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"Tree, are you sure Vincent is dead?" Stella muttered. The warm glow from the fire-affinity trees lining Red Vine Peak illuminated her concerned expression, which was partially buried in the oversized hood of her cult cloak. The sun had long set, and Ashlock was starting to feel the call of sleep himself.

"Yes. You destroyed Vincent Nightrose\'s body. A spiritual heart that appeared to be his infant soul floated up from the coffin, but you were too preoccupied, so I destroyed it myself with spatial blades. It\'s why the Nightrose guardians charged into the room—I had to overwhelm the defensive formations before I could attack the room with my Qi."

"It just felt so... easy." Stella didn\'t sound so sure, and Ashlock couldn\'t blame her. For a near Monarch Realm cultivator that had ruled the lands for centuries, it felt like a more straightforward victory than many of their other hard-fought battles. Like the Lunarshade Grand Elder, for example.

"You think it was easy?" Ashlock chuckled, "Vincent is an almost Monarch Realm cultivator in a room surrounded by five layers of defensive formations and guarded by three half-step Nascent Soul Realm cultivators. You could only get so close to him because Valandor broke his mind control by being given World Tree sap and switched sides. Furthermore, you had an artifact crafted from the blood of a divine being that totally masked your cultivation level. That isn\'t even including the void fruit that shouldn\'t exist within heaven\'s carefully woven reality, my cursed blood, and your high cultivation level for your age. Vincent may be a cautious man who has lived for a long time, but there is a limit. He never cared much for the sect\'s destruction around him because he believed himself to be the strongest."

Stella bit her lip, "When you put it like that, I guess you just made it seem easy with all the nonsense you can accomplish."

Ashlock had to admit he had expected a little more of a fight. It had felt a little too easy, even with all the bullshit he was capable of that surpassed the known possibilities to those on the 9th layer of creation. But he had seen Vincent\'s body collapse and dissolve into the coffin of blood that Stella had gathered and safely stored away in a ring, and he had killed what appeared to be Vincent\'s infant soul.

"I can track people through my cursed sap, and while it has leaked throughout the castle, I can\'t detect anyone having absorbed it." Ashlock added, "Though I also can\'t detect the cursed blood inside your spatial ring, so it\'s not foolproof."

Stella frowned as she drew out a small stream of the darkened blood. "What about now?"

Ashlock reached out and could feel its presence, "Yes, I can feel it now."

"So if any of the Nightrose cultivators get their hands on your blood and absorb or use it, you will know?"

"Yeah, that should be the case unless they can isolate my blood somehow," Ashlock confirmed, "That is why I had you coat your daggers with my cursed blood in the first place. Even if it can\'t turn them into trees, I can use it to track them down. But right now, I\'m detecting nothing."

"This is so strange. All signs point to Vincent dying, and it makes sense with all the preparations we made that he could die. But still..." Stella frowned. "I still feel in my heart that he did not die. It didn\'t feel conclusive. There was nothing left behind for you to turn into an Ent or tree."

Diana nodded in agreement as she perched on the bench\'s armrest while Stella was lying down and taking up the whole length. "The spiritual heart that rose from Vincent\'s corpse, are you sure that was his infant soul and that you definitely killed it?"

"I can\'t say anything for certain as I could not make a portal and look at the room through my Evil Eye, but I put my all into those spatial blades. They carried the weight of my Inner World and multiple daos. I can\'t see a way for a soul to survive that." Ashlock paused, "Look, even if Vincent\'s soul did somehow escape, it will take days, if not weeks, for his soul to transfer to a new vessel and for him to recover enough to face us."

"That\'s true," The Redclaw Grand Elder, who stood off to the side, agreed. "So, are we still going to attend the summit tomorrow?"

"Cautiously, but yes. We still don\'t know Vincent\'s third affinity or the capabilities of his many inferior bloodlines. Maybe he has one that lets him recover quickly. If Vincent is still alive, he will show himself there. Otherwise, his sect will fall apart. " Ashlock yawned. "We can discuss this in the morning. I feel on the cusp of reaching the 5th stage of the Nascent Soul Realm and would like to reach it before dealing with the summit tomorrow."

