm, and every member of the group that followed the young man from Pemacreba was at least one level above her. Worried that this might be a distraction, Jacob stood near the younger siblings but didn't attack them again.

Lily knew she was at a disadvantage but she didn't show it on her face. There were too many reasons why she couldn't afford to lose. Her main weapon was a bow, but that didn't mean she hadn't trained in melee combat as well. Having Ryan with her would be better, but he was already outside the town for work so she had to handle this by herself.

"My fair lady, surely you must realize that you can't win. But don't worry, as long you serve me well I can promise that your family won't be harmed."

The latter part of this young master's comment caused Jacob to frown, but he didn't say anything.

"R-really?"

Lily appeared with a cold expression, but now it was showing hesitation.

"No big sis!"

"Don't believe him!"

"You can't!"

While her younger siblings screamed for her not to trust him, the young man smiled. He was bored following around Jacob, but now there appeared to be something he could have fun with.

"Of course, you can trust me."

He thought it was too easy, but he was very familiar with tempting the hearts of women. As he saw her drop her quiver of arrows, he became even more sure. Since she gave in so easily, he believed that she wasn't pure, but with an aura like hers, he would definitely be able to reap great benefits after draining her dry.

Ignoring the cries of her siblings, Lily took slow steps towards the young man in a seemingly defenseless state. Everyone around him was still wary of her, including Jacob, but they knew that he had on a powerful artifact that wouldn't break even if he obediently got hit by someone at the peak of Soul Realm. Furthermore, he was in the seventh level of the Soul Realm so he could surely react to anything she tried to do.

Soon, Lily was only a few steps away from him and then he embraced her in his arms.

"That's right. You can trust m-"

Before anyone knew what happened, blood stained his back. It was just the tip, just the tip of the spear peeked out through his back and no one could see its shaft, but there was no doubt.

"Huh?"

As Lily dragged the spear out of him, the young man caught a glimpse of it slipping out of her palm. The identity of this weapon was on the tip of his tongue, but he would never get the chance to speak it.

For a moment after the young man fell to the ground and Lily literally pulled a spear from her arm, everyone was silent.

At first, their lack of response was due to the suddenness of his death, but among those that saw her weapon, the ones who could identify it were speechless. The young man shouldn't have died so easily, but if it was this weapon then it was possible.

In the midst of this silence, rather than a leader among them, it was Lily who reminded them that this was a battle. With the silver tip of the spear pointed towards the ground as her right hand was wrapped around its light blue shaft, Lily drew a swift arc in the air. After which, three heads dropped with expressions showing only surprise.

Finally, Jacob regained his wits and shouted at the rest of the group.

"Snap out of it! Don't fear the relic, she can't possibly use its full power!"

In truth, Jacob had no idea if what he said was true or not, but he had to raise their morale somehow. Relics in a cultivation context could refer to both artifacts and historical treasures, and in this case, it was obviously the former. A relic was simply a soul-bound artifact more commonly of at least archaic-rank. Even without inspecting it, telling that it was a relic was easy since only relics could bond with the physical body and be constantly in union with the self.

This sort of artifact was what all cultivators present wanted to obtain, but even someone like Jacob didn't have one since generally only Masters and above could wield them. And yet, here she was, this girl was casually swinging around a relic right in front of him.

Jacob would have surely been infuriated if he knew that the spear was gifted to her by her master. Unlike the gifts he gave to everyone else, this was one that was for work purposes only.

'As expected of Master.'

This was her first time testing it out, but Lily felt extremely familiar with the spear. She knew how to wield one beforehand since he taught her the basics of all weapons during his wheelchair years, but the spear seemed to be teaching her the right way to use it just by it being in her hand. This level of communication between an artifact and its wielder was the theme of the new series of artifacts Shui started making; the resonance series. The harmony series allowed cultivators to get closer to the natural world, but the resonance series focused on the bond between artifact and user. They had to be made with the user in mind, but with his new insights in bonds and fate Shui was able to make them similar to relics.