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[Tree] Chapter 375: Figuring Things Out
🕑 Added 2024-10-06 15:30:19 +0000 UTCDiana blinked in confusion as she stared at Quill across the ink lake in the Ashfallen Sect's library. Just a second ago, she had witnessed the Silverspire Third Elder explode. Before she'd even had a moment to process the man's spontaneous death, she had felt an immense tug on her soul and ended up back here on Red Vine Peak. Glancing around, Diana noted that there was nobody else here. She was the only one that had returned.
"Ashlock?" Diana asked the ceiling. When she received no response, she cupped her hands and infused her voice with Qi. "Ashlock!!!" The ceiling shook slightly, and Quill's leaves rustled, yet she still received no response from the spirit tree that lorded over the peak.
Ashlock not responding when he's focusing somewhere else is normal, but why am I back here? Something triggered my void shield and activated my Spatial Anchor, yet Ashlock isn't checking on me to ask what happened. That means he's either busy dealing with whatever broke my shield, or he doesn't even know... which is a far worse-case scenario.
Diana began to get worried.
She thought back to Demetrios Skyrend, who Morrigan adamantly declared should be dead. His questions had seemed a little oddly phrased, and how he spoke to the Third Elder before he exploded was too convenient. If Vincent has some way to bring dead people back to life, who is to say he can't do the same for me? I've got to get Ashlock's attention somehow and let him know I'm safely back here. I could try to wake Larry, but I'm unsure if even he can get Ashlock's attention if he's focused elsewhere. Diana bit her lip as she desperately surveyed the room—her eyes landed on Quill. That's it! The ink tree is the head of Red Vine Peak's defenses when Ashlock isn't around, and I bet Ashlock won't ignore one of his favorite offspring.
Kaida was naturally aroused from his slumber by her shouting and presence. His annoyed expression faded once he looked at her and gave a happy hiss.
"Sorry, now's not the time for cuddles," Diana gently pushed the Lindwyrm's head away. "I need Quill to get Ashlock's attention—quickly. It's urgent. I need him to know I'm fine and here on Red Vine Peak."
Kaida bowed his head in understanding and poked Quill with his tail. The Lindwyrm and tree seemed to communicate silently with one another, and a second later, the ink tree radiated presence like a beacon. The ink lake rippled out in waves like a calling signal, and a moment later, Diana felt a familiar voice echo through her mind.
"Diana? What the hell are you doing back here? This doesn't make any sense..."
"I don't know! My void shield broke, and the Spatial Anchor brought me back here."
"But..." Diana felt Ashlock's presence briefly leave her mind before focusing back in again, "You're there, standing beside Stella right now."
"What?! That's not me!" Diana declared adamantly. "How can I exist in two places at the same time? This is definitely a trick of some kind!"
A portal suddenly tore into existence beside her, and she felt her soul tremble as Ashlock stared at her through a purple rift with his demonic eye. He looked her up and down before the rift snapped closed with a pop.
"Sorry about that, I just had to check it's really you before telling Stella to do something crazy—"
"Crazy? Like what..." Diana trailed off as Ashlock's presence withdrew from her mind as quickly as it had arrived. "Curse the nine realms. What is going on?!"
She was now all alone in the stone library again. Except for Kaida, who leaned in and playfully licked her face. "Kaida, what should I do?"
The Lindwyrm tilted his head to expose the optimal scratching location on his neck.
"You're not helping," Diana sighed as she obliged and humored the Lindwyrm. "If I ate another Void Protection fruit and had Quill set me up with a new Spatial Anchor, I could ask Ashlock to portal me over." Diana's face scrunched up in a frown at the thought of consuming another Void Protection fruit.
It had wiped out a week in the Mystic Realm worth of Qi. While not an amount of Qi she was unwilling to expend, she had no idea of the situation to know if it was worth it or not. After all, it could have been some stray blood from the Third Elder exploding or a Qi-infused wind that took her void shield out. Depending on a void shield was a double-edged sword. It was costly, a one-time use, and anything could trigger it. Not to mention poor Quill, who had to spend his ink Qi to form the Spatial Anchor each time.
