Chapter 302: Selfish Demise

Chapter 302: Selfish Demise

Dorian Lunarshade furrowed his brows in concern. The accursed blood invading his avatar continued to spread despite his best efforts to suppress it, and the demonic tree spreading its roots in his consciousness continued to taunt him with words and hallucinations.

"Mhm, such nice weather today, right? Clear skies and a pleasant breeze. It's almost a shame we are fighting on such a fine night as this."

The white fog encircling the edge of Dorian's consciousness flashed red as it transformed into a raging storm. A sudden gale howled through his mind, rustling the demonic tree's leaves and bringing in the storm until it entirely clouded his mind.

"I need to... what?" Dorian frowned in confusion. His trails of thought were getting lost in the chaos.

A thousand voices laughed at him. "Are you getting senile in your old age, Grand Elder? Even my Grandpa was more coherent on his deathbed than you."

Dorian felt shivers down his spine as the storm took on a darker shade, and the wind became bone-chilling.

"Get out of my head!" Dorian raged as he cycled his Qi to fight back. None of this made any sense. He had purged this tree from his mind without difficulty earlier, yet now it felt like an immovable force that had dug its roots deep. Even more bizarre was that the storm and winds didn't feel like illusions, as wind Qi was invading his mind.

How could this person's presence carry wind affinity? Wasn't the cultivator using these trees as proxies for their techniques supposed to be a spatial cultivator? Could such a powerful, unknown Dual-Core cultivator really exist?

"It's impossible, you shouldn't exist!" Dorian gritted his teeth, "Such a being would have dominated the war era and become a title holder known to all who walked the realm. This is either a trick or the work of a divine being."

Unfortunately, he was becoming more convinced that he had somehow earned the ire of the latter from a higher realm. If the ash spider wasn't enough evidence, the cursed blood infecting his avatar was resistant to being cleansed by the moonlight, which means it has to carry at least a hint of divinity.

Even if I can't cleanse it with moonlight, I should... what... I can expel it... right? Dorian massaged his temples as he tried to form a coherent trail of thought. What a vile use of wind Qi—to invade my mind and blow away my thoughts and memories. What kind of ruthless being could come up with such a technique?

Dorian flooded his consciousness with lunar Qi to try and get a hold of himself. Sitting on the ground in a crossed-legged pose, he breathed deeply and pulled on the moonlight. "Elders, I need to cultivate to rid myself of this foul blood, protect me..."

Silence greeted his request.

"Feeling lonely under the moonlight, Grand Elder?" the chorus of voices said wistfully. "It's often on nights such as these that one contemplates the deeper things in life. Have you ever sat in silence with nothing but the rustling leaves to accompany you?"

"Do you ever shut up?" Dorian hissed through his clenched teeth. Not only did this person keep sprouting nonsense, but every word they uttered came with another wave of illusions that tormented him. Also, the many overlapping voices made focusing on anything it said an absolute chore.

"Elders! Come back. Stop fighting the bounty hunters." Dorian roared to the heavens with Qi-empowered words.

Still nothing.

Confused, he spread out his spiritual sense, and to his horror, he couldn't feel the presence of a single one of his Elders. Did those bastards flee? No, that was an impossibility. They all knew that if they disobeyed his orders, their entire family branch would be wiped out for the next nine generations.

Which meant there was only one other possibility. The Lunarshade Elders had all been killed within the last few minutes. Dorian stood up in a hurry and resorted to cycling his Qi for now to try and suppress the spreading blood that was slowly turning his lunar avatar into wood.

Not only are my Elders missing, but so is everyone else. Dorian frowned. He was the only one here besides some bounty hunters fleeing to the pavilion. The Duskwalker, Frostviel, Mystshroud, and Blightbane families that had been protecting the spirit tree were nowhere to be seen. Even the giant turtle of red wood that had launched the projectile at him was missing.

"Eerie, isn't it." the voices laughed, "Just you and me."

Dorian was confused. Never before had the battlefield just vanished in its entirety when he wasn't looking. He clenched his fist before letting it hang loosely at his side. Who was he supposed to throw his fist at if nobody was here? Even the pieces of the spirit tree and the black rock ship were gone.RêAd lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only

"What is your goal?" Dorian asked the sky, "Is this a joke to you? How can someone of your status run like this after murdering my son?"

"What strange wording. Who said I ran?"

"Then what would you call this?" Dorian gestured to the silent battlefield. Despite the craters and bloodstains, not a single corpse had been left behind. Blazing fires dotted the landscape like candle flames, and there were piles of melting ice. The Qi in the air was thick and chaotic, with many competing types at war to reclaim control over the environment.

Evidence of a fierce battle between dozens of high-realm cultivators was everywhere. So where were the people?

"All I see is an upcoming construction project," the voice said with a hint of amusement. "Your dungeon of sin appears to have not survived under the wrath of your big feet."

Dorian looked around, and the voice was right. This area of the city had been thoroughly destroyed, including his gambling house.

"Ashfallen Sect, right? Just you wait, I will find your hiding hole soon enough and pull you out kicking and screaming with my bare hands and make you pay for those you have killed." Dorian said spitefully.

