As a tree spread across a thousand miles, the little things no longer bothered Ashlock. It took a lot for him to feel anything and stir his fading humanity into action, let alone explode with rage.
But it had happened. A group of pathetic weaklings had taken advantage of his adopted daughter's recklessness and pushed her to the brink of death. If not for his interference, Stella would have died such an easily preventable death. Just the thought of these moon-loving bastards taking the thing he cared about the most in this world from him made him seethe with rage.
Uncaring of controlling himself, his peak Star Core flared up like a god's furnace, turning Red Vine Peak into a beacon of lilac soul flames reaching for the heavens. The mountain range glowed with power as spatial Qi surged down his ethereal roots like a dam spillway toward the Tainted Cloud Sect in the east.
Sensing their Father's rage, every demonic tree for a thousand miles copied their progenitor by igniting their leaves with soul flames and pouring their Qi into the network. Millions of birds fled to the skies in terror, and a chorus of monstrous roars to the moon spread across the continent. In Ashfallen and Darklight cities, the mortals were gathered in their thousands out in the streets, confused at what was happening, while some pointed toward Red Vine Peak.
Darklight City and the mountain range were lit up with orange soul fire, but much of Ashfallen City was shrouded in darkness due to Nox, who was also aflame with shadow soul flames. Under her canopy of darkness, Jasmine was huddling with her mom.
"Nox, what's happening?" Jasmine asked, tears in her eyes. "Did something bad happen?"
The shadow dryad, which had taken on a more human appearance than before, looked into the distance and spoke using Qi, "Someone has managed to anger the one being in this realm they should not." Nox turned her head and locked eyes with Jasmine. "Whoever it is, I pity them. They have not only earned his ire but will now face the full wrath of Ashfallen. I can feel it through the roots, the realm trembles from his anger."
Ashlock was uncaring of his unrestrained fury's effect on the continent, as his focus was above Nightshade City. Since the bounty mission had turned into a full-out war with the strongest family in the Tainted Cloud Sect, he had no plans to hold back. Having blanketed the area in his pressure through his roots, he was surprised that it seemed to carry wind affinity, likely due to his unformed Inner World.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})The cat was out of the bag, and the Grand Elder of the Lunarshade family had already taken center stage. If Ashlock wanted to win, holding back even a little would guarantee a loss.
"Who are you people?" Grand Elder Lunarshade bellowed again, his Qi-infused voice shattering every window down the street and making Stella wince. "Tell me, Albis, my son. Who have you foolishly led to our doorstep this time?"
Despite being stared down by a storm made of divine ash emerging from a colossal rift in the sky and Ashlock's tallest Ent's Titus and Zeus, the Lunarshade Grand Elder seemed mostly unfazed. An arrogance that was expected from a man who believed he was the strongest in the region at the 6th stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.
"Father," Albis took a respectful knee, "Before you is the supposed Princess of the Ashfallen Sect. An unknown powerhouse that recently became known through a bounty placed on Stella here by Nox Duskwalker." Albis raised his head and grinned, "Seeing that the bounty was placed by my ex-fiancee who dared to run away from me, I naturally took an interest in her."
"I see." The towering man who stood only a head shorter than the Skyrends rubbed his hairless chin. He seemed totally hairless, and having fully white eyes without pupils was the defining feature of this family of freaks. "Well, come over here. It's dangerous for you." His eyes narrowed at the Ents and Larry in the sky. "These people aren't to be trifled with."
Albis stood to his full height and brushed the dust off his cloak, "As you wish, Father." He gave Stella, surrounded by the Ents, a light smile and strode confidently toward his Father. There was no hint of fear in either of their eyes, something Ashlock planned to change.
Sending a quick message to Ashfallen's executioner, Ashlock allowed Albis to enjoy his last walk in the realm of the living undisturbed. Titus and Zeus slowly swiveled their heads as they watched him confidently walk toward his Father.
"Father, I have returned." Albis gave the Grand Elder a light bow as he stood before the man at the bottom of a dozen well-maintained stone steps.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})The giant man gave his son a grin, "Very good—"
"Now," Ashlock said simply. Upon his orders, Khaos, the reaper of Ashfallen, silently emerged from the void behind Albis. It was a two-meter-tall creature similar to a wendigo, with long, spindly limbs ending in claws that might as well be swords and deer antler-style horns growing from its head.
