Chapter 507: The Redstorm Sect

Before Kai could act, Zae Zin Nim stepped forward and thrust out her arm. Her Coldfire Palm slammed into the side of the energy surrounding them.

One of the Earth Souls was consumed in flame, the formation tore apart, and multiple cultivators began coughing up blood.

In an instant, the domineering overconfidence of the group broke and they began to scatter. A single cultivator somehow had the insane self-confidence to attack Zae Zin Nim, receiving a physical palm to the chest that caused more blood to erupt from his lips. Others more sensibly fled, though they were struck in the back by Omilaena's needles.

That left two who dissolved into light, attempting to escape via a higher flight technique - and that was where Kai stepped in. He could have killed the cultivators as his wives had, but he assumed they might need some to interrogate. So as he launched after the streaks of light, he activated Famished World. His power swept past the two fleeing and he reached into the light, grasping their robes and pulling them back. They looked so stunned that when they dropped them back in the courtyard, they just remained on their knees.

"Please don't kill us!" one of them begged. "They forced us, we would h-"

"Who forced you?" Zae Zin Nim asked. She was hovering slightly, apparently not consciously. Even though she was the shortest one in the courtyard, she loomed like a dark god, her eyes completely black.

"The other sect, and the loyalists, and-"

"This one is talking." Omilaena dragged an old woman, who was clutching a needle in her shoulder, to the center. "Apparently your father still had allies."

"Betrayer." The old woman spat out blood, but it evaporated in the air before reaching Zae Zin Nim's cheek. "You embarrassed your father, but he still gave you endless chances. And that kindness killed him in the end. We'll never follow you, you wanton bitch, you-"

"Okay." Zae Zin Nim struck the woman on the forehead and she crumpled soundlessly.

That set off more wailing from the surviving cultivators, some of whom trembled on the ground while others begged. They didn't dare touch Zae Zin Nim, and Omilaena kicked one away, which left two grasping at Kai's legs desperately.

"Please, I'm not with them, we had-"

"Calm down." Kai grabbed them both by their robes and lifted them into the air so they'd stop pawing at him. He couldn't promise them their lives, but he was sick enough of this that he didn't care. "Explain exactly what happened and why you chose to attack. What was that about another sect?"

Zae Zin Nim folded her hands in her sleeves and glowered, which silenced the babbling. After an uncomfortable pause, a middle-aged man spoke up.

"It's the Redstorm Sect," he explained. "With the patriarch gone, and so many of our Earth Souls dead, we can't stand against them. They said they would kill all of us and our families if we didn't ambush you. And... Zae Clen Ban had enough loyal followers that some of them jumped at the chance. But it isn't all of us, please, believe u-"

"They can't have believed you'd kill us," Zae Zin Nim said. "What is their real plan?"

"I-I don't know, they thought if they w-weakened you..."

"Then are more coming?" Omilaena asked.

"No," the other prisoner said, "I think they're headed for the grand vault. They want to take all of the Brightwind Sect's greatest treasures, to make themselves the new preeminent sect in the Eastern Plains. I can show you, tell you their plans, just-"

Zae Zin Nim silenced them with a glare, then turned away as if the prisoners ceased to exist. Kai instinctively stepped in close along with Omilaena, not to hide what they were saying, simply to exclude everyone else from the conversation.

"The Redstorm Sect is reasonably powerful," Zae Zin Nim explained. "A significant sect, just always in the shadow of my father. Given time, they might be able to break into the vault, so we can't let that happen."

"How much of a threat are they?" Omilaena asked.

"I believe their matriarch is a Sky Soul, and their shadow branch might have one as well. I know they sent my father a proposal for my hand, but he hated them too much. Given our present strength... I don't think they can defeat us if we're careful. The fact that they attempted this feeble ambush shows how much they underestimate us."

Kai could see their logic: they knew that Zae Clen Ban had died, but rumors would leave unclear how it had happened, and there had been a lot of patriarchs involved in that battle. Presumably they thought their opponents could only barely reach the Sky Soul tier, so a formation of Earth Souls might be able to wear them down. He was less concerned about the battle than about whether or not it would lead to yet another group forming a vendetta against them.

"Then let's go there and take care of it," Omilaena said with a shrug. "We can leave this place to our allies, right?"

"For the most part." Zae Zin Nim glanced to Kai, then at the prisoners. Asking if he was going to make an issue of their lives, he presumed.

After a moment, Kai shook his head. Even if they were telling the truth, he wasn't sure they had enough moral fiber for the truth to matter.

