It had all been a bit too much recently. Ashlock was inherently lazy as a human and especially now as a magical tree. He was perfectly content with watching the seasons pass him by as time moved at a different pace. But recent events had led him to force himself to stay awake into the night and even fight cultivators above his strength while fighting off exhaustion.
With the Mystic Realm in just over a week, he had a short window to relax, sleep, and even contemplate more profound concepts, such as new spatial techniques, while in the quiet of his own mind. Something he hadn't been able to do for almost a year now, so it was a nice change of pace.
Ashlock had decided not to use his {Hibernate} skill during this time despite the added boost it would provide to his cultivation because it would only deactivate if a strong cultivator appeared, and he wanted to be sure the sect could function without his micromanagement.
He would awaken for an hour at a time to check on things. Sometimes, he would see Stella training Elaine Voidmind in swordsmanship and Qi control in preparation for the Mystic Realm. Other times, he saw Diana and Stella chatting on the bench under his canopy and watching the sunset. Maple would be sleeping on Stella's head as always, and Kaida would be happily hissing on Diana's lap.
Ashlock didn't care to eavesdrop on their conversations, so he would check up on the White Stone Palace during these moments. Douglas was hard at work with a team of rogue earth affinity cultivators he had hired with spirit stones, and the White Stone Palace was being rebuilt at an impressive pace.
Also, within a matter of days, the Ents had fully healed, and with them standing guard around the mountain range, he felt safer ignoring the world around him and having long periods of sleep and deep conversations with the heavens. He had even told Khaos to shadow Stella wherever she went just in case Nox showed up and tried to take the other earring or kill her for some reason.
With winter on the horizon and the knowledge that days would become shorter and reduce his conscious hours, Ashlock was glad to see that so long as something massive wasn't going down, the Ashfallen Sect could operate without his constant input.
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Ashlock was awoken from his slumber by a familiar notification. Dismissing it, he briefly checked outside his trunk, and seeing that everyone was sleeping or meditating under the rising sun, he retreated within and continued his theorizing for Spatial Lock. The deeper he pondered it, the more depth the technique contained, and he knew once he cracked this one, the other spatial concepts in the Azure Clan book would be easier to learn.
Occasionally, he had asked Stella to let him practice his idea on her, such as trapping her in a bubble of his spatial Qi or trying to rewrite the anchors of her portals to make her appear elsewhere. Yet, neither gave him the impression of a lock but rather a suppression or trick. He wanted a spatial cultivator to stand before him and understand they could not run no matter what. That they were sitting ducks within his domain.
And as it turned out, robbing another spatial cultivator of their control over their own affinity was a trickier affair than he had first thought. A few hours passed quickly as he cycled his meditation technique {Transpiration of Heaven and Chaos} and tried to reach enlightenment by asking the heavens for answers.
As the heavens answered his call, the empty darkness of consciousness shifted. He was now a tree in the center of a tremendous purple-tinted lake that was perfectly tranquil. Small ripples began to spread out from his body across the lake, and he noticed something interesting in the distance. It was a purple being with a vaguely humanoid form that strode toward him through the knee-deep lake, sending ripples as it went.
Ashlock was confused. Due to his deep connection to heaven and the chaos of hell, they could give him visions and insights into concepts he asked of them. But even with all his advantages over the common cultivator, he still had to decipher the deeper meaning of these visions.
He began to feel nervous—the purple being didn't look friendly as it began to pick up the pace and started charging toward him. Ashlock wanted to run away or stop the being in its tracks, but he could do neither as he could not create portals or manifest his vines within his mind, so he had no option but to wait there helplessly. It was vexing and frustrating, making him realize that his only defense was offense. If he had a problem in the real world, his solution was to kill it either by vines, swords, the void, or even his Ents and allies before the threat reached him.
None of that worked here, but heaven wouldn't show him a vision to make him feel helpless and nothing else. There had to be a deeper meaning to this illusion within his mind.
"Focus. What is heaven trying to enlighten me about," Ashlock analyzed the inbound purple creature. He tried to push it back with his presence, but all that did was send out more ripples that impacted the purple monster and made the lake choppy and chaotic.
"Let's see, the ripples clearly indicate the area of my control as the more I push out my presence, the further they travel. Likewise, this purple being also has its own ripples that spread out at a lower frequency. Is that because it's weaker than me? No wait... I am focusing on the wrong thing. It's strength doesn't matter, only the ripples."
Ashlock sent out faster ripples, pushing the waves emanating from the purple being closer to its body. Still, just like when he tried to disrupt Stella's portals during their duel in the pocket realm, and there was a bubble of Qi firmly in her control about two meters around her body, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't disrupt the ripples closest to the purple being.
"Hold on, what if I matched the purple monster's wavelength? What if instead of fighting it, I tried to resonate with its ripples and become one with them?" Ashlock decided that was a good idea, so he relaxed his presence and concentrated on matching the speed and size of the purple monster's ripples. Soon enough, the waves traveling out from his trunk across the purple lake became synchronized with the purple monster and entered a dance where Ashlock's ripples almost appeared like they popped up during the lulls of the purple monster.
