Stella felt wild and free as she swung her sword and brutally slashed a mutated beast in half—the sheer force of her attack sent the two halves of the corpse hurtling through the air in opposite directions. One-half took out a small gathering of monsters nearby—while the other shot off toward one of the towering demonic trees forming a wall and splattered a chicken-looking monster against the tree bark, turning both into nothing but meat paste and making the tree shake.
She was wholly unconcerned by the shower of blood she ran through as a single pulse from her Star Core reversed the blood's trajectory. This was the first time since exiting the Mystic Realm that she could go all out with her new cultivation stage, and she loved it.
Having a Star Core made life incomparable to before. It was hard for Soul Fire cultivators to truly let loose without worry as every drop of Qi they spent would have to be meditated for later. Whereas the warm Star Core pulsing in her chest was a beacon of self-sustaining power that flooded her body with boundless energy.
She could slaughter without worry, as once the killing was finished, she could flop down and sleep on the rolling lush meadows and regain all of the spent Qi without effort.
The monster's screams were music to her ears as she manically laughed. Having to maintain such a perfect mask of excellence was the least of her concerns out here. Even with the twins perched on Titus's shoulders far away, she could be herself out here.
A few more sword swings finished the monsters around her—they were terribly weak, so they offered little to her besides stress relief. Stella paused as her area became devoid of anything living and glanced around while breathing in the fresh air tainted with death. It was beautiful. The scent of death oddly brought a sense of comfort to her.
If everything was dead, then I could be left alone with Tree. Stella sighed and tapped the tip of her bloody sword on the stained grass. A few flashes of old memories surfaced at the forefront of her mind.
She could still recall the heaviness of the decapitated head hidden away in that coarse bag she had clutched in her tiny hands while being stared down by those servants sent to kill her.
"Tsk." Stella clicked her tongue as she tried to shake away the memories of the screaming mortal servants fleeing her and how she had survived the Ravenborne murder plot. She had lived through it all with Tree by her side. Why would she need anybody else?
"Stella, you're being weird again," She muttered to herself as she kicked a nearby monster's head in a daze, causing it to explode from just a tap. "Mhm, I need to rein in my strength when dealing with these weaklings."
A sigh escaped her lips as she flicked off the brain mush from her shoe and was about to teleport to a distant grouping of monsters near the demonic tree wall when she felt a familiar wave of spatial Qi blanket the area.
Rifts manifested overhead, tearing through the peaceful blue sky. Stella cranked her neck to see black vines ending in a spike coated in thorns wiggle through the rifts and descend on the meal below.
"Oh yeah, Ash wanted Dragon Marrow," Stella realized as she saw the vines try to skewer and wrap around the pieces of corpses leftover from her rampage. "Maybe I shouldn't have attacked with such force... sorry, Tree."
A vine diverted from the corpses and carefully nudged her with the tip of the spike in an almost endearing way.
"I know, I know." Stella patted it, "I messed up. I will get you some good food."
The vine slowly moved away and then slammed down into the stomach of a wolf-looking beast with enough force to crack the earth. The spike dug deep between the monster's rib cage, allowing the vine to effortlessly reel back into the rift overhead with the corpse dangling from the end.
Stella stepped back to avoid the dripping blood from the corpses being dragged away and because she wanted to try something new, which she needed some space away from Ash's influence to do.
Raising her sword so the blade was perfectly between her eyes, Stella observed the distant group of monsters crowded around the demonic trees. For this crazy idea of her's to be executed flawlessly, she needed to be lightning-quick.
She had learned from Ash's previous mistake—portals were a two-way affair. If she could stab the monsters in the face, they could rip hers apart with their claws.
Closing her eyes, the world became grids through the spatial plane, and Stella began setting multiple anchor points as she planned to open numerous portals in quick succession.
"This is going to be fun..."
***
While Ashlock was half distracted with dragging the corpses through his rifts, he watched Stella's odd actions in confusion.
"Why is she standing still like that?" He wondered to himself. The group of monsters wasn't that far away. She should be able to teleport and make short work of them, so why hesitate?
His questions were answered when the sword she was holding suddenly lit up with purple flames concentrated at the tip—her eyes snapped open, and a second later, a portal manifested right in front of her, providing a distorted view of a monster's back.
The ape-like monster seemed to notice the sudden portal behind it and turned to look over its shoulder in confusion—Stella didn't give it a chance to foresee its death as the flaming sword struck through the portal and decapitated the ape in one clean arc.
A shrill scream came from all the other ape monsters as they watched the headless corpses fall forward with a thud, and the head rolled down the slope. They all began to ignore the mushrooms they had been gingerly munching on and searched around for the unknown foe. Some even sniffed the air, and one leapt up to a low-hanging branch and tried to use the vantage point to spot the killer.
