Depthless Hunger-Chapters 457-460

Chapter 457: A Cultivator Outside the Sect

All his life, Hul Ping had stood in awe of the Verdant River sect. It wasn't just an organization, it was a fact of life, a force as undeniable as the current of the river itself. Their cultivators were stronger, better funded, simply superior overall. Their highest ranks were unimaginable to someone like him, and the heirs to the sect might as well be higher beings.

And now he was watching it all crumble.

When Yul Wei Ren had brutally taken his sister, it had been enraging, but that hadn't truly shaken his belief in the sect. The strong dominated the weak, that was just the law of the jungle. He had taken the most lethal treasure he could find, trained, and attempted to at least save face through revenge.

Now, as he stood among the others in the headquarters gardens, the sect didn't seem so strong anymore. Two of the four heirs to the Great Rivers were dead, and not honorably despite all the propaganda. The other significant leaders had forsaken them, with the Poison Prince returning to the Purple River sect and Xir Xan Khan going off on unknown business. There were still many cultivators clinging to the strength of the Masterful Crown clan, but the festivities had an air of desperation.

"Go on, attack me!" Yul Wei Ren stood with his hands on his hips, urging them on. "Try a serious attack, really!"

Everyone laughed and pushed at one another, some saying that they had too much respect for him to ever attack. It seemed like he was getting irritated, though, and when the young master became irritated, people got into trouble. Hul Ping took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"Please excuse me, young master," he said with a bow, then he unleashed a qi attack.

When it neared Yul Wei Ren, one of the gems in his crown burned hotly and an aura burst around him. It not only extinguished Hul Ping's attack, it knocked him off his feet. He quickly dropped into a kowtow and stared in awe.

"Incredible! I couldn't even touch you!"

"That's because of this relic from my father!" Yul Wei Ren proudly showed off one of the gemstones dangling from his crown. "It completely nullifies all qi beneath the Sky Soul stage, rendering me invincible! Go on, try!"

Some of the others made their attempts, though less dramatically than the first. They babbled on about how impressive it was, how powerful the Masterful Crown clan must be, and how much they wished they had a father who could grant them such treasures. Hul Ping joined in, but his smile was hollow.

For the first time, he looked at Yul Wei Ren and thought he was pathetic. Everything in his life had been handed to him, but there was no substance to him whatsoever. All the men praising him, all the women fawning over him... they didn't care about him, they just wanted what he possessed. If his position fell even slightly, all of it would vanish, because he'd never earned any of it.

Hul Ping had once thought that such cultivators were superior to him, but now he knew that if he had been handed the same advantages, he would be just the same as them. So would any peasant, or even an animal. All this strutting around suddenly just seemed childish.

And Hul Ping was just as embarrassed with himself, both his past veneration and the current role he played, offering flattery after flattery. Like the young master was an empty shell that needed to be constantly pumped up or it would deflate into nothing.

But stepping forward first and giving fawning praise had been worth it, because Hul Ping was later invited into one of the inner meetings. There he poured the young master's wine, laughed at all his jokes, and tried to memorize as much as possible. He felt like he only understood 30% of what was being discussed, but even that was valuable intelligence.

The turning point came when they received new guests, cultivators wearing the robes of various sects and minor clans. It somehow turned into a fight, during which Yul Wei Ren was victorious... but for all that he declared his victory, the fight had been won by his relic and the strength of the Deepriver patriarch, not him.

Everyone gossiped about that afterward, laughing at how foolish the cultivators had been to attack and marveling at the strength of the young master. Hul Ping struggled to join them, because he saw it for what it was: weakness. When the young master's position had been truly powerful, he hadn't needed to exterminate enemies because they would never dare attack him.

That night, Hul Ping took a combat mission as an excuse and left the sect headquarters to reveal everything he had learned.

.

..

.

Though Hul Ping took great precautions not to be followed or discovered, he found that the Verdant River sect's organization had collapsed. They still held the major cities, but the forests, fields, and even the roads were a lost cause. Peasants went about their business without any taxes or fees, and some wore Redtree symbols openly.

After changing his clothes to blend in, Hul Ping was able to reach the rebel camp. He discovered that it had increased massively in size, sucking in minor groups. There were imperious cultivators everywhere, lording it over others with their Redtree medallions.

And Kai was in the center of it, as praised and celebrated as any young master.

What made Hul Ping tremble was that he was utterly different: Kai barely seemed to notice the praise, and he certainly didn't care about it. He seemed to be truly himself, as if the words of others couldn't touch him. If everyone had insulted and mocked him instead, he would be no lesser for it. Because, unlike Yul Wei Ren and his ilk, at his core there was something instead of an empty void.

