Elder Cultivator

Chapter 937

A mass invasion of the Scarlet Alliance would result in many different routes being taken into their territory. Minimizing those potential routes was one of Catarinas biggest drives. Obviously a mass invasion hadnt been necessary to wipe them out. Zaur and the Citadel of Exalted Light on their own might have been enough. Though the Scarlet Alliance would have fought tooth and nail to stop him, so their loss wasnt guaranteed even if another attack came immediately.

Even so, they could expect massive casualties. They could easily lose enough Augmentation cultivators and members of their fleet to be crippled for anything following- and that wasnt even guaranteeing killing a Domination cultivator. Just driving them off would be difficult enough, even with their new upgrades.

But the Bloodsoaked Nebula was a valuable tool. It was not an area where anyone of legitimacy lived, so the Scarlet Alliance had no qualms about doing as they pleased. Catarina had already begun to convert the area into a greater formation, but the issue was that the one actual attack hadnt resulted in anyone routing through the area. Whether they predicted the danger or not wasnt as important as the fact that it just wasnt convenient.

Moving the nebula was more than just an ambitious project. Rather, Catarina thought it would lose all of its unique qualities if that was done. Furthermore, there was no guarantee that their next attacker would be from the Exalted Quadrant to the west. It could easily be Everheart from the North or the Trigold Cluster to the east.

So she needed something more. The Scarlet Alliances spatial manipulations were already stretching things thin. Catarina didnt think it would be wise to attempt to surround their territory at the current level of understanding but that wasnt really necessary. All she needed was a bit of the remaining essence to bleed through.

The Bloodsoaked Nebula was the place of ancient battles, carrying the deaths of untold numbers of individuals due to the war between the two great powers. Thus, the resentment would hold up against both sides. Channeling that could strengthen the paths they had already created, though of course making certain it wouldnt harm their own people was an important factor.

It was going to be a delicate operation, but Catarina believed it was possible. And there were other reasons to visit the Bloodsoaked Nebula as well. There were certain dangers, including cultivators seeking their fortunes in the shredded remains of worlds, but those same prizes could be of benefit to Catarina and Timothy, should they come across the right thing by happenstance.

-----

Sharpened killing intent faded away as Chidi lowered his sword. Sweat and blood dripped off of the blade.

Why did you stop? Chikere asked.

He just shook his head. This is as far as we can go here, I think. I wont learn any more by training with swords.

How rude, Chikere said, turning away. And you know thats not true.

Perhaps, Chidi admitted, shrugging. But you know I have more to learn in other areas. Even if you dont find them as valuable personally. He looked down towards his arms. Thank you for your assistance. Well make sure to drop you off back home.

The particular group helping him involved a few familiar faces. Specifically, since some void ants would have to be present for training regardless why not have Snips and Chops able to study two swordmasters sparring? The two miniature disciples of the sword were able to get their own insights that way. Hopefully.

Sorry we didnt do much for you guys, Chidi said. We didnt really have a chance to focus on you at all.

He could detect the two of them trying to speak at once, and then they managed their efforts sequentially, chomping bits of energy in familiar patterns. Rather than words, he got the general idea that they didnt mind. But void ants always seemed polite and helpful, so he wasnt sure how much that was true.

Bullet and Fire were present as well, providing aid by helping Chidi suppress his energy. Aconite was around as well, though more for medical emergencies rather than her personal training. There werent many interesting poisons on desolate planets, as it turned out.

What is your plan from here? Acolite said with a controlled whimper. Not all words in the wolfish language were so harsh as to require barking or growling. Are you continuing this path?

You know me well enough, Chidi said. What do you think?

Somewhere else, then, she nodded. What sort of training do you intend?

Im not quite certain, but I need real opponents. Ones who I can fight on relatively even footing and dont mind killing.

I wouldnt be upset if you killed me when you broke through, Chikere pointed out.

I imagine not, but I might be, Chidi shook his head. And again, Ive approached the limit of my sword understanding for the moment. Small gains can be valuable, but Im not looking for that at the moment.

-----

It took some time for Chidi to actually research a proper target. First and foremost they couldnt be associated with the great powers. While they most likely had plenty of groups that were sufficiently strong to challenge Chidi, they might both be overly strong but also come with unintended consequences.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Even if some individuals from the Scarlet Midfields as a whole would wander into the territory on either side and stir up trouble, it wasnt appropriate for a proper member of the Alliance to do so.

More than that, Chidi wanted a certain level of power. He needed to be challenged, but not overwhelmed and killed. Death was not his end goal, and it would be a shame to fail because of a silly mistake. Obviously underestimating his opponents was always possible, but he also had to be cautious for more than his own life.

Aconite would be coming with him, both as a support for his training and for her own. Which also meant looking for something that vaguely benefitted her as well. Actually being able to use her abilities to the fullest on real enemies was a good start, but she was always looking for new options as well.

Ultimately, they found a target that was good enough. The Dessicated Deep was a group that were said to drain people dry of energy with special techniques and powders. It was entirely possible said powders were usable poisons that Aconite might like, or at the very least something she could learn to counter, but it was equally possible they only gained those properties via special sect methods, making them useless bits of plant or rock without the right sort of cultivation.

It was a dangerous group for them to fight alone and so they werent going to do that. There was confidence and then recklessness, and they hadnt battled against any of the group yet. While they were quite confident in taking down a few Integration cultivators with just the pair of them, the Dessicated Deep was not a tiny sect.

They were causing trouble for the planet of Terbettem, which was associated with the Alliance and thus entitled to proper protection. The call for aid would bring more than Chidi and Aconite, and of course the local cultivators would be involved in their own defense as well.

The only reason such a group dared to act was that they were outside of the proper borders of the Alliance. Even then, they had to be betting on the Alliance not making any major moves. As it turned out, where there were many systems and planets inhabited by people, there were also many conflicts- even if most of them werent that large. The entire territory of the Scarlet Alliance was internally peaceful, but that still left the rest of the Scarlet Midfields to account for.

Even if peace applied to the most people in the Scarlet Midfields in anyones living memory, it still wasnt perfect. It was probably never possible, though Chidi heard the Lower Realms were doing pretty well for themselves. Though a cynical view might be that it was because systems outside of their influence didnt tend to have space travel.

Not that it was Chidis intent or business to be cynical or even focused on the lower realms at all. He had a target that fit his criteria, and people to aid.

-----

Chidi and Aconite took the next official ship headed that way, finding themselves traveling with Alva from the older generation and a couple others. It was a bit suspicious, given her connection to Fuzz but it seemed shed been assigned to the group before they joined. Chidi didnt want anyone disrupting the flow of his training, even if there might be some danger. Hopefully, she would understand.

Actually, rather than her Chidi was more concerned about the old woