Chapter 162: Chapter 160: Sister, I’ve Finally Found You. You Were So Hard to Find (2)

Jocelyn took some Spirit Stones from her Storage Ring and handed them over. "My apologies. I wasn’t aware. Please, see if this is enough."

Thinking about the one hundred Spirit Stones she had offered earlier, she felt utterly humiliated. ’He didn’t say anything before, waiting until after I’d already taken out the Spirit Stones to mention it. Is this Seth Hughes trying to embarrass me on purpose?’

It could only be said that she was overthinking things. Seth Hughes truly had no such intention.

He spoke up, "It’s fine, it’s fine. Just give me the Spirit Stones."

Seth Hughes didn’t think there was anything wrong with asking for his Spirit Stones back. He didn’t want the Spirit Stones he had spent to go to waste. After all, Spirit Stones don’t grow on trees.

So he couldn’t care less what Jocelyn thought. They weren’t close, anyway.

He took the Spirit Stones, glanced inside the pouch, and was satisfied.

’As long as I get my Spirit Stones back, it’s all good.’

Seeing his eyes light up at the sight of the stones, Jocelyn frowned slightly.

’Aren’t Seth Hughes and Brother Young friends? To ask for such a small amount of Spirit Stones between friends... he’s far too petty.’

Though that’s what she thought, she didn’t let it show on her face.

"I’ll be going, then."

Seth Hughes nodded.

"Take care."

After she left, Seth Hughes bolted the courtyard gate from the inside.

「Meanwhile.」

After leaving Seth Hughes’s home, Jocelyn began to wonder how she would find Silas Stowe.

Cultivators occasionally flew through the skies above Immortal’s Gate City. Jocelyn glanced up, then frowned and murmured to herself.

’I wonder if Silas is in Immortal’s Gate City right now.’

At that thought, she closed her eyes and spread her Divine Sense, searching throughout the city, but she found no trace of Silas.

’Where are you all? Silas, I will find you. Just wait for me.’

「At that moment.」

A hundred li outside Immortal’s Gate City lay a secluded, abandoned village. The place was desolate, without a single soul in sight. Only a massive ginkgo tree, growing near the village’s altar, seemed vibrant and full of life, its branches lush and leafy.

The houses were all dilapidated ruins. Only the faint runes etched in a few places suggested that people had once lived here.

Deep within the village, on the rear mountainside, there was a cave.

Piles of Demonic Beast bones were heaped on the ground beside the cave entrance. Farther away, human bones littered the ground, and several black crows perched in the trees.

Inside the cave, a figure was meditating in Cultivation.

The person wore a black robe, their figure shrouded in the oversized garment. From within the folds of the robe, several long spider legs could be seen sprouting forth, covered in terrifying black bristles. A spider’s head was grafted onto his back, its eyes swiveling about.

Anyone who witnessed this scene would know: this person was an Evil Cultivator.

Just then, the meditating man’s eyes snapped open.

He held out his hand. A black bead on his wrist cracked open, emitting a puff of black smoke.

He had placed a Forbidden Spell in Immortal’s Gate City that would trigger the moment Jocelyn appeared, alerting him to her presence.

’She’s appeared?’

"Joce, I’ve finally found you. You’ve made me search for so, so long."

The speaker was none other than Silas Stowe—the same one whose leg had been hacked off by the young man in black back in Breezewind Town.

Ever since Jocelyn disappeared, he had been secretly gathering information on her, and in doing so, had learned a great deal.

’So, Joce’s supposed innocence and kindness were all an act.’

’It turned out that while she was toying with him, she was simultaneously leading on countless other men, calling one "brother this" and another "brother that." She’d be in one man’s arms one moment, then turn around and be intimate with another the next, causing man after man to fight viciously over her in fits of jealousy.’

’And yet, every man who got involved with her met a tragic end. Each fate was worse than the last—they all died. Especially that Liam Yardley. He died horribly. His Primordial Spirit exploded like a firework.’

’Then there was his own fate. Ever since meeting Jocelyn, he’d suffered from severed limbs. The crash of the Immortal Ship was especially devastating; his injuries were so severe that his Primordial Spirit was damaged, and his Cultivation plummeted from the Golden Core realm all the way down to Foundation Establishment.’

Thankfully, after all these years, he had cultivated his way back to the Golden Core realm. His crippled leg had regrown, and his severed hand was whole once more.

However, because he had practiced Evil Techniques in defiance of the Heavenly Dao, his face was now monstrously ugly. His body and hands were covered in green, web-like patterns.

’All of it, every single incident, proved one thing: Jocelyn was his jinx.’

"Don’t blame me, Joce. You shouldn’t have been my jinx. I truly love you. Even knowing you’re not some gentle, kind woman, I still love you. You’ll understand, won’t you?"

He spoke, then broke into a cackle. KEK KEK KEK.

"Once I’ve drained your blood and refined you into a Puppet, you won’t be human anymore, so you can’t jinx me. Joce, once I make you my Puppet, you’ll listen only to me, you’ll be a good girl and never leave my side. We’ll never be apart again. KEK KEK KEK. Joce, I love you so much. Wait for me. I’m coming for you right now."

As he spoke, he rose to his feet.

The black spider legs sprouting from his body and the spider head on his back all retracted, and in an instant, his figure flashed to the cave entrance and vanished.

His next appearance was in Immortal’s Gate City.

Jocelyn was just about to leave the city when she ran into Silas Stowe.

"Joce."

That voice. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

’It’s Silas.’

Hearing the voice, her face lit up with joy as she looked up to see a figure flying toward her, landing a short distance away in an instant.

The person was dressed in a black robe and a wide-brimmed, veiled hat, his face hidden behind a stark white mask. She couldn’t see his face, but she instantly recognized the voice as Silas Stowe’s.

Jocelyn called out instinctively.

"Silas?"

’Why is Silas dressed like this?’ But when her gaze fell upon his legs, and then his hands, she froze for a second before it dawned on her. Her face was a mask of joyous disbelief, tears welling in her eyes. "Silas, your legs... they’re healed? They’ve grown back? Silas, you can walk again? Is it really true?"

She heard him say.

"Yes, my legs are healed. I can walk on my own now. Are you happy, Joce? I’m not a cripple anymore."

Jocelyn didn’t detect anything amiss in his tone, simply nodding enthusiastically. "Happy! I’m so happy for you! Silas, it’s wonderful that your legs have recovered."

Silas Stowe slowly walked toward her until he stood right before her. "You’re as beautiful as ever, Joce. I couldn’t find you anywhere all these years. Are you happy to see me, Joce? I was afraid you’d already forgotten all about me."

Jocelyn shook her head slightly.

Her eyes reddened.

"How could I? Silas, I’ve been thinking of you constantly. Not a moment has passed all these years that I’ve forgotten you. Seeing you well again, I can finally rest easy. I’m sorry about what happened back then. Silas, I never meant to leave you behind."

Silas Stowe’s gaze rested on her as he smiled. "Is that so? I thought you’d found someone else and forgotten all about me, Joce. Otherwise, why wouldn’t you have come looking for me after all these years? Your complete indifference... it really broke my heart, Joce."