Chương 280: Jubilant awe

"It shouldn't be long now," Ardent Horizon Seeker thought to himself as the arrays in the distance lit up once more beneath the breaching ritual, causing the shadows around the rooftops to flicker and dance in the light. None present would notice him though, not even the four gold-rankers of the Thunderous Soul Sect and Heavenly Shadows Sect that surrounded the Tengu Clan's compound.

His control of his aura was simply beyond them, and as long as he remained still, Ardent could keep redirecting the attention of most golds in the capital these days. Yet there was still one who appeared next to Ardent a moment later, although Obsidian Crow had already known where to find his friend as he appeared from the shadows.

"Of all the things you've asked of me over the years, I must admit that not stepping in to dissuade fools from invading your home is one of the most odd requests," Ardent said to his old friend, who as usual appeared completely dressed in tight-fitting black garb and his customary red mask.

"I must assume that there are good reasons for allowing them to trample on your family heritage like this?"

"There are, although we shall have to speak of them another time in another place," Obsidian Crow replied.

"While I thought that the gap left since the Proving would be an opportunity, it would seem that the foes I'm contracted to handle agreed and deemed it too important not to protect. What you see here is merely the veneer of what was arrayed against my family if we stayed. Contact the Branch Director and speak inside one of Knowledge's sanctums if you want to know more, but do so discreetly. Unless you would prefer to stay on the sidelines?" His comment caused Ardent to fall silent for a moment, thinking.

He had, of course, had his suspicions of things not being entirely as they seemed within the capital, but such had been the case for decades now as there was always some plot or another brewing among the mighty. Maintaining distance for both himself and his sect had been a refuge for all of them, as well as a clear path to power.

But Ardent had also seen Kite - his son, however complicated that thought still felt - take up arms against unseen forces during the Proving; forces that seemed a lot more coordinated than anyone seemed to care to take notice of. Just the fact that there had been a gold-ranker appearing out of seemingly thin air to strike at Kite should have been a major cause of concern for most forces as the golds of Hua-Xi weren't so many so as to simply shrug at the appearance of another.

Ardent could still remember the woman with the black wood mask as she wove her threads of light to combat him and his Halls of Emptiness, struggling with the zeal of a fanatic even as his superior power and control smothered her will and disintegrated her flesh. If Discord had one gold-ranker in Hua-Xi, he would - contrary to many of his peers - not just assume that there weren't others.

And as he saw the attack on the Tengu Clan's compound reach its final stages as the arrays of the compound finally started crumbling as cracks spread around their barriers, along with Obsidian's mentioning of this being a mere facade for other, hidden intents, Ardent found himself making a decision to tread a path that he had not for many years.

"Then I will have to seek an audience with the director, it seems," he agreed, before gesturing down to the compound in the distance.

"What will await these fools once they break through then, as I assume that you have already evacuated your people? Any final messages from the Tengu's Crows?"

"Tempting, but no," Obsidian Crow replied with a chuckle.

"Leaving something more destructive behind would only help cement the flimsy excuse they have conjured up for justifying them driving us away from the capital. The only things they will find will be old woodwork and some of the less wanted art pieces the clan has received as gifts during the years. Let emptiness and silence be the only thing to greet them."

"And you?"

"Planning to visit an old friend even if he moves from the seat of power? I'm touched," Obsidian Crow replied with clear amusement.

"The family still have plenty of holdings, some even publicly known, but you should take any inquiries to Cinnabar Rise. I might not always be there though, as Branch Director Temren remains a driven taskmaster for us. I don't know from where, but it seems that she has received more funds than expected to keep us on retainer. From the looks of things, I might even meet little Kite more often in the future. Anything you want me to relay?"

This question once more caused Ardent to ponder, especially with a matter that felt so complex no matter how straightforward his friend tried to make it.

"I… Tell him to keep working hard on those insights of his. I've inducted him into the path towards gold rank, and I assume that will be something towards which he will strive hard during these upcoming years."

"... That's it?"

"Well, it is quite proper for a teacher to focus on the subject of one's teachings, no?" The masked man turned to look at Ardent for a while, and it was with some trepidation that Ardent could feel the quiver of mischief in his friend's aura.

"You know what, he probably already knows all that. I'll just tell him that you're thinking of him."

"Wait, wha-" But with that final remark, Obsidian Crow vanished into his web of shadows and left Ardent alone on the rooftop. In the distance, the arrays of the Tengu Clan's compound broke, causing the four gold-rankers to enter, but Ardent barely paid it any mind anymore. He had a meeting to schedule, in addition to - for once - planning some kind of vengeance against his mischievous friend that sometimes felt like more trouble than what he was worth.

"Thank you for your aid in tempering my path," Soul intoned in unison with Impeccable Silver Edge, both of the silver-rankers covered in marks from the rather intense bout which they had just fought, even if the limited size of Soul's own little arena in Convergence meant that the battle had been a lot more up close and personal rather than the spectacular running struggle from their match during the finals.

The Young Master - assuming that he would still be allowed to call himself such after his abrupt departure from his sect and family - lingered, not knowing quite what it was that he wanted to say, but Soul had no such compunction as she instead turned to the gathering of iron- and bronze-rankers that had watched their clash with rapt attention.

"That was a good bout of which Warrior surely approved. Did any one of you notice Silver's impeccable footwork that kept me from seizing true initiative?

It is something that all of you-" The magnificent celestine quickly lost herself in her explanation with a quiet enthusiasm that Silver had not suspected, but what he did suspect was that it was probably due to her teaching that he found a surprising number of sharp auras among the lower-rankers present; something that he might have laughed at the mere notion of if told that there might be such unexpected quality here in the north.

Not equal to the young elites of his sect, of course, but given the lack of proper resources up here in the north, the result was only more impressive.

"Young Master Silver. Well fought," a familiar voice noted as Silver had walked off to the sidelines to avoid being caught out staring too much at his foe from the practice bout, and he turned to note that the Sentinel of the Gates had arrived sometimes during the clash. Or perhaps it would be wiser to use Pathbreaker, as he seemed more known by that title up in these northern regions.

"And yet I still lost, while gleaning a bit more insight," Silver noted as he sat down next to the other young man, activating his privacy screen to surround them both.

"That is honestly to be expected when spending any amount of time clashing with our dear Blessed of Warrior," Kite joked in return, though Silver could hear the truth of experience hinted in his words. The thought that this outcast had received the privilege of tempering himself against such a resplendent prodigy for so long triggered an almost irrational anger within Silver's chest, one that he was quick to suppress enough that it didn't leak out into his aura, even as the outcast turned to other questions.

"So, any idea of how long you will want to remain here with us?"

"As long as I care to, outcast," came Silver's instinctive response, but at a raised eyebrow from his counterpart, his next words were a little less heated.

"At least, as long as the Blessed of Warrior would let me stay for tempering. Outside of the right contracts, I… There is much I can learn here from her that won't be found elsewhere."

"Not even at your sect?" That comment did hit a nerve, but as Silver could glean that the outcast was more genuinely curious than looking for barbs to further drive into his ego, he managed to stay calm.

"That is… complicated. Especially after my loss against the honored Blessed One. I… just knew I had to follow her. Thank you for that. For letting me ride along on your flying ship. It was a novel experience, not as bad as I had expected it to be." The Pathbreaker gave a slight shrug in regard to his words, smiling as he looked to where Soul was still teaching.

"I believe that Soul was as happy as could be that you wanted to come along, as, in her eyes, she can never have enough powerful sparring partners to help further her path. And I wouldn't take it to be as superficial as it might sound, because most people she won't give the time of day. With you around for a time, she might not be as frustrated with me not being as available."

"You?" Silver asked, failing to hide a bit of incredulousness in his voice before he seemed to remember that he was out of his usual element here in the north and corrected himself.

