[RSM] Chapter 111. Schemed

[ My apologies for the delay. There were parts I was not too happy with, so I kept tweaking it over the past two days. ]

Banquets were tiring affairs. He had been the host many times, and also as guests. Though he knew of many others who seemed to be energized by them. 

Tundra was not one of those types. 

Tundra loved reading and studying. That was how he rebuilt his own focus and energy levels, and so, he often felt a sense of admiration for those who fluttered from table to table, talking, gossiping, and mingling as if it was the easiest thing in the world. 

As a host, he had been forced to play such roles many times, and he would need days to recover after such events. 

Today's banquet felt different. There was a noticeably higher presence of security. The imperial family mainly recruits from the various sects to serve as the Imperial Forces, and today, the presence of multiple sixth realm generals and warrior captains felt strange. 

Was there trouble? If it was, from who? 

There were very few familiar faces in the crowd, though from his dossiers, they were mostly from small and mid-sized sects. But it is especially troubling that he was in the presence of both demonic cultivators and also Zuja's agents in the same hall.

He glimpsed, in the distance, Neuren Zheng looking absolutely confident and happy while chatting with some other cultivators, and his mind began to stir. 

Something was not right. 

Was this really a banquet?

Palace maids guided him to his assigned seat, and still, Tundra doublechecked his own defensive artifacts, and out of concern, charged two of them.

He sat down at his assigned table and began to eat, he continued to observe rather unusual behavior through the hall. The hall was filled with many sixth, seventh, and a few eighth realm cultivators. Unlike Prince Gomerl who had the presence of tenth realm sect masters, Prince Kaorl's invitation did not invite any of the great masters. 

It was fairly crowded for an imperial banquet, with a high amount of entertainers and companions walking about. But it felt like a ruse, and then he noticed an unusual amount of arms in the room. More than a few cultivators came in with their swords and blades. More than a few that did not even look like alchemists.

Then there were more than a few entertainers, both beautiful men and women, giving him flirting glances and touches, but he was too suspicious to let his guard down. 

What was going on? 

He thought it was already strange that there were multiple non-alchemy focused sect masters within the invitation list, but now, his suspicions were at its peak.

"Ah, Sect Master Tundra Fox, of the Verdant Snow?" A man walked over and asked, a cup filled with rice wine on one hand, and a woman on the other. There were plenty of beautiful women in the room, and he especially noticed how they seemed to specifically target the alchemists. 

Tundra turned and bowed. He didn't recall ever meeting him, but he read enough of the briefing documents to recognize the man. Zoran Raza, of the Gauntlets of Thunder Temple. They were widely considered to be a mid tier sect, and Zoran Raza himself was also in the seventh realm. That made them peers. "Greetings, Sect Master Raza. It is my first time meeting you."

"Likewise."

Now that the man stood in front of him, nothing about him felt like that of an alchemist. In fact, everything about Zoran Raza felt like he was a combatant. There was an edge to the man that prompted Tundra to keep his hand on a protective amulet. 

"Hmm. You are an alchemist, are you not? Here for the Imperial Summons?" 

"Yes. What about you?" Tundra found it strange that a man like that was here, but there could be other reasons.

"Well, did you not hear that there are multiple Imperial Summons? Some of us are tasked with removing demonic cultivators from within our ranks." Zoran Raza answered, with an unusual emphasis on demonic cultivators. It was also as if he wanted to get a sense of who Tundra was. 

Tundra blinked, as his suspicions about what this entire event began to come together. Were they suspected to be demonic cultivators? "Is this really an alchemy competition?"

"It was." Zoran Raza said, as Tundra once again felt Zoran Raza's spiritual energies poking about. It was not polite, but his eyes also noticed a simple golden badge on Zoran Raza's collar. The man may be holding the woman by his side, but Tundra knew it was just a ruse. Lord Raza was prepared for a fight. His pose, the way he stood, how his other hand hovered so close to his spiritual weapon on the waistbelt. "Now, Lord Fox, do you believe that there are traitors amongst us?"

Tundra frowned, and looked around. At a quick glance, they spent a lot of effort to make it seem as if this was a normal event. There were just many cultivators talking to many other cultivators. "There are always some, no?"

But he also sensed how the various cultivators were probing. There were also cultivators outside, and they seemed to be agents of the Prince. It almost looked like everyone was paired up. One alchemist, talking to one warrior. A few more at the side.

"Tell me, Lord Raza, is this a scheme of the Prince, or one of the ministers?" Tundra declared, unsure what exactly and whose side they were on. Was this Imperial Summons just a scheme by the corrupt ministers to create chaos?

"Honestly, I am uncertain." He said. "But there are demons amongst us, and slaying demons and demonic cultivators has not been a crime for a while. Have you heard of the rumors that even the Great Elder.Hanan of the Golden Lantern Pavilion is a demonic cultivator? I used to admire the man." 

