[Tree] Chapter 507: Returning Home

After a long and well-needed hug, the two friends separated.

"I'll get going now," Diana said, giving her a sad smile. "Sect duty calls, and I've got to cover for Elaine and Douglas now that they are in the Eternal Realm."

"I could help?" Stella offered.

Diana brightened at the suggestion, but then her expression turned complicated. "Well... what do you know about teaching cultivation and techniques? That's the main duty I'm covering for Elaine."

Stella felt offended. "I know quite a lot, actually. Did you forget I have a Disciple who is making excellent progress?"

"Ah, right," Diana said, slowly nodding as if she wasn't convinced. "Maybe Douglas's role would be better—"

"No. I've spent enough time building giant runic formations over the last year. The last thing I want to do right now is leave home to work on some distant construction project," Stella said, crossing her arms. "I won't do it."

"Fine, fine, you can take Elaine's role. I'll deal with the Mudcloaks."

"Great! So..." Stella scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. "What does Elaine do exactly? I know you said teach, but who and when?"

Diana stared at her as if in disbelief.

Stella squirmed under the judgmental stare, unsure what to say, as it was only now that she was starting to realize she didn't do much for the Ashfallen Sect on a day-to-day basis and was utterly clueless about most of the goings-on within the sect. Was this because she avoided all those pointless meetings she was asked to attend?

"Really, Stella? Elaine teaches the elite disciples of the Ashfallen Sect once a week in a lecture hall near the White Stone Palace. You should know this," Diana said, gesturing toward the northern White Stone Peak. "Whatever. I'm sure they would be happy enough to hear of your exploits or insights." Diana paused and appraised her. "Just don't... kill any of them for annoying you. That would be troublesome to deal with and likely make Elaine sad."

Stella blinked. "Kill? Our own elites? I would never do such a thing!"

"Uh-huh," Diana shrugged. "Sure you won't—anyway, Jasmine is in that group, so she should keep you out of trouble."

"I can't believe you would suggest that I'd do such a thing..." Stella trailed off as Diana simply stared at her. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to let you know that the elites are currently training in Tartarus, so you won't have class with them for a few days. Rest up and maybe think of some topics you want to cover," Diana spread her wings and gave her a friendly smile. "Thank you, that takes a lot off my plate."

Stella snorted. "Hardly. How difficult could teaching a few weaklings once a week be?"

Diana sighed and shook her head. "I hope for everyone's sake that you hold that same opinion after your first class. Anyway, I'll see you later." Flapping her wings with an immense gust that pushed Stella backward, she took off with tremendous speed toward White Stone Palace. Even to Stella, as a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, Diana looked like a blurred, winged comet streaking through the sky, leaving a trail of mist in her wake. A sonic boom followed a breath later, and reality seemed to scream as it pulled itself back together after such a powerful cultivator had passed through.

"We really have come so far," Stella muttered to herself as memories from only a few years ago flashed through her mind of Diana sparring with her. Back then, they still had to eat food and couldn't even fly without the help of a sword. But now, reality was at their mercy, and they were semi-immortals.

Looking into the distance contemplatively and enjoying the late afternoon wind for a moment, Stella chuckled to herself. "Alright, enough of this acting like an old master in deep contemplation nonsense. I've got stuff to do. But first," she glanced at Red Vine Peak, "I want to visit home."

Stella slowly floated down toward the mountain peak, and despite her words, she couldn't help but return her hands to behind her back and straighten her posture. Now that she held the power of legendary figures that children were told stories about, it was far too tempting to act like one.

I mean, it would just look weird if a cultivator were floating with their hands hanging at their sides, right? They would look like some haunted ghost being dragged through the sky, Stella thought to justify her actions. It's only natural that I should float around like this.

As she descended toward Red Vine Peak, Ash only further dominated her view. His rustling canopy of beautiful red maple leaves stretched over the entirety of Red Vine Peak, with some of the main branches looking thick enough to build small houses on. Passing between the dormant crown of nine great branches that curled upwards toward the heavens, she paused in the center of it all. Closing her eyes, she heard the chirping of birds mixed with the gentle rustling of Ash's leaves. "I've missed this," she said, breathing in deeply and enjoying the floral scent of the forest that had been absent on the lifeless rock of the Tessellate Citadel. "Ah, the sound and scent of the forest. This truly feels like home."

Opening her eyes, she took in the sight of a whole mountain range covered in red-leaved trees before white flames flashed around her body, and she instantly teleported to the ground. Looking to her left, relief washed over her.

"It's still here," she said happily, running a finger along the backrest of her bench.

"Did you think it would be gone?" Ash's voice rang in her head.

