Kivamus gave a nod to Duvas. “It will postpone making the scorpion, but I think it’s a good idea. Darora needs some time to study it more, while I also need to modify the design a little so it can be fixed on a pivot ahead of the parapets of the watchtower. Right now, it’s not like we are expecting attacks from knights wearing plate armor, so we can postpone the scorpion a couple of weeks to arm our guards with more crossbows.”
Duvas frowned. “I have no real proof of what this scorpion might be capable of, but it would have been very helpful in the coming raid if it works like you claim.”
Kivamus shrugged. “Even if we told Darora and Cedoron to build the scorpion first, it will still take around two weeks – at least – since this is the first time they will be working on it and they might have to make changes as the final design comes into life to make sure it works properly. Most likely, if we are going to be raided, it will happen long before that and their effort would go to waste, because even if we got to finish it in time, we would still only get a single scorpion and only one watchtower could be mounted with it, while the bandits could attack from any other direction, rendering the scorpion a moot point.”
He continued, “On the other hand, the carpenter could make half a dozen more crossbows in that time using his already crafted parts, if I am estimating it right. That would help us a hell of a lot more to defend from a raid. Taniok is already working on the fifth watchtower in the middle of the northern wall, so more crossbows is what we need more than anything right now. That reminds me, what about the shields Feroy wanted?”
“Darora has ordered his apprentices to start making them as well,” Duvas reported, “now that we have enough iron. Their structures are simple enough that the apprentices can make them easily, but until now we were waiting for more iron, without which the wooden shields wouldn’t be able to be reinforced. So Cedoron’s apprentices are also making the iron bands and the other parts for reinforcing them.”
“Good. So far we haven’t really been using shields to train the guards… By now, I had expected to arm everyone with enough crossbows and perhaps even…” he trailed off, knowing they wouldn’t be able to make guns any time soon. “Anyway, knowing how slow the process is to produce new crossbows, it was a good idea from Feroy to train them in using shields as well. At least we have half a dozen guards who already have experience in it, and can help in training the others.”
The majordomo glanced at the nearby guards again. “What do you want to do about them? We really need a regular supply of meat to feed the villagers and keeping the guards cooped up within the walls for so long isn’t a good idea anyway.”
Kivamus sighed. “I know… but we can’t afford to lower our strength right when we are expecting the raid. Let’s wait a few more days, and if there is still no sign of Torhan, we will start by sending out a single hunting group, and will increase them as needed.”
Duvas nodded. “It should be fine I guess. Although we do have to think about how to start paying the guards soon. We may not be able to pay all the villagers yet, but at least we need to start with the guards and the manor servants, along with the maids.”
Kivamus exhaled. Their expenses were not going to go down anytime soon, were they? “Let’s wait for more merchants to come, and then we’ll see about it. We do need to save enough gold to pay the tax again in the autumn, but hopefully we should be able to raise more revenue from uh… our original products.”
“I pray that Pydaso is successful with that negotiation in Ulriga…” the majordomo muttered while looking at the sky. “Tax-free income would be a goddess-send for us right now.” He glanced at the servants’ hall. “Today is the weekly grain distribution day for the villagers, so I should talk with Madam Nerida about how to manage it from our limited food reserves, for when the workers return in the evening.”
“Go on then.”
Kivamus watched as Duvas walked away, before he turned towards the manor house. He needed to modify the scorpion blueprint first, and then he could finally start working on something he had wanted to design since arriving here.
***
In the evening, Kivamus had just finished with the blueprint, and given it to a servant to take it to the carpenter. He glanced at the empty shelf in the corner of the manor hall where he used to keep blueprints in the past. After the scare of the knight arriving in the manor just as he had remembered to put them away, he had decided to keep all of their blueprints and such designs in the makeshift laboratory room and only bring those blueprints here which he had to work on at the moment, just to be on the safer side. It would be far easier to explain a single drawing as his idle musings to someone, compared to explaining how he got a shelf full of such designs.
However, something still had to be done to prevent such a thing happening again in the future. While calling that laboratory a storage room had worked this time to prevent it from scrutiny, they couldn’t take such a risk in the future. They really needed more space for things like that.
He snorted. When he had arrived at this manor house before the winter, it had seemed way too big to him with nearly a dozen rooms and only Duvas and him to stay here, but now it felt far too small. Perhaps it was a good thing too. It showed that Tiranat was progressing. Still, there wasn’t anything he could do about this problem before the more important tasks were completed – the list of which always kept growing – but he would have to think of a good solution for it in the future.
Duvas, who had been sitting nearby while scribbling on his ledger about the usual daily expenses, put his quill down right as the outer door opened and the guard captain walked inside.
“Milord, I have uh…” Hudan scratched the back of his head, “good news I guess.”
Kivamus looked at him in curiosity. “What is it?”
