Legacy of Hatred-Chapter 89: List

The martial art inevitably caught Liam’s interest. A transparent mist had enveloped him and Melissa, hazing anything beyond it, slightly hindering their visibility, but also providing much-needed cover.

Of course, Liam wouldn’t have been able to realize that last point if he hadn’t observed the martial art from the other side first. Nothing hinted at his invisibility from inside that hazing curtain, but his previous interaction with it said otherwise.

Still, that previous interaction also told Liam how imperfect that invisibility was. It was a visual and soundproofing cover, but it did nothing against smell.

Actually, the cloaking technique carried a wet scent of its own, which could act as a glaring clue for that place’s packs, but it remained far better than nothing.

"Where to?" Liam muttered once his inspection ended, and Melissa didn’t need additional information to nod in the direction where she had found the Water Shield.

The two crossed the chamber and entered one of its tunnels. The passage was short and rising, its rocky floor annoying to navigate, but Liam easily supported Melissa with his numb arm through it, keeping their advance’s pace decent.

Naturally, the difficult-to-navigate environment forced Liam to hold onto Melissa even closer, often pushing or lifting her. Still, she was too light to be a burden, and his wariness triumphed over those minor issues.

After a while, even Melissa began to relax, getting used to Liam’s touch or accepting the situation’s helplessness, relying more willingly on his support so that their advance could be as swift as possible.

That cooperation quickly paid off since the rising tunnel ended in a stone passage’s floor, and Liam could see its mostly collapsed state after lifting Melissa into it and climbing out himself.

Despite the tunnel’s exit, the floor was the most intact aspect of that passage. It actually was more of a vaguely rectangular hole in its current state, but Melissa promptly pointed to a narrow cavity ahead before getting on all fours.

Liam imitated Melissa and followed her into the cavity, which turned out to be a narrow passage under the pile of boulders. It was even quite long, but Liam saw it open once Melissa had enough room to get out of the way.

Another rectangular area unfolded, this one more intact than the previous. Its ceiling had collapsed, revealing the rocks above. Boulders littered the floor, and cracks covered the stone walls, but something else existed among that rubble.

Liam spotted wood shards under the rocky debris, hinting at the previous presence of furniture that reminded him of a specific place. He suddenly thought about the chamber where the Pale Moon Sect kept its rank 1 martial arts, and his eyes lit up.

"Did you find the Water Shield under this rubble?" Liam asked, whispering since the short distance from Melissa had dispersed her cloaking vapor.

Melissa nodded before lifting herself on her knees to approach nearby rocks, moving them away to check what they hid.

Instead, Liam stood up, reaching the end of the area to start his search there. The two would cover more ground like that, and he didn’t want to risk competing with Melissa.

Also, there was something interesting on the wall there. Words that the cracks and detached stones had mostly ruined had been carved on that surface, leaving incomplete, unreadable lines.

Yet, Liam’s face grew colder at that sight since he knew exactly what those lines were.

"The Divine Cult is my life," Liam whispered, filling the blanks on the first, unreadable line, only for a faint trace of Qi to flare inside the surface.

A dim blue light joined the place’s yellowish halo. The words Liam had spoken brightened on the damaged wall, hovering over the incomplete line, filling the emptiness left behind by the collapse.

The change startled Liam, but the blue light subsided as quickly as it came, vanishing to restore the dark, incomplete line.

Liam’s gaze snapped at Melissa, who had watched the event unfold without experiencing any surprise, even stammering an explanation. "Second r-room. I-it wa-ants keywords to o-open."

Understanding quickly dawned upon Liam. Melissa and Neil had already seen that wall and had probably tried to open it back then, but they had only known the words carved on the Sect’s entrance. Instead, Liam knew them all, and nothing could make him forget them.

"The Divine Cult is my life," Liam whispered, and those words lit up on the collapsed surface again, but he didn’t stop there.

"I belong to the Divine Cult," Liam said. "I’m a weapon of the Divine Cult. The Divine Cult’s will is my will."

As soon as Liam finished a line, its words brightened on the collapsed wall, creating a blue list of the brainwashing mantra he had been forced to learn.

"I give my life to the Divine Cult," Liam continued, ignoring the hateful hiss rising in his ears, voicing the last unreadable line. "I will die for the Divine Cult."

Once the last line lit up, rumblings followed. The wall started to move, fighting against its collapsed state to open, only for the boulders to stop it halfway through.

Still, that partial opening was enough for Liam to cross and spot the room past it, but he didn’t head directly there, choosing to return to Melissa instead.

Summoning that painful memory had put Liam in his coldest behavior. His face reeked of the same killing intent Melissa had seen earlier, which was drawing dangerously close now.

Melissa believed she had witnessed one of Liam’s greatest secrets, something that he could be ready to kill to hide. She lifted her palms and tried to retreat, but she had nowhere to run to in that place, especially with her busted ankle.

But Liam merely seized Melissa’s left wrist, crouching to wrap her arm around his shoulders before lifting her on her feet again. He even supported her from her back, but her silent, emotionless stare eventually forced him to address the matter.

"Please, don’t ask," Liam exclaimed while helping Melissa cross the area. "It’s not a nice story."

Like that, the two made their way forward, squeezing themselves against the half-open door to enter the second, hidden room.

The collapse had been even worse there, a pile of boulders immediately cutting the area short. Yet, two stone stands had survived that destruction, and the luxurious box and tome on them claimed Liam and Melissa’s entire attention.