A moment passed, and the purple monster ceased its charge through the lake toward Ashlock and began to melt back into the water as if robbed of its strength. It tried to spread out its presence to draw in more power to fuel its body, but it couldn't. All the lake's ripples, including those coming out of its body, belonged to Ashlock. He was in total control.
The purple monster then seemed to sense its demise, manifested a portal, and crawled away. The vision faded from Ashlock's mind, and the purple lake vanished to give way to the usual endless darkness. A whisper of heaven blew by with a single phrase: Qi Resonance.
"Is that the name of this technique?" Ashlock mused, "The ability to match my Qi signature to that of another and rob them of their connection to the surroundings?"
The heavens did not answer, but he suspected he was right.
"Although I suspect there are still some more steps to achieving a genuine Spatial Lock since the purple monster was able to escape my control through a portal," Ashlock hummed to himself as he tried to think of the next step. However, his thoughts were broken by the outline of a purple hand appearing at the edge of his consciousness and a sudden unease from his root network. Something nearby was bringing concern to his offspring.
"Tree, are you asleep?" Stella's voice rang through his mind.
"She hasn't bothered me all week, and my offspring are usually quiet when I am resting, so something must be up," Ashlock expanded his spiritual sight to the outside world and saw Stella leaning against his trunk with her hand and the midday sun overhead.
"Yes, I am awake, Stella," Ashlock spoke into Stella's mind with his {Abyssal Whispers} skill. "I just managed to uncover the first stage of the Spatial Lock technique, so I was rather distracted. Did something happen?"
Stella nodded, "Elder Brent has returned, and there are serious injuries."
"How? They should have only ventured into the outskirts of the wilderness, so there shouldn't be any strong monsters there," Ashlock cursed as his vision blurred to the White Stone Palace.
***
Elder Brent felt a knot in his stomach as he climbed the steps up the mountain. Ten youngsters from his family trudged behind him, and in the silence between them, a depressing atmosphere hung over the group. A few glanced briefly at the boy clutching a missing arm in the middle of the group, but they had the decency to not stare.
It's my fault Kyle lost his arm. Elder Brent lamented as he clenched his teeth and prepared for the horrific face of the boy's mother and the rage of the Grand Elder. It had all happened so fast and in an area where there should have been nothing of significant danger that he was caught off guard.
He closed his eyes and shoved the scene out of his mind. Recalling the event could wait for the ears of the Grand Elder, so for now, he would enjoy this moment of peace and quiet.
If not for the youngsters, who all had significant injuries, the group could ascend the mountain much faster, but this slower mortal pace gave Elder Brent time to take in the atmosphere of the mountain range that he had been away from for some time now.
Besides the unusual amount of activity he could sense up ahead near the palace, two other overwhelming presences dominated the mountain. Glancing to the south, where Red Vine Peak towered far higher than his family's peak, he saw a colossal being of what appeared to be white marble standing beyond the mist enshrouding the giant demonic tree and gazing out into the wilderness with its lighting eyes as if searching for something.
The rock below Elder Brent's feet trembled as the other dominating presence, a titan of black wood that towered over the mountain peak's scarlet trees, turned to face him with its lilac eyes of blazing soul fire as if judging him.
Elder Brent gulped as he looked away. Did the immortal put his creations on watch duty? I rarely see them being displayed so openly like that.
Behind him was Darklight City, but it was a fair distance away, and the intense Qi environment due to all the demonic trees would make it impossible for anyone under the Star Core Realm to spread their spiritual sight this far.
"Elder Brent! I see you have returned from your trip out into the wilderness in search of corpses for the Ashfallen Sect's immortal," A voice the Elder knew all too well boomed down the steps and made his body shiver.
"Grand Elder, long time no see," Elder Brent replied as he took the final steps and made it to the gate that led into the White Stone Palace courtyard, "I have indeed returned, but there were some... complications."
The Grand Elder's booming voice and Elder Brent's arrival had caused all the youngsters cultivating in the courtyard to stand and look at him with curiosity. However, their eyes went wide, and they began to gossip with one another as the injured Redclaws he was supposed to have protected flanked him.
"Kyle?" A voice screamed, and the youngsters were pushed aside as Amber dashed forward, "What happened to you?!"
Elder Brent felt his blood freeze as Kyle began sobbing into Amber's embrace behind him.
"Sister, we were ambushed," Kyle said between tears, and his voice was muffled, "I lost my arm to the monster, and now I will never be able to wield a sword again,"
"It's okay, it's okay," Amber repeated as she rubbed his head, "It's all going to be okay, just trust me."
"Elder Brent, what is the meaning of this?" The Grand Elder said coldly.
Calming his breathing, Elder Brent met his family head's eyes and said clearly, "We headed north and failed to locate any monsters, so I made the decision to make a detour and hunt in the wilderness to the east of here. Everything was going fine for a few days, and we managed to hunt many Qi Realm and Soul Fire beasts. However, we were ambushed when we stopped for rest one night after fighting for multiple days straight and exhausting our Qi in what I thought was a safe area. I laid down a detection array and took the first watch, but then the screams came."
"What monster attacked you?" The Grand Elder asked.
"A Lurkshadow variant," Elder Brent replied, "And a strong one too. It was at the peak of the Soul Fire Realm. If not for the array, I fear it would have been able to target me first and then slaughter the rest. Kyle sadly took the first attack, losing his arm and alerting the rest of us."
After giving the name of the monster, Elder Brent was relieved to see the rage in the Grand Elder's eyes soften. After all, they were known as one of the most troublesome foes when crossing the wilderness. Especially alone.
Elder Brent recalled what he had read regarding Lurkshadows when he prepared for his first-ever outing into the wilderness as a teenager.
If I remember correctly... lurkshadows are usually small creatures, standing around 5 feet tall when upright. They boast a sleek, slender frame covered in dark, scale-like feathers that shimmer to match the environment. This unique feathering allows them to blend seamlessly with their surroundings, be it the dark of night or the shadows of dense foliage. Their eyes are usually large, luminescent, and pale, almost resembling twin moons, but they can contract them to mere slits, becoming nearly invisible when they stalk their prey.
They thrive in dense forests, swamps, and other locations where shadows are abundant. They build nests in the heart of darkness, often in deep caves or hollowed-out trees. Worst of all, unlike other monsters, they are silent and patient. They will wait for days for the best opportunity to strike, as once they are revealed to their foe, they often lack the combat capabilities to win one-on-one.
While the Grand Elder was mulling over his thoughts, a few other Redclaws, along with Amber, fed healing pills and tended to the injuries of the youngsters.
"Grand Elder, is there something you can do for me?" Kyle begged as he trudged over and collapsed to his knees before the family head, "I'll do anything. I don't want to be useless to the family. Please. Bring my arm back."
Elder Brent clenched his hand. No amount of healing pills would bring Kyle's arm back. He would have to live his life as a cripple.
"I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do," The Grand Elder sighed and closed his eyes. All hope left Kyle's face as the teen stared wide-eyed at the floor and trembled.
"But that doesn't mean all hope is lost." The Grand Elder said as a massive portal manifested in the middle of the courtyard.
A blonde girl wearing a cloth mask that covered her lower face skipped through the portal and glanced around. A fluffy white squirrel seemed asleep on her head, and a beautiful ornate sword in a black leather sheath was hanging casually from the drawstring around her waist.
"Mistress Stella," The Grand Elder gave the woman a deep bow, "There has been an incident. Is there anything within the immortals power that could possibly—"
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it," Stella waved the Grand Elder off, "It's just a flesh wound. He will be fine." She laughed and patted the man on the shoulder, "All this stress will give you wrinkles, old man."
The portal behind Stella rippled as a sudden blinding light overcame the courtyard as if the sun had descended, and Elder Brent had to blink a few times, but even as his sight returned, he couldn't believe his eyes.
"Sol, go heal the child for me," Stella commanded casually, and the three-meter-tall abomination of grey wood stepped past its master and paused before the kneeling child.
Kyle squinted into the light as one of the eight palms facing the floating sun reached in, grabbed a wisp of light, and brought it down just before his head.
"You're too short! Stand up and embrace the light," Stella called out, "It will heal you."
Elder Brent held his breath as Kyle gulped and stood, allowing the palm to press the wisp of light into his forehead. A golden glow flowed down from his head like a waterfall and bathed Kyle in its mesmerizing light. His bloodied stump began to wiggle as muscle strands emerged like frenzied worms and began to twist and reform into an arm. Kyle understandably stumbled back from Sol and screamed in fear, but Amber was there to hold and calm him down.
"Kyle, relax. I told you it would be okay," Amber reassured him, "You can trust Mistress Stella."
A tense moment passed, and Kyle eventually stopped screaming into Amber's hand over his mouth. His arm was back, and he was staring at it in shock.
"See?" Stella said as she walked closer, "Told you it was nothing but a flesh wound." She then glared at Sol, "Don't just stand there being useless. Go heal the others."
The abomination wandered off, and Elder Brent almost laughed, seeing all the injured youngsters eagerly line up to receive the light.
"My arm. It's really back..." Kyle muttered, still in total shock.
Stella reached down and forcefully opened Kyle's palm, "The immortal told me to give these spicy fire fruits to those hunting for corpses." She placed the orange fruit in his hand and then closed his fingers around it, "I personally found it way too spicy, but I think you might like it."
"Thank you?" Kyle said, a bit confused.
Stella smiled behind the mask as she got up and turned to Elder Brent, "Now that is sorted. We need to have a talk."
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