Douglas tried to ignore the awkward tension in the air as he finally felt the shivers that ran through his body subside. It was difficult, but he pushed the terrifying truths he had seen in the spirit tree's ageless gaze to the back of his mind.
He had come here at the request of his cousin, Mr. Choi, to whom he owed a lot after fleeing the Terraforge family in his youth. However, although he greatly respected his cousin, he never expected to be deceived like this.
His cousin had made this elusive Ashfallen sect sound like the place of his dreams, where he would finally be recognized as a valuable member and be surrounded by people capable of fighting against the Blood Lotus sect and the cruel noble families he had come to despise so much over the years.
Yet, there was far less here than he had been promised. Even taking a step back and overlooking the lack of a pavilion due to recent events, there were only two members of the sect, and neither were in the Star Core realm.
Of course, they claimed they were taking orders from this enigmatic tree, which was shedding its bark as it grew upward at an alarming rate. But even if the tree was as powerful as they claimed, everyone knowledgeable about spirit trees understood that they weren't much different from ordinary trees, except for producing slightly better fruit or having bark imbued with Qi, making it more valuable.
But a spirit tree smart enough to even talk? Order around humans? It was inconceivable, and he wasn't seeing it—a rock flew too close to his head with enough speed to make a whooshing sound past his ear that woke him from his inner stupor.
Douglas immediately looked toward Stella as the culprit, as he had felt a hint of spatial Qi leaking from her when she had thrown that brief tantrum earlier. Foolish child trying to take my head off when I wasn't looking, Douglas cursed to himself but was surprised when Stella followed the rock and watched it scrape against the ground.
Had it not been her?
"The Patriarch is conversing with us," Diana said confidently, as if that made any sense.
Douglas knew trees couldn't control rocks, nor were they literate. Curious, he walked over and was surprised that Diana made no move to stop him. Even Stella didn't pay any attention, her full focus on the squiggles on the ground.
Douglas squinted hard at the etchings but couldn't make sense of their meaning. Are they pulling my leg? This is just a load of random squiggles. Although they do look a little similar to the runic language I know...
He honestly half believed this entire situation was one massive joke set up by his cousin. His suspension of disbelief could only be stretched so far before he threw his hands up and demanded to be let in on the joke.
Stella was busy murmuring to herself, and Douglas could see the seriousness on her face through the gaps in her blonde hair. She wasn't really his type, but he could appreciate a beauty when he saw one, and seeing her reading some squiggles for an elaborate joke was rather endearing, he had to admit.
"Okay, I got it." Stella straightened her back and turned to him. "Once you say the oath and pledge your loyalty to the Patriarch of the Ashfallen sect, we can continue."
"Did your tree tell you that?" Douglas carefully held back his smirk when he saw the coldness in Stella's eyes. "Woah, alright, fine."
Truthfully, he had planned to say the oath from the beginning.
He had been unable to find any employment back in Darklight City due to his less-than-stellar track record and lackluster skills. So when his cousin contacted him for this job, he was thrilled.
Even if these girls wanted to pretend and live in their delusions, it was fine by him as long as he got paid.
Being a cultivator wasn't cheap, and he had a mountain of debt to clear off sooner rather than later. Life as a rogue cultivator was hit or miss with job offers, and he had an addiction to beast cores that needed to be satisfied.
Not only would he go insane if he let the heart demons win, but if his cultivation remained stagnant at the 3rd stage of the Soul Fire realm, his enemies would soon surpass him and come knocking.
Douglas looked at Stella's serious face before shaking his head and heading to the tree. "You want me to pledge loyalty to the tree, right?"
"Loyalty to the Ashfallen sect, which the tree is the Patriarch of, so yes," Stella confirmed with a nod.
Douglas looked at the tree's cracking and warping trunk as it rapidly grew upwards. It was a marvel to witness, and his hand still shivered slightly from the memories of that gaze. Undoubtedly, this tree was special, and he was curious to learn more about it.
The things I do for a paycheck, Douglas cursed as he wet his lips, closed his eyes, and made his link with heaven through meditation.
He brought his hand up to his chest and rested it near his Soul Core as a sign of respect, even if he thought they didn't deserve it. I bet this oath won't even work. There's no way heaven acknowledges this Ashfallen sect as a real thing, Douglas thought as the world's energies swirled around him.