However, before the apes could even get a chance to fathom what had occurred, death already came knocking. Ashlock watched in amazement as portals rapidly popped into existence around Stella one after another, always showing an unguarded side of an ape. With her eyes closed, she mercilessly slashed at the portals, the spatial Qi coating her sword, allowing it to pass through without affecting the rift.
A swoosh marked the end of the spectacle as Stella flicked the blood from her blade and opened her eyes. "How was that Tree? Are the corpses in good enough condition to be snacks for you?" She then twirled around with a smile, "Also, I got no blood on my clothes! Aren't I a genius?"
Ashlock sent some spatial Qi through his roots and wrote on the ground in lilac flames, 'Show off.'
Stella laughed, "Honestly, I got the idea from you! You always attack through rifts, so I thought I could too. Although I opened and closed them quickly to avoid an incident like the worm poison."
She then began to hum to herself as she glanced around, so Ashlock took the opportunity to open rifts above the new ape monster corpses and drag them back to the mountain peak. He planned to go through them individually and harvest any corpses with Dragon Marrow.
He would then eat the rest for some sacrificial credits, even if he didn't expect great returns from these Soul Fire monsters.
After dragging the ten ape corpses through rifts, including their heads, Ashlock returned to find Stella staring at Titus in the distance. The twins seemed to be having a blast, but he felt they could do with some supervision, so seeing as Stella had finished up with this area, he asked with flames on the ground, 'Why don't you go to the twins?'
Stella frowned as her hair fluttered in the breeze. There was a long pause as something seemed to be on the tip of her tongue. Eventually, she sighed, "Tree, am I weird? Is it strange that I don't want to talk to them or anyone? Sometimes I feel like I am the odd one out. Like... as if I don't see the world like all of them do."
Ashlock could tell that question had been bothering her by her fidgeting with the sword hilt while staring at the ground where he had been writing.
As someone that had seen her grow up, he knew what had caused her deep-set issues. Her entire family had died when she was young, leaving her abandoned in a massive pavilion, all alone except for servants wanting to kill her. Once they were dealt with, she didn't speak to another human for almost a decade.
Who wouldn't come out from a rough childhood like that as a little weird, even by cultivation world standards?
In recent times, especially as he tried to expand the sect and Stella was his main form of communication, he had deemed her inability to communicate a significant issue that needed resolving. But honestly, he was starting to realize that it was just part of what made Stella... Stella. If she improved slowly over time, then great, but he wasn't so concerned anymore.
'You are perfect the way you are,' Ashlock wrote in flames, 'Behave in a way you deem fitting and do whatever makes you happy.'
"Mhm." Stella didn't seem convinced at all. "Fine, if you say so. But how do I get more people to like me? Whenever it comes to sect decisions, everyone treats me like a crazy person."
Ashlock had to admit she could be unhinged at times, but to demand she alter her world views without the life experience to reach those conclusions herself was nonsense. Everyone saw the world through their own tinted lens.
'You're not crazy. You just have a unique viewpoint.' Ashlock wrote, 'As we all do, so don't worry about it.'
She seemed lost in thought for a while and then shook it off and strode forward toward Titus in the far distance. Her speed increased as she became wrapped in soul flames, and moments later, she was shooting across the landscape through a tunnel of portals.
Titus raised his titanic arm, and under the excited shouts of Olivia, he struck down a group of fleeing monsters, pulverizing them into the ground.
"Sigh... it seems they are also getting carried away like Stella did. How can I extract any Dragon Marrow from bones crushed to dust?" Ashlock lamented as he watched the twins cheer and Stella suddenly appear beside them.
"Having fun?" She asked, "How are we supposed to get anything if you kill these monsters like that?"
The twins yelped at the sudden voice.
"Sorry..."
"We were just..."
They let off a flurry of half-completed excuses—Stella waved them off.
"I'm going to relax on the other shoulder. You two kill the monsters while leaving their corpses as intact as possible, and if you see any interesting plants down below, let me know, and I will go get them."
Without hearing their answer, Stella leaped over Titus's head, landed on the opposite shoulder, and sat down. It seemed she had a lot on her mind, so Ashlock left her to it.
The next few hours consisted of Titus flattening all monsters in the vicinity with his 5th stage Star Core gravity and then squishing their heads with his giant fingers—leaving the corpses mostly intact.
Ashlock would then drag the corpses away, much to the twin's excitement.
"Stella!" Olivia shouted over the head, "Down below, toward the setting sun, there's a grove."
