Two coiling dragon-like flames of spatial and water Qi spiraled up and reached for the stars, making the entire pavilion tremble under the wrathful display of power.
It only took a moment for Ashlock to realize that Stella and Diana had ascended simultaneously to the next stage in the Soul Fire realm, causing the supernatural spectacle.
"Stella should be in the 9th stage now and Diana in the 8th. They are both getting close to the Star Core realm." Ashlock mused to himself. "If I sent them back into the Mystic Realm with all the cultivation resources I can produce, I should have two Star Core sect members very soon."
Ashlock then tore his sights away from the fascinating display and used {Eye of the Tree God} to check on the cultivators he had sensed standing outside.
He could see a Redclaw woman and man donning dark red robes waiting respectfully at the closed doorway to the pavilion—their attention was focused on the flames visible over the walls with their hands clasped behind their backs.
They didn't move and continued to wait patiently, so Ashlock deemed them acceptable to ignore for now. So he concentrated on the girls busy consolidating their new cultivation stage as the roaring column of swirling flames calmed down and returned to their bodies.
Diana was the first to open her eyes—two swirling abysses of demonic Qi were all Ashlock saw, and he was worried for a moment she was about to lose control—luckily, his fear didn't come to fruition as Diana blinked the darkness away and her usual dull grey eyes that reminded Ashlock of a dead fish returned.
She summoned a ball of glowing blue flame above her palm and watched as light blue flames swirled around a dense black core which Ashlock assumed demonstrated how her water Qi controlled and suppressed the demonic Qi inside her.
A slight smile lurked as she marveled at her improved spiritual root shown through the lighter shade of her Soul Fire. "It really worked..." Diana mumbled to herself, just loud enough for Ashlock to overhear and feel happy.
He was glad to see Diana in higher spirits after what had occurred to her since the battle for Red Vine Peak. The demonic Qi had left a shadow in her heart, and she had felt more distant in recent weeks to Ashlock.
Stella was the next to recover from her state of enlightenment and cultivation. Unlike Diana, who was still sitting and playing with her 8th-stage Soul Fire, Stella was far more ecstatic as she sprung up and dashed through the dividing walls doorway and into the central courtyard.
"I finally understand!" She shouted with a smug expression. She raised her hands and kept her eyes latched onto Ashlock's trunk.
Ashlock began to understand her plan when he felt a ripple in the spatial Qi near his trunk, and then a portal began to open. Admittedly, it was rather amateurish compared to his portals, which had improved by leaps and bounds since he'd first learned the technique, but it was good enough for Stella to stick her hand through and poke him from the other end of the courtyard.
Then—as Stella still had her arm through the portal—Ashlock noticed the spatial rift becoming increasingly unstable, and before Stella even realized it, the portal began to collapse. Her face transitioned from smug to horror as she tried to yank her arm back through the portal before it sliced her arm in half, but she was too late.
Ashlock unleashed his immense amount of spatial Qi into the air, forcefully took control of Stella's portal, and stabilized it within an inch of its total collapse.
As only a single realm and two stages separated them, Ashlock had to use a truly astonishing amount of Qi to overpower her—but it was made easier as her concentration had faltered due to her panic, so the technique was weakened.
She brought her arm through the pried-open rift and blinked at it while testing all her fingers as if she saw a phantom limb. "That... was dangerous." Stella sighed in relief after confirming she wasn't dreaming and everything was fine, although she then yelped as the portal snapped closed right in front of her, sending out a wave of spatial Qi and compressed air.
Diana had wandered in from the other courtyard and witnessed the tail-end of the incident. Despite her lack of knowledge regarding spatial Qi, she still got the gist of the situation.
A deep frown appeared as she walked over, poked Stella's arm, and angrily whispered, "Did you try sticking your arm through a portal a second after reaching enlightenment? You did, didn't you? Are you a fool?"