"I apologize, I didn't mean to give offense. It's just… Hard to believe. I've seen you fight in the spars during the events leading up to the Proving, Sentinel. You do have skill and that path of yours seems oddly made for the dueling arena. But to be a worthy sparring partner to her?"

"I suppose that you'll have to ask Soul about that, won't you. She'll probably want to go another few rounds with you once she's finished her lecturing," Kite said unperturbed while he nodded towards the arena where the celestine was finishing up a more practical demonstration of some kind of footwork in a mock spar with a guild bronze-ranker that seemed as star struck as she was terrified.

"But before that, I did come here to ask you something. Have you heard that your sect recently attacked the Tengu Clan's compound in Heavenward?" This caused Silver to stop in his tracks, having already risen from his seat, and the young master turned back to Kite.

"I… had not."

"Would you have any idea why they would do such a thing? We just got word of it. The public reason was apparently some kind of slight to the sect's honor and the clan working too closely with the Adventure Society and other foreign powers." Silver thought for a moment, then shrugged.

"There was little love between the sect leadership and the Tengu's Crows, although I don't know much more about it. Those reasons would probably have been enough, although I doubt they would have done so before the Proving," the young master replied.

"And you don't feel like those reasons sound a bit… forced?"

"The politics of the capital go back a long time, Sentinel. Rarely is the official reason the actual one for organizations like that to move. Personally, I don't have anything against the Crows, but they had been playing things rather close to the edge of what was tolerable by the sects for some time now. And as their patriarch hasn't made an appearance in decades, I suppose they took the opportunity.

Now, if you'll excuse me, tempering is waiting," Silver finished, before turning and walking off towards the center of the arena to not miss his opportunity for another bout. Kite turned and left, only to find that Little Crow had appeared at his side sometime during the short walk between the arena and the guildhall.

"See? I told you that he wouldn't know much," the assassin said with a smile, twirling his parasol that rested over one shoulder.

"Still, it felt worth at least trying," Kite retorted before turning to look at his friend.

"And I still can't believe that you're taking this with such equanimity. Wasn't that your family home?"

"It's like I said before, Kite. We're a clan of assassins. Do you really think that this is the first time other forces have banded together and tried to oust us from the capital?" Little Crow said with a laugh.

"Sure, it hasn't happened for some time now since we started only taking on assassination contracts abroad while doing other work here in the kingdom, but it's happened at least thrice in the family history. We have plenty of fallbacks, and the compound itself isn't where our heritage lies. Still, quite a suspicious timing to get rid of Senior Brother Obsidian and his network of inquisitive shadows, wouldn't you say?

Almost like some people in the capital didn't want someone there to look too closely at things in the upcoming years." This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

"I've thought the same thing," Kite agreed grimly.

"Do you think we can reach out to him somehow?"

"Contact the family at Cinnabar Rise. That should help you," Little Crow said amicably.

"But I believe that we also have quite a lot of other things to occupy ourselves with rather than needlessly worrying about my family. Weren't you also leaving on a contract? Director Temren sure seems to have delivered in that regard."

"She did indeed," Kite sighed, although his exasperation was only feigned.

"We're going to have to split up a bit to cover them. Heavens, the whole guild will. It's just…"

"What?"

"I'm honestly just a bit concerned," Kite admitted at Little Crow's raised eyebrow.

"Earlier progress has been a matter of struggle and persistence. But with gold rank… What if we can't find the insights we need? What if we're too late? Or can't at all? Or-" Kite fell silent as Little Crow had - in one swift motion - folded his parasol and used it to gently tap Kite on the top of the head.

"If you don't find what you're looking for behind one mountain, then cross ten more. You might find that the vistas witnessed along the way were treasure enough in and of themselves," the assassin said with a sagely tone that indicated that the words weren't his own.

"And to whom might I attribute such wisdom?" Kite replied with a faint smile.

"That one is actually by our esteemed patriarch, the Tengu himself."

"Oh? Thank you then, for sharing such sage wisdom. He seems to be a great man."

