Depthless Hunger-Chapters 445-448

Chapter 445: The Secrets of Hul Ping

There was always the possibility that this was some sort of trap, so Kai double-checked the young man's soul again. No trace of a shroud and just Nascent Foundation strength. Probably the sort of cultivator who was the strongest in his village, but utterly outclassed in a larger sect where even Earth Souls served. Since his life had already been spared, there was no point not hearing him out.

"Alright, get up and explain," Kai said.

"I have too much respect for you to do that," Hul Ping said, his face still in the dirt. "You saved my life when I would have thrown it away, and then fought the entire Verdant River sect."

"If you're afraid of me, bowing isn't going to protect you. Come on, get up and tell me why you sought me out."

After several long seconds, the young man slowly rose to his feet. He clasped his hands and gave a smaller bow, as if to make absolutely sure his respect was clear, before he spoke again.

"Everyone else is spreading rumors about you, but I knew they were untrue. I'd always heard what Yul Wei Ren did to every woman in range, and I saw it for myself when he dishonored my sister. You... would never do such a thing, right?"

"I'm married," Kai said, then realized that didn't mean much here. "I'd never violate that oath."

"I knew it!" Hul Ping looked surprisingly enthusiastic, then remembered to lower his head again. "I realize now that I'm not strong enough to strike at Yul Wei Ren. My cultivation base isn't even strong enough to help you directly. But... because of you, I am still a member of the sect. I can come and go in their walls and bring you information. Isn't that worth something?"

"Won't they suspect you, when you're the only one who comes back alive?"

"Not if you strike me first. I can be the only survivor, and I can give them false information about your whereabouts. That would help, wouldn't it?"

Kai folded his arms as he stared down at the young man... he seemed earnest, if a little foolhardy. After trying to think about potential pitfalls or traps, Kai decided that he had multiple low risk options. The only question was whether any of them were worth the trouble.

"And what do you get out of all this?" Kai asked.

"I would like to ask for the chance to kill Yul Wei Ren myself, but..." Hul Ping's gaze dropped. "I know that may be impossible. But if my actions lead to his death, that would be enough. You do intend to kill him, right?"

"Most likely. And who do you represent? You said you were a Verdant River sect member, but you never gave me a clan name."

"That is because it was dissolved. My sisters are all dead or claimed by others, so unless I can somehow revive us... our clan is dead. Now I am only Hul Ping."

Realizing that he was actually going to go through this, Kai gave the young man a closer look. Physically he was unremarkable, similar to many other cultivators except his short hair and ragged cloak. His soul...

<

Name: Clanless Hul Ping

Total Power: 257

Cultivation: Nascent Foundation 19% (209)

Riverbed Stance (+10)

Physique: F-2 (34)

Soul Level: 2 (4)

>

...was actually marginally more interesting than Kai had thought at first. Hul Ping seemed to be stuck at the first hurdle of the Nascent Foundation stage, so not an extraordinary cultivator, and still had F-rank Physique. But he also had an additional component of his soul called the Riverbed Stance. Not particularly powerful, but not many techniques existed at such a low level, so it must be a polished one.

Kai realized with mild amusement that they were both technically at the Nascent Foundation stage. But for once, a cultivator didn't pretend that made them anything like equals.

"If you want to work together," Kai said slowly, "tell me what happened after the attack."

"I'm afraid I don't have much useful information for you there. It was chaos, of course. I considered trying to kill Yul Wei Ren, but even without his main protector, there were too many other guards. So instead I helped maintain order, trying to get closer to him."

"And? Did it accomplish anything?"

"Yes, I was accepted as a personal guard for one of the young masters." Hul Ping gave him another bow. "A lesser sect, to be sure, but it let me get close enough to listen. And several days ago, there was a meeting between the heirs that I think might be useful to you. It was a serious matter, something that one such as I would normally never be allowed to hear."

"Go ahead, then."

"There was an argument between Yul Wei Ren and the one they call the Poison Prince, the young master of the Purple River sect. Of course the Masterful Crown clan has the higher position, but the Poison Prince is a Sky Soul of-"

"I'm familiar."

"Yes, well... I fear I didn't understand everything." Hul Ping swallowed and his gaze shifted away. "They seemed to be arguing about the work of another young master, the heir to the Verdant River sect. Apparently he hadn't done what he was supposed to, or was failing to deliver, or was otherwise inadequate. Both scorned him, but then the Poison Prince suggested that Yul Wei Ren had failed to deliver on some promise as well."

