Depthless Hunger-Chapters 485-488

Chapter 485: Final Kiss of Death

Victory should have been within their grasp, yet it remained infuriatingly just out of reach. As she fought, Zae Zin Nim did her best to swallow her frustration and not allow it to reduce her focus. Against a Sky Soul like this, she needed to maximize all the phase training she'd received on Deadwaste, constantly fighting at the peak of her strength.

With multiple crowns active, the Grand Crown patriarch was a formidable opponent. Unlike the Poison Prince, who relied too much on his Immortal Body, the old man was thoroughly reinforced in both body and soul. If it was just a hand to hand battle, she thought she would still be superior.

Unfortunately, he refused to engage in a consistent exchange of techniques. Because he constantly lashed out with concentrated bursts of his presence technique, her martial arts needed to be substantially better just to keep up with him.

In the early moments of the battle, she had nearly fallen because all of the sect cultivators had joined in and supported their patriarch. Zae Zin Nim had taken an injury that would once have been severe, yet her new body continued to fight. She managed to finish most of the supporting sect members, but their opponents alone were trouble enough.

At her back, Omilaena was fighting against the Poison Prince, which was a similar stalemate. Both of them were resistant enough to the other's poisons that they couldn't end the battle quickly, and their needles and flying swords canceled one another out. Omilaena might actually have been losing, if she didn't have her ice qi to freeze many of the flying swords that menaced her.

If they could just switch... Omilaena's poison was clearly effective against the patriarch, and Zae Zin Nim could overwhelm the physically weaker Poison Prince. But their opponents were clearly thinking exactly the same thing, and every time the women tried to switch places, the men countered cautiously. Unlike many cultivators, these two were actually adept at working together.

But could they really compare? Whenever Zae Zin Nim looked at her wife, she had to be careful not to become entranced. Omilaena was at her most elegant in the middle of battle, spinning gracefully as she deflected swords and unleashed needles in the same movements. That beauty had confused her so much once, because she both wanted it and wanted to be it, but now she was finally in balance, realizing that she could have both.

Now, if only the enemy would just cooperate.

"You cannot win!" the Grand Crown patriarch bellowed. "Your tricks are useless, and you will only be more outnumbered as we fight!"

More inner sect members appeared on the rooftops over Omilaena, preparing to unleash qi attacks on her. Zae Zin Nim acted before she knew what she was doing, turning and unleashing a Coldfire Palm. It demolished half the wall as well as the cultivators, but left her back open.

She saw that Omilaena had spun as well, hurling needles into the cultivators who had been behind Zae Zin Nim's back. For a moment they faced one another, then they had no choice but to split up as their true opponents closed on them in their moment of distraction.

When Zae Zin Nim tried to target the Poison Prince instead, the crown technique slammed over her, battering her backward. More cultivators appeared on flying swords, these smart enough to stay at a distance and begin some sort of restricting formation. Omilaena spared a moment to pick off some of them, but in the process received a nasty cut to her arm from one of the poisoned swords.

Then there was no time for anything but defense, because the Grand Crown patriarch was using his full power against her. No, more than his full power... the cultivators around him were imparting strength that made his body and crown swell even further. His fists grew heavier and heavier until eventually Zae Zin Nim failed to block one: the blow struck her shoulder and she tumbled backward. Before her bodily transformation she might have been ripped apart, but she was still disoriented and vulnerable.

"This is the beginning of the end!" the patriarch declared. "Beg if you want, it is too late for mercy! Anything you want to do before you die miserably, do it now!"

Zae Zin Nim was surprised when Omilaena pulled her to her feet, since that would create an opening. It seemed like they had a brief moment together, because their opponents were still preparing for their final assault. All they could do was stare into one another's eyes... no, Omilaena suddenly moved forward and kissed her, and Zae Zin Nim struggled in surprise before she went still.

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The kiss itself stunned most of those watching and Omilaena spun away cackling like a madwoman. Zin Nim remained where she had been kissed, eyes wide, hands raised over her mouth.

The patriarch snorted and shook his head. "Foolish women! Love will not save you now!"

"Wasn't expecting it to," Omilaena said as she spun up two more needles. The truth was that she was getting slower, though, and couldn't keep generating metal for long.

"I'm disappointed." The Poison Prince advanced on her, even more swords floating around him as other cultivators hurled their own to join his technique. "Does the lady of poison really have such a soft side?"