The Grand Elder's eyes widened, and his entourage of beauties made hesitant steps back toward the building behind them.
"What's wrong, Father?" Albis asked. Confused after not receiving an answer, he turned around as he likely sensed nothing with his spiritual sense and came face to face with his death.
Khaos burrowed a void-coated claw straight into his chest and pulled free his still-beating heart. Fear, the emotion Ashlock had anticipated, finally appeared in the man's eyes.
"That's my..." Albis gasped as he tried to reach for his still-beating heart, but his hand fell limp, "heart." He collapsed at Khaos's feet.
The unfazed Ent, honoring its Master's orders, crushed the heart over Albis's dead body, making blood stain his robes and bald head.
"Good," Ashlock said, his rage only slightly sated by the gruesome death of the one who had orchestrated this trap for Stella, "Now, test the Grand Elder's defenses."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Khaos silently returned to the void, reappearing behind the Lunarshade Grand Elder a second later with void-wrathed claws as instructed. Since there was more than an entire realm difference between the two, Ashlock didn't expect this to be enough to kill the man, even with the usual strengths of void affinity.
"Let's see if that arrogance of yours is deserved," Ashlock muttered as Khaos rammed its claws into the Grand Elder's back.
The Grand Elder was unfazed. Gentle wisps of moonlight that coated his skin warded off the void as if it were an impenetrable wall. Switching tactics, the Ent tried slashing and clawing at him, but the Grand Elder ignored the attacks. His pupilless gaze was locked onto his dead son at the foot of the stairs, who lay on the ground with his hand outstretched as if reaching for salvation.
"Do you have any idea..." The Grand Elder slowly looked up at the moon, which dominated much of the sky despite the rifts and Larry's divine ash. "What you have just done?"
Sensing this wasn't working, Ashlock said quickly, "Khaos, get out of there."
The Ent vanished into the void, but to Ashlock's surprise, the Grand Elder raised his moonlight-wreathed hand and used some form of telekinesis to drag Khaos back to reality. He held Khaos by the neck with an iron-like grip as no matter how much the Ent struggled, it couldn't break free.
"Only one person has the right to kill my son," The Grand Elder pointed his finger to the moon, and Ashlock noticed the celestial object glow a brighter, "And that would be me."
The Ents were disposable in the grand scheme of things, but Khaos was one of the most useful Ents in his collection, so Ashlock quickly shouted to the guardian of Ashfallen, "Larry, go! Stop him—"
"Perish before the moon and let it free you of sin." The Grand Elder said before Ashlock could finish.
A beam of concentrated moonlight pierced the sky and bathed Khaos in its wrath. The Ent uttered a silent scream as it evaporated into black smoke. The beam vanished as quickly as it came, and the Grand Elder dropped his now empty hand to his side. Khaos was nowhere to be seen, and the stone below the man's feet had become ice. Just like that, in a mere second, the reaper of Ashfallen was gone.
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Ashlock didn't hesitate. He quickly created portals and pulled a bewildered Stella and Diana to the safety of Red Vine Peak with his vines.
"Holy shit. If that moonbeam attack had been aimed at Stella or Diana, they would have died before I could even react, as it came instantly without warning," Ashlock wasn't that familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of lunar affinity and the capabilities of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. Hence, he used Khaos to test those limits, which turned out to be greater than anticipated. The Grand Elder easily resisted void attacks and straight-up pulled Khaos out of the void, which was beyond expectations.
Having annihilated his son's murderer, Ashlock noticed the Grand Elder's milky eyes shift to the sky at the giant ash spider descending toward him. Stepping forward, moonlight began to gather around his body, and the ground around him froze over and cracked from the pressure.
"Hang back for now, Larry. I know you are immortal so long as some of your ash remains, but this person is powerful," Ashlock said, then instructed Titus, Zeus, and Sol to attack. "No matter a cultivator's strength, they are beatable once they run out of Qi. I should use my Ents to weaken him before Larry goes in for the kill."
