Chapter 301: Feast Under The Moonlight

Chapter 301: Feast Under The Moonlight

Stella blinked in and out of the spatial plane as fast as the spatial Qi could flow through her spirit roots. Her mind was tranquil and calm due to her bloodline, but her body was struggling to keep up. Her Star Core burned fiercely in her chest, and her Qi-enhanced muscles ached as she deflected a needle of silver from piercing her brain with her sword in a shower of sparks and a terrible scraping sound that howled in her ear.Fôll0w current novÊls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m)

If not for Ash drowning the whole city in spatial Qi, I would have run out and likely died by now. There's just no end to these bounty hunters.

"Girl, you sure are good at running away," the silver-haired man wearing a jade mask clicked his tongue as he casually redirected the needle of silver to chase her. He was one of the jade sentinels sent to fight with them, and so far, he had been the most motivated. Stella wasn't sure how to describe it, but until now, every bounty hunter had held back as if trying to contribute the bare minimum to the battle and preserve their Qi.

Once they got slightly injured, they ran away instead of fighting to the death like normal cultivators. This was bizarre and confusing because if they had combined their strength, Stella, Diana, and the Redclaws would have been long overrun. There were simply too many of them.

What the hell is their goal? Stella wondered as she vanished into the spatial plane and did a longer-range teleport to reappear above Diana. Her ears popped as a wave of wind hit her, and she saw what appeared to be a cloaked person soaring toward the ground like a meteor. Once the person ate the dirt below, throwing up a plume of dust, a portal opened overhead, and black vines dragged the body elsewhere.

"There goes... another... one." Diana panted as she lowered the fist that had just sent the person flying. Blood dripped from her claws, and war scars painted her once beautiful feathered wings.

Diana looked a mess, and she wasn't the only one.

The Redclaw family fiercely fighting in the distance weren't much better off, and Stella was nursing a few deep cuts and torn clothes herself. This battle had been so brutal for all of them that Stella believed it was a genuine miracle that nobody had died yet.

Seeing Diana's condition, Stella hated asking for help, but the squirrel sleeping on her head had offered little assistance thus far. "Diana, could you help me out with a metal cultivator?"

Diana flapped her ruined wings to ascend to Stella's height, "The Jade Sentinel over there?" she tilted her head, "Why do they look familiar?"

"Mhm, I know what you mean. The silver hair and metal affinity remind me of the Silverspires, but I don't believe it's one of Ryker's siblings. They were sent to cities within the Blood Lotus Sect to begin the mutiny against the Patriarch, so they shouldn't be here in the Tainted Cloud Sect," Stella mused while using Qi to mask her voice. "But the Silverspire family has connections to the Eternal Pursuit Pavilion despite the pavilion being banned from the Blood Lotus Sect, so there's a decent chance that person could be from the Silverspire family."

Diana hummed in thought as she pushed her demonic mist Qi into the surroundings to obscure them. "Should we do something about it?" she suggested as they took a moment to rest and eat Ash's fruits. "We have close ties with the family, and they might not appreciate us killing one of their people in another sect."

Stella shrugged, "Food for Tree is food for Tree. I don't care what family he is from or his reasons. He almost killed me a moment ago, and he dares to try and get past us to hurt Ash, so he deserves what's coming."

"Right," Diana sighed, clearly too exhausted to argue. "Open a portal near him, and I will follow you—" Diana twisted her body as a moonbeam tore through her demonic mist, creating a tunnel through the fog that allowed Stella to see the source. A group of Lunarshade Elders had suddenly appeared behind them.

What in the nine realms is going on? I thought Ashlock was dealing with these guys. Stella gripped her sword tightly and bit her lip. This isn't good. The bounty hunters were already bad enough, but all of these Elders are as strong as me and are radiating far more killing intent. Unlike the bounty hunters, these guys are here to kill.

Stella suddenly had a sinking feeling in her stomach. If these Elders were here, that could only mean one thing. Narrowing her eyes, she looked past the floating Lunarshade Elders, who stood arrogantly on their swords and were bathed in moonlight to confirm her fears.

"Willow?" Stella uttered in horror as she saw the titan of moonlight rip the spirit tree from the Bastion and hold it overhead. A sickening crunch was heard throughout the land as the tree was torn in half and its soul flames extinguished. With it, Ashlock's blanketing presence faded, and Stella felt the dense spatial Qi in the air begin to disperse.

Stella's mouth opened and closed several times as she failed to articulate what she had just witnessed. Eventually, all she managed to mutter in disbelief was, "Tree lost?"

Logically, she knew Willow was one of Ash's many offspring, so the tree dying didn't mean Ash had lost, but emotionally, she was shaken. Whether it be Ash or his offspring, the fading of Ash's presence on the battlefield broke her spirit, and she felt her bloodline retract and her calmness wash away, replaced with terror and confusion.

"Don't." Diana grabbed her arm.

"But we need to—"

"Get a hold of yourself," Diana shook her, "What will rushing over there do other than get yourself killed? Do you think these Lunarshade Elders will simply let you pass?"

"No, but..."

"Even if they did, that man is in the Nascent Soul Realm. He can squash you like a bug even with your bloodline."

Stella ground her teeth. Diana was right; it was suicidal to try to save Willow and restore Ash's presence on the battlefield, but what was she supposed to do now? Without my bloodline and Ash's spatial Qi, I am crippled.

