Chapter 428: Unexpected Growth in Unexpected Places

Several days later, Kai was ready to choose his next target. When no shipments came in from the destroyed work camp, the sect sent a group to investigate - the group only had one Earth Soul and they didn't seem to take the threat particularly seriously until they saw the damage.

Kai resisted the urge to shadow them, just in case they had someone extremely sensitive, and also decided not to attack the expedition. Taking out a few more cultivators wasn't worth losing the appearance of random attacks. Instead, he waited until they started looking for the fleeing prisoners. The first one they found kowtowed immediately and babbled about being attacked by a monster, then to Kai's surprise the scout group just killed him.

So he picked a work camp on the opposite side of the region and attacked it. The first had been a proof of concept, so this time he was even more efficient. There was only one Earth Soul guarding this one, but he actually nearly grabbed his medallion before Kai froze him with Void Gaze.

In that camp he discovered that male dryads existed and carried off the man's tree. This dryad had a similar story to Lifrinyne, and mostly redundant information, so Kai just replanted him far enough away that he'd be picked up by the others. It might be useful to have multiple witnesses for the dryad matriarch, assuming that she was willing to listen.

That left him with a more difficult decision. Taking out the second camp had been easy, and drawn all the attention away from the escaped prisoners to further attacks, but also meant the cultivators were reinforcing their numbers. A third attack would have less impact and greater risk of ruining the ruse. If the Verdant River sect ever suspected this was a calculated plan to undermine them instead of a random monster, the plan would lose much of its effectiveness.

Still in full monstrous form, Kai lurked through the swamps, considering his remaining options. He didn't want to push too far and risk everything, but would hate himself for not pushing far enough if he could have done more. In the end, he decided that he could justify one last attack: right in the center, against one of the largest camps.

Maybe it would accomplish nothing, but he wouldn't have given up and told himself it was prudence.

There were no fewer than four Earth Souls this time, so he decided against trying to eliminate the entire camp cleanly. Instead he waited until night and attacked like a wild beast, targeting their military capacity instead of trying to free anyone. He lunged out of the shadows and struck wildly, a terror in the night that left the guards rushing about in chaos. Once the Earth Souls were dead, the rest had no real chance of containing what he'd started.

This camp had something new: a small building with binding qi around it. Kai smashed through the door, just on principle, and discovered there was a group of prisoners who were apparently strong enough to require being imprisoned at night. Glancing over them he saw moderately high Power, so he tore through the barrier as if he intended to eat them.

"The strong prisoners!" A cultivator flying overhead saw him and began pointing. "Stop the beast before it-" He cut off as one of Kai's quills went through his neck, but there were more cultivators coming.

By that point, however, the prisoners were ripping out of the ropes that had tied them, now that the binding technique was no longer limiting their strength. They clearly considered him the biggest threat, scrambling away, so Kai let out a roar to chase them off instead of doing anything lethal. Maybe they could cause more trouble for the guards and actually get away.

Suddenly he realized that he knew one of them: the grim, scar-covered woman among the others was Nirka. He hadn't seen her since he'd been forced to flee Yulthens.

<

Name: Nirka of N District

Total Power: 182

Crystal Cultivation: 1609 (57)

Physique Level: E-7 (100)

Soul Level: 5 (25)

>

His body acted on instinct, lunging out to grab her with one claw. She tried to fight back, stabbing him with some sort of improvised knife, but it broke against his armored skin. On his way out, Kai bit into another cultivator and carried the body in his teeth so that it would look like he was just carrying off food instead of rescuing someone.

The cultivators chased him for a while, but as soon as he started using Thunderbird's Wings he lost them in the jungle. By that point Nirka had gone still, more uncertain than combative. Once he got far enough away to be secure, Kai set her down and began to shift back to human form.

"Calm down," he said in a half-growl. "It's me."

"You!" Her eyes went wide and he saw tears in them, then she lunged forward and beat his chest with her fists. "You scared me half to death like that! You couldn't have said something?"

"We need them to fear a monster, not a human enemy, so I couldn't risk it. Is there anyone else back there I should try to rescue?"

"We... we were planning to try to break out, even if they probably would have stopped us. Those Earth Souls are just too strong, but you... I think the others will survive... it looked like everyone was hunting for you."

"And that's the way we want it." Kai started to turn away, but to his surprise Nirka hurled herself at his chest.

"I can't believe it... I haven't seen you since Yulthens..."

He instinctively put his arms around her and felt her body shudder as she released emotions that she'd no doubt been keeping bottled up for a long time. Kai felt a bit uncomfortable holding an ex-lover like that, but she clearly needed the comfort.

After this, he headed back to join up with the others. Last time he hadn't been careful in his personal relationships, it had caused a lot of drama and likely limited the development of what had become his marriage. Clearly, he needed to choose his actions very carefully and not screw this up...

