Chapter 442: Inventory in the Wake of Victory

Instead of returning to the dryad community, which had become acceptable to her, Zae Zin Nim had no choice but to venture away from the pleasant forests into the swampy region. No more leaf-shaded courtyard, no more hammock, just swampy mud. Thankfully she could fly over it on a sword, but it was still repulsive.

There wasn't much to reward her at the end of the journey, either, at least until her spouses returned. They had hidden the ship in the undesirable swampy area to make sure it remained safe, and Cragrila and Nirka waited along with it. Neither was particularly welcome... especially the latter.

At least it seemed that no one had found and exterminated the group in her absence. Aside from the trading ship, which hovered above the swamp waters, the Krysali had built a little floating camp. There might have been more of them, presumably gathered from other broken camps. That was a high risk, in her opinion, but so long as it was just Krysali who would be foolishly loyal to one another, it was probably within limits.

When she first arrived she saw Cragrila react tensely, drawing a crystal lance before recognizing her. Good, their defenses weren't completely inept. Zae Zin Nim smoothly tucked her sword back into her spatial bracelet and dropped to the deck silently.

"We require use of the secondary meeting point," she told them. "Is everything well?"

"No major risks." Cragrila gave her a curt nod. "Thanks to Kai, the cultivators are all searching further east for the monster."

"Everything is not well." Nirka emerged from the cabin and Zae Zin Nim felt a stab of irrational jealousy. That was their cabin, not hers. She suppressed the feeling, reminding herself that what really mattered was her spouses.

"What is it?" Zae Zin Nim asked with a modicum of civility.

"There's been a lot of activity further south, separate from whatever is going on where you are. Sect cultivators have been attacking smaller groups, wiping them out, and sending their bodies toward the wall."

"So the Verdant River sect is exterminating rivals." Zae Zin Nim shrugged the matter aside. "Why does that matter?"

"I don't think it's simply inter-sect warfare." Cragrila eyed her cautiously, as they weren't exactly friends, but they had fought together in Krysal, so their bond was worth something. "This feels different from anything I've seen before. They're picking fights and finding excuses, and when they win, they don't take control of the peasants, they kill them."

Zae Zin Nim reluctantly considered the matter. It was already known that the Verdant River sect was using bodies for their experiments, so this might not be true news, but the others would want to hear it. Her wife, in particular, might know something about the composition of their immortality elixirs after all her work with the dryad matriarch.

"How many people are involved?" she eventually asked. Both other women shook their heads.

"Impossible to say," Cragrila told her. "We don't know how far the fighting extends, but it's considerable."

"There's open warfare in places," Nirka said. "At first everyone seemed to keep to themselves, which made it much easier for us to move, but they've risen up. They won't stand for being exterminated like this much longer."

Unless they had a powerful patron, they would be crushed as soon as the Verdant River sect noticed their attempt at rebellion. Still, it made Zae Zin Nim reflect that this chaos might be useful to them. If they could do anything to disrupt the warfare against lesser groups, the Verdant River sect would be spread even thinner, granting her a better opening to steal their immortality elixirs, or even the Loam of the Gods.

Since her spouses had not yet returned, Zae Zin Nim decided that she would need to be the expert on this matter and consulted with the Krysali. The more she learned, the more it did seem as if something was amiss. A few slaughters were inevitable, but major sects didn't usually cause such destruction within their own borders.

The next time the alarm was raised, it proved to be Omilaena. Zae Zin Nim intercepted her almost as soon as she landed on the deck, putting her arm around the other woman's waist. She looked nervous, but not as intense as she would have been if things had gone seriously wrong.

"The disease is spreading," Omilaena reported, "but what's going on with Kai?"

"I do not know. I judged it better to get away from the vault before the chaos spread." Zae Zin Nim couldn't stop herself from showing a small smile. "However, I did take a great many resources from the sect that might be useful to us."

"We can do inventory later, but we need to talk."

Based on what Omilaena had observed, the situation in the sect was even worse than Zae Zin Nim had sensed. She had the impulse to go out and assist Kai, even though she had no idea where he was. Worse, if she got involved, the conflict would inevitably escalate to truly dangerous levels. Kai on his own looked like a simple barbarian and could disappear as a monster, but if they believed real cultivator forces were involved, their enemy would take more extreme measures.

Since there was nothing that could be done, they retired to the cabin and claimed a section for themselves. Zae Zin Nim began revealing everything she had seized from the vault.