"That sounds like a good idea. Today has been a long one." The Grand Elder exchanged a nod with the other Elders from his family, and they all took to the skies with swords of crimson flame. Sebastian followed their lead, taking Ryker with him.

"See you tomorrow." Elder Magret said, waving at them.

"You\'re part of the Inner Circle now," Ashlock said as they rose into the air, "You can all stay here on Red Vine Peak if you wish."

They all exchanged a look of surprise.

"I suppose we are, huh." The Grand Elder rubbed his chin in thought but eventually shook his head, "Not for tonight. If we moved here permanently, I\'d need to establish management over White Stone Peak rather than leaving it all to poor Amber."

"We will need to move many things over," Sebastian smiled, "But we appreciate the offer."

"Suit yourselves. The Ashfallen Sect is here to serve your needs. Wherever you feel most comfortable is where you should stay."

They all bowed and said another round of goodbyes before shooting off through the darkness toward White Stone Peak.

"Do they have to move here," Stella grumbled as she drifted in and out of sleep, "They are so... loud..." She trailed off as sleep finally claimed her consciousness. Her face relaxed, and she began to breathe softly.

"Where would we even put them?" Diana mused as she stood and stretched her back, "Above the Mudcloaks in the citadel?"

Ashlock surveyed the mostly empty mountain peak. There had once been a grand pavilion here fit to house hundreds of servants, but it had been wiped away during the Dao Storm. Now, besides a hut for Jasmine and Quil\'s library, there wasn\'t much here.

"That\'s a good point," Ashlock hummed in thought. Where would he put them? They had outfitted the top half of the citadel with abodes and cultivation rooms, but they had gone unused thus far. "Whatever, I\'ll deal with that another day. No point building anything when the beast tide storm is rolling in."

"Any ideas on how to stop it yet?" Diana said as she shifted through the darkness over to Jasmine, who had fallen asleep at the table.

"None," Ashlock answered honestly. The storm itself shouldn\'t be able to destroy his trunk anymore, given how robust he was, but if he was swarmed with high-cultivation beasts alongside the storm, his Voidstorm Aegis might struggle to keep up. There was also the issue of what to do about his offspring and the multiple cities under his control. His Inner World was big, but housing millions of mortals inside his soul didn\'t sound like an easy task.

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"I\'m sure you will think of something you always do," Diana said as she rubbed Jasmine\'s back to wake the girl up.

"Wha—huh." Jasmine rubbed her eyes and yawned, "Diana?"

"Yes, it\'s me. I\'m going to take you home to your mother. She must be worried about you," Diana said, pulling Jasmine up and holding her against her chest. The girl slothfully wrapped her arms around Diana\'s neck and fell back asleep. "I\'ll be right back," Diana said before jumping down the hole into the root network, which reminded Ashlock that he should probably close that route as Nox was no longer there to defend it.

"Speaking of Nox, Tartarus should serve as a good distraction for the mortals distraught about the incoming Beast Tide." Ashlock mused, "Public order is important to maintain, and when people believe their lives are forfeit by staying, fear of the Ashfallen sect won\'t keep them in line. They will desperately try anything to get on an airship to flee..."

The Ashfallen Sect didn\'t have the manpower to keep the millions of people living in Darklight and Ashfallen City in check, nor did the mortals. The concept of a police or a military didn\'t really exist in this world. There was more of a focus on everyone for themselves and doing what the cultivators told them to survive.

"I\'ll deal with all of this soon, but first, I need to sleep, ascend to the 5th stage, and then watch over the summit." Ashlock let off one final mental yawn before allowing his {Nocturnal Genesis [S]}skill to shepherd him off to sleep under the pleasant glow of the nine moons.

***

Stella awoke abruptly as she was thrown off her bench by the mountain\'s trembling. Sitting up and feeling like a slug as she was still bundled in her cloak like a snug blanket, she glanced around in confusion. Spatial Qi crackled through the air like lightning, tearing reality apart while divine energy spiraled to the heavens up Ash\'s trunk.

