Chapter 439: A Dagger Held Back

"You will pay for what you did to the Emerald Tree sect!"

Zae Zin Nim struck as soon as she finished shouting, her palm impacting the cultivator's chest. She had to resist the urge to use the Coldfire Palm or any of her other techniques, instead simply executing a normal qi strike against the inner body. It took more discipline than she had expected, as her style had adapted to all that she learned.

The Pure Yin Shroud still made her far physically stronger, however, and even with a normal strike she had almost 1500 Power. Her blow made the cultivator collapse where he stood, dead even before the blood finishing pouring from his mouth. Normally her strikes might disrupt or harm the internal organs, but these blows left only a bloody mess on the inside.

Another guard released a qi bolt from her flank and Zae Zin Nim wheeled away from it, deflecting the attack with one swinging sleeve. Her shouting, and her performance, were all for the sake of people like this man, not those she killed.

Earth Soul stage, reasonably durable... yes, this one would do.

"Face our vengeance!" Zae Zin Nim rushed toward him with less than her full speed.

The guard summoned up a wall of fire and she had to resist the urge to pierce straight through the weak qi. Instead Zae Zin Nim dodged back, and continued spinning away from his flaming spheres that emerged from the flames. It wasn't a bad defensive technique... but it wouldn't be anything near enough.

When Zae Zin Nim executed the Rushing Wave Palm, she unleashed it with more power than any members of the destroyed sect had ever used. The waves that flooded from her hand extinguished the flames and crashed into the enemy cultivator hard enough to smash him through a stone wall and send him tumbling into the forest, coughing up blood.

That had definitely been a serious injury, and he wouldn't be up for some time... but he would survive. Zae Zin Nim had tried previously and accidentally killed the woman she targeted. Now there would be someone left "accidentally" alive to report that a survivor of the Emerald Tree sect was trying to take revenge.

Her task accomplished, Zae Zin Nim easily exterminated the remaining cultivators attempting to guard the vault. This stage of the plan was the most elegant, in her opinion: anyone attempting to take revenge would start by gathering resources, so there would be no suspicions when everything in the vault disappeared. So the Verdant River sect would be preparing for the Emerald Tree attack while she absorbed all of their resources for herself.

Though there was a barrier over the vault itself, the qi couldn't endure against her without defenders. She resisted the urge to use her real techniques and broke through with brute force, even using the Rushing Wave Palm again to leave a trace. Then the vault was finally open to her.

After checking for traps, Zae Zin Nim began sweeping everything into her spatial bracelet. Shelves upon shelves of qi sources, medicinal pills, and scrolls... most of it would be too weak, but there were some real treasures even within a secondary vault like this.

Her hope, which had always been implausible, was that the Verdant River sect would have kept some of their immortality elixirs here. As expected, there was nothing that valuable. Still, there were a surprising number of useful items that boosted cultivation in other ways, so no doubt between her and Omilaena they could find new ways to advance.

The thought of her wife made Zae Zin Nim check for traps one more time. Nothing seemed to have triggered, and no survivors were conscious enough to sound the alarm with their medallions. Eventually she needed them to summon reinforcements, so that attention would be drawn away from Omilaena, but apparently that would take a while.

Well, in that case, she might as well steal absolutely everything.

.

..

.

The young man kept shifting closer, staring up at the hill like so many others, but Kai could see the rage and hatred in his eyes. He never got a second glimpse of the dagger, which had throbbed with enough power that it had to be a weapon. Some sort of desperate attack on the nobles above.

Desperate and doomed. The young man had a Nascent Foundation cultivation base of decent quality, but at that stage, he would be slapped down effortlessly by the first Earth Soul guard. Even if he managed to reach his target, multiple people atop the hill could easily kill him. Obviously he wasn't thinking clearly, because he stood no chance.

Kai tracked him on instinct, wondering if he should act. He didn't care about the young man personally, and whatever his vendetta was, it was probably another trivial squabble. The question was whether this was in Kai's best interest.

An assassination attempt, even a weak one, would definitely disrupt the party. Guards would begin examining everyone, and under enough scrutiny the dryad's illusion might not hold. Technically retreating and letting the attack distract everyone was a possibility, but Zae Zin Nim had been the one who was supposed to be the distraction. If too many things happened at once, it might make the Verdant River sect believe they were under a coordinated assault and close defenses.

No, this would be a mistake. Kai stepped forward and grabbed the other man's wrist.

