Chapter 310: Shortcut

’It’s never easy with cultivators, huh,’ Liam thought when his ears captured the incoming foundation expert and his shout.

Liam had to admit that juggling his greed, the unclear time limit, and repeated failures to find suitable trials was getting to his mood.

So, dealing with members of the Church was the last thing Liam wanted to add to his problems, but a careful, sneaky advance just wasn’t an option when he pursued so much simultaneously.

"Fellow Daoist! Senior!" The foundation expert kept chasing and shouting, but Liam didn’t stop. Yet, the former eventually caught up since Liam wasn’t exactly running.

Liam stopped at another crossroad to check the nearby Churches, only for the middle-aged man to fill his vision. That didn’t prevent Liam from confirming that all the entrances in the area were already open, but it did put an end to his ability to ignore the cultivator.

"Senior!" The foundation expert called again, his voice loud, before composing himself and bowing politely. "Fellow Daoist, what brings you here?"

The question took Liam aback. He stared at the foundation expert from under his hood for a second before pointing at the giant Church tainted by waving shadows.

"I’m attempting to claim the inheritance?" Liam responded, not sure what else anyone could be doing in such a place.

The foundation expert also realized how stupid his question had been, but he had plenty of justifications on his side.

For starters, outsiders hadn’t entered Archbishop Ignatius’ inheritance in years, if not longer. It was actually common knowledge among the Church’s members that they would be the only ones inside.

Then, there was the issue about the location. The cloaked expert was in the true core of that place, where the real reward was. Outsiders shouldn’t know about that, let alone being able to reach it.

Lastly, despite the Archbishop’s famous wishes, everyone respected the Church’s ownership of the inheritance. Still, Liam hadn’t asked for permission or shown basic pleasantries in front of one of its members. That wasn’t how things usually went in the middle-aged man’s experience.

"Senior, you can’t-!" The foundation expert began to say, straightening himself, only to seal his mouth and lower his head again as another realization hit him.

That wasn’t the outside world. The two were in a separate dimension that didn’t care for politics. There were no witnesses, either, making the power difference even more relevant.

Still, due to the bow, the foundation expert stared straight at the pouches in his arms, recalling that he wasn’t alone. His team was with him, as well as his superior. The latter would know what to do with the cloaked expert. The issue was bringing him there.

"Senior, it has been a long time since-," The middle-aged man began to say, lifting his face to show a gentle smile, only to see that Liam had already delved deeper into the flowery road.

’Closed Churches, closed Churches,’ Liam thought, unable to stop cursing as he found open door after open door, his list of wishes having degenerated alongside his mood. ’Come on. Is it too much to ask for a full set of rank 3 martial arts?’

Naturally, the foundation expert caught up with Liam again.

"Senior! Senior! Please!" The middle-aged man cried, even relying on his Qi to cross Liam and stand in his way. "The Church’s forces are about to seize Archbishop Ignatius’ inheritance. I beg you not to interfere at such a critical moment."

That usually worked. As unusual as the cloaked cultivator’s behavior was, mentioning the Church and the possibility of ruining its plans in the same statement typically was enough to put anyone on their best behavior.

But Liam’s brain worked differently. He understood the politics involved, but that didn’t mean he had to care about them.

"Doesn’t this mean I still have time to claim the inheritance?" Liam questioned as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Actually, another curse resounded in Liam’s mind since it was his turn to realize something. According to the foundation expert, the Church was close to succeeding, closer than he had hoped, meaning he couldn’t waste time searching for rewards anymore.

’Damnit,’ Liam accepted as he set his gaze on the still-distant central building, ready to rush at it at full speed, only for the foundation expert to get to his knees.

"Fellow Daoist, if your goal is to claim the inheritance," The foundation expert declared, "May I interest you in joining the Church’s forces? My team set up an entrance not far from here!"

’Entrance?’ Liam thought, stopping whatever sprint he was about to unleash, voicing a question instead. "Is there a special requirement to enter the central Church?"

