[Tree] Chapter 418: Fractured Space

Stella took the offered seat. Like the rest of this place, it wasn't material. Instead, it was made from a gravity well stuck in a fractured vector of space.

"I'm curious," Stella said as she began to munch on the Mystic Realmwarp fruit. She could feel its mystical energies reaching through her body and gently caressing her soul. "How did you call out to my bloodline?"

A chuckle echoed through the space, "How indeed. The answer is more simple than you would think." A sphere of liquid blood wobbled through the air and paused before Stella. It pulsed as if alive, and she felt an attachment toward it for some reason. "You left some of your blood behind when we last met. I gathered it and used it to call you here."

Stella eyed the sphere of her blood with skepticism, "Really? All it took to call me here was some of my gathered blood?"

"Don't look at this as mere blood. To mortals, blood is indeed mundane. It's simply a liquid flowing through their bodies, keeping their organs functioning and their flesh suits warm. To most cultivators, this is also true. However, through studies conducted by blood cultivators and knowledge gleaned from ancient records, we know that blood holds so much more for a special few. Yourself is one such case," A man missing both of his arms who had been partially obscured by the fractured space stepped out into full view. His expression was stoic as he continued. "You are a bloodline holder. Eons ago, during the first cycle after the Origins were enslaved by the heavens and reality was stabilized, the beings we know as monsters today had not yet been corrupted by demonic Qi. They were like you and I, just with different bodies and ways of cultivation."

Elder Vortexian of the Azure Clan calmly sat opposite Stella and met her gaze with tranquility. His cold eyes did not flicker with rage, greed, or amusement. His tone was also neutral, as if he were reciting a script. The fractured space around him converged into replacement arms.

"So what makes my blood special?" Stella asked with a smugness that made her seem to be testing the man's knowledge rather than outright asking. After all, this was information she should probably know.

"The unification between all races gave birth to generations of continually stronger children than their parents. Entire sects were founded on the art of breeding superior vessels for cultivation, as everyone wanted their family name to go down in history and stand the test of time. It was believed that whichever family or sect could create the perfect specimen for cultivation would be able to raise a god. A being that could stand above all else." Elder Vortexian paused as he stared into Stella's eyes, "You were the result of that. The Crestfallen bloodline belongs to the one destined to defy the heavens. I didn't believe the legends, but after witnessing you repair the origin stone, I was convinced it was true."

Stella somehow managed to contain her surprise and play it cool.

"Oh? Such deep knowledge is rare to find these days. I wonder how you learned of this?" she casually asked while munching on the Mystic Realmwarp fruit.

It was unknown what Elder Vortexian's intentions were with luring her here, and she had already caused Maple to devour both of his arms, so she doubted they were on good terms. All I need to do is buy time until I've finished eating this. I just need to keep him talking.

"After our last meeting, you could say my life was over." Elder Vortexian said simply, as if he were talking about the weather, "With the death of Heavenly King Cepheus confirmed, Azure Clan's Spatial Peak was facing a rapid decline. The one saving grace keeping Spatial Peak relevant was the aether origin stone," his eyes flickered to Stella's head where Maple was sleeping, "Which your pet Worldwalker ate after you repaired it. Learning of the origin stones' disappearance and my mismanagement of the outer sect disciple tournament, with respect to my strength, I was spared death and merely cast out by the Azure Clan. However, with my stalled cultivation, being cut off from the Azure Clan's resources was practically a death sentence."

"So you want revenge?" Stella asked and was surprised when the armless Elder shook his head.

"I did initially. I lost control over my emotions and, during my rage, sacrificed my infant soul to create this pocket realm. Once I calmed down, I devoted myself to research and studied history until my consciousness crumbled from exhaustion. All to find and kill you." For the first time in the meeting, his stoic expression could not conceal his anger. However, it was gone in a passing moment.

"Well, I'm sitting here still alive, so I assume something changed?" Stella said.

The man rose from his chair, "Killing you will never reverse what has been done. The Azure Clan will never take me back, but more importantly, I don't want them to anymore."

"Oh?" Stella had no idea where the man was going with this. It was a fascinating turn of events.

Elder Vortexian opened his palm, and the space between his fingers cracked like shattered glass. "You see after being cast out of the Azure Clan, my cultivation advanced for the first time in centuries. In my rage, I learned a new dao for spatial affinity. I stopped wasting my focus on writing guides and nurturing the future youth for Spatial Peak. Instead, my comprehension of this new way to use spatial affinity skyrocketed the more obsessed I became with finding and killing you. Eventually, my rage toward you lessened, but I desired more power. So, I turned my hatred toward the Azure Clan. I never realized how much a broken Origin stone held me back and how much time I had wasted on helping a clan that was all too happy to throw me out. I once again became obsessed with imagining how much death and destruction I could cause. How many cities I could tear down into oblivion."