Diana tapped her foot with impatience and worry. "I should have had my Spatial Anchor trigger if my skin got cut or something—no, that wouldn't have worked. What if I exploded instantly like the Third Elder? The Spatial Anchor would have transported nothing but pieces back here.
It was a confusing mess. Dead people were back to life. Someone was pretending to be her, and a Star Core Realm Silverspire Elder had perished in such a quick and gruesome way that Diana couldn't even begin to make guesses as to how he died.
"Is this Vincent Nightrose's power?" Diana bit her lip. "Maybe it's his third affinity or one of his bloodlines?" There was a flash of spatial Qi to her side, followed by Stella appearing. The girl was staring at the floor with a blank expression while holding two daggers that were dripping blood onto the floor.
Kaida reacted immediately, pulling away from Diana's absentminded scratching and hissing at Stella.
"Stella?!" Diana ran over, "What's happening in Nightrose City?"
Her best friend tilted her head to look at her, and relief seemed to wash over the girl. "Phew, you are fine. I just stabbed you—Ash told me to." Stella enacted the stabbing motion with the two bloodied daggers, "You were reduced to a pool of blood."
"So that's what Ashlock meant by making you do something crazy... wait, I turned into blood? Nothing else?"
Stella shook her head, "Nope, just blood."
"Must have something to do with Vincent Nightrose's blood affinity then. Maybe he can make blood clones of real people? Mhm, that would explain why Demetrios Skyrend is seemingly still alive." Diana tapped her chin.
"I don't even know how my void shield broke," Stella muttered. She seemed deeply confused, as if her brain had shut down. She was glancing around with a blank stare again.
Diana shook her shoulder, "Snap out of it and concentrate. Did anything hit you? Did someone explode again like the Third Elder?"
Stella took a deep breath to recalibrate, "Okay sorry, I'm here now. With the Third Elder exploding, having to stab you to death, dying somehow, and now being brought back here, and then my bloodline deactivating all within the span of a few seconds. It was a lot to take in and process."
"I understand, I was also disorientated for a moment when I was brought back here, but we need to devise a plan." Diana gave Stella a reassuring smile and patted her again on the shoulder. "Do you remember anything before you were brought back here? Perhaps the moment your void shield broke?"
Stella fell silent for a moment, her eyes shifting around as she seemed to wrack her brain. "Hmmm, a pressure? Though it was different from soul pressure."
"How?"
"I don't know... soul pressure radiates from a person, if you know what I mean? If I were to stand over there and unleash soul pressure, you would know exactly where I was and look in my direction."
Diana nodded.
"But the pressure I felt was more targeted? Concentrated? Like an attack, I guess."
Diana snapped her fingers as she remembered something. "Vincent has gravity affinity. That must be what hit our shields. It's a nearly invisible affinity, similar to sound. You will only sense the Qi once it hits you if Vincent is skilled, and for void shields, that's too late, as the moment it hits us and breaks, we are pulled back here. He can expend barely any Qi and get rid of us within a second before we even know what happened."
"I think you're right," Stella bit her lip. "That's bad, isn't it? We need those shields, as there's no way we can survive a high-stage Nascent Soul Realm attack without them. Surely he can just crush us like bugs with gravity at a snap of a finger..."
They exchanged a sudden look of realization.
"The Third Elder," Diana cursed. "That must be how he exploded so suddenly."
"Yeah, you're right. That's terrifying," Stella opened her palm, and a white soul flame flickered to life, "I wonder if I will ever wield such power."
"I'm sure you will if Vincent doesn't kill you first," Diana sighed. "Heavens, this fight feels way out of our league. I guess we will have to leave Ashlock to deal with it—" Spatial Qi suddenly tore through the room, and people began to appear one by one. First, it was the Redclaw Grand Elder, followed by his Elders. Douglas followed a few seconds later alongside Sebastian.
