Chapter 463: Brightwind Family Reunion

"Oh daughter, you have been so willful."

Even if he hadn't made it explicit, Kai had no doubt that this man must be Zae Zin Nim's father. His hair was the same jet black and he wore the same elegant cloud-patterned robes she had brought to Deadwaste. There was something similar in their sharp chins and even their narrow eyes, though he'd come to love Zae Zin Nim's expressions, whereas her father's eyes looked hateful.

"I have sent many cultivators after you, only for you to reject them time and time again. Cease this foolish resistance, daughter."

She took an uncertain step toward him, eyes widening slightly. Kai wanted to act, but he was blocked by the golden barrier. Xir Xan Khan had left in order to create the teleportation technique, so he was momentarily free, but there were other patriarchs in range now that some of the walls had collapsed. Even if he could get there, the space around the father and daughter was one of the only calm locations on the battlefield.

"Good." Zae Clen Ban's face spread in a benevolent smile. "Come back to me, Zin Nim. Come home and-"

Kai was proud of how swiftly Zae Zin Nim struck. In an instant the uncertainty vanished and her expression became merciless as her palm rushed at her father's chest.

It seemed like she had fooled him, because her palm strike very nearly landed. But Zae Clen Ban was a patriarch of a major sect and one of the most powerful cultivators in the world, so his reaction time was fast enough to recover. He just managed to sweep aside her palm and struck out, as if to slap her, like one would discipline a rogue child.

The retaliatory blow impacted his arm hard enough that the patriarch winced in pain, and once again Zae Zin Nim nearly managed to catch his chest with another palm strike. As the two of them struggled, using the same precise martial arts, Kai managed to make out the man's soul.

<

Name: Zae Clen Ban

Total Power: 1856

Cultivation: Sky Soul (1000)

Heavenly Cultivation (325)

Physique: D-0 (200)

Soul Level: 9 (81)

Brightwind Meridian Perfection (250)

>

With over 1800 Power, Zae Clen Ban was unquestionably one of the strongest people on the continent, comparable to the great powers of Rosemount. There was no time to analyze his power further, because at that moment lightning thundered from above and Kai had no choice but to evade.

For a time the battle around them was complete chaos, different forces attacking from all angles before Nymidria unleashed more spiritual roots. They twisted through the foundations, striking some opponents, forming new walls, and disrupting the battlefield. The dryad matriarch might not be the strongest on the field, even after all Omilaena's enhancements, but her abilities made her formidable.

It looked like Xir Xan Khan had been separated by the spirit roots, so Kai caught another moment to look. He saw that the two Brightwind cultivators were locked in an even more intense melee, both whirlwinds of spinning robes that refused to give an inch.

Even though Zae Clen Ban had a strong edge in power, he wasn't so far ahead that he could treat his daughter lightly. In the beginning, she had punished him for that, but as he took the battle seriously, the tide began to turn. It wasn't even his overwhelming qi, just skill born from countless decades of killing other cultivators.

Suddenly it ended with a strike to Zae Zin Nim's shoulder. She skidded backward, slamming into one of the golden walls and coughing up blood.

"So it's true!" Zae Clen Ban stared at the dark blood and shook his head. "I didn't believe it... you don't have much time left, my daughter, before you fall from the true path forever."

The sight of the blood seemed to have saddened him, slowing his attack... but the effect was worse on Zae Zin Nim. She had been fighting at her absolute peak, using all her half-phase training from the Frontier and everything she had learned across years of fighting, and it hadn't been enough. Kai wanted to tell her that she had made incredible progress, going from her father being invincible to being within reach, yet he could see that her failure shook her.

Kai had several patriarchs between him and Zae Zin Nim, it looked like Omilaena was locked in deadly combat with Jackal Thirteen, and the battlefield was still sundered by spiritual walls and roots... he didn't see a good way to prevent this from continuing.

In the end, it wasn't any action of his.