"I'm sure we will see each other soon, and to be honest, I would be very surprised if you could make me kick or scream."

Dorian huffed in annoyance as illusionary screams carried by wind Qi filled his mind due to the voice's words. Talking with it seemed pointless, so he ignored the taunting and gathered himself.

This bastard can flee all he wants, but I will end the Ashfallen Sect. I put my name and title on it as the Grand Elder of the Lunarshade family. I will not rest or falter until this spatial cultivator is dead.

Dorian pulled on the moonlight to teleport to his family's residence. His ears popped as he reappeared in a serene moonlit courtyard.

But first, I need to rid myself of this cursed blood and restore my cultivation base. Tracking down the Ashfallen Sect, even with the help of the pavilion, may take days, if not weeks, so I should recover until then—wait, what's that?

Dorian had many questions, but the one burning in his mind was, "What are you?"

"Just a tree doing his best to protect those he cares for," the divine being replied.

"Do you have a name?"

"They call me Ashlock."

"Ashlock, eh?" Dorian grinned as he started going supernova, "Well, Ashlock, I always hated trees. They grow where they aren't wanted and dare to block the lunar goddess's loving light."

Lunar flames poured out his mouth as his Soul Core began to break down. If he was going to die here, he would take this spirit tree and everything it cared about with him by blowing up this entire region.

"You cultivators are all the same," Ashlock said.

Dorian felt his breath leave his lungs as something impaled him. Looking down, he saw a void tendril buried deep in his chest. Strength left his body, and he fell on his face. The light realm burning him retracted, and he was back on the mountain peak. Turning his head to the side with all the strength he could muster, he came face to face with his son's corpse, staring at him with wide but soulless eyes.

"Albis..." Dorian wheezed out as soul flames leaked out his eyes and ears. His son's corpse did not answer his call.

In a pile behind his son were his Elders and all his family. Though the many mortal maids he had employed were missing. Seeing his centuries of work laid out for him like this made him grimace.

The divine being had not lied. Dorian Lunarshade's bloodline really was wiped out in a single night before sunrise. Something he had thought impossible had been done so easily.

Black vines emerged from the ground below and wrapped around his body. The thorns impaled his skin, and he felt sticky fluid begin to dissolve him alive. The pain was unlike anything he had experienced in all his life as his body was dissolved and his soul broke down.

He howled as he was dying in both body and spirit.

"Goodbye, house Lunarshade," Ashlock said, colder than the moon's dark side as a void tendril appeared between him and his son and rammed into his face. "You will not be missed."

***

"Celestial Warden, Grand Elder Lunarshade has likely perished to the Ashfallen Sect."

Tiberius frowned at his Sage Advisor's words, "This is concerning on many levels. I intended to watch quietly from the sidelines and use Dorian to gauge this Ashfallen Sect's strength, but to think he would actually lose."

"Are you not glad that old fool is dead, though?"

Tiberius eyed the newest of his disciples sitting across from him in the room. It seemed that the young man was still clueless about the world.

"Why would I be? Dorian Lunarshade was a good puppet and kept the city in order when I left on business. Now, if I leave the city, who will protect it from Vincent Nightrose if he chooses to attack?"

A wave of murmurs spread through the room.

"Then what should we do about this upstart sect, Celestial Warden?" one of the more senior Sage Advisors asked while stroking his white beard, which ran down to his waist.

Tiberius stood from his seat, the scraping of his chair on the floor drawing everyone's attention. "Dorian seemed convinced the leader of the Ashfallen Sect was the reincarnation of a divine being from the higher realms before he was dragged off by the spider. Angering such a person would be unwise. Increase the threat level of the Ashfallen Sect in our records to that of a divine and treat any members from that sect with the utmost hospitality."

"But Master—"

Tiberius flexed his cultivation, and everyone fell silent.

"This Ashfallen Sect is potentially powerful beyond measure. They wiped out an old family from the war era without their leader even stepping foot in the city. We will keep them at arm's length until we understand the extent of their capabilities. Do I make myself clear?"

"Is that possible, though?" A Sage Advisor sitting in the corner of the room spoke up, "They seemed antagonistic, and our bounty hunters interfered in their battle."

Tiberius hummed in thought, "I believe they only unleashed their wrath upon the Lunarshades when that girl called Stella got injured. She was wearing the outfit of a bounty hunter and seemed after Albis's bounty, so she is likely to understand we are not at fault for the acts of the bounty hunters."

"We should bump up that girl's priority level within the pavilion," the Sage Advisor mused.

"I agree," Tiberius nodded. "For now, we play nice until we figure out if we truly face a divine being or not."

A wave of agreeable mummers spread through the room.

"Meeting adjourned," Tiberius announced, and the room was vacated. In the silence, he strode to a window and looked over Nightshade City.

"It would seem a new era may be upon us," Tiberius muttered, looking at the overgrown and destroyed Lunarshade residence on a far mountain peak. A family that had dominated the war era, commerce, and the Tainted Cloud Sect for centuries was wiped out in a single night.

All over a single girl's life being threatened. Tiberius frowned. Such actions were truly those of a divine being. When Stella inevitably returns to hand in Albis's bounty, I should have a pleasant chat with her. After all, she is the one who cursed my dear Nox.