"Elaine?" Douglas looked around in a panic. There was another pop of spatial Qi, and a distraught Elaine appeared. "Mother, no!" She screamed as she reached for empty space.
Stella and Diana exchanged worried expressions before running toward their sect members to ask what happened.
***
Ashlock didn't like where this was going.
"Now that the children are gone, how about us old monsters have a talk."
Demetrios Skyrend's body had shifted in a grotesque display and taken on the appearance of Vincent Nightrose. A wave of Qi-infused gravity had wiped out his sect members by triggering their void shields, and now Vincent had Morrigan trapped in a bubble of reversed gravity. She was slowly spinning in the air and looked very grumpy about it.
At the snap of his fingers, Vincent summoned a chair and casually took a seat while staring up at Hades. All that remained of Ashlock's mini invasion of Nightrose City were his Nascent Soul Realm Ents and Morrigan, who wasn't offering much help as she tried and failed to escape Vincent's grasp.
"It would appear quite a lot has occurred during my closed-door cultivation. Not the first time a little revolt like this has been attempted," he casually gestured to Morrigan and Ashlock's Ents, "But I haven't had to get this serious in a long time. So why don't we have a chat?"
Ashlock remained silent, as did Morrigan.
"Look," Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose and seemed frustrated, "People like us are at the peak of this realm. The Qi is thin; cultivating is a long and tedious process for us. Fighting each other is pointless."
Morrigan laughed, "Maybe for you."
"You may be unable to ascend to the Nascent Soul Realm, but void Qi is still hard to cultivate, is it not?" Vincent retorted, "What about you, newcomer? Ashfallen Sect, was it? Are you the All-Seeing Eye?"
Ashlock had no reason to answer his questions. Information was worth its weight in gold, and while his sect members were gone, he still held the advantage. It was technically three Nascent Soul Realms against one right now, and for Ashlock, Qi was hardly a resource worth preserving. He didn't mind pitting his vast Qi pool against Vincent's any day to see who would run out first.
"Vincent is only acting reasonably as he's in the dark. Antagonizing me right now while he's on the back foot wouldn't be smart, and I hate to admit it, but there's a reason this tyrant has lived for so long. I'm not entirely sure how he's doing it, but he seems to be using clones made of blood to talk with me, similar to my Ents. So, neither of us are actually here in person right now. Rather, we are using proxies."
Ashlock couldn't tell if that was cowardly or smart, but he didn't care. Right now, there was an invisible information war occurring between them, and he held the advantage. This was made all the more apparent by Vincent's assumption that he was some old monster despite barely being a decade old.
Vincent didn't know who he was, his affinities, capabilities, or goals. A lot could be uncovered about a person if one knew their end goal. If Ashlock was willing to negotiate a peace treaty for a piece of land, then that meant that land had something of interest—perhaps a rift or a Qi-dense area for a certain affinity. Call him paranoid, but he refused to play Vincent's games. While he did hold the advantage, there was plenty about Vincent that was still a mystery.
"I know you can talk," Vincent frowned as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Don't go quiet on me now. You were quite eager to talk while pulverizing my poor guardians. Those were my spawn, you know? Here I am, willing to work this out amicably despite that."
Ashlock continued to simply have Hades looming overhead, staring down at Vincent. "I wonder how long he can keep this act up for," Ashlock mused. "I really wish I could open a portal and look at this blood clone with my Evil Eye to uncover how it works, but that's far too risky. If the real Vincent shot through my portal and arrived before my trunk, there's a chance he can kill me and everyone else on the peak who are now without a void shield to save them. I must keep Vincent at range, fighting him here would be my best bet."
Vincent clicked his tongue and stood up. "I guess we will have to do this the hard way." He strode over to where Morrigan floated, and as if he were cupping the bottom of an invisible bubble around Morrigan, he clenched his fingers, and she screamed. Void Qi wreathed her body as she desperately tried to fight against the crushing pressure, but a realm of difference was nearly impossible to overcome.
