Chapter 400: Anguish

[You have suffered a hit from a Nascent Soul Realm attack]

"Huh—" Ashlock's confusion was shocked out of him by a world of pain.

He had been targeting each of the warehouses Stella had identified with the help of Sullivan with desolation Qi imbued with spatial and blood dao to eliminate Vincent's blood clones. It didn't matter if they hid inside a coffin or walked around. They died all the same. What he hadn't been expecting was to receive return fire.

"What the hell, system?!" Ashlock shouted as his vision blurred, and he returned to Red Vine Peak. Sure enough, it was as if a cannonball had smashed into him, leaving a dent. Whatever the attack had been, it hadn't managed to go all the way through, and while the dent was significant enough for a person to stand in, compared to his towering body, it was the equivalent of a flesh wound.

Checking his surroundings, the Voidstorm Aegis was active, as was the illusion array around the peak that also acted as a shield.

"Why didn't you block the attack?" Ashlock asked his system as he tried to understand the situation. His main body hadn't been attacked in what felt like ages, so to suffer an attack out of nowhere despite his defense measures was terrifying.

[The Voidstorm Aegis eliminates incoming projectiles. It cannot automatically block invisible attacks from affinities such as gravity or sound that have no tangible form. It also struggles against large-scale attacks like blizzards, tidal waves, or meteor showers]

"Can't you strike the cultivator directly?"

[The Voidstorm Aegis can only attack things within the range of Red Vine Peak. The attack originated from far out of its range]

"Okay, what about the spatial shield?"

[This was a high-stage Nascent Soul Realm-level attack. While the shield absorbed some of the attack's impact, it could not block it]

"Shit, was it Vincent Nightrose?"

[I cannot say for sure. But I purged foreign gravity Qi from your body at the 8th stage of the Nascent Soul Realm, which is one of Vincent's affinities and matches his known cultivation level]

Ashlock looked in the direction the attack had likely come from.

"Darklight City... that's where he was last spotted. It really is Vincent Nightrose. But where is he?" Ashlock combed the area with his spiritual sight but couldn't see anything. A man with such a presence shouldn't be able to hide like this, especially after launching such an attack. "There's no way he ran away, right? Maybe he's using illusion Qi to hide? If so..."

Ashlock's towering trunk slowly split down the middle and parted to unveil his A-grade mutation, the Evil Eye. He swiveled to look toward Darklight City and almost couldn't believe what he saw in his red-hazed vision.

Floating above Darklight City was a warped figure.

It was as if he was peering past reality at an angel of death.

One of the upgrades he received when he unlocked the Evil Eye was true sight, which lets him see through any kind of barrier or illusion made by Qi. Yet what he saw wasn't human. While the human flesh looked like Valandor, in his true sight, he saw what Vincent truly was.

Three affinities were crushed into a single space, competing with one another for dominance. His body looked pristine on the outside, but inside, it was rotting. Bloodlines from what Ashlock assumed were monsters didn't play nicely with the rest of the vessel as Vincent was slowly turning monstrous from within.

"How is he even alive?" Ashlock was in disbelief. He had experienced what it felt like to have a soul incompatible with his body before he became fully tree. It seemed Vincent had gone the opposite route of having a soul that matched his body initially and then doing everything he could to pursue power despite what it was doing to him. In a way, that made him all the more terrifying. If he was willing to go to this length for strength, what would he do to get ahold of Stella's bloodline?

Ashlock wasn't a detective, but he suspected the million ethereal blood-colored strings cascading out of his soul to the city below gave a hint of the lengths he was willing to go. Through his Evil Eye, Ashlock could see a steady stream of Qi flowing down the strings, yet Vincent's Qi pool was so immense it hardly seemed to be affecting his soul at all.

Furthermore, rings of gravity that were so strong that Ashlock could see reality bending around them orbited Vincent like layers of shields. Even though he could see Vincent, he doubted any long-range attacks would be able to touch him through that gravity field.

"This is what a high-stage Nascent Soul Realm cultivator capable of ruling the wilderness looks like," Ashlock had seen powerful cultivators like Senior Lee before, but this was different. Vincent was in the same realm as him. He should be beatable, but Ashlock could already tell this would be a brutal fight where he would have to put everything on the line to win.

Ashlock hadn't used his Evil Eye to gaze upon Vincent thus far in fear of the man using the portal to reach Red Vine Peak. He'd only gotten to see what Vincent truly was now because of how close the man was.

Likely sensing his gaze, Vincent casually stared straight into his Evil Eye and, with a grin, unleashed a tidal wave of bloodlust in the shape of an abyssal maw of rage that surged through the skies and crashed into Red Vine Peak, engulfing Ashlock.

It had been a long time since Ashlock had felt sap-chilling fear. He was frozen in place, like a deer in headlights, as Vincent's killing aura had his soul in a vice-like grip.