He glanced around, and many other alchemists were also on guard. Not all of them were fools. Many had impeccable survival instincts to rise up to their current level, and so a few of them shared a look. They were all tense and nervous. 

Tundra thought for a while before he responded to Lord Raza's statement, a little uncomfortable at how well he knew of that incident. "Oh, I have. But I always thought that sounded a little too far-fetched. Do you feel that we may all have been manipulated by the Imperial Summons?" 

Lord Raza smirked. "You catch on quickly, and it makes sense why the Prince's ministers suspect so much." 

It almost seemed as if he was trying to talk, but Tundra felt the constant, probing hostility. He took a step back, and Lord Raza stepped forward to keep the distance.

"What would make for good evidence? One that can prevent unnecessary bloodshed." Tundra countered. Lord Raza was itching for a fight, and it seemed that a group of these Sect Masters received a command, or some kind of information, that marked these cultivators as demonic.

"Can you tell who are the demonic cultivators?" He asked.

Tundra glanced around, his hand still on the protective amulet. "If I tell you that the Minister Neuren Zheng is one, what would you say?"

"Minister Zheng, demonic?"

"No. Not demonic. Something else."

Lord Raza laughed, and then looked at Minister Neuren Zheng. He was seated at a table quite far from the entire event, and there was a way he looked at the crowd that unnerved them all. The fact that the imperial officials of Prince Kaorl was flanked by multiple high ranked guards just rang all the alarm bells in Tundra's mind.

"Hilarious, Lord Fox. But unfortunately, I do not buy it." 

"A shame, a shame. So this was a scheme just to get the mid tier sects together?" Tundra countered. "For a slaughter?" 

The troublesome thing was, there really were a few demonic cultivators in the guests. More than a few, some were alchemists, some were on the side of the warriors.

No matter whose plot this was, getting a bunch of people into a banquet and killing them was not a smart thing to do. There were also many other talented, good people who were caught in the crossfire. 

If they considered supporting Prince Kaorl before this, if they survived today, they would certainly reconsider. After all, why would they attend an Imperial Summons if they did not consider it before.

"You seem like a good man, Lord Fox. A shame that you support the other corrupt princes."

"A shame, you call this a shame?" Tundra Fox sighed, and looked around. If he wanted to save some people, he would have to act quickly. This was ridiculous, and absolutely brazen. He thought he was safe, but to think that Prince Kaorl would go against the common protections offered by the traditions of the Imperial Summons. Tundra noticed that actors in this ruse were waiting for a command.  "So what are you waiting for? A trigger, then?" 

Lord Raza answered. "Perhaps. We all play to a tune, and I should not be out of step." 

"Have you met the Prince? What drove him to decide on this madness?" Tundra asked, the air felt tense. 

Both of them knew that hostilities were about to start. Tundra felt the man's spiritual energy swirl and gather throughout his body, waiting for the moment. 

"You should best wait for the Prince's speech."

Tundra frowned, and glanced at the exit. There was one master cultivator for every alchemist. Indeed, Prince Kaorl then appeared.

He appeared haggard. Tired. There was a color to him that looked weaker, more frail. More poisoned. As if he was sick. There was madness in his eyes. 

Sickness. Poisoning. It almost looked like a form of Zuja corruption.

Tundra knew he could still be cured. The Golden Dragon's bloodline is so powerful that it takes a lot to truly cripple them. Even the Zuja would not be able to weaken the Prince. That was what he surmised from his brief encounters with Princess Luharl. 

"It is a most joyous occasion to welcome so many alchemists to Kaorlia." He rose and declared, his voice hollowed and twisted. The Prince Kaorl he remembered in his first life was not so mad. 

"Did someone treat him recently?" Tundra asked. 

"Yes. An unfortunate incident." 

Tundra sighed, and prepared his defensive artifacts. "Must we fight, Lord Raza?"

"Fight? It is no more than an execution of arrogant alchemists. Alchemists that poisoned just as many as they have helped." 

"I do not recall we've crossed paths, Lord Raza." 

"We have not. But we are here for a cause. A cause that unfortunately marks yourself as a target of our patron's fury."

Prince Kaorl stood and started to talk. His voice cracked and slurred. "All my life I had the honor of working with many alchemists. People I thought I could trust. People I thought were good men. People who loyally served the throne." 

It was then, the stage behind the Prince opened, and ten alchemists were chained up. Men and women both, they were likely alchemy talents that Prince Kaorl himself once used. They were tortured. Their faces and bodies were covered in cuts and bruises from whips and knives. The investigation office of Prince Kaorl must've been thorough. 

