Ashlock left Douglas and Elaine to have their moment together and returned to Red Vine Peak, where Stella was still sulking about nobody telling her why it was romantic.

"I sometimes forget how clueless Stella is about topics that don't include killing people or making pills," Ashlock sighed, "It's not her fault though; she had nobody to raise her, and she spent all her days alone on a mountain peak talking to a tree. So, it makes sense that she is clueless about healthy human relationships as she wasn't exposed to any until recently."

That aside, Ashlock felt the setting sun on his leaves and the slowly dropping temperature signifying the coming of night. "Before I sleep, I should get those corpses off of Stella and maybe test Qi Resonance on her to see how it works."

Stella, busy sulking and trudging back to the bench, perked up when Ashlock's presence reentered her mind. Her spatial ring flashed, and she popped another Mind Fortress pill.

"Is it really fine for you to eat so many of those pills?" Ashlock asked, "Won't your body build up a resistance to their effect, or maybe you will get cavities?"

Stella tilted her head, "Cavities? What are those?"

Ashlock was confused but realized he had never seen Stella brush her teeth once, yet she had perfect pearly white teeth. "You know when teeth rot from eating too many sugary things?"

Stella blinked, "Oh! Isn't that something only mortals have to deal with due to their inferior bodies?" Stella pulled on her cheeks to show off her teeth and grinned. "Shee? Naw cwavities."

Ashlock was once again reminded that in this world, cultivators were basically a different species from the millions of mortals that inhabited Darklight City, only a few miles away.

"You don't get sick either, do you?" Ashlock said. "Or need to eat and sleep."

"Nope, those are issues for the mortals," Stella snorted, "My Star Core produces all the fuel my body needs to function, and how could I get sick with all this Qi running through my flesh."

She looked like any other teenage girl from Earth, so it was easy for Ashlock to forget she was basically a demi-god with how she could live for a thousand-plus years without aging that much and never growing tired or sick.

As someone originally from Earth, it was hard for Ashlock to wrap his head around sometimes, but he definitely felt his view of the world and the passage of time distort since becoming a magical man-eating tree.

"So, why are you always lazing around on the bench if you don't need to sleep?" Ashlock asked, half joking.

"The body and mind are two separate things. My body may be able to ignore the need for mortal things like sleep, but my mind is much the same as when I was a mortal in the Qi Realm." Stella shrugged, "I get bored sometimes and occasionally feel lazy. I have never really enjoyed cultivating all day, so I waste my time lounging on the bench reading a book or napping."

Stella then summoned her sword to her hand and sliced through the air, "However! Right now, I feel very motivated to refine my swordsmanship."

"Good for you, but would you mind handing me those corpses Elder Brent gave you first?" Ashlock asked, "I crave a light snack before I slumber."

"Tsk and you accuse me of eating too many pills," Stella rolled her eyes but smiled, "Here you go, you glutton."

A pile of corpses appeared near Ashlock's roots that seemed to immediately earn the interest of his pets. Kaida uncoiled himself from around Diana, who was busy cultivating, slithered across the mountain peak, and beelined for the corpses with his cute pink tongue flickering as if tasting the air.

Larry was a little more subtle as he crawled down from the demonic tree that Ashlock had placed next to the giant hole through the mountain peak and swiftly made his way over.

Ashlock could only sigh at the sight of his two pets patiently waiting beside the pile of corpses and giving him pleading eyes.

"Not only are sacrificial credits becoming harder to get with my rising cultivation as I have to keep seeking out stronger corpses but there seem to be more mouths to feed and skills eager to consume my hard-earned credits lately," Ashlock grumbled as he summoned a thorn-covered vine that emerged from a crack in the stone.

"It's fine, though. Kaida and Larry are part of my strength, and I'm curious to see how powerful Kaida will become when he reaches B grade." Ashlock mused, "I should send Kaida into the Mystic Realm, but should he go alone or alongside someone? I guess I can decide that in the coming days..."

Ashlock felt hunger rise within him as blood from the corpses leaked through the grass and stone and down into his roots so his trunk split open to reveal his {Demonic Eye}, and he gazed down at the pile.

"You two just wait there a moment. Let me sort through these corpses first." Ashlock used the spike on the end of the vine to skewer the corpses one by one and then bring them in front of his eye for inspection.

"Weak, not even in the Soul Fire Realm." Ashlock chucked the first corpse into a pile near Kaida. "Better, but this one has formed Dragon Marrow." Ashlock placed that corpse near Larry.

A similar pattern of putting any Qi Realm monsters near Kaida and those with Dragon Marrow near Larry continued until Ashlock finally found a corpse worth devouring.

"This must be that peak Soul Fire Realm Lurkshadow variant which took Kyle's arm and forced Elder Brent to return with so many injured youths."

