novelraw Chapter 424 - 423 - Focus
Chapter 424 - 423 - Focus
Lady Xin was angry. The broken demons around her were evidence of that fact more than the desiccated corpses piled up like a larder. Her peerless beauty was hardly affected, but the cold eyes would make any lesser cultivator whither in front of her.
A few weeks ago, she was checking to see if any leads had been found but there was still nothing. Ten years might seem too long to search a single island, but they had to be careful.
They had permission but could not draw the attention of the righteous powers. If demons suddenly flooded Yinande, no matter their origin, Hellfire Sect alone would want to investigate or at least confirm none of their members were behaving against their rules.
The Divine Sword Sect and the Heavenly Maiden Sect would follow swiftly after to keep an on Hellfire Sect as they might 'accidently' start a battle. Lady Xin would normally enjoy such idiocy, but not when she could be dragged into it.
Thus, she had kept things limited and small. She gave permission for the demons under her to feed but only isolated communities or the occasional wanderer. She did mark a few exceptions for Old Gao's peace of mind.
If the Syndicate rescinded their permission, it would be annoying to her.
Besides, no one really cared about the ants. The only other restriction she put in place was an age limit. While draining younger cultivators was better, they could not impede the younger generation from fattening up for them.
Most of her subordinates already knew of that rule but some had argued it did not matter. She had killed those fools immediately. The age limit also avoided drawing attention as even the shady Tidao Syndicate could not turn a blind eye to mysteriously dying kids.
If some still died due to eliminating witnesses, it could not be totally avoided but no draining them was final.
For 10 years, while reports of missing people rose, she had no complaints. Afterall, they were only Soul and World Realms from tiny places across the island. Since Old Gao and his cohorts knew their need for 'blood,' they just turned away from it.
The Tidao Syndicate businesses and resources were also left untouched.
So all was well, until a week ago.
Like most organizations, she had a way to check in or monitor her followers but it was unlike anything other powers had. It was from her masters.
The technique they used had several benefits but the second most useful was imprinting. Rather than a life tablet or other similar artifact, the imprints not only let her know if they were alive, but exactly how they died.
She could also examine the imprint for any final memories.
It looked like a string of beads laid out on a board. The string through the beads was the true artifact while the beads themselves were the imprints. The board had several marks that no one but a Fiend or their agents would recognize, but were mundane.
While some of her subordinates had died, it had been to expected things like shattering of their Sky Core or too much blood loss like anyone else. The feeding extended life but it did not make them Immortal.
Lethal injuries had took more time and if they could feed, they would recover, but without a food source and lethal injuries, they were just as dead.
When 3 beads cracked and moved on the board, she had barely noticed, but 1 of them then healed! The demon was not alive, but its connection had been entirely severed to the imprint which was supposed to be impossible!
It meant all the Fiend Qi had been somehow removed from their body but then why did it crack? She saw one had been beheaded but then was stunned to find out they died to Heavenly Lightning.
If they drew the attention of Heaven, they would die, but their demonic nature should have shielded them. It was why the Fiends preferred demonic servants to her mind, but still, she could not recall the last time anything they did drew Heaven down on them.
Her blood froze at a possibility. Her strange orders made more sense if the Fierce Fairy was somehow marked by Heaven! Killing her would not do a thing, but their perverse feeding would be like shooting thousands of metal rods up for Heaven to strike!
"IDIOTS!" Someone had tried to absorb the Fairy's life! It had implicated at least one other but the last one was more bothersome. She had an impression of a beast but then something odd happened.
A tiny spark of emerald flame had tried to touch her. Normally, she could ignore such a weak fire, but it was like she was loaded with fuel! Her arm had burned! The flesh had begun to wrinkle before she had to cut it off!
What was that?! Why had it harmed her so? Her damaged body made her anger rise and all her minions were now dead that she could reach. It was their fault! They had done something against orders and drew something to them!
The blurry images were not enough to give her a target, but it was big and had scales. The moment she saw it, she would know it.
She summoned an obsidian jade stone. It was darker than the night and seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. It looked like a hole in the air as she sunk her senses into it while a new arm grew.
"I want all eastern teams to head to the village northwest of East End. They are mostly weaklings but our target is there. No one, and I mean NO ONE is to absorb her soul. Three of us are dead because they disobeyed our Lords!" She did not wait for a response before she added one last thing. "There is a beast with her. It is powerful but the real danger is some kind of spiritual attack. Do not let it touch you or you will die!"
