The Devil's Cage

A door slowly appeared from the void, like how those flickering chains appeared around him.

Kieran got a clear look at the door amid the flickering.

The door was black and felt a lot like stone, the surface very rough. Other than the rectangle shape that resembled a door, it had none of the other criterias of one.

There was no door frame, no door knob, no decorations at all, but it had a 'guard'.

Heavy sense of danger flowed out from the flickering door, yet even with Kieran's sight, he didn't see anything.

"Invisible beings?!" Kieran quickly related the situation.

Kieran had seen too many invisible beings throughout his adventures. When his [Undercover] reached Transcendence, together with [Dark Movement Technique], he could achieve an effect similar to invisibility, therefore he had quite the knowledge about invisible beings.

Being unable to see something did not mean it did not exist, even subtle details still had differences.

It wasn't just the presence it emanated, there was also the standing position.

The former could achieve a certain level of invisibility through rigorous training but the standing position would never change. Every single place has only that much place for one to hide. If it wasn't this one, it would be the other.

Through countless battles, Kieran had already branded all the possible locations to hide from sight in his instinct. Plus, with his ever growing Intuition and Spirit, he immediately and accurately knew where the invisible being was hiding based on the position of the door.

Kieran locked his gaze at a spacious spot above him.

He slowly moved away from his spot, not retreating, but experimenting, and soon he had results.

When he moved away from that flickering chain, the sense of danger went away, the invisible being even started to move slowly towards that door and… swirled around it?

Kieran squinted his eyes.

"Defense mechanism. Very strong but simple. Won't attack, only guards the door passively."

All the answers he got were no doubt good news for him but none of those was the most important point!

What concerned Kieran the most was the reaction of the defense mechanism.

Would it chase Kieran until it killed him once triggered? Or would it just counterattack once and then go back to the way it was, waiting for the next trigger to the contraption?

If it was the former, Kieran had to reevaluate his actions and raise his cautiousness.

The sense of danger he sensed told him this kind of defense mechanism would be lethal to him.

If it was the latter… everything would be easy, but unfortunately, he couldn't test it for an ideal result.

In short, he only had one shot at this! The energy from the golden coins was running low.

Kieran then took a deep breath, scanned the surroundings of this unusual space, and branded every detail in his mind.

The next moment, he returned to the secret basement.

Kieran lied on top of the pile of rusted coins and thought for quite a while.

When he opened his eyes, he called for Du.

"Du, I want you to build me another room. 500 meters long, 300 meters wide, and around 200 meters tall. I also need a door in the middle of the room, hang it up at around 150 meters. Use chains to stabilize it here and here."

Kieran squatted down and drew a rough blueprint on the ground with his finger.

"My lord, you will have your room by morning, but I can't do anything about the door and chains," Du expressed the difficulties of the job.

"You don't have to worry about the door and chains, when the room is done, they will appear," Kieran answered.

"Leave it to me then," Du said, examining the blueprint on the ground and then preparing himself for the job.

The scales on its body shuddered and Du crawled on the ground like a giant armadillo, starting to dig around, but compared to a normal armadillo, Du was countless times faster.

On top of that, the dirt that it dug out didn't pile up into a hill, going into Du's special stomach.

Du could spit it out when needed or transform the consumed dirt into hard rocks.

It was part of Du's talent, which wasn't much of a use during other times, but it could achieve wonders at the right timing.

Kieran knew it after looking at the mountain of items and equipment in the room.

Bloody Mary, who shared a link with Kieran, didn't even need to wait for the order. It went up to Kieran and asked, "Boss, what type of chains and door do you need?"

After Kieran described the door and chains to Bloody Mary, the Superior Demon nodded.

"Leave it to me, boss!"

Bloody Mary then vanished.

After that, Kieran turned around and looked at the rusted Crossing Gold Coins. Sighing, he knew he did the right thing, but he still couldn't hold back his emotions.

It felt wasteful and pitiful, with a little heartache and all of the emotions coming from the bottom of his heart and soul.

Kieran counted his spoils a second time before walking back to the surface.

Starbeck already finished cleaning the floor, and with the monster duo helping out, the cleaning process was quickened.

Starbeck then went on to teach Li Jiajia cooking.

"The weather's starting to turn cold, so meat like mutton, which provides warmth, is a must. Carrot and chinese yam, plus other garnishes need a refill. If you are making soup, I would suggest getting a charcoal stove."

Starbeck told Li Jiajia as he checked the refrigerator, very serious as he went over the list.

Kieran quietly went to the entrance, leaned on the door frame, and watched Starbeck quietly.

He liked serious people who treated their work with zero carelessness.

Other than the fact that he was one of those serious people, seriousness would also provide a higher success rate and no one disliked success, even with the saying 'failure is the mother of success'.

When all the dishes were done with preparation, Starbeck noticed his student kept looking behind him. He turned around and saw Kieran was watching him.

"I think you might need this."

Kieran took the [Water Purity Stone (Big)] and handed it to Starbeck.

Starbeck was overjoyed when he saw the big stone.

Although he already had one, this bigger one was better and more efficient.

To a cook like Starbeck, acquiring excellent ingredients quicker was like adding wings to a tiger. It made him happier than ever because the stone came from Kieran.

Starbeck went over and took the stone, looking at Kieran with a smile.

"What do you want to eat tomorrow?" he asked.

"Anything you cook," Kieran answered.

Kieran was very confident in Starbeck's cooking and Starbeck had not once let him down.

"Em," Starbeck nodded in determination and then started to plan what to cook tomorrow.

