[Tree] Chapter 330: Outsider (Patreon)

Days had passed since Stella arrived in this Azure Clan pocket realm, and the tournament was in full swing.

"Outer Disciple Thalassa from Spatial Peak will be fighting Outer Disciple Evan from Dream Peak." A bored-sounding Elder announced before he sat down on a raised platform alongside the other Elders. Stella counted three Elders in participation for today, with one she recognized. The man taking the center seat was the Monarch Realm Elder who had tried to kill her in the library, and one of his cloak sleeves lay flat as he was still missing his arm.

The stands surrounding the arena rumbled as the cultivators drummed their feet in excitement as Thalassa and Evan took the stage. Stella hadn't interacted with large groups of cultivators before, so she had no idea if this kind of reaction was typical. However, thinking back on the alchemy tournament, the mortals had shown a similar level of excitement so maybe it was normal?

Either way, she found the behavior and decorum of the cultivators from the Azure Clan quite detestable. She had tried to sneak her way into a fight, but was barred entry, as she didn't know the participation number of the siblings she killed in the tunnel. So, with nothing else to do, she was stuck watching the matches between the various peaks of the Azure Clan while surrounded by these loud weaklings.

Her soul itched to be unleashed on those around her, flattening them under her pressure to silence them, but she refrained. Now wasn't the time to expose her prowess, but the opportunity was fast approaching. After all, she hadn't been idle these last few days watching battles between Outer Disciples in the early stages of the Star Core Realm.

She had tracked down a target and found a possible way in. Looking up at the pocket realm sun's location and comparing it to the fighting schedule she had memorized, a smile tugged at the edge of her lips as she stood up. It's time.

Stella unapologetically blocked people's views and stepped on people's toes as she strode down the stand to the exit.

"Hey? Which peak are you from—" A loudmouth stood up and tried to confront her.

You hurl insults, throw food, and drum your feet, yet I step on your toes, and now you have a problem? Stella didn't understand these people at all. The only talent they seemed to have was making her last few days here as irritating as possible.

"Sit," Stella said simply and flicked him in the chest with the faintest whisper of Qi. The man's eyes widened as the wind vacated his lungs, and he crashed back into his seat while gasping for air.

Stella smirked as she finally got some revenge against these people she had endured for the last few days. To her surprise, despite the amount of commentary and insults these people had for those fighting in the arena, nobody else stepped up to confront her after seeing how effortlessly she disposed of the last idiot.

That's a shame. I wanted to put a few more of them in their place. Stella pouted as she descended the stairs to the nearest tunnel heading deeper into the arena.

"Let the fight begin!" The same Elder from before bellowed, not even bothering to stand up.

Stella paused and decided to give the fight a quick look as she still had time.

I bet it will be as disappointing as the rest.

Thalassa, a petite red-haired girl, held up a dagger with two hands and coated it in dark purple spatial Qi. Dashing forward through the sand, spatial Qi flashed across her body, and she vanished. Reappearing beside Evan a moment later, she stumbled before falling flat on her face.

What a terrible use of Spatial Step. Stella sighed. You have to make sure your foot is raised when you teleport; otherwise, you have nothing to balance yourself with when you arrive. Every spatial cultivator with a brain can figure that out.

Stella had been told in the past that there were few spatial cultivators because it was a difficult and dangerous affinity to cultivate. She didn't really understand why until coming here. These people were so bad that they were more of a danger to themselves than their enemies. To think I tried to learn from the books written by these foolish Elders. No wonder they don't know what they are doing. Their books were nothing but flowery nonsense.

Evan, who looked half asleep with his eyes closed and shoulders sagged, turned to Thalassa, who was quickly recovering from her blunder. He flared his Star Core pressure to throw her off balance and surged forward with impressive speed. With his eyes still closed, he punched Thalassa square in the stomach with his prismatic dream Qi-wreathed fist.

"Go to sleep," Evan said.

Stella picked up on his words over the crowd's roar. Sure enough, Thalassa wasn't getting up, and despite the uncomfortable position of hugging her stomach in pain, she seemed to be sleeping.