"But no! Alchemists are cheats! Liars! Doctors who create false drugs to weaken their foes! To think I was a fool to trust in them! To think that alchemists dare to even poison me! They've weakened me and thought I did not know!" The Prince declared with madness, and his spiritual energy flared. 

But it was weak. So weak. 

If Prince Kaorl once felt stronger, now he felt like a shell. He felt so weak that Tundra felt even he could win.

This was not the Prince Kaorl he remembered. This was not the Prince Kaorl he served for a few years and decades before his assassination.

What happened?

Tundra looked around and there was a look of horror amongst all the alchemists present. Many were masters of small and medium sects, many thought this was their chance to find support amongst one of the Princes. 

He saw Minister Neuren Zheng looking absolutely smug and pleased, if only for a brief second. Tundra's fury focused.

He theorized that the Zuja managed to convince the Prince to take a bad pill, and that bad pill must have caused significant damage to his cultivation. Now, the Prince used the guise of the Imperial Summons to call upon alchemists to kill them.

Tundra cursed the incredibly smart plan. 

By using Prince Kaorl's madness, they've damaged the Imperial family's reputation and destroyed the credibility of the Imperial Summons. Even if Tundra managed to save a few of the alchemists, a large segment of small and mid tier sects would now approach the Imperial Family with suspicion, even if they were unrelated. 

Zuja's own agents in the other Prince's service would also amplify this suspicion further. Corrupted ministers and officials could easily use their position to alienate the small and mid tier sects. 

He cursed again. "Lord Raza, I must apologize." 

"Oh?" 

A set of spiritual needles slammed into Lord Raza's body before he could even react. It delivered a poison that would quickly incapacitate the cultivator. Tundra was first to strike, even before any of the other alchemists and cultivators began to fight.

But Tundra was not going to wait. Not today. 

"You!" He cursed, as the steel needles created a small opening. 

Prince Kaorl noticed, and quickly declared. "There are demonic alchemists amongst us! These false alchemists poisoned us all! Kill all these demonic alchemists!" 

Naturally, he noticed the Minister slipped out of the door together with the guards. It was just like the Zuja to let the others do the dirty work for them. Neuren Zheng didn't even need to witness the slaughter, the fact that it escalated to this point was already a wonderful victory.

The banquet hall exploded with murder, as cultivators raised their weapons, and the alchemists fought to protect themselves. Tundra's first strike caused the entire room to explode in fury. 

Tundra's eyes darted to the alchemists chained to the wall. He needed to know what happened, and he believed only these trapped alchemists would have some inkling of the truth. Spiritual abilities flared, as those with weapons, those summoned to slay the alchemists came forth to attack those who stood on the other side. 

His entire body glowed, and his spiritual spears slammed into the chains. The ten chained alchemists dropped onto the floor, they all flopped on the ground as if they were lifeless. 

"Get the alchemists!!" Prince Kaorl screamed in madness, as he attempted to call on his own power. But it didn't work. The Golden Dragon seemed to refuse to respond, so the Prince could only rely on his lackeys. 

He activated a spiritual gourd capable of storing 30 people,, sucked up the ten once-chained alchemists, and looked around for an exit.

It was this time the demonic cultivators amongst the alchemists and the attackers flared their power. 

"KILL!" They screamed and yelled. Even if Prince Kaorl was wrong, the mere presence of demonic cultivators in this battle muddled the battle further. 

The banquet hall stained with blood, unfortunate attendants, companions, maids and a few cultivators fell to the first wave of sudden attack.

Tundra ducked when Lord Raza's attack flew uncomfortably close to his face. 

"You're not getting away!" Lord Raza screamed, as he somehow managed to purge the effects of the paralyzing needles. His fists came just close to grazing Tundra's face again.

Tundra frowned, but his eyes looked for an exit. "Lord Raza, we have no quarrel. There is no need for this fight, and I hope to not have to fight you."

"You sound as if you'd win if you did. So humor me." He said, as Lord Raza's fists glowed with a greenish energy. The man was some kind of body cultivator, his fists moved at immense speed. 

It was Tundra's immense combat experience that allowed him to keep his distance. But there were also many other battles around them. Many of the alchemists have begun to team up, to force a way out of the banquet hall. They were led by two of the eighth realm cultivators from two large mid tier sects, while the attackers, lackeys of Prince Kaorl, focused on the few demonic cultivators that popped up. 

From the way the battle went, it felt as if the entire thing was choreographed. Prince Kaorl would claim that the alchemists were demonic, thus the protections of the Imperial Summons did not apply. 

The survivors however, would say they were unfairly targeted. That would sow distrust. 

Zuja must have wanted them to escape. That way, this incident would be publicized to the wider world, and the Imperial Family's reputation would be damaged. 

