Chapter 422: News from an Old Revolution

In the wake of the confrontation, Omilaena took over operations, directing them to take various measures to leave the area in case there was immediate retaliation. The slaves obeyed her instantly, and Zae Zin Nim was more than strong enough to disable the enemy cultivators. It seemed like they would be doing some interrogations.

Kai suspected that Omilaena was doing all this to make up for the fact that she hadn't been able to contribute to the battle. That crown technique was a nasty advantage, gimmick or not.

But all of that activity meant that he wasn't distracted by any of the details. His job was at once narrow and broad: he needed to talk to Cragrila and he needed to decide their overall direction. Investigating qi crystals was one thing, but now they were involved with larger problems. Small decisions now could make a vast difference in where they ended up.

As soon as they had the critical details handled, Kai had found spare clothes in his spatial ring and given them to Cragrila. She had gone to wash in the river and only then returned to stand beside him. Her body and clothes were clean, but her eyes looked beaten down in a way he'd never seen before, even when she was a beleaguered rebel fighting against impossible odds.

"Is Krysal alright?" he asked. "Did it...?"

"What? No." For the first time he saw a shadow of a smile on her face, though a rueful one. "I mean, last I saw it we had our problems. Violent retribution against some families who used to be on top. The Frontier elites are concerned we won't be able to field enough strong warriors as Krysal usually does, without the crystallier system. But it's still intact."

"Then I guess I should ask whether you're alright."

"Yes and no. Better now." Cragrila rubbed her eyes roughly. "I don't want to talk about myself personally. Let me just tell you what happened."

"Go ahead." Kai kicked one of the fallen trees into position and sat down on it. After a pause, Cragrila joined him and began to speak.

"We were rebuilding trade relationships with Cloudspire, and it actually seemed to be going well at first. Some of the foreign cultivators were interested in buying qi crystals, which they never cared about before. I was involved because it was essential business. Krainuun said that a major part of our economy was passing resources into... no, never mind. That's not relevant."

"Do you know why the cultivators wanted them?"

"They wouldn't tell us such things." Cragrila deflated a little, leaning her arms on her knees. "That was the start of it, really. They paid lip service to respecting us, but they didn't. Two of their sects got into a battle in Yulthens and a lot of civilians died. I... maybe we could have stopped them if we'd been stronger. We instituted new rules and traded away from the city, but that didn't matter.

"I don't even know why it happened. Maybe someone got offended, or maybe something changed. Either way, one of the Cloudspire factions ended up attacking us directly. They were trying to capture us, but I saw good men and women who survived the entire revolution die. The rest of us they kidnapped and dragged back here to be slaves."

It was a somber story and Kai felt like anything he could say would ring hollow. They'd fought together from before the revolution, though, so he didn't need to soften anything. "How long ago was this?"

"Maybe half a year ago, I think. They didn't always let me sleep, so it runs together."

Half a year ago... so all of this had taken place while he was in the Western Wilds. If it had happened while he was on Darkmist Island enjoying his honeymoon it would have been especially bitter, even though the timing didn't matter in practical terms. The problem was that he wasn't strong enough to solve most problems and couldn't be everywhere at once.

He waned to ask about Krainuun and his policies, if Maggle was still carousing, and especially how Yurwa and Gundle were doing. Given the choice, he would even have asked about Nirka. But it all felt awkward when any of them could be dead and Cragrila wouldn't know it.

"I hate to ask," Kai said gently, "but what did they capture you for?"

"Oh, there was some of the usual abuse, but I was spared." Cragrila gave a strange snort. "A woman in her thirties is too old here, apparently. No, they wanted us for our crystal cultivation. Even though they told us time and time again that it was inferior, they needed us to do something they couldn't. I never fully understood it: we were working the crystals into the ground, grinding them up, doing all kinds of strange things."

"We'll want to know more about that later, as much as you can share."

"And I will, eventually. I have information that could be useful to you?"

"Why were you being sent to Floodisle City?"

"Is that the capital city? They don't tell us much." She shook her head. "All I know is that they were getting frustrated, because what they were trying wasn't working. I think they were sending us to some sort of specialist, to try something different."

"One last question: do you know who exactly was behind all this?"

"The slavers and guards were from different places and changed. But the people in charge were all from something called the Verdant River sect."

Another of the main forces underneath the Masterful Crown clan. Kai grimaced as he considered their encounter again in that light; Kan Jin Kung wasn't simply pursuing a vendetta, he was involved in more complex inter-sect politics. Was the Verdant River sect sending the slaves to the Heavenly River sect? Or could their relationship be even more complex?

While he was deep in his own thoughts, he was surprised to hear Cragrila let out a ragged sigh.