“Well, the guards on duty at the south-western gate just reported that more than a dozen new refugees have arrived there from the west.”
Kivamus shook his head. “More immigrants right when we don’t have enough food to feed them…. Still, this is indeed good news. Now that we have shifted the village to only two meals a day, our remaining food supplies should stretch long enough for us to feed them until we can buy more wheat. Any good craftsmen in them?”
Hudan shrugged. “Not really. Most of ’em were slaves and did whatever their masters asked them to do, while the others used to work as laborers and such. No carpenters or blacksmiths there.”
“Well, we can’t have everything I guess. You did confirm that they were not bandits or any scouts for Torhan, right?”
“Of course. None of them were even armed. Most of them were gaunt and haggard, and didn’t look strong enough even to break a twig in half.” The guard captain snorted. “Trust me, they aren’t bandits. But I’ll still ask Feroy to talk to each of them separately to confirm their stories.”
“That’s a good idea,” Kivamus agreed, before looking at the majordomo. “You have already asked the villagers for us using their shacks, right?”
Duvas gave a nod. “I have, although those are hardly in great condition. But we have more than enough space to house these new arrivals for now.”
“Good, it will have to do for now, but we really need to start working on better housing soon, preferably before the summer is here. Now that the village’s population is increasing, we will need at least one more longhouse block soon before we can start making new houses where the shacks are currently standing.”
“There is certainly a lot to do…” Duvas sighed. “Taniok will need three or four more days to finish the fifth watchtower, then around another week to finish the last one in the south. Then you wanted to have him work on the triphammer, right? Shouldn’t we make a new longhouse block first?”
Kivamus shook his head. “Now that the dam is complete and the waterwheel there is working properly, that trip hammer is going to be very important for Tiranat. It will help us a lot in making more paper, as well as cutting new planks at a very high rate, which will speed up most of the construction in the future. Once it’s done, Taniok will be able to make new buildings far faster than he can do now.” He looked back at Hudan. “How is Levalas doing?”
The guard captain snorted. “We did give him some real wounds to make it seem genuine, so he’ll need a few more days before he’s ready to run around.”
“That’s a good thing actually…” Kivamus said. “It will give Feroy and the other guards more time to talk with him and find out if he has any hidden intentions in mind.”
“Of course,” Hudan agreed. “We have enough guards here right now, so I have already told some of them to keep an eye on him all the time. Once he has healed fully, I’ll start including Levalas in the daily workouts and training with the other guards to get him up to speed to our standards, which will also give me a chance to find out more about him.”
Duvas looked at him in curiosity. “Did nobody wonder why we suddenly have a new guard here – one who wasn’t even a resident of Tiranat? How are the other guards taking it?”
“That’s the thing,” Hudan shook his head in wonder. “The morale of the guards has only increased once they found out about Levalas, or rather, Levalo – as he prefers to be called in public, so nobody asks questions about his original name. Anyway, even though we are keeping his real employer Zoricus as well as his noble blood hidden from everyone else, all the guards and even the servants are happy to see that someone who used to work for the Count wants to serve you now. It makes them feel proud of their workplace!”
Kivamus chuckled. “That makes sense. I guess it was a good decision to keep Levalas here, for so many reasons…”
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Reborn as a Demonic Tree #Chapter 509: A Cruel Lesson – Read Reborn as a Demonic Tree Chapter 509: A Cruel Lesson Online – All Page – Novel Bin
Stella fled the lecture hall through the portal, enraged at herself.
You idiot! What is wrong with you? she berated herself as she emerged into a forest deep in the wilderness. You had so many lesson ideas, why did you fold under the pressure of all their expectant gazes and come up with this ludicrous idea? Execute one of them if they fail to get a hit on you? Elaine is going to execute me if this gets out.
“Are you really going to execute one of them if they fail?” Ash asked in her mind, his tone sounding less severe than she had expected, almost as if he was finding this entertaining.
“Of course not,” Stella said, letting out an annoyed huff to calm herself down. “Though I might kidnap one of them and make them train out in the wilderness alone for a while to give the illusion that I did.”
“Ah, the classic of leaving a weakling on a monster-infested island, not expecting them to survive, yet calling it a kindness.”
“I’m not that cruel,” Stella said, glancing back at the portal that Ash had conjured for her. “I want them to get stronger for the sect, so sending them to die would be counterproductive.”
“Yet you threaten to execute them?”
Stella rolled her eyes. “That’s just to raise the stakes and get their blood pumping. You know? To make it more exciting. If all they do is sit inside listening to Elaine’s lectures all day, they will never become dependable cultivators in war.”
“That’s true, this could be good for them, as they have mostly fought weakened monsters from the beast tide and each other in tournaments. Are you planning on teaching them anything, or just hoping they develop tactics on their own?”
That was a good point.
“I’ll leave some openings in my defenses and give occasional chances for them to strike me, and I suppose I could watch how they fight and give them pointers to beat me,” Stella narrowed her eyes. “Ah, my first contender is about to arrive.”
