Elder Cultivator

Chapter 707

Every once in a while, Everheart liked to return to Rouhiri. Both to remind him and them that he could, and to check up on his little project. They seemed to consider his project with their fancy statues vandalism, but he considered it avant garde art. They set up barriers all around it, of course. A nice little diversion for Everheart while he made his way to the statues to continue his work. There was no realistic chance that the Harmonious Citadel would leave his formations alone on their home planet for decades if he didnt come by and tweak them every once in a while to throw off their work.

But today the time had come to finish off his work. Good news had come in, though it was also somewhat concerning to Everheart. Someone from Ceretos had killed the sword saint. In front of a whole city, and hundreds of disciples at minimum. Someone apparently in Integration. Which was why that was also bad news.

Someone from Ceretos had killed an Augmentation cultivator alone. Someone that might want to kill him. If he remembered correctly, this Chikere had been to several of his tombs. Shed been around during his return, and she seemed able to move between the upper and lower realms as she pleased. The swordmaster had been friendly with the Million Sword Vault, too. So while he hadnt personally taken anything from her, the resources and weapons he stole from the Vault might be another reason for her to not like him.

So it was good news, but it was also bad news. Better to avoid ending up in a situation where such an individual might express her displeasure with him.

Dripping the last bits of dark star mercury into the formation markings, Everheart reviewed his work. Yes, everything was as it should be. All he had to do was remain somewhere safe and feed voice lines into his little puppets.

-----

From the perspective of Rouhiri, their most holy courtyard had been defiled long before. Most disciples tried not to think about it. However, that was impossible when their blockades exploded everywhere, and the statues of their saints began moving around and shortly thereafter attacking their towers.

A tall, handsome statue holding in his hand an crystal orb smashed it into the side of the tower of the Saint of Light. Hello. I am the Saint of Light and I am definitely not a spy sent by the Exalted Quadrant to subdue your cult. My name is Hans Sigismund and I carry this large orb to compensate for something missing.

If that had been all that happened, it would have been a disaster, but one that the Harmonious Citadel could control. They would have smashed the statue in an instant and dealt with the fallout, cursing some sect or blaming some planet they were already planning to assault. But that was just the first statue.

The second was the statue of the spear saint. Or rather, what had been the statue of the spear saint. It still had most of its components, with the exception that Damjans head had been torn off and impaled on the stone spear. Im Damjan. I killed the previous spear saint in a betrayal most foul. Then I had to make a fake copy of Luminous Heartpiercer to compensate.

Then came the sword saint, tapping his weapon against the tower of the core sword disciples. Or at least, about half of his statue. From left hip to right shoulder there was a cut. Sorry, I cant speak, the upper half of the statue explained to anyone within earshot. I got cut in half by an Integration cultivator.

The statue of the bow saint didnt attack her own tower. Instead, she simply ran away. She would be loudly proclaiming that fact as she ran throughout the core of the sect.

The axe, shield, and morningstar saints were less inspired. We havent done anything in decades and had to flee from just one guy because we were afraid hed rip out our spines and use them as weapons.

The dagger saint well, that statue was missing.

There was an eighth statue present, however. It displayed a well-groomed young man, complete with a full beard with individual hairs carved out of the stone. He casually tossed about weaker disciples in the area. Wow, youll need to do better than that. How are you going to replace all these saints, huh? Maybe you should come temper yourself in the Everheart System!

Everheart shouted as he carved navigation coordinates into everything within reach. He was done sitting around waiting, and he was absolutely exhausted from the amount of work he had been doing. To stave off assassination attempts from himself, he had to absorb all of his projections after a short few years, so he remembered doing all of the labor. It was terrible. If he didnt know better, Everheart would think he was trying to drive himself to suicide.

The statues had always been highly enchanted. They were meant to endure forever- until the saints were replaced, of course. So while the core of the Harmonious Citadels power had tons of Integration cultivators raring to crush the statues, they had a problem. They were hesitant to destroy the figures of their sants and when they tried they found it was much more difficult than expected. Which gave Everheart more time to shout facts, mixed in with some occasional speculative insults and pure defamation. Because people would remember inflammatory facts, regardless of whether or not it was true.

So it was a good long while with all eyes on the situation before someone showed up who could handle the situation. That someone happened to be a woman, her appearance just past her prime. Most people disregarded her at first, because she didnt feel like much. However, she first walked up to the statue of Everheart.

Youre that bastard Everheart?

I am Everheart, the grand and might. The wise and powerful. The-

Her fist drove straight through his head- or rather, the statues head.

