novelraw Chapter 1493 - 1492 - Satisfaction
Chapter 1493 - 1492 - Satisfaction
It had been 10 years since the tournament started. It did not seem that way to the audience nor the participants. To cultivators, especially Immortals, 10 years was quite short. The longer one lived, the less years were noticed.
It even got to the point that missing a century or 2 was not even considered too long of a gap.
Yet, those 10 years had explosive changes not just inside the tournament but outside of it as well.
Triss was in the back rooms of the auction area. She was taking care of the elixirs with a few others at the request of the judges. Honestly, she was still in shock from all that happened.
Her master was found dead, just like the others with his dantian and soul destroyed. His body was little more than a riddled mess.
Worse, many of her sibling disciples were found in the same way. Only a few, the newest ones, had been spared. She shivered as she realized they could not chance contaminating her since she was being sent to the competition.
She wondered when that decision had been made and thanked the spirits for their mercy. Her guild was being gutted, as well as many others, due to the losses. It was terrifying to see how far the Fiends could reach into her profession and others.
It also affirmed the real danger to her. Fiends were horrific for consuming cultivators as resources but that was not the worst of it. They looked beyond the petty squabbles and battles. A loss of agents was not a big deal so long as the long game continued.
It was clear to her now that most of the cultivation world lived with either blinders on or were led around by the nose to focus on rivals to power rather than the real enemy.
She had lost friends, family, and almost her life to the bastards! Her face contorted as rage tried to assert itself but she quickly began to recite the elemental balance needed to create a base elixir cauldron.
She tagged a few more elixir batches before sealing them up for the next slot. She was a low Maester but still a Maester.
She turned and froze as a pale faced girl came into her vision. The once infectious smile was nowhere to be seen as her crimson hair looked unkempt. Cultivators did not need to look pretty to exist but Triss had always known the girl to be a little vain before.
The robes were the same as hers. Multifaceted colors flowed beautifully with myriad protections and enhancements Forged into them. Triss felt a sad smile spread as she understood what that meant.
"Est?" She spoke the nickname and the girl jumped before seeing her. Estarra was a gorgeous woman with proportions that were not too obscene but clearly visible even with a loose set of robes.
Yet, the woman in front of her was thinner than before and not in a complimentary way.
"T–t–Triss? You too?" The voice was hoarse, not the pleasant tones Triss expected. The puffy eyes and complete lack of attempt to hide her disheveled state told Triss all she needed to know.
She quickly pulled the girl into an embrace. The stiff shoulders and attempt to push her back failed miserably. How weak was she?! Why was no one helping her?!
Anger filled her before she remembered how she had been. Lind Frey had been there for her when the world collapsed around her. He had offered his hand to her and she latched onto it.
Looking back, he had not done much but he offered many avenues to counsel, distract, or anything she needed to find a way forward, but he never forced her to. It was her choice to accept or deny it.
Estarra clearly took the denial path. She was going through her life without really trying to stay. The auction was just foisted on her in an attempt to draw her out and find a reason to live again.
It could not be a coincidence Triss had been assigned near the formation items!
"Est, talk to me." Triss had once been more political in her wording. Talking to a fellow prodigy meant considering their relative standings of their guilds, masters, and so forth. Yet, none of that mattered now.
Triss felt dampness all of a sudden as the frail limbs clasped onto her. No words were spoken nor were there any needed at the moment.
Time passed and Triss realized no one had called them out. In fact, someone had erected a privacy ward at some point! So much for her own awareness!
"Why? Why did it turn out like this?" The soft words barely got out of her ravaged throat and clogged nose. Triss smiled down at her as she summoned a simple small cloth and began to clean up her friend.
She pondered that very thing and still was trying to piece it all together but the minimal truth never changed.
"There are always those looking for shortcuts to power, long life, or even just prestige. The Fiends are not the only ones guilty of using that but their goals are not what those weak ones imagine. Now, we know what they wanted. Access to all the powers, intelligences that would not raise a single warning, and the future generations held as hostages against any retaliation." She had parsed that much, but as she spoke she realized something else.
"Est, they failed. They lost this time. It was a spirits' cursed price we paid to learn, but now we know what to look for, we can fight back. We can make them pay!" It was not a lie. Lind Frey had been able to reveal to her what was in that vile box sent to her.
It was a method to mark her and then kill her. Now that they had the way, countermeasures could be looked into. It was the way of war.
Something settled in her heart right then. She wanted to know. She wanted to help focus on preventing others from being killed or marked!
The fire in her eyes seemed to spread to Estarra. They were old friends and rivals for recognition. Yet, they had always been close. Women were looked down upon in the vast majority of cultivation powers.
Thus, those that rose above could find a very lonely life awaiting them. The Heavenly Maiden Sect and other powers proved those points of view were absurd but they refused to change.
Triss and Estarra had bonded over shared experiences of fellow disciples looking down on them or dismissing their efforts until their skill shut them up.
Now, that closeness let Estarra see the fire lit in Triss.
As if it infected her, Estarra felt disgusted with herself. She was wailing like a child and not the grown woman she really was. It was like waking from a long nightmare and realizing the fear almost destroyed her.
A heart demon likely had partially formed and would need to be dealt with.
"There she is." Triss smiled in joy to see her friend's face light up a bit. The pair began to talk about everything. Estarra's situation was worse than Triss'. Apparently the guild master and all his closest advisors were also touched by the Fiends!
The guild was wiped out overnight!
Triss only lost her master and a few others but the guild could have recovered if not for the fact the taint of Fiends destroyed its reputation.
New guilds would be built and fierce competition would be tempered by strict protocols to weed out any potential Fiend agents.
If it was that easy, there would be no problems long ago but the issue was the Fiends would go silent. Time would pass and new leaders would eventually relax the standards as they felt too onerous.
Triss had looked it up. It had happened before! It was not to the extent of current events but a massive operation had been exposed and many horrific deaths occurred. Some thralls were consumed rather than give up intelligence.
Yet, it had all happened again over and over throughout history. It was as if only a few powers refused to bend on the strict protocols and despite the clear endurance of them, other powers always thought it couldn't happen to them even with lax attitudes.
That arrogance brought destruction to them all once more and while she had no doubt they would hold for longer, it would happen again.
The pair began to plan to focus on their strengths and work to help Lind Frey fight the damned Fiends.
The ward shimmered without their knowledge and a healer was looking on with a smile. She summoned a communication jade and let her superiors know one of their patients showed signs of recovery.
It had been a final gamble to save Estarra with auction work. She had been slipping away with a very strong chance of possession by a heart demon looming over her. They had been ready to kill her if needed when that happened.
Thankfully, it all worked out. Satisfaction was clear on her face as she turned and left. It was up to Estarra and Triss to move forward now. The future was a bit brighter and hopefully it would shine like the sun when it arrived.