The noble cultivators from the other families slowly stepped back, eager to get themselves away from Vincent's torture.
Ashlock had no idea why her Spatial Anchor wasn't activating. Morrigan hadn't taken a void protection fruit as there was no point since she already had access to void Qi, so having the fruit consume a lot of her Qi to create the void shield didn't make sense. Instead, the Spatial Anchor had been linked to the breaking of bones. Now, Ashlock was no doctor, but Morrigan had likely broken all of her bones as her body collapsed to fit a third of the space. It also didn't make sense that Morrigan wasn't using Void Step to escape.
"Did you think I didn't notice the neat little spatial technique the others had?" Vincent looked over his shoulder at Hades with a light smirk, "I could have trapped them here and done this to all of them, but I let them go. How reasonable of me, right? Trust me, there are many nasty rumors around me, but I can be quite easy to work with."
Ashlock didn't believe the man for a single moment, but Morrigan was in trouble. A part of him wanted to let Vincent kill her. As an origin, she wouldn't truly die, and he had been looking for a way to get rid of her for a while. But if Vincent was the one to do it, then it was a win-win. He would see more of his power, and Morrigan wouldn't be a problem.
That would be the logical thing. To let Morrigan die.
Ashlock sighed as he quietly opened a portal far away from the castle and beckoned Larry through. His guardian turned into a vaguely spider-shaped ash cloud and soared toward them through the sky.
He hadn't come here to watch his sect member's mother be tortured and killed. No, he had come here to kill a man, and that is precisely what he was going to do.
Comments
BrotherJohn
I kinda like that Vincent has proven to be so much more difficult to kill and much more dangerous. For the longest time nascent soul realm was this unattainable realm that placed someone of the status of a Demi god. The lunar shade grand elder went out so easy. Vincent has been the boogie man of this story since the first book. I’m glad he’s being given the respect he deserves
Alexey Gladkich
@Sargon Ash may endow a new tree a Soul Dao but it won't affect its affinity. As a cultivator of any affinity can learn Soul Dao and have techniques using it.
Alexey Gladkich
@Wanderer That was kinda obvious IMHO.
Sargon Yami
what about the soul dao fruits with seeds? what will they grow into?
Sargon Yami
step one let larry eat every other member of vincents family. step two have a far stronger larry help fight him.
Sargon Yami
it was only a problem because ashlock and co. did not tell her all the information and she acted on that. she would not have caused problems if she knew everything.
Roombot
Hooray! I honestly like her. She may annoy him, but she seems to be trying to help in her own way
Basically God
Someone is a little tsun~!
Wanderer
It was confirmed on Discord that Soul Affinity is sadly not a thing.
Plateworm
Aww Ashlock DOES care about morigan ☺️
light the fox
i feel it'd be very appropriate for ash to do a lilo and stitch move on vincent when stitch first meets mr bubbles and throws the ball at his face :P
TheIronDragon
Urgh, this is so exciting I want to know what happens next!
Borbino the great
And likely very resistant to gravity I doubt Vincent would be able to put out enough g’s to actually crush the sand
Borbino the great
I wonder if he would have to make her into a tree first and if he did I wonder if she does would she be reincarnated as a tree? Because from what we’ve heard it changes the shape of the soul of the person turned so I feel like that would be a pretty permanent change?
Sargon Yami
Well the fuck up with the skyrends happend because she did not know ashfallens goals. Abd she is limited by heavens rule inside of their reality... so kinda not her fault?
Ethan Barrow
TFTC!! Too bad it's not night time, that'd help out the shadow ents.
Michael M
You're probably right i just find it sus and the first time they met she talked herself way up but it kinda seems like just words now or she has something else going on
Sargon Yami
i think she will start to play a bigger role later one in either the mystic realm or with the gate into the void inside of the void tree.
Manlor
He is a divine being now. And being made of ash he is probably not vulnerable to blood.