.

..

.

At first Nirka had been stunned that Kai had abandoned Yulthens, though as the years passed and she saw the strength of Earth Soul cultivators, she understood why he'd needed to do so. He'd bought them years to build Krysal back up, even if it had gotten ugly again at the end, and she'd thanked him for it. When the people spoke about him fondly, she could smile along with them.

Yet in her heart she had always wondered if he was dead, or if he somehow survived the hell of other continents, she had assumed that he would never come back. Meeting him here, in Cloudspire, like this... she never could have imagined it.

On their way out of the region, she was shocked to see him slaughter another Earth Soul. It wasn't the way he tore the man apart, since she had seen his savagery before, just the fact that he had done it so easily. Her spiritual sight struggled with the intensity of Cloudspire, yet she estimated he had approaching 800 Power... just how much higher was his true strength? He casually mentioned that he had killed five or six of that cultivation stage and considered it just a step in his ongoing war.

That evening when they made camp he pulled an entire meal out of the strange ring on his finger, which was a feast after what she'd been fed. When it came time to sleep, he revealed two tents as well. She would have been offended if he'd made assumptions and shown only one, but that night she found herself lying awake thinking about their relationship.

Throughout the next day she needed to ride on his back at times, given the speeds they moved, and Nirka rested against the wall of muscle. They moved shockingly quickly, leaving the swampy region behind and moving further south. In the distance there seemed to be an unending raincloud that was mysterious to her, but she didn't want to think about that.

Had their relationship been so bad, despite its rocky moments? After the grueling torment of the work camp, she desperately needed to feel someone, and it was that desperation that had brought them together in the crystal mines in the first place.

That night she sat down next to him and brushed her thigh against his, and to her surprise, he shifted away. Even when she made more forward offers, he quietly deflected them. She knew he had slept around, after their relationship broke, so what had become of him? Surely he hadn't become a celibate monk.

The idea seemed impossible because there was an animal magnetism to him now, a strength she found even more attractive than before. He'd been bold when they first met, but he was even more confident in himself now. When he moved, especially in his monstrous form, she was sure there was a savage need within him, yet he continued to reject her.

When she actually brought it up directly, he said something vague about being in a relationship, which almost sounded like a lie to her. Hadn't he gotten over any residual anger toward her? She didn't understand why he would reject her and make excuses as if to protect his ego. Whatever the reason, he maintained a wall of distance between them.

It continued when they finally met up with Cragrila, since Kai only gave her a stiff nod. Then again, that was the energy Cragrila usually presented to the world. Nirka was having none of that and moved forward to embrace the other woman.

"I'm so glad you're still alive," she breathed.

"They got you too, huh?" Cragrila eventually pulled her back, though she kept her close. "Have they kept raiding Krysal?"

"No, there was just one last attack after you disappeared. The Frontier elites came to intercept the others, though they didn't seem happy about it. They were winning, but a group of cultivators got around them and used one of those binding techniques on me and some others, and dragged us away with them."

"Do you know how many are dead?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't be sure because I was taken." Nirka shook her head as she thought about everyone left behind. "Maggle and Krainuun were both fine when I last saw them. Yurwa and Gundle moved deep into the country after the attack where the cultivators captured you, so I think they're safe. But that's all I know."

"We'll get back to them one day, but not yet." Cragrila nodded toward Kai, who meditated some distance away, giving them space. "He's saved as many Krysali as he can, and we're gathering out in the forest, further east. You can join us if y-"

"No. I know I'm not strong enough to fight the higher cultivators, but I want to help. You and Kai are making decisions about what to do next, right?"

"I'm really just providing support. Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena are making the decisions."

Nirka blinked, not having thought about either woman for years. Omilaena was the temptress who had joined the revolution and stayed on their side despite the fact that she seemed utterly untrustworthy - how had she kept her claws in Kai this long? Zae Zin Nim was the scarred cultivator, of course. She had as many scars as Nirka, but unlike the silver lines from crystal cuts, hers were ugly and black. Kai was still traveling in the same group after so long? She'd expected him to grow up some, given how long it had been.

When they all reunited, however, Nirka was left astonished. Zae Zin Nim had been transformed, with untouched skin that made blindingly obvious how beautiful she was. Even more shocking, the three of them came together in an embrace that was far from chaste. Surely it couldn't be...

The cultivator woman glared at her over Kai's shoulder and Nirka hastily redirected her gaze.

That night when they made camp, Nirka felt awkward and off balance, so she decided to retire to her tent early. As she tried to fall asleep, she realized that the tent next to her was definitely occupied by all three of them. Having a very good time, based on the sounds. All three together? But... it sounded like... Nirka grimaced and wrapped her pillow around her head to try to drown it out.

Now she realized that she had lost him forever, but more than that, she wondered how such a thing could have happened.