novelraw Chapter 462 - 461 - Wild Heart is Ours
Chapter 462 - 461 - Wild Heart is Ours
The relay point held by the Warders on Wild Heart Isle was usually rotated with humans or demons in charge of the teleportation arrays. Many of them were tiers 4 to 5 of the Sky Realm but the leader was a tier 8.
She was a human from a dead sect. It happened in the course of cultivation that the resources that made the foundation of a sect ran out or were taken in battle, thus bringing the sect to an end.
Arianna was only 1000 years old but she had come to the Warders due to how her sect died. It had started with a petty rivalry between outer disciples of a neighboring sect but then became a massive issue as a core disciple took issue with their sect being disrespected by a backwater power.
The Yearning Flame Sect was a low grade sect known for its penchant for dual cultivation. It was normally quite amicable but its male members were known to do showy things to impress prospective partners.
Arianna suspected that was how it started. Her own sect, the Misty Lodge, was more of a larger family feeling than a true sect but it still had outer and core disciples. She had been happy there and was one of the few to reach the Sky Realm.
She had taken a mission and left only a few days when smoke rose on the horizon. She had rushed back to find her entire sect razed to the ground and young men laughing as they rummaged through what had been her home.
They were only World Realms but she saw the symbols and let them be while appealing to the higher powers that were supposed to protect them. Instead, she was told to simply find a new sect and let it go as nothing could be done about the dead.
It was well known that strength ruled all in the cultivation world but no one did a thing to the Yearning Flame Sect. The Misty Lodge was just one of the tiny powers swallowed by the strong, even if the strong were pathetic about it.
She cut all ties and became a Warder.
Her experience made her always question when things were going too well or were too quiet and after a massive flux of activity, things had gone way too quiet in the last few months.
It was not unusual for the beasts to go crazy but usually there was a known reason or some other signs passed along from the few that wandered Wild Heart Isle at their own risk.
"Elder Arianna, Elder Arianna?" She shook her head as one of her many aides had been calling her name. Was she so distracted?
"Sorry, I was reviewing the recent reports. Proceed." The young man nodded but as he was about to speak the arch entrance to her courtyard echoed with the sound of running feet.
Arianna rose up and summoned her earth and light Qi to be ready but one of the commanders came heavily breathing in as if he had run from the outer perimeter.
"Elder Arianna, Commander Rio reporting!" She waved for him to proceed but did not insist on him straightening himself up. He had clearly pushed himself to reach her courtyard quickly.
He took a moment to gather himself before bowing properly.
"Reporting that all visitors to the island have suddenly been chased out!" Arianna frowned but before she could ask a question he continued. "The last 2 expeditions have also been forced out. There are no casualties but many are injured!"
Her worries increased but her thoughts were interrupted as another set of steps came pounding down the hall to her courtyard. Arianna wondered if the jade stones were broken but it was at that moment she realized they were in fact not working!
Her own Qi was fine but the jade stone communication artifact was just dead. It was also clear that every signaling artifact was in the same condition. How was that possible without general suppression?
Such precision was unheard of to her knowledge in the Warders.
"Elder Arianna, the Star Tiers are here!" True shock flooded her mind. Why were they fighting near the relay teleportation array? The tunnel entrance was far stronger and could withstand such pressures by design.
Arianna was about to order the defenses to be raised when a voice echoed out over the city.
"Elder Arianna, formerly of Misty Lodge Sect. Please come to the outer perimeter to meet with us." A gulp was heard but Arianna assumed it was one of the 2 men currently sweating. She was strangely calm.
She headed out and found all the other cultivators looking at the sky in some fear. There were no Star Tier humans or demons among them. It was one of the few restrictions enforced strictly by the Warders.
No Star Tier could come to Wild Heart Isle. It would cause a feeding frenzy among those beasts close to a breakthrough.
Cultivators were a treasure to such beasts so to avoid a bloodbath, they were simply not allowed to be there.
It also helped that Star Tier cultivators generally needed resources from auctions or Inheritances far more than anything that could be found randomly in Wild Heart Isle.
Arianna now wished they had at least secured having one as part of the Warders but Star Tiers were not at dead ends as they could ascend to the Heaven Realm to continue their journey easily.
Now, she stared up at the floating powerhouses of Wild Heart Isle and truly appreciated the difference between cultivators and beasts. In the totality of the Floating Isles there were perhaps 100 Star Tiers, but nearly the same number floated in front of her!
She knew beasts had harsher bottlenecks at the Star Tier but even so, she knew off the top of her head at least a dozen that had left to go to the Ascension Pools controlled by the island split by the 3 supreme powers.
Even assuming that was an average, that made their numbers staggering to consider.
"Seniors, may I ask if we offended you in some way?" It was the only explanation but she had not heard of anything like that at all.