"I... I thought was was strong." She put her head down in her hands again. "Not the strongest, but I'd climbed higher in the world. But everyone here is so unbelievably... even you, you've passed far beyond me. It's just crushing to think that... that..."

"They're just crystalliers." Kai put his hand on her shoulder, and though she jumped in surprise, she didn't shy away. "People here aren't any better, they just have denser qi in the environment. You should never feel inferior to people too stupid to realize they haven't earned what they have."

She blinked in surprise, then straightened. "That's... I don't know how I feel about that, coming from you. But thanks." Cragrila pushed his hand away, not ungently, and nodded to him. "What now? Do you have a way home?"

"Not directly." Omilaena stepped from between the trees and leaned on one in front of them, making no apology for listening in. "Are you willing to serve as an experimental subject for me?"

"I don't know how much I'll be worth. They did all kinds of things, tried to fuse my crystal dantian to me... I don't..."

Kai had been so focused on her words that he hadn't really considered her soul beyond an instinctive estimate of her strength, so now he looked more carefully.

<

Name: Cragrila

Total Power: 318

Crystal Cultivation: 9999 (125)

Acid Cultivation: 1000 (50)

Physique Level: E-9 (107)

Soul Level: 6 (36)

>

She had 318 Power, the majority of it coming from her crystal cultivation. It was obvious that she'd been training hard, because she'd taken her Physique all the way to E-9. Back when he had been stuck there, it had taken extraordinary training and then an injection from Omilaena for him to break through, so that was impressive. But most interesting...

"Acid cultivation?" Kai asked. "Has that developed?"

"They're trying to make it the national ability of Krysal, though it's only partially working." Cragrila shrugged. "I was never very good at it, I just tried because it was expected of me. Not that any of it did any good."

"I wouldn't say that." Omilaena was regarding her as well with a much more analytical gaze. "I won't promise I can make you strong overnight, because I can't. You're not going to be able to compete with top cultivators. But given a chance to experiment directly with your abilities... I think I could accomplish more than I did last time."

"Do whatever you want. I'm not good for much else here."

At that moment Zae Zin Nim approached and nodded politely. "Everything is in order. We should move on as soon as we deal with the guards."

"Kill them." Cragrila's face twisted in an ugly expression.

"Would you like to do so?"

She nodded and went with Zae Zin Nim. Kai watched them go, then decided that it was none of his affair and looked back to Omilaena. The woman she had once been would never have offered comfort, and he doubted she would now, for anyone aside from him and Zae Zin Nim. Clearly she was thinking about something, but it was hard to read anything in her expression.

"I'm not sure if anything will come of it," Omilaena said, "but I'd like to experiment. Something is off about all this. The fact that the local sects are investigating crystal cultivation reeks of desperation."

"They sure didn't seem desperate," Kai said.

"Cultivators bluster when they're outmatched. I'm not saying we should take them lightly - even if they have a major problem, a mortally wounded beast can still be lethal. But I think if we come up with a counter to that crown technique, we might be in a strong position to fight back."

"I was thinking the same thing. But if that was how strong the technique is at Earth Soul, how much stronger would one of their leaders be?"

Omilaena casually leaned on his shoulder. "Oh, you have no room to complain. If you put together a new monstrous presence ability, I'm sure that you'll be able to absolutely crush theirs. It's the two of us who have a problem. I'm confident I can formulate an injection that will increase resistance to such techniques, but it could get bad..."

Before they could say anything else, the other two returned. Zae Zin Nim looked as untouched as usual while Cragrila had blood covering her arms up to her wrists. Both of them seemed unusually focused, however, and Zae Zin Nim cleared her throat for attention before she spoke.

"I heard a rumor that the Masterful Crown's sects had a new form of immortality, but didn't really believe it before now. Their presence technique was dangerous, yes, but not unprecedented. What bothers me is how their immortality granted such a significant amount of strength. That is not normal, in my experience, and I have seen a reasonable number of immortals. Young Earth Souls like that don't simply become immortal."

"Could they have acquired the Impossible Elixir?" Omilaena asked. "That's what it does, right?"

"It is true that I have not met anyone made immortal by the Impossible Elixir." Zae Zin Nim hesitated a moment, then shook her head. "But I don't believe it's that, because Cragrila has more information for us. Go on, tell them."

"Right." Cragrila squared her shoulders and made eye contact with Kai. "Whatever they were doing with us, it had something do with their immortality. They were burning countless human lives to try to create something - I actually had it easy, because they needed my abilities, but civilians and enemies they just killed wholesale to further their plans."

"What plans?" Kai asked as he got to his feet. "How does this connect to crystal cultivation and the rest?"

"I don't know, but I can take you there."