novelraw Chapter 224 - 223 - Banquet of the End
Chapter 224 - 223 - Banquet of the End
The once austere and empty castle grounds had been converted into pavilions of various powers and connected by vast tables of food and drink to be claimed by servants or anyone that really wanted to.
The vast majority of Altairan servants felt highly inadequate while their noble masters felt like they had been reduced to minor characters. Gold Tiers were powerful but quality and prestige mattered where they lacked considerably.
With only 1 exception, all the nobles had scraped into the low Gold Tier by pills and treasures but not on their own power. While no one usually looked down on it, the powers now happily eating and drinking treated Gold Tier as a minor realm to reach on their way to Diamond Tier or Sky Realm.
As such, the once proud nobles felt like ants in front of giants.
There was one group of native Altairans that did not seem to be intimidated. They were the 100 women serving under their King. They saw to the needs of the various powers as well as making sure no fights broke out.
A few powers familiar with Altair were surprised but it was easy enough to identify who the women belonged to by their pale crimson robes. Further, their leader seemed to be a demoness more than 1 power had heard of over the years as she proudly managed the various forces without any nonsense being entertained.
Cyntilla Fang was like a natural force that even Sky Realms could only meekly bow to in the current circumstance when they saw the representative of the Skyfire House listen to her, they had very little reason not to. It was sealed when both the Divine Sword Sect and Heavenly Maiden Sect Sky Realms also listened to her with great seriousness.
"This Master Frey seems quite sure of himself." A few tables held similar conversations as they noticed rivals and allies mixing without any honor being given to any over the other. One table had a group in robes that seemed to make it hard to look at them. It was not blinding but eyes slipped off them as if they were not there.
No one knew who they were precisely but a few of the greater powers seemed nervous around them. The only exception was the Heavenly Maiden Sect which the strangely robed group only gave respectful nods to.
"How much does he actually know about wielding power?" The sex of their voices were impossible to determine but the individual asking seemed very small. The others were just as difficult to tell any details about but one of them seemed to give a cold aura that made anyone approaching freeze in their tracks.
"That is the wrong question 7. Given his complicated history, the real question is what is his true goal?" The rest of the table seemed to think on that when one of the crimson robed women suddenly approached. They looked up at her crimson eyes but could clearly tell she was a human Sand Tier.
"My lord, his Majesty King Lind Frey, would like to speak with a representative of your group if you are willing." The group seemed stunned at her forthright words but she did not balk despite feeling a greater pressure from them.
"Interesting." The one with the cold aura glanced to his right and nodded. A slim figure stood up and bowed then turned to follow the woman. As they left the others turned to their leader in confusion.
"One of his women is said to have terrifying illusion abilities. Likely, they have taken precautions against anything like that. As I said, 7, he has a goal many are missing." The rest nodded and proceeded to eat and drink like the rest.
⬧⬧⬧⬧
Lind was observing from the castle the banquet grounds. Most of the people were treating it like a party but those powers that knew him seemed to be looking around in curiosity to see when he would arrive. He would be going down soon but one of the powers he needed had come.
"My King, I brought a representative." Reya bowed as a slim being in a robe that seemed to try to blend into the world to Lind's eyes. He could actually see them easily enough thanks to his Sky Eyes.
Annabelle's formation plates had a few uses to disrupt other's illusions but the conflict could result in lethal results in the case of these individuals wearing robes with them on.
"Thank you, Reya, please step outside." She bowed and moved outside the rooms. Lind looked over the person but they made no move. He smiled as he started with what he knew. "I am surprised an aether child was sent. Was that because of what I did at the Silver Peaks?"
The slim person stumbled a bit which Lind took as real since this group was hardly seen in the open as they currently were. Lind waved to a seat and poured some ale. The gloved hand paused over the stone mug but then drank it freely.
Lind felt weird seeing the Qi hide their features but he could see them clear as day.
"I will not reveal what I know, including that you are here." The person nodded but Lind needed them to talk. He had something for them to do. "I have a goal and little time. I am aware of some past deals with my predecessors but I have no interest in that. I only want 2 things from your group."
Lind placed a jade slip on the small table between them. The bright sunlight coming from the blue sky did not match the solemn mood of Lind. He was crossing a line but he had sworn to close this chapter in his life forever. He was not the naive boy in the Frey Clan anymore.
The person sunk their senses into it and once more seemed surprised. They looked at him closely before taking the jade slip into a storage treasure somewhere on their body. Lind truly could not follow it that time.
He raised his cup and then looked out over the banquet.
"I know you are aware of my past so I won't bore you but something you may not know is I could have let it go." For the 3rd time, the slim figure was clearly surprised but less so than the previous 2 times. "It sounds impossible but I faced my heart demons and realized I was too worried over where I came from. I am not shaped by my father's origins but by the mother that raised me with love. If they could leave us in peace then I would accept it, but they could not leave me or my family alone."