[Immense mental disruption detected]

[Upgraded {Mental Protection[B]} -> {Soul Fortress [A]}]

[Soul Fortress: Your consciousness will be encased in a fortress of divine power, capable of resisting powerful mental, emotional, and spiritual intrusions. In addition, it provides immunity to weaker soul attacks and significantly mitigates the effects of higher-grade mental assaults. The skill also enables passive detection of hostile intent aimed at your consciousness, acting as an early warning system]

To his surprise, he found a distraught Stella who was holding a feral-looking man in place with telekinesis.

"Stella?"

"Tree!? What happened to you?" Stella was standing among some pieces of wood that had flown off during the earlier impact and was staring up at the sizable dent in his trunk.

"Vincent attacked me. I have him incapacitated for now, but it might not last for long." Ashlock hurriedly explained, "What is up with this guy?"

Sensing the urgency in his voice, Stella didn't waste time and explained.

"This is Sullivan, my human pet that helped me find the warehouses. We were investigating the final warehouse together under the Flamehunt residence. We found Kaelith and the rest of the Flamehunt family hanging from chains. I was trying to free them when all of them, including Sullivan here, suddenly acted crazy." Stella paused to catch her breath, "I didn't know what to do. They ripped off the chains and leaped at me. I killed one of them, and they exploded like a supernova but at the level of the Soul Fire Realm."

"I see," Ashlock switched to his Evil Eye and inspected Sullivan. "His soul core and spirit roots have been overtaken by blood Qi, which is linked to Vincent. For some reason, he is controlling them and sending them toward Red Vine Peak..." He paused as he realized Vincent's plan, "I think he is using them as decoys to distract the Voidstorm Aegis."

Stella looked confused, "Can't you just tell the array to not kill the mortals?"

"I can, but I doubt Vincent knows that. But that still leaves the issue of millions of people with the strength of a Soul Fire Realm cultivator and far more physical strength than should be possible converging on my location. Even if I don't use the Voidstorm Aegis array, I still need to deal with them somehow. Let me try something."

Ashlock used desolation Qi imbued with his relatively shallow understanding of blood dao. To his surprise, it took around as much time as melting the blood clone back in the warehouse. But in a way, it made sense, as affecting the Qi inside someone's body was a more intensive process.

Sullivan collapsed to the ground and coughed up a stomach full worth of blood. He looked deathly pale and was shaking. "What... happened to me."

"Vincent took control of your body," Stella explained, "Do you remember anything?"

"We were investigating the Flamehunt residence, and then..." His face twisted in confusion, "A voice told me that my deepest desire would be fulfilled if I made it to Red Vine Peak and touched the spirit tree. I don't know why, but I believed it with all my heart and was filled with more strength than I have ever felt to carry out this task. Why do I feel so weak now? What happened to me?"

Stella looked to Ashlock for the answer.

"His soul core has shattered under the strain. He's been reduced to a mortal." Ashlock explained. Stella grimaced and relayed what was said, and the utter despair on Sullivan's face was saddening.

"Don't worry," Stella patted him on the back, "I take good care of my pets. Surely you can try to form a new one. I'll raise you into an even more powerful cultivator than before."

Sullivan didn't seem to believe her, as he stayed kneeling on the ground and staring at his hands. "I'm a mortal now. A powerless weakling..."

"Gee, stop crying," Stella planted a truffle and a few fruits in his hand, "Eat these, and you will feel better than before." She straightened her back and asked Ashlock, "What should we do?"

"I'm not sure. Desolation Qi will be too costly to use on every individual mortal to save them from Vincent's control and will cause the beast tide to descend upon us faster. If I target the connection Vincent has with them, it might weaken them, but it is unlikely to stop them and will be a waste of Qi. I fear the only solution is to kill them."

Ashlock knew not all of the people who had taken the blood pills were part of the Eyepatch group and opposed him, but this was Vincent's plan—to weaponize the populace against him, and he wasn't in a position to be nice and try to save them all.

"Myself and the others could try and deal with them?" Stella suggested.

"There's what, a dozen of you? While these foes are weak, a million of them are heading toward us from all sides. It's like a beast tide but of humans. I could create barriers of spatial Qi to halt their advance, but that's a temporary measure. I could also try to devour them, but I will likely get overwhelmed if they all come simultaneously."

He could only make so many vines to eat prey.

Stella nodded, "I will go gather the others, and we will try to think of what to do. You focus on Vincent. But if you need my help, feel free to call on me." She vanished into the aether in a flash of white flames, leaving Sullivan alone.

Ashlock ignored the depressed guy and cast his gaze back to Vincent floating above the city, dealing with the anguish he sent his way. The incoming mortals were a big concern, but if he managed to kill the source, there was a chance they would regain their sanity.

The man was too far away from his trunk for many of his abilities to have much effect, which meant he needed to get closer.

"Bastions," Ashlock called through his root network, "It's time to rise in defense of Ashfallen."

A rumbling spread across the land as multiple islands topped with a spirit tree of various affinities and cultivation levels rose into the sky. They slowly rotated, and all began floating over Darklight and Ashfallen City toward Vincent.

"I may not be as strong as you, Vincent, but fighting a spirit tree on its home ground is simply foolish."