The portal rippled, and a blonde-haired youth charged through. Stella recognized the boy but couldn’t immediately put a name to his face, which was strange; she usually had a good memory. His sword was raised high, prepping for the most obvious downward slash of all time. Stella didn’t blame him too much; she had said all they needed to do was land a hit on her, and an overhead slash was fast and contained a lot of power. She was also seemingly defenseless without a sword. The problem was that no matter how much strength he put into it, he couldn’t contend with a fraction of Stella’s true strength or speed as a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.
If he wanted to strike her, such a telegraphed assault was never going to work.
“I will be the one to claim the medallion!” he yelled, reaching her and slashing down.
“Not if you come screaming at me like an idiot,” Stella said, simply kicking him in the chest as lightly as she could. There was a brief moment as if time had frozen as her foot dug into his chest—followed by a cracking noise, his face contorting in immense pain, and then the rushing of wind as he was hurled back through the portal.
Stella slowly lowered her leg and looked at it, then back at the portal. “Well, shit.”
“Maybe kicking them is a bad idea.”
“Yeah…” Stella slowly nodded in agreement. “Who knew an earth cultivator could be so weak?”
“Stella, you are two realms above him. It’s like a titan punting a human child. Your presence alone could squash them into paste.”
Stella gulped, her face paling. “Is he alright?”
“I’ll have Sol heal him up as good as new,” Ash reassured her. “Maybe go for a more evasive approach rather than responding with physical force? Possessing unfathomable speed and inhuman reaction times to dodge everything is always more impressive anyway, as you give the illusion of being beatable.”
Stella nodded, liking the sound of that. It would be slightly more challenging for her as well if all she could do was dodge, and it was an easier way to show their gap in power without having to break their ribs.
The portal remained quiet for a moment, so Stella took a few steps away and into a clearing. Hopefully, seeing that boy flying through hadn’t discouraged the elite disciples.
Maybe it will make them more determined to face me? Revenge for a fellow cultivator is a great motivator.
As if confirming her theory, the portal rippled, and multiple disciples came through, including her own, Jasmine.
Ah! I suddenly remembered that boy’s name. I think it was Sam?
Compared to Sam, the others seemed less eager to charge at her.
“Don’t be afraid and come at me all at once,” Stella said, putting her hands behind her back. Her eyes turned tranquil as her bloodline automatically activated—likely because she was acting prideful, which was in line with her bloodline’s wishes. Not that she would deny its help, considering the rather arrogant undertaking.
While Sam was a weakling compared to her, being in the mid-stages of the Soul Fire Realm, not all of the sect’s chosen elite disciples were as weak. Amber, for example, who answered her demands and stepped in front of Jasmine with fire coiling around her arms, was at the 5th stage of the Star Core Realm—strong enough to be considered an Elder in most sects and was treated as such in the Ashfallen Sect—and by the determination in Amber’s eyes, she would stop at nothing to get that medallion.
Raising her arm, she clicked her fingers, and a fireball erupted. It rapidly enlarged, filling Stella’s view with its blazing brilliance as if it were a miniature star. As it roared toward her, the grass was charred black in its wake, and Stella could feel the encroaching heat. Yet all she had to do was skillfully leap to the side, letting it pass and smash into a tree behind her. Not a demonic tree belonging to Ash, thankfully, but a tree nonetheless, which made Stella sad to see it go up in flames behind her.
“Nature doesn’t deserve your wrath, Amber,” Stella said, smiling. “Try to aim at me instead.”
As expected of an elite disciple, Amber hardly reacted to her taunts and was already conjuring the following technique. This time, she raised both palms coated in fire Qi and pushed forward. The air ignited, and a wave of fire cascaded toward her, carrying the force expected of a Star Core Realm cultivator.
Stella simply summoned a small shield of aether Qi by tracing her finger through the air, creating a hole in the wall that let it pass harmlessly around her and wash onto the grass behind her, setting it alight. “You’re going to have to do better than—” Stella swallowed her words as she had to quickly bend backward to avoid a fire lance aimed right at her head. It carried on through the rising smoke, obliterating multiple trees behind her in a line and carving a smoldering trench in the ground.
That was close, Stella thought, somewhat surprised. She was used to teleporting around and blocking things with her sword. Limiting herself by keeping her hands behind her back, she closed the gap between herself and the elite disciples more than expected. She grinned wildly. Who would have thought this could be a lesson for her as well?
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Straightening up, she felt the heat from the raging fire behind her and was surrounded by bellowing smoke. Amber seemed surprised that her well-thought-out combo hadn’t worked, which made Stella feel all the more in control—a feeling she loved.
“Don’t hold back on me now,” Stella said, releasing some of her bloodlust as she began walking forward. The moment she did so, every one of the elites paled. Which was understandable, but if they couldn’t stand up to a fraction of her true bloodlust, how could they call themselves the elites of the Ashfallen Sect?
