Dyon casually walked into Cathedral City, training his eyes on the massive renaissance era-like Church that loomed over everything.
The city itself was very reminiscent of what Dyon imagined a European town of the 1800s to look like, except for the fact that it was definitely much cleaner than a genuine city from that era would be, and it smelt much better too.
The aura of this town dripped with conservatism. The smiles of its people seemed faked and forced, their interactions were boxy and unnatural, even the children seemed to be walking on egg shells. Maybe the oddest part about it all was that these people seemed to think that this was just how people should act.
It seemed that people didn't visit this quadrant very often, so they simply had no idea how the outside world worked, and not many dared to enter the tower due to their poor ranking. It was only a fact of life that badly ranked quadrants would be bullied. Maybe the only reason no one bothered to conquer territories of the 98th Corner was because the resources given to that sort of ranking were much too poor to care about.
Of course, Dyon understood the other reason for this. The only people who would visit this quadrant would likely be those looking to profit from Soul Market. Individuals like this wouldn't be so keen to interact with the 'locals'.
Dyon did notice that the only true emotion these locals seemed capable of displaying was reverence. He noticed this every time he saw one of them glance at his robes.
'They probably won't reprimand me for breaking the city's rules… I wonder if it'll be the same if I go to The Cathedral.'
The Cathedral, itself, was a place of worship. So, much of it was open to public. As such, Dyon could stroll into it whenever he wanted. However, he didn't want to do this just yet.
Dyon's plan for hiding his identity wasn't what it seemed like on the surface. Because there were so few core disciples, it would be quite easy to narrow the list of individuals to only a handful. So, Dyon didn't wear this mask for the expressed purpose of hiding his identity forever. Rather, he just wanted to make use of the benefit of the doubt until it was too late for his enemies to do much else about it.
So, the first thing Dyon did before anything else wasn't to head to the places he wanted to investigate, but rather, he went to the teleportation stations and used them.
Just like before, he subtly manipulated the location symbols to send him to the outskirts of Cathedral City.
This time, he let his altered mask appear on his face before he appeared before the guards and also removed the symbol of Violet's faction that hung from his hip.
When the guards saw a tall man with a black mask approaching, their first reaction was to stop him. But, they realized two things. For one, they couldn't sense this man's cultivation at all. Secondly, he was actually wearing Soul Rending Peak core disciple robes!
Despite there being a rule of no masks in the city, the guards didn't dare to be the ones to reprimand such a high-ranking person. They could only hold their breaths and let Dyon walk through the gates unhindered.
Just like that, Dyon had a strong alibi. By the time his enemies began to question it, it would be too late.
After completing his little illusion, Dyon began to go from store to store.
Every time, he was received with open arms and diligently taken care of. Just for the sake of appearances, he also bought a few things here and there. None of them were anything too special and they meant next to nothing to Dyon, but he knew that in the eyes of the people here, these were treasures they could only look at but never touch.
From start to finish, no one dared to tell Dyon to remove his mask, and none dared to report it either. However, his journey was also fruitless.
The shop owners weren't of terrible strength. Many of them were saints, with a rare few having stepped into the lower celestial level. This made sense because many of the shops were controlled by the Caedes family along with the four up and coming families vying for the hole left behind by the Jafari family.
However, their strengths weren't enough to hide anything from Dyon's Perception.
Taking advantage of this, Dyon had asked some roundabout questions, the kinds of questions that might lead one to assume he was speaking about Soul Market, but all of the shop owners were genuinely confused. By the end of his inquiries, Dyon was sure that Soul Market was far above the paygrade of these shop owners. If he wanted to know more, he would have to go to The Cathedral.
'Old Lizard, why are you so useless? You really don't have any idea where this Soul Market could be?'
'My power is sealed because you're too weak, yet you blame it on me? Never forget that it's impossible to transcendent unless your soul also reaches the half-step transcendent level. So don't assume that just because my soul talent is poor compared to humans that I didn't have high achievements in it.'
Dyon sighed. He knew that this was true. But, that didn't stop him from being frustrated. There could be people having their souls extracted as they spoke and there was nothing he could do about it.
The worst part was that this Soul Market was likely protected with a formation that was beyond even his ability to draw. So, in all likelihood, even if the Dragon King was unsealed, it still might be difficult for him to sense it.
'It seems I have no choice but to directly go to The Cathedral…'
Soon, Dyon found himself on the lone path to The Cathedral. It actually led to a massive wide set of stairs, more than a hundred meters across. As long as Dyon followed them to the top, he would be able to enter the church.
The Cathedral was much busier than Dyon had thought it would be. Many families had brought their young children to play around, some couples even came here on dates.
However, everything still dripped with the same unnatural aura. The families seemed to have plastered smiles on their faces, and the young and old couples alike didn't even dare to hold hands.
The doors of the church itself were left wide open, leading first to a lobby, before showing another set of main doors that led to an alter and row after row of seats.
The ceilings were plastered with ancient glass artwork, while the floors alternated between pristine red carpets and expertly stone-smithed stone flooring.
The moment Dyon reached the top of the stairs, he was greeted by two nuns who wore much more natural smiles. They were dressed in all white, with their head-dresses even hiding their necks. But, Dyon's eyes couldn't help but brighten when he saw them. These nuns were actually such beauties!
He couldn't see their hair color, but their eyes were bright blue and their faces were exquisite. Even their long robes couldn't hide their figures. Maybe the best part was that they were actually twins, Dyon felt like he had truly stepped into heaven. It was rare that he saw women as beautiful as his wives, but when he did, the demon sage blood he tried to constantly temper would always roar back to life.
Well, that was the case when they didn't try to kill him like Asyna and Lilith had. It could be said that Lilith was already as beautiful as his wives, while Asyna only had to mature a bit a more before reaching that level. Yet, Dyon didn't feel like looking at either one of them like that. Being nearly killed had a way dampening the attractiveness of person…
The sister nuns didn't seem to mind Dyon's gaze, and instead smiled brightly.
"Young master, it's rare that we have such esteemed guests come to humble cathedral."
"Me and my younger sister welcome you."
'Kid, you're really hopeless without your soul. Can't you see that they're bewitching you? Continue acting as though you've fallen for their tricks, or else they'll assume you have a powerful soul.'