Squabbles between cultivators with thin skins and massive egos were inevitable, but this one sounded like it got at something deeper. These young men were the heirs of their sects or clans, and their meeting at the Verdant River sect wasn't accidental. Kai wished that he knew more about the details of why they met, but let Hul Ping keep speaking.

"They became so angry that the Poison Prince actually hurled a drop of poison at Yul Wei Ren. It was deflected by Grandpa Wan, of course, but Yul Wei Ren began to shout for vengeance. The Poison Prince immediately acted again, beginning to draw on another technique. At that moment the young master of the Coiling Island sect stood up, puncturing his technique as well as stopping Grandpa Wan from attacking.

"This, uh..." Hul Ping had to take a deep breath. "This all takes a long time to describe, but it happened in an instant. Everyone had attacked, but only the strongest knew the full truth, even I barely followed their actions. Xir Xan Khan - that's the last young master - tried to make peace, and eventually Yul Wei Ren stopped demanding that he execute anyone. They went on to pretend as if it hadn't happened."

"But tensions are clearly reaching a boiling point." Kai nodded thoughtfully as he considered what could make these sons of privilege actually fight each other. "And you don't know more about what it was about?"

"I could only guess. They did discuss immortality, so it may be related to their elixirs. Also, the heir to the Verdant River sect's position was much reduced... I am 80% certain that he has done something wrong. The Masterful Crown clan is losing face over it, so much so that they have guests from foreign sects and clans coming to visit."

"And they're all still meeting with one another?"

"Yes. Some call for chasing you down, but they are still meeting. I... could go back and pass information, like I told you earlier."

"Maybe, but not yet." Kai turned away from the young man and gestured into the trees. "You're from around here, right? What do you know about the Redtree sect?"

"It tried to betray the Masterful Crown clan and was destroyed." Hul Ping blinked as if this was minor history, then when he saw Kai was still waiting, stumbled on. "I understand they were fairly powerful, with fire spells that are extraordinary in the Southern Rivers. Not as extraordinary as the Verdant River sect, of course, but they could not be called ordinary. Really, the ordinariness is somewhere between completely ordinary and-"

"I've got it. Could their survivors be banding together? I've been seeing some of them lately."

"I believe their survivors scattered. But their command medallions were very potent, because their patriarch was a craftsman of great strength, and so they are still prized. They are symbols of resistance, for anyone who hates the Verdant River sect. There is a reward for each medallion captured, back at the sect."

So there was a little more to the story than he'd surmised at first. As far as Kai was concerned, that was justification enough to attempt this new strategy.

"You... you are open to my suggestion?" Hul Ping asked nervously. "Please, if you agree, I will do my utmost to help you. I've never seen anyone who could-"

"Yes, we can try this."

"Thank you! If you spare me, I will tell them you are in a completely different-"

"No, actually, you're going to give them accurate information about my current location..."

Kai went on to give Hul Ping some real information about his movements, since that would only strengthen his position as an informant. Of course, Kai would be nowhere near when the next execution squads came, but it was no surprise that he'd move on. As far as he was concerned, if Hul Ping failed or died, there were no losses for him, but if he could actually mislead and bring back information, it would be like having a spy in Yul Wei Ren's inner circle.

Once they had exchanged information, of course, it was time for the last step. Hul Ping squared his shoulders as bravely as he could and closed his eyes. "Then strike me, so they believe that I really survived. Hit me as hard as you can."

"I'm not going to do that, but brace yourself." A full hit would obviously be lethal, but Kai pulled Tyrant's Claw out of his soul and raked it across the young man's chest.

Even though Hul Ping lost a lot of blood, and coughed more from his mouth, he managed to struggle back to his feet with determination in his eyes. Kai formed a Manticore Quill without any poison and shot it through his upper arm, where it pierced flesh and entangled in the cloth, then shot a few holes through his lower robes. By the time he was done, Hul Ping was struggling to stand, and when he collapsed onto a flying sword to float back, he really did look like he'd barely survived.

As Kai watched, he wondered just what might come of this. Potentially nothing, but potentially a new angle on the battle. He'd never imagined that things would develop this way, but would definitely take advantage of it.

Whichever way that went, however, he would remain in the wilds. Kai turned away, planning a visit to the Redtree sect.

