The Manticore tribe civil war was over. It should have been the happiest day of Ahn Rit Kulha's life - all the factions led by his enemies were dead, Feida's faction was cooperating with him, and he was one of the most prominent Earth Souls in the entire tribe. They had taken back their territory and the patriarch's estate, so they had all the legitimacy he'd ever dreamed of.
And sometimes he was happy. There had been dozens of toasts in his honor, factions were clamoring for his support, and he practically had women lining up by his tent. Since the foreign barbarian was going to leave, Kulha's prestige in the tribe could only increase.
That barbarian was the rot in the wood, undermining everything else.
What was baffling was that Kai could have taken everything: all the honors Kulha wanted and things he hadn't dared to dream. The man could be the patriarch of the entire clan, he could live in comfort for the rest of his days, he could have had a different woman in his bed every night. And he just didn't seem to want any of it.
Sometimes, when Kulha was being toasted as a new hero of the tribe, he told himself that the foreigner was just an idiot. Too stupid or weak of will to seize what all men should want. That was what he told himself, over and over, as he approached the isolated tent.
As he walked up to the flap, he was startled when Kai stepped out. Bared to the waist, with only the strange cloth he always wore, the manticore of the tribe emblazoned across his chest. That should have meant his loyalty, yet he seemed larger than it, as if the tribe was nothing more than a piece of clothing he'd chosen to wear for a while.
The tent flap fluttered closed, giving him just a tantalizing glimpse of the space beyond: the barbarian's women were lying in bed, the seductive one lying like a temptress and the cultivator wrapped in silk sheets that only accentuated her curves. Utterly beyond any of the women in the Manticore tribe, in beauty or strength, and completely beyond his reach. That was another frustration... but Kai was stepping into his path now, cutting off the vision of heaven.
"Everything alright?" Kai asked. He actually sounded like he meant it, like he would come help if anything had gone wrong.
"You really should come give a speech or something." Kulha shifted his weight and glanced back toward the main tent. "This should be your moment of glory."
"I really can't convince you to stay?"
Kai only shook his head.
"Look." Kulha wanted to give him some incentive, but what did he have to offer? Maybe that bizarre naive streak of his... "Without you, the tribe will fall apart."
"Given what happened to your patriarch, you were falling apart anyway. This is your second chance, so don't waste it." Kai started to reach a hand toward him in a strange gesture, then pulled back. Instead he revealed the massive manticore cloak from his spatial ring. "This is yours now. Either find someone to wear it, or become worthy of it yourself."
And so he just handed Kulha the authority that so many would have murdered their own kin over. In fact, in a metaphorical sense they'd recently done just that. Kulha accepted the cloak and discovered that it was surprisingly heavy. He wanted to say something else, but found himself turning and walking away.
What he said hadn't been true, really. Many tribes could survive without a Sky Soul, and the reputation of one could shield them for a long time, since patriarchs often went into seclusion to cultivate. Given the utter dominance Kai and his women had displayed, their reputation would be secure for a long time to come.
Maybe the cultivator woman had explained all that to him. She was definitely no foreigner, with those dark eyes and perfect jade skin. Or it could have been the golden woman, who was as canny as she was vicious. Visions of those two haunted Kulha as he walked away.
It wasn't just the obvious, it was the fact that they seemed happy. They were both obscenely powerful, strong enough to rule a sect on their own, yet they stayed with this thuggish barbarian no matter what he had to offer. He knew, despite how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, that they would be loyal to him even if he didn't have that strength. Kulha thought about the line beside his tent and knew that if he lost his position, they would all be gone in an instant.
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The idea that someone would gain control of a tribe and then simply throw it away was pure madness, yet he had just been handed the evidence. As he walked back, the cloak felt heavier and heavier in his hands.
When Kai closed the tent flap, he stayed there a moment, frowning at the fabric. He'd known this was coming, of course, because he had no plans to stay in the Manticore tribe his entire life. There wasn't much he would miss, either. But it still bothered him to leave business behind. ℞ÃɴỌΒЕ𝐒
"Anything wrong?" Omilaena asked from the bed.
"Just handing off some final details." Kai turned back to them and shook his head. "Do you think the Manticore tribe will collapse as soon as we leave?"
