Ashlock observed the entire scene through his spiritual sight, facilitated by his roots that covered nearly every inch of the cavern. He hadn't actually told Diana where to instruct Douglas to dig the tunnel; he had simply assumed the earth affinity cultivator could peer through the rock or something and determine the optimal route.
Her words, however, rang true. If Douglas created a tunnel beside the black root, they would find themselves a thousand meters up a mountain—close enough to the ground, in his opinion.
He had to admit that there was a certain satisfaction in watching an egotistical cultivator shiver against a wall while confronting something he considered nothing more than a pet.
Once again, he hadn't instructed Diana to tell Douglas to make the tunnel wide enough for Larry, but she had taken his pet into account and even sought out the spirit beast when she entered the mine.
"Now little Kai has taken a liking to her," Ashlock mused as he observed the tiny F-rank grass snake coil around her neck. He felt happy when all his sect members, including his pets, got along. Regrettably, he knew this harmony was only temporary.
Eventually, he would need to expand the Ashfallen sect, as he couldn't tackle every issue alone. Having Stella and Diana around had already saved him from death on numerous occasions, and both his pets were also contributing to his continued survival.
"Hopefully, little Kai can advance to S grade soon. That way, I can have Larry protect me, Maple watch over Stella, and finally, little Kai take care of Diana." Ashlock was aware that it would require a significant amount of time and many hunting trips to elevate little Kai to such a level, but with his Mystic Realm and the ability to teleport people within his sphere of influence, once he extended his roots far enough into the wilderness, he could send Diana and Kai on missions.
Reining in his wandering thoughts, Ashlock shifted his focus back to the cavern and saw that Douglas had begun working. The solid rock appeared to morph around him and then crumble to dust as he advanced.
Due to Diana's request to widen the tunnel, he had to move sideways more often than forward to enlarge it. This continued until he paused and approached Diana, who was conversing with the Redclaws.
"What do you want?" Diana inquired over her shoulder. When Douglas didn't reply with gestures, she summoned a dagger to her hand again and tilted her masked head, "Speak, oaf. What is it?"
"Can I make the tunnel through the mountain and then expand it afterward for that thing—err, I mean Larry?" Douglas spoke gruffly through the mask, "My Qi reserves are running low, so I need to take a break soon to recover."
Ashlock was almost taken aback by how polite he sounded, although his accent remained rather rough.
Diana slowly nodded, "That does make sense. Sure, go ahead."
"Thank you." Douglas wandered back to the tunnel and resumed his work.
Ashlock had given the man the E-grade cloak of minor concealment he had received from the sign-in spree he had conducted before the Dao Storm. With Douglas's large size, a cloak darker than night that didn't reflect light, and the black wooden mask, the man looked like some kind of undertaker who would patrol a misty cemetery with a metal shovel.
After a few minutes, Ashlock grew bored of watching Douglas effortlessly tunnel through the rock and planned to return to the surface, but he caught a conversation between a Redclaw Elder and a youth at the last moment.
"Is that big oaf really part of the Ashfallen sect? He seems so weak compared to the others—" The youth began to ask the Elder, and Ashlock was baffled by how swiftly the color in the Elder's face drained away, as if he had seen a ghost.
Hundreds of conversations occurred in the cavern, and just like when he was a human in a busy train station, it was all white noise until his brain latched onto certain keywords that interested him, such as his name—or in this case, the Ashfallen sect.
Even as a mountain range spanning tree, his focus could only be on one thing in a single place at a time. However, he naturally honed in on this particular conversation because, unlike the one Diana was having with the Redclaw Grand Elder, which consisted of mere pleasantries and trivial talk, this one smelled of drama.
And what else was a sick tree recovering from a near-death experience supposed to occupy his time with other than eavesdropping? Even his system had abandoned him for the next week!
When those words left the youth's lips, the Elder had already spun around and clamped a hand over the boy's mouth. "Don't ever say such a thing."
"Why—" The boy started through the Elder's hand but was silenced by a glare.
The Elder glanced around the cavern quickly and then spoke in a hushed whisper, "If an immortal from the heavens above descended and called the Blood Lotus Patriarch a dog—do you dare refer to the Patriarch in the same manner? Words are relative. An oaf to the Ashfallen sect is an existence that rivals our Grand Elder's authority to us."
The boy's eyes widened at his Elder's words.
"You see that cloak he's wearing?" The Elder said, and the boy slowly nodded. "It's of perfect quality. I saw it up close. Every stitch seemed as if the gods themselves crafted it. If something appears mundane in this world, look closely at the fine details, and the truth will be revealed. Do you believe an oaf of our level could wear such a thing?"
The Elder took his hand from the boy's mouth, and the obedient youth kept his yapper clamped shut.
"Those who flaunt their wealth or cultivation are fools—true masters lurk in the shadows and conceal their true power until the final moment since those who flaunt are the first to perish." The Elder offered a genuine smile and ruffled the boy's hair, "So if you don't want to die, don't go around calling a grunt worker from the sect above us an oaf... Alright?"
