Tiberius raised a brow in confusion as the message from the Frozen Star Sect cut out. That had most certainly been Janus Crestfallen's voice as he had spoken with the man a few times before he vanished to the far west, where the only Monarch Realm sect resided on a vast frozen plane.

"Runthey are coming for you," Tiberius muttered to himself as he dismissed the golden words and retrieved his pendant from the table. "Do you have any idea what that means, Stella Crestfallen?"

The girl was frozenstaring off into space.

We all have enemies, and one can learn a lot about another person by knowing who opposes them. So Stella... who are yours? Who hunts you from the shadows? Always lurking and waiting to strike at the slightest hint of weakness. Tiberius mused as he sat opposite Stella and patiently waited.

Eventually, Stella snapped out of her daze and met his gaze. "Sorry, I have to go," she said simply.

Tiberius frowned, "Who is after you, Stella? As your new friend, I can help."

"I appreciate the offer, but this is likely something beyond your capabilities," Stella said as she stood up, and Tiberius matched her as he also rose. She eyed him up and down with a weary smile, "I really do have to go. Sorry to cut the meeting short."

Tiberius examined her expression and struggled to get a read on her. If it was anyone else, he would command them to stay or flex his cultivation until they spilled the answer, but this girl's background was far too mysterious. He had brought her here to satisfy his curiosity and had somehow ended the meeting with more questions than answers.

I refuse to believe anything is beyond my help. Who are these people who are after her? I need to know.

Stella turned to walk toward the door.

Tiberius reached over and placed a hand on her shoulderStella froze under his grip.

"As the Celestial Warden, I can mobilize the full potential of the Eternal Pursuit Pavilion. So long as you provide the funds with the selling of your pills, then no problem or group of people is too big to run from"

Stella slowly glanced over her shoulder, and Tiberius felt the words die in his throat under Stella's gaze. Her previously tranquil eyes, with a hint of madness, had transformed into two swirling orbs of darkness that sent a chill down his spine. The red maple earrings dangling from her ears radiated power, and her hair seemed to float slightly as if defying gravity.

"Take your hand off me."

Tiberius retracted his hand.

"Good. Now stay out of my business," Stella blinked, and her eyes returned to normal, "Okay?" she insisted, offering a smile.

"Sure..." Tiberius had a cold sweat, and his hands felt clammy. This was the first time someone had dared to 'attack' him in his own study, so he hadn't been expecting it, and he was now totally convinced that no ordinary teenage cultivator could display such confidence.

She has to be an ancient cultivator like me, somehow suppressing her cultivation. She made me back off with just her gaze by showing a hint of her true wrath.

"Goodbye, Celestial Warden, and don't call for me again."

With that, Stella was gone, and Tiberius was left alone in his study. He stood there for a long while, staring at the door as he calmed down.

"Don't call on me again? Why is that the second time I have heard such a phrase?" Tiberius unceremoniously collapsed back into his chair with a sigh. The image of Stella's gaze flashed through his mind as he closed his eyes with a frown.

Stella hinted that the group after her was beyond my capabilities, which, if true, surprisingly narrows it down. Only the Celestial Order or the Frozen Star Sect could rival the power of the Eternal Pursuit Pavilion. Tiberius opened his eyes and studied the ceiling for a moment. "I don't think the Frozen Star Sect would allow such a message to be sent if they were the instigators, leaving only the Celestial Order... but they would only move after a single person if World Tree sap was involved."

Tiberius thought about the rumor he had heard.

A girl born from the World Tree went missing over a decade ago. Tiberius shook his head with a smirk. There's no way that girl is StellaI bet she is even older than me. However, I wonder how good the reward would be from the Order if I found their missing child.

***

Elaine thought she had gained more confidence from her time in the Ashfallen Sect, but she was currently a bundle of nerves as she stood before the extravagant entrance of the Voidmind residence atop Slymere mountain.