"Oh, Hul Ping." Kai noticed his arrival and gestured for him to follow. "Let's talk."

"I have information for you," Hul Ping said, automatically bowing and intending to flatter. The larger man didn't even seem to notice.

"You shouldn't have come here so obviously. There are spies in camp, and if you attracted any attention, they might report you. It wouldn't be safe to go back to the sect headquarters anymore."

It was definitely a major mistake he should have noticed, and Hul Ping braced himself for a strike or at least mockery. None came and he realized that Kai had no need to beat him down. When they stood side by side, the difference between them was so obvious that a blow would have felt redundant. All Kai cared about was efficacy, so the reprimand was all that was necessary.

When they reached an isolated part of camp, Hul Ping nearly lost the power of speech. He had heard rumors about Kai's wives, but hadn't imagined they would be so astonishing. The first had strange golden skin, but everything from her clothes to her body oozed so much sex that the young man's mind was overcome. And the shorter woman had the most unbelievable skin he'd ever seen, putting all other women to shame.

After some stammering, Hul Ping managed to tell his story. He shared the minor information, then struggled to explain the final confrontation.

"When the cultivators insulted the young master," he said, "everyone began to move at once. I am 80% certain that it was one of the guests who struck first, but the Deepriver patriarch responded so quickly that it was hard to tell. The others realized they would be exterminated and acted in the same moment, some attacking the young master and some trying to surround the Deepriver patriarch. This all takes a long time to explain, but it all happened in an inst-"

"We know how high speed combat works," the seductive woman snapped. "It's interesting to know that the clan's reputation is weakening, but what was the meeting about?"

In an instant, she had realized the observation he had fumbled to afterward. Hul Ping swallowed and did his best to answer. "There are many strange rumors about the Loam of the Gods, but it seems that it is no longer producing as much immortality elixir as it once did. The Verdant River sect is failing to fulfill its promises, so even the Masterful Crown clan is being blamed."

"Did they say they were still delivering elixirs?" the goddess of a woman asked. Just her gaze made him feel like a filthy peasant. "Or are they only making more promises?"

"It is difficult to say, because much of what Yul Wei Ren says is lies. But I believe that he has a small store of immortality elixirs that is depleting as different groups demand it. His father is holding back the rest to purchase important allies."

The two women looked back to Kai and they exchanged glances that clearly conveyed more information. Hul Ping was struck by the realization that even though the women had asked the questions, he had never once felt like they were speaking over or dominating Kai. He wasn't threatened by letting them speak.

As they discussed plans far higher than him, Hul Ping wondered at the relationship. In his spiritual sight, it seemed as though the two women were actually stronger than Kai, extraordinary Sky Souls, and yet they were bonded to him. Now, he knew that Kai was even more powerful than he looked, but somehow Hul Ping believed that even if Kai was weakened or injured, they would stay with him.

Because, unlike so many of the women who were hired or threatened, they actually liked him. The cultivator goddess always looked at him with fondness, and the seductive woman's leg slid against his in an extremely suggestive fashion. Just the idea of the three of them together made Hul Ping's mind reel...

"Alright." Kai abruptly stood up and Hul Ping had to resist the urge to flinch. "Since you're stuck here now, we want to try something."

.

..

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What followed was the most brutal week of Hul Ping's life, with months of normal cultivation and years of physical training forced into just a few days. He didn't dare to ask questions, but he surmised that they were using him as some sort of experiment. Since it was increasing his strength rapidly, he didn't object and just went along with the river.

After Kai put him through grueling physical training, the seductive woman tested him with various painful injections. Somehow they made his Physique shoot skyward, exploding in power as his body seemed to be torn apart and knitted back together over and over again.

Part of him hoped that her experiments would require some sort of dual cultivation, but the way she looked at him... it was like he was less than dirt under her feet. No, there was never any hope of that, and he thanked his good fortune that she was bothering to touch him at all.

The goddess never did, and he still felt breathless in her presence. She forced him through intense cultivation and examined his family's Riverbed Stance. Even though she didn't seem particularly impressed, she gave him a few pointers that made his combat efficacy increase by leaps and bounds.

Just when he was so baffled by the whole thing that he wanted to demand answers, Hul Ping was given a jar of something they said was immortality elixir. That seemed impossible, but since any of them could kill him in an instant, he drank it readily.