Chapter 446: The Redtree Command Medallions

Technically Kai was "on the run" from some of the most powerful forces in the region, but he found himself surprisingly unconcerned. There was plenty of space to maneuver within the Southern Rivers, he was faster than his opponents, and he could easily evade them by swimming underwater. His monstrous instincts kept him alert enough at night, so he wasn't even worried about ambush.

Truthfully, the only thing that worried him was sect forces attacking the Krysali he'd left behind. He wasn't even worried about Zae Zin Nim or Omilaena being attacked, because they could handle themselves.

Overall, he wasn't sure whether or not the Verdant River sect was underestimating him or just struggling to react to an opponent who didn't fight like a cultivator. If Grandpa Wan Fei had explained about their fight, the squads sent after him really should have been stronger, but either the old man didn't share all the details or Yul Wei Ren just didn't listen to him.

Because evading them was so easy, Kai could be selective and pursue other interests. Aside from training, he analyzed all of the fractional groups in the area, from surviving peasants to fragmentary sects. It seemed like there was a lot of opposition to the Verdant River sect's new violent attacks, but it wasn't organized enough to be any more than an inconvenience.

So far he hadn't been able to contact any of the groups bearing one of the Redtree medallions... and when he got his chance, they were in the middle of a fight with Verdant River cultivators.

He honestly wasn't sure whether this group had been chasing him, killing peasants, or just engaged in other sect business. All he knew was that he ran across a clear conflict between the strong formation of blue-robed cultivators and a scattered group of others doing their best to batter them down from the outside. Rushing water filled with qi protected the group from most attacks, so they seemed to have no trouble with their more numerous opponents.

Perhaps this was the time to jump in and introduce himself? Considering how the Verdant River sect was slaughtering people for unknown reasons, he was basically on the side of the locals just trying to defend themselves. As Kai started to move into battle, however, he saw something burn brightly.

The strongest of the ragged cultivators was just Nascent Foundation, but he wore a red medallion around his neck. And the wild attacks on the water formation, which had seemed ineffective, proved to be a stalling tactic forcing their opponents into a defensive position. Now the leader tore the medallion off and it burst into flame in his hands.

When the medallion screamed across the forest, it left a trail of fire in the air. It pierced through the watery barrier, then exploded in the center of the formation. Some cultivators were instantly consumed by flames while others hit by the shockwave coughed up blood. Even from a distance Kai felt the strength of the shockwave sweep past him.

Immediately the other attackers stopped their wild techniques and began cutting down the disoriented Verdant River cultivators. It seemed their entire strategy had been built around maximizing the use of the Redtree medallion, since it had overwhelming strength. And it had worked... except there was an Earth Soul who had survived the explosion.

The woman scornfully slapped aside qi attacks headed for her and retaliated with deadly qi vines. Panicking, the survivors began to retreat, only to be blocked by vines bursting from the ground. This was a poor group without many flying swords or other treasures, so it seemed like they would be cut apart soon.

Kai landed behind the female cultivator and thrust a quill through her back. She had already been weakened by the explosion, so the spike of poison through her heart finished her off with coughing blood. All of the magical vines evaporated, but the survivors remained fixed, staring at him.

"Good tactics," Kai said, "but you can't fight them all like this."

"What are we supposed to do?" one of the survivors demanded. "The Verdant River sect is taking everything from us!"

"Wait a minute, is that the one they've been talking about?" A woman among the attackers paled and began to back away, so Kai hastily raised a hand.

"Hold on, don't believe the lies they've told about me. What do you actually know? Only that I'm the sect's number one enemy. We'd do more good together than separate."

The cultivators looked surprisingly hostile, and one of the older men stepped forward to speak for them. "Maybe they lied about you, but why should we trust you? Most likely you'd just use us as a distraction in your own fight."

That was uncomfortably close to the truth, so Kai shook his head. "I'm not here to recruit you into anything. There are more groups like yours than you know, but you're separated and the Verdant River sect is picking you off one by one. I don't know where they're taking the bodies, but they're taking a lot of them. The only way you have a chance is to band together."

"Not under you," another survivor said. "Now that the Redtree sect is gone, there's no one left."

The others murmured and whispered, some of them apparently wanting to take Kai up on his offer, but he saw that they weren't going to unite. He spoke to them a while longer, finding out that they were from a local village that had decided to flee instead of being exterminated next, and then let them go. At minimum, he'd protected a group that would keep fighting his enemies.