It had been years since she had last been here, yet the memories of the family looking down their noses with contempt at her as she was ushered out and banished in shame to Darklight City to study under her uncle were still fresh in her mind. The mental scars of it had run deepmade even worse knowing the treatment her superior brother received.

"They are always so slow to power down the defensive arrays." Valandor, standing at her side, grumbled as he tapped his foot with impatience, "Maybe they all died to the Skyrend family already? That would help speed up my investigation."

"Hopefully not!" Elaine half-liedthey didn't know who was listening. I do hope Mother is okay.

The plan was simple: They were to have her family lower their defenses and let her and Grand Elder Valandor enter for an inspection. Larry, still waiting in the aether, would then appear and slaughter almost everyone. There was no way her family would suspect such a ruse, as Valandor was supposed to be a faithful agent of the Nightrose family who wouldn't pick a side in a war as they benefit no matter who wins.

What my family hasn't accounted for is that another powerhouse nearby has already decided their fate. Elaine understood that Ashlock had some personal vendetta against her family after her uncle almost killed him, and her family also seemed to make great Ents, so she understood why he decided to eradicate them. I feel weirdly cold about the whole thing. Family values say I should care, but they treated me like an outcast.

There was a ripple of power across the towering black brick walls of the residence, and the silver runic lines dimmed. The defensive arrays were briefly disabled.

"Finally," Valandor clicked his tongue.

The two giant doors glided open, and two black-haired and-eyed cultivators greeted them. However, they were dressed like servants, meaning they were from one of the branch families.

"Grand Elder Valandor, we apologize for the delay." They both bowed and gestured for him to enter. "Please come inside. The Grand Elder awaits you in the main hall."

Elaine bit her lip as neither even spared her a look.

"Don't mind if I do," Valandor strode into the residence.

Elaine tried to follow behind, but the two servants moved to block her.

"Young Mistress, we are currently at war, so someone of your capabilities would only be a liability." The left one said coldly, and the right one nodded in agreement. "Please turn back."

"I'm a liability?" Elaine found that laughable as she flexed her 9th stage Soul Fire Realm cultivation, which wasn't that impressive to an Elder, but it was enough to make two servants rethink their insults as they paled. "If I am a liability, what would that make you two then?"

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The two exchanged a glance before the left one cleared his throat. "Young Mistress, don't make it difficult for us. Your Father has ordered us to prevent you from stepping onto the residence grounds."

Elaine knew she had been sent to study in Darklight City, but this was the first she had heard of being completely banned from coming home. Why would Father go so far as to tell all the servants to prevent my entry? Unless he has done something to Mother that he doesn't want me to see.

"Step aside," Elaine said coldly, "I won't tell you again."

"Young Mistress, just because you have seen a little jump in cultivation doesn't mean you can command us around"

Something inside Elaine snapped. Taking a page from Stella's book on dealing with people who are an inconvenience, her hands blurred as she grabbed their foreheads and pulsed void-tainted illusion Qi into their minds.

"The air makes your lungs feel incredibly itchy," Elaine said as she retracted her hands, wreathed in soul flames from their foreheads. Both servants dropped to the ground. Their eyes were wide as they gasped and clawed at their necks. One of them even began ripping at his clothes and drew blood by scratching his chest as he desperately tried to satisfy an itch from within.

Valandor turned around and seemed impressed, "That's truly horrific."

Elaine gave a weary smile as she retrieved a dagger from her spatial ring and tried to ignore how it trembled in her hand. Unlike Stella, such brutality didn't come as naturally to her, and now she was starting to overthink the situation.

These are just lackeys under my tyrant of a Father. They will likely die to Ashlock anyway, so I best put them out of their misery first. Elaine knew she was doing mental gymnastics to justify her actions, but it was the best she could do. The Ashfallen Sect had no use for a pacifist. Grabbing the black hair of the left one, her body clenched as she rammed the dagger into his throat. Withdrawing it and flicking off the blood, she repeated the process for the second.

Both cultivators fell flat on their faces, letting off desperate gargles before falling silent.