"I, Douglas Terraforge, pledge my loyalty to the Ashfallen sect." Douglas tensed up as he felt tremendous pressure descend upon him. It was as if an eye of heaven was glaring down at him and recording his every word with intense scrutiny. Holy shit, the Ashfallen sect is recognized? Douglas couldn't believe it. Fools did fake oaths all the time. Heck, he had done a few throughout his life, but he had never felt heaven's interest in an oath this intensely before.
Gulping and keeping his eyes closed, Douglas continued with the standard pledge of loyalty. "If my loyalty is to falter, may my cultivation be forever crippled and my heart demons unleashed upon my unfaithful soul."
And he truly meant it. To heck with the Ashfallen sect being two girls playing the most well-crafted joke—this was serious business.
As those final words left his mouth, he felt a chain of heaven's intent wrapping around his Soul Core. It was cold, and he almost wanted to clench his chest from the chill, but he kept his hand steady.
He could tell the phantom chain led out his body toward the spirit tree before him. He instinctively knew that any betrayal to the Ashfallen sect would result in the chains fading away and allowing the heart demons to devour his Soul Core.
Most curious was how he had sworn loyalty to the Ashfallen sect, yet the chain linked to the tree rather than to an abstract concept of community that dictated most sects. It was as if the tree was the Ashfallen sect, and he could tell that his oath would be voided if the tree perished.
"A sect entirely run under the canopy of a spirit tree," Douglas murmured as he opened his eyes and saw the tree in a new light. For a tree to earn the direct interest of heaven was a feat that he could only marvel at. Perhaps the tree was responsible for far more than it was letting on.
A clap from Stella across the empty mountain peak drew his attention.
"Alright, Douglas." Stella smiled, but it was cold and almost scary as if she knew something he didn't. "You will be going with Diana down into the mines—"
Douglas felt his mind freeze. Dark memories of him taking on work in the mines for meager pay during his darkest hours made him break out in a cold sweat. That one memory of him running out of Qi in the middle of a mine collapse and being buried for two days because there was no air to waste on circulating his breathing technique to recover his Qi made him shiver.
"Mines?" He blurted out, "I thought you hired me for fucking construction? Not to crawl around on my hands and knees in the dark for some darn spirit stones. Hire some mortals for that shit."
Stella glared at him with a look that could kill. "Douglas, you shmuck, stop interrupting me and let me finish. Maybe then, we can actually get something done today?"
That was fair. Douglas had been a little confrontational since arriving here, but it wasn't his fault! Everything had been so far from expectations, and everyone here was so unreasonable.
Stella huffed, and then, after seeing Douglas remaining quiet, she continued, "As I was saying before being so rudely interrupted. You will join Diana down in the mines. Your first task will be building a tunnel from the mine to the outside so the people trapped there can escape."
"What people?" Douglas asked, "Why are they trapped down there?"
Stella waved him off, "Don't worry about that. Just take this." She held her arm out, and a black cloak materialized in her hand out of thin air. There was no flash of gold from the many spatial rings decorating her fingers, nor any whiff of spatial Qi.
How had she done that?
Douglas had to admit he was impressed and eyed the cloak with a hint of awe as Stella approached and shoved it into his hand. "Wear this cloak. As the newest member of the Ashfallen sect, we need to keep your identity well hidden. This is a cloak of concealment. It comes with a big hood to hide your face."
"That's it?" Douglas had to admit the cloak was made of decently soft and durable material, and it was equipped with a massive hood he would expect cultists to wear, but did such a cloak with that name really do nothing impressive?
"Yeah, that's it." Stella shrugged, "Diana will also give you a mask. Just keep your mouth shut down there and follow Diana's orders. Don't interact with anyone if possible."
"What—" Douglas tried to ask more questions but was interrupted as something was shoved into his other hand. "A mask?" he mumbled, inspecting the black wooden mask.
"Put it on," a slightly distorted voice he recognized as Diana said. Looking up, he saw the black-haired girl wearing an almost identical mask to his, but it was bone white.
"Alright, alright," Douglas grumbled as he fastened the mask to his face, put his arms through the cloak, and tightened it around himself. He couldn't see himself, but he guessed he looked rather menacing.
