The Rich Cultivator-Chapter 327. A Stranger from the Rift.

"Poison Soul Grass, Earth Yin Vine..." Mathilda called out excitedly as she darted from one patch of exotic vegetation to another. Her arms were already full of rare herbs, her eyes gleaming with joy like a child in a candy store.

"Collect those faster, we’re leaving soon," Tyler said, standing near the edge of a strange spatial passage that shimmered like a tear in the fabric of reality. The crack wasn’t floating in the air but embedded beneath the ground, appearing almost like part of the natural terrain—distorted, yet eerily still.

"Just a few more minutes!" Mathilda shouted back as she spotted a purple cactus with glowing needles and bolted toward it.

Tyler sighed and waited patiently, arms crossed. The others stood nearby, including a Grandmaster stationed behind Mathilda for her protection, keeping a watchful eye on the surroundings.

But then—something strange happened.

Tyler’s eyes narrowed as he noticed a shadow leap out of the spatial passage, propelled with surprising force and flung into the sky like a ragdoll.

"What the...?" he muttered, raising his head. "Was that... a person?"

Immediately, four Grandmasters moved in front of Tyler, forming a protective line. Their instincts were swift and precise—within moments, all four had activated their Domains, warping the air around them with their sheer presence.

The falling figure suddenly stopped mid-air, held in place by the power of the Grandmasters. Suspended in a glowing aura, the man hovered a few feet above the ground before being gently lowered down.

A few tense minutes passed.

The unknown man stirred.

His fingers twitched. His eyelids fluttered open. He blinked a few times, dazed and disoriented. His clothes were tattered and dust-covered, and strange symbols were carved into a metallic pendant around his neck.

"Yenga irukan...?" the man mumbled weakly in a foreign tongue, eyes scanning his surroundings in confusion.

Tyler raised an eyebrow. The language was unfamiliar—definitely not local. But it didn’t sound ancient either.

"As long as it’s not Ancient Script..." Tyler muttered, tapping the interface on his wristwatch and launching a translation app.

The man coughed again, his voice rasping, "Kapathunga... Thanni..."

Tyler glanced down as the AI voice translated in real-time on his watch:

"Help... Water..."

Without hesitation, Tyler raised his hand and gave a subtle signal.

One of the Grandmasters responded instantly. With a snap of his fingers, a splash of cold water surged through the air and drenched the mysterious man.

The man flinched but seemed to revive almost immediately, gasping deeply as if the water had jolted his senses back to reality.

The man let out a few ragged breaths, then slowly sat up, his limbs still shaky but functional. He looked around at the unfamiliar group surrounding him—Tyler, Mathilda, Astrid, and the imposing Grandmasters—all watching him with a mixture of caution and curiosity.

"Thank you..." he said, his voice hoarse but sincere. "You saved my life."

Tyler gave a slight nod. "You’re welcome. You alright now?"

The man nodded and slowly got to his feet, still wobbling slightly. He glanced toward the cracked rift behind him with a strange mix of fear and longing.

"My name is Kairon, by the way," he introduced himself with a slight bow.

"I’m Tyler," Tyler replied. "These are my companions. Now..." He looked at the spatial passage warily, "...you want to tell us what exactly you’re running from?"

Kairon’s expression darkened instantly. "They’re called Abyss Hunters."

The atmosphere grew tense.

Tyler narrowed his eyes. "Abyss Hunters?"

"Yes..." Kairon nodded solemnly. "They’re not monsters... not exactly. They look human—mostly—but they aren’t. They’re something far worse. My world... it used to be a flourishing technological civilization. We had advanced cities, sky rails, energy reactors, even dimensional exploration programs."

He paused, taking a breath before continuing.

"Then one day, an Abyss Breakout occurred. Our skies split open. Beings from other realms poured in—beasts, spirits, entities we couldn’t even classify. And among them were the Abyss Hunters."

He pulled the collar around his neck slightly forward. Tyler had already noticed it earlier—it wasn’t a typical shackle. It had metallic fibers, glowing lines, and strange arcane engravings along the rim.

"I was... just a technician back then," Kairon continued. "My job was mostly in systems diagnostics and advanced encryption. But the Hunters didn’t care. They captured hundreds of us—scientists, engineers, warriors, even civilians—and enslaved us."

Tyler leaned forward slightly, his gaze shifting to the collar. "That thing... is it a tracking device?"