"As you will see," she said, "these are Physique arts for the Verdant River sect. Not particularly strong, but these are what you need for reference, yes?"

"Yeah, these will be helpful." Omilaena began poring over them immediately, gaining that intensity that Zae Zin Nim loved to see. "Hmm, a lot of these involve absorbing more materials than I expected, different from the Physique manuals in the Pureflower sect. That's unusually like chakra, for Cloudspire."

"I understand that enhancing the body is a common use for chakra, in order to leave one's qi pure for cultivation."

"And that makes perfect sense, but what doesn't is that your Blackblood Physique doesn't include a component of that at all. As soon as your body was changed, it's like you were put on a different path. Your blood hasn't gotten any blacker, and in fact you had to overcome the early symptoms."

Zae Zin Nim started to chew her lip and resisted the undignified habit. "There is... also the fact that the Brightwind cultivators said I was supposed to purge the black blood from my body. It is meant to pass through and purify you, not fundamentally change. I am not sure if I have erred."

"Don't take what they say for granted too quickly." Even as distracted as she was, Omilaena reached over to stroke her wrist. "We can experiment with it every step of the way and figure out something that works for you. Though it looks like some of these scrolls discuss a purifying stage as well... what are these resources involved?"

"Oh yes, I have some of those. They are not dissimilar to those I know..." Zae Zin Nim revealed everything she had taken, for once feeling optimistic that her wife would be able to find a solution for her.

Before they could find any solutions, they were interrupted by another alarm. This time it was just one of the Krysali who had been scouting, and Zae Zin Nim glared at the man for not being Kai. After that they continued their conversation on the deck, and just when Zae Zin Nim was beginning to worry, there was a splash from below.

Kai leapt onto the deck in monstrous form, still trailing some algae and slime. He pulled a bucket of water from his spatial ring and dumped it over his head, leaving him surprisingly clean: this monstrous form seemed to easily shed water and murk from the swamp.

Zae Zin Nim ran to embrace him before he could transform back: yes, this black armored form was fearsome and a bit rigid, but this way she didn't have to look at the manticore tattoo. With her head resting against his chest and an armored claw around her shoulders, she felt comfortably held. Once Omilaena joined them, all was right with the world.

"Wait, what happened to you?" Omilaena noticed first, pulling back. "You look beaten through every hell and back, but your Physique advanced?"

"That was a surprise to me too," Kai said, and told them about the events in the sect and the battle that had followed.

They all had to focus on the politics, but Zae Zin Nim was impatient for those to be over so she could find out about his advancement in Physique. He hadn't changed massively, not like in the past, and thankfully had not become even more absurdly tall. But the advance in his power was undeniable, and there was always the possibility that this could open a path for them as well.

Omilaena took a full syringe of his blood to study, then a second for Zae Zin Nim just as a precaution. With so much unknown about her Physique, and so many potential problems in the future, it was best to be prepared. Once they got past their excitement over the advancement, and fully told their own sides of the story, they ended up shifting somewhat awkwardly on the deck.

"What exactly do we do next?" Kai asked. "They'll be looking for me, so I probably shouldn't stay here. You may be able to infiltrate the sect, but if anyone notices me, it will be instant conflict."

"Don't assume that yet," Zae Zin Nim said, gripping his arm as if to keep him there. "We need to reestablish contact with Nymidria. She will have insider information on how the sect is reacting and allow us to form a plan."

"Yeah, but we probably shouldn't go back to the dryad village, or at least I shouldn't."

"Maybe you can go south to investigate the problems the Krysali found," Omilaena suggested. "That would lead the sect away from us, then when they notice the disease, we'll be able to pierce in and steal the Loam. We're half-way through the plan, so we should be able to break the barrier, which means that the only problem is if they have too many strong cultivators on guard."

"I don't want to leave again so soon, but you may be right." Kai rubbed his eyes with one hand, which was still a bit claw-like. "Well, we shouldn't make any decisions yet. At minimum, we need to wait for the sect to calm down so we can plan our next step. Until then... I'm not sure what we can do. The plan worked, but we're stuck until then."

"No, there is one thing we can do," Zae Zin Nim said. "It is very important."

.

..

.

Nirka squeezed the pillow tighter around her head and tried to drown out the sounds. It still didn't make any sense to her - why wasn't the little cultivator getting split in half? How was Omilaena involved and why was she laughing? Most importantly, when would they stop?