He closed his hand into a fist, and reality cried out as it was annihilated. "Stella, it took me falling down to the bottom of the well to finally look up and see the stars. You cut the chains that held me up and, in turn, saved me."

"You're... welcome?" Stella tilted her head in confusion. This was the most bizarre and roundabout way of being appreciated she had ever experienced. Is this what happens when a Monarch Realm cultivator is pushed too far? He's totally broken. Stella thought as she glanced around at the fractured world. Before, she had taken it in at face value, but with her knowledge of how reality liked to hold itself together, to create a realm like this where there was nothing but destruction showed just how enraged he must have been.

He might have gone supernova if he hadn't confined his rage to this pocket realm. Stella kept chewing. A Monarch Realm was dangerous, but Elder Vortexian had the aura of a deadman walking. He only wants to watch the world burn for what has been done to him.

"Stella, I called you here to ask a favor."

"Huh?" Stella paused eating the last of the fruit and stopped glancing around, "Why me?"

"Because we are more similar than you will ever know." Elder Vortexian smiled, "While my sights aren't set as high as tearing down the very heavens, I would be honored to walk the path of destruction in your wake."

Stella took a moment to process what the hell that Elder Vortexian had just said. A Monarch Realm cultivator who used to lord over a peak in the Azure Clan that supposedly dominates the 8th layer of creation wants to follow me?!

"Mhm," Stella hummed as she looked Elder Vortexian up and down, "I have plenty of Monarch Realms at my beck and call. What could an armless castaway like you possibly offer me?"

Stella had the last piece of the Mystic Realmwarp fruit between her teeth and was ready to clamp down. I might have read the situation wrong, but if he is willing to do as I say, I should push this as far as possible.

However, Elder Vortexian didn't seem angered by her words. It only seemed to fan the flames of conviction. "If the Azure Clan is destroyed, I offer you my soul and this pocket realm. That I promise on my name."

"This pocket realm?" Stella tried to look as unimpressed as possible as she pretended to look around again. "I have access to hundreds of pocket realms. Such a thing doesn't sweeten the deal. However, your soul, now that sounds delectable."

For Ash, that is. I have no idea what I'd do with a random Monarch Realm cultivator's soul. But my very own pocket realm that's this cool looking? Hell yes.

"Then, as for my favor—"

"Hold on, if you are planning to die after this is done, I have one request before hearing you out." Stella held out her empty palm, "Give me all your cultivation resources. I'll take your weapons and such upon your death."

Elder Vortexian hesitated as he stared at Stella's hand.

"Have you got cold feet now, or was the promise of your soul a lie?" Stella gestured with her fingers for him to hurry up. "Believe it or not, I have places to be. Are we doing this or not?"

Elder Vortexian summoned a few of his spatial rings and conjured an arm of fractured space to dangle them over her palm. "My favor is your assistance in eradicating the Azure Clan," he said, dropping them with a clink. "This is everything I have."

"Everything you have? That will suffice, I suppose," Stella stowed them away and hid her giddy excitement. I just scammed a Monarch Realm cultivator out of all his cultivation resources! There's bound to be something in these spatial rings that will help me reach Nascent Soul Realm before the month is over.

"Now, as for this favor," Stella crossed her arms, "How do we go about eradicating the Azure Clan?"

This was the hard part. Everyone in the Ashfallen Sect strong enough to fight against powerhouses on the next layer of creation would be devoted to fighting the beast tide rather than assisting some Monarch Realm cultivator enact their revenge.

I would invite him down to the 9th layer of creation to assist in eradicating the beast tide, but that might shatter whatever image he has in his mind of me. Actually, can someone from a higher layer of creation even venture down to a lower level without inviting heaven's wrath?

Elder Vortexian pondered for a moment before replying, "I was hoping you would assist me personally."

Stella scoffed, "Absolutely not. The Azure Clan isn't worth my time."

I would also be squished like a bug. A Star Core Realm cultivator trying to fight an entire clan? Didn't they have people called Heavenly Kings who were in the Sovereign of Realities realm?

"What about your father? Could he assist?"

Stella looked at him as if he were a fool, "No."

"No good, huh." Elder Vortexian frowned. "I thought he would be personally interested in eradicating the Azure Clan."

"Why would he be?"

"Because of the divine fragment?"

Wait, what? There's a divine fragment? Stella recalled what she had been told. Senior Lee had given the divine fragment to Ash when they first met. It turned him from a demonic spirit tree into a demi-divine that had unlimited cultivation. However, he will become a true god if he collects all the divine fragments.

"Who has it?" Stella asked with a little more urgency in her tone than she would have liked. But this was important.