Ashlock moved that corpse near his trunk and would eat it later. He could revive it as an Ent, but since it wasn't in the Star Core Realm and he already had Khaos, which was a superior version and a true apex predator capable of one-shotting a peak Star Core Merchant with life-saving artifacts, he didn't see the point and would rather have the credits. After all, this Lurkshadow variant had failed to kill a single Redclaw despite getting the jump on them.

"It's a shame that none of the Soul Fire Realm corpses I have given Larry so far were earth Qi. Some of the Qi Realm corpses were, but there's no way I am giving Douglas a Qi Realm Ent. It would be basically useless."

Ashlock continued skewering the corpses and dumping them into piles, and after a while, he now had three distinct groups.

"Larry, you can eat those corpses, but leave the bones behind as they contain Dragon Marrow, a useful alchemy ingredient," Ashlock said through their mental link.

"As you wish, Master," Larry replied in his gruff accent, "I graciously accept this food and will honor you as I eat it."

"No need to go that far, Larry," Ashlock chuckled, "But consider this payment for the fact you will guard me while the others are in the Mystic Realm."

It did bring Ashlock a level of concern with him sending so many of his strongest people into the Mystic Realm. Especially with the strange behavior of the monsters recently to the east, the chance of Nox coming back with friends, and the fact he didn't know the status of the war between the Voidmind and Skyrend family.

"Wait, didn't Nox flee to the east? There's no way she has anything to do with the sudden frenzy of the monsters... right?" Ashlock didn't enjoy this feeling of threats breathing down his nonexistent neck, but he also needed his allies to grow in power and fast. Telling them not to enter when others did and causing their cultivation to fall behind wouldn't be fair. Larry was an exception, as he was already so strong that the others were playing catch up to him.

"Master, it is my honor to stay by your side." Larry gave a spider equivalent of a bow and then began to carefully pick at his food and leave the bones behind. Something Ashlock couldn't do as his black vines devoured everything, including flesh, bones, weapons, armor, and even spatial rings.

Ashlock watched Larry eat for a moment and decided everything would be fine. He just needed to keep his guard up. "Kaida, you can eat all of those Qi Realm corpses to your heart's content. They would likely give me a single credit each, whereas they will bring you closer to that B-grade evolution."

Kaida hissed happily and then unhinged his jaw. Since he was the size of a massive python, he could gulp down multiple corpses without changing his body other than making him a bit wider.

"Why do you two reflect your master so much," Stella laughed from the side as she swung her sword around and watched Kaida and Larry devour their portions with glee.

The ground rumbled slightly as Ashlock pulled on the root network for nutrients, and many more black thorn-covered vines sprung from gaps in the rock and began to coil around his pile of Soul Fire corpses. The hissing sound of melting flesh and the occasional cracking bone filled the courtyard as they were reduced to nothing within minutes.

[+37 SC]

[+48 SC]

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[+45 SC]

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Ashlock felt a slight tingle as he absorbed the Qi from the corpses. It left him feeling... unsatisfied. As if he had been starving and gotten a single slice of bread that hardly sated him for but a moment.

"Compared to when I devoured Nox's shadow that tasted delicious and filled my body with Qi, this just hardly feels like a meal," Ashlock sighed as he summoned his system.

Idletree Daily Sign-In System

Day: 3549

Daily Credit: 7

Sacrifice Credit: 449

[Sign in?]

"So that pile of corpses gave me less than 400 credits as I already had 80 credits, which is a bit less than what Nox's shadow gave me, so why did it feel so immensely less satisfying?" Ashlock looked within himself and soon found the answer. His system may have rewarded him with credits for his troubles of eating weak corpses, but his Star Core had hardly grown from the Qi.

"The difference between Star Core and Soul Fire really is that of an entire realm. It's like eating a single grape instead of a whole apple... damn, I'm hungry. All I can think of is food metaphors."

"Still hungry, Tree?" Stella said with a hint of amusement, "I can feel your presence restlessly looking at Larry and Kaida's piles."

Both Larry and Kaida reacted differently to Stella's tease.

Kaida hissed aggressively and coiled his tail protectively around his food. Meanwhile, Larry seemed concerned. "Master, please eat my share if you desire. This humble servant can go and source my own food."

"Stella is messing around, ignore her," Ashlock sighed. He really had no desire to steal food from his pets.

With his meal complete, Ashlock's Star Core was now mostly filled, and he had a nice stockpile of credits to use if anything were to happen while everyone was in the Mystic Realm.

"Nearly five hundred credits gives me enough to use {Dimensional Overlap} to summon a pocket realm to fight within and plenty left over for {Consuming Abyss}. It's the perfect amount where I'm not tempted to sign in for a gacha pull but enough to fight with."

Ashlock pondered, "Although... I would like some more credits, but how can I get them in such a short time? There's nothing much out there in the wilderness within my root range, and if I send Larry or my Ents to go hunting, they might not return in time for the opening of the Mystic Realm."