“You look quite scary right now,”
Ash chuckled in her head. “At this rate, they might truly believe you will kill them, especially after kicking Sam like that.”
Ash’s words only made her grin more.
To strike fear and harden their hearts was the goal of this lesson.
***
Three weeks later, Jasmine was hugging her knees in a ditch and munching on a fruit. Its sweetness did little to lift her sour mood as she was caked in ash and mud from head to toe, and the stench of smoke in the air made her eyes water. Yet, despite the forest being aflame and a dense haze of smoke and fog blanketing the land, she had no problem locating Stella. Not because of their Master-Disciple link, but because of her bloodlust. While her Master didn’t leak any Qi due to her concealment artifact, she certainly didn’t hide her presence—and seemingly intense desire to kill them.
Jasmine, of course, knew it was all an act by now. Stella was having a lot of fun, and despite her sour mood about the situation, she had no plans to ruin her Master’s fun. Instead, she played along, especially because Stella was actually trying to teach them.
The noise of someone rushing through the forest drew Jasmine’s attention. A moment later, a body came crashing down into the ditch.
“Hey?!” Jasmine yelped in surprise. “You almost crushed me.”
“Sorry, sorry,” the boy said, and only when they met gazes did Jasmine realize it was Sam. He looked shaken up and out of breath. “You’re so short I almost squashed you,” he joked between deep gasps.
Jasmine snorted. “I’m still growing.”
“I’d hope so,” Sam said, almost looking concerned at that statement, which just annoyed Jasmine more.
“Why are you here?” Jasmine grunted. “And why are you so out of breath? Did Stella mess with you that easily?”
“It wasn’t Stella—or at least not her directly. It was one of her creations that hunted me down.”
“Ah,” Jasmine nodded in understanding. After Amber failed her series of attacks on the first day, nobody had gotten within striking distance of Stella since she began radiating bloodlust. Some had tried ranged attacks, but she simply sidestepped or blocked them with aether shields.
After a stalemate developed, Stella seemed to grow bored and devised a new way to test, or some would say, haunt them.
By using telekinesis, she crafted floating beings out of leaves, twigs, and stones. They roamed the burning forest, shifting effortlessly through the haze like phantoms on the hunt. After being unlucky enough to encounter one, they would chase you until you honored a duel and fought back. Unless destroyed, they wouldn’t stop until you were either too exhausted to stand or managed to show Stella something impressive.
“By the way you were running, you didn’t manage to beat it?” Jasmine asked. After seeing Sam slowly shake his head, she clicked her tongue. “Go find another ditch to call home for the night.”
“It stopped chasing me, though,” Sam refuted.
“So you showed her something impressive?” Jasmine raised a brow.
“I guess so?”
“Mhm,” Jasmine drummed her fingers, not believing him. “I still think you should go somewhere else. I was enjoying my alone time here in nature.”
“You know as well as I do that Stella likes to drop rocks on people if she finds them sleeping,” Sam said, rolling his eyes. “Let’s work together to keep watch.”
Jasmine sighed. That was a good point. “Fine. But you keep watch first—wait, something’s coming.”
They both tensed as an object whooshed over their heads. Rather than the expected being crafted from charred leaves, it was a parchment being controlled with telekinesis. It paused before Sam, and an ink-dipped quill began writing on it. At the top, a sentence was spelled out:
You did well, but here are some areas for improvement.
Sam let out a sigh of relief. “I think that means I’m safe for now.”
The quill continued scratching words on the surface, and Jasmine noticed Sam’s cheeks reddening with embarrassment as he was called out for all the dumb things he did when trying to fight. He wasn’t the only one who had received this treatment. For the last three weeks, as dusk fell, parchments would find everyone.
Jasmine had already received hers and was deliberately sitting on it so Sam couldn’t read it. However, Jasmine had no shame in leaning over and taking a peek at Sam’s.
You still announce your attacks with too obvious body language. Try to use feints more often and attack from blind spots.
Your sword skills leave a lot to be desired—they remind me of a brute with no brains. Perhaps consider dropping the sword and focusing on another weapon or fighting purely with techniques.
The advice continued for a few more points until the quill gave up and the parchment fell into Sam’s lap. He stared at it for a moment and grimaced. “Of course, my sword skills leave a lot to be desired compared to yours,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “But I trained day and night—”
“So did I.”
Sam paused and stared at Jasmine. “What are you talking about?”
“I used to train with my sword day and night.”
Sam looked perplexed. “But you don’t use a sword? You use a whip, no?”
“Exactly.”
“Exactly what?”
Jasmine sighed. How was this boy so thick-headed? “I trained day and night and still sucked with the sword, so I switched to a whip. While the sword is the most common choice of weapon for cultivators, it’s not ideal for everyone. Judging from Stella’s feedback, you should pick something else.”