Immediately new power surged through his body, like a thick oil that coated everything. He felt sluggish for a moment, and a layer of something new formed around his dantian. Yet, once he had finished the jar and his head stopped spinning, he felt far stronger in body and soul. When Hul Ping looked at his own cultivation base, he was astonished.

<

Name: Hul Ping

Total Power: 384

Cultivation: Nascent Foundation 32% (213)

Riverbed Stance (+25)

Physique: E-0 (80)

Immortal Body (+50)

Soul Level: 4 (16)

>

They had taken him from 260 Power to 384, carrying him far beyond all the hangers-on desperately scrabbling for whatever scraps fell from Yul Wei Ren's table. And yet it seemed like it was nothing to them. Even though Kai complimented him on his hard work, Hul Ping couldn't escape the feeling that they were in some way disappointed.

Hul Ping wanted to praise them, to offer the same flattery or gratitude that he always carried as a shield, yet found that he could say nothing.

Chapter 458: Paths Too Easy to Walk

Due to their overwhelming victory, the enemy wouldn't bother Zae Zin Nim for some time. Due to her precision glaring, her obnoxious allies wouldn't bother her either. Instead she spent all of her time in the empty vault, trying to break through.

In a way, this had been her real blockage from the very beginning. Oh, there had been her deep meridians and countless other barriers, but it had been the Blackblood Physique that had first stopped her path to cultivation. She thought she had finally overcome it in Rosemount... only for it to rear its head time and time again.

Except that wasn't quite right. Zae Zin Nim massaged the veins on her arm, knowing that the blood within was pitch black even if it wasn't visible through her jade skin. As soon as she overcame the first stage, the Blackblood Physique had always been there for her. It had kept her alive and strengthened her at times when her cultivation had stalled or other arts frustrated her. And yet, in some way she couldn't fully identify, the power within her very veins remained beyond her.

Just as if she was trying to advance in her cultivation, she had placed all her tools in front of her. Qi pills, pure chakra, and a mana potion, obviously. Medicinal pills, just in case, and some of the immortality elixir despite what Omilaena had said. But the most important items were the Physique-enhancing pills from the vaults and purification creams from the Pureflower sect, which combined should have been everything she needed.

Zae Zin Nim took a deep breath and swallowed one of the Physique enhancers. Immediately she felt the power within her body surge, as if it was on the verge of something truly impressive... and then it began to deviate. She could feel the darkness spreading, turning into an infection, distorting her pure flesh just like the others had always threatened.

She pulled back, suddenly gasping for breath. The sensation faded and dissolved, avoiding both a terrible deviation and any breakthrough. These false attempts would have been prohibitively expensive, if they hadn't seized an entire vault worth of materials. But even with infinite chances, she felt as though she was still stuck here.

It was like there was a fundamental clash in the ways the Blackblood Physique might develop. Unlike many advancements, which fought her, these seemed almost too easy, and that was the problem. What Xir Xan Khan had said about the blood polluting her if mishandled appeared to be terribly true.

The attempt to strengthen herself had pushed both her dantian and the Pure Yin Shroud to their limits, trying to drive them to a higher state. As a result she was slightly strengthened, but all out of balance. So she reverted to meditation and cultivation to restore herself for another attempt. At least the Coldfire Corona burned peacefully within her, as faithful as always.

"Excuse me."

She almost snarled at the interruption and looked up to see the young cultivator who followed Kai around like a lost puppy. He wasn't the worst of them - at least he stared at her face instead of her chest. On the other hand, he didn't pay the same respect to Omilaena, and Zae Zin Nim had seriously considered punishing him for ogling her wife. But he seemed to mean well, and Kai would dislike it if she killed random people on their side.

"What is it?" Zae Zin Nim asked. She thought her voice sounded calm.

"I was hoping to talk to Kai. I... wanted to ask more advice." He shuffled nervously, not looking at her at all, which was preferable.

"He isn't here anymore. You will likely find him cultivating on top of the broken tower."

"Oh, got it. Thank you." The young man made his way out with several more bows.

When they seized the Verdant River vault, they had of course acquired a huge number of resources. There were more poisons and metals for Omilaena, and as usual there wasn't much appropriate for Kai. But they did have a wide variety of qi, including some savage types that were appropriate for him. It was good to see him cultivating again, since he needed to advance on that journey early enough for it to be relevant.

Another presence entered the vault, but this one was just her wife. Despite the most recent failure, Zae Zin Nim looked up to smile at her.

"I tried again," she said. "It felt stronger than before, but the blood still nearly turned against me."

"I don't know what to tell you." Omilaena shrugged as she approached. "You have blown past every requirement there should be for this, so there must be something else holding you back."