"What, do you not have genitals?"

"Every woman I have ever been with has died, because the poison in my body is too potent."

Omilaena sighed. "Yeah, I've heard that before. You're really missing out."

The next assault was brutal, more swords than she could possibly defend against effectively. She threw herself into pure defense with no hope of striking back, just retreating and trying to buy as much time as possible.

From the corner of her eye, she saw that Zin Nim still appeared to be stunned, fingers on her lips. The patriarch had no emotional compunctions and advanced on her, looming closer and closer as he hammered down blows with fists and qi.

Then, just as he prepared his finishing blow, Zin Nim exhaled a cloud of poison into his face.

It had been a wild strategy, but when Omilaena had kissed Zin Nim, she had breathed out a stream of concentrated poison. The other woman's lungs must be filled with it, but Omilaena had spent many delicious hours building up her resistance to those very poisons. Quickly understanding, Zin Nim had held her breath and contained the pressurized poison until the patriarch got into range.

The cloud of poison didn't travel as quickly as it could from Omilaena, but it still enveloped the patriarch. He cried out in pain, striking himself again, and would have been vulnerable to Zin Nim... but she reversed direction.

As she moved toward Omilaena, the smaller woman hit the sword of blades, her arms and legs flying, each movement shattering another sword. Omilaena grinned at her and they swung around one another, so that Omilaena was practically hurled at the weakened patriarch.

He had managed to escape death, staggering out of the cloud while coughing up blood, but he was too weakened to avoid Omilaena's syringe. This time she injected a purely physical technique directly into the muscles of his neck, and when the patriarch tried to strike his chest and expel it, he realized too late that his cultivation dispelling method was ineffective. Before he was even dead, Omilaena leapt away, striking down the cultivators who had attempted to encircle them.

That also gave her an opportunity to look at Zin Nim, who was utterly dominating the Poison Prince once they got into melee range. He did his best to keep up, and Omilaena could practically see his false immortality burning away as he channeled the power to strengthen himself, but it couldn't compare to Zin Nim's precise strikes.

Around the same time Omilaena finished off the other cultivators, Zin Nim finally landed a direct palm strike. Already pushed to the limit, the Poison Prince ejected so much blood he actually looked paler before he collapsed. Then, surprisingly quietly, it was only the two of them standing in the destroyed courtyard.

"Are you okay?" Zin Nim asked.

"Better than okay!" Omilaena hopped down beside her. "Grab the bodies, quick!"

Spatial items couldn't support life, but the high quality versions they'd gotten from the elves could hold corpses. Now Omilaena had the poison-rich corpse she'd always wanted, plus the Grand Crown patriarch as a bonus prize.

"They... they probably got out word," Zin Nim said carefully, struggling not to smile. "This is actually quite serious. We should go."

"Yes, we probably should." Omilaena took a step closer to the other woman, considering just how she might tease her. After fighting in such a pitched battle, coordinating so well, Omilaena was not letting her get any sleep that night.

Abruptly there was a surge of qi from one of the dead cultivators, a fallen medallion erupting into an explosion. They both grabbed one another, trying to shield the other, as they leapt away from it. But there were other medallions detecting the death of their owners, and the explosions themselves would draw other enemies. Given their current location, the situation was actually rather serious.

Still, as Omilaena ran with Zin Nim away from the cascading explosions, she laughed for the joy of it.

Chapter 486: Farewells on Deadwaste

By the time Kai returned with the last major piece, the construction of the new ship was essentially complete. Many were unsettled that he planned to use a Sky Soul cultivator as a battery, but Wan Fei was struggling to maintain his health against the poison and cooperated in any case. If he did decide to turn on them, Kai could finish him off and power the ship himself.

He didn't think that would be necessary, though. Something brittle in the old man had broken, leaving him adrift.

Since the Frontier elites had apparently decided they were betting on him, he now had easy access to teleportation across Deadwaste. Kai tried not to abuse the privilege, only going to locations that were absolutely necessary. He heard that Gunjin had spoken in his favor, but his former adopted father didn't make a single appearance. There was no time for him to visit the Elemental Nations or Irun, either, and unfortunately Tusquo declined to join the training group.