Wow. Rude. As I was saying-

She leapt into the air, metal greaves smashing apart the statue vertically. But she didnt stop there, pulverizing it to pieces as it continuously attempted to continue speaking. Then she approached the statue of the saint of light. Hey, whered you get your info?

I am the saint of light himself, the statue declared. Every word from my mouth speaks the true history of- that mouth was quickly shattered- though once more it didnt matter. I found it in the true archives of the Citadel. Surely you know how to access those the statue raised its arm dramatically, then pointed at the woman. Forbidden saint number one!

Its Tuva, idiot. And Im not a saint. She jammed an armored elbow into the statue. They just pay me.

The womans success confused many of those watching. The statues were easily fighting off several Integration cultivators each, then a strange woman showed up out of nowhere and destroyed them with ease. She didnt even feel like anything. Her cultivation was, what Essence Collection at best? At least, as far as anyone could tell. But clearly, that wasnt an accurate measure.

Youre totally a forbidden saint, though! yelled the axe statue. Come on, its a cool title!

You bastard she grumbled, launching herself towards it and tearing it apart. Then she shouted at the remaining statues in general. Youre controlling all of these actively, arent you?

Of course I- I mean, we are the true spirits of the saints! The Harmonious Citadel is corrupted, or whatever! Were here to restore balance and definitely not as a prank!

Tuva shook her head and continued smashing statues until there was just one left. Hey. Wheres the dagger saint? she asked the statue of the morningstar saint, which only had a head and torso remaining.

Probably off doing her usual assassination stuff, the statues voice boomed throughout the area.

I meant the statue, idiot!

Id bet its doing the same thing, the statue grinned. Probably off killing the owner of your favorite sandwich place.

You- she smashed the statue in anger. I dont know why I even bothered. Goddamn Everheart. She lingered only a moment to make sure the statues were fully dismantled, then she ran off. ... It better not be.

-----

While Everheart was curious to find out where Tuvas favorite sandwich place was, he was busy guiding the dagger saints statue into their vaults. The vault was the most secure place in their whole little cult-empire. He really wanted their stuff, but he also didnt want to risk his actual self. In truth, he didnt expect to have any success. This was just an initial run, and unless they completely replaced their formations with brand new ones that worked on entirely different principles to accomplish the same goals, any progress he made here would be useful in the future. There was no way he was going to let the Scarlet Alliance get away with all of the loot from this place when he was directly responsible for killing one saint so far, and more in the future if he could wrangle it. Thus the taunts about the Everheart System.

He managed to get a few doors open- the statue didnt really have traditional senses for him to use, but the formations were simple enough for him to get through. Hardly more than a few layers of complexity and an occasional subrune stitched in. A few looparounds meant to throw people off.

But of course the vaults of the Harmonious Citadel werent just one big pile of loot. No, they had more layers and complexity than that. Lots of hallways and side rooms. Most were no doubt filled with traps. Then he opened one. In the center of a large room, there was only a single tome on top of a plinth. There was absolutely, positively no way that the tome was not bait. He created a gust of air, but the tome didnt even flutter.

It was probably nothing. But boy, did they know how to make good bait. And they were the ones who were going to have to clean up the broken pieces of their own statue when he flubbed it. Or their security would be total garbage all the way through and he would be walking out of these vaults with everything this very afternoon.

-----

Trifold Cluster activity had ceased upon Inistra. It seemed that they had been successfully wiped out. Anton had doubts, however. The last few suspected pockets hadnt been eradicated. Instead, theyd been found empty. One of which hed heard about himself, so it had been active within the last year.

No, he couldnt leave it at that. Unfortunately he hadnt been able to keep track of every place all the time. He was at least a few months late here. But all was not lost. He remembered those hed seen in their safehouse, and more importantly their energy signatures. He would be able to recognize them, as he specifically kept them in mind.

The first thing to check was if they were present in the city. That was a pretty clear negative. The next step was to check the dock records. Ships going in and out were usually logged. Of course, nobody would say they were carrying spies. They might not even know. And anyone who was smuggling them might not declare passengers.

But it was a place to start.

-----

Hints and clues led to other information, half or more of which were dead ends. But ultimately, Anton pulled on the thread and made his own presumptions. Now he was at the bottom of the sea, checking to see if anyone built an underwater base. Normally he should be able to feel them from the surface, but with sufficient distance and formations blocking his senses he could never be too sure. So he moved along, hoping to find something.

What he didnt expect was that something was about to find him.

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