"Indeed, he was. Or at least he had his moments. If the stories passed around the family are to be believed, he was also a notorious drunk and a womanizer of great renown before meeting his esteemed wife. But the gems among his quotes have been penned down and kept by the family to pass along his wisdom, for he did reach diamond rank after all. Hopefully he's still out there, making the cosmos a more interesting place," Little Crow said, glancing up towards the late summer sky above.

"But come, let us rejoin the others. Perhaps even wager which of our little groups will finish their share of contracts first, as well as who are accosted the most by some of the sect members out there doing the same?"

"Brother! Why the forlorn look? This is a time for glory, not brooding!" Elder Emerald Strata turned from his ponderings to see Elder Unyielding Winter Oak marching over. The pair had always been close, both as rivals and friends as they rose through the ranks of the sect after joining around the same time. But in this matter, Strata was quite sure that he and his brother weren't as unified.

"Apologies, Brother. It's just…"

"What? Still hesitant even after hearing the Sect Leader's plans?"

"I… Brother, it is all well and good to want to grow the sect. But seizing the star jade mines of the Eternal Ember Sect outside of the tournaments? Demanding it as a prize should our sect win one of those sanctioned clashes is one thing, but this…"

"Oh, Brother, you ever had a kind heart; enough for both your fellow disciples and our enemies," Oak said, laying a thickly muscled arm around the shoulders of the thinner elf. At silver rank, their paths had diverged quite a lot in their focus, but they still fought evenly in the sparring grounds even though Oak's physical strength far surpassed that of his fellow.

"But in this, you don't need to fret. It's just a new era for the sect, one where we can actually expand as is our right instead of being constrained by the tournaments. It's not like we're aiming to start killing all those of the Eternal Embers we meet. The tempering will be good for everyone. And besides, you heard the archivists telling us about the old scrolls hinting that those mines belonged to us long ago. We're just balancing ancient karma here!"

Strata felt his resolve wither beneath his Brother's verbal barrage. He did have a point after all, and Strata also suspected that their Sect Leader was thirsty for a reckoning after some of the clashes in the skies above the capital as the golds had started testing themselves too. Some still didn't sit well with him but…

"You are right, Brother," Strata found himself saying, shoving his trepidation to the back of his mind as he turned to regard his old friend.

"You know… I might even wager that I'll be able to send more of those Eternal Ember weaklings fleeing home to lick their wound than you in the days to come."

"Oh? Oh! A wager! Now that's more the Emerald Strata I know!" Oak bellowed with a laugh, clapping a hand to the shoulder of his friend.

"Then, with the heavens as our witness, I accept! May we find glory for both ourselves and the sect in the days to come!"" Ward!" The barrier of Heaven-and-Void Warding appeared just as the Wolf Leech in front of Kite pounced, the thick, ropy muscles of its legs letting it leap over ten meters across the marshland before its round and open slathering maw was almost comically squished against the disc of force.

The monster's body, seeming to only possess a skeleton when it suited its purposes, went from muscled and wolf-like to more compressible and gelatinous in an instant in a way that absorbed most of the impact, but that did not help it against the spear which Kite rammed through the barrier and into the circle of fangs pressed against it.

Void-Sunders-Firmament unfurled from the tip of the weapon a moment later, causing the beast to shriek and spring away in another rubbery motion before landing on all fours, clearly injured even though its odd anatomy and silver-ranked constitution let it handle parts of its insides being torn up with frustrating ease.

This was only further driven home when Dragonfly descended from above, cleaving the monster into two with one mighty downward swing of her axe that then unleashed a torrent of flames that thoroughly seared the two halves.

"Thank you, dear," Kite said, but Dragonfly must have picked up the slight frustration in his tone as she shot him a wide grin.

"Don't worry, love. Let your wife handle most of the scary monsters. Your contribution is important too, no matter how small."

"At least one cannot accuse my path of serving Destruction…" Kite muttered, his slight frustrations at his own lack of direct damage not helped by glancing off to one side where Will and Laevyeth impaled three of the foul creatures on a small lake of spears rising from the marshlands below.