It was looking bad. Really bad. Larry was missing, the Bastion and Willow were destroyed, as was Geb in the distance. The families under Duskwalker, including the cult of the All-Seeing Eye, were being suppressed by a single cultivator. Stella couldn't even rush over and help if she wanted to because enemies surrounded them on all fronts.

"Tree..." Stella whispered as her heart pounded in her chest, "What should I do? How can we win?"

A warming presence bloomed in her mind, "Are you losing faith in me?"

Stella's eyes widened. How could she have lost faith in Ash? He had always been her firmly rooted tree in this life and rarely let her down. Why should she doubt him now?

"I would never." Stella controlled her breathing and brought her turbulent emotions under control. She had relied too heavily on her bloodline to keep her calm in situations like this, and from her bloodline, she knew how important keeping a cool head was.

"Good. Believe it or not, I have everything under control." Ash reassured her, "Leave everything to me."

Stella looked at the tree that had bloomed in her consciousness. That unwavering confidence made the tree in her mind take on a more impressive form as he loomed overhead and protected her from the heavens under his vast canopy.

I am safe under him. Stella thought and smiled.

"What did you have in mind?" Diana quickly asked as the Lunarshade Elders began preparing to attack again. If not for the demonic mist protecting them, the Elders likely would have teleported right next to them and cut off their heads.

"Enough," Stella replied with as much confidence as she could muster. In her mind, she was begging Ash to hurry up with his plan. "If you lay a finger on me, your Grand Elder will have your head once he emerges from closed-door cultivation."

Once again, the man fell silent. A stream of silver spiraled around his body, and its constantly shifting speed and direction mirrored the man's turbulent internal thoughts.

"Who is your main contact within the family?" The man eventually asked.

I can't say it's Ryker or Sebastian, and I don't know anyone else in the family. Stella's eyes darted between the Jade Sentinels present. "Do you trust these people enough for me to openly disclose such information?"

"No..."

"Then come closer." Stella began gathering all the Qi she had left toward her hand behind her back, impaled by the silver spikes. The metal Qi helped mask the gathering of spatial Qi to her finger. "I have no Qi left to mask my voice from so far."

The man seemed to eye her suspiciously through his mask as the silver flowing around his body retracted and began to flow more defensively. "Fine," he floated closer until he was within strike range. His hand rested on the pummel of a sheathed sword, and he clearly had his guard up. "Now tell me, who is it."

Ryker has six siblings, so there should be at least three branch families, right?

"The third Elder," Stella replied.

"Really?" the man seemed surprised.

"Yeah...?" Stella had no idea what she was saying.

"What's the third Elder's name?"

Stella bit her lip behind her mask, "He's a very secretive man when it comes to outsiders, so he used a clearly fake name when speaking with us."

The man nodded, "That's true. Third Elder had always been a sly old man. Though, he should have given you a seal so we can recognize each other."

Chance!

"Oh! How could I have forgotten about it," Stella reached forward and showed her palm, "But first, could you remove these spikes? They are interfering with my spatial rings, so I can't take out the seal."

"Sure," the man reached forward to take the spikes out of her hand—Stella rammed her finger into his chest and used an inferior version of the Supreme Nirvana Finger technique that she pieced together from her fading memories of it.

In an explosion of spatial Qi that made reality ripple, the Silverspire man was thrown backward. Some of his flowing silver was consumed to block the attack, but he was otherwise unharmed.

"You bitch," the man roared out, "I don't know how you came across that information, but you dare lie to me." His flowing silver condensed into thousands of needles, and the other Jade Sentinels floating at his side decided to join the fight.

"Um Tree..." Stella looked up at the demonic mist cloud above, "A little help?"

I have tried my best to buy time. Surely Ash doesn't expect me to fight off these people, too?

"Mistress, sorry I am late." A voice thundered from above. The demonic fog parted to reveal an ashen maw of silver large enough to devour an entire pavilion and glowing red eyes like miniature suns. The crown of horns atop his head radiated divinity, and the halo of ash orbiting it carried an immense presence that descended upon everyone as Larry dove down.

"Larry!" Stella shouted with glee. She had never been so happy to see her Father's guardian.

The storm of silver ash surged down and rushed around Stella as Larry used his body to protect her and Diana from the barrage of silver needles heading her way. He then went after the Jade Sentinels, catching two of them in his maw. As they crumbled into silver dust, his body and pressure grew.

Stella looked up and saw a lack of Lunarshade Elders.

"Looks like Larry had a feast," Diana said with a sigh of relief and wrapped her hand around Stella's shoulder.

Stella helped hold up her wounded friend and returned a smile. "Sure looks like it."

"You two can head back now," Tree said, and a rift appeared leading back to Red Vine Peak. "You both did great."

"It's over?" Stella asked in confusion.

"No, but Larry and Kaida can handle the rest alongside the Redclaws. Even if we win or lose, the fact you two are safe is more important to me."

Stella felt warmth in her heart and was surprised at Ash's words. "Kaida is joining the fight? I thought that lazy snake did nothing but read and hiss at people."

"Yeah, the Grand Elder won't know what hit him. Kaida has been working with Quill to incorporate dozens of techniques into his scales. He should have enough firepower to nuke the Grand Elder out of existence."

Stella wasn't sure what a nuke was, but it sounded powerful. Heading through the portal while shouldering Diana, who was limping. They both blinked in surprise when the Silverspire man's body fell at their feet through another portal with one of Ashlock's swords rammed through his chest.