Chapter 88: 88. Infiltration
"It seems the king used the formation to alter their perception," Kai muttered.
Kai found something different from the sand spirit he captured. The sand spirit didn't even react when Kai told him about the massacre; he acted like it was a normal thing.
'It seems the king's bloodline made a miracle.'
Kai left the place after learning the truth, he now has to plan something different to enter the capital.
His astral body only has fifty percent of his strength, and he won't be able to fight a peak Tier 3 cultivator in case he encounters them.
Kai's astral body is only made by his soul power, and he doesn't have any soul techniques to attack. Even his Will Power is limited, so it would be disastrous if he stole the treasure but was not able to obtain it.
Kai came to the Treasury at night and checked the formation.
'The king might suffer some kind of backlash from the formation, so it will be my only chance to infiltrate the capital.'
Kai knew that the formation needed a bloodline source for activation, and taking it would reduce the strength of the user, so he was going to take advantage of it.
'But before that, I should probably do this as a backup.'
While his astral body was busy with a mysterious plan, his main body was currently meditating.
"I thought breaking through would be easy, but it seems I won't be able to do that for a long time."
Kai tried breaking into the mid-stage of the Will Manipulation realm, but he didn't succeed. His speed of cultivation was limited by his talent, and he couldn't do anything about it.
Kai sighed and got up from his meditation.
"I should focus on infiltration for now," Kai muttered and left for the capital.
Kai made the right decision to infiltrate the capital now; if he had done that before or a little later, he would be under the king's eyes all the time.
Since Sebastian is healing right now, it was his perfect chance to steal the fragment.
Kai arrived at the capital entrance in a day.
"Now, how should I fool these guys?"
The first problem he encountered was the guards standing at the entrance.
'Should I use my astral body's status to get inside or just replace someone's identity?'
After thinking for a bit, Kai decided to implement the second plan. The first one has many loopholes, and it would also disturb his astral body, so he decided against it.
Kai concealed his presence and waited for any guards to come outside the capital.
The guards at the entrance would occasionally leave the capital to check on the situation outside. Kai planned to kill someone at that time and replace him as a guard.
It was a simple and perfect plan, but it required a lot of patience since the guard needed to leave the capital.
'Since I don't have time to wait for an opportunity, I should make my opportunity.'
He needs to infiltrate the capital before the king recovers from his injury.
Kai appeared at an appropriate distance from the entrance. He used his Will Power to create four fireballs. All of them floated around him. He fired those in different directions.
*BOOOMMM*
The fireballs exploded and made a lot of noise.
"Hey, did you think the explosive centipedes arrived near the capital?"
"Yeah, it should be. It's their mating season, and they would be searching for food."
"Let's go and check it out. There are a lot of people inside the capital; if they went inside, it would be disastrous."
"Okay, let's split up and eliminate them quickly."
The guards at the entrance quickly discussed and went to search for the explosive centipedes.
'Perfect, now I only need to wait for a perfect chance.'
Kai used an explosion to mislead people into thinking it was centipedes. The explosive centipedes were creatures that lived above this sand kingdom, and they would come here to find food whenever their mating season was about to start.
Kai obtained this piece of information by using his cosmic awareness ability. Those centipedes would cause explosions wherever they went, so the guards didn't suspect anything.
Kai calmly waited for a lucky guy to appear before him.
It seems his luck is good, and Kai doesn't have to wait; a guard arrives near his location. His cultivation level is also in the early stages of Tier 3.
'Perfect target. I choose you, and don't curse me before dying.'
After the guard neared him, Kai manifested a dagger using his Will Power. He also reduced his presence using darkness manipulation.
He imbued the dagger with sword intent and darkness energy.
The guard wasn't able to sense Kai's presence and walked without any awareness. Kai attacked him as soon as he appeared in perfect range.
He appeared behind him using phantom steps and thrust his dagger into his head.
The guard didn't die immediately; he tried attacking Kai using the spear in his hands, but Kai manifested another dagger and stabbed him in the chest.
*CRACKKK*
A cracking sound could be heard, and the guard died without making any sound. Kai's second attack directly broke the core of the guard, and it instantly killed him.
The sand spirit has a core in its chest, which functions like a heart. So, breaking the core is directly killing them.
Kai burned the body using willpower and cleared all the traces. He changed his wavelength, similar to that of the guard, and went near the entrance.
"Hey, it took you long enough. Did you find something?" A guard asked him as soon as he saw Kai.
"No, I only saw a shadow similar to a centipede, so I followed it but didn't find any clues," Kai replied calmly, without any flaws.
"You had at least found a shadow, but I didn't even see that. I think they escaped after finding our presence."
"Yeah, those guys are cunning, always hiding in the underground, planning to hide and seek."
"If they appeared before me, I would kill everyone with a single strike of my sword."
The guards discussed the situation, and Kai watched calmly without joining them.