[Tree] Chapter 352: Master Assassin (Patreon)

Ashlock had to agree that it was a pretty good idea. A whip made from one of his vines should be challenging for those in the Star Core Realm and below to cut, and if it ever got destroyed, he could always grow another.

"Let's give it a try," Ashlock said to Stella and cast Abyssal Devourer. He didn't summon the void lake or tendrils, as that would be a waste of sacrificial credits. The ground cracked open, causing Elder Mo to take a hesitant step back.

Two black thorn-covered vines ending in a spike slowly emerged. Ashlock tried to restrain their size as much as possible as his usual person-thick vines he used to dissolve colossal monsters like the eclipse behemoth wouldn't be usable as a whip for little Jasmine. To his surprise, his skill seemed quite happy to make the vines as small as he wanted, so they both came out as suitable sizes. One for Jasmine and another slightly larger one for Stella.

"To think there was a time many years ago when I had so little control over Devour and my hunger that once I activated the skill, I basically lost all control, and I would keep trying to eat my target until they died." Ashlock mused. It hadn't even been a decade since he arrived in this world, yet he had already made such progress.

"You're really fine with this?" Stella asked as she eyed the wiggling vines poking out the ground.

"Of course, go ahead and cut them." Ashlock insisted.

"Very well then," Stella held out her hand to Elder Mo, "Axe."

"As you wish, Princess." Elder Mo's spatial ring flashed with silver light, and a suspiciously good-quality axe appeared in his hand. The dark wooden handle supported an enchanted axe head the size of Jasmine.

Despite the axe's likely weight, Elder Mo passed it to Stella as if it were a toy, and Stella received it gracefully without making any expression acknowledging its weight. White soul flames spiraled up the shaft from Stella's hand and ignited the axe head.

Ashlock was confused. He could see Stella's white soul flames but couldn't feel anything from them. Even while using her flames, she appeared as an ordinary mortal in his spiritual sight. Seeing that she was about to make her cut, he drained his Qi from the vines to make them as easy to cut as possible.

Stella effortlessly swung the axe, and it seemed to phase through his vines, and despite focusing on them, he didn't feel any pain.

"Did you miss—" Ashlock swallowed his words as he felt a sharp pain. The vines fell with a thump on the ground a second later.

"You really think I would miss? That was an aether dimension slash," Stella smirked as she balanced the axe on her shoulder and dismissed her soul flames. "Unlike spatial Qi, which directly tears through reality and can therefore be blocked, aether Qi operates on a separate plane parallel to reality. It takes a moment for actions done in the aether plane to appear in reality."

"Fascinating," Ashlock said, "How can someone block it?"

"Physical defenses are basically useless," Stella said as she passed the axe back to Elder Mo. "However, if you had spatial Qi flooding your vines, I likely would have struggled to make the cut as your Qi would have reacted violently with the aether Qi. But the axe's blade would have finished the job in that situation."

"Oh, I see. So aether Qi also gets disrupted by other Qi types," Ashlock said, "While it still has the same issue as spatial Qi, it's to a lesser degree. Aether Qi really is quite good, isn't it?"

"I know, right?" Stella nodded. "That is why I've been researching how to teach it to you. While I have knowledge of the affinity and its daos, that's not enough. Otherwise, people wouldn't have to listen to heaven's whispers, and we could all teach each other daos." Stella's expression turned serious, "I promise you, I will figure out a way."

"I look forward to it," Ashlock said, genuinely appreciating his adopted daughter's determination to help him. The more he saw her use aether Qi, the more he desired it. "Though I have to ask, why did I feel nothing from you even when you used your soul flames. Is that another advantage of aether Qi?"

Stella shook her head and put a hand on her amulet, "This artifact absorbs my Qi, remember? So long as I don't overwhelm its absorption rate by using too much Qi or send Qi too far away from my body, it will maintain the shroud."

Ashlock hadn't realized Stella could still fight while appearing like a mortal. This totally changed things. He had expected her to simply be able to wander around on the surface, having to keep her Qi to herself until they got rid of Vincent Nightrose. But now, the development of this amulet and her new affinity had opened up a whole new way for Stella to benefit the sect.

"Stella, in my spiritual gaze right now, you are even more unassuming than Khaos. While the void Ents are totally silent as they move around, they leave a dead zone in my spiritual sense, which is noticeable if I'm paying attention. However, you appear as a Qi-less mortal."