Sam leaned back against the mud of the ditch in apparent contemplation, his face ever so slightly illuminated by the moonlight. “Drop the sword, huh. But then what weapon should I use? The princess claims I have too obvious body language, which I’ve tried to fix over these last few weeks, but I can’t seem to.”
“Have you thought of focusing more on techniques rather than weapon arts?”
Sam winced. “Cultivating and trying to decipher those techniques are so difficult and time-consuming, though. The only ones that made any sense were given by my master, but I can’t use them yet—” he coughed and went silent.
“Master?”
“What?”
“You said you had a master?” Jasmine eyed him curiously. “Who is it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sam said, looking like he was about to stand up.
Jasmine grabbed his shoulder and forced him to remain seated. She studied his shifting expression. “You’re not delusional to think… Stella is your master, do you?”
“Heavens no,” Sam said. “I have no master, really.”
Jasmine narrowed her eyes. “I can help you get that medallion.”
Sam paused. “You can?”
“Yeah,” Jasmine nodded. “But the level of help I’ll give is based on your answer. Who is your master?”
Even as she asked the question, she wondered why her words sounded so insistent. Perhaps it was her competitive side wanting to remain ahead of Sam at all times. The idea that he had picked up a mysterious master unnerved her.
“I can’t say,” Sam said, shaking his head. “All I can tell you is that he is short and very wise.”
“Short and wise?” Jasmine repeated, her brows furrowing. What kind of useless hint was that?
“Now, the help with the medallion,” Sam said, looking genuinely desperate. Out of everyone, he had probably charged into the area flooded with bloodlust the most, and she could tell from his expression that he had become deeply haunted by it. He almost seemed rabid. “Come on, Jasmine, you’re the disciple of that demon. Surely you know something that can help me. Even an embarrassing story to make trudging through her bloodlust a little easier would be appreciated.”
Jasmine frowned. “Your hint wasn’t good enough for me to dare disclose such a thing about the Princess.”
“People are going to die, Jasmine! Your Master is a psycho!” Sam hissed through clenched teeth. “Listen, I didn’t mean that. But it’s been three weeks already in this hell of a forest. Help me put an end to her tyranny.”
Jasmine would usually refute such accusations against her Master. Yet, despite being pretty sure of her Master’s true intentions, it was hard to deny the evidence that she was going too far when the forest was blanketed in enough bloodlust to fill an ocean. Even if one got the luxury of sleep, the bloodlust spawned nightmares.
Frankly, this was bordering on some level of torture, and she was also tired of it despite her usual resistance to Stella’s training methods. It was time to put an end to this, not only for her sake but also for Stella’s reputation among the elite disciples.
“Fine.” Jasmine held out her hand. “But only if you agree to tell me who your master is once you have the medallion.”
Sam stared at her hand for a long while, his expression troubled. Eventually, he shook her hand, albeit with a weak grasp. “You have a deal.”
“Great,” Jasmine said. “Now, although Stella is holding back tremendously, there are still many things that need to go right for my plan to work. But first of all, how good are you at holding your breath?”
“My breath?” Sam looked understandably confused.
“We can’t beat her the normal way,” Jasmine explained. “I’ve been studying her every move and how she approaches each situation. I think I’ve found a deliberate chink in her armor, and what we need to take advantage of it is a trap.”
A trap that would frankly only work with the involvement of an earth cultivator, which is why she was willing to work with Sam in the first place.
The only question that remained was whether Stella’s pride would allow her to be beaten.
Stella massaged her skull as a headache brewed after sending out the last of her parchments and writing out her advice to the elite disciples. It had been a long few weeks, with today being the worst yet, marked by unrelenting coordinated attacks from the disciples, forcing her to remain on her guard at all times.
A normal lesson for a few hours twice a week would have been way easier than this. Just what were you thinking?! What kind of idiot would suggest a three-week-long battle with a bunch of weaklings? Stella sighed and looked up at the canopy of a tree. Moonlight shone through the rustling leaves in soft beams that danced around her.
“Oddly, restraining myself to this degree is far more tiring than letting myself go all out,” she murmured to herself. “Every time they jump at me, my first instinct is to go for the kill.” She glanced down and flexed her hand. “There have been one too many close calls where I almost pulverized or decapitated one of them because they caught me by surprise.” Shaking her head, she sighed. “Hopefully, it’s not too many more days until Elaine returns. It’s been three weeks so far, plus the few days before the lesson started, so almost a month? I’m not sure of the Eternal Realm’s current time dilation, but surely many months have passed for them by now? Wait… does that mean Elaine’s twins have been born?”
Stella smiled. She was eager to meet them.