"Morning Stella," Ash\'s voice blossomed in her mind.

"Are we under attack?" Stella yelped as she tried to look through the raging storm beyond Ash\'s canopy, which had only gotten worse since yesterday. The sun had barely risen, though it was hard to tell through the dense cloud cover.

"No, I\'m just ascending to the 5th stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. It will be over soon."

"Oh... that\'s good." Stella felt the tension leave her body. She yawned and laid back on the lush purple grass surrounding Ash\'s trunk. "It\'s still too early. Wake me up when it\'s over."

***

Stella awoke again to being gently kicked.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," Diana said as she loomed over her with a grin. "Valandor is here to take us to the summit."

"Five more minutes," Stella complained, rolling over. The dense cloud overhead was now glowing slightly from the sun, suggesting it was mid-morning, but Stella still felt exhausted down to her very soul. The idea of getting up was too much, but to attend a summit? Hell no.

"Was yesterday really that draining for you?" Diana mused, "All you did was kill Vincent Nightrose in cold blood—heh, see what I did there?" Stella used aether Qi to fling a nearby pebble at Diana\'s face, but she easily slapped it away. "Hey, that wasn\'t nice. Did you not appreciate my joke?"

"No." Stella huffed hair out of her face and twisted her body to look at Diana while still lying in the grass, "I don\'t want to go."

"Why? Vincent is likely dead or incapacitated, so we will be the strongest there. Don\'t you want to be able to sit at the summit all smug and demand the remaining noble families, like the arrogant Skyrend family, bow to Ashfallen\'s power?" Diana said with a playful smirk, and Stella bit her lip.

"That does sound kinda fun..." Stella rolled over and got to her feet. "Let me get changed, and we will go."

Diana clapped her hands, "That\'s the spirit!"

***

Despite having come here yesterday, Stella was still awed by Nightrose City. As the capital of the Blood Lotus Sect, it was incomparable in size and wealth to Darklight City. Black stone walls glowing from defensive runic formations shadowed the city, and the sky was tinted red by a massive blood-red dome. Occasionally, holes would appear in the dome to allow city-sized airships to pass through and dock with a grand pillar that rose from the city\'s northern district. It rivaled the Nightrose castle in size but not height, yet it could still have dozens of these airships dock at a time.

Stella strode down the central street to the Nightrose castle, which lorded over the massive city in the distance. The Nightrose family refused to leave their castle for any reason, so the summit would naturally be held here as it also served as the heart of the sect. The central street was bustling with people from all walks of life, and the wealth and opportunities available to the people here were apparent. Clothing, jewelry, and just general fashion were on a far higher level than back home, not that Stella cared much for those things. She was only looking to keep her mind wandering to avoid bad thoughts regarding Vincent and his possible survival.

Stella was impatient to learn the truth. Luckily, they had a direct path to the castle and would arrive shortly as, despite the mortal\'s superior way of life here, the dynamic between cultivator and mortal had not changed. Like parting the sea, the mortals respectfully moved to the side to allow Stella\'s group to pass unperturbed. She couldn\'t blame them, as their group was large, and even while hiding their cultivation, anyone could tell they were strong.

I wonder how these people would react if they knew the people in Darklight City had access to fruits and pills that made them cultivators. Would they sneer at the news, calling it nonsense? Her eyes flickered to one of the airships slowly floating through the sky overhead, casting an extensive shadow over a large part of the city. Or would they all board one of those floating cities bound for our lands and come in endless droves?

Depending on how the summit went, there was a genuine chance that by the end of the day, the Ashfallen Sect would be the new rulers of this city and the rest of those under the Blood Lotus Sect. Besides Vincent, there was nobody else in the Blood Lotus Sect that was in the Nascent Soul Realm. Meanwhile, the Ashfallen Sect had Ashlock, Larry, two shadow Ents, and Maple. That wasn\'t even including all the other sect members that were in the upper stages of the Star Core Realm.

The Ashfallen Sect had some serious weight to throw around, and they intended to use it. Stella reached up to her chest and didn\'t feel her amulet. She\'d debated wearing it for the summit but concluded that revealing she could hide her cultivation and bloodline was not ideal. Many would kill for such an artifact, and she didn\'t want her enemies to start putting their guard up around people who appeared to be mortals.