"Do you... think that I would have more success if I made my body immortal first? The problem is that the blood seems like it will damage my Physique, but if I had an immortal body..." She trailed off as Omilaena shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Zin Nim, but I'm even more convinced than I was before. I've been monitoring Hul Ping-"

"Who?"

"The boy, he just walked out." Omilaena jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "I don't like his growth, and I think it's the elixir. This isn't the sort of immortality you want."

Zae Zin Nim went silent, still struggling to accept this grim result. She had pinned so many of her hopes on the immortality elixir, it was discouraging to hear over and over that it wasn't as good as it should have been. Seeing her stew, Omilaena sat down beside her and patted her leg.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Obviously you can decide for yourself," the other woman said, "and I know I don't have a lot of proof right now. By objective means, the elixir grants our opponents substantial power, and it seems to grant eternal youth too. By not using it, we're giving them a major advantage over us."

"I trust your judgment," Zae Zin Nim said carefully. "I just wish I understood."

"Well, it's not something I can prove, just a gut feeling with some evidence. To me, it seems like the elixir burns out an enormous portion of the soul. Entire capacities void, and all kinds of synergies consumed. It grants some power, yes, but at the cost of future growth. Based on what I've seen with the boy, it really is inhibiting his cultivation already. Even if it does keep you young forever, I think it's a cheap trick that leads to a dead end. If just killing a bunch of people could make you immortal with no strings attached, Cloudspire would have figured that out ages ago."

Even though Zae Zin Nim didn't want it to be true, the deepest part of herself believed it. There were more paths to false immortality than true, whether they made a person shrivel up or cut off growth entirely. When the Verdant River sect lost the Loam of the Gods, it was less likely that they found a genius new path everyone had missed and far more likely they chose a desperate option.

"The boy... do you think we should get rid of him?" Zae Zin Nim asked.

"What, because we used him as an experiment?" Omilaena shrugged. "If anything, we may have limited his future growth."

"As if he would have accomplished much more on his own. Why are you sympathetic to him?"

"Oh, I'm not. I hate how he's always giving a percentage certainty on things - there's no mathematical calculation, so it's meaningless, just giving undue precision to a vague feeling. But he's Kai's newest pet, so it'd be shitty of us to kill him just because it would be convenient."

At least that idea made Zae Zin Nim smile a little. They didn't need to worry about their husband taking concubines or having affairs... just adopting people he felt sorry for, or taking up lost causes, or trying to help strangers for no reason. It was still foolish, but now she found it charming.

"Do you suppose I could use more chakra?" Zae Zin Nim asked, returning to the question of Physique. "My Pure Yin Shroud is heavily tied to my body, after all, so it might be-"

"Sorry to repeat myself, but it's already balanced." Omilaena touched her shoulder with a sad smile. "The Blackblood Physique is a highly refined art, and your soul is overall stabilized. If anything, you should be getting a better result than anyone else who has tried it."

"Actually, I think I could complete the purification process. It's just that it also felt like it would harm me."

Omilaena's gaze immediately fixated on her, less warm than intensely interested. Somehow that had become charming too. "What's that?" her wife asked. "You never mentioned this."

"It's recent. I could purify all of the dark blood, without too much difficulty thanks to these enhancements, but it would definitely drain away some of my strength." Zae Zin Nim reached down, feeling the pulse in her wrist again. "But embracing it feels like it would destroy my health, so maybe that way is impossible. Maybe the purification is the only way."

"Don't presume that too soon. You've been saying that every option we consider would be harmful, but they're not all harmful in the same way, right? The exact details could be very relevant."

"Every method leads to some sort of problem. If we made the blood more spiritual, as you suggested, my cultivation would be stronger but I'd be physically weaker. The purification method would balance both, but at the loss of the unique strength. And absorbing it would lead to terrible reactions, so that's out of the question."

"That wasn't very specific. What kinds of reactions?"

"Well... I..." Zae Zin Nim frowned as she considered it more carefully. "I have always tried to maintain a pure body, one that is in balance. That is why it is easy for me to exert strength beyond my size. If I absorbed the blood, I would lose that purity."

"Losing purity can be fun." Omilaena snaked an arm around her waist and, despite her mild protests, pulled her into a kiss. "I can't help you take this last step, Zin Nim, but be critical. Your instincts are good, but they aren't all perfect. There could be a path that you're dismissing solely because it would be inappropriate for the cultivator you used to be, not the woman you are."

