As the green veins began to pulsate, Vincent's body started to slightly glow in greenish light.
"What the fuck is that!?"
Vincent didn't pay attention to the duo as he carefully observed the ropes.
'As I thought. The effect is not immediate, but it's still there,' thought Vincent, witnessing how the ropes were gradually losing their strength under the influence of this greenish light that had an effect on it somewhat similar to acid.
As Vincent somewhat understood the effect of this greenish light on the ropes, he deactivated the green veins.
For someone who had successfully crossed Stage 1, activating the power of essence or soul force was as simple as blinking as if it was a muscle.
*Rip*
Vincent decided that it was enough and casually stood up, easily freeing himself as the ropes were torn apart like a wet paper.
This scene gave a massive fright to the father and son duo.
Vincent turned to look at the both before he landed on a village chief that rushed to the side and picked a knife.
Vincent didn't stop him and turned to his son.
'Wait a bit. Your turn will be next,' a transparently bluish veins began covering his body as he pointed his finger onto the chief's son.
The young man didn't know what the hell was happening when suddenly he grabbed his neck and his eyes widened in horror. He felt like he was starting to choke as if he was under water.
Actually, Vincent just barely formed a thin wobbling bubble of water around the young man's head and inwardly nodded before turning to the village chief.
But he has to remain focused to keep the bubble stable or it'll burst the next moment if he gets distracted. It wasn't easy with his soul force being temporarily absent.
When the chief saw the greenish veins on Vincent's body, his heart shook and he already started to guess something, but now, after Vincent created this bubble of water, his assumption was finally turned out to be correct and he shouted in terror that creeped into his heart.
"C-Cultivator!"
A regret clouded his heart. He should kill him when he can.
But how could he know that?
Vincent slightly raised his brows in surprise, smiling, "Looks like you saw something similar before. Well, though I'm curious about other practitioners, it doesn't matter that much."
Saying this, Vincent took a step towards the village chief.
The chief's heart immediately dropped. When he was about to shout something, Vincent raised his leg and like a released arrow, the kick landed onto the chief's chest making his eyes wide in horror.
"Aagh!" the chief screamed.
Vincent felt with his foot that several bones were instantly broken apart upon the impact as he looked how chief's body was thrown to the wall with a *thud!* like a rag before it collapsed down.
Laying down, the chief tried to breathe. Fear was visible in his bloody eyes as found out his chest was curved in and his lungs had ruptured.
Vincent lowered his leg before turning his eyes towards the chief's son while ignoring the chief's barely moving body that lay beside the wall.
He is as good as dead.
Vincent moved toward the chief's son who had already fainted.
He bent down, checking his pulse.
'Still alive, good. I have something unforgettable for you,' Vincent recalled the scene yesterday of how this man talked to his mother.
Straightening up, he casually started to search for something.
…
Sometime later, Vincent stood outside the chief's house, holding something in his hand.
Without looking back, he went in a certain direction.
Meanwhile, the smoke began to rise up from the house roof.
…
When Vincent arrived back home, he saw two beautiful middle-aged women talking to each other in front of the front door.
When two women heard someone's steps, they stopped talking and turned their heads.
Upon seeing her son, Vanessa's worries faded away, while Patricia looked at him without speaking.
As Vincent arrived beside the two, he saw the backpack full of stuff near Patricia.
Vincent slightly nodded, "Since you've made a decision, we'll move out tomorrow morning. Leave it here and go take a good sleep. Tomorrow will be a long day. Mother, you should do the same," as he said it, Vincent entered the house towards his room.
He was tired.
The two women oddly looked at his departure and when he was gone, Patricia broke the silence, "I can barely recognise your son anymore, Vanessa. Though roughly 7 years have passed, and yet, it feels like he's turned into a completely different person."
"Well, he spent 7 years in complete isolation. We can't even imagine what it can do to one's psyche. But as long as he's happy and well, everything else doesn't really matter to me that much," Vanessa spoke calmly, but certain concerns were vivid in her tone.
The two women chatted a bit more before Patricia left her backpack in Vanessa's care before going home to get some sleep as Vincent suggested.