The boy nodded vigorously and then ran off to the other youths, likely to spread the news.
Ashlock felt that the Elder had taught a valuable lesson, even if he did find it amusing that they thought he cared that much about Douglas. Perhaps in the future, he might care, but for now, he had only known the rude man for a few hours, and his first impressions had been subpar at best.
In truth, he had sent the man down into the mines to get him away from Stella, as she wasn't in a good mood right now, and he was being confrontational. Douglas was already learning his place within the sect after only a few hours, but it would take a bit longer for him to mature and for Stella to mentally recover from seeing Ashlock's charred stump.
He could have wasted a day's worth of Qi to form a portal to get everyone out or widen the hollowed-out root that provided the cavern with water and let people escape that way.
Both options would slow his recovery, but getting them out as soon as possible was necessary—the surface needed the Redclaws.
Just from a quick glance after he returned to the surface with his {Eye of the Tree God}, he could see that Darklight City was now overrun with demonic trees, and people were out in the streets trying to chop them down.
"I hope none of the homeless kids try to fill their bellies with poisonous berries." Ashlock cursed at the thought. He needed to get back to his full power to regain control over his surroundings, but for now, he would have to rely on his subordinates to fill in for him, and for that, they needed to escape the cavern.
Naturally, looking at the trees also led Ashlock to question the origin of these demonic trees. His best guess was the cursed blood he had unlocked just before the storm.
The question now on his mind was whether he would have survived even without turning the storm into trees. His roots delved deep into the mountain, and even with such a small part of his trunk remaining, he had managed to survive. Maybe he would never know until another cataclysmic event came along to try and end his life.
"Hey, Tree."
Ashlock felt a small hand tapping on his trunk, so he returned to the courtyard and saw Stella still lying there, looking up at his canopy with a vacant expression.
Ashlock flashed a leaf with Qi to show Stella he was listening and was happy to see it hardly added a few minutes to his recovery time. As his cultivation rapidly recovered, things got easier. If he had to guess, he would surpass the Qi Realm within the next hour and then spend the next week shooting through the Soul Fire realm, and by the week's end, he would resume his previous state of cultivation.
"I really don't like that guy at all," Stella grumbled. One hand rested on his trunk, and her face was buried into her elbow. Although her expression was obscured, he could tell she was upset.
"Why did he expect me to know everything about his capabilities? I have never even met an earth affinity cultivator before." She then sniffled... was she holding back tears? "That jerk then ranted at me about how to build things as if I'm an uneducated idiot."
She then laughed sadly, "I mean, I am uneducated, but that's not my fault. There was nobody there to teach me! Tree... what should I do? If every new person in the sect is smarter than me, they will think the Ashfallen sect is run by idiots like me, and then you might look bad."
Ashlock found it unfortunate that her insecurities were flaring up again. She was such a bright and capable person, but she failed to see it, as there was never anyone around her while she grew up to offer words of encouragement or advice.
It pained him to see her so distraught. Without a mentor for cultivation, she was already touching the Star Core realm at sixteen years old, and from what he had seen, that was unbelievably impressive. She'd also learned to translate an ancient runic language in a single year, and considering her somewhat lack of social experience, she had handled meetings with Grand Elders hundreds of years her senior with style.
She was an exceptional person all around, and he was incredibly proud of her. So, to see her lying on the bench and feeling like a failure somewhat enraged him. But at the same time, he could understand her plight.
He hated to admit it, but she wasn't exactly the best person to be the face of the Ashfallen sect due to her lacking education, especially in politics. It had worked out so far, but her immaturity sometimes snuck through, and she had yet to be confronted by someone she couldn't bully with her superior cultivation or with Larry backing her up.
She needed time to grow up and learn the skills the other scions had. It was important to remember that she was years younger than both Diana and Douglas, so some inexperience was expected. The situation reminded Ashlock of those university graduate jobs that demanded years of work experience from someone who hadn't worked a day in their life.
"I should just let Diana handle everything," Stella grumbled as her arm fell to the side, and she looked up with red eyes at his canopy. "Then I can stay here and protect you from harm while she handles all the annoying people."
As endearing as that sounded, he didn't want a moody Stella hanging around him for the next week. He had a lot to plan and needed to focus on recovering.
Looking within himself, he saw his dim Star Core slowly refilling with Qi that funneled in from his leaves and the many demonic trees around him. Luckily, since he still had a Star Core, he could manipulate Qi outside his body despite being limited to the peak stage of the Qi Realm.
Because of this, he looked around the desolate mountain peak. The storm had destroyed almost everything. Even the badly damaged runic formation surrounding him had been ripped apart, and only shards remained here and there.
Using telekinesis, he grabbed one of these shards with a pointed end to write on the stone nearby.
Stella turned her head toward the sound and slowly read aloud what he had written. "Just keep doing your best. That's all I will ever ask for."