That had gone well, actually expanding beyond what he'd expected. Kai wasn't so certain who all would be present once he got to the ship. For his part, he finished the extraction of his manticore tattoo, leaving Pyrinye and Juray with a large bottle of mana ink each. The dryad healer said she would be working on her end, then said farewell to Juray when Kai took her to Krysal.

In his soul, the tattoo had wavered at 1%, then disappeared at 0%, yet something had remained, something he couldn't see in his spiritual vision. Less a presence than an absence, like a new hunger of a type he hadn't known before. All his efforts at examining it with spiritual sight had failed to resolve anything, so he planned to ask Omilaena.

Once Kai and Juray arrived at Krysal, she met up with the Tonjin brothers and headed off to the ship. Kai would have done the same, but he was interrupted by Razz to discuss final details. They took a longer path on the ground to the docks at the west end of Yulthens.

"I've coordinated things, but honestly there wasn't much to do," Razz told him. "You barely even need to consider normal supply issues because you can carry everything in that ring of yours."

"We need food and other things, though," Kai said. "Thanks for handling the details."

"I just wish I could do more. Everyone else here is training, preparing for the incursion, and I... even if I started now, I'd be so far behind..."

"Hey." Kai stopped walking and put a hand on the other man's shoulder. "People like me are good at destroying things, but we're terrible at building or supporting anything. If not for Krainuun, everything I did in Krysal would have just left it a ruin. Honestly, I wouldn't have accomplished much in Rayakan if not for your help."

"I guess so." Razz gave him a weak smile. "It's just that when monsters come rushing out, or even those invaders, it feels like I'm useless."

"Sure, but remember that strength isn't built in a day. Hunters won't gain that strength unless there's a system that helps that happen. Thinking that only the tip of the spear matters is foolish. In the long run, you'll be worth a lot more than one more hunter."

"Thanks, Kai. Good luck. But... I think I disagree about you not being able to build anything."

Before Kai could ask what he meant, Razz gestured forward, toward the docks. The ship floated over the Krysali vessels like an ethereal diamond, a web of unusually fine lines that roughly formed an arrowhead. Most of the ship was composed of Wind Union wood, which was supernaturally light, but the prow and critical components were qi crystals. Apparently other factions had joined in as well, so there were joints of Irunian metal and even Goralian mana shielding.

It didn't seem quite fair to say that he'd created the ship, but Kai supposed that he could be proud he was the impetus. He said farewell to Razz with a little more encouragement, promising that they'd meet before the incursion. Then Kai headed upward to prepare to leave.

Before he reached the main crowd, he found that Krainuun and a few other administrators were waiting for him. The short man looked up at him and nodded curtly.

"If it works, it's a beautiful design. You sure about this?"

"Sure as I can be," Kai said. "I need to get back quickly."

"I don't want to hold you, but there is one little political issue: the name." Krainuun turned aside and gestured to a blank spot on the prow. "What to call this vessel was a topic of contention, actually. Lots of support for grandiose names like 'Krysal's Light' and so on. The Frontier elites didn't want it named, but I think that's a waste of good propaganda. In the end, you should choose."

"Me? I have no idea what to pick, so I'd just waste that propaganda, as you put it."

"Anything from you would be better. It could be 'Kai's Fortune' for example."

"That feels like a bad idea." Kai looked over the ship, hoping for some inspiration, but nothing came to him. "Does it have to follow that naming format?"

"Actually, no." Krainuun shuffled his papers as if in mild distaste. "That is actually a very Krysali way of naming things. If you let the Elemental Nations pick, it would something like Windpiercer or Wavestorm. Any common naming format would give prestige to that nation, as if it belongs more to them. Which is very relevant, if you do give the ship to the elites later."

"So a neutral name would be better?"

"If possible."

"What if we just call it the Clanless?"

Kai hadn't been certain what he was going to say before the words were out of his mouth, but it felt right. He was afraid that the name would end up being too Goralian, but when he looked back to Krainuun, the smaller man smiled and nodded. A moment later a crystallier floated up to etch the name into the crystalline plate.

"This is, of course, just the start." Krainuun turned to him and lowered his voice. "It's been almost five years since you left us... I've managed during that time, but we can't survive the incursion without help. If you want anything we did to endure, it needs to be defended, or it will be washed away like every ineffective system."

"I'll be back on time." Kai put his hand on Krainuun's shoulder and met his gaze. "We have a lot of things to talk about, but after."

"As you say." Krainuun stepped back and then there was no one else standing in his path, only those he would be traveling with.