Since the advice was given sincerely, Zae Zin Nim suppressed the urge to snort. She very much doubted that she would find advancement through thinking about things from a different perspective or anything so simple. Given how she was failing to break through on her own, however, she would try to consider the advice earnestly.

Before the two of them could say any more, they were interrupted by several of the Redtree locals. They looked rather panicked, more nervous than she had seen any of them since they won their main victory.

"The Verdant River sect is attacking!" one of them cried. "They have Purple River reinforcements with them... half of our guard is already down, lethally poisoned."

"Alright, fine." Omilaena groaned and let go of Zae Zin Nim, as if their lives were just marginally worth it. "I'll go take a look."

"We can't stop them." Another cultivator bowed low to Zae Zin Nim. "Kai has already gone to attack the main army, but the rest will overrun us. Please, can't you help?"

"Very well." She rose to her feet and followed the cultivator out of the vault.

The camp around them was in chaos, but there didn't seem to be any attackers yet. Zae Zin Nim looked around for any of the lead cultivators wearing medallions and found none, hopefully because they were fighting the enemy instead of because they were being cowards. In any case, she should be more than enough on her own, so she followed one of them on a flying sword away from camp.

Others joined them, shouting about the enemy, yet there was no enemy in sight. As they continued out of sight of the camp, Zae Zin Nim began to grow suspicious. These cultivators had been at war for months, so they shouldn't be so nervous. Or at least their emotions should have been focused forward instead of toward her.

Abruptly all the cultivators turned on her, attacking at once.

She struck even faster, a flurry of palms striking them down.

All but one of the cultivators around her died immediately, falling off their flying swords. Zae Zin Nim leapt at the woman she had spared, grabbing the front of her robes and driving her to the earth. Now the panic was fully grown and the woman weakly struggled to escape her grip.

"What is this?" Zae Zin Nim demanded.

"I don't know! Th-they ordered us to... to separate you. They... I don't know..."

So betrayal had finally come for them. Zae Zin Nim had eliminated the strike on her, but it hadn't involved any of the Redtree rebels' strongest cultivators or their enemies. She realized that both her spouses had also been isolated, taken in separate directions. Was it already too late?

Chapter 459: The Final Act of the Redtree Rebels

The Redtree rebels running into emergencies was far from rare - sometimes, Kai felt like his entire role was pulling them out of problems, half of which they'd created themselves. So he didn't think much about it when they called him to stop another attack on their lines.

Once he arrived in a clearing, surrounded by the group's strongest cultivators, however... clearly, this was nothing like what they claimed. There were no enemies within sight, only familiar faces. He saw medallion after medallion, yet he realized that he was no longer among allies.

"Why are we here?" Kai asked.

"It's time for you to die!" one of the cultivators shouted.

"Why? What does that gain you?"

"We're sick of you ordering us to share the treasures, never letting us take our due. Why follow you if you're just going to try to force some unrealistic equality?"

Kai slowly cracked his knuckles and shifted from foot to foot. He'd considered that they might turn on him one day, but he had expected it to be their desire to fight more aggressively instead of striking strategically or consolidating their gains. As he looked around him, he saw a lot of angry faces, including those who had been most selfish when it came to distributing resources.

"You're strong, but you have no idea what you're doing." A thin man in black robes appeared from behind them, the first person who didn't look like one of the Redtree rebels. "You think you can lead rebels or create a sect like this?"

"Oh, so you're the one actually behind this." Kai turned to face him, ignoring the cultivators menacing him from all sides. "And who are you?"

"You played your games for a while, but eventually you caused losses too large for the Masterful Crown clan to to ignore. And so they dispatched the Dark Crown sect."

That was the hidden sect underneath the clan, though as far as he was aware, this was the first time they had taken any kind of direct action. "And how did you convince them to turn?"

"We simply offered them what you never would," the thin man said. "What do cultivators want? To advance beyond their peers and rule over them. All you can give them is a few trinkets after their victories, but we can offer them a place in the world. If they eliminate you, they will be able to recreate the Redtree sect as a proper branch of the Masterful Crown clan."

"Huh." Kai turned his gaze to the other cultivators, focusing on those he knew. "When we met, you were just individual cultivators being slaughtered. I took you this far, gave you those medallions, and helped you regain your lost lands. Is that not enough?"

The Dark Crown agent only smirked, and eventually one of the Redtree cultivators spoke up. "Everyone uses one another," she said. "You helped us because we were convenient, and we needed a champion. Now we don't need you anymore. We've fought enough to be acknowledged by a greater power... that's just the way of the world."

"Why do you think they won't just turn on you as soon as you've proved useful?"