While he was at it, he put the bigger piece of [Water Purity Stone] into the water tank beside the kitchen.

"Stop thinking, we still have a lot of time, don't stress yourself out in this particular moment. Get some rest," Kieran reminded Starbeck when he saw how concentrated Starbeck was.

"Em."

Starbeck nodded again, the glimmers in his eyes telling Kieran that Starbeck was still pondering about the recipe.

Only with constant thinking would the mind keep going, otherwise it would rot on the spot.

Kieran didn't mind since he has a similar attitude, holding Starbeck's hand and waving at Li Jiajia before they both headed upstairs.

Li Jiajia saw Kieran and Starbeck up before she took the chinese yam and started peeling.

"I am not jealous! I am not envious! When I am as good as teacher, I will have strong followers like him too! Probably even stronger!"

Li Jiajia muttered while the determination in her heart strengthened.

She ignored the voice in her head straightaway.

What blood, what death?

What flame, what destruction?

Everything was not real!

"Royan may be cold but he was very kind to teacher, so he is not the terrifying catastrophe that the voice said!"

'He is calamity!'

"Shut up!"

'You will never know his true face!'

"Shut up!"

'And you won't be able to know!'

"Shut up!"

'Because the moment you find out, that will be the moment you die!'

"Shut up!"

'I don't want you to die, because we are one! If you die, I die!'

"SHUT UP!"

Even though she had decided to not listen to the voice, she could not stop the voice from ringing in her head. It didn't stop even if she told the voice to shut up after every sentence it said.

The voice didn't want to stop.

'His body has the most wicked desire and the most terrifying devil!

Get away from him! Get away from him!'

"Shut the hell up you bastard!"

Li Jiajia shrieked and cut the chinese yam into half, finally having enough of it and erupting.

Her shriek seemed to prove useful though, as the voice was gone.

Li Jiajia heaved a breath of relief and continued to peel het chinese yam with a casual heart.

She did not notice Kieran in the shadows. The Elite Hound at the entrance of the kitchen, plus the others, wagged their tails at Kieran.

Kieran told them to stay and every one of them went back to their own spot, like before.

When Kieran returned to the room, Starbeck was already in bed with his pajamas.

"Is she okay?" Starbeck asked.

"Nothing serious, her Spirit isn't high enough, that's why she's affected by some voice. I'll try to 'talk' to the voice, it should know what to do," Kieran replied.

"Great! I am quite worried about Jiajia talking to herself sometimes."

Starbeck cared a lot about his student. As for how Kieran intended to speak to the 'voice'?

Starbeck didn't ask and wouldn't ask.

All that mattered was that he had been given an answer, right?

"Go to sleep," Kieran leaned on the sofa.

"Em, good night," Starbeck pulled the blanket over himself.

"Good night," Kieran replied.

At the next moment, the room quieted down and only long, steady breathing was heard.

Starbeck sneakily peeked at Kieran on the sofa through the seam of his blanket, feeling very safe, the sense of security slowly sending him into a deep sleep.

After Starbeck truly fell asleep, Kieran opened his eyes.

He smiled at the soundly asleep Starbeck.

The room had quieted down but not the kitchen.

Li Jiajia questioned the voice with doubts, wishing the voice would leave her alone, but the constant crying frustrated her even more and she couldn't work in peace.

"What is wrong with you?" Li Jiajia asked.

"N-Nothing. I am very strong and dauntless… Waaa, it's so scary!

The stare from the depths of the abyss!

The roars from hell!

I want to leave!

Why is there such a terrifying existence?"

The voice stuttered and tried its best to maintain its calm, but one or two words later, it cried out loud.

Muffled and blurry words followed the weeping and it further confused Li Jiajia, who didn't know what to do.

Suddenly, a light thud came from the ceiling.

Dong!

It was very soft but the voice stopped its loud weeping and sobbed quietly.

Dong!

Another thud later, even the sobbing stopped.

"What happened?" Li Jiajia asked out of confusion.

Two times later, Li Jiajia stopped asking, wishing she could be left alone to work.

Meanwhile, in the deepest part of her soul, a figure was squatting there, covering its mouth, its shoulder was twitching.

It was sobbing but no cries came out, it dare not make another sound because it was scared it would be eaten.

...

The night passed and the sun rose.

The whole restaurant was quiet.

Everyone, including the monster duo, was sleeping. The clamours from the noisy street were blocked by thick curtains on the window and the heavy door.

When the sun hung up high in the sky, Starbeck slowly opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Kieran.

"Morning!"

Starbeck greeted him out of habit and woke up to wash himself.

After he pressed the toothpaste on the toothbrush, he couldn't help but chuckle.

Kieran was really back!

It wasn't a dream, like the last time!

Great!

"What are you smiling at?" Kieran asked while he made the bed.

"I know what I am going to cook for you today! Looking forward to it?"

Starbeck looked at Kieran while he brushed his teeth.

"Very much," Kieran replied with a smile, but he quickly frowned.

"What's wrong?" Starbeck noticed the changes in Kieran's expression.

"It's nothing, I'll deal with it."

Kieran tapped Starbeck's head and then headed downstairs.

He pushed the door open and went out of the restaurant.

The alleyway was empty of people, only a piece of letter was placed on the ground.

Kieran didn't touch it, looking at the end of the alleyway.

Sometimes, people tended to think they were very smart, yet they never evaluated their actions, especially with malicious intentions. It would get zero tolerance and mercy from Kieran.

The Elite Hound and the other 5 Hounds appeared behind Kieran suddenly and even without orders, the six Hounds knew what they should do: they jumped out and lunged towards their target.