"Ridiculous. Either way they win." Tundra cursed. He looked around and tried to find a good place to flee. He jumped through a large window, and began running on the roof of the Imperial Palace. 

"Your eyes should be here!" Lord Raza gave chase, infuriated that Tundra gave him not much mind. In truth, Lord Raza was a skilled combatant. It is his misfortune that his opponent was Tundra, a man with many more years of battle experience.

By now, many of the alchemists forced their way out of the banquet hall's doors and windows and into the larger palace compound.

Tundra took advantage of the chaos to escape, though Lord Raza clearly tried to keep up.

Once outside, Tundra bumped into another group of alchemists fleeing from Prince Kaorl's attackers. A few of them looked injured, the effects of their own healing pills and elixirs still taking its time to kick in. 

"Help!" One of them called. Tundra didn't quite recognize the man, but he looked and felt like an alchemist. 

A group of six sword cultivators chased after them. They didn't feel that strong, probably in the sixth realm. 

Tundra thought about it briefly, and wanted to focus on fleeing. But was that the kind of cultivator he wanted to be in this life?

Did he really want to be a cultivator that saw injustice and refused to help, because it was more advantageous for himself?

No.

Not this life. Not when he has so much to give. 

He landed in front of the fleeing alchemists, Lord Raza and the other sword cultivators followed. "Oh, you decided to stand and fight?" Lord Raza said. The sword cultivators wanted to rush past them and head towards their own assigned alchemists, but Tundra's spiritual spears slammed into them.

"Lord Raza, and various distinguished sword cultivators. We all have no quarrel. This order by Prince Kaorl is madness. Please, let us leave and we will forget that we crossed swords today." Tundra said. 

"You sound confident." A sword cultivator said, as his sword flared with spiritual energy. "But win or lose, I am promised a fortune for my service today." 

Except for Lord Raza, the rest of them were high sixth realm cultivators. They were weaker, but Tundra felt he played right into the Zuja's plan if he killed them today. 

After all, they were here because they were promised the glory of slaying demonic cultivators and demonic alchemists!

Greed and glory.

It united cultivators everywhere. 

Tundra's body glowed. "My apologies, fellow great cultivators. I must stop you here." He activated abilities he mastered in his later life. A series of abilities, when trained to the tenth realm, that allowed him to match the likes of Ember Talons and Patriarch Whitedragon. 

[Liquid Metal Body]

His flesh turned into steel, as he melted his own flesh into living steel. Then, the steel and metals of the entire courtyard melted as well, and fused with him.

Anywhere with metal, that metal turned into liquid that added to his flesh and size. He grew into a distributed, formless blob that even when cut could easily reform itself. A dome that would take them some time to escape. 

"Impossible!" Lord Raza realized that Tundra's skill far surpassed his own. Mastery of the Living Steel Forms were often reserved to those in the ninth realm. 

Like rain, the liquid metal could not be avoided, and the seventh realm cultivators' barriers could not hold it off for long. There were always gaps. Little holes. Places where the spiritual energy was weaker.

The formless blob could easily transform into spears, swords, hooks, arrows. Anything he wanted. Their defenses cracked, and then he slammed attacks into their meridians. 

Then, while they were guided by the constant rain of smaller metal weapons, a massive steel dome then landed above them all, and trapped the attackers. 

It would take them a while to escape, but it also sapped his strength continuously. 

Tundra cursed his limited strength. He turned and told the rest of the alchemists to run.

"Run. They will not give chase beyond the city compound. They did not declare outright war on the sects, only an attack on the alchemists, so they should not give too much chase." Tundra declared. "We should be safe once we escape."

There were ten heavily injured alchemists in his Spatial Gourd, and they needed help as soon as possible.

The small group of alchemists looked to be in much better shape, but they too, could use some rest. They were in the sixth realm, elders and sect masters of mid tier sects, but they now look to him for direction. 

They could escape the city, but there was nothing much outside of Kaorlia. The wilderness had spiritual beasts, and little place for cover. It also meant they'd have to get through the walls, and the walls were filled with Prince Kaorl's people, and escaping through with the injured and wounded was not ideal. 

So, he looked around the city. There were multiple branch sect offices in Kaorlia that they could take refuge in, but Tundra didn't feel safe, unless he could get one of the Great Sect's branch offices to take him in.

Yet, it seemed fate had placed him right where he should be. 

On a simple unassuming home, there was a small silver sword crest. 

"Stop!" He looked at the band of injured alchemists, and decided it was worth a gamble. He walked to the door, and picked out the starlight silver token of the White Sword. He remembered Grandduke Edrian's words, and so he held it up.

He heard a voice. 

"Do you call on the aid of the White Sword?"

Tundra nodded. "Yes. Take us somewhere safe."

Just there and then, the entire group vanished into a repurposed treasure realm.