"Don't talk nonsense," the Dark Crown agent said before any of the cultivators could grow nervous. "The Verdant River sect is growing weak and failing its obligations. This group was wise to see that and fight against them. Soon the Masterful Crown clan will rebuild this failed region, and we need local allies at the forefront of that effort."

That sounded like a lie to Kai, who had seen the extent of their power. But he saw that the red-robed cultivators all around him listened with eagerness... perhaps the same sort of eagerness they felt when they responded to his own promises. He'd hoped, just a little, that he had made a difference here.

But he hadn't assumed that he would.

Kai let out a long sigh and rubbed his eyes with one hand. Everywhere he went, there was an old Goralian part of him that was looking for allies, fellow hunters who could face a real threat. And so often, the people he met disappointed him. Even when the revolution in Krysal had been between two different classes, they had stolen Kratius away from him and the betrayal had almost cost him.

"Are all of you in agreement on this?" Kai asked in a dull voice. "I gave you those medallions, and now you turn them on me... if you want no part in this, give them back to me. Don't throw your lives away."

"Formation!" the Dark Crown agent called, and the ring of cultivators drew on their qi.

In an instant Kai felt the power constrict around him, trying to bind him in place. It was similar to many of the formation techniques he'd seen used in the south, but this one was far more potent, different from anything he'd seen the Redtree rebels use before. As their qi gathered, a dark halo began to form in the air over the center, closing in on him.

"No one?" Kai had to push his strength to turn around. "I thought there would be at least one."

"Are you stupid?" one of the cultivators shouted. "If you really believed we were loyal to you, then you deserve this!"

"I didn't," Kai said, and snapped his fingers.

And in that moment, all of the Redtree medallions exploded.

When he had first encountered them, he had been worried about the medallions being activated remotely by an enemy, but he had also realized that he was handing a weapon to people he couldn't really trust. So he had asked Omilaena to enhance them: not solely to increase security, but to leave a flaw. Someone with exactly the right mana - the savage mana he could still touch - could activate the explosion function of the medallions.

One shockwave was dangerous enough for most cultivators, but an entire ring of them was devastating. Some of the weaker cultivators were blown in half and even those who hadn't been wearing medallions collapsed immediately. Some realized that something was wrong and tried to run, but they had been doomed, many by the status symbols they wore around their necks.

The Dark Crown agent was the only one to escape, and even he was buffeted by the explosions. Kai was on him in an instant, stabbing claws into his shoulder. Even as the agent cried out in pain, he thrust out with his other hand, revealing a darkly glinting knife.

Kai took it off at the elbow and then smashed the man to the ground. He had been more durable than the others, but now that he lay on the ground with two ruined limbs, he coughed up blood like all the rest. When Kai landed on top of him and put a foot on his chest, the man smiled grimly.

"So you just bought them off to target me," Kai said. "What else did you do?"

"You have no chance against the patriarchs." The Dark Crown agent's eyes suddenly blazed and something pulsed within him.

When his dantian exploded, Kai was blown into the air. The explosion managed to cut his body in a few places, but by the time he landed, Kai was already healing thanks to Behemoth's Heart. He wasn't sure if it had been an attempt to harm him, or if the agent had just killed himself to prevent questioning.

If Omilaena had been present, she might have been able to stop the suicide and extract more information. Thinking about her made Kai recall that the others were likely to be attacked as well. At minimum his wives would be able to handle themselves, but he had no idea what to expect for the others. Maybe they had all been bought off... the idea of Hul Ping trying to stab him with that tiny knife just made him sad.

But the last statement about the patriarchs worried him, because it meant they might have finally attracted true retaliation. Kai considered that it might be misinformation, but didn't see how it could lead him into a mistake. Regardless of how the enemy was attacking, his plans to prepare were the same.

As Kai looked around at the bodies, his disgust merged with the constant hunger and finally something clicked. He bent down, opened his maw in Isulfr's Bite, and consumed one of the dead cultivators whole.

And this time, he felt a glimmer of essence remain within him instead of being absorbed.

Focused on those dark emotions, Kai began to consume them all, gathering together the tiny fragments of human essence into something enduring. It wasn't rage, in the end, but disappointment. He'd saved so many of their lives and led them to take their land back, but in the end, they had just been... like all the others. "Like other cultivators," he thought at first, but a dark part of his mind thought "like other humans."