Michael M
Great chapter excited to see how things unfold. And Morrigan is kinda useless, she is not very helpful. most of the time she does something. She only makes things worse or ashlock has to figure out some way to play off of it like the war she started. Starting to feel like it's on purpose with how old and smart she is supposed to be. Like she is trying to learn more about ash by putting him in these situations or maybe she is just bad lol
Alexey Gladkich
Their cultivation realm is far closer to Vincent's so they should be able to resist it.
Sargon Yami
you are not listening/reading. Maple is not a cultivator he is a monster, protected against heaven and its surpression by ashlock. morrigan is not. worldwalkers do not cultivate a nascent soul or anything similar. they simply absorb qi and grow stronger. stated by himself and his siblings after ashlock got his dimensional skill. Ashlock himself stated that she is only extremly powerful in the void not in reality. he states that after making her eat dirt aftter she killed the skyrends. larry is also not a nascan realm cultivator he has the strengh of one. no we are not told that but if they are inside of heavens realty maples brother would have died. inner worlds are not the same thing as the pocket realms inside the void... one is inside the soul (not sure how the moving part works) the other is born from a seed shot into the void. while we do not have any confirmation it appears to be that inside heavens reality she has to follow heavens path. meaning yes she can't get a second soul and go past starcore. otherwise she would be stronger than any monarch inside the 9th layer and rule it.
BrotherJohn
Yeah we both agree about void creatures not being allowed into reality. Yes Maple is allowed only through Ashlock. But everything else you’re saying is made up. You are saying that it also means they’re diminished to star core realm and that isn’t stated anywhere. We’re literally told Maple is in the nascent soul realm. Like not that he’s in the nascent soul realm but then restricted to star core realm, but actually fully capable of exercising his nascent soul realm powers. Secondly we’re never told that pocket realms are outside heavens reality. In fact when senior Lee angers the heavens he jumps in his inner world to get away from it but the heavens literally chase him into his inner world. But you might be right about the voidmind family. But that still wouldn’t affect Morrigan
Sargon Yami
XKARNATION i have a question. can ashlock help Morrigan create a second soul from void qi? his System appears to be able to handle (unlike heavens) void qi and it has soul dao. could she become a nascant pure void cultivator with his help?
Sargon Yami
outside of heavens reality. they were not inside the 9 layers. Worldwalkers can't be let into heavens reality because they get crushed but they can be invited into the pocket realms. that is were we see her power. after she killed the skyrends ashlock uses his soulpresure on her and she gets face first into the ground. maple is being protected by the system pact without it reality kills him. that is why his siblings want one as well. And he is a worldwalker they don't follow the heaven system they just get more and more powerful. about the voidminds the reason they can't get passed the starcore is because you can't create a second soul out of the void inside of heavens reality because heaven can't control it. maybe ashlock system can do something about that, it appears to be able to handle the void but no pure void-cultivator can get a second soul.
BrotherJohn
Everything you’re saying is wrong lol Ashlock wasn’t in the void when he pressured Morrigan. And you say she got smashed into the ground inside heavens reality but that never happens? Also also Maple doesn’t have his cultivation diminished. Or if he does it’s still higher than star core realm. So there’s no reason Morrigan would be either. Iirc Remember we’re told that the voidmind family not being allowed past the star core realm is a family curse. It’s not specifically because they cultivate void qi. More than likely something to do with their bloodline that will be revealed later in the story.
Sargon Yami
no she as the origin of the void is simply far more powerful outside of heavens reality. but inside of heavens reality the voidling/worldwalker cultivation get suppressed. in pocket realms or the void that does not happen. Inside of the reality she has to follow heavens path and can't go beyond a starcore. she didn't even feel the pressure of ashlock in the void as a nascant 1 and called it pathetic but got smashed into the ground inside of heavens reality. 3 stages don't make such a difference. She is the only case of this no other exists
Sargon Yami
did larry even get stronger since the last time, he stayed out of the mystic realm and was at the 6 stage. what is he supposed to do that hades can't?