"Not likely." Zae Zin Nim was curled up against one of the pillows, relaxed with her hair across her face, but her eyes fixed on him intensely. "They've gotten past the crisis point, and most of the sects that tried to take advantage of them were dealt with brutally. If they fall apart after this, that's their own fault."
"Kai, don't waste time thinking about random idiots." Omilaena stuck out her tongue at him. "Get back over here and I'm sure we can find some way to distract you."
Kai chuckled and crawled back into the bed, but all he wanted now was to rest with the two of them. It had been most of a year since they made their plans on Darkmist Island, and despite some complications, they actually got what they wanted: Zae Zin Nim had broken through, Omilaena had found a way to harness qi, and Kai had eaten new monsters in addition to his cultivation advancement.
When he settled down on his back, Zae Zin Nim immediately attached herself to his side. Omilaena looked like she would be happy for more, but slid into a comfortable position with a loose smile. It might have been nice to fall asleep like that, but now his thoughts were moving forward.
"Is there anything stopping us from exploring the rest of Cloudspire?" he asked. "We wanted to make sure our power couldn't be easily identified, but we all have something to mask it now. And even if I attract attention, I have ties to the Western Wilds that sh-"
"Too many ties." Zae Zin Nim frowned and poked the manticore tattoo on his chest. "Can we get rid of this?"
"Not unless you want to cruelly hamper my experiments," Omilaena said. "It needs to absorb more mana before it can be properly harvested."
"What I mean to say," Kai continued, "is that we've finished our preparations, and we're strong enough that Sky Souls aren't a threat to us unless they're among the best. There's nothing tying us down. So can we go anywhere we want on the continent?"
"Not yet." Zae Zin Nim slid her leg across his to gently kick Omilaena. "Omi, do you think you can eliminate Kir Mei Bai's poison? If you can't, we don't have a lot of time before she dies."
Omilaena made a gurgling noise and flopped onto her back. "The Prana Jewels are stronger now, and I have a lot more experience with local poisons, but can I get rid of a cultivator-targeting poison? I'd say it's fifty-fifty. Safest option would be to just leave her to die, otherwise the whole sect could get offended somehow and come after us."
"I think it would be better to try. Leaving minor sects behind is one thing, but the Pureflower sect is prominent in the whole region. Having their support could help us if... if we end up in conflict with my father."
"But we don't have to do that right away." Kai pulled her a little closer and rubbed her back. "We can focus on forging our own paths."
"That is true. I would like to figure out my Physique next." Zae Zin Nim was silent for a time before she spoke up again. "We don't necessarily need to go to the Eastern Plains to learn more. There are other sects with information on cultivation Physiques, especially in the Northern Expanse. I do want to visit the Frozen Lily sect one day."
"We're a lot closer to the south, though," Omilaena pointed out, "and that would mean leaving poor Kai outside in the cold. Is that what you want?"
"Don't think you can manipulate me so easily." Zae Zin Nim shifted into a more comfortable position and patted his chest, as if to reassure him, even as she continued to speak across him. "What are you so interested in, in the Southern Rivers?"
"I'm not set on it, but I'd like to visit the Insanities on Cloudspire. The Impossible Elixir is hidden, so we can't exactly find that, but the Loam of the Gods is in the south."
"They don't just let anybody walk up to that, though."
"Remember that I don't know about this stuff," Kai said. "You say there's an Insanity in the Southern Rivers?"
"Called the Loam of the Gods." Omilaena began to tap her fingernails against his chest and her eyes danced. "The joke is that they only have magic dirt, but it sounds incredible. Allegedly it can make trees grow in mere days, give alchemical ingredients ten times their normal strength, and more."
Zae Zin Nim nodded. "The effects are so powerful that the sect that controls it is the strongest in the Southern Rivers, and important all across Cloudspire. That's why I said it isn't easy to reach, but I suppose it's possible. Definitely more than the Impossible Elixir, and the Heaven Eater is dead, so there are just records of that one."
So there were allegedly three Insanities on the continent, one of them historical. Kai wanted to ask more, but he knew there'd be plenty of time in the future. For now, he was just glad that their path didn't lead them to splitting up any further.
"Sounds like we can take care of things quickly," he said. "Just a few loose ends to wrap up, then we might as well head south."
"Or maybe north," Zae Zin Nim said.
Either way, Kai felt like it didn't matter. For the first time in ages, he felt like everything would turn out alright.