"Why are you whispering?" Stella retorted—clearly trying to sidestep the subject regarding her lack of safety while using spatial techniques.
Diana pointed to the pavilion's closed doors and hissed, "Can't you sense that there are two cultivators beyond the door? What if they heard your yapping?"
Stella's eyes widened as she glared at the door and slowly nodded, "Oh yeah. Those are the two Redclaw escorts I asked for. They must have arrived a little earlier than expected."
"Escorts?" Diana looked baffled, "Why would you need Redclaws to escort you anywhere?"
"To take us around the city, obviously." Stella grinned, "We need to acquire mortal workers for Red Vine peak now that we have our cultivation in order. The winner of the Alchemist tournament will be moving in here soon. We can't have the place looking like a slum, right?"
Diana pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration and lectured in her usual monotone voice, "Stella, my family used to own this city. You could have just asked me to be your escort—I know all the best spots to hire people. Why use some Redclaws that only moved in recently."
Ashlock had to agree.
He had left Stella to handle the Redclaws on her own and only listened to her reports on her discussions with the Grand Elder. He wasn't particularly interested in micromanaging people he couldn't even speak to directly. With all his ongoing projects, it was too much of a hassle. He felt it was best to leave it to Stella for the time being.
Had he made a mistake? Why were there two Redclaw cultivators so close to his peak?
"Now, now, don't get so angry." Stella retorted, "I felt the need to introduce you to the Redclaws so you can assist me with managing the Ashfallen sect."
Diana was taken aback and mumbled, "You want me to... help? Do you really trust me that much?"
"Of course I do." Stella patted Diana on the shoulder and smiled, "It's totally not because I'm tired of having to deal with everything myself..."
Ashlock had no issues trusting Diana, but even he'd been surprised that Stella was willing to share any of her power within the sect with Diana. However, now he understood. Stella was just lazy.
Diana slapped Stella's hand from her shoulder and glared at the taller girl, "You are just lazy, aren't you? Fine. I will help."
"Great!" Stella clapped her hands, "Shall we go and meet with the escorts then?"
Diana's golden ring flashed, and a white wooden mask materialized in her hand. She ignited it with water Qi, causing a subtle blue flame to dance across its surface, before securing it to her face with a grumble. "The Redclaw Grand Elder would recognize my heritage in a heartbeat," she muttered. "My facial features are too similar to my father's."
"You just want to act mysterious and show off your improved spiritual root." Stella laughed as she held out her hand, "Sounds fun. Give me the other mask."
Diana sighed and gave Stella the black wooden mask, which she gleefully attached to her face and copied Diana by coating it in light purple flames.
Ashlock had to admit, Diana looked rather menacing in her modern-day style clothing, with a white mask that contrasted starkly against her black hair coated in light blue flames and hints of demonic Qi. Meanwhile, Stella looked like a noble attending a high-class event, adorned in a white dress and several golden spatial rings, openly flaunting her near Star Core cultivation.
It wasn't enough to make her a big shot, but the purity of her spiritual root and her younger appearance showed how fast she'd cultivated to such a high realm. She would be feared as some prodigy of a hidden family.
Ashlock was worried that dressing up like this would attract more attention than keeping a low profile, but he decided to let the girls have their fun.
However, he saw the merit in concealing their identities, considering they were heading out to Darklight City to recruit people who might leak information. Ashlock didn't want anyone to link the girls to the hired workers, thus avoiding any information leaks.
"Immortal Senior!" Stella raised her voice, and Ashlock saw the two Redclaw cultivators waiting beyond the pavilion door straighten their backs, "We shall return soon."
Stella then led Diana toward the door.
***
Amber Redclaw stood with her back as straight as a bamboo shoot, patiently waiting for Stella Crestfallen to come out. She didn't dare to knock on the door, fearing she might disturb the immortal. Out of respect, Amber kept her spiritual sense reigned in, even though it wouldn't have mattered much. The spatial Qi in the air was so thick that Amber felt like she was inside the immortal's aura.
