[56 Spirit Stones, a few unknown pills, some healing elixirs, the amulet, clothes, and a bunch of miscellaneous shit.] I said, counting the loot on the floor.
“Were you hurt? Was it a hard fight?” Vilya spoke softly as she sensually rubbed my shoulders.
[No, it was easy, damn it! Too easy.]
“Huh, huh...” She nodded and leaned her head on mine.
I took out the new swords and let them drop to the floor with a clang and then picked up one at random.
[Hmm. Good quality blades, but nothing special. 150-200 Spirit Stones each is my guess.]
“That’s quite a lot.”
[I’m not selling them.]
“I know.” Vilya smiled as I looked at her. It was interesting to see how she had changed in just a single year. Body Cultivation really worked wonders on the person’s physical appearance. Her eyes became brighter, her skin smoother, her hair silkier, and overall her curves became even more pronounced and attractive.
How much of that was a guided change and how much was completely natural was hard to tell, but she looked stunning.
“Can I have this?” She suddenly asked, pointing at the enchanted tarp.
[What for?] I lifted an eyebrow.
“Hmm. I might be able to make something out of it.” She grinned. I couldn’t guess what she had in mind from her expression.
I waved my hand. [Go ahead, I have no use for it.]
While it was a good piece of cloth, enchanted with energy-blocking properties, it was just too big to be practical. And my abilities to hide were about equal to it, so there was no point. I let her have it since she didn’t have many distractions anyway and needed something else to do other than Cultivating and training every day.
After she left I took out the corpse of that guy, Emron was his name, and cut him into smaller pieces. Some people looked down on cannibalism, but that was just a practical way of using limited resources. It was a good source of protein and Essence. Also, I would never turn away a good snack.
Well, Elder Li was not willing to finance my eating habits as much anymore. He said I eat too much. Also, since the Beast Tide was a long time ago, the prices of good meat all went up. I was forced to become self-sufficient over time. That meant I would have to worry about getting food for myself soon.
Annoying, but not the end of the world.
What bothered me though, was the knowledge I had gained from the guy.
[So, they are finally going to do it…] I squinted my eyes as I sorted through the pile of jumbled memories. The Brilliant Sword Sect was preparing for war. A bit of sabotage was just the beginning, and I figured more attacks would come with time.
They were trying to probe our Sect, trying to get us away from the protection the mountain offered. It was smart since all our power and protective barriers were set in stone, unable to be moved.
The real problem was what was bugging me for a while already. That blast of Soul power… Emron knew something about it, something about an old guardian… Supposedly that sudden blast of power signified its death and was also the reason the sword lunatics even dared to attack.
I didn’t know for sure, but my guess was that that guardian served as a sort of nuclear deterrent, capable of bringing forth mutual destruction if things went too far. With its death, our enemies became emboldened and began their probing attacks, seeing how far they could push it.
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I wondered who or what that guardian was. While it would probably take a few years for the conflict to turn into an all-out war, it was definitely coming.
There really wasn’t much I could do to prevent or stop it. I was too weak. That was something the Sky Realm Cultivators decided, someone like me had no say in it, no matter how powerful I was for my level.
I gathered all the loot and returned to my chamber. Might as well Cultivate. Not like I had anything better to do.
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The following week was… Interesting.
Anyway, we got attacked some more. Apparently, Emron’s team wasn’t the only one tasked with infiltration and sabotage. The teams clearly didn’t know about each other which made it easier to remain hidden if one group was exposed. Explosions sounded out all over the Outer Sect, mostly targeting the small villages, with the wounded or dead already counting in the hundreds.
I explored around, trying to find any more of those groups or even the explosives they set up, but I was too late. Anything that was to happen already happened, and apart from absorbing a few Soul scraps, there was nothing to find but charred bodies and destroyed houses.
Surprisingly nobody visited to ask about the slaughter I did. Maybe I left early enough to not be discovered, or the Law Enforcement Hall had their hands too full with other stuff to bother finding the one responsible for killing an enemy squad.
The explosives they had with them weren’t anything special. Some powders with enough energy to destroy some things, but anyone in the Golden Core would most likely be fine. It was not meant to kill strong Cultivators, only the weak ones and lower morale.
How did I know all that? Well, memories and I tested out the explosives myself. I wanted to see what would happen if it went off while I was holding a charge but it didn’t do shit. It was purely a physical explosive with no Qi whatsoever.
It was easier to hide that way as it was invisible to Qi detection. But that also made it weaker. I wondered what other crazy tactics those sword fanatics would use.
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Some more time passed, maybe another week or so. I heard some people talking about skirmishes happening in the wilderness just outside the mountain’s borders. The Elders were mobilized and the entire Sect was preparing for war.
Meanwhile, Vilya and I still continued our routine every day as if nothing happened. Cultivation, a bit of intimacy, and a good meal. What more could a person want? Well, I missed a good fight, but I couldn’t exactly do that with her. She wasn’t a fighter and it wouldn’t be fair.
“Gerald?” I heard her quietly calling outside my Cultivation chamber.
I opened the heavy stone front door and stepped outside. She was smiling more than usual so I knew something was up.
[Hey… What’s going on?]
She blushed. “I got a gift for you.”
[I gift?] My ears perked up. What could she possibly give me? She spent most of her time with me and I doubted she had much money to buy anything.
She reached into her pouch and pulled out a folded piece of clothing. It was a cloak made from the enchanted cloth.
[Oh?] I took it and put it on. It was surprisingly well-fitting, considering she didn’t take any measurements. It had a hood and everything.
“Do you like it?”
[I do!] The enchanted cloth by itself was not all that useful, but a cloak was completely different. It was a nice piece of gear. But I didn’t think it was possible to cut it apart and keep the enchantment. [How did you do this?]
She blushed and minced her words while hiding her hands behind her back while staring at the ground. But her proud smile was unmistakable. “I wanted to give you something special, so I asked the Elder for help. He was the one who transferred the enchantment, I just made the clothes.”
[Aaaw, that’s so precious.] I hugged her with one hand and pulled her closer. [I got something for you too.]
I took off the new protection amulet and tied it around her neck.
“Oh, it’s nice.” She said after taking a closer look. I know she was just being nice. The amulet itself was nothing special, but what it did was amazing.
[It offers great protection. Don’t ever take it off.]
“Are you sure? Can it really do that?” She asked skeptically.
Without saying a word I flicked her shoulder with enough force to leave a large bruise. She flinched and rubbed her arm wide-eyed.
[Oh. Did it hurt?]
She shook her head. “Not at all... But it did feel it. It kinda tingled.”
[Well, there you go!] I laughed.
“Do you think…” She held the amulet and frowned. “Do you think it works outside of combat too? Like… passive protection all the time? Even for…?”
[I…] I frowned since I understood what she was asking. It was a possibility… My heart began beating faster. [Surely not… or does it?]
Vilya giggled and came closer, stepped on her toes, and dragged her fingers across my chest and over my shoulders. She bit her lip and then looked into my eyes.
“Wanna test it out?”
My blood began to boil and I think I actually began to emit steam from heat. I couldn’t contain my wide grin.
[Oh, you naughty girl…] I laughed and picked her up with one hand like a doll. She half moaned, half laughed in my ear and it took all my self-control not to ravage her right there. I could barely wait a few seconds till we were in our room.
I swear, if I had a weakness, it would be a pretty girl trying to seduce me. One of these days, one of them would be the death of me. But that was just another reason to train even harder! To become invincible!
Yeah… the day turned out to be a lot of fun.