Clouds crackling with golden lightning began to gather in the skies, and the night briefly turned to day as Sol shot multiple light beams at the Lunarshade Grand Elder. Flashes of lightning and roaring thunder soon followed as Zeus pointed his finger at the Grand Elder. All the attacks landed, with the light beams having a noticeable impact as they ate away through a few layers of moonlight but never so much as singed the man's bathrobe.
Titus strode forward, and with spatial flame-wreathed fists, he swung down both hands to pulverize the Grand Elder.
"Do not mock me," the Grand Elder answered Titus with a flick of his finger, sending a wave of force up through Titus's arms, shattering them in a shower of black wood that rained down and causing the titan of wood to stumble back and collapse onto a group of nearby houses. The Grand Elder then vanished and reappeared before Zeus, planting his hand on its leg; the Ent instantly flash-frozen into a statue of ice. Then, with a flick, the towering Ent reminiscent of a marble statue exploded backward as chunks of ice, obliterating an entire line of houses and anyone within them.
Ashlock took the brief moment that the Grand Elder was distracted to pull Sol and what was left of Titus away from the fight and reassess the situation. He felt like he was playing a game of chess where the repercussion for failure was death. If he could, retreat would be the best option. But there was no way this Nascent Soul Realm cultivator would let the murder of his son rest, and he now knew the name of the people behind it. Fighting here and now while the Grand Elder knew little about Ashfallen's capabilities and was far from Ashlock's trunk was for the best.
"So far, the Lunarshade Grand Elder has displayed teleportation and telekinesis, both spatial-type techniques, and he can even drag things from the void. His moonlight beam is similar to a powerful light attack, but it froze the ground, so lunar affinity likely also carries the dao of ice." Ashlock quickly summarized, "Sol's light attacks so far have shown the most damage, so light is likely his weakness, but Sol is too weak and unfocused on combat to make much of an impact on his own."
Ashlock had paid for this lesson by sacrificing Khaos and Zeus so far, but he had gotten the Grand Elder to show some of his moves and secured the 10,000 Yinxi Coin bounty by dragging Albis's corpse away when the Grand Elder wasn't looking.
"Right now, my trump card is Larry, who should be in the upper stages of the Nascent Soul Realm," Ashlock glanced at the living storm of divine ash in the shape of a spider looming in the sky. "But that might not be enough. If only the Grand Elder was near one of my trees, I could unleash my full potential as a near Nascent Soul Realm cultivator and help... wait."
It was risky, but he had just devised a plan—an insane one with a low chance of success, but it was better than no plan at all.
***
Grand Elder Lunarshade felt his blood boiling with rage beneath his cold, calm facade. His spiritual sense was spread across the entire city, but he couldn't locate the spatial cultivator coordinating this attack from the shadows.
Where the fuck is that bastard hiding? Such a display of Qi should have a focal point somewhere nearby, but according to my spiritual senses, the entire city is bathed in spatial Qi right now, which doesn't make any sense. The Grand Elder looked up at the living storm. That monster is also concerning. Is it made from mystic Qi, or does this Ashfallen Sect have a divine beast on its side?
Either way, it didn't matter. It needed to be defeated while he had the advantage of fighting under a full moon, and then he could track down and destroy this Ashfallen Sect. Taking a deep breath to calm himself and feel the flow of lunar Qi surging through his body, he knew he would have to use a technique that would wipe out months, if not an entire year, of his cultivation progress. But to avenge his favorite heir and squash this upstart sect that seemed to think he was trivial to bully, he would go all out.
"Soul manifestation," he said as he activated the technique that let Nascent Soul Cultivators use their infant souls to fight. His infant soul expanded outward, and soon, an avatar of moonlight surrounded him like a giant suit of armor. The air around him turned to snow that drifted in the howling winds from that spatial cultivator's pressure.
Let's get this over with quickly, the Grand Elder thought. Fights between high-level cultivators were very Qi intensive, so extended fights were ill-advised as gathering Qi became harder as one advanced, slowing down progression through the stages.
As a Nascent Soul cultivator, he could fly without assistance, so he floated up to meet the spider as a titan of moonlight with the plan to pulverize it in one punch. The spider glared at him with blood-red eyes under a crown of horns with a halo of ash swirling around it. The halo began to spin faster, and the Grand Elder felt a tremendous pressure weigh down on him equal to his own.