"These void shields sure are Qi intensive," Diana grumbled from Stella\'s side, drawing her attention away from a bakery selling cute-looking cakes. They were naturally masking their voice with Qi as they were deep in enemy lines. "A whole week of cultivation, gone in an instant. All for a shield that breaks from the slightest hit."

Stella snorted, "You\'re complaining? This is the second one I\'ve had to feed in two days. Besides, there\'s nothing better to link a Spatial Anchor to. It might break from a mere Qi-infused breeze but can also block a Monarch Realm attack."

They had decided to play it safe since they were unsure if Vincent was truly dead. Everyone had eaten a Void Protection fruit and had a Spatial Anchor with Quill setup. It was a highly unsustainable arrangement. Each time, they had to eat a Void Protection fruit, sacrificing a significant amount of their stored Qi. Then Quill had to consume a piece of his ink bark, setting the tree\'s cultivation behind. It was also temporary. Once the void shield faded, so would the Spatial Anchor.

Stella sighed as she remembered how Ash had gone a step further. There was a second Spatial Anchor setup just for her, with the activation condition being losing a body part. Similar to the Azure Clan\'s Grand Elder. So if the void shield ran out and she lost a finger in a fight, she would be returned to Red Vine Peak.

While Ash\'s overprotectiveness was a bit much sometimes, it allowed Stella to be her reckless self without as much risk to herself and those around her.

"I guess it\'s better to be safe than sorry," Diana paused, as did everyone else. Stella looked at what the holdup was and noticed one of the Nightrose guardians standing in the road, staring at them with dull eyes. The steady beat of the man\'s spiritual heart put Stella on edge.

The Nightrose guardian pulled a parchment from the sleeve of his robes and began to read. "Cultivators in the Star Core Realm are prohibited in Nightrose City without permission. Your presence is expected as there is a summit today, but peaceful entry is not guaranteed. Leaders of the following groups, make yourselves known by stepping forward. First, the Redclaw family."

The Redclaw Grand Elder checked over his shoulder, and seeing no disagreement of his compliance, he stepped forward and gave a slight bow. "Magnus Redclaw, Grand Elder of the Redclaw family. I am here for the summit."

"Very well," the Nightrose guardian said, his eyes swirling ominously as he looked the man up and down. "You may proceed to the castle with up to five members."

Magnus continued walking with Elder Margret, Brent, and Mo in tow.

"Next up, the Voidmind family."

Morrigan stepped forward.

"Just you?" The Nightrose guardian raised a brow.

"Just me." Morrigan smiled. "Oh, and my daughter," she added and pulled Elaine in close.

"Where is the Voidmind Grand Elder?"

"Preoccupied." Morrigan lazily replied in a dismissive tone.

"I see," the Nightrose guardian noted something down before nodding for her to go forward. He then cast his gaze over those remaining before landing on Sebastian.

"Member of house Silverspire?"

Sebastian nodded, "Is there a problem?"

The guardian frowned and tapped his parchment, "Your house has already sent a representative who is waiting in the summit hall right now. Were you aware of this?"

"No. How many members does the group have?"

"Four."

"Perfect. There is room for me then," Sebastian smiled and walked past. Surprisingly, the guardian said nothing in response, possibly showing the weight of the Silverspire name within the sect.

Douglas stepped forward and received the same question. There was already a representative from the Terraforge family, but they had come alone, so there was space for Douglas.

That leaves just Diana and I left. Stella fidgeted as she was unsure what the guardian would say.

"You are?" The guaridan squinted at Diana.

"Diana Ravenborne," she replied without missing a beat. She radiated confidence even as the guardian scratched his head in confusion.

"Ravenborne family? That shouldn\'t be possible. Your family was wiped out during an unlawful war. What was your relation to the Grand Elder?"

"He was my Father," Diana smirked at the guardian\'s reaction. "Is there a problem?"

By the guardian\'s frown, there was indeed a problem—a big one.