The question of what to do with the Harmonious Citadel was a complicated one. Obviously the sect itself would be dissolved. Without the saints they had no ability to resist the Scarlet Alliance, or even the One Thousand Palms Sect alone. Their enemies also included numerous smaller sects who had been too timid to join the Scarlet Alliance. In addition, the veil of propaganda they had erected was crumbling for decades and finally disappeared entirely. Before their territory could even be fully occupied, they were tearing themselves apart. Anyone who had access to vaults plundered them, either fleeing with their wealth to start anew further afield, or hoping that it would buy them amnesty or a position within the Scarlet Alliance.

When Zazil and Tauno finally arrived on Rouhiri, they were surprised to find the main vaults mostly intact. Between the Citadel’s own members and the Trigold Cluster they had assumed it would be fully looted. With an abundance of caution the formation experts with them slowly dismantled the defenses until they could reach the innermost parts. There they found… very little. Except for a note.

“What remains is your portion- Everheart”

The once vast vaults were nearly empty, but after some careful investigation it became clear that much of the wealth had been drained from the vaults over a longer period of time. What traces they could find indicated that Everheart probably took more than half of what remained- and potentially everything from the most well sealed vaults- but much of it had been spent already. Many cultivation materials were consumed on use, while various currencies worked just as expected. That wealth was simply distributed in the areas it had been spent.

Raiding planets and cities to plunder their wealth was outside of the accepted structure of the Scarlet Alliance, so they would have to make up for the expenses of war the old fashioned way… by occupying and taxing what remained.

Tauno folded his arms in front of him. “Ah well. Stuff isn’t much good unless you wrestle it off a beast with your own hands.”

Zazil rolled her eyes. “Unlike your sect, most of us could use that wealth. Ironically, I think the local cultivators will benefit from our takeover more than we earn. The strict rules of the Harmonious Citadel forced many to practice unsuiting cultivation methods and techniques. With access to a wider range of options, most will perform better.”

“There could be so many promising disciples to snatch up,” Tauno grinned.

-----

Vari had imagined that during the final portion of the war she would have engaged in direct conflict with the saints, on equal footing with them. Instead, she fought on the periphery. Without special conditions set up like with the spear saint, she wasn’t able to fight them head on. She could only watch as Everheart took down the saint of light… though it was rather satisfying to see him finally collapse.

But just like that, from a stalemate to a small number of victories to eliminating the remaining majority of the enemy leadership all at once, the war was over. And with it, not only her motivation but also a good portion of her cultivation. Her method for Integration was to steal devotion from the saints, but aside from extreme edge cases there wasn’t much of that floating about.

It wasn’t just her future advancement that she was concerned about, Vari was fairly certain that her cultivation would begin to decline soon enough. The question was whether she cared. Should she just let it? If it faded away completely, could she cultivate something else?

The One Hundred Stars was an appealing method, and her friends had already been quite open with sharing information with her. It would be easy enough to swap over, she imagined. Sure, it might take a half century of effort… but she’d spent longer than that at the peak of Life Transformation.

But something about that didn’t feel quite right. Because while she wasn’t part of the Harmonious Citadel anymore, she still felt a connection to them. In fact, she shared more with them now than since she had her revelation about the truth. Millions of disciples- especially practitioners of the holy harmony technique- were only just learning snippets of reality. The saints were not immortal, and certainly far from perfect. The same with the cultivation method, split into two specifically to suppress some and empower others.

There would be countless individuals from every planet under their rule that were lost and confused. And perhaps Vari could provide a little bit of stability and understanding to them. If only she knew more. What could she offer but a now defunct alternative? She didn’t know. But she resolved herself to find out.

-----

As Anton rode through subspace with a relatively small fleet, his nervousness continued to grow. If his calculations were off, they might never find Aipra again. It wasn’t simply a matter of its energy signature being merely that of a rogue planet without a star to serve as a guide, but detection grew more difficult because it was in subspace. So they could only set themselves on a course and hope they approached it.

They were supposed to have encountered it yesterday. Now they were following a search pattern through the area that would make them more likely to cross its path, but Anton could have been off on any number of things. Its relative velocity, the direction of that velocity, and how it was changing or might yet change. In the vast distances of space, being off by a fraction of a percent could be enough. And Anton couldn’t be sure how wrong he’d been.

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It was even more concerning to him because of the expense of the expedition. It was more than a year’s journey even at superlight speeds, and that was time that each and every individual that came along could not get back. Centuries of time wasted, and hopes dashed. Anton’s level of insight didn’t help, because even if people were not disappointed in him specifically, he could still feel their feelings in general.