A calm wind blew by, carrying with it the stench of burning that tickled her nose. Amber and a few other members of the Redclaw family had been working together to relentlessly hurl fire at her and surround her in a blaze, restricting her movements. Of course, she could usually counter such a tactic by teleporting around, flying over it, or more. But the whole point of this exercise was to give them a chance, so she played along.
No teleporting, no flying, no checking the spiritual plane, and she greatly limited her spiritual sense. Her spiritual pressure was also nullified by her Phantom Veil Amulet to that of a mortal. Honestly, she felt she was being too easy on them. All she did was dodge or block with aether Qi and leak a fraction of her bloodlust—just to make her seem serious about killing them. It was going to be impossible to imitate the life-and-death struggles she went through as a child, but making the forest seem like a place that promised death was the best she could do.
The lack of monsters or wildlife willing to approach the area due to the bloodlust also made things too easy, so Stella had upped the stakes by creating beings of her own. They were nothing special, just some floating rocks and sticks, but without the help of the spatial plane, controlling them was a nightmare. Which meant good practice.
“While this hasn’t been a waste of time, I’d like to enjoy a moment of rest,” she clicked her tongue. “I swear if Elaine has a problem with what I did in her absence, I’m never offering to help again!”
A presence suddenly bore down on her from the sky, making her glance up.
“Come to check up on me, Dad?”
“Yeah. How are things? Have you killed anyone yet?” Ash asked in a joking tone.
Stella rolled her eyes. “Not that I know of.”
“I see. Has anyone impressed you so far?”
“Impressed me? Mhm,” she tilted her head, trying to think if any had. “They have all made tremendous progress, besides Jasmine, actually. I think she managed to figure out that the threat of death isn’t real and thus hasn’t been devoting herself to the lesson as much as the others. I think they can all feel the pressure of the end drawing near—I could see the fear in their eyes as they charged at me with everything they had today, and I have no doubts the attacks will continue into the night.”
“Interesting. I never thought about how far one’s body and mind will go to survive, but it makes sense. You and I went through so much to be here—horrors and battles that these elites will likely never have to face in their lifetimes.”
Stella nodded. The only time these elites would see actual battle was if the Celestial Empire launched an all-out assault on the Ashfallen Sect, and in that case, a bunch of Star Core Realm and Soul Fire Realm teens weren’t going to make a difference. Battles like that were fought and won by the true powerhouses.
Though this was still worth the effort in case she found a diamond in the rough that was worth investing a lot of resources into powering up into a future pillar of the sect.
With the Eternal Realm, anyone can be turned into a powerful cultivator quickly, such as myself. A month ago, Amber might have been able to land a hit even if I was using my full strength, as we were both in the Star Core Realm. However, now more than nine stages and a whole realm separate us, because I spent that month in the Eternal Realm, while she stayed here, attending lectures and slowly cultivating the ambient Qi. While perhaps not fair, there’s a lot more besides the cultivation realm that separates Amber and me. She still has some growing up to do.
“I actually came here to update you on something.”
“Oh?” Stella asked, her curiosity piqued. “What is it? Have you chosen your next General?”
“Yes, but I’ll do that tomorrow, as I still need to gather a few more corpses. What I wanted to tell you about is the result of a conversation I’ve had with your mother.”
“Mom?” Stella perked up. She snapped her fingers and surrounded herself with aether Qi, both to block her words and prevent anyone from interrupting her. If a fool got too close while she was busy discussing her mother, she couldn’t guarantee their safety.
“Yeah, as Morrigan suggested during the founding of the Covenant, a forward assault on the Celestial Empire likely isn’t possible. Not only is each member of their Council a Monarch Realm powerhouse, but we would be fighting far from home.”
Stella remembered their brief delve into the beast tide aboard Moros. It was clear that the Ashfallen Sect wasn’t able to display its full strength when fighting away from Ash.
“So we are going to approach this a little differently compared to how we have in the past. Slow and steady will be the key.”
Stella didn’t like the sound of that, as her mother was actively suffering, but she understood that storming the Celestial Empire wasn’t exactly possible either—not without incurring many casualties.
“What did you have in mind?” Stella asked, curious.
“Our best bet is to cause as much internal strife as possible. According to your mother, she already unintentionally caused tension by starting to defy the Chairman who built and controls the grand formation that enslaves her soul.”
“Why did she only start to defy him now?” Stella asked.
“Because defying the Chairman causes her pain, but she deemed it worth it as the beast tide led by Zephyrine was coming soon to wipe them out and free her.”
“She should have killed them herself! You trees are too passive sometimes.”
“Even in her own soul space, she can only bring forth a fraction of her strength due to the formation restricting her, and they are still Monarch Realm powerhouses with defensive items and more. She said she was powerless to fight them directly.”
“What if we removed the formation?” Stella suggested. “Would my mom be able to wipe them out then?”
“Possibly, though the formation spreads throughout the entire Celestial Empire. Utterly destroying it isn’t possible, but we can weaken it enough that your mother can overpower it. The only problem is that the Council needs to be fractured enough to not mount a collective defense when that happens and restrain her again.”