When it was done, he was sick of the taste, but something new burned within him:

<

Redtree Betrayers - I (alpha)

>

The "Redtree Betrayers" essence wasn't strong, but it was distinctly human, a first for him. And unlike the strange remnant of Anaelina, this power felt malleable. It was the combination of all their emotion and betrayal, concentrated into something potent. Not only was it the first human essence he'd retained, it was what he needed to combine with Banchlain's Aura.

Part of him wanted to sit down and merge the essence right then, but Kai decided against it. This attack had failed, but he had no idea how many more were coming. If the Masterful Crown clan was really moving, then the game had changed.

Chapter 460: Faces of the New Enemy

The assassins lay dead around Omilaena, needles through their bodies. Though she readjusted her dress and noted with satisfaction that it was untouched, it had been closer than she'd want to admit.

The fighting had been over in several tense seconds. If she'd been slightly slower, she would have received some heavy injuries instead of taken out her opponents. Without all her new abilities supporting Lethal Artisan, she couldn't have created metal plates quickly enough to block their needles. And the poison on the cuts that got through was surprisingly potent, reviving her interest in the Purple River sect, even if the Prana Jewels helped eliminate the damage to her.

Of course, this had to be only one of many strikes, and likely just part of the first wave. No one hired assassins this effective without having a real plan... well, maybe some of the young masters did, but so many of them were dead, it seemed likely that the adults were in charge now.

Most likely the other two had been drawn away and similarly attacked, potentially more effectively. In the absence of information, Omilaena didn't want to rush about randomly, since an intelligent enough opponent might have planned for that. But until she had a clear picture of the entire conflict, she needed take action of some sort.

Just as she started to move, Omilaena felt one of the message seeds pulse. She grabbed it immediately, discovered that it wasn't one of those from her partners, and planted it anyway. As soon as the flower grew, Nymidria appeared with her boughs wrapped around her own seed.

"Omilaena? Good." She drew back slightly, still tense. "They know more than we thought: the Dark Crown sect was brought in, along with Sky Souls. This is their major retaliation, we have to-"

All at once her image vanished and the flower began to blacken and decay. When Omilaena checked her other seeds, she saw that they were also dying: someone had finally figured out the chakra method and was taking measures to block it. That limited their communication and split her attention in a new direction.

Never one for indecision, Omilaena grabbed a fallen assassin's flying sword and leapt onto it. Instead of traveling low to the ground, she intentionally soared high overhead. Almost immediately she was noticed by cultivators from the Verdant River sect, who screamed toward her both literally and metaphorically.

They screamed directly into a cloud of poison, resulting in a rain of bodies and swords.

That cloud in the sky only drew more attention to her, but Omilaena was counting on that. She didn't give a fuck about any of the Redtree rebels, which meant the only people in the far south who mattered were Kai and Zin Nim. She would assume they could survive their attacks and join her, so she would head toward Nymidria as quickly as possible and hope they reinforced her in time.

Her decision was only partially based on military strategy, since she lacked so much information. Part of it was just that the dryad matriarch had been a useful ally, the closest thing she'd had to a mentor in many years. Maybe it would be too late to save her and she was already dead, but in any case moving north would help them. Better to be near the Verdant River headquarters and the dryad village instead of the sprawling south with all of its smaller battles.

Something boomed over the horizon and Omilaena double-checked even though she knew what she'd see: of course that brutally fast flight was Kai instead of some floaty or light show cultivator. He tore across the sky after her, catching up despite her top speed, and then kept pace beside her.

"You get attacked?" Omilaena asked casually.

"They bought the Redtree rebels out from under us," he said grimly, "or at least their leaders. I'm not going back to check - if the others were involved, they'd just attack me, and if not, it would just paint a target on them. This seems more serious than some low level cultivators can help with."

"Sounds logical. I received a message from Nymidria before it got cut off, and it sounds like things are changing there. Have you seen Zin Nim?"

"No, but most of the strongest Redtree cultivators are accounted for, so she should be fine."

That was true provided that the enemy hadn't brought in more forces like the Purple River assassins, but Omilaena didn't mention that because she had already made her decision. In any case, she guessed Zin Nim would be closest to the vault in the center, so it would have been harder for them to deploy any dangerous opponents against her.

How long would it take them to reach the Verdant River headquarters? Omilaena realized that the answer would be determined almost entirely by her flight time, because their opponents proved completely ineffective.

When many of the weaker cultivators tried to fly at them, Kai intercepted them with Void Gaze. It looked like he was just trying to freeze their swords out from under them, but many of them coughed up blood anyway. Stronger ones who came from other angles or managed to evade got take down by her needles. Every time a formation tried to build up a large water technique, it was either frozen by her ice or evaporated by his breath.