All cultivators naturally altered the area around themselves to match their affinity so they could cast techniques. For Amber, her fire Qi aura extended about a meter around herself, and with some effort, she could cast techniques up to five meters away.
In comparison, Amber felt like she'd been inside the immortal's aura since entering the forest surrounding the entire mountain range.
In fact, the Redclaws had been under even more stress as the immortal's aura began to bear down on the white stone palace recently, which made cultivation even harder than usual.
They also feared they had caught the immortal's ire somehow.
Amber could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She had silently thought the immortal was a ruse, but coming here and being so close to the immortals home shattered that belief. The immortal was real—according to legends, only a Monarch realm cultivator could have an aura that eclipsed a mountain.
And today, she was here to escort one of the immortal's direct descendants around the city that she barely knew. Stella had also suggested another elusive member of the secretive Ashfallen sect would be joining them.
The doorway creaked open, and Amber got the briefest view of the Ashfallen sect before a faceless mask glowing with purple flames peeked around the wooden door.
It took a moment for Amber to recognize the person. But the blonde hair and red maple leaf earrings were all she needed to identify the infamous Stella Crestfallen, that had been the source of all her family's headaches over the last month.
"Amber Redclaw greets the mistress," Amber said as she bowed, bending her back toward the ground in reverence to Stella's feet. Humiliation? Amber didn't even know the meaning of the word. She was nothing but an ant in front of an immortal's descendant.
"Elder Mo greets the Ashfallen elder." She heard from the elder beside her, who gave a shorter bow.
"Raise your heads." The wooden mask ablaze with light purple flames distorted Stella's voice, which Amber had become accustomed to."I have someone to introduce to you."
Amber raised her head respectfully. The doorway to the Red Vine pavilion was sealed, obscuring its deep secrets, and in front of it stood two women. Stella gestured to the shorter black-haired woman beside her. "This is Diana, another member of the Ashfallen sect."
"Hello," Diana spoke dryly as if bored with life.
Amber felt like she had heard of someone called Diana who used water Qi before, but she wasn't sure. Water Qi was one of the more common affinities, and although it had been mostly controlled by the now-eliminated Ravenborne family, many other people could use it. It wasn't so unusual for there to be two water Qi cultivators with the same first name.
Diana then followed up the silence with, "Shall we go? I don't have time to waste on these things."
Amber felt as though Diana's words were directed at them, even though Diana wasn't looking at them. So, Amber answered, "R-right this way, Mistress Diana and Stella. Please allow me to escort you to the city."
As Amber turned to lead them down the mountain, Stella raised her hand and snapped her fingers with a thunderous crack. The dense spatial Qi surrounding them erupted into a violent vortex, tearing apart the fabric of space itself to form a rift.
Amber looked through the distorted space and noticed that the portal only went a few meters down the mountain and was terribly unstable, like a violent storm...
"Tree, help me," Amber heard Stella whisper under her breath. In response, the portal rippled, expanded, and now revealed the gates of Darklight City. The portal had become far more stable, and the level of Qi emanating from it was in the Star Core realm.
Did Stella just pray to the heavens, and it obeyed her will from mere words? Amber narrowed her eyes. Did Stella and the Ashfallen sect worship the destroyed world tree?
Elder Mo also appeared pale as a sheet as he stared dumbfounded at the portal, his feet rooted to the rocky mountain.
"Are you coming, escorts?" Diana mocked in her distorted monotone voice as she strode through the portal. Stella also stepped through the portal without a word, leaving the Redclaws alone on the mountain.
The Redclaws exchanged worried looks before calming their expressions. They could feel the weight of the immortal bearing down on them—it would be foolish to keep the immortal's descendant waiting.
Amber silently wished that the pair wouldn't cause too much of a scene in Darklight City as she stepped through the portal with a sigh.