The battle overhead between Nymidria and the Masterful Crown patriarch ended in a golden explosion. Nymidria had fought admirably, but she couldn't overcome the gap in power and now her island fell back, scraping violently against one of the golden walls. Before she could recover, a devastating column of lightning tore through her island.

Somehow Nymidria managed to avoid being struck directly, but the lightning blew apart the rock she was levitating. It shattered, sending boulders in all directions cascading down between golden walls. Those shuddered, but the greater effect was that spiritual roots came down all across the battlefield, opening it up more than it had been in some time.

Kai was one of the first to act, shooting between gaps in the barriers to try to help Zae Zin Nim. He released a Manticore Quill toward Zae Clen Ban's back, but a sphere of wind lit up around the patriarch - similar to what he'd seen from some lesser Brightwind cultivators, just far stronger. Then the immortal waved a hand in his direction and the rush of wind was so powerful that it sent Kai skidding against one of the golden walls.

Instead of wasting time reversing direction, Kai flew toward Omilaena instead. She was desperately blowing a cloud of poison to try to hold off her opponent, but it would only be seconds before the puppets broke through the smoke to come after her.

So Kai breathed a wall of Baleful Breath just after the poison. The puppets that plunged through first died in disturbing silence, but Jackal Thirteen must have noticed, because he jerked the others back to safety. In that time, Kai grabbed Omilaena around the waist, then burst backward with another shockwave of Thunderbird's Wings.

"We can't let Zin Nim fight her father like this," he hissed. Omilaena glanced back once, then nodded.

"Qi first, then chakra."

He followed the plan before being completely sure what she even meant by it. They flashed between Zae Zin Nim and her father, both unleashing attacks. First Kai launched Manticore Quills made from pure qi, and he saw that Omilaena hurled a knife of icy qi. Both were destroyed by another sphere of wind, and Zae Clen Ban let out a snort as he began to retaliate.

But the attacks that followed were both formed from pure chakra. The wind sphere technique, optimized for an environment of pure qi, didn't destroy them nearly as quickly. Needle and quill nearly struck him before Zae Clen Ban retreated back a step, scowling, and in that moment they grabbed Zae Zin Nim and retreated further.

Kai had needed to grab her under one arm, but she struggled to stand for herself. She had been shaken, but hardly broken. When they came to a stop with several walls between them and the patriarchs, Zae Zin Nim appeared to have gathered herself again.

"I can't fight him as I am now," she said.

"None of us can," Kai said. "Do we retreat?"

"I don't think Nymidria can," Omilaena pointed out. "The only way she's keeping up is that she's drawing off other sources of power like her garden, and those will fail if she moves too far. Plus our opponents practically all have mobility techniques. We need to cripple them more if we want to get away."

"Give me time." Zae Zin Nim closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm so close with the Blackblood Physique... I just need a little more time."

"Are you sure this is the place for that?"

Before Kai could think of a solution or compromise, a different voice wafted in their minds. "I can shield you for a while," Nymidria whispered. "I have been planting strength for decades, and if I don't use it now, I will be destroyed. Use this opportunity or we have no chance."

Vines began to tear from the battlefield - not silvery spirits, but real vines that lashed out with unnatural strength. They ripped apart the walls of the sect just with their growth, some gripped cultivators and smashed them to the ground, others threatened the patriarchs. When they were struck with lightning or acid, the vines resisted with a gleaming layer of mana.

And, aside from all that chaos, a half-dome of vines and rubble grew up near their position. Not wasting any more time, Zae Zin Nim rushed inside and sat down, beginning to pull out the resources she'd collected. Attacks and more rubble rained down, but she ignored them as they only piled up around the shield, effectively burying her.

Kai groaned and began drawing on the Savage Heart for sustained combat. "Think we can hold them off long enough?"

Omilaena spun a syringe and a needle into her hands. "No fucking clue."

There was no sign of Zae Clen Ban, which was ominous, but Kai could see Xir Xan Khan and Jackal Thirteen approaching from opposite directions.