Kai wanted to do more than that, and as he hunted over the next several days, he considered his options. His strength alone wasn't going to be enough to make any of these cultivators obey him, at least not out of his sight. But he didn't need to create a revolution, just make them band together enough to disrupt the Verdant River sect's plans.

So the next time Kai approached one of the groups, he chose his target more carefully. He had identified a larger group with a more fortified camp, hidden just inside the swampy region, not far from the Redtree sect's ruins. Approaching by water, he made sure he wasn't looking monstrous and then leapt past their guards to get their attention.

Almost immediately, one of the guards shrieked and started to hurl one of the Redtree medallions. For the first time in a while, Kai used Void Gaze with pinpoint accuracy, freezing the medallion in place.

At first he thought that he might have destroyed the guard's hand, but the medallion wasn't smoldering yet. Before it could explode, Kai grabbed it out of their hand and then stepped back, making sure not to look too aggressive.

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"Careful, don't waste those," Kai said. "You need them against the Verdant River sect, right?"

No one in the camp relaxed, but at least they stopped actively preparing to attack him. Those with the sense to use their spiritual sight were noticing how much stronger he was than anyone in their group and began standing down. He'd chosen this group specifically because they seemed more organized and focused than the other bands of survivors.

"If you know who I am, then you know I'm one enemy the Verdant River sect will never forgive." Kai smiled and tossed the medallion back to the guards, at a safe distance so it wouldn't seem like too much of a threat. "I'm not saying I'll join you, but can we work together?"

After a long silence, one of the cultivators stepped forward. "We think a Redtree vault survived, not far from here, but we can't get into it. Could you break through?"

"I can try."

There was some grumbling, but the survivors recognized that they couldn't fight him. They didn't seem to have any clear leadership, which was fine for general organization but likely to fall apart when they needed quick decisions. That fact meant that no one could really stop one of the younger members from directing Kai away from their camp.

It wasn't a ruse: there really was some sort of surviving vault in the direction of the Redtree ruins. Still defended by powerful qi techniques. Kai wasn't as proficient as Zae Zin Nim, but he knew a little about such barriers. First he channeled his qi into Tyrant's Claw to shatter the main defensive barrier, then he just walked through the next trap. Flames rushed from the ground, but they barely harmed his skin and the Beggar King's Robes would just regrow, so he basically just cleaned himself off.

When he reached the center, there was a heavy door set into the ground that he had to tear open with his claws. He glanced around at the end, wondering if any cultivators would try to steal the prize, but no one had dared to come after him. So in the end, he was the only one to walk down into the vault.

Most of the shelves were empty, since the Redtree sect had been sorely pressed at the end of its life. The medicinal pills that remained would no doubt be useful to weak survivor groups like those he had seen, if not to him. But the real prize came at the end, behind an additional barrier: a large number of Redtree medallions, stacked neatly in a wooden box.

Kai picked one up and tossed it in his hand, considering. The reputation of the Redtree sect had been impressive enough that even the stray medallions caused cultivators to rally around them. They seemed to have considerable power in and of themselves as well, given that one of their primary functions was exploding.

Could he use these as a symbol? Take these survivors from mere prey for the Verdant River sect to a real thorn in their side? It was tempting, just on an instinctual level, but Kai knew he was very far from home and it was hard to see all the potential consequences.

So instead he used another magical artifact: one of the seeds he'd carried with him. He had resisted using any of them, despite how much he would have liked seeing his wives, because they would probably be the ones to contact him with real news. Now that things had finally changed, he concentrated on Omilaena, planted the seed, and hoped the bonded chakra made the connection.

Not long after the flower blossomed, she appeared above it, peering around curiously.

"Huh, I can kind of see your end," she said. "What do you need?"

"I could use your expertise." Kai held up the box of medallions into her field of view. "We should talk."

Chapter 447: A Poisoner's Work

Omilaena was having a good day, despite the screaming and thrashing. Maybe even because of it.

The others wanted fights and challenges, but all she really needed was time to think and enough raw material to work. As lazy as her time spent sitting and thinking might seem to outsiders, it had led to greater advancements than simply training wildly or killing enemies over and over. Yes, not really for her, but that would come in time so long as she boosted her partners.

Or in this case, random others. Hence the screaming.

Her project of the moment was definitely Physique in all its forms. It was a strong edge against all the E-rank cultivators, it was Kai's unexpected advancement, and it was Zin Nim's primary trouble. And as simple as muscle and bone should be, Omilaena still felt that there was far more she could learn.

She finished her musing and looked over the edge of the pit, where Cragrila was crying out in pain at the bottom. Her entire body arched upward as crystals pierced her skin from within, then it recoiled wildly in a shape the human body shouldn't take, shattering some of them. It had been like this for a little while, and as painful as it seemed, it felt like something was shifting as well.

Though she looked indifferent, Omilaena actually hoped that she hadn't miscalculated and killed Cragrila. It was easy to discount people from Deadwaste, but her experience with Kai had proven that they were far better raw material than most admitted. Cragrila might be a bit less impressive, but her accomplishments on such a benighted continent were impressive enough.

Suddenly all the screaming ended... in death? Omilaena lowered her goggles and took another look, discovering an intact soul within the completely still body. She hopped down to look further and Cragrila began to stir again, pulling herself up to a seated position.

"I feel..." Her voice was ragged from all the screaming and she coughed a few times. "I think it's over."

Originally the Krysali woman had been a boring enough example of her kind, but that had changed. She had dutifully been injecting liquefied crystal into herself in Omilaena's absence, so she had attempted something new. Now Cragrila's skin shimmered with a crystalline pattern and it looked like her fingernails, which had been torn off in the thrashing, were growing back as crystal. Her thin shirt was soaked in sweat, revealing the gemstone that emerged from her heart.

"Do you feel like you're about to explode into crystals?" Omilaena asked.

"Not... not anymore." Cragrila rubbed at the crystal set into her chest. "Was that a possibility?"

"Hahaha, of course not. But more importantly, take a look at your soul."

<

Name: Cragrila

Total Power: 441

Crystal Cultivation: 9999 (125)

Crystal Dantian (+10)

Acid Cultivation: 1000 (50)

Physique Level: D-0 (200)

Crystalline Blood (+20)

Soul Level: 6 (36)

>

The end result was a satisfying verification of Omilaena's theories. She hadn't been able to alter the fundamentals of crystal or acid cultivation, but she had added a Crystal Dantian and Crystalline Blood to her soul, and the ordeal had pushed the woman over the edge to D-rank Physique. Still weak overall, but much better than before and with room for growth.

"I... I'm a Diamond Crystallier." Cragrila stared down at her hands in shock.

That was quaint, but Omilaena smiled anyway. "If you keep it up, you can become even more."

"Whatever you want. Any injection, I'll take it. Any ordeal, I'll endure it."

"Your determination is admirable, but I think that's about the limit of what you can support now." Omilaena patted her on the shoulder. "If you figure out how to train those new aspects of yourself, you should be able to grow further. For a start, try doing crystal cultivation on your new dantian, but you'll have to figure out the details for yourself."

While Cragrila thanked her again, Omilaena hopped out of the pit. That was one successful experiment, but it was only a step forward in her overall mission. Her ultimate challenge would be to figure out Zin Nim's Blackblood Physique and find a solution, if one existed.

Figuring out crystal-integration had been based on theorizing about the sub-types of cultivation. Omilaena didn't have enough experience with Classes, and she had no basis for starting on whatever the Supremacy aspect was, but she was getting better at enhancing Physique and Soul. The problem was that Zin Nim's form already seemed to cover those things in full - this wasn't some idle experiment, it was something that had been developed over centuries on Cloudspire.

As she moved back through the camp, Omilaena ended up glancing over the other Krysali. They were worth maybe one cultivator squad, she guessed, and couldn't stand up to any of the heirs, much less patriarchs. Still, she could boost them a little if she needed more experimental subjects.

"Can you give me another syringe of qi?" Nirka appeared beside her, half-gasping as if she had been running.

"Alright, but this is the last one." Omilaena concentrated some qi into a syringe and handed it to her. The other woman clasped it thankfully, and more importantly got out of her way.

Nirka had tried to learn Cloudspire cultivation with the locals, so she was the control group. She hadn't had much luck, no thanks to Omilaena. Personally, she felt no real jealousy and didn't particularly care - if anything, it amused her to think about Kai banging the other woman. But Zin Nim's jealousy was all-consuming, so Omilaena didn't go out of her way to help.