"Looking good," Diana said flatly as she gestured for him to follow her. "We'll take the fast route down."
"Fast route?"
Diana nodded. "Yeah, it's right down here."
Walking over and following her gaze, he saw a dark hole in the ground that seemed to lead to a tunnel of some kind—upon closer inspection, he noticed it looked like the inside of a tree root.
"You want me to go down here? How far is it?" Douglas felt at ease when surrounded by rock, but a thick tree root wall between him and the mountain rock would isolate him from his environmental strength.
Diana was already climbing into the hole with water from the air liquifying around her hands. "Don't worry, just follow me and keep your head facing upwards if you don't want to drown."
It was impossible to tell if she was joking or serious, with the creepy white mask obscuring her facial features and her flat tone. However, the strange woman had already vanished into the hole, and he could barely see the tip of her head at this point, so he reluctantly began to climb down into the tunnel.
"Not coming?" He asked Stella, who had returned to the bench and was lying lazily under the tree's canopy with a smile on her face, and her eyes looked suspiciously full of endearment at the rapidly growing tree.
She tilted her head toward him at his words and scowled. "Just leave Tree and me alone."
"O-okay..." He felt like scratching the back of his head in confusion but couldn't take the girl's wrathful glare that hinted at her peak stage cultivation realm. Why was nobody in this sect normal? What had his foolish cousin roped him into?
With a sigh, he allowed the dampness of the tree root to engulf him, and he began to fall... and fall. Faster and faster. Concern rose quickly in his chest as the wind howled past his ears, and he plummeted through the mountain.
Was this an elaborate way to assassinate him?
He was confident that he would survive the fall with his sturdy body, but he would need a few moments to heal with a pill. Was Diana waiting at the base with a dagger, ready to slit his throat?
His heart pounded in his chest, and his Soul Core hummed as the earth Qi he had stored up in his body rushed to reinforce his legs to brace for the incoming impact. He felt his entire body tense up, and just as he sensed the ground drawing near, he hit a wall of freezing water.
"Ugh—" Douglas choked as water smacked him in the face and rushed into his mouth and nose. Diana's advice of keeping his head up echoed in his mind as he plunged through the water and landed on a floor with far less speed than before.
Coughing up a lungful of water while crumpled on the ground, Douglas rolled over to see Diana standing there, looking down at him with her hands on her hips.
"You didn't listen to my instruction about keeping your head up, did you?"
Douglas groaned in response as he tried to push himself up and walk on his shaky legs. "I did listen..."
"No, you didn't," Diana snapped back. "Now you're wasting my time, being pathetic because your brain is too full of useless thoughts."
Douglas then felt all the freezing water weighing down his clothes, being pulled away by a mystical force and gathering in a ball above Diana's open palm.
Today has been the worst, Douglas thought as he finally got to his feet and towered over Diana. However, she had already turned her back on him and begun making her way down the mushroom-lit tunnel.
It was at this moment he truly felt like a lackey. Sighing, he trudged behind the woman and marveled at the luminescent mushrooms. Then when there was a fork in the tunnel, a black root he hadn't even noticed on the floor suddenly lit up with lilac flames.
"The Patriarch is guiding us to his people," Diana said flatly as she followed the flames down the widest tunnel, "These mushrooms are also his creation."
Douglas remained quiet, but he had to admit the tree continued to impress him. He had spent his fair share of time in the mines, and lighting was always an issue, yet he had never seen such a simple solution. The mushrooms that emitted a blue glow were a great idea.
After a while, Douglas could hear the echoes of chatter emanating from deeper within the tunnels. Before they rounded a corner, Diana stopped and looked him up and down. "Douglas, don't speak a single word unless I give you permission. Understand?" Her voice was a whisper imbued with Qi, but it reached his ears with unsettling wetness. "We have a facade to maintain that ensures loyalty around here, and I don't need your loud mouth ruining things."
Douglas could feel the threat of instant death dripping from every word, so he resolutely nodded without saying anything—luckily, that seemed to appease the woman.
"Good—follow me." Diana turned and rounded the corner. Douglas obediently followed and marveled at the expansive cavern he was greeted with. However, the cavern didn't impress him so much as the number of people.
