Rivers of the Night

Theron's eyes shot open. He felt it even before it came, his eyes narrowing. However, he didn't move a single inch.

He had been getting better at dealing with the slab, so he had exited before he completely finished his fifth session, feeling that something was off.

As though he had predicted the future, there were a few flickers in the dense room of light. It wasn't obvious, but Theron had taken his time to study the light projections and where they were.

From an outsider's perspective, it looked as though there was nothing but blinding light everywhere. But in action, Theron could tell that there were several light sources layering on top of one another.

In order to open the cage, you needed to have light concentrate on one fairly small region. That meant that the light sources had to be directional and controlled.

By extension, in order for it to flood a room like this, there had to be several light sources, all directional, all layering atop one another.

This led to slight but noticeable patches of brighter and just a bit darker regions.

It was hard to pick out these regions without outright blinding yourself, something most would be too uncomfortable to do—especially since there didn't seem to be anything to gain from doing so.

Theron, however, had already calculated how to open the cage from the inside. So, understanding the directionality of the various light sources was all too important. And that was exactly why he sensed the change in them instantly.

Someone had come. But they weren't coming from the usual direction.

He had been visited twice now. Both times, they both entered and exited from the same action region. In addition, there was a third time as well—that being the very first time he entered this place and was escorted to the jail in the first place.

Twice might be a coincidence. Three times was an obvious pattern. There was more than likely only one frequently used entrance and exit. There might be others, but they were almost certainly hidden and only used in times of emergency. Or…

Subterfuge.

The flickering change in the lights came from a region opposing the one Theron had been paying the most attention to. Which meant…

Theron slowly closed his eyes when he felt something touch the cage. Rather than reacting, he instead acted as though he hadn't noticed at all, his breathing steady and calm.

There were only two possibilities. Either this person had come to kill him or rescue him. And if it was the latter… it was almost certainly related to Scholar McIntyre. It seemed that he hadn't given up after all.

The minutes ticked by, the subtlety of the person's actions hard to detect even for Theron, who had noticed them at the first instant. He was forced to use his normal five senses since he was so thoroughly suppressed right now.

About an hour or so later, the figure vanished, and Theron detected nothing else.

It was either they couldn't figure out the cage, or they were waiting for a more opportune chance.

After confirming that they were gone, Theron slowly opened his eyes once more.

'Rescue, then.'

If this was an assassination attempt, it would almost certainly be related to an internal struggle of the Mandate Guild. Why would an external enemy risk so much to come here and kill him?

By extension, if it had been related to an internal struggle of the Mandate Guild, then they should know how to open the cage already. There would be no need to scout things or wait for a more opportune chance.

The question was, what should Theron do with a rescue attempt? Accept it or not?

If the opponent was too powerful, would he even have a choice to begin with? Even with his increased strength, did he stand a chance against the current Scholar McIntyre? It seemed like an impossibility.

Theron made a decision and then slowly closed his eyes once again.

The slab had closed off to him, leaving him a bit frustrated, but there was nothing he could do about it. It seemed that ending a session early came with no take-backs.

This left him in a bit of a limbo because he still didn't quite understand the Law of Balance and why it would be related to the chilling path in specific.

Without the slab, it was like Laws were covered in a hint of a sheen that he couldn't see past.

The good news was that he had now grasped 17 of the 18 Laws he needed—15 of which were completely unique, and the remaining three of which appeared in both paths but were distinctive in their usage for both.

The sudden thought made Theron's eyes flash.

Was that what the Law of Balance was about?

He began to look into the Law of Density, Vibration, and Reflection again, looking at the dividing lines between them and how they related to one another despite being different in their presentation for the two paths.

However, even after another three hours or so, Theron found that while he had inched the three Bronze Laws forward somewhat, he was no closer.

If the Law of Balance appeared in both the chilling and heated paths, it would make far more sense. But it didn't. It only appeared in the chilling path, so what good was it to try and understand how these Laws differed across both paths?

Theron sighed. He would be lying if he said the pressure wasn't getting to him a bit.

It wasn't about fear. It was just that he felt so close… he felt that the moment of his revenge was so much closer than he expected, and if that time came and he was unable to seize the moment because he was one Law away from being capable…

Well, the cultivation world wasn't one that gave you a chance to feel regret. It usually just took your head.

Theron's mind suddenly focused again.

His rescuer was back.