No one else interrupted her before Omilaena reached her partner, who was cultivating inside the ship. She had always been least comfortable in groups, even when she fought during the revolution. Currently she sat cross-legged, focused on absorbing her qi into her body, though of course she opened her eyes and smiled when Omilaena entered.

"Hello, Omi. I'm not sure I've made any progress."

"This might not even be the right path." Omilaena sat down beside her and patted her knee. "It doesn't hurt you to saturate your body more, since you're just pressing up further against the barriers of your Physique rank. Something may come of that yet, given how Kai broke through suddenly."

"I doubt I can do the same. Can you test me?"

"Sure." Omilaena doubted it would be much different, but she still drew some blood from the other woman's arm.

For a brief time she had hoped that she could isolate the element of power in a person's blood and add it artificially, but it had proven too difficult: strength came from numerous elements thoroughly entangled with a person's body, not some single variable. That said, her futile attempts had made it easier for her to evaluate the level of strength in a tissue sample, for example comparing different Physique ranks.

Based on the materials from the archives, it seemed that Zin Nim would need to do something more than simply increase the concentration of power. Some Cloudspire Physiques involved absorbing new materials, and a surprising number involved tearing the body apart in ways that seemed counterproductive. But in the end, there needed to be some process of fusion, absorption, or purification in order to reach the full potential of the Blackblood Physique.

"I think... I would like something from each of you." Zin Nim spoke up quietly. "I'm not sure if I can absorb Kai's blood, but I would like to try. And if I do that, I want something from you as well."

"Oh really?" Omilaena immediately leaned into the other woman, eyebrows rising. "Anything in particular you want?"

"Something appropriate." Zin Nim managed to speak a line like that with a straight face. "I just... want to feel balanced. And it would be appropriate for our dual cultivation."

"I'm happy to give you some of my blood, and in fact I'll draw some right now. But I don't know if that will work: you have plenty of blood already, and it's charged with that black power, the problem is that it doesn't merge with your body fully."

"I don't know how to do that without destroying the strength of my skin. Maybe there's a secret to it... or maybe I went down the wrong path, and it can't be purified anymore."

"Don't give up so quickly. If we've learned anything, it's that there's more than one path." Omilaena finished drawing a syringe of blood, charged with her deepest chakra, and handed it over. "The work you're doing isn't wasted, you're just missing some final component. It's like water building up behind a dam, and the eventual flood should be impressive."

"Maybe." Zin Nim nodded, but didn't seem convinced, and looked more contemplative than cuddly, much less frisky. Omilaena accepted it with a sigh and kissed her before heading out.

Next she checked on their flower that communicated with Nymidria, but there were no new messages according to the dryads. Nymidria was nearly certain that their disease had spread through the barrier and the Verdant River sect would soon have a very serious problem, but they didn't know when it would be discovered. They couldn't check directly unless they wanted to implicate themselves.

After so much effort at subterfuge, it had actually worked too well. Idiot cultivators still hadn't noticed that their trees were dying. It was virtually certain that the disease would have zero effect on the Loam of the Gods - it was an Insanity, after all - but it could easily destroy the plants they were growing with it.

Just when Omilaena was beginning to think that she had no choice but to do unpleasant physical training of her own, she felt a surge of chakra. Apparently Kai was finally using one of his message seeds. Even though she told herself that he wouldn't use that method if something had gone seriously wrong, she planted her own seed with undue haste.

When the chakra began wafting above the natural flower, she looked through and was surprised to find that she could see not only Kai, but ruins around him. "Huh, I can kind of see your end. What do you need?"

"I could use your expertise. We should talk."

And then he held up, of all things, a bunch of those command medallions. Omilaena didn't care, it was as good an excuse as any.

.

..

.

A few hours of prep, a couple days of travel, and one quick fuck later, Omilaena lay back against Kai's chest in a happy stupor. He'd had obnoxious business to discuss, since he had somehow attracted peasant followers again, but she had insisted. She loved the raw need she could feel in him after they were separated, and without Zin Nim there it was a good time to be rough.

"So you're trying to make the surviving cultivators into an army," she said eventually.

"I don't know if it will go that far." Kai lay back with one hand on her stomach comfortably. "But anything that disrupts the shipments of corpses will impede their plans, whatever those are. It should draw more cultivators out of the defended areas into the deeper south."

"Well, it's your funeral. Or more likely theirs. What did you want with the medallions?"

"I thought you should examine them, see what abilities they have, maybe enhance them."

"I will when I feel like getting up."

