Awakening the Divine Spark-Chapter 288: Wrong timing.

They had already been on the move for half a day, which in Lee’s book meant that either the criminals were unusually careful, or they had somebody feeding them information, and neither option made him happy because both meant more work.

The terrain was a mess, a mix of tall yellow grass, patches of cracked soil, and shallow ravines that could swallow a man if he was dumb enough to sprint while looking at the sky.

The air was hot, the kind of heat that didn’t bother cultivators until it suddenly did, because it slowly drained your focus the same way a bad conversation drained your patience.

"Are you sure it’s them?" Osrick asked for the third time, and Lee didn’t blame himfor it, because what they were doing looked like wandering in circles like a bunch of idiots.

He could smell the remnants of elemental traces in the air, but it wasn’t a clean trail, it was the kind that had been stepped on, washed over, and then deliberately smeared with somebody else’s energy to look like a different group had passed here.

"It’s them," Lee said, "and stop asking like I’m doing this for fun."

"I’m asking because you look like you’re about to bite someone." He replied.

"I am."

Karn snorted, "Good. It’s about time. You were too calm in Myrios."

"Yeah, because nothing says ’relaxing vacation’ like Luminarch’s city where even the air looks like it’s judging you." Lee muttered.

The official mission was simple on paper.

A group of criminals, mostly former sect disciples with very specific skillsets, had been stealing rare materials, killing witnesses, and disappearing through unstable rifts.

It wasn’t a political situation yet, which in the academy meant it would become one if they waited long enough.

So Luminarch gave the mission to a small team that could move fast, operate quietly, and not embarrass Myrios in front of the other worlds.

Which translated to: Lee and his two companions were being used as a scalpel, and if they failed, the academy would deny knowing them, and if they succeeded, they would be told it was expected.

Augustus had provided the brief personally and made sure they understood one thing.

"There will be no heroics." He said, looking at Lee for longer than necessary, "You secure the evidence, you secure the target if possible, and if not possible, you make sure they stop existing, and you return. Myrios is aware of your route, and so am I."

Then he added, quiet enough that only Lee heard him, "Also, don’t break anything that can’t be fixed. We’ve had enough of those lately."

Lee had promised nothing, because promising things to Augustus felt like promising things to a mountain.

You didn’t do it unless you wanted to look stupid later.

They reached the edge of the ravine system by late afternoon.

Lee crouched, pressed his palm to the soil, and sent a thin thread of spatial sense into the cracks.

The world responded the way it always did now, not with resistance but with a kind of reluctant cooperation, as if space itself had accepted that Lee was going to poke it anyway, so it might as well stop being dramatic about it.

"They went down." He said.

Karn leaned over the edge, squinting, "I don’t see shit."

"That’s because you’re looking with your eyes."

"I’m proud of them." Karn said, "They’ve served me well."

Osrick rolled his eyes, "Can you two act like professionals for one hour?"

Lee stood up, saying "No."

He sent a signal flare, not visible to mortals, but clear enough for a Myrios relay to catch it if Augustus was still paying attention, which Lee assumed he was because Augustus had that particular talent of being annoying even when absent.

Then Lee jumped down first.

The descent was controlled.

He didn’t float, because floating was wasteful, and he didn’t teleport, because he wasn’t going to spend spatial energy just to look cool, so he used short spatial steps, each one anchored to the walls, like walking down invisible stairs.

Karn followed, rougher, using earth to blunt impacts.

Osrick used water to slide, which looked elegant and pissed Lee off slightly because it was the kind of thing that made people think cultivators were born graceful instead of spending years falling on their faces.

They landed in a cavern network that smelled of damp stone and old blood.

Lee’s senses tightened.

"There." He said, pointing at a thin smear of black residue along the rock. It was Nullite.

Not the raw ore, but processed shards, the kind you embedded into flesh or walls to disrupt elemental circulation. The criminals weren’t just thieves. They were prepared to fight Sovereign-level cultivators, or they were stupid enough to think they could.

"Plan?" Osrick asked.

Lee looked into the darkness where the tunnel bent into two.

"Same plan as always." He said.

Karn grinned, "Which one is that?"

"The one where we don’t die." Lee replied.

They moved in, and for several minutes it was quiet, but the kind of quiet that wasn’t empty, just waiting.

Lee felt the seal-less skin on his palm itch, and he hated that sensation because it reminded him of old limitations, and he didn’t have patience for nostalgia.

Then the first trap triggered.

A grid of Nullite shards exploded out of the wall, not to kill, but to disrupt.

Karn cursed loudly as the shards bit into his shoulder.

Osrick’s water shield flared, then sputtered.

Lee’s sparks surged in response, and for a brief second he felt the old familiar internal noise, the argument of elements that never fully trusted each other.

He smothered it with will and moved forward.

"Keep moving." He said, "If they want to waste Nullite on traps, let them."

"Easy for you to say," Karn growled, ripping shards from his skin. "You’re the freak with too many sparks."

Lee didn’t answer, because yes, he was, and no, he wasn’t in the mood to discuss it.

They rounded the next bend, and the criminals finally revealed themselves.

Five figures, cloaked, masked, standing around a crate of stolen materials like they were having a picnic.

The leader lifted his head and smiled under the mask.

He said, "You came fast."

Lee sighed.

"Yeah," he said. "I’m also in a hurry, so if you could surrender without making me work, I’d appreciate it."