Hundreds, if not thousands of people, were gathered around a seemingly artificial stream running through the cavern's center. There was a strong smell of food wafting from the far embankment of the river, where he saw many mortals gathered around small mountains of belongings and quietly chatting among themselves over bowls of food.
Meanwhile, on the closer side, Douglas noticed many cultivators sitting in stone-cold silence. An awkward tension existed between the two groups, but their arrival quickly drew the cultivators' attention first, likely due to their use of spiritual sense.
A sudden burst of flames appeared a step before them, vanishing a second later and leaving behind an aged man with sharp eyes and crimson hair.
To Douglas's surprise, the man, whose heavy presence indicated he was in the Star Core realm, gave a deep bow to Diana despite her being an entire realm below him.
"Grand Elder of House Redclaw humbly greets the Ashfallen Sect." The Grand Elder spoke calmly, and within moments, many other elders from the Redclaw sect rushed over to bow alongside him.
"Raise your heads." Diana barely paid the Redclaws attention and walked between them, surveying the cavern for something.
"Mistress, if you will forgive the question..." The Grand Elder wore a worried expression.
Diana tilted her head over her shoulder, "What?"
"Our Peak... Darklight City... the Blood Lotus Sect." The Grand Elder chose his words carefully, his shaky voice betraying his true thoughts, "Does anything remain after the fearsome Dao Storm has ravaged the lands?"
Diana chuckled and waved the Grand Elder off as she ventured deeper into the cavern, "The immortal handled it—there's no problem."
"That is truly unfortunate—wait... what?" The Grand Elder caught himself mid-sentence, his jaw hanging open.
"Your lack of faith in the Ashfallen Sect displeases me." Diana was now near the stream, and Douglas felt the urge to hurry over and join her as she casually strolled about like she owned the place.
"I... I..." The Grand Elder was at a loss for words, "I will repent! Forgive me."
"Don't bother." Diana replied coldly, "Just gather everyone near the river's source. This oaf over here will dig a tunnel to get you guys out, and you can see the situation yourself. Although I will mention it's a different world out there. Quite a few more... trees."
Douglas wanted to retort the insult since it made him feel foolish in front of many powerful cultivators and one of the noble families' Grand Elders. But he let it slide and quietly followed Diana alongside a large group of cultivators and curious mortals, making sure to keep his hood down.
Once they approached the wall at the far end of the cavern, Douglas could see the hollowed-out tip of a black tree root poking through rock, with crystal-clear water gushing out.
"Alright." Diana pointed to the wall beside the pipe on the cultivator's side, "Underlord, if you follow this pipe, you will create a tunnel to the outside... eventually."
Underlord? Was that his secret name? Not wanting to get scolded for asking questions, he went along with the context clues and placed his hands on the stone wall to begin his technique, but Diana interrupted him.
"You need to make it very wide."
Douglas just grunted in response. What did she mean by wide? He spread his arms out as if indicating how wide she wanted it, and the masked woman shook her head, "Make it wide enough for ten people across and five people tall."
Huh? Did she understand how much Qi such a feat would require him to use?
Seeing his confusion, Diana helpfully added, "It needs to be wide enough for Larry to get out. Anything smaller simply won't do."
Deepening his voice as much as possible to mask his identity, Douglas replied, "Who's Larry?" His curiosity got the better of him, and he also wanted to know because he believed Diana was mistaken. Who could be ten people wide?
Diana's hand twitched as a blade to slice his throat appeared in a flash of gold between her fingers, but she relaxed at his simple question. "Take a look for yourself."
There was a commotion behind him.
Turning with apprehension, Douglas saw the crowd of mortals and cultivators part as a shadow loomed over them.
He stumbled back a step and felt the cold stone against his back as a monstrous creature loomed into view. The most enormous spider he had ever laid witness to stared him down with scarlet eyes that seemed to glow in the dull blue light of the mushrooms filling the cavern.
Diana walked over without fear and patted the monster's leg, which looked like a tree beside her. "This is Larry, the Patriarch's pet."
Douglas paled. That thing's a pet?
"Wait, who is this little guy," Diana said as a small black snake smoothly made its way down her arm and carefully coiled around her neck like an exotic necklace.
The little snake's pink tongue poked out and licked Diana's neck with curious affection.
Douglas just stood there frozen. What in all the nine realms was going on?
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