"There are a few things in particular I'm worried about." Kai pulled one of the medallions from his spatial ring and turned it over in one hand. "These can explode, rather forcefully. That makes them good weapons, but I can't help but wonder: could they be triggered from a distance?"

"It'd be a huge weakness if they could." Omilaena took the medallion from him and experimented with it herself. "Typically, they shield against that sort of thing. A strong enough cultivator who knew the mechanism could potentially do it from a distance, but that would require so much power that they could just kill in other ways."

"Well, these things are a symbol of resistance here, so I want to use them. But I need to make preparations first."

Omilaena leaned her head back against him, content to be a working drudge for once. With these two, it was worth it. "Tell me what you want," she said.

Chapter 448: Advancement of the Redtree Rebels

The visit from Omilaena had helped Kai in ways he'd never expected. Yes, she'd helped him take precautions, and yes, he'd enjoyed being with her again, but by the far biggest factor had to do with his public image.

The more survivors he collected, the more they began to treat him as their leader. Not with the reverence of a patriarch, more the fear due a warlord. And one expectation of being a warlord, apparently, was abusing his power.

At first they had tried to throw women at him, and when he had refused, they had sent a young man to train with Kai. Presumably he was chosen as a sacrifice because he preferred men, but he hadn't seemed any more eager than the women to be used as currency to buy a warlord's favor.

Now that Kai had been visited by Omilaena, however, and had clear relations with her, he no longer seemed to confuse the assembled cultivators. So long as he was fucking someone, apparently, he made sense. The women weren't much less cautious around him, but he overheard a few saying it was strange he was so loyal. Some of the men made oblique comments about his wife keeping him under control, while others commented that a wife like that might be worth the trouble.

Half these people didn't even seem to vaguely like their spouses. Kai hoped they would all shut up soon and focus on their fight against a powerful sect that aimed to kill them all.

.

..

.

Kai stood on the battlefield over the bodies of the newest Verdant River cultivators they'd defeated, being cheered from all sides, and struggled not to scowl.

With every victory, the Redtree followers believed in him more, and they were even willing to accept his evasive tactics that ran against their instincts. Yet when they cheered him, it sounded more like flattery than joy, and the way they set to raiding and looting the bodies unsettled him.

These survivors weren't morally superior to their enemies, even if they were the ones being wronged. Kai didn't see who else he would fight for, and in any case his only goal was to distract his enemies and choke off their supply of corpses. Whatever else he'd done, he was definitely crippling the Verdant River sect's ability to conduct business as usual.

Once they were all distracted, Kai grabbed one of the bodies and dragged it away from the others. As soon as he was alone and sure he wasn't watched, he shifted Isulfr's Bite into his soul and tried to consume the cultivator's essence.

It didn't work, but he felt more of a surge of power than he had expected. Recently when he experimented, he had been absorbing qi in addition to flesh. The monstrous hunger within him was eager to eat anything, yet there seemed to be a major psychological component that he hadn't anticipated.

Not getting over eating humans - that was troublingly easy. What he needed was to find a deep hatred or wrath within himself, something equivalent to what monsters felt. When he had absorbed something from Anaelina, he suspected it had been possible partially because of their old bond, but also because of his hatred for her over so many years and conflicts.

That realization shifted something within him. A random corpse would never grant him any real power, at least not in his current state. He didn't feel the urge to eat his followers. The thought of eating his wives just made him sick, though he was sure Omilaena would make a crack about that. Currently these enemies who he didn't know couldn't grant him much... but could he absorb more than just qi if he ate someone he truly hated?

None of it seemed like his hunger would become a demonic art that directly took advancement, but he thought that he could consume something unique. If Kai could eat someone with a presence ability, he wondered if he could retain some of that essence, then merge it with Banchlain's Aura like Omilaena had suggested.

He wondered what the Redtree followers would say if they knew what he was thinking. They would probably cheer.

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..

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When someone in Verdant River sect robes came flying in the direction of one of their outposts, the guards very nearly burned him alive. Kai recognized Hul Ping just in time and rushed out to face him, pretending to fight. The young man just looked baffled, even scared that Kai was going to kill him, and completely failed to play along, forcing Kai to drag him by the neck through the air until they were out of sight.

Once they had left the Redtree group entirely, Kai set him down. "What are you doing, approaching us like that? Trying to get killed?"