"So?" Stella asked, seemingly confused at why he sounded so excited. "Why would appearing as a mortal be a good thing? Nobody will respect or fear me when I can't show my cultivation."

"Exactly!" Ashlock said, "You currently have the perfect setup for an assassin. Dare I say, you could become one of the most feared assassins in the realm if you wanted."

That little sales pitch seemed to grab Stella's attention. "Oh? Go on," she urged, "What makes me such a good assassin?"

"The most essential quality of an assassin is looking unassuming. It's easiest to kill people when they have their guard down. Imagine how quickly we could have killed the Lunarshade Grand Elder if you rammed a dagger through his head while he was relaxing in his gambling house surrounded by whores?"

"True..." Stella slowly nodded.

"That is something you would be capable of right now. The amulet makes you nearly impossible to detect, and your youthful appearance would make arrogant cultivators overlook any possibility of you being stronger than them." Ashlock paused, "Combined with your killer instincts, aether Qi that lets you effortlessly phase through reality without leaving a trace and my realm-spanning support. I fail to see how anyone could match you."

Stella's eyes were practically sparkling at this point. Jasmine was proudly looking up at her Master, and Elder Mo had a wide grin. The only thing holding Stella back now was her cultivation realm being in the Star Core Realm and her pride. Being an assassin required patience, and Ashlock worried she wouldn't be able to bow her head when necessary to an enemy to get them to lower their guard.

"If anything, going down this path will hopefully teach you many things. The best assassins are the masters of all. They have to be able to adapt to any situation, wield every weapon, sweet talk people, and infiltrate their target's inner circles before striking." Ashlock continued. "While killing someone like Vincent Nightrose might be a little too much for you now, I'm sure you could get a lot of practice doing missions for the Eternal Pursuit Pavilion."

While Stella hadn't gone into details about her time in the Azure Crest tournament realm, she had briefly mentioned that she had assumed the identity of the daughter of Elder Vortexian, which sounded like an infiltration attempt. Ashlock doubted she did it flawlessly, considering she followed that up by telling him that she slaughtered everyone in the tournament, which was not exactly something an assassin would do, but it was a good start.

"Okay, okay," Stella seemed pumped up, "If becoming the realm's best assassin is how I can benefit you and the Ashfallen Sect the most, then I'd be happy to pursue it."

By the sounds of it, while excited, her reasons for doing it were for the benefit of others. Ashlock wanted her to pursue a path that suited her and would make her happy.

"You should only do it if you really want to—"

"Of course I do," Stella grinned, "It sounds cool."

"Oh... okay then." Ashlock chuckled. It seemed his worries were unnecessary. "Speaking of my support, I have some new fruits that I think would also help you."

"What do they do?" Stella asked as Ashlock floated down a few bundles of fruits from his branches a hundred meters over their heads.

"These small black ones are called Void Protection fruits. When you eat it, a thin barrier of void capable of blocking any single attack for a short duration will appear around you at the cost of a large amount of your Qi." Ashlock explained, "I would eat one of these right before going for a kill on a target, just in case they react in time or have a defensive artifact that might harm or trap you."

Stella's eyes widened as she took the fruits. "Isn't this really powerful? Why don't we use these for the tournament instead of Sol's light shield?"

"Because it consumes a lot of Qi and only blocks a single attack. Very worth it when that one attack is lethal, but what if a wind cultivator simply threw a gust of wind in your direction, and you wasted a week of Qi to block it?"

"Oh..." Stella nodded in understanding, "I see now. Powerful but with some caveats. What about these fruits that look like rainbow crystals?"

"Those are Mystic Realmwarp fruits. After eating the fruit, you will teleport out of any pocket realm and return to your last position in reality or a soul anchor point." Ashlock explained.

"What was a soul anchor point, again?" Stella asked, and Ashlock paused. That was a good question. If he remembered correctly, there was a technique in the Azure Clan's technique book called Anchor Seal that had likely been the technique Elder Vortexian used to escape when Maple devoured his arm. Bringing the book out of his storage, which was now a giant cave deep in his Inner World, he flicked through the pages and found it.

Anchor Seal: The ability to plant a seal that serves as an anchor for a cultivator's soul. When the seal is activated due to the condition set upon its creation, the cultivator will return to the seal's location instantly, regardless of distance or difference in realms.