I did it. I actually killed them. Elaine's hand was trembling worse now as she stood over the corpses.

A portal rippled into existence, and a single black root thicker than her body drooped down and scooped the two bodies up and back to Red Vine Peak.

"I'll be honest. I believe that's my first time seeing a spirit tree do that." Valandor ran a hand through his hair, "Quite pragmatic, isn't he? Most spirit trees just sit around and wait for food to come to them."

"Yeah... he is." Elaine's gaze lingered on where the bodies had been before she deposited her dagger and walked down the corridor as memories of the place came flooding back, adding to her already unsettled mood.

"Let's head to the main hall, shall we?" Valandor asked as he took the lead.

"What if we run into people on the way?"

Valandor smirked as white flames wreathed his hand, "The Ashfallen Sect wanted this family eradicated, right? I'll deal with them. Just shout if there's someone I should leave alive."

Elaine was surprised, "Is that really fine? Won't you waste a lot of Qi?"

"It's not like I can ascend to Nascent Soul until Vincent is dead," Valandor winked before looking ahead, "So why not have a little fun with my excess Qi until then."

Elaine's lips pressed into a line. She had heard rumors about Valandor from her family, and she knew the White Reaper wasn't someone to be trifled with, but could he really deal with anyone they encountered?

"Mistress?!" A young maid with freckles that Elaine recognized cried out as she emerged from a side room holding a stack of towels that almost reached her head. "Is that you? You look so... different? Beautiful?"

Valandor casually clicked his finger, and the maid vanished, causing the stack of towels to fall to the ground.

Elaine blinked in disbelief. "Where did she go? You didn't kill her, did you?!"

"I sent her to the basement," Valandor hummed as he kept walking forward as if nothing had happened, "I have no interest in staining the walls with mortal blood. They have no Qi to prevent teleportation, so moving them is almost more efficient than killing them."

Elaine knew aether Qi was a higher form of spatial Qi as it operated with reality on a higher level, but she had never seen it used before. I remember reading in a book once that if spatial Qi was the art of tearing reality apart to forcefully create a pathway, aether Qi gave one the ability to simply phase through reality to their location. If that's the case, teleportation is likely a relatively cheap use of aether Qi, whereas it's one of the more expensive applications of spatial Qi.

The route to the main hall was uneventful except for a few more poor maids and butlers that went poof the moment they crossed paths with Valandor.

"Elaine? What are you doing here?"

Oh heavens, not this bitch of a cousin. Elaine mentally groaned as she turned to see a woman sneering at her. Veronica had always been a massive thorn in her side, as she was the eldest daughter of her Father's second wife, so she would taunt Dante and her endlessly.

"What's with that look you are giving me?" Veronica laughed through her fingers, "Come running back to Daddy for more pills just because you had a glow-up? You know they are wasted on you"

"Noisy." Valandor flicked his finger, making the stretch of reality between them and Veronica slowly ripple and wobble in a wave.

Veronica eyed the approaching attack with amusement as she casually summoned her void soul flames. "What is this?"

Oh, this isn't going to be good. Elaine thought.

The ripple didn't seem to care much for Veronica's half-baked defense, turning her arrogant expression into absolute fear as the ripple drew her in and didn't let go. She screamed as it stretched her body apart before compressing it, making her blood instantly boil and her body explode, starting from her outstretched arm and then her body.

I know she is only in the mid stages of the soul-fire realm, but that was brutal. Elaine's eyes flickered to Valandor. So that is the power of the White Reaper. I sure hope Stella never learns how to use aether. I don't think the world would be safe.

"Hey, don't look at me like that," Valandor turned away from the corridor, now dyed red. "We are conducting an investigation, remember? Those who interrupt it deserve such a fate."

"It was more the method than the killing... you are having way too much fun with it." Elaine shook her head. The main hall was just up ahead.

Valandor clasped his hands behind his back and assumed an elegant pose as he gracefully led the way, "It's not often that I get to go all out, you know? I have to flex my mastery over my techniques every few centuriesotherwise, I will get rusty."