He turned away to let the others finish off the ambushing cultivators, instead flying up to the Clanless. There he found Inafay and Orotaisin watching at the edge, so he quickly explained what was happening. Orotaisin remained at the edge, frowning silently, while Inafay nodded.

"We'll handle things here," she said. "Even if they have more Earth Souls, that shouldn't be a problem. If another Sky Soul shows up, though..."

"Don't engage," Kai agreed. "Just take everything that might be useful to Deadwaste. We're not looting them, exactly, but take any cultivation resources we can use in the local vault. Leave enough room for what we get from the grand vault, because those will be the best we get from the whole region. And... we probably took out the loyalists, so don't be harsh on everyone else."

"Steal everything, bathe in the blood of the innocent, got it."

Kai rolled his eyes and leapt off the deck of the Clanless. He'd planned to return to the courtyard, but before he arrived, he saw Zae Zin Nim rise into the air to intercept him. She was carrying Omilaena with one hand, though she tossed her over to Kai when they met in midair.

"We have the details of the attack," Omilaena said as she wrapped herself around Kai's side. "We might as well go fight them now."

"The Deadwasters understand what to do here?" Zae Zin Nim asked.

"Yeah, I told them," Kai said. He wasn't sure if Zae Zin Nim meant any scorn with that term, but she nodded and seemed to set the issue aside entirely.

"Good, let's go stop the Redstorm Sect."

They both threw themselves through the air at top speed, Kai limited only by letting his wife take the lead. She had given them a little information about the Brightwind Sect's domain, but she knew the geography better than he did. From what he remembered, the Redstorm Sect must be one of the threats from the southeast, so presumably the grand vault was somewhere in between their current position and the border.

He wasn't sure exactly what to expect from the fight. After taking on so many of the factions in the Southern Rivers, he didn't think that a single sect could prove a lethal threat, but that didn't mean he could take things lightly. Just like he'd successfully struck up against opponents with higher Power, slightly weaker opponents could still be a real threat to him.

On their own and burning stamina, they flew faster than the Clanless, leaving countryside streaking underneath them. Kai tried to think about all the farms and small villages, wondering about the lives of those who lived there, but soon enough he saw a storm on the horizon.

Red lightning crackled within it, leaving little doubt as to the source.

There was a small city wreathing an enormous building like it was a mere ornament, so that must be the Brightwind Pagoda. Part of the city had been damaged in a battle that seemed to have ended, leaving corpses in both red and green robes. A large number of Brightwind cultivators were being suppressed in a cage of red qi instead of executed, so perhaps the Redstorm Sect intended to recruit them to bolster their own numbers.

All the remaining fighting was taking place around the pagoda. A wall of wind surrounded it, transparent and yet immensely powerful, tearing apart the red stormclouds that drew close. But the contest was not an equal one: the Brightwind cultivators within were struggling, no doubt coughing up blood, while the Redstorm cultivators formed a large ring to keep up the assault. It seemed inevitable that they would eventually break through.

"At last!" An old woman in bright crimson robes stood on a hovering wheel, separate from the circle of cultivators. There were two others at her side, a middle-aged woman and a young man. "The errant daughter of the Brightwind Sect returns to try to stand in for her father."

Ignoring the words, Kai instead focused on the power of the army. They had around two dozen Earth Souls, but none of them were particularly strong, just in the range of 500 Power. Only the three on the wheel merited a closer examination, and the old woman was strongest at almost 1300 Power.

<

Name: Redstorm Matriarch

Total Power: 1291

Cultivation: Sky Soul (900)

Heavenly Cultivation (100)

Physique: E-0 (80)

Soul Level: 6 (36)

Redstorm Meridians (1191)

>

Not so many years ago, that might have been intimidating... now, Kai saw them as just warlords drunk on the rich qi of Cloudspire. Given how overconfident their opponents were, they were about to get a rude awakening. Kai glanced at Omilaena, who just smirked, and then they both turned to Zae Zin Nim.

"Decapitate the sect?" she suggested quietly.

"Decapitation ho," Omilaena agreed.

Kai didn't think his affirmation was even necessary at this point. But before they could launch into their attack, the storm began to ebb away: the circles of cultivators retained their formation, but stopped actively assaulting the wind barrier. Instead the wheel floated closer to them, the matriarch of the sect stepping to the edge to regard them with a smug smile.

"You see how outnumbered you are," she told them. "Violence is pointless at this stage... why don't we settle this as civilized cultivators?"

So it wasn't ending just yet.