Chapter 510: The Redstorm Scion's Vendetta

Kai realized in the middle of the fight that he'd gotten another rival, even though he wasn't sure exactly how. The scion of the Redstorm Sect seemed to have it out for him, treating their fight as if it was a personal duel instead of just part of an overall strategy.

Both of them using flight techniques meant that they crashed against one another in the sky, arcing around to connect again. Except that Kai wasn't taking the fight seriously: he had greater mobility with Thunderbird's Wings and if he'd been serious he would have used Baleful Breath. Instead he struck physical blows, adjusting to the red lightning-aspected fist strikes the scion used. Not dangerous from him, but if there turned out to be a Redstorm patriarch using the style, Kai wanted to be prepared.

"You should never have challenged us!" the man roared as he regained his balance. "You'll die like a filthy dog!"

It didn't make sense, since this should have all been about Zae Zin Nim. Did he attack Kai because he was the only other man at the negotiating table? That didn't make much sense either, but maybe it seemed logical to cultivators. Or it might not have to do with gender, if he thought Kai was his counterpart on the opposite side.

Once the Redstorm matriarch killed herself, however, the truth of what had happened finally got through to the young man. He stopped fighting, staring at the explosion with tears forming in his eyes.

When the blast faded, revealing Zae Zin Nim but no matriarch, the tears were replaced with flashing anger.

"You'll pay for this!" The Redstorm scion reached into his tattered robes for some sort of weapon, but he stopped to glare at Kai first. "You may have the upper hand today, but not forever! One day, no matter how long it takes, I will return and take my revenge!"

"Uh, this is-" Kai started to say.

"I'll defeat you, but not kill you right away. First I'll track down and slaughter every member of your family in front of you, to ten generations, and you will know the wrath of the Redstorm Sect. At the end, only after all light leaves your eyes, will I allow you the sweet mercy of death!"

"Everybody else is surrendering," Kai pointed out, gesturing toward the city. "You sure you want to stand up for the whole sect alone?"

With a cry of rage, the Redstorm scion revealed a jade tablet and snapped it in half. Kai realized that it was some sort of teleportation talisman, generating a flow of qi at a rate that seemed slow to him now. Powerful, but sloppy compared to the Grand Crown patriarch's teleportation.

He instinctively moved forward as soon as he saw it, intending to just eliminate this cultivator before he could become a thorn in their side. And then, even though he had only fractions of a second to act, Kai hesitated.

If he used his full speed, he had a good chance of destroying the teleportation technique or at least killing the scion. Yet there was a chance, however small, that he might be caught up in it. Kai had been willing to take that risk to save the dryads, but now there was nothing at stake but a petty vendetta. Maybe one day he would regret not pursuing, but he knew that he would regret leaving his wives that very day. There were so many ways it could delay them and keep them from stopping the monster incursion.

So instead of going himself, Kai only released a Manticore Spine. It flickered between them and he saw it sink into the Redstorm scion's chest, just long enough for a split second impression of blood and shock before it all dissolved in the teleportation technique.

Leaving him alone at the edge of the battlefield. Kai hoped that the poison would finish off his opponent and he would never have to deal with the Redstorm Sect again, but he decided it was probably wiser to assume the opposite.

Fortunately, if they did their job, one little vendetta would become irrelevant. The Redstorm scion had been weaker than him now and Kai had no intention of slowing down: returning to Deadwaste meant more training with the Frontier elites, plus he had some significant power boosts available to him. Regardless of which way this went, his goals didn't change.

Kai flew back toward the city, taking care not to cast fear on all sides. He'd been surprised by how effective Famished World had been on these cultivators, since apparently they didn't have the refined arts of the Brightwind sect members. It looked like Omilaena was untouched and Zae Zin Nim had only taken intentional blows while fighting the matriarch, so they had defeated the sect on their own.

They met atop the floating wheel, which had gone from negotiation table to victory hall. The two women were speaking in low voices, but smiled at Kai when he landed beside them.

"Our dear Nim Nim was just saying that she felt great compassion for the poor Redstorm sect," Omilaena said.

"I do not care." Zae Zin Nim barely even responded to the provocation, not even mustering one of her usual scowls. "Both Brightwind and Redstorm can die, for all I care. However, it would be in our best interest to leave a reputation behind us."

"That's why you're letting them go?" Kai asked. "I wasn't sure if you'd prefer to exterminate a potential threat."

