Diana felt the wind rush past her ears and ruffle her hair as she dashed between the branches of the dense demonic forest that sprawled between Red Vine Peak and Darklight City. The place reeked of death and decay, emanating an eerie atmosphere that was difficult to describe.
Once a haven of greenery, the area had transformed after the Dao Storm. Diana refrained from questioning the Patriarch's abilities, but she couldn't help but wonder how Ashlock had survived the ferocious tempest, even managing to turn the storm into trees.
Legends spoke of the Monarch realm's capabilities, where individuals were believed capable of creating a miniature world within themselves, allowing them to contemplate and expand their understanding of the natural laws governing the world.
After all, if a cultivator could create a world through sheer will, who's to say they couldn't comprehend the greater world around them at a fundamental level and bend reality's laws to their whim?
Diana believed that was what Ashlock had accomplished. Despite being in the Star Core realm, he had seemingly bent reality's laws and converted the violent water and wind Qi of the Dao Storm into nature Qi in the form of trees. She couldn't quite fathom if that even made sense, but then again, what about the Patriarch did make sense? The tree could materialize objects from thin air and tear rifts into other dimensions.
Brushing aside her thoughts, Diana focused on her mission, nearly losing her footing while leaping between two demonic trees. In mere minutes, she had caught up to Douglas, who strolled leisurely down the forest path, whistling a pleasant tune.
Although it was a relatively safe area devoid of beasts, a very thin sheen of brown earth Qi surrounded the man's body, which was a common practice for cultivators traveling alone. It was better to slowly drain one's Qi while maintaining a thin shield than to be caught off guard and lose one's life.
Diana might not have been the most proficient assassin, but fortunately, her target was an earth affinity cultivator known for dull senses and poor awareness. So she didn't need to worry about creaking branches or rustling leaves as she trailed close behind. This was why Diana and Stella could converse when Douglas wasn't far away without fear of being overheard.
As long as Diana kept her distance and never touched the ground, she was confident the man wouldn't detect her presence. However, if she were to land on the ground, he would instantly sense her, as earth cultivators naturally detected vibrations through the earth, akin to a spider.
Every affinity has its strengths and weaknesses. For earth cultivators, superior close combat skills set them apart from almost all other affinities. In the event of a war between the Blood Lotus Sect and another demonic sect in the wilderness, the Terraforge family would lead the charge with reckless vigor.
Even outside of combat, their ability to alter terrain made them incredibly valuable for constructing buildings and runic formations, so the Terraforge family and other earth cultivators were some of the richest and especially made a lot of money whenever the sect had to relocate due to a beast tide.
Compared to the Terraforge family, Diana knew the Patriarch didn't care much for the Winterwrath and Evergreen families as they were highly environment-dependent, and they would only ever move the sect to a frozen area if there were no other options as keeping mortals alive in icy conditions was difficult.
Cultivators always needed to consider the environment and surrounding Qi. For instance, Diana's heightened senses and agility were enhanced by a thin veil of mist emanating from flowers growing on a few demonic trees throughout this eerie forest.
The mist allowed Diana to tap into her powers and techniques without expending time and Qi on creating water herself. For example, she could manipulate the mist into a violent cloud or powerful water jets capable of slicing through rock.
This environmental advantage made natural affinities highly sought-after.
Many families within the Blood Lotus sect possessed exotic affinities, such as the Starweavers with their cosmic affinity or the Skyrend family, known for conjuring multicolored lightning bolts, but they were considered specialists.
Diana paused on a branch, feeling the rough wood beneath her palm as she rested. In the distance, Douglas reached the gate of Darklight City. With no trees between her and the city, Diana had no choice but to wait, lest she risk Douglas discovering her pursuit.
***
Darklight City had changed a lot since Diana's last visit mere days ago.
The entire city was enshrouded in darkness under a forest canopy as towering demonic trees engulfed most of the sky. The sound of axes chipping away at the wood reverberated throughout the city like a cacophonous chorus.