"Indeed, dear husband. Your path is as gentle as it is pure," Dragonfly agreed, still in a teasing mood.

"But besides, it will probably come into its own soon enough. The contract was for the Bog Mother, one of many such postings which seem to be forgotten about now that the sects have started acting out against one another more, so these foul things are just bai-"" Dissolve the patterns of power!" His wife had been mid-sentence when Kite noticed the shift in the mana around them.

The fallen bodies of the Wolf Leeches suddenly turned into black vapor that started shooting towards him and his companions, only to be met and dissolved by the rippling wave of Kite's power before they could strike either one of them.

"Glint, there!" Kite called while simultaneously pointing and sending a mental image to the familiar who had been floating above them all the while, unnoticed by the monsters below despite her sparkling crystal dress.

"Yes, my bond," came Glint's response as her mana surged. Where Kite had pointed, a wide swathe of murky bog water was suddenly dragged away and to the sides to create a ten meter wide 'crater' in the water that did not fill back in. Most of it was merely sticky mud and gnarled roots from the trees and bushes of the bog, but close to its center a huge, shrieking face was uncovered.

It looked like that of an old human woman, albeit one and a half meters across with sunken features and glassy black orbs for eyes, and upon being uncovered it quickly rose from its burrow to reveal a long centipede-like body but with gray, husk-like humanoid arms instead of the more insectoid ones one might expect lining its long form.

Its lower half still submerged into the ground, the Bog Mother - a peak silver-ranked monster and the group's true quarry - shrieked again while each of the manifold arms twitched to launch a necrotic projectile towards the adventurers even as the sound of its voice caused the nearby trees to start growing wicked thorns as they weaved and threshed madly." Wall!"

Leyline Warding followed the dispelling wave as Kite wove a defense of multiple panes of force that moved around him and his friends to intercept both necrotic blasts and thorny plant life. This gave Will and Dragonfly the opportunity to both leap up into the air and away from some of the hazards, Kite using the spare barriers to push further against the thrashing plant life and create some more room.

Will and Laevyeth, having ascended upon the spear wings, stopped mid-air in the now more open space as they started up a steady stream of conjured javelins that started piercing the Bog Mother in small bursts of crackling lightning. The spear-wings joined in too with their own streams of projectiles, but even through that barrage Dragonfly still managed to make an unhindered descent as she used her floating, animated axe to make adjustments to her downward trajectory.

"Kyyyyaaaaah!" Twin greataxes sliced into the monster with flaming fury, but met much greater resistance as parts of the nearby bog seemed to take on part of the damage much like the forces shunted off by Kite's own Unyielding power. The monster also countered by twisting about with incredible speed to bite down towards dragonfly with all too human-looking teeth that seemed to be made of some kind of rough bog iron.

As it did, several of the arms along its side twisted to employ another of the monster's withering powers as monstrous faces of dark mist appeared above each of Kite and his friends before a waterfall of dark vapors started flowing down from their open mouths. Even through the protection of his armor, Kite could clearly feel the rotting ongoing necrosis of what was to him a good example of how silver rank was when monsters started exhibiting a lot more sophisticated powers.

While he heard no chants, the Bog Mother was definitely casting something akin to spells, and if a group of adventurers were unaware of the danger they might find a magical assault like this bearing down on them from some unknown enemy while fighting other foes. But unfortunately for the Bog Mother, one of these adventurers possessed a path that - while not the best at pure monster clearing - definitely shone brighter the more overt magic that was involved.

The monstrous face above Will and Laevyeth shattered a mere second after appearing as a projected Disrupting Strike tore the magical creation apart, and Glint's and Kite's own followed soon after as the arms of his mantle combined with his all-round vision let him match some of the monster's capacity for multi-tasking.