A sixth stage as well? The Grand Elder frowned. This is going to be harder than I hoped.
"You hurt the Princess and angered my Master," The spider roared in an almost indecipherable accent, but the Grand Elder recognized it as the ancient runic language. "For that, I will slaughter you and then your entire bloodline."
It can speak?! The Grand Elder gritted his teeth. How dare an arrogant creature from some start-up sect ignorant of the world threaten my bloodline, which I have spent millenniabuilding into a powerhouse of the region.
Not only had they so ruthlessly killed the most prized heir of the Lunarshade family, whom he had spent far too many resources and time into raising, but now they uttered such threats after he had unleashed a year's worth of cultivation to manifest his soul?
The Grand Elder reeled back his avatar's fist and planted it in the spider's face, but it felt like punching a gathering of flies. Is this similar to a Dao Storm rather than a living monster? He wondered.
The monster opened its maw and devoured his fist.
What is that going to do? The Grand Elder sneered, but then his face fell as he saw his avatar's fist, which could destroy cities or swat powerhouses out of the sky, crumble to silver dust that blew away in the winds and joined the snowfall. The decay then rapidly spread down the rest of his arm, crumbling it to dust. That arm alone wasn't just a year or two of gathered Qi but rather a century at least.
I thought this monster had an affinity for ash, but is it actually a bringer of decay? All the blood left his face as he panicked and withdrew his avatar's arm. Thankfully, once out of the monster's mouth, it stopped decaying. Leaving him with a single arm.
The spider dove down at him, obviously intent on devouring his real body rather than his avatar. It came faster than expected, and its maw dwarfed him. Gritting his teeth, the Grand Elder poured out lunar Qi into the surroundings, creating a bubble of moonlight, but it wouldn't hold for long. Innumerable ash spiders poured out of the divine spider's maw from other dimensions and surrounded his bubble.
He needed to think of a solution quickly. Luckily, he had dealt with Dao Storms in the past and knew the best way to deal with them. Their scattered bodies were both a strength and a fatal weakness. He channeled the moon's power and unleashed his control over gravity and tides to tear the spider-shaped storm apart.
The divine spider howled as the millions of ash spiders were expelled, and its body was forced apart, but he wasn't done. Harnessing the cold of the moon, a wave of ice Qi shot from his avatar's hands. The flecks of silver ash that made up the spider decayed the frost but were consumed in the process, forcing the spider to retreat to a safer distance, giving him some breathing room.
Most importantly, forcing the spider apart gave the Grand Elder a clear view of the moon, empowering him more.
"You like that?" The Grand Elder hissed through his teeth as the spider retreated but couldn't flee due to his gravity. "It's always fun to crush incompetent bugs like you. Though, I wonder how the supposed Master of this weakling will compare?"He grinned from ear to ear. "Once I have killed you both, I wonder how that Princess tastes—"
The Grand Elder stopped laughing as his spiritual sense detected a focal point of spatial Qi coming from above. Has the spatial cultivator finally made their appearance? He glanced up to see the silver ash storm part and a black rock in the shape of a large ship surrounded by a shield of spatial Qi emerge.
"Huh?" The Grand Elder narrowed his eyes and noticed the demonic tree growing on the rock wreathed in lilac flames, which was the source of the immense pressure and spatial Qi. A flying tree?
Moving his avatar's arms, he tried to stop it, but some weird plants growing from its side shot out spatial explosions that blew his arm out of the way. "Oh..." He didn't even have time to react as the ship slammed him to the ground.
While pinned to the ground with the ship on top of him, the Grand Elder felt something invade his consciousness. A white fog appeared alongside visions that he easily ignored. However, he couldn't stop a tree of twisted black wood that bloomed in his mind, and its trunk split to reveal an eye.
A mental attack? No... is this telepathy?
"Who are you?" The Grand Elder asked the spirit tree in his consciousness. It seemed his family had earned the wrath of a rather unique being.
"The one who will bring ruin to the Lunarshade family." A chorus of a hundred voices echoed in his mind. "Your death will appease me and fuel my ascension, so be glad."
"So you are the Master behind the Ashfallen Sect," The Grand Elder grinned, "The pleasure is all mine."