Inafay and Orotaisin were flying around the ship and waved to him as they passed. Juray and the Tonjin brothers had already boarded, leaning over the railing of the deck to look at Yulthens. He was invisible from the outside, but Wan Fei was locked beside the engine, feeding it a supply of qi.

Those were the only people he knew. The rest of the ship was filled with over a dozen people, partially crew and partially potential trainees. He'd only heard a little about them, since he'd been traveling across the continent too much. They were rejects and misfits from across Deadwaste, people who had progressed despite their lack of potential. Just from his current position, he saw Irunians, a naiad, even someone who might have been from Birtaegal. A part of him didn't want to deal with all these random people.

And yet... they typically had around 100 Power, in systems different from their home nation. They were just like him: they had succeeded despite the odds, except that everyone believed they had reached the limits of their potential. Kai had proved them wrong, despite so few giving him a chance... he hoped that he could be a leg up for all of these people.

The one thing they didn't have was a dryad. Kai was disappointed that he had never run into the dryad who had participated in his Hunter Trials, as if that should have been a fated reunion. He supposed that it wasn't a surprise, given how there were millions of dryads, including hundreds who participated in the Goralian program, and in the end he didn't actually know her name.

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Too late now. It was time to leave.

Kai rose into the air, taking care not to create a thunderclap, and drew everyone's attention. "Are we ready to go?" he called. He got a chorus of replies, scattered but enthusiastic.

Then he touched down on the newly christened Clanless and commanded them to leave. For a moment the vessel simply hummed, and the crowd held their breath to see if something would go wrong, or whether Wan Fei would sabotage them, or whether the launch would be interrupted. But gradually the vessel lifted into the air and the crowd cheered to see it rise over the city walls.

It was almost baffling that he'd come this far. He'd been a rejected son of Goralia, then the leader of a revolution, always on the outside of the proper Frontier. This time he had not only had the Frontier elites assisting them, he had commanded the nations of Deadwaste to cooperate and they actually did. He wasn't under the illusion that it was always be so easy, but it was still a remarkable feat.

Once they reached the proper altitude, the ship leapt into motion. Kai was accustomed to such speeds, but he saw many of the others fall over, tumbling to the back of the ship. Only one person fell off, and Inafay quickly snatched her up, so soon everyone was laughing about it.

They really were streaking over the ocean with incredible speed, even faster than Cloudspire ships. Soon Yulthens disappeared behind him, and with it, Kai's thoughts about Deadwaste.

He cared about those on the ship with him, and eventually he'd need to prepare them all for the incursion. It had been good to reconnect with so many... but now he had to return to Cloudspire for something far more important.

Chapter 487: Blazing Across the Ocean

Between storms, monsters, and sheer distance, it was generally said that travel between continents required roughly three months. They were on track to do it in one.

Kai spent most of his time monitoring the engine or their path, which meant cultivating while focusing on qi. Given that he risked sucking in too much of the qi they needed to fly, however, he needed to pace himself. When he walked up to the deck, which was usually empty due to the intense winds, he found Inafay at the very front, standing on the prow and embracing the wind.

"I think this is the fastest I've ever flown." Her words were nearly lost in the wind, but Kai's monstrous hearing could pick them up.

"Seems like you enjoy it," Kai said as he stepped up beside her.

"It's different. Flight with my Class and flight with elemental powers vary so much... and this is something different yet. It's fascinating. I love the rush from each."

He remained silent, since for him the wind in his face had been nothing but an irritant. Just something in his way as he tried to get somewhere he desperately needed to go. Right now, that meant returning to Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena.

"I've always loved the wind," Inafay said even softer. "Since I was a child, well before my Class. I wonder if that's luck, or fate, or nothing?"

Kai hoped that it was nothing, because otherwise he wasn't sure what that said about him and his useless Class. Then again, if it had brought him here... no, he didn't want to hand fate any credit. A long time ago Gunjin had said everything was dumb luck, and he still agreed.

Which meant he had no promise whatsoever that they would arrive in time.

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In between training sessions, Kai tried to get to know the new recruits, but it was a struggle on both ends. For his part, his attention was too focused on the wives he'd left behind and he didn't have the energy to invest in new relationships. For their part, he was an infamous figure they couldn't quite believe existed, so none of them had any heart-to-heart conversations.