Despite the city's infusion with nature creating a certain beauty, illuminated only by moonlight, Diana empathized with the people and understood why they were cutting the trees down. An almost sulfuric stench, characteristic of the soil surrounding demonic trees in the wild, permeated the air, and their bundles of poisonous berries threatened life here.
In the short time since demonic trees had overrun Darklight City, Diana was surprised to already notice numerous bird carcasses littering the streets, victims of the toxic berries, left unabsorbed by the trees due to the lack of soil. She even saw one of these carcasses rotting in a well that was supposed to supply the locals with fresh water.
Yet despite the random trees in the road or growing out of the side of buildings, the entertainment district's streets buzzed with activity, which made tailing Douglas easy. The large man stood out in the crowd, and the ambient noise diminished any chance of him detecting her footsteps among the others.
Whenever possible, she leaped between the city's demonic trees. However, she often had to walk through treeless patches where residents had chopped them down. In the forest abundant with water Qi, she could have moved silently through the mist, but the city's scarcity of water Qi put her at a disadvantage compared to Douglas, who could manipulate the earth beneath his feet.
Luckily Diana didn't expect to fight Douglas tonight; instead, she worried about the debt collectors he had mentioned. Her privileged upbringing as the daughter of one of the sect's most powerful cultivators had left her uninformed about the underworld dealings of rogue cultivators.
As Diana continued to follow Douglas, the area grew livelier, and the women on the street shed more clothing the deeper she got until they were nearly naked, beckoning passersby outside shady establishments that reeked of musk.
Diana may have been naive, but she recognized this as the pleasure district, where sin tempted many to indulge in nights of forbidden delight. Cultivators publicly frowned upon such activities, though some secretly partook behind closed doors.
Uninterested in such matters, Diana focused on her mission. Eventually, Douglas stopped before a brothel and hesitated to enter. He fiddled with the spatial ring on his finger and steadied his breathing.
While Douglas was preoccupied, Diana examined the building for entry and exit points. Once she confirmed Douglas had mustered the courage to confront his past and entered, she slipped through a hole caused by a demonic tree root growing through the brothel's roof.
She filled the attic with mist to obscure herself from other cultivators' spiritual sight sitting cross-legged as she scoured the entire brothel for any sign of Douglas.
Aside from the moans of mortals engaged in their nightly activities, which made her feel rather uncomfortable, she soon located a room emanating several Qi auras. A weak runic array, riddled with gaps, surrounded the room.
"If you're going to pay for a runic array, at least do it properly," Diana grumbled. Her 8th Soul Fire spiritual sight had no trouble penetrating the feeble array. "Now let's see how Douglas is doing..."
Inside the room, Douglas flaunted his 3rd stage Soul Fire cultivation, facing a clearly drunk and irate man barely at the 1st stage. A few mid-stage Qi realm goons stood behind the drunk man, evidently terrified of Douglas.
A wooden table piled high with Gold Crowns and a few Dragon Crowns stood between them. The sheer amount of money on display made Diana gasp, realizing why such a debt caused Douglas considerable mental stress.
"Ten thousand Gold Crowns and twenty-five Dragon Crowns," Douglas grinned. "Including the thirty-five percent yearly interest we agreed upon. Feel free to count."
The man, his face flushed from alcohol, interrupted pleasure, or sheer rage, glanced at the mountain of money and then back at Douglas. "This isn't the amount we agreed upon."
Douglas raised a brow. "Oh? What would be the correct amount, Venik? I wouldn't want to scam such a good friend after all."
"Are you mocking me?" Venik shouted, spittle spraying the floor. "Who else would give someone kicked out of their own family money to cultivate? As a friend, I helped you—"
"Thirty-five percent," Douglas roared back, his booming Qi-empowered voice making the drunk man shrink. "What kind of friend charges thirty-five percent interest, Venik?" Douglas's massive hand shot over the table and gripped the drunk's throat, turning his face a shade of purple.
"T-thirty s-seven p-percent," Venik gasped.
"What?" Douglas tightened his grip, and Diana noticed light grey flames coating Venik's neck, and a sudden gust filled the room. It seemed Venik was an air affinity cultivator, giving him no chance against Douglas inside an enclosed space.