Stella held back a sniffle, "That's so kind, Tree—"
The scratching sound continued as Ashlock wrote out one last line.
"Now stop crying so I can sleep." Stella read and then laughed while she wiped her tears away. "Okay, okay. Sorry, Tree. I'll let you sleep and go cultivate..."
Stella wiped away the tears on her sleeve and got up from the bench. Then, after a long stretch and slapping her cheeks to wake herself up, she looked around the empty mountain with a frown, "Wait, where can I cultivate? There's no runic formation anymore?"
She wandered over to the approximate area where the last runic formation courtyard had been. She had to step over some piles of rubble, and there was still the general outline of where the pavilion had been as the foundations had survived the storm.
Surprisingly, the runic formation was still there. Although it was just a husk of its former glory, as the silvery spirit stone lines hadn't survived the storm.
Stella crossed her arms and hummed to herself as she wandered around, seemingly trying to think of a solution. Only then did Ashlock realize Stella had only ever cultivated within a runic formation.
When she built that massive runic formation that had surrounded him while he was asleep all those years ago, he had felt the drastic change when he woke up. The formation had attracted and condensed all the Qi in the nearby area around him, making cultivation easier.
Stella began to grumble to herself as she kicked some random rocks, which ironically distracted him way more than she had while being moody. After a while, she gave up on her rock-kicking and summoned some spirit stones to her hand from one of her spatial rings.
The weird silvery metal reminded Ashlock of mercury, and he watched as Stella inspected the rock, then looked at the runic formation, and then back at the rock. This continued for a while, and the frown on her face grew with every look. Eventually, she sat down on the runic formation and tried to jam the silvery rock into the grooves of the formation to little effect.
It was obvious she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. Hadn't she claimed a few years ago that she had been the one to install the runic formation that surrounded him?
"No way she told me that just to sound more useful," Ashlock wondered. It was common for children to lie to their parents about their achievements. But the more he thought about it, he realized how silly he had been to assume a child could have constructed such a massive runic formation around him. She must have gotten some help from somebody.
"Agh, how can I fix this stupid thing," Stella cursed and stood up and began to walk toward Ashlock, "Maybe I should ask that shmuck Douglas how to do it—"
She paused mid-step from her own words and scowled, "No, he will call me an idiot. I can figure this out!"
Ashlock sighed as he watched Stella march back to the runic formation with a newfound determination. She stood there with her eyes closed, and moments later, her golden spatial rings flashed with power, and a stack of books materialized.
She sat down, picked a random one from the pile, and skimmed the first page, "Nope," she said as she chucked it to the side and reached for the next one, "Nope, again."
***
Leaving Stella to distract herself, Ashlock looked over the mountain with his {Eye of the Tree God}. From up above, he marveled at the beautiful sight. He didn't know how sustainable this mountain forest of demonic trees was, considering the lack of soil for nutrients, but he was sure he could work out a system of some kind to keep the forest alive.
"I could bring nutrients through my roots in the wilderness and exchange them with these demonic trees for Qi," Ashlock mused as he debated the idea. Ascending a single stage in the Star Core realm had already been a tall order, but now that he was entirely a tree and his Star Core was the size of his trunk, he had a lot more Qi to collect to ascend and he needed all the help he could get.
He still couldn't believe a spirit tree was out there at the peak of the monarch realm. How long had it been cultivating to achieve such a level of power, or did it also have a system like him?
Maybe he could ask the world tree if they ever met. He was sure he could grow his roots to meet theirs if given enough time, no matter how far apart they were.
While Ashlock was observing the mountain range of demonic trees, he saw a streak of flame arching through the sky, and when he focused on it, he saw the Redclaw Grand Elder standing upon a sword of crimson as he zoomed toward the White Stone Palace that still stood after the Dao Storm.
"Oh, Douglas must have finished with the tunnel," Ashlock thought, glad his subordinates could finally return to work. But then he was distracted by a surge of Qi through one of his roots.
Switching views back to the mountain peak, Ashlock saw Douglas fly out of the hole in the ground that led to his hollowed-out root, followed by a water spout, and unceremoniously land on his face a few meters away.
Diana, with little Kai wrapped around her neck, effortlessly followed and gracefully landed on her feet. She then looked around and spotted Stella surrounded by a mountain of books and furiously muttering to herself.
"Hey, Stella," Diana said flatly, "What are you up to?"
Stella whipped her head around and scowled, "Learning about runic formations."
Diana took off her mask and furrowed her brows, "Why? Just ask Douglas; it's one of the most common jobs of earth affinity cultivators, as only they can really turn the spirit stones into a liquid form unless you have an artifact... Why are you glaring at me like that?"
There was a tense moment, and then Stella hurled the book she was holding across the courtyard while huffing. Clearly annoyed at being told her efforts over the last hour had been futile and her only option was to ask Douglas to fix it.
Ashlock seriously debated activating {Hibernate} and ignoring everyone for the next week.
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