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Stella slowly nodded, seeing the vision. “So that’s where the Covenant comes in?”
“Yes, a few well-timed assassinations will fracture the Council. But I’ve come up with another idea.”
“Go on,” Stella said eagerly.
“We are going to taint the World Tree’s golden sap with my Cursebloom Sap.”
Stella’s eyes widened. “That’s… possible?” she asked in disbelief. “Isn’t just one of my mother’s roots a thousand miles across? Do you have that much sap to make a difference?” To Stella, it sounded like pouring out a wine bottle into an ocean and expecting the sea to dye red.
“It will be a slow process, but your mother retains control over the flow of her sap and Qi. It was how she could create the spiritual springs. Because of this, she can carry my cursed sap directly to the points in her trunk where her golden sap is harvested. We don’t need to curse all of her sap, just the stuff being extracted.”
“That’s actually genius,” Stella muttered, nodding to herself. “I like it. If their precious golden sap becomes tainted, they will try seeking out the source. If it somehow leads them to us, we will have the home advantage in a fight. Have you started yet?”
“Yeah, as of a few days ago. It shouldn’t be long now until the cursed sap I’m sending reaches the Celestial Empire. It should line up nicely with the first wave of the beast tide being spotted on the horizon of their outer cities.”
Stella blinked. The idea that it took days to move some sap through the World Tree’s roots was a testament to her sheer scale.
“Okay, good, keep me posted.” Stella felt giddy. One of the reasons she had wanted to help out after returning from the Eternal Realm was to distract her mind until the true battle against the Celestial Empire began.
“Will do. Oh, Morrigan wanted to know how her body was coming along and if you had found anyone suitable for the Covenant from among the elites you’re training?”
Stella frowned. “Her body is in the works, but I’ve been quite preoccupied being hunted down to devote much thought to it. As for her question, whether anyone out of these elites is capable of joining the Covenant? I don’t think so. They are all too pampered. The Covenant requires a specific type of person, one forged in the flames of tragedy and hatred.”
“Doesn’t that mean nobody in the sect is suitable?”
Stella pondered for a moment. “Maybe some people from Desolark City? They experienced the fall of the Nightrose family, and there’s been a flood of people fleeing the now-destroyed Tainted Cloud Sect. I’m sure there are some people there harboring the right kind of hatred to become hardened assassins.”
“I see, that’s a good idea. I’ll have someone take a look,” Ash paused. “Switching topics, Ryker is one of the elites you’re training, right? I’ve thought about sending him in next. How has he been?”
“Ryker? Don’t bother. He’s not participating like Jasmine. Well, that’s not entirely true. I’ll show you.” Stella snapped her fingers to dispel the aether Qi and began walking through the forest. It was eerily silent for how many eyes were likely tracking her movements from the foliage. While she couldn’t see them, as she deliberately toned down her spiritual senses even more during the night to add a deliberate weakness, her sixth sense was tingling.
Someone, or many people, were watching her movements. Yet she didn’t care. Her mind was preoccupied with everything Ash had just told her. It was all too exciting.
Reaching a nearby clearing, Stella paused a fair distance from Ryker, who sat in a lotus position upon a rounded rock resembling a tortoiseshell. His silver hair shone in the moonlight as beads of sweat dripped from his forehead, and he seemed to tremble ever so slightly as Stella approached. All around his rock were piles of leaves and sticks, likely from Ryker destroying some of her wandering telekinetic creations.
“What is he doing?” Ash asked curiously.
“Cultivating a resistance to my bloodlust,” Stella answered as the leaves crunched underfoot. At first, she had thought he was simply ignoring the whole game and focusing on his own cultivation, but that’s when she noticed he had no metal nearby to draw Qi from, and he would always move to cultivate near her.
“Fascinating. I know Ryker is a cultivation prodigy and has already reached the Star Core Realm, despite being only five. Still, I suppose he hasn’t experienced bloodlust before due to his pampered life as the seventh son of the Silverspire family and rarely fighting monsters.”
Stella smirked and flared her bloodlust, making Ryker suddenly gasp and almost fall over backward. His eyes shot open, and he stared at Stella in panic.
“I’ve been checking on you almost daily, and it’s been three weeks, yet you still
haven’t built a resistance to my bloodlust?” Stella said, genuinely surprised. “You really are a child.”
Ryker’s face was ashen, and he was trembling. “How could I possibly develop a resistance to your bloodlust?!” he yelled out, oddly loud as if genuinely upset about it. Tears began welling up in the corners of his eyes, and he sniffed. “I’m scared, big sis. You’re terrifying!”
Stella stepped back, feeling panicked. Had she gone too far today with the flare of bloodlust? Why was Ryker reacting so strangely? Sure, a few weeks exposed to intense bloodlust would haunt anyone, but this was Ryker they were talking about. He should be stronger than this…
Her gaze softened.