This is how most fights with the Dream Peak cultivators had gone. If they didn't get cut down straight away, they often managed to land a hit on their opponent, sending them into a dream state.

Some people with strong mental wills or protective artifacts broke out of the effect, but Thalassa didn't seem so lucky. Evan staggered over to Thalassa in his sleepy state and proceeded to beat the shit out of her until she appeared to die, and an Elder declared him the victor.

"Evan from Dream Peak wins!"

Stella vanished unnoticed down the tunnel while everyone stood up and cheered. Despite being an outsider of the Azure Clan, she was surprised at the subtle rage brewing in her heart due to the Spatial Peak's continued terrible performance. Of all the peaks competing, Spatial Peak had, without a doubt, the weakest showing, and it wasn't even close. They were the laughingstock of everyone in the stands, and Stella couldn't blame them for laughing.

After all, they hadn't seen how terrifying spatial Qi could be... yet.

Stella walked past some other blue-robed cultivators of the Azure Clan, and they hardly spared her a glance as they chatted with one another about the upcoming fights.

"Lyra is up next, right?"

"The Spatial Peak Elder's daughter? Heavens, this is going to be so embarrassing."

"I know, right? He even came specifically today to watch her fight! I wonder if he will step in if her life is endangered?"

The other person snorted, "Probably not, as that goes against the clan's rules, and the Elder has more children than stars in the sky. But I wouldn't be surprised if the opponent vanished the next day, maybe along with his family and friends for good measure. However, I wonder if the Elder even wants his daughter to win? I mean, she is assured to lose and be brutally killed out there like the other Spatial Peak losers—"

"Careful what you say," the second person whispered, "Rumors have it the Elder has become far more ruthless since his accident."

"Good point..." The pair of cultivators had rounded a corner a while ago, and Stella had kept walking while listening in. Eventually, she failed to catch much else over the noise from the crowd.

Well, that complicates things. I knew Lyra was special, but to think she is one of the on duty Elder's daughters. Stella bit her lip. She had picked out this girl for a few reasons and had been stalking her every action for the last few days to ensure this plan went smoothly.

Nobody else Stella had seen so far matched her needs, and already, a quarter of the time in the Mystic Realm had gone by. She had yet to gain anything, and spending another week or two looking for a perfect target didn't seem worth it. I'm going to attract attention either way. If things turn for the worse, Maple should protect me.

Pausing before a door, Stella held her hand up an inch from the door and let out a breath. No going back now. She knocked thrice and heard some movement.

"Who is it?" A voice thundered through the door—one of Lyra's guards.

"It's Elara!" Stella said in an upbeat, overly cute tone that she despised with every fiber of her being, "I have come to wish Lyra good luck in her upcoming fight!"

Stella had identified this Elara girl as one of Lyra's best friends. After copying her mannerisms by observing her from afar for many days, Stella disposed of the annoying girl yesterday evening when she spotted her heading to the town built around the arena to house participants and spectators for the event.

"Elara?! I wondered where she had gone last night," the muffled voice of Lyra came through the door, "Let her in, Hugo."

Stella grinned as she heard the door's multiple locks click open one by one.

The moment the door opened, she came face to face with Hugo. The guard's eyes widened as he saw an unfamiliar face that was most certainly not Elara. After all, Elara was nothing but a corpse in Stella's spatial ring.

"You aren't Elara—" Hugo said, but it was too late. Stella activated her earrings to confuse the man before she Spatial Stepped into the room with perfect precision, unlike Thalassa. With a pop of air, she effortlessly appeared before Lyra.

"Elara?! Wait, who are you?" Lyra stumbled back. The pleasant smile she had been wearing as she anticipated a meeting with her best friend had turned into pure terror, and her confused mental state was evident by how chaotic her surprisingly pure spatial Qi was flickering across her shoulders.

"Me?" Stella summoned a dagger to her hand, wreathing it in pure spatial Qi, "I'm whoever I last killed." Her hand blurred as she went to slash Lyra's neck.

"Ah!" A golden barrier manifested as the gemstone in Lyra's necklace cracked. The brief look of hope in Lyra's eyes faded as Stella's blade sliced through the barrier, shattering it as if it were a minor inconvenience, and stabbed Lyra in the neck.