"That’s a Cathedral!" The foundation expert scolded, his face snapping up, before recalling where he was, lowering his voice. "Senior, there is the normal entrance, but the Church has worked for decades to carve a shortcut that leads directly to its heart."

’Can buildings have hearts?’ Liam remained confused for a second before his brain caught up with those words. ’Ah, he means its core location.’

The understanding led to a brief hesitation, which Liam solved through one of the previous conversations with his team. ’If they help us, let them.’

"Is the shortcut in that direction?" Liam asked, pointing at a distant, more central spot to his right.

The foundation expert inspected Liam’s raised arm before following where it pointed. There was nothing visible in that direction, but the middle-aged cultivator knew it was correct.

"Senior, it is," The foundation expert confirmed, standing up. "If you’ll allow me to escort you."

"No need," Liam said, suddenly grabbing the man’s collar before unleashing the sprint he had suppressed earlier.

Liam’s senses had long since captured everything there was to know about his surroundings. Deeper in the city’s center, where the Churches that resembled rank 3 items stood, Liam had felt strange, erratic Qi, as well as human presence.

Now that Liam wasn’t paying attention to the Churches, reaching that central area took no time, and the same went for the specific spot he had sensed. Those there felt his arrival, leading to quite a tense, silent mutual inspection.

Liam stopped on the tiled roof above a large crossroad, dropping the middle-aged man at his side.

Below, the intersection lacked the usual flowers, replaced instead by a bed of wilted, darkened petals. Four black, pillar-like structures grew from the crossroad’s corners, the intricate carvings on their surfaces glowing with an ominous light.

To Liam’s surprise, each pillar was a rank 3 item with unclear purposes. He only perceived a disturbance in the Qi beneath the road, which stretched toward the Cathedral, seemingly connected to the shadows over its white surface.

Six cultivators stood among the pillars, five foundation experts and one in the rooting stage, all wearing white, all looking up at Liam, none in a friendly way.

"Fellow Daoists," Liam announced, for once being the first to opt for words. "Your companion told me you built a shortcut for the Chur-. For the Cathedral’s center. Can I use it?"

The group below struggled to believe their ears. Liam clearly was an outsider, while they belonged to the Church. It was straight-up shameless and against any reasonable political agreement to request such a thing.

On top of that, Liam’s whole ominous attire didn’t match his genuine tone at all. He had almost sounded like an innocent child asking for direction despite what his figure radiated.

"Fellow Daoist," The rooting expert in the group below, an old man with long grey hair, called. "The Church built this shortcut over decades. Please don’t take offense at the fact that we can’t lend it to you."

Liam understood the rooting expert’s reasons, but had a complaint for the foundation expert on the roof with him. "Didn’t you say I could join the Church’s forces?"

The foundation expert straightened, but only to peek down, silently begging his superior to get him out of that situation.

"The Church welcomes any kind of help," The rooting expert declared. "However, Fellow Daoist, that doesn’t involve your entrance into the Cathedral. I’m afraid that’s the Church’s sacred ground."

Liam fell silent for a second, his nose and mouth already providing an answer, but wanting to be absolutely certain.

"Help me understand something," Liam said. "Can I or can’t I enter the Cathedral?"

"Fellow Daoist, this is the Church’s sacred ground," The rooting expert repeated, his words hinting at his true meaning.

"So," Liam continued, "If I were to approach the Cathedral on my own, what would you do?"

"Please, don’t force our hand," The rooting expert replied. "This is the inheritance of one of the Church’s greatest Archbishops. It belongs to the Church by right."

’Always so many useless words with cultivators,’ Liam sighed internally, addressing the middle-aged man next to him instead. "Will you try to stop me or not?"

The foundation expert couldn’t understand why Liam was stressing that point so much. Yet, emboldened by the team downstairs, he performed a nod, only for the word in his eyes to turn upside down, eventually showing a bleeding neck where his head was supposed to be attached.