"Sure, sure," Elaine took the lead and opened the door for Valandor, which had guards a moment ago before they poofed out of existence at the click of a finger like the rest. The aura in the main hall was chilling as they strode in under the stares of all the remaining Elders of the family and her Father, who sat on the main seat and glared at her.

"Grand Elder Valandor, welcomewait, what are you doing here, Elaine?" The Grand Elder rose from his seat. "I instructed the guards to inform you that it's too dangerous here. Return to Darklight City."

Elaine ignored him and desperately looked around for her mom. A terrible sinking feeling brewed in her stomach as she met Veronica's mom's eyes, who occupied her mother's usual seat at her Father's side. No, this can't be real. Elaine desperately looked around but couldn't see her mom anywhere else, even after searching the faces of everyone present.

"Answer your Father, Young Mistress." One of the Elders called out with a hint of disdain.

"Where is my mother?" Elaine replied. Ignoring the previous question.

Her Father's thin face, which reminded her of Dante, twisted in rage. "Your mother's whereabouts are none of your concern."

"They absolutely are, and I won't ask again," Elaine gulped as every Elder rose from their seats, eyes locked on her. "What have you done with my mom?"

"Maybe you can ask her yourself," Her Father smirked, "Elders capture her and take her to the dungeon."

The Elder, who had called out earlier and was also from Veronica's branch family, was the first to move as he vanished and reappeared before Elaine with Void Step.

"Young Mistress, please come with me."

Elaine sidestepped his grasp, "I don't think so."

"Brat," The Elder scowled, "You should learn your branch has brought too much shame upon the family and is no longer welcome here!"

"That's good to know," Elaine snapped back. "Then I won't need to feel bad about what will happen next. Larry!"

"Larry? What nonsense are you sprouting"

A portal of white flames manifested behind Elaine, and a storm of silver ash surged past her and engulfed the Elder. He howled in agony before being reduced to nothing but a pile of silver ash. The storm didn't stop there and expanded out into the rest of the room. The Elders all scrambled backward from their chairs toward the far side of the hall.

"Protect the Grand Elder!" Veronica's mom shrieked as the Elders moved to try and fight the storm.

They hurled void attacks at it, but the void dissipated against the glimmering silver ash without leaving a mark that terrified all the Elders. All the dozens of attacks managed to do was force Larry backward for a moment before he reformed and went after the weaker targets.

"You are all useless," The Grand Elder yelled as another one of his Elders was caught off guard by silver ash swirling up his legs and devouring him from below. "Why do I have to do everything myself?"

The Grand Elder summoned dozens of black holes made from the void and threw them at Larry, forcing his body to disperse. Lances of void manifested next and tore through Larryaiming for his eyes. But Larry was seemingly unfazed as his swirling body continuously reformed.

Valandor kept next to Elaine and blocked any incoming void attacks from the Elders with his aether Qi-wreathed hand. "Will the divine beast be fine?" He hissed over the chaos as he returned fire and killed an Elder.

Elaine looked up at the vague spider-shaped storm that dominated the hall's roof. He shifted around as her Father burned through his Qi reserves to fight a seemingly impossible foe.

"Come fight me, you cowardly monster!" Elaine's Father shouted, and Elaine was surprised to sense a hint of desperation in his voice. Was her Father really going to lose without doing any damage? How was this possible? It was as if the divine spider was immune to the void.

A haunted laugh echoed through the room, and Elaine recognized the voice as Larry's.

"I have no need to fight you, Grand Elder, youre already dead," Larry proclaimed in the ancient runic language that echoed through the room with power. "My Master's curse festers in your soulyour death will give birth to a new life, so rejoice!"

Elaine was confused by Larry's words, but upon narrowing her eyes at her father, she saw a part of his neck that had turned to... wood? He also stood more stiffly than usual, with his arm hanging at his side like a stick rather than a functional limb.

Is my Father turning into a tree?