"Not worth the time. Besides, there have always been movements toward merging the two sects. If most Redstorm cultivators join, it will bolster the sect's flagging numbers."

"They're mostly flagging because we killed the others."

"See?" Omilaena leaned onto Zae Zin Nim's shoulder and smirked. "She cares. We could have just grabbed everything in the vault and waltzed off, but she wants to leave the Brightwind Sect intact."

"It could be useful to us." Zae Zin Nim ignored the fact that their wife was practically draped over her head and kept speaking to Kai. "Getting their cooperation will make it easier to enter the grand vault, without anyone causing trouble. We can also have them collect resources for the Deadwasters. But as soon as we have the sect's treasures, we depart, as I promised you."

"One day isn't going to make a difference," Kai said, "so long as we don't keep getting caught up in a wider war. What do you want me to do?"

"I..." For the first time, Zae Zin Nim looked a little discomforted. "I will complete some trivial business on my own. I left some personal items in the Brightwind Pagoda, for example. But there is no danger, so you do not need to come with me. Please meet the Brightwind cultivators and begin undoing the grand vault's protections."

There was clearly more going on, but since Kai trusted her, he only nodded. Zae Zin Nim leapt off the side of the wheel, quickly becoming a dark speck that disappeared into the city. Despite her power, she looked so small...

"Since I can't fly, I need you to carry me." Omilaena leapt up against his chest, arms around his neck and legs around his waist.

"I don't think we have time for that now," Kai said mildly.

"Whatever are you talking about?" She adopted a look of wide-eyed innocence even while she ground her hips against him. "I just need you to carry me down to the poison division. If I don't help them out, they'll be in a bit of trouble..."

While Kai flew her down to the city, Omilaena explained one of the terms that they had agreed on before he arrived: Omilaena had struck many of the Redstorm cultivators with a mild poison that would slowly prove lethal over time, but she could also create an antidote. The plan was to leave a quantity of the antidote with trusted Brightwind allies, thus giving them leverage over the Redstorm cultivators.

That did make him wonder if Zae Zin Nim still had some interest in the Brightwind Sect: maybe it was personal, maybe she just had the cultivator's desire to control a potentially useful organization. Either way, he wasn't going to argue, especially because she had sent him to take all the sect's most powerful treasures.

When Kai reached the side of the great wind barrier, the cultivators on the other side looked nervous, some gesturing away and some trying to open a gate. He ended the argument by just walking through: he grunted a little at the impact, and the wind cut open a few shallow slices across his chest, but they were already healed by the time he walked out the other side.

"You know that Zae Zin Nim is in charge now, right?" he asked the cultivators. "She sent me to open the grand vault."

"You are..." One of the bolder cultivators stared at him suspiciously. "Just what are you to the matriarch?"

"I'll be her executioner if you don't listen."

Apparently Kai was learning the local language of threats, because they hastened to obey. The cultivators escorted him through the defenses, away from the grand pagoda to a heavily fortified area in the basement. Kai told them some about the battle and the plans for the future, though it was all an irritating distraction. Even as he spoke, he watched the higher levels, trying to see if any of the cultivator robes in the pagoda represented his wife.

Once they reached the vault doors, Kai understood why Zae Zin Nim had preferred to get their cooperation: there were multiple barriers, of both stone and qi, standing between them and the entrance. The nervous cultivators opened several with keys or spells that would have taken him a while to break through... until they reached a great stone slab emblazoned with the Brightwind symbol.

"This is as far as we can go," one of the cultivators said. "Only the patriarch himself can open this final barrier."

"That's good enough," Kai said as he stepped forward. "I'll take care of it."

"Do... do you realize what went into this barrier? Five hundred and twelve sect members cast the spell, sixty four gave of their life blood to seal it, and eight lives were sacrificed to-"

Kai inhaled and then unleashed Baleful Breath. The barrier was indeed a powerful one, because it wasn't destroyed instantly, but he could feel the defensive qi burning away. As he continued to exhale, the hellish clouds billowed around the barrier, spreading to either side of him and sending the cultivators scampering away.

When he had exhausted his breath, the barrier was heavily damaged, but it would take some more time. No wonder Zae Zin Nim had sent him to get started early. The thought of her distracted him as he prepared another breath, involuntarily looking toward the structure above them.

He didn't think anything in the Brightwind Pagoda could truly threaten his wife, but he had a feeling that the personal issues she refused to speak of were a different sort of threat.