Still, he managed to learn a little more about them and all the ways they had been considered ruined. There was a Water Union noble trained from birth in his family's arts, only to awaken Flameborn powers. A naiad with a wasting illness that prevented her from developing her fundamental essence. An Irunian warrior who had ended up with Bronze-tier metal, just like Kai had years ago. A Goralian woman who had ended up with the Builder Class, which would have been useful for support except she insisted on trying to become a warrior. A Krysali with incredible knife skills who had too many noble ties to be accepted by the new revolutionary regime.

It was too many people and too many stories. He knew on some level that each of them was engaging in a struggle just as important as his was to him, but he couldn't spend time with all of them. All he could do was hope that, in the wake of all the destruction he caused, things would change enough to make a difference.

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When they neared Darkmist Island, Kai took over navigation. He couldn't stop everyone from learning the rough location of the island, which hopefully wasn't a concern in any case, but he could prevent them from figuring out the illusory mist that made it so difficult to find. Having already entered and exited the island multiple times, he took them in from a high angle.

It seemed like they were plunging directly into the ocean, and he heard many letting out cries of shock or fear. Then abruptly they passed through the barrier and the mist went from invisible to shadowy, revealing the small island underneath. The worried cries transformed into wonder as he reduced speed and floated down under the caldera to the central sweep of the island.

There wasn't a place to land proper airships, but the plains had plenty of empty space and he only needed to pick an area where they hadn't discovered any plants of particular value. The others should have begun locking down the airship but they remained, and he realized they might be intimidated by the intensity of the power in the air. It was a rich mix of mana, chakra, and qi... though it had been richer before Kai and his wives had spent their honeymoon there.

Kai jumped off the ship, twisting in midair so he was facing the riders. "Welcome to Darkmist Island!" He gestured for all of them to disembark. "There weren't many dangerous monsters when we were here a few years ago, and we cleared them out then. So remain cautious, but there's probably nothing to worry about."

They began to emerge, Inafay tugging Orotaisin out first, then the others following more hesitantly. Many jumped off the sides to explore, while Juray and some others used the normal exit ramp. She moved up beside him, not really looking in his direction while her eyes swept over the landscape.

"You implied we weren't staying long?" she asked.

"We can take one night," Kai asked. "Then we have to leave you."

"Mm." Juray walked on, something odd in her tone. Kai wanted to ask her about it, but she was followed by the Tonjin brothers, who were staring in wide-eyed wonder.

Raghi adjusted his Irunian gauntlets nervously. "Sure this place is safe?"

Lofgan let out a low whistle. "This place feels... too concentrated for us."

"Never fear!" Kai wrapped an arm around the men's shoulders and pulled them inward. "This is the sort of place Fhazi and other princelings only wish they could train in. Well, now you two are getting your chance. I have some ideas for how you might work on your Physique..."

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Kai woke up slowly, feeling strangely cold. His body never really got cold, not anymore, and he realized that he was actually feeling the absence of the usual warmth. Normally Omilaena and Zae Zin Nim would have been beside him and the large bed felt very empty without them.

He sat up, starting a day slowly for the first time in ages. On the day of their arrival he had rushed from place to place, trying to get everything set up before reluctantly taking the night to rest. Juray was set up with some of Omilaena's equipment, the Tonjin brothers had a training courtyard, and the others all knew which parts of the island were safe or risky. None of them were cultivators, so he'd asked them to stay out of Zae Zin Nim's Immortal's Cave, but let them siphon qi from the barrier. He'd lit the braziers in the mana altar with the strongest mana he could for everyone who needed it.

In theory, everything was set up for him to move on. Kai rose and didn't even need to dress, as the Beggar King's Robes had fully recovered and shifted to cover him as normal clothes. That meant he needed to do basically nothing to prepare for the day, which perversely left him feeling unprepared.

Inafay and Orotaisin had been in one of the guest bedrooms, and he expected to find them there, but to his surprise they were gone and the bed was neatly remade. Maybe they'd already made plans. He walked on, saying farewells to the others or giving final words of advice. No Juray to be found either.

When he reached the Clanless, he found Juray waiting for him with a strange look on her face. Judging from her disheveled hair and the rings under her eyes, she hadn't slept at all the night before. She clearly had something in her small spatial bag, the way she kept her hand in it, but he let her speak first.