"No," Stella said honestly. "But that doesn't change my relief that it's still here, just as I remember it." She skirted around the bench and sat down. Despite buying a mansion and living in it for months, somehow this bench felt more like home. She sank into it, her body shifting on instinct to find the most comfortable posture. Lying on her side, her head rested on the armrest—one leg was up on the backrest, while the other was dangling off the side.

Was this bench always this small? I remember it being a little bigger? Stella pondered as the once-familiar position felt ever so slightly off. Have I grown taller?

"You always reminded me of a cat when you slept like this," Ash said, chuckling to himself.

"I'm not a cat," Stella grumbled, turning her head to the side to look over Red Vine Peak. The demonic trees still lined the edges, creating a misty barrier to obscure the happenings from outsiders. A small hut that served as Jasmine's home when training was the only building beside Quill's library. "I don't know why, but I'm somehow surprised that not much has changed."

"Well, of course not, it's only been a month since you left."

"Oh yeah," Stella said dumbly. Even the season was the same as when she had left. "How has the sect been while I was gone? Anything crazy happen besides Elaine getting pregnant?"

"Not really. Actually, I wonder if that's because you were gone..."

"Hey," Stella said, not impressed. "You can't blame everything on me."

"Relax, I was joking. Things have calmed down a lot now, especially since we are the overlords of the region, and the beast tide has been averted. There are still a few dumb monsters that enter our lands, but the Redclaws and other cultivators deal with them swiftly. So yeah, it's been quiet."

Stella raised a brow. "What have you been up to then?"

"Sleeping mostly," Ash shamelessly admitted.

Stella rolled her eyes.

"Hey, don't do that. I've pulled one too many all-nighters in a row over the last few months, and winter isn't over yet, so the cold is making me sluggish. Besides, I cultivate faster while sleeping, so if no life-threatening events are happening, the best use of my time is to hibernate and leave the rest to the Grand Elders to deal with."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you could do that, and it's nearing the end of February, right? Winter will be over soon," Stella said. They had celebrated her birthday only a month ago here in reality, only for her to spend another year in the Eternal Realm. If anything, the fact that the Tessellate Citadel had no seasons had made the passing of time feel even weirder. Suddenly feeling repulsion at the idea of wasting time lying around, she sat up. "Oh, Dad! Speaking of leaving things to the Grand Elders, Diana has left me in charge of teaching the elites in Elaine's stead. How great is that?"

"Oh..." Ash said, not sounding too thrilled at the idea.

Stella narrowed her eyes. "What's with that reaction? It's not like you could do any better."

"I know I can't, that's why I leave it to people who can," Ash replied, "you know, competent and patient people like Elaine."

Stella tilted her head. "Is that why you don't give me any responsibilities? Because you don't trust that I can do them?"

"No, of course not. I just... think you're better suited spending your time cultivating and um, training your Disciple and.... making pills? You know, rather than wasting your time teaching our sect's younger generation."

Stella felt her mood souring. She could understand Diana's point of view, but even her own dad saw her as useless?

"Well, Diana already entrusted the job to me," Stella frowned. "So I'm going to do it."

"I'm sure I can find someone else to do it. Perhaps Grand Elder Redclaw?"

"That war-loving fire head? What does he know about teaching?"

"True. What about Elder Margret or Elder Brent? Even Elder Mo could be a suitable replacement for Elaine—"

"No. I want to do it," Stella said, standing up with newfound vigor. She was always interested in new challenges, and since everyone seemed to doubt her capabilities, that only made her want to do and excel in it even more.

"But what about cultivating?"

Stella scoffed. "What about it? Even if I try cultivating on Moros where there's aether Qi, it will take me a lifetime to gather enough to advance to the Monarch Realm. Without the incredible Qi from the higher layers of creation and the Eternal Realm's time dilation, I have no desire to cultivate. At best, I can hold onto the Qi I have."

"I guess that's true. Just try to control your temper a bit—"

Stella didn't hear what Ash said as she was distracted by a sudden, strange cry. Looking in the direction she had heard it, she was baffled to see Bob trying to eat a Mudcloak. Rushing over, she smacked the giant slime monster, making him wobble. "Spit it out. I said spit it out, Bob! The Mudcloaks aren't food."

Bob reluctantly deposited the Mudcloak on the ground before him. It took a moment for the Mudcloak to regain consciousness, and when it did, the little guy glared at Bob with glowing blue eyes before rushing off without saying a word.

Stella glanced at Bob. "Why did you try to eat the Mudcloak?"

"It looked tasty," Bob admitted when Stella refused to take silence for an answer.

"Tasty? That was enough reason to try eating one?"

Bob deflated slightly as if showing his remorse. "Sorry, sis."