Lind's voice became cold at the end but it was only brief.
"I do not do this for revenge but to stop anyone from threatening my family ever again. I am sure others have said such words but I doubt any of them could offer the payment I can." Three vials appeared that glimmered with light. The slim figure swept their aura over it and seemed shaky not in surprise but in simple anticipation.
"Low Heaven grade 3 Cure Elixirs." A sexless voice came from the hood, but Lind could hear the truth. Even so, he made no comment on it. A communication jade appeared that had profound arrays alight on it in interesting ways. Normally, in such close proximity, any number of beings could intercept or at least be aware of such a communication. That one did not even cause a ripple in the flow of Qi around them.
Lind was intrigued but it was beyond his ability to even grasp it.
The air twisted as a man appeared as if he was always there but Lind had seen the very fabric of space rent asunder in ways he felt tickle the back of his mind. A flash of the weaving back in Cimmeria was connected but Lind could not grasp it. He wanted to study it more but he had business to attend to.
The man had white hair but his face was very young. Lind could also see it was fake but unlike the robes of the slim person sitting near him, Lind could not see the truth beneath it. The man smiled and his bright white teeth put his nerves on edge yet the clear eyes were vibrant with life unlike the rest of the face.
"You surprised me, Lind Frey. I have felt you were a much more righteous man than others. Yet you offer us this kind of job." The jade slip given to the slim being appeared in the man's hands as if he had it himself before. A shared storage artifact?
"Righteousness and wickedness are subjective in many things. What this Kingdom has done for so long, however, is clearly wicked." Lind sipped at his ale as his dark green eyes were cold looking at the man. Both shivered to see the depths of his rage and understood Altair had crossed his bottom line.
"So this is not a banquet of beginning but a banquet of the end. This is the last banquet of Altair, correct?" Lind made no move to confirm or deny but the feeling in the room was not that of a king making a deal. It was the feeling of a conqueror about to lay waste to his foes. "Your request is far below the payment given, so what is the other piece you wanted us to do?"
Lind set his cup aside as he folded his hands in his lap.
"I want to know who wants me dead." The man's smile faltered but it was more disappointment than denying the request. Afterall, the list was fairly public.
"Trynith's request had been canceled, obviously, but only a few other concerned powers that can no longer keep up with your position so they–" Lind's aura flared and confusion was on the man's face.
"You misunderstand me. Your sect has branches into places I can't reach yet and someone or something there wants me dead. It was in Cimmeria and I just passed a tempering trial to face creatures I have never seen before anywhere." A serious look came across the man's face as he grasped what Lind Frey wanted.
"Leave us." The slim person stood up and bowed to them both before space twisted open once more. Lind ignored it as he kept his eyes steady on the white haired man. The man moved across the sparsely filled room but pulled out one of the good drinks from the cabinet against the far wall.
The seal cracked and he sniffed at the bottle before smiling.
"Understand I underestimated your goal and your payment is great but you still could have negotiated for this information as it is not exactly a secret." Lind frowned as he had been stonewalled each time he asked people he trusted. His frown made the man smile. "Righteous forces believe protecting the young from something they may never encounter is wiser but people in my profession like all the knowledge up front. I agree with you knowing what is out there."
"What are those creatures?" Lind was certain what the point of the Ruin and Relic that improved him so much were for. Immortals were trying to raise stronger successors. Legacy was not their goal, but strength.
That ran counter to the selfish nature of cultivators. An Inheritance was usually left behind because a cultivator wanted their legacy to continue from what he found in old records but something like 200 thousand years ago, different ones started to show up.
"You seem to have grasped a part of it. I can tell your body has improved immensely which would make the now dead Immortal happy. They are all dead by the way, the Immortals." The bombshell did not seem to phase Lind too much but he felt burning curiosity. "I don't know what killed them exactly as very few of my sect survive in the Heaven Realm for long. The enemy targets us hard."
Lind leaned forward as he was going to get an answer at last.
"Fiends. They are called fiends. We are at war in the Heaven Realm for our very survival. They do not hate us, quite the opposite, they need us as resources." Lind felt his body go cold. The pieces came together as he understood the odd Ruin out in his history.
The anti Qi existed but he had never encountered a single instance of it outside of that Ruin. Inside it, there was a conversion array to turn natural Qi into anti Qi. He nodded in thanks to the man before standing up and looking out over the banquet pavilions once more.
"Thank you. Now please go remove the cancer that is Altair." Lind felt space distort and a piece of his heart went cold as he could not stop what was to come. Cyntilla and Shoti knew what was about to happen but Qing and Annabelle had been focused on their tasks. Truthfully, he doubted his choice but nothing he had dug up changed his mind.
The Shadow Sect had been unleashed on Altair at its King's command.