But then the sensors picked something up. Or rather, a young technician did. “I found something!” he called out. “You see, there’s a slight distortion. This is the third time it has come up in as many days.”

Anton closed his eyes and nodded. “Their cultivation.”

“Well… maybe.” The young man shrugged. “But we’ll find out soon enough. We’re less than a tenth of a lightyear away!”

That was indeed fairly close. It was still a thousand times the distance of the outermost planets from most systems to their stars, but it was still fairly close. It also made Anton realize how close he had to have come to Aipra to have a chance of sensing it accidentally.

A few hours later and they were actually able to sense the planet directly, and a few course corrections and a few more hours after that and they were approaching the planet, close to entering orbit between the planet and their moon.

-----

Anton left the fleet behind as he approached the planet. He had general permission to return, and had talked about this particular possibility with Nalini. But people's minds could change, even with just a few years passing. And while Nalini wasn’t likely to die of anything short of a distortion beast attack- infighting was quite unlikely given how important each cultivator was- it was still possible. If they didn’t want anyone around, it was better to hear that directly and leave. And if they were still willing to accept them, they would still want some time to prepare for visitors, both mentally and physically.

He landed back on the peak nearby Nalini’s city. Then he fired a few revelatory arrows at the city’s barrier, not enough to cause any damage but enough to get the attention of the right people. Soon enough he felt Nalini’s aura extending towards him.

Anton likewise reached out, and they exchanged a few words through the connection. “You returned,” the old woman’s voice came with a measure of surprise. It took him a moment to get back into the flow of the language he’d only used for a short time.

“I said I would, if I could.”

“And I believed that you wished to,” Nalini replied. “But perhaps not that it was possible.”

“I did have a year of measurements.” And they almost weren’t enough. But rather than saying that, he waited for her to get closer so that they weren’t effectively shouting at each other. It wasn’t difficult for him at the moment, but she had to conserve her energy in general and Anton was once more keenly aware he was far from his stars.

When she finally was close, Nalini continued. “There is no benefit for you here.”

“I will have to disagree,” Anton said. “Both morally and practically. Because helping others is good for all. And my specific brand of cultivation gets along quite well with aiding others.”

“Perhaps,” she shrugged. “But you would certainly receive more benefit from the populous planets you spoke of, with many billions of individuals.”

“It almost sounds like you don’t want me here,” Anton grinned.

“I just don’t understand. We help each other because we must. I do not believe it is possible for us to provide anything for you in turn.”

“Perhaps not. I will admit that other planets could ultimately benefit me in the looming war against the upper realms. But you may benefit my allies with knowledge.”

“What could we tell that would be of use?”

Anton shook his head. “I think it’s more what they could learn. You have only lived here, but you must realize how much of an exception this place is. At least from our perspectives. Each insight gained in the pursuit of knowledge could be key… or it could be unimportant. But we’ll never know until we learn it. Either way, I have a team with me,” Anton gestured. “And we would like permission to land… somewhere. They should be self-sufficient in terms of food, with only a marginal amount of natural energy used. Either way, I also translated some things for you.”

He pulled out numerous volumes. They ranged from simple things like farming techniques- which had to be repurposed for the lack of heat- to cultivation insights and various more advanced technological options. Because while Aipra was lacking in most resources, it was still a planet that could make use of machines. They simply lacked the spare manpower to develop such things.

“Copy and distribute them as you please,” Anton said. “As much or as little as you wish to make use of.” He handed them over to Nalini before receiving a decision. Because while the information might make her more favorably inclined towards them, he didn’t want to use it as direct bargaining leverage. If they were unwanted, it was better to leave. “I forgot to mention, it is possible for the team to stay on your moon as well. If you don’t want them mingling with your populace.”

“That would certainly be best until all of Aipra can get used to the idea.”

Ultimately, it was decided that they would make attempts to see what would happen. Anton imagined he would be traveling back and forth between Aipra, In’istra, and Azun more than a few times in the coming years. And while it seemed like quite a long way from home, he thought that it was actually better to expand their knowledge about further areas. And perhaps they could learn how far the influence of the upper realms really spread.

Anton would stay for at least a few days to make certain communication was going smoothly. More than that, he wanted official calculations on the trajectory of Aipra from proper computers. Though he was a bit old fashioned, even he could pull out a device and let it direct him towards a point in space. Though usually such devices were intended for outside of subspace, the utility remained.