"You owe me thirty-seven percent!" Venik screamed, attempting to pry Douglas's fingers from his neck. "That's the number we agreed on after you missed last month's payment."
"Fine." Douglas tossed him to the ground like a wingless bird. His ring flashed with golden light, and a few more Gold Crowns joined the pile.
As Venik lay gasping for air, Douglas crouched down and forced the man to meet his gaze. "Our business is over. I never want to see your damn face again. Do you understand, you fucking bastard?"
Venik opened his mouth, but instead of words, an intense burst of wind shot forth, knocking Douglas back into the table stacked with coins. They tumbled onto him and the floor like a mini waterfall of gold.
Unsurprisingly, Douglas was unscathed, his robust body immune to most attacks below his cultivation stage—especially those from wind cultivators, known for their weak assaults at lower realms.
Venik wasted no time stumbling past his line of goons, hoarsely shouting at them to hold Douglas off while he regained his footing. Douglas surveyed the mid-stage Qi Realm cultivators and shook his head, "Debt slaves, right? Just stay back..."
Unfortunately, they didn't listen to his words.
As they charged, Diana felt the floorboards tremble. Douglas grabbed one assailant and hurled him through a wall, filling the room with wood splinters and dust.
Chaos erupted as the mortals discovered their beds weren't wobbling due to their passionate activities but because the unstable building—burdened by a tree growing on its roof—couldn't withstand people being thrown through its walls.
Diana almost felt bad for those goons that died from being hurled through the walls until she saw Douglas grab a cultivator mid-roundhouse kick and rip the person in half, showering himself in blood.
That final death seemed to instill enough fear in the remaining goons, who turned tail and fled, leaving a blood and dust-covered Douglas alone in the room.
"Damn bastards," Douglas cursed. His spatial ring flashed with power, making the mountain of coins vanish.
"Why should I even pay those lowlifes back?" Douglas grumbled to himself. Opting not to use the door, he punched a hole in the room's far wall and leaped into the alleyway below.
Had he looked skyward, he might have caught a glimpse of Diana atop the crumbling building, observing his every move.
"This is troublesome," Diana muttered. The commotion would attract attention, and Douglas wasn't doing a good job of concealing his involvement. As a member of the Ashfallen sect, Diana could pull some strings to avoid punishment for Douglas, but that wasn't the main issue.
Douglas was supposed to stay low-key, and if such a rogue cultivator managed to dodge persecution, people would start asking questions and investigating his background, which would be problematic.
Should she help him slip out of the city stealthily or focus on silencing Venik, who had already made it several streets away using his air affinity?
Diana hopped to the neighboring building while contemplating her options as the brothel completely collapsed, and the demonic tree slammed into the building across the street.
Fortunately, her dilemma was resolved when Douglas, already donning his cloak of concealment, smartly fastened a black wooden mask to his face. The cobblestone alleyway split open, and Douglas sank into the ground—a common method for earth affinity cultivators to move around by essentially swimming through the earth.
"Venik it is, then," Diana grinned, summoning two black daggers and dashing after the man through the darkness of the night.
The streets blurred beneath her as she rapidly closed the gap, never losing sight of the man who appeared like a firefly in her spiritual sight. As she approached, she abandoned her stealth at the last moment, her 8th-stage soul fire coating her dagger as she aimed for Venik's neck.
The man turned around with wide eyes and gasped, "Selena—"
Diana experienced a brief moment of confusion over the man's dying words, wondering if he had mistaken her for someone else. However, she found her answer when a tendril of shadow lashed out and smacked her dagger from her hand, saving Venik at the last moment.
Diana quickly glanced toward the source of the shadow tendril, then back at where Venik had been, only to find that the drunkard had vanished.
"Tsk, a Nocturne," Diana cursed as she retreated while keeping her spiritual sight active. It was hard not to notice the darkness all around her shifting as if alive. Then, before she knew it, she found herself in a world of eternal darkness, with only the blue flames of her soul providing light.
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