Only Dragonfly's was left alone, with years of habit and experience letting Kite fight down the instinct to remove the danger to his wife that in practice would only enable her path unless other complications arose. Surrounded by the flaming blooms of her armor, Kite could even take a moment to appreciate the name which Sprite had given Dragonfly during their wedding.

The passion in his wife's eyes as the flames both inside and around her came alive truly felt like her blooming into her fullest, although another wave of tar-like sludge spewing from the monster soon demanded that he focus. Lock those jaws in place." Ward!" Sweep aside the brambles. Intercept the projectiles." Wall!" Aim for the arms, hamper their regrowth. Have Sage aim for the thing's eyes with a transcendent beam. Sever a tree or two whose positioning started getting too troublesome.

Have Glint deal with another small pack of monsters drawn to the commotion through watery binding. Shatter another, bigger projectile. Keep some barriers as platforms so that Dragonfly wouldn't have to land in the mud as she leapt around. In the depth of his combat meditation, Kite felt an odd kind of peace as his focus shifted from dealing damage to enabling the more potent attacks of his wife and friends. This was good. This was as it should be, as it was not just his barriers themselves that protected.

Every action of his had that potential, and that thought faintly resonated with him in a way that made the state easier to remain in. That was why the death of the monster felt like an abrupt awakening as Will and Laevyeth descended as one from the skies.

"Heavenly Shaft; Darkness Penetrator!" The Bog Mother screeched in defiance against the purity of the golden replica of Laevyeth's spearhead that descended upon it, but it was futile as the mighty attack struck its horrifying face. The first layers of golden light had some of its damage shunted off into the surrounding bog, but when the core of transcendent light at the center of the attack struck, the flesh of the monster's head parted with ease before it exploded along with its aura winking out.

This caused plenty of chunks of monstrous flesh to be flung around the nearby bog, but Kite deftly maneuvered some of his barriers to let his companions escape unstained from that particular experience.

"See? Your path is of great help, husband," Dragonfly said cheekily as she approached again after letting her fires dissipate.

"Now I'm even clean enough to do this," she finished, giving Kite a quick peck on the cheek.

"Glad that you can find a reason to keep me around then," Kite replied, the earlier frustrations washed away by what he had just experienced in those moments of clarity when things just felt like they snapped into place.

"Now-" He was interrupted though, albeit not by any monster or similar threats. Instead, a construct beetle the size of a small wagon had suddenly descended from the skies like a streak of light to land in front of where Will and Laevyeth had started making their way over to their companions. Even though it had touched down in the waters of the bog, there hadn't been a single splash or ripple, and the construct then turned towards the pair.

"A delivery from the great Resplendent Gleam of Imagination! Your aura signatures have been deemed a match. Accept delivery?" it asked in a polite metallic voice.

"Oh? Shall we, my Lady?" Will asked Laevyeth, who assumed her humanoid form to stand at his side.

"I believe it would be uncouth to keep such an esteemed messenger waiting, my Lord," the outworlder agreed.

"Then we accept the delivery, good construct."

"As the delivery is too large for internal transport, external means have been applied. Please ready yourselves," the construct then said, and without waiting for pause it let the tips of its antennae flash briefly.

"Wait, too large? What did you ask for?" Kite asked the pair, but soon got his answer as a dark spot suddenly became visible among the overcast clouds above as something descended.

"Heavens…" Dragonfly breathed, and Kite could only agree as he took it all in. It was an airship; a long and sleek creation that looked little like an actual seafaring vessel as it slowly descended from the skies while guided by two similar beetle constructs. While not overly large, it still beat Kite's own folding ship somewhat, and Kite suspected that it would be superior in most other capacities.

Wrought from gleaming metal, the creation had plenty of decorations in gold and faintly glowing blue to match what Kite assumed were its two owners, seeing as Will and Laevyeth had asked for their boon together. And, while a bit off in the proportions and heavily stylized, it was also clear to anyone with eyes in what image that vessel had been wrought. A spear. At Kite's side, Laevyeth nodded with obvious pleasure while Will fell to his knees in jubilant awe.