Vanessa also didn't waste her time and after bringing Patricia's backpack home, went into her room.
She had already gathered everything she and Vincent would need.
What was left was a good sleep.
…
Vincent's eyes slowly moved before they gradually were opened.
A lingering dream of that cave was still in his mind.
Suddenly, he heard faint shouts from some distance away from the house.
But he didn't pay them any attention and stood up from his bed.
He gathered his stuff into the backpack such as an old tome, the wooden stick, the old bag with several crystals within, some spare clothes that he prepared beforehand and some other minor stuff such as money that he found in the chief's house and in others before leaving the room without looking back.
With the *crack* the door was slowly opened and Vincent stepped out of the house with the backpack on his back.
The sun was yet to fully rise.
Vincent spotted two women that were already waiting for him and who had turned to look at his arrival with odd gazes.
Vincent wasn't bothered as he walked towards them and asked, "Ready?"
Vanessa didn't reply and silently put her own backpack on.
Patricia also did the same.
Vincent nodded and took a lead towards the village entrance.
As they walked through the village, there were several old villagers who stood outside their houses, looking in a certain direction where a big smoke was rising, not knowing what was going on.
Vanessa also looked up with narrowed brows, thinking, 'Isn't there a chief's house?'
Then she recalled Vincent saying yesterday that he has something else to do.
Her heart suddenly jumped as she made a certain assumption.
Looking at the calm expression of her son, her face slightly paled, but she didn't say anything.
Patricia was also looking back as she followed Vincent, not knowing why the smoke was rising. But since she's leaving the village to search for her daughter, whatever is happening in the village is no longer of her concern.
As the rising smoke and the noises around it gradually altered other villagers, the trio gradually arrived at the gates before passing through the entrance.
"Hey! Where are you going? Did you get permission to leave the village?"
Suddenly, a harsh man's voice rang out behind them which frightened Vanessa and Patricia.
The trio stopped in their tracks as the two women exchanged glances in worry before turning towards Vincent.
Vincent put a friendly smile and turned around, slowly walking towards the gate guard.
"Of course, one moment," he spoke and sent his hands into his pockets, searching for something.
The guard eased up a bit upon seeing this as he waited.
When Vincent arrived beside the guard while searching his pockets, he calmly looked around. Upon seeing no one else nearby except the 4 of them, he slightly nodded.
"Do you have permission or not? If not then immediately go back and don't waste my time.
There's an emergency right now," spoke the guard with frustration mixed with intimidation.
He is yet to know which house was burning.
"Oh, sorry. It should be somewhere here, one moment," Vincent apologetically replied before his hand suddenly left the pocket.
For a moment, the guard didn't understand what happened before unconsciously grabbed his neck as his eyes widened and turned red as he looked at Vincent in horror before collapsing on the ground that shortly became stained in blood.
As the job was done, he put back his casual demeanor and went back to the two women as if nothing happened.
'Every action has its consequences.'
If this guard was any random person, Vincent would've just knocked him out and be done with, but this exact guard, by Patricia's words, was involved in Alisia's capture.
He knew that this person would be on guard today, making it quite convenient for him. Before coming here, he already knew what he needed to do.
Vincent calmly passed the two women and went ahead on the narrow road.
Meanwhile, Vanessa's face was pale, her breathing heavy as she looked at the convulsing guard whose life was slowly fading away.
Though she vaguely assumed before that the smoke in the distance had something to do with Vincent, now she was sure about that.
Looking at her son's back and his indifferent demeanor, her heart trembled slightly.
She then hastily looked at Patricia who became completely petrified. When she was about to scream, Vanessa hastily covered Patricia's mouth and shook her head while looking into her frightened eyes.
"Don't. Whatever you'll see, just ignore it. Remember your daughter," Vanessa quietly said and waited until Patricia calmed down a bit before moving her hand away and following Vincent.
Patricia was still utterly shocked and didn't follow right away.
Instead, she looked at the guard who already stopped convulsing as the amount of blood around him increased by two times.
With a pale face, she nervously gulped and bit her lip before following Vanessa after brief hesitation.
Soon, the trio gradually disappeared in the distance.