A pained gargle left Lyra's mouth. She reached up to try to push Stella off.

Stella answered her effort by twisting the dagger to widen the wound before kicking Lyra to the ground and pulling the dagger free in a shower of blood. Lyra coughed up blood as she desperately tried to cover the bleeding hole in her neck, but it was useless.

That's the important one down. Stella twirled around. Her black sword materialized in a flash of silver, and with telekinesis, she sent the sword to impale Hugo against the door. The guard, who was still stunned by her earrings, tried to raise his arms to block the Qi-wreathed sword, but Stella directed it to tilt down at the last second, so it went through his stomach.

"Wha-ah?!" Hugo shouted in surprise, followed by the sound of the once half-opened door slamming shut with him pinned to it. Stella had less to worry about with the door closed and the room now sealed by the arena's formation.

"Let's make this quick, shall we?" Stella said to the four other guards in the room, who had finally reacted to what was happening and were now cautiously circling her. She noticed two of them eying the dying Lyra with concern while the other two didn't dare take their eyes off her for a second. Their knuckles went white as they clutched their swords tightly, and Stella could practically smell their fear.

All of them were spatial cultivators, and it only took her one look to tell that they were deeply inferior to her.

This is a weird feeling. Usually, I'm on the losing side, facing someone far stronger than me. Stella grinned. I better not get too overconfident. That's how the others died.

"M-Monster!" One of the guards who seemed the most concerned with Lyra shouted, "What did Miss Lyra do to you? What are you after? Money? Revenge?"

Stella scoffed, "Revenge? I hardly knew her. Money, I have more than I know what to do with."

"Then?! What reason do you have!" Another guard protested.

Stella laughed, "I want her face."

"Her... face?"

"Enough questions. The dead don't need answers," Stella summoned a dagger to her free hand and now wielded two. She then flared her Qi to make a portal behind the two distracted guards' heads. They hardly reacted as she thrust her daggers through and stabbed them in the back of the head. Pulling the daggers back out of their skulls, the two guards crumbled to the floor. Dead.

"No!" one of the still-alive guards charged at Stella. She effortlessly sidestepped his sword with her superior reflexes and gently redirected him toward a portal. She grabbed his cloak to stop him from fully stumbling through.

I always wanted to test something. Other Qi types react violently with portals, so they rarely work as attacks. However, what about against other spatial cultivators? Stella looked at the guard, whose head poked out a portal across the room.

Hatred filled the guard's eyes. "I'll kill you," he swore, "I'll really fucking kill you, you crazy bitch."

Stella tilted her head, "You sure? From where I'm standing, you are already dead."

"What are you on about—"

Stella snapped her fingers, and the portal the guard was partially through collapsed. He tried to resist the closure with his spatial Qi, but Stella found the attempt cute. Despite being in the same realm, the difference between them was too vast. With a pop, the portal cleaved the guard in two. Both halves dropped to the ground at the same time in different parts of the room. So I really can cut spatial cultivators in half if my Qi is superior—Stella ducked as a sword whistled past where her head had been.

"Did you really think you could sneak up on me?" Stella had long noticed the final guard's approach. She spun around and used her dagger to cut the guard's head off in a reverse grip with such force it sent the body spiraling through the air before it crashed and took out a chair.

Stella slowly straightened up and relished in the rush from the hunt. It had been so long since she last stretched her muscles against some foes.

"You're sick in the head."

Stella looked at Hugo, who had managed to pull the sword from his stomach, but it seemed the poison she had dripped on her blade was already working if his pale complexion and short breaths were anything to go by.

"How so?" Stella asked, genuinely confused. Was there something wrong with the way I fought? I swear I did everything right, though? I incapacitated the guard closest to the door so he couldn't run for help. Neutralized the main target so she couldn't Spatial Step away, and then I closed the door to seal the room so I could deal with the rest one by one. I even made sure most of the deaths were quick and only slightly painful.

Hugo grimaced at her question, "Why would you slaughter your fellow family members like this? The world is already rife with war. If you want to fight, use your skills for the benefit of the Azure Clan instead of this senseless killing for no apparent gain."