Ashlock looked in the direction of where Olivia was pointing and could see the aforementioned grove. It didn't look like anything extraordinary, except it seemed a bit out of place. It gave the vibe of an oasis surrounded by nothing but lush grassland.
Stella stood up with a yawn and glanced toward the sun, "What about it?"
"It's just a guess, but Dreamweaver Orchids might be there."
"What are those?" Stella inquired, and Ashlock also wanted to know.
Olivia squinted at the grove, "Dreamweaver orchids aren't that special on their own, but when grouped up in a cluster, the illusionary Qi they release can create mirages."
"Interesting," Stella tapped her chin, "And you think that grove is an illusion?"
"Maybe," Olivia shrugged, "I've only read about them in dusty old books. It could just be a random grouping of trees."
"Alright, well, we can go check it out before heading back," Stella said as she patted the Ent on the head, "Titus, go grab one of those trees."
The Ent wordlessly obeyed the command and trudged toward the grove. Ashlock was somewhat surprised Stella didn't dash in alone and instead used Titus to test the waters.
Titus got close enough to reach down, and his hand passed through the tree like a projection. Ashlock didn't have time to be surprised as a flurry of tiny orange-feathered birds exploded from the illusionary grove in all directions.
Ashlock commanded Titus to pulse his 5th stage Star Core and all the birds plummeted to the ground like hail as the immense gravity robbed their ability to fly.
Titus then sent a tidal wave of spatial Qi that smashed into the grove and washed away the illusion Qi. The fake trees were replaced by a giant bush of light pink orchids.
"You were right, sis!" Oliver shouted in awe while pointing at the bush.
Olivia pointed her nose to the sky and chuckled, "Haha, as expected!"
Ashlock began to open rifts and deploy vines to secure the birds. Even though they were weak, they should be worth a hundred credits together which was no small amount.
***
Diana had long given up on meditation for the evening. It was rather hard to concentrate when corpses were raining from the sky. The place reeked of death and stale blood.
She couldn't help but raise a brow when hundreds of fluffy orange birds impaled on vine spikes were brought through and added to the ridiculous pile that had grown in the courtyard's center.
Kaida was coiled loosely around her legs, and his head rested on her shoulder. His tongue kept flicking out while eyeing the mountain of food. It was likely heaven to him, but it was nothing but an eyesore for Diana.
A sudden enormous portal blocked the setting sun, and the Ent stepped through. It strode a few steps before sitting down. A root emerged from the ground and connected to the titan that became dormant in the corner of the peak.
There was no sign of Stella which confused Diana. She was about to look for the girl when she appeared beside her.
"Phew, finally got rid of them. Oh hey Diana, how's it going? Did you miss me?"
"Hi..?" Diana frowned, "Why do you sound so friendly."
Stella snorted and shook her head, "Whatever, at least I tried."
"Right... may I ask what the meaning of all this is?" Diana gestured to the mountain of rotting meat.
Stella gazed at the pile and whistled, "Wow, I didn't know we collected so much... To answer your question, my dear friend, this was all in an attempt to get Dragon Marrow!"
"Dragon Marrow?" Diana searched her mind and had a vague idea, "Are you talking about an alchemy ingredient? Also, stop talking like that. It's not like you."
"Fine, fine." Stella grumbled, "Yes, I was talking about the alchemy ingredient. Apparently, it's found in the corpses of beasts on the cusp of ascending to the next stage or realm."
"Huh, that's odd. Why is that?" Diana inquired while letting Kaida gnaw on her finger. The little guy was clearly getting restless for some of the food.
"Something about the Qi in the body being the most dense while on the cusp of ascension."
"Makes sense..." Diana said as she walked over to the corpse pile surrounded by shifting vines coated in spikes and picked up one of the skewered bird corpses, which seemed bite-sized for Kaida.
Diana then felt an all too familiar chill run down her spine. Glancing up, she caught a glimpse of that mysterious eye that glared through a jagged slit in Ashlock's black bark.
The vines shifted faster, making Diana stumble back despite the eye's presence. She could even feel Kaida hiss quietly as he slithered off her shoulder and retreated backward.
Like some accursed octopus checking out its prey, the vines brought the corpses one by one in front of the mysterious eye as if inspecting them. Most corpses got chucked to the side into a new pile and began to be dissolved, while a select few were placed in a separate pile. From a glance, Diana could tell those were the corpses with the most demonic Qi still wafting from their bodies.
Are those the corpses with the Dragon Marrow? Diana wondered, and then an odd thought crossed her mind.
Wait... as a demon, do I also have Dragon Marrow? I hope the alchemists won't start hunting me down.