"I know it wouldn't be safe to go with you," she said formally, "but I wanted to leave you something. Unfortunately, I think you've grown beyond the point where my potions would help you much."

"That's alright," Kai began, "I want you to prepare for the incursion instead of-"

"Let me finish. I can't make a potion for you, but that doesn't mean I can't make something with powerful enough materials. I've been working on combining Classes and elemental powers..." Juray revealed a potion that was almost blindingly green. "This is derived from Inafay and Orotaisin, and it's the strongest wind defense I can create. I thought it might help, if you're fighting the Brightwind sect... or at least you could do something with it."

"This is impressive." Kai took the bottle carefully, turning it in his hands as he felt the power within. "It's such concentrated wind... Zae Zin Nim has never focused on the wind abilities of her sect, so this could help."

"That's what I'd hoped. Come back to us." Juray hugged him one more time, then pulled back with a strange smile.

With that, Kai was almost done. He saw Inafay and Orotaisin flying overhead and they shot down to land on the deck, Inafay waving cheerfully. There had been some discussion about whether or not they alone would come to Cloudspire and it seemed like they had made their decision.

Time to go. This was the second time Kai had left Darkmist Island, and this time he felt no loss, only urgency.

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The second leg of the trip had a completely different character than the first. Because Kai had learned to control the ship himself, he'd left the crew on Darkmist Island with all the trainees. That meant they had just four people on board, which transformed the Clanless from a crowded boat to a surprisingly roomy ship.

For their part, Inafay and Orotaisin spent a lot of time together in little corners of the ship. They hadn't been intimate given the cramped quarters before, so they clearly wanted some final moments together before the danger began. He wished them well, even if it reminded him of what he was missing... so he tried to avoid them more often than not.

Which left Grandpa Wan Fei, seated beside the engine.

The old man sat cross-legged, circulating his qi as he fed it into the engine of the Clanless. Kai had watched him closely at first, but the cultivator hadn't once attempted to sabotage anything. In fact, though he looked physically and spiritually exhausted, his back was straighter than before, and when Kai entered, the old man's eyes were clear and sharp.

"Are you planning to dispose of me once we reach Cloudspire?" he asked.

"Would you believe any answer I gave?" Kai sat down opposite him.

"If you were a son of Cloudspire, no. You, however... I think you have a strange commitment to honesty, when it isn't in your interest to lie."

"I'm planning to let you go like we agreed. Yes, you know more about me than I'd like, and you could try to use that against me. But I would like to believe that you've changed."

Grandpa Wan Fei's eyes fixed on him sharply. "And...?"

"And if we survive the coming conflict, you won't be a threat to us anymore." Kai gave a savage grin. "You know how we're taking on some of the strongest patriarchs on the continent. We have significant room to grow yet."

"I believe in your strength, but..." Grandpa Wan Fei shook his head. "Do you really believe that you can change Cloudspire? Our traditions are ancient, and our ways are burned deep into our natures. We are... not the same as you are on Deadwaste."

"And you really haven't changed over time? That sounds like the belief of someone who hasn't studied much history." Kai shrugged, not wanting to get into a debate. "But no, I don't expect to change much. What I want most is to take down Zae Clen Ban so that my wife doesn't have the fear of him hanging over her. If we can do that, we can mop up any remaining opponents."

Whether or not his answer was satisfactory, he couldn't be sure. Grandpa Wan Fei stared at him for a long time, then closed his eyes and focused on the journey.

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Kai stood on the deck of the Clanless, staring out into the ocean. If his calculations were correct, they would have made the journey in a month, just as planned. That might be a record, not that it mattered in any meaningful sense. What mattered was timing.

They had eight months until the incursion struck Deadwaste... or so they hoped. There was some flexibility in the exact timing, which meant he needed to be all the more cautious. Presuming it would actually wait eight months, the current battle could leave him entangled on Cloudspire, violating all his promises to return in time to make a difference.

Yet as they flew, Kai found himself thinking about the incursion less and less. What mattered now was the fundamental reason he'd planned and teleported so much: Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena needed his help. He could only hope that he was returning in time.

Then he finally saw it: a green line on the horizon. The journey was over.

Chapter 488: Brittle Barriers of Cloudspire

As they passed over Cloudspire's southeastern coast, Kai kept the Clanless as high as possible, where the air itself seemed thin. In his experience, cultivators tended to fill up an area around the height of short mountains, so hopefully they would ignore a strange vessel that wasn't bothering anyone. It was quite some distance to the heart of the Southern Rivers region, after all, and they couldn't afford to fight the entire way for the sake of time if nothing else.

He was roughly aiming for the forest region between Floodisle City and the headquarters of the Verdant River sect. Presuming his wives survived, which he had to believe, they would most likely have retreated in that direction. Unless they were currently under siege somewhere, he would have to trust them to recognize the Deadwaste construction materials and come to him.

The plan went perfectly for about half the journey... and then a group of cultivators on flying swords began harrying them, insisting that they descend or face attacks.

After conferring with the others, Kai brought the ship lower and watched as the cultivators closed around them. He tried to tell himself they might merely be cautious, concerned about a potential threat to their domain, but didn't really believe it. Their robes were the usual cultivator silk, emblazoned with a large blue tree, which was completely unfamiliar to him.

"These heavens belong to the Heavenly Blue Tree sect!" the first of the cultivators declared. "What is your business here?"

"We don't mean any offense." Kai bowed as he spoke, trying to remember if he'd ever heard the name before. He was pretty sure they weren't an important sect in the Southern Rivers, and not tied to the Masterful Crown clan unless they were a tributary of a tributary. "All we intend to do is pass to the west."

"Yes, very good. We'll let you go on your way, but... this is a strange ship. We'll need to investigate it to be sure you aren't carrying any contraband."

"Could we pay a fee to expedite the process?" Kai asked. He had more gold than he knew what to do with, so he might as well bribe them to get through faster.

The cultivator laughed and stroked his thin beard. "Oh, I'm afraid not. In addition, there is a 50% tariff on all foreign goods passing through our lands."

"Seriously?" Inafay had been told to stay back, but now took a step forward. "That's an absurd policy!"

"How rude! I fear the tariff is actually 60%."

"So this is just active extortion?"

"Hoho, you aren't very bright, are you? Now that I think about it, there's an additional 20% fee for causing trouble with inspections."

Inafay turned on Kai and threw up her hands. "Are these guys hiding under some sort of insane shroud or something? They don't even seem to have an Earth Soul. Is he even being serious right now, or is this just how robbery works here?"

"Cultivators don't generally have much self-awareness," Kai said as he stepped forward. So much for the peaceful option, but that had never been likely. He loomed over the man, almost two heads taller than him, and dropped his shroud. "There's a reduction in fees for not causing trouble, right?"

The man took a step back, for a moment nervous, then sneered. "You think you can talk like that with just a Nascent Foundation cultivation base? The Heavenly Blue Tree sect has almost a dozen Nascent Foundation cultivators!"

Kai had planned for a lot of things, but not enemies with such weak spiritual sight that they could only determine cultivation. Incompetence ruined his day yet again.

"Seize them!" the leader commanded. "Make that a 100% tariff on all goods! You brought this on yourselves by-"

So Kai reached out, grasped his arm in one hand, and broke it by squeezing. The man let out a scream and Kai promptly tossed him off the side of the ship. He'd assumed that the other cultivators would catch him, but they actually let him fall as they attacked.

As the Clanless pushed westward, they were attacked by various cultivators from the Heavenly Blue Tree sect, which proved to be as insignificant as he thought at first. With none of the attackers at the Earth Soul stage, Inafay and Orotaisin were more than strong enough to fight them. In fact, they proved surprisingly good at knocking cultivators off their flying swords, shaking off pursuit.

Unfortunately, these skirmishes prevented them from skating over the top of the continent ignored. When they passed into another sect's territory, they were immediately attacked. First with shouts of vengeance, then they dropped the pretense. It seemed like all the minor sects in the region had become convinced that the strange foreign ship must hold some sort of treasure. Kai was astonished at the bizarre rumors he heard shouted at him.

Just in case they ran into progressively stronger opponents, Kai let Grandpa Wan Fei rest and recover enough to help. He remained hidden, not wanting to be recognized, but could unleash qi attacks from within the ship's interior. When they spoke, the old man seemed to regard all of this as a normal consequence of traveling without a sufficiently powerful reputation to protect yourself.

So far Kai had yet to use any of his distinctive powers, which he wanted to avoid in the unlikely chance that word of him would spread. Right now he was just a large barbarian, and while that was uncommon on Cloudspire, they probably couldn't tell most barbarians apart anyway.