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"A thousand apologies, I was foolish." Hul Ping immediately dropped to the ground and pressed his face against it. "I only wanted to meet you again and bring news."

"Alright, alright, get up."

As the young man climbed back to his feet, Kai noticed that he was wearing much more expensive robes, but that he hadn't hesitated to ruin them in the dirt. He was looking a little less thin as well, so perhaps his new position in the sect suited him. Hopefully it didn't suit him so well that he changed his mind, but Kai had no intention of giving him any unnecessary information.

"There was news, some sort of terrible news. Of course they didn't share the details with me, but I saw all of the outcome." Hul Ping looked toward the sect nervously. "A messenger came to the private quarters, and Yul Wei Ren tried to dismiss him, but after the man talked to Grandpa Wan, he was allowed in. Whatever he shared upset them a great deal, and they began throwing accusations at the heir to the Verdant River sect."

"Those accusations didn't give you any idea of what the news was?"

"Forgive me, I can only guess, because they threw out so many accusations, many of which were refuted or argued. But if even 30% are true, then the Verdant River sect has been... unsatisfactory in some way. They seem to be poor stewards of a great treasure, and based on what was said, that treasure can only be the Loam of the Gods."

That could be exactly what they needed, but Kai restrained his excitement. "And what happened after that?"

"I cannot say, and I was not able to attend most of the serious meetings." Hul Ping stammered for a time and began searching for some way to redeem himself.

"Let me ask a more specific question: did they go to anyone for help? Consult anyone? It could be the patriarchs of the sects, or heads of other families, or local experts."

"Oh! Yes, yes, some of them did go and speak with the dryad matriarch, Nymidria. They seemed very concerned after they left her. After that, they had a meeting and agreed to change the sect's guards. Some wanted to send more cultivators after you, others wanted to patrol the barrier, and there many different changes proposed. It was all those serious discussions that made me decide to come meet you again."

"You made the right choice," Kai told him. "Now, tell me everything they decided."

He grilled Hul Ping for as many details as he had been able to overhear, which wasn't as many as he might have hoped. Apparently the Poison Prince was going with the Verdant River experts into the qi barrier, which would mean more enemies in their way. Xir Xan Khan had been sent out with an ambiguous mission, which was a nasty unknown variable. The only positive was that Yul Wei Ren was staying back at the headquarters and he would keep Grandpa Wan with him.

Presumably Nymidria could confirm whether or not their disease had breached the barrier, but Kai was nearly certain that it had happened. What he needed to do was contact the others and tell them everything he'd learned about their enemies, then coordinate the plan.

Compared to that, dealing with Hul Ping or the Redtree rebels felt simply inconvenient. But as he turned back, Kai reflected that the young man had been brave and deserved better.

"You did well," Kai told him. He instinctively put a hand on Hul Ping's shoulder, and though people on Cloudspire didn't generally touch like that, it seemed to make the young man swell with pride. "This next part could get violent, so prepare yourself."

"What are you going to do?" Hul Ping asked breathlessly.

"Don't worry about that, just worry about yourself."

"Ah... do you need to injure me again?

"No, surviving two encounters would stretch credulity." Instead, Kai reached into his spatial ring and found one of the unmodified Redtree medallions to hand to him. On an impulse, he also grabbed a bunch of the qi pills that were too weak to be useful to him. "Say that you defeated a small group and take this as a trophy - the qi, just cultivate for yourself. You've done well."

"Thank you!" Hul Ping bowed deeply with the medallion gripped tightly in his hands. Hopefully he wouldn't manage to blow himself up.

So it seemed that the Loam of the Gods had finally been threatened. The Verdant River sect was facing a terrible crisis and the Masterful Crown clan appeared to be deploying resources in desperation. If they played this right, they could finally execute their plan and profit immensely.

Time for him to do his part.

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..

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After advising subtlety and targeted attacks for so long, Kai finally led the Redtree rebels into battle. It was just against a minor Verdant River sect outpost, but they still gave bloodthirsty roars when it was announced.

As he prepared to lead them, Kai placed an unmodified medallion around his own neck and rose to address everyone. He didn't even need to make up a speech: the sight of the medallion itself was enough to incite the crowd to further shouts. When he gave the command, they leapt on their flying swords and cut toward the enemy.

Everything he'd done so far had been to cause trouble, but this was the real moment he'd been preparing for when his allies needed a distraction. If the enemy thought they'd seen trouble, they had no idea.