While powerful, he is just a child, Stella thought as she dispelled her bloodlust and crouched to his height. Maybe I went too far… what?! Stella barely reacted in time to slap away two vines that had erupted from the ground out of seemingly nowhere. The sudden attack sent her mind and body into a panic. A foot came into view next, belonging to Ryker.
Stella glanced up to see Ryker’s grinning face, which was nothing like his terrified one a second earlier, as he flew from the rock toward her. Everything was happening in a split second as her mind raced. Ryker hadn’t been distressed? He was the bait? But for whom? Those vines had likely belonged to Jasmine, but she had managed to fend them off. In that case, was this kick from Ryker the main attack? If it landed, it would be game over.
She would lose.
Me lose? To such an obvious attack? That’s ridiculous. How can I get out of this?
Stella was still crouched, putting her in an awkward position to dodge to the side, and she wouldn’t be able to misdirect Ryker’s kick without losing balance. Deciding up was the only way—the world returned to normal speed as she quickly leapt into the air like a frog and watched Ryker harmlessly fly foot-first below her and crash into the ground. Since it was a full-power kick from a Star Core Realm cultivator, the forest trembled as the leaves and sticks flew up alongside a plume of ash that had coated the forest from days of burning.
“Ryker, I’m impressed,” Stella said as she landed back on the ground and eyed the boy through the dense cloud of ash, who was climbing out of the crater he had just formed. “For a moment there, you almost had me—” The ground beneath her suddenly caved in, and she ungraciously tumbled into a hollow space.
Another trap?! Before she could even blink, a dagger’s razor edge was pressed against her neck from behind. The reason to why Stella hadn’t noticed the attacker’s presence below her became apparent when she realized the person had been encased inside the mud as the wall crumbled around her.
The attacker pulled on the blade as hard as they could, and after some struggling, they barely managed to break her skin.
Stella felt warm blood drip down her neck as moonlight shone into the hole and illuminated the face of the attacker who was looming over her. It was the young man she had kicked back through the portal on the first day. Mud-caked blonde hair and a perfectly ordinary-looking face greeted her—nothing special or memorable, like any other random gray pebble one would pass when walking through a forest.
“Is that you, Sam?” she asked, hesitant if she had remembered the boy’s name correctly. For some reason, it kept escaping her. Was it because of how ordinary he looked?
“Believing you are untouchable is what gives you the arrogance to overlook those beneath you,” Sam hissed through clenched teeth and pushed on the blade harder. “Now, I’ve won.”
“Impressive,” Stella said. Without taking her eyes off Sam, she finally stopped holding back and flooded the entire area with her aether Qi. The ground for a hundred meters cracked and rose as she, alongside Sam, ascended out of the hole. Without lifting a finger, she pushed the blade and Sam’s arm away and created distance. Running a finger along the paper-thin cut on her neck, she confirmed she was bleeding.
She had been injured by someone in the Soul Fire Realm, no less. Ryker stood on one of the floating pieces of the forest she had risen with telekinesis, as did Jasmine. The three of them had worked together, and after three weeks, had bested her.
“You both made me think you weren’t trying,” Stella said, frowning as she looked between Jasmine and Ryker. “And you,” she focused on Sam, “I like that look in your eyes.”
Despite Sam’s ordinary appearance in every way, even after being disarmed and facing her true strength, he still had a hardened gaze and was seething with bloodlust. In fact, she was surprised she hadn’t felt his bloodlust before.
“I don’t need your praise,” Sam said. “Just admit I won.”
Stella clenched her jaw. “Yes, you won. The cut on my neck is proof.”
His muscles strained as he barely managed to uncurl his hand despite her telekinesis. “The medallion.”
Stella appraised Sam for a moment. “Do you hate me?”
Sam instantly changed, as if a switch had flipped in his brain. That aura of a hardened killer thirsting for her death vanished, and the expression of a scared teen replaced it, changing his entire demeanor. “No, of course not. You did all this for our benefit. How could I hate you for that?”
Stella felt… creeped out. The difference between the two was too stark. With a sigh, she floated over the medallion and set it in his hand. “I suppose a deal is a deal. There it is.” Dispelling her telekinesis, she put everybody back on the ground. “Tell everyone to return through the portal back to Red Vine Peak. Class is dismissed.”
“Wait, Grand Elder Stella.”
“Mhm?” Stella glanced at Sam. “What is it?”
“When can I use this?” he asked, holding up the medallion.
“Good question—”
“Stella!” Ash suddenly said excitedly in her mind. “Elaine has returned!”
“Sorry, Sam. I have to go, ask Elaine in your next class!” Stella said excitedly and took off, leaving the hellish forest she had spent the last three weeks in behind, and shed a silent tear.
There was no more need for lessons.
Elaine was back!