Stella slowly processed what Hugo said and eventually realized the misunderstanding. "Oh..." a small chuckle escaped her lips. "You thought I was one of you?"

Hugo narrowed his eyes, "You're an outsider?"

"Why else would I want your dear Lyra's face?" Stella said in Elara's cute voice before switching to Lyra's more mature tone, "It's hard to fit in otherwise, you know?"

Hugo's expression twisted, and his complexion darkened. His purple soul flames erupted from his shoulders in a blaze as he glared at her with absolute hatred. "Disgusting outsider, I will take you down with me."

"Going supernova in here?" Stella tilted her head, "What about Lyra? She's not dead yet, you know?"

"Miss Lyra wasn't going to survive the tournament anyway. Her sacrifice will be worth stopping a monster like you from destroying the Azure Clan from within!" Hugo shouted, "You're too dangerous to be left alive." Liquid spatial Qi spluttered from his mouth and poured from his eyes and ears.

Despite being in the initial stages of the Star Core Realm and having such impure Qi, if Stella faced Hugo going supernova in such a small room, her death would be assured.

"What a lame way to die," Stella shook her head as she fearlessly walked toward Hugo.

"You can't stop me!" Hugo grinned, "Even if you cut off my head, the process has already started. You're dead bitch."

Stella sighed as she pulled down her hood and patted Maple on the head. "Wakey wakey Maple. I got a snack for you."

Maple stirred awake, and after a little more encouragement, the slothful squirrel sniffed the air and finally decided to hop off her head. Stella left Maple to enjoy his meal while she cleaned up the rest of the room as the time for Lyra's fight was fast approaching.

"What is that? A squirrel?" Hugo snorted, "What is such a cute pet going to—" A girlish scream followed that made Stella raise a brow as she waved her hand to absorb the bodies of the other guards.

A moment later, a weight landed on Stella's head, and she reached up to rub Maple under his chin. "It's a shame I gave Hugo a chance to go supernova. I promised Tree some monster corpses as snacks, but the pile of Azure Clan bodies will have to suffice."

Maple yawned in response and went back to sleep.

Such a fat and lazy squirrel. Stella snorted as she put her hood back up. Now, where is Lyra? Ah, there she is. Stella followed the trail of blood around the back of a sofa and saw Lyra desperately trying to crawl away.

"I guess that's the daughter of an Elder for you. Struggling until the last breath instead of taking the cowardly way out." Stella crouched down over her body, "I will reward your tenacity with a swift death." She placed her hand on the back of her head and felt the girl freeze up.

"Please..." Lyra gasped out.

"You people are confusing," Stella shook her head, "The arena matches out there are to the death or until someone surrenders. Is life on the upper layer of creation more civil than where I'm from, and fighting to death a sport rather than an everyday reality?"

Lyra kept struggling.

"You know you're already dead, right? Why does it matter if I kill you now or if you die in the arena?"

"Maybe," Lyra wheezed out, "But I don't want to die at the hands of a monstrous outsider like you."

Stella shrugged, "Well, sorry about this. I came to hunt monsters and found you guys. But at the end of the day, monster and human... is there really a difference?" Putting some force into her fingers, she cracked Lyra's skull like an egg, and the Elder's daughter went limp.

"That kill definitely felt less satisfying compared to the guards," Stella mused as she rolled the body over. There were two reasons she had targeted Lyra. Her cultivation and spirit roots were the most impressive she had seen, but even more importantly... Stella pulled free the dark blue mask from Lyra's face, which was like a half-moon.

Stella hadn't lied to the guards. She really was after Lyra's face.

Underneath the mask that had covered most of Lyra's face, there were horrific scars and disfigurement. Perhaps to maintain her father's dignity, she was the only person Stella had seen in the tournament who wore a mask. Which served her needs perfectly.

The mask exposed her mouth, but as long as it covered her eyes, she could use her hood to hide the rest. Cleaning the inside of the mask from Lyra's blood, Stella put the mask on and was satisfied with how well it fit.

"Lyra!" A loud knock rang through the room, "It's time for your fight. I'm coming in."

Stella's blood ran cold as she looked at the dead girl at her feet. Oh shit.