A pale woman in black leather armor floated down but Arianna felt her blood freeze at the cold black eyes. Only an aether beast close to Moon Tier could so completely change shape into a human.
"We would have had a more severe reaction to what we discovered but it was explained that you are victims as much as we were. Thus, our measured response. I am Lady Gua." Arianna bowed low but hid her shock.
It was known that Lady Gua was from a black widow spider bloodline. She had risen up in the last 700 years to take over a territory in the Mengcong. The last report also showed that she was stuck at 2 elements in all that time but clearly something had drastically changed.
She was not the only one. Arianna saw other near human shaped beasts floating in the sky.
How had so many gotten close to the Moon Tier without anyone noticing?!
"Could you please enlighten me on the context of your words?" Arianna was being extremely polite. Beasts could be touchy but respect was a safe approach with most. A small smile crossed the fine features of Lady Gua as if she read Arianna's mind.
"I can do better than that." A corpse suddenly appeared encased in some kind of crystalline casket. Arianna did not recognize the body but she also realized none of her senses could penetrate the casket at all. "You should stand back."
Arianna obeyed before the casket was cracked open solely by the physical strength of Lady Gua. The moment the body was exposed, Arianna nearly threw up. Her body was physically repulsed by the sensations assaulting her.
"Hmm, it seems he was right. My apologies, I thought a tier 8 could withstand that." Lady Gua then looked up at the sky as a young man descended. Arianna could not even focus before emerald flames engulfed the body.
The flames were blessedly released but it did not consume the body at all!
Once the flames were gone, Arianna was staring at the young man that released them. No matter how removed from politics or rumor mongering one might be, a recent ascender had made such waves that all of the Floating Isles knew of him.
"Greetings, Master Frey." Arianna had true respect in her voice. The youth had thumbed his nose at the standard cultivation world but had not been cowed by the blow back on his choice. He had persevered and found a deep darkness in Yinande from what she had learned.
Many powers were trying to find him but he had vanished for over 30 years. Now, he stood before her calmly at tier 5 of the Sky Realm. If she was to guess, he was close to mid-tier.
His cultivation was difficult to determine for some reason.
"Senior, please examine the body." Arianna turned and still felt repulsion but it was far less than before. Now that she was not being overloaded, she could tell what she felt and the blood drained from her face.
"Fiend Qi, why does that corpse have Fiend Qi on it?" Warders were well aware of Fiends and their agents. Due to being in charge of managing entry and exit from a perfect island to hide, there were strict rules to follow concerning groups and their actions.
The fact the beasts brought her a corpse covered in such Qi told her their methods had failed.
"This is an example from several hundred caches spread around Wild Heart Isle. We also found several corrupted beasts and traced back all actions to certain caravans that passed through this city." Lind Frey's voice was merciless.
Arianna wanted to deny it but she suspected he had more proof. He tossed her a jade slip she quickly sunk her senses into. A brief glance shocked her enough but a detailed reading only made her angry.
"You are certain about Triton?" Lind nodded. "Then I will happily take care of this but I doubt that is the end?" Lind smiled at her.
"Indeed. Moebius Sect is here. We have been welcomed by the aether beasts here. I am, in fact, now in charge of 2 territories. Given these revelations, however, the agreement with the Warders is now nullified." Arianna felt her heart stop before taking a breath.
"It is not that easy. The other powers will not allow the agreement to simply be voided on your word. The issue with the Fiends is one thing, but that is another." She saw several beasts bristle at her words but they suddenly seemed to back off for some reason.
"I do not think you understand. I am telling you to leave now or the beasts you see floating will kill you all. They would have already done so had I not explained the whole method used to bypass the honest guards and staff here." Lind did not blink but Arianna felt a shiver in her spine.
He was in charge. Somehow he was in charge of all these Star Tiers!
"It will take some time to evacuate but in that time we could–" A pressure came but then a beast was yanked out of the sky and slammed into the ground. Lind was staring down at a humanoid with the tail of a monkey sticking out of their robes.
"I already told you I will handle this. Not a moment before I give the signal are you to act." Lind then moved his dark green eyes to her and she gulped. How?! How did a tier 5 Sky Realm do that?
"I take it you accept the evacuation?" Arianna nodded and Lind smiled wide. "Good. Please tell the other powers that Wild Heart Isle belongs to the aether beasts. We will act as an envoy in the near future at their request as well. Goodbye." Lights lit up the outer perimeter and Arianna suddenly felt the shift of space before she was on the other side of the connection bridge.
The entire population had been moved in an instant! Before she could say a word, the tunnel entrance was sealed and the teleportation array broke right in front of her eyes! Wild Heart Isle was cut off in an instant!
She turned and headed to the Warders HQ to report and she noticed the corpse was with her. She put it in her ring and flew off to the towers east of the tunnel. Time was of the essence now.