At this pace it wouldn't take them so long to get back to the sect headquarters, but then Omilaena realized it wouldn't all be that easy. There was an old man standing in the air ahead of them, completely unmoving with his hands behind his back. He made no attempt at a shroud, instead revealing his soul proudly.

<

Name: ???

Total Power: 1254

Cultivation: Sky Soul (925)

Heavenly Cultivation (+100)

Depths Dantian (+100)

Physique: E-0 (80)

Soul Level: 7 (49)

>

He was a reasonably strong Sky Soul with 1250 Power, including advanced cultivation techniques. Either one of a sect's elites or the patriarch of a weaker sect. Omilaena thought that she could take care of him, with Kai beside her, but before they could coordinate, he finally acted.

The old man loosened his hands from behind his back, and in that moment unleashed all the qi he had been building up.

A bright light appeared in the sky as a vast blue sphere plummeted from the heavens. It was targeted directly at them, and when Omilaena tried to redirect their path, the sphere moved to follow. Kai tried to freeze it with Void Gaze and immediately grunted in pain as the strain got to him. They might be able to take this elder in a fair fight, but his ultimate technique was nothing to be trifled with.

As the sphere grew closer and closer, Omilaena hurled a needle, just in case, and it evaporated in the burning qi. She knew that poison would do nothing to it, and Kai was struggling just to keep it at bay. Maybe if they circled around the old man he would call it off, or they could try to reverse direction quickly enough...

Then a small dark form appeared in between them and the molten sphere, robes twisting. Zin Nim struck a palm against the qi, not an elaborate technique but her precise strike. It rang like a bell, a shockwave extended from the impact, and the massive technique fell apart in blue flames.

Immediately Kai switched course to catch up to her and she turned to him, nodding sternly. Staying in the air like this was no longer a safe position, so Omilaena guided them all lower to the ground. She thought that she might be able to dodge between the trees and outposts at this range from the sect headquarters, but they didn't get very far before a giant barrier of qi lit up in front of them.

It was an impressive technique that must be burning an insane amount of qi, to create a barrier that extended from heaven to earth. More troublingly, Omilaena couldn't detect who exactly was generating it. Not the old man who had attacked them... he was keeping at a distance, apparently generating another of those sphere techniques.

And it wasn't the figure who approached them in a purple streak of light, even though he arrested her attention.

Xir Xan Khan resolved in front of them, hands clasped behind his back. All damage to his robes had been repaired and he faced them with a cold gaze, completely unconcerned despite the fact that he had lost the previous time.

<

Name: Xir Xan Khan

Total Power: 1529

Cultivation: Sky Soul (1000)

Physique: E-0 (80)

Heavenly Body (+100)

Immortal Body (+200)

Soul Level: 7 (49)

Coiling Presence (+100)

>

Worse, his confidence wasn't misplaced. It looked like, in addition to other measures, he had taken the maximum amount of the immortality elixir she thought was possible, shooting his Power up to over 1500. The fact that he might have limited his future growth wasn't much comfort when he was strong enough to potentially go toe-to-toe with Kai.

"I see you still haven't purified yourself," Xir Xan Khan said to Zin Nim, as if the rest of them didn't exist. "Well, that will soon be corrected. Last time you won via superior allies, so I took measures to correct that error."

"I want nothing to do with you," Zin Nim spat, but she was no longer looking so confident.

Then, just when Omilaena thought things couldn't get worse, she saw threads slide through the corner of her vision. There was no attempt to hide or ambush, the man simply walked up from another direction, removing another path forward. The ragged cloak swirled, partially obscuring the wrapped figure underneath.

"I thought that sounded like you," Jackal Thirteen told her. "They've already given me an interesting payment, but you'd be the real prize."

<

Name: Jackal Thirteen

Total Power: 1380

Cultivation: Sky Soul (910)

Demonic Threads (+106)

Physique Level: D-0 (200)

Immortal Body (+100)

Soul Level: 8 (64)

>

He was substantially stronger too, enhanced by a lesser dose of the immortality elixir as well as his own advancement. Based on her speculations about the remaining stores of elixir, the Masterful Crown clan had decided to pull out all the stops in this attack, which meant that the other forces she had yet to detect were likely elites or patriarchs.

But they wouldn't matter, if she couldn't get past Jackal Thirteen. He might not be the strongest on the battlefield, but he had edged ahead of her in strength, and the worst part was that he usually punched above his weight thanks to the puppets he carried with him.

The bodies began to form up behind him and everyone on the battlefield moved at once.