For a moment the young cultivator struggled, trying to throw him off, but he might as well have been slapping a mountain. Kai pushed him away from the hill toward one of the trees, easily manhandling his struggles so it didn't look like they were fighting. By the time they were partially obscured, the young man had given up resisting.

"Let me go," he hissed. "I don't care what they pay you, my cause is just!"

"I'm not with the clan," Kai said. "What are you doing, attacking a group that powerful?"

"You're not a guard? Then let me go! I have to... I just need to get close enough. Even if they kill me, if I get this dagger in him..."

"Slow down and explain unless you want me to reveal you to the guards."

"Apologies. I... my name is Hul Ping." The young man stuffed his dagger into a pouch in his belt and gave a low bow. "Please listen. When Yul Wei Ren went through our village, he seized my sister and... and dishonored her. We may be poor, but we were making something of ourselves and now her marriage prospects are ruined. I have to get retribution."

Kai felt a pang of sympathy that was quickly tempered with skepticism and annoyance. Even if it was true... "You won't get revenge just charging him like this," Kai said. "What were you thinking?"

"This was my only chance. Normally outer sect members aren't allowed anywhere close enough."

"You'd die instantly. You have a better chance of infiltrating during normal times."

"I have to try! You dare sto-" Hul Ping attempted to strike him, but Kai grabbed his shoulder and kept him pinned before he even raised his arm.

"Don't be stupid. Do you think your sister would want you to throw your life away?"

That finally made the young man slump, though there was fury and incredulity on his face instead of any emotions Kai would have expected. He realized that, even though he had prolonged the peace, he might have exposed himself. There was no way that getting further involved with this private vendetta could help him, so maybe it was best to retreat.

Before Kai could decide his next move, another interruption caught everyone's attention. Apparently the crowds had been watching a servant climb the hill, and now Yul Wei Ren was berating them loud enough to be heard by everyone.

"You dare interrupt my celebration with random nonsense?" The young master kicked the servant's side again and Kai thought he heard a rib break. "If there's a problem, you should take care of it!"

Most of the others laughed or mocked the servant, but Xir Xan Khan spoke up calmly. "What was the report?"

"Something about a minor vault being broken into. Do you have any idea how many vaults the Masterful Crown clan owns?" Yul Wei Ren gestured to the crowds as if in disbelief and many laughed, but the dark-robed cultivator leaned forward.

"That would normally be a matter for the guard. Why did the report come here?"

"I don't know, this idiot probably-"

"Wait." In a rush of light, Grandpa Wan flew down to land beside them. "This report didn't come from the normal guard, it must have been from one of the new defenses I cast over the vaults."

Yul Wei Ren turned to gawk at him. "And just who told you to do that?"

"You did, young master. When we arrived, you told me to take care of the details of the outer defenses so you could focus on the clan's work. I judged many of the precautions to be inadequate, so I added new defensive spells."

Most of the crowds were just gossiping about what might be happening, but Kai and a few others could hear the conversation clearly. He ground his teeth, irritated that the old man was actually competent. Presumably the defenses had been added very recently, after Nymidria had analyzed the vulnerable vaults, so they were unknown. The plan had assumed reports would be transferred via command medallions, making this a nasty development.

They'd wanted Zae Zin Nim to attract everyone's attention, but this would be far too much, too quickly. If she was seen directly instead of reported, the ruse might be ruined. And if he knew her, she would be confident and definitely willing to take on more risk in order to steal everything...

"It sounds like a minor issue," Xir Xan Khan said, "so you don't need to trouble yourself over it. Why don't you let someone else take a look and you can go back to enjoying yourself?"

"That's the first sensible thing anyone has said." Yul Wei Ren snorted and went to go get more wine from a servant.

That left two of the most dangerous cultivators on the hill talking to one another. They had lowered their voices, so Kai couldn't hear the words over the crowd's inane commentary, but he could guess them well enough. He knew that taking action was a massive risk... but if he did nothing, Zae Zin Nim was going to be in trouble.

So Kai took a deep breath, drawing up his power. If he couldn't pass through without attracting attention, he needed to attract so much that he could shield his wives.

A quill formed from his shoulder, dripping poison. It was probably covered by the illusion, so until Kai released it, he hadn't committed. Technically he could still leave, like he'd advised the young idiot to do. But the cultivators had finished talking and it looked like they might be taking action soon, so if he wanted to make a difference...

The quill left his shoulder and shot through the chest of one of the young masters.