"Geez, I can't take my eyes off you." Huffing the hair out of her eyes, she glanced over at the giant hole that led down to the Mudcloak Citadel. Remembering she had promised to look into creating Morrigan a new body, and that she had some time to kill before class, she decided to visit her alchemy cave. "Bob, come with me. I might need your help."

At her words, the giant slime perked up and rolled closer.

"But no eating any Mudcloaks, you hear me?" she said, pointing a finger at him.

"Even if you need protecting?"

"Huh?" Stella raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

"The Mudcloaks... they are dangerous."

Stella heard genuine fear in Bob's tone, causing her to pause and look at him. "What makes them so dangerous?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

"It didn't fear death."

Stella's eyes widened ever so slightly. Such a simple statement, yet it carried considerable weight. She knew a bit about the Mudcloaks, including their unusual method of reproduction and general way of doing things. It was clear they were capable of complex thought, which should lead to a natural fear of death. What self-preservationist being didn't fear an untimely demise? It was the whole reason cultivators worked so hard to get stronger. Yet Bob was claiming the Mudcloaks had no such thing? Then what motivated them to become so strong? Her gaze settled on the giant hole through the mountain filled with thousands of them, and she suddenly felt a little uneasy.

"A being that doesn't fear death," she mumbled, and the image of Morrigan appeared in her mind. While even Morrigan had feared death, it wasn't in a typical way. She feared ending up in the void, yet the Mudcloaks possessed no fear at all. "Perhaps it was just that one Mudcloak that was fearless, but aren't they all linked?" Stella tapped her chin in contemplation. "Well, it's a good job they are our allies, I suppose," she said, continuing her walk forward and pushing away the harrowing thoughts of what the Mudcloaks truly were and where they had come from.

In the end, it didn't matter. So long as they obeyed their king.

Reaching the edge of the hole, she stared down into its expansive depths. Due to the glowing moss covering the central pillar from which Quill's library was built, she could see to the bottom. Dozens of Mudcloaks glanced up and stared at her with giant glowing blue eyes, making her unexpectedly gulp.

I've not seen them in a year—they are still lovable little friendly monsters, right?

"Bob, make yourself smaller," Stella said as she stepped back from the hole's edge. Once her new brother had shrunk to a more manageable size, she grabbed him and grunted from the weight. "You really need to watch what you eat," she complained as she jumped off the side.

Accelerating faster than expected due to Bob's added weight, her cloak and hair fluttered violently as she rocketed to the bottom. While this fall wouldn't even hurt, she didn't want to accidentally squish some unaware Mudcloak, so she activated her Nascent Souls, and her body came to an abrupt halt two meters from the bottom. Bob, however, continued to lurch downwards, spilling out of her arms onto the floor and cracking the ground.

The surrounding Mudcloaks let out startled cries and scattered.

"The door!" one shouted, horrified. "The door is back!"

Panic ensued as Stella touched down on the ground, looking around in confusion. "The door is back? What are they on about?" That's when her gaze drifted up to her alchemy cave, the 'door' of which was missing, leaving it exposed to anyone who wanted to enter. She met eyes with a few Mudcloaks that were inside her alchemy cave and using her equipment.

"You little bastards really must not fear death to invade my alchemy lab," Stella cracked her knuckles and strode forward, the world crackling around her as she leaked her 7th-stage Nascent Soul Realm cultivation. While she was pretty mad, she obviously didn't want to harm any of the Mudcloaks and simply wanted to remind them whose personal space they were invading as they all fled out of the cave.

Stepping inside, she glanced around. Everything was a mess. The tables that had been purposefully messy were even more so, and it seemed they had stolen some of her plants. Clicking her tongue, she turned to Bob.

Bob took one look at her and, without needing to be prompted, took up position and assumed his role as the door. Not quite what she had in mind when she said she needed him, but someone had to keep those little terrors out.

"Good," Stella nodded and began wandering through her alchemy lab. Coming to a pause in the middle, she blanketed the room in telekinesis; everything rose and started flying around in a seemingly chaotic storm. Yet after only a few minutes, everything settled down.

Precisely as it had been before—minus the stolen plants.

"I'll ensure that Douglas has a word with them when he returns," Stella grumbled as she navigated to a particular desk and pulled out a drawer filled with neatly separated spatial rings that were all labeled with the names of monsters and contained preserved body parts. "But until then, let's see what I can do for Morrigan in terms of making a new body."

Taking out a ring marked 'Nightmare Shade', she started to wonder if crafting a new body was an appropriate subject for a class for the elite disciples. After all, it was a skill all of them should know, should they reach the Nascent Soul Realm.

[Author Note]

A few more chill chapters for now before we get into the big events. Always hard to know if readers like these over constant action as the comments/likes are usually lower.