Ashlock read down the page and almost missed the warning in small print at the bottom.

Do not use this technique on those below the Nascent Soul Realm if the target's soul is not aligned with an affinity suitable for dimensional travel.

"Put such an important warning in red at the top of the page!" Ashlock understood this book was written for those with spatial affinity, but it was still ridiculous. Though the warning did give him a good idea. What if when Diana and the others reached Nascent Soul Realm, he put this seal on their infant souls with the condition that if their main soul died, the seal would activate and bring their infant souls back here to him where he could keep them safe. "While useless for anyone except Stella and maybe my summons right now, I'll have Quill write this technique on his bark and then transfer the knowledge to me."

Ashlock then explained to Stella what an anchor point was.

"That's definitely what Elder Vortexian used," Stella agreed with his theory, "The moment Maple ate his arm, he vanished. The condition he put on his seal must have been taking any form of permanent damage." Stella snorted, "What a coward. He has a second soul as a Monarch Realm, yet he protects his main soul to such an extent."

"Cowards who are obsessed with self-preservation are the ones who survive long enough to reach the Monarch Realm in this world, Stella. You should learn something from him," Ashlock said.

Stella pouted, "Fair..."

"Once I learn this technique, I'll set an anchor point for you. We can decide what the seal's condition will be later..." Ashlock trailed off as he mentally yawned. "God, I'm tired. I'll explain the other fruit another time."

Ashlock gave Stella a bundle of every one of his new fruits. She graciously took them and placed them in her spatial ring. Elder Mo and Jasmine stood there quietly as Ashlock and Stella conversed. Naturally, Ashlock refrained from telling Elder Mo too much regarding the Azure Clan and anything else that concerned his biology. The Redclaws still thought he was an immortal human slumbering under the tree, or at least he hoped they did.

"Now, back to the whips," Ashlock had gotten a little sidetracked there. "Since they aren't part of my body, you don't have to worry about cursed sap. But there is corrosive fluid inside that you will need to remove first. I already drained them of my Qi, so you can fill them with your own. I guess Jasmine will be able to control the vine with nature Qi, and you can manipulate it via telekinesis with Aether Qi."

"I see," Stella nodded and relaid the relevant bits to Elder Mo.

"These will make fine whips," Elder Mo agreed as he carefully picked one of the vines up and avoided pricking his fingers with the thorns dripping with corrosive fluids. "I worried the vine would be too inflexible to make a whip, but this is bendable enough." He placed it back on the ground and stepped back while rubbing his chin, "We could fasten a mithril handle to the bottom, and for Jasmine's, this handle would have holes so she can feed her paralyzing poison into the whip. Would that work?"

"Yes, I think that sounds perfect," Ashlock agreed.

"Then I would like to get started right away." Elder Mo bowed slightly, "I wouldn't want our Princess' dear disciple to fight empty-handed."

"Couldn't agree more," Ashlock opened a portal to Elder Mo's workshop and levitated the two cut vines through. Elder Mo followed the vines through, leaving Stella and Jasmine on the mountain peak. "What are you going to do now?"

"Drill some more practice into Jasmine," Stella sighed, and the little girl flinched. "She still has a lot to learn if she is to not embarrass me, so there's no time to waste."

"Noooo," Jasmine dashed out from beside Stella and stumbled toward him, "Ashlock, save me!"

Stella vanished in a flash of white soul flames and reappeared before Jasmine. "You should know running from me is impossible, my dear disciple." Grabbing her hand, Stella dragged Jasmine into the aether.

A quiet winter breeze went by, and Ashlock was finally left alone. As much as he would love to save Jasmine, Stella was right. She had a lot to learn and not enough hours to do so. All she could do was accept her fate and double her efforts.

Letting out a long yawn, Ashlock felt his body shutting down. "Ugh. I'll let Quill know about Anchor Seal and then head to sleep. I need to be well-rested for tomorrow. So long as nothing goes wrong, I will open multiple portals to the tournament island in my Inner World in the morning. I wonder how many Qi Realm people will try their luck at joining the Ashfallen Sect. We are still quite lowkey, so hopefully, it won't be too many..."

Ashlock went to sleep blissfully. Only to discover the next day that he had severely misjudged the Ashfallen Sect's fame across the realm.