There was also the risk that if he sent a single Ent to investigate the area with frenzied monsters, he would lose that Ent forever and maybe aggro the beast if a peak Star Core or even Nascent Soul Realm monster made that area its territory.

"Decisions, decisions..." Ashlock mulled over his options. With Larry and Sol at his side, he should be able to defeat anything. If he can't with those two alone while fighting around his trunk, then the fact the others were here wouldn't make a difference.

"Fuck it, let's focus on working out the Spatial Lock technique, as that will really help me." Ashlock used {Abyssal Whispers} again on Stella and saw her pause midswing and swivel her head to look at him in confusion.

"Yes, Tree?" Stella mentally replied to his presence in her mind.

"I want to practice a new spatial technique on you that I have been working on. Would that be okay?"

"Depends," Stella replied as she rested the sword on her shoulder, "what does this technique do?"

"It's called Spatial Lock. It was in that Azure Clan book you showed me," Ashlock replied, "I believe I have discovered the first layer to it but need to test it on a spatial cultivator such as yourself."

"Can't you use Titus for that?" Stella tilted her head.

"I guess... no, actually, I can't," Ashlock dismissed that idea, "Titus can't speak to provide feedback. It would be like putting a rock in a cage and asking if it liked it in there."

"Fine, whatever." Stella shrugged. "I will provide the feedback you desire."

"Thanks," Ashlock replied, "just tell me if you feel anything, and keep trying to make portals around yourself."

"Okay," Stella snapped her fingers, and portals appeared around her.

Ashlock shifted his {Demonic Eye} and concentrated on Stella. His usual spirit sight could not see those ripples in the ambient Qi that he needed to resonate with for the Spatial Lock to work.

Due to his mutual understanding built up with heaven over his past meditation sessions, when he mentally thought about activating his new Qi Resonance technique, his vision of the world shifted, and he could now see the ripples coming from himself, Kaida, Larry, and Stella.

Ashlock saw that his ripples were large like tsunamis of power gushing out of his trunk and traveling down the mountain for many miles. Meanwhile, Stella's were rapid and fizzled out after a few meters.

"This might be a bit harder than I thought." Ashlock wrestled with his Star Core and tried to force it to let out less powerful and smaller waves at a rate similar to Stella's. To his surprise, it worked. His Star Core dimmed, the tsunamis ceased, and intense but faster waves of Qi rippled out.

Stella's face instantly shifted to one of concern as the portals around her began to wobble.

"Talk to me, Stella. What is happening."

"I'm losing control of my portals?!" She shouted aloud. Her voice was panicked, and Ashlock saw the ripples of her soul speed up. Moments later, she regained control of her portals.

"Huh, the purple monster in my vision couldn't alter their soul ripples to fight back," Ashlock readjusted his Qi Resonance and once again seized control of the portals.

This game of cat and mouse continued for a while. Stella kept speeding up the ripples of her soul, and Ashlock would match it in kind within a few seconds.

Eventually, Stella collapsed to the ground with sweat dripping from her nose, and her breathing was erratic. The ripples of her soul were all over the place and no longer consistent, so she couldn't maintain any control of the surrounding portals.

"What did you do to me?" Stella cursed to the ground, earning the attention of Larry, who had finished his meal.

"There's no need to be alarmed. All I did was match my soul's influence on the surroundings to yours." Ashlock mused, "It seems that because I have a higher cultivation stage and, therefore, finer control, I won out in the end."

After a few seconds of recovery, Stella staggered to her feet, slowed down the ripples, and once again regained control. "I see, but other than making my portals a bit unstable for a moment, I wouldn't call this a Spatial Lock."

"I agree. There is another stage to this technique, I'm sure of it. Once I resonate with someone's soul ripples, I should be able to stop them from casting any more techniques." Ashlock sighed, "But I feel that the next step is far away."

"Master, try me," Larry said as he stood between him and Stella. His many scarlet eyes looked into his without fear.

Ashlock somehow felt pressured by looking at Larry through his {Demonic Eye}. He knew Larry was one of his strongest members, but was he really touching the realm of Nascent Soul? Or was he perhaps already in that realm to pressure him like this?

"Fine, this will be a good test even though you don't have any movement techniques I know of," Ashlock said.

To his understanding, Spatial Lock was designed to stop any type of movement technique, but maybe it was far more than that? Why should it only work on movement techniques? Why shouldn't he be able to use Qi Resonance to disrupt a weaker foe's techniques and basically cripple them?

Larry's presence began to rapidly increase as the halo of ash orbiting his crown of horns began to spin faster and faster. Soon, massive waves of Qi rivaling Ashlock's began to ripple out and down the mountain peak.

Ashlock had a sneaking suspicion he was going to lose.