"The Heavenly King of dream peak. He's in close-door cultivation, and I know where. Help me destroy the peak, and I will lead your father to him. The era of ascension has yet to begin, so moving between the layers is nearly impossible, but someone of your father's status should be able to traverse the void." He looked up at Maple, "After all, he gave you a pet Worldwalker."

Stella stood up as she felt her facade slipping. It was all too much for her to handle. "This has been productive, Elder Vortexian. I'll inquire my father regarding this matter, and I'll send people to assist in due course."

"Wait, before you go, take this." Elder Vortexian passed her a strange-looking artifact with telekinesis. "This is a dimensional geolocator. Use it when sending people over."

"Very well," Stella hid her confusion as she looked at the strange contraption. Pocketing it, she turned and bit down on the last bit of the fruit. Swallowing it, she felt an immense pull on her soul. "Goodbye Elder Vortexian. May we meet again someday soon."

"Likewise, Crestfallen."

A blinding kaleidoscopic light engulfed her, and she felt her stomach lurch as she was dragged through dimensions. Eventually, she arrived back on Red Vine Peak before the celestial fog of the Mystic Realm. She swayed on her feet and nursed her head as the mystic energies of the fruit washed out of her system.

"Oh? Why are you back already? It's only been a few minutes." Ash asked in her mind with concern.

Stella gestured for Ash to give her a second as she bent over with her hands on her knees and breathed deeply. Her heart was pounding in her chest. A full minute passed before she managed to get her breathing under control.

"Is this because of the Mystic Realmwarp fruit? It shouldn't have such side effects."

"No," Stella straightened up and let out a satisfied sigh, "I just had an intense meeting with Elder Vortexian. I was moments away from being unable to contain my excitement anymore."

"Elder Vortexian..." Ash trailed off, seeming lost in thought. "Wait, Elder Vortexian? That Monarch Realm cultivator from the Azure Clan?"

"Yup," Stella nodded.

Ash chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"Only you could go into the Mystic Realm and end up in a meeting."

Stella rolled her eyes, "I know, the irony isn't lost on me. But! I enjoyed this meeting."

"Oh? How come."

"Because it was short and sweet, yet he gave me many spatial rings filled with cultivation resources, promised me his soul and a Monarch Realm level pocket realm!"

"Why the hell would he give you all that—wait, was he hitting on you?"

"Hitting on me?" Stella tapped her chin in thought, "No, he never hit me."

Ash groaned, "Not hit—hitting on—you know what, never mind. What did you promise in exchange?"

"To help him eradicate the Azure Clan."

"Right."

A short silence followed.

"Oh god. You weren't joking, were you."

Stella shook her head.

A long sigh reverberated through her mind like a fed-up titan, "And how do you plan on doing that exactly?"

"I don't, really," Stella shrugged. "That man has gone insane, and we aren't as powerful as he seems to have deluded himself into believing we are. It's not my fault he was so easily deceived out of cultivation resources. Oh, he did give me this," she dug out the strange artifact from her pocket, "It's a dimensional geolocator or something. Do you know how this works?"

Ash picked it out of her hands with telekinesis, and his trunk split to reveal his eye. He inspected the artifact for a while before seemingly giving up, "Not a clue." He handed it back to her. "Did he say anything else?"

"Uhm, let me think. Oh! Elder Vortexian did say that the Heavenly King of Azure Clan's dream peak holds a divine fragment and that he knows where the man is cultivating."

"That is some good information for the future. Right now, even looking at such a cultivator would be hubris."

"Right?" Stella turned on her heel and faced the Mystic Realm. "Well, I'll be off. Every minute I spend talking here is four minutes I could spend cultivating—ah, what should I do with this?" She was still holding that darn artifact. Glancing around, she laid eyes on a Mudcloak walking toward the citadel, "Hey you!"

The Mudcloak looked over at her and pointed a finger at itself.

"Yes, you. No, don't look over your shoulder. I want you, now come here."

The Mudcloak dashed over as fast as a being with such short legs could. It looked up at her with giant glowing blue eyes with the rest of its features hidden in the darkness of its hood.

"Take this," she handed it the dimensional geolocator. "A cultivator hellbent on destruction gave this to me. I have no idea how to use it, so you can take it."

The Mudcloak let out a gleeful squeal as it took the artifact. "Does the Princess desire realm domination?" it asked while inspecting the artifact as if it were a heavenly treasure.

"Erm, Sure? Who doesn't?"

The Mudcloak did a 90-degree bow, "It shall be done in your name." Then, to Stella's surprise, it sank into the floor like the earth below its feet was nothing but water and vanished.

"I guess it liked it?" Stella mused before returning her focus to the Mystic Realm. What the Mudcloaks did with that artifact was of no concern to her. All she cared about was power leveling to the next realm of power.

Little did she know as she strode back into the Mystic Realm, the threads of fate had just been forever changed.