She cut the connection as her orders would be obeyed. If she had more, she would give it but then she stilled. She quickly rummaged through her storage ring for a jade slip. Like all the Floating Isles, there had been an event over 30 years ago that had drawn a lot of attention.
She found it and infused her Qi into it. A recording began to play and 2 demons faced off against a human that turned into a hulking beast! The moment she saw it her blood drained away.
Lind Frey. He was here too!
He was the beast! The instant she saw emerald light flare around him her heart froze. The Qi in her body actually quailed it seemed to even see a recording of the dreaded flame. What was that attack? How did it work?
Her Lord's warning now made much more sense. If Lind Frey had a weapon that worked on Fiends, he likely was still testing it! She had sent teams to fight but paused before calling them back.
A glance at her new arm brought a glint to her eye.
"I will fish in muddied waters. No one who injured me shall live!" There was nothing in her orders or lists about not killing Lind Frey, only keeping him in the dark. If that was no longer possible, then killing was on!
She removed all evidence of the current massacre and left her residence. She also ordered the rest of the teams to begin to move to surround the eastern side of Yinande. There would be no escape!
⬧⬧⬧⬧
Lind noticed that few minded the loss of the changeling. Oba clearly used her infiltration skills to become in charge of the village. The fact she was using them as bait to lure out her true objective never seemed to occur to any of the humans.
He also had to take some time with Fey.
She seemed better but he knew she was not. She had wept and cried for several nights before she was back to a semblance of balance. Honestly, she was far stronger than he was.
He did not ask about Oba but clearly there had been some incidents that were there and he would address them later. For the moment, he was preparing for guests.
He removed all children from the walls and began to create weaving, after weaving. Artifacts were set up at intervals in the village. It was already not a big place so it took less than half a day.
The locals already told him hardly anyone came to them anymore. It was likely the same as Oba had hinted.
Her intelligence may have been helpful but Fey knew about Lady Xin too.
The more he heard, the more certain he became that it was the same demoness over millions of years. The demon they had was in pristine condition but Lind's Eyes and Touch could perceive the foundation was incredibly old.
The demon had only been a tier 4 Nightfall Realm but Lind guessed he was at least 400,000 years old. That was impossible for a Nightfall or Sky Realm. A Heaven Realm might live that long under the right conditions, like the Black Shelled Tortoise, but it was nigh impossible otherwise.
Demons, to the best of his knowledge, had a maximum age of 15,000 years at Heaven Realm, or Purgatory as they called it. If any demon lived longer, they never shared the secret. Delenn had told him that Heaven Realm onward would see life span increase by tier rather than just a major realm but still, there were limits.
If the Tortoise was one extreme, she was also proof of how rare it was. The odds of a divine beast line of that purity existing was already remote, to have the ability to not be hunted down compounded the issue as many desire such bloodline purity, and finally, to live in the right conditions to flourish was just as hard for everyone.
The Floating Isles had Qi naturally of the right density, but that was all that was in abundance. Everything else was severely limited.
Under all those conditions, beings that could live so long unnoticed were disturbing. It meant the resource they needed was highly renewable and would not be noticed in the cruel cultivation world.
The only thing that met that criteria was cultivators themselves. The reason no one noticed was killing on the rise of cultivation was entirely normal and expected. Pilfering the resources was also right on the list for the same reason. Recovering a body was quite rare as beasts could eat it long before it could be found.
Lind found all of those facts building a terribly patient and cunning enemy. They were in no hurry and also knew to strike at acceptable targets for long term gains. A being of such extreme focus would quickly find a foe that had to be exterminated.
It all meant the demons knew they were there and were coming. If Lind fled with Fey, they might slip through any net with his senses, but all the people here would be tortured to death for information.
Lind refused to let them suffer like that. Also, it did not solve the problem of the teleportation array. His old prototype was far from ready to be used freely so that left only one path to freedom.
Fight. Lind moved quickly and Fey got the villagers some basic knowledge. They would not be fighting if they could help it, but Lind wanted them able to fend off an attack for a time. He had finished in only 4 days when the wait began.
He was not idle as he distributed elixirs and artifacts to everyone. His largesse left them all floored but he refused all payments. He bought the doom to them, he could hardly charge them for the privilege.
"Big Brother, they will be here soon." Little Fey spoke on the 6th day but Lind again did not sense anything until half a day later. Any doubt that he had done something to Fey when he saved her back in Cimmeria was long gone.
She was their enemy and they, hers. Heaven seemed to give her a feeling for them. He still was unsure why his harmony was so devastating but he hoped it was efficient. If he was the enemy commander, he would send a swarm.
Based on the scents in the wind, he was right.