"Yes," Kairon nodded grimly. "And more. It’s part tech, part mystic artifact. It monitors location, suppresses certain bodily functions, and if you try to remove it—boom." He made a small explosion gesture with his hand.

"But you still escaped..." Mathilda said, clearly impressed.

Kairon gave a faint smile. "I used everything I knew. Studied the collar bit by bit while pretending to cooperate. I managed to disable the tracking system, override the pain inhibitors, and most importantly... deactivate the self-destruct function."

"Clever," Tyler muttered, visibly impressed now.

"I got lucky," Kairon admitted. "They were too busy defibrillating a Phantom City when I slipped away."

"Defibrillating?" Astrid raised an eyebrow.

"It’s what they call it... some kind of process they absorbed a whole illusion city with a giant device ," Kairon explained.

"There are devices that can counter illusion cities " Tyler mouth twitched he recalled his experience in Village of Vale.

Then he glanced at the rift again. "And the Abyss Hunter might follow you through?"

Kairon nodded. "Possibly. If they realize I made it out. But I blocked the collar’s signal."

Tyler looked at Kairon, his eyes narrowing slightly with a glint of cold pragmatism.

"You’re too naive," he said flatly.

Kairon blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

Without further explanation, Tyler signaled to one of the Grandmasters.

The Grandmaster stepped forward and gently placed a hand over Kairon’s collar. A faint hum resonated in the air, and a series of glowing runes bloomed from the collar like ethereal vines. The shimmering sigils twisted midair before forming a sigil wheel that spun ominously.

Tyler crossed his arms and stared at it. "As expected... a tracking curse."

Kairon’s face paled. "A curse? But I thought I disabled everything..."

Tyler glanced at him. "You disabled the tech. But in the Abyss, tech isn’t the only threat. Tracking here often relies on curses. That collar may look high-tech, but someone layered a curse into it too."

As if summoned by those very words, a chilling presence surged from the spatial rift.

The air vibrated unnaturally, the spatial crack rippled like a disturbed pool—and then, something emerged.

A blinding figure exploded out of the crack, soaring into the sky before descending like a divine spear.

The being radiated overwhelming power. His body was encased in resplendent golden armor, shaped like the majestic feathers of an ancient eagle. Each metallic plume shimmered, razor-sharp and radiating divine light. But behind his back unfurled a paradox—a pair of wings, torn and corrupted, woven with threads of darkness and abyssal essence.

The juxtaposition was terrifying.

Kairon’s eyes widened in pure terror. His voice cracked.

"I-It’s him... It’s Raptor, the Winged Arbiter."

The Grandmasters instinctively stepped forward, forming a protective formation around Tyler and Astrid. Even without engaging, they could feel the power Raptor exuded—it rivaled, or perhaps even surpassed, that of a Grandmaster.

Hovering in the air, Raptor’s red eyes scanned the group with casual disdain. His expression unreadable behind his elegant but monstrous visage.

Tyler tilted his head slightly. "If he’s that strong... maybe we should just give the guy up."

His voice was emotionless, like someone weighing options at a market. He turned off his translation app as he said it, ensuring Kairon couldn’t hear.

The others glanced at him and nodded subtly. Truthfully, no one was keen to battle a divine-tier enemy just to protect a stranger they’d met minutes ago.

"I don’t mind throwing him back," one of the Grandmasters muttered under his breath.

Kairon, oblivious to their conversation, continued staring at Raptor with trembling legs. His hand instinctively reached toward the disabled collar.

Then, Raptor’s glowing eyes—once locked on Kairon—shifted.

They slowly turned toward Astrid.

The temperature around them dropped. The moment his gaze settled on her, the air became charged with something unexplainable. Recognition—flashed in Raptor’s eyes.

His lips moved, speaking in a strange, distorted language.

"Saya... jumpa... dia."

Tyler furrowed his brows. "What the hell did he just say?"

He reactivated the translation app and repeated the words just raptor said - letting it process the words.

Meanwhile, Raptor drew a weapon from his back—a whip crackling with lightning, its arcs sizzling in the air like serpents of energy. He swung it once, and the ground nearby was vaporized.

One of the Grandmasters narrowed his eyes. "I don’t know whether it said Friendly thing or not, but that’s definitely a declaration of battle."

All the Grandmasters activated the domain.

The app finished translating just in time.

"I found her."