BrotherJohn
That still doesn’t make sense though. How much Qi you have is still related to your cultivation level. Saying she was able to slaughter dozens of high level cultivators with experience alone feels like a stretch. But more importantly How could she shrug off Ashlock’s soul pressure? The only way we’ve seen people withstand soul pressure in the story is with an equal or higher cultivation. Experience isn’t doing that. I also don’t think you’re 100% right the heavens thing. It is true that for void beings to live and act within reality they are restricted and have their power diminished but it’s not like there’s a cap on them. Maple does say that somehow by using Ashlock he’s able to bend the rules and slip into reality but he’s still in the nascent soul realm and a high level at that. Like right now within reality he is a nascent soul realm with all the perks that come with it.
Sargon Yami
no she is only super powerful outside of heavens reality. inside of it he is bound by the rules of heaven. the reason she could slaughter several skyrends is easy to explain. he is millions of years old, at the peak of the starcore realm, did not hold back, void qi breaks through defensive artifacts and lightning qi needs a wind up and is not that great in a surprise attack. they have to call it down from the heavens. sure their attack power is great and their efficiency is high but they are shit in a suprise attack.
Sargon Yami
interesting vincent appears to be aware that she is an origin, maybe he is linked in some way to them?
Sargon Yami
from what we read vincent is from a higher realm and potentially several eras old he has reasons to be confident.
BrotherJohn
Sick chapter. I am a little confused on Morrigan’s strength though. It’s been implied for a long time that she’s at the very least in the nascent soul realm but could be even higher. But now she’s a star core realm cultivator? Earlier Ashlock tries to dominate her with her 4th stage nascent soul realm pressure and she laughs it off. There’s also a conversation between her and maple where Maple says something along the lines “it’s patronizing to hear someone like you call me strong” or something. Implying that she’s much stronger than Maple. While we’re not told exactly Maple’s cultivation we do know it’s higher than Larry’s and Ashlock explicitly states Larry is at the upper realm of Nascent soul. So at a minimum Maple’s probably peak nascent soul realm. ALSO she literally slaughtered the upper rank members of the lightning family, including the grand elder, by herself. Which were all either peak or high rank star core realms. Yes the voidmind family is cursed to star core realm but she isn’t a voidmind! She’s fricken role playing out of boredom. She’s an origin and an ancient cultivator who literally started the voidmind family to get some good D. Now all of this could be a rouse. In fact the more I think about it the more likely it is that she’s pretending to be hurt. But then again Ashlock literally says “there’s a whole realm of difference” between Vincent and her which makes zero sense. Even if Ashlock isn’t privy to all the info the audience is it’s still obvious she’s at minimum nascent soul realm but more likely a monarch realm.
Jesper Hallstensson
A feast for Larry
Demonlord
Thanks for the nice chapter 😊 I wonder what Larry can do if all of his ash is trapped in gravity... I mean he's obviously not dying because ash compressed is still ash but he can't do much in this state... Also Anubis and Hades can also be crushed by the gravity and won't be useful... His only advantage is that Ashlock xan attack Vincent without a break and hope that Vincent's Qi reserves will be empty before he reaches red vine peak...
lilcapt
It's great it's like watching a Chihuahua bark at a Mastiff
Mark Nolwendil
Why wouldn't he be? They are both fighting with proxies, but his opponents proxies can die while his can just be recreated. I don't think it's hubris since he's assuming Ash is some ancient being like himself. It's still beautiful characterization with the confidence backed up by logical deductions on Vincent's part.
Wanderer
What a chapter! Thank you!
Normalname
It feels like Anthony and Ashlock are fighting.
Mark Nolwendil
Thank you for the chapter. That's smooth. Gravity to instantly crush someone and Blood to create a copy in the same instance. The fact that he can block the soul anchor is either an application of Gravity warping the fabric of space or his third affinity. I'm leaning more and more into thinking Vincent's third affinity is something soul related.
lilcapt
Vincent is really confident about what he's doing I like it
Dino
YESSSSSS I finially get to read
Quentin Cozzi
Thanks for the chapter!