Most of the attention seemed to be on Inafay and Orotaisin with their mana-based flight. They were definitely more agile than cultivators using flying swords, but Kai judged they would have trouble with anyone using a higher flight technique. Since right now they had a good opportunity to test themselves against new opponents, Kai stayed in reserve and pushed the Clanless faster.

When they finally drew near the center of the Southern Rivers region, Kai became more nervous they would run into branches of the Masterful Crown clan, or even the Great Rivers. When he saw a massive qi barrier light up ahead of them, with a floating man in front of it, he groaned and got ready.

"Hold!" the old man shouted, his white hair and beard flying in the wind. "These heavens belong to us! I am the patriarch of the-"

The Clanless blew past, ignoring him entirely as Kai flew out to shatter the barrier. For several seconds the patriarch stared in shock, then he began to splutter and command other attacks. Many of the lesser cultivators couldn't keep up, but the patriarch and some of the others pushed themselves harder and a true pursuit began.

"How do we deescalate?" Orotaisin landed on the deck beside Kai and spoke quietly. "Surely we don't just keep fighting stronger cultivators. How does this end?"

"Killing everyone seems to be standard operating procedure here," Kai told him. "But we've been in the right area for a while now, so attracting attention is actually the goal. We need our allies to find us."

"And then what? Do we fight everyone here?"

That was a harder question. If Zae Clen Ban and the Masterful Crown patriarch both attacked them here, even with Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena it would be a difficult battle. He was betting on the fact that patriarchs wouldn't demean themselves by constantly scouting on their own and would require time to mobilize. If Kai could pick up the others, they could probably kill their opponents and lose the others in the forests, at least long enough to prepare for a real final battle.

Actually, he had expected to meet his wives by now. The ship had been forced further north than he'd planned, closer to Floodisle City, and it was always possible that his wives had gone further south, or even been forced to retreat far from the Southern Rivers. All he could do was keep traveling and trust the spectacle would draw them out eventually.

Before Kai could say any of that, the Clanless lurched to a halt as bonds of qi lashed around it. The technique was impressive, forming a massive chain that seemed to stretch from heaven to earth. He turned back and saw that the patriarch of the newest clan had been supported by a formation of other cultivators to create the great technique.

While the others engaged their pursuers, Kai leapt to the chain and struck it with a Tyrant's Claw. To his surprise, it actually survived the blow as if it was made of impossibly strong steel. Several cultivators in the formation coughed up mouthfuls of blood, but the technique held.

This could be tricky... did he stay here to wipe out the formation and patriarch, risking more cultivators catching up or attacking from below? Or did he keep striking the chain and move on? He wasn't concerned for himself, but some of these attacks were strong enough to break the mana shielding, so the Clanless could be damaged in the fighting.

Then he saw a cloaked form burst up from the trees, releasing needles in all directions and annihilating the newest cultivator reinforcements. He knew it was Omilaena, and even though she had completely covered herself in a generic cloak, she was beautiful in that moment.

As she flashed upward to their height, her bright blue eyes met his. It only took a few gestures toward the patriarch and the others for him to understand. She had some sort of plan she couldn't explain, but for now they needed to completely stop the enemy.

Kai ignored the chain and leapt off the back of the ship, toward the cultivator formation. Immediately they turned their focus on him, trying to summon another massive qi chain. He unleashed Baleful Breath, consuming the chain before it could fully form and stopping the group of cultivators mid-flight. A few hurtled into the cloud and died, but the patriarch and most of the others pulled up in time.

When the shadowy clouds faded, Kai saw that Omilaena was standing behind the patriarch, injecting a syringe into his neck. What struck him then was that Omilaena's soul seemed to be exactly the same as before... it was impossible that she hadn't gotten any stronger... then he realized that it was some sort of bizarre shroud. She was intentionally keeping her strength limited to its exact former shape for reasons he couldn't grasp in that moment.

Once the patriarch fell and the great chain technique began to dissolve, all of the others scattered. They would be back soon enough, either with reinforcements or a bigger sect, and Omilaena landed on deck with a grim expression.

"We had a whole plan for when you got back," she said, "but this ship really fucks things up. I'm guessing you don't want to ditch it?"

"Ideally not," Kai said. "What's going on? Where's Zin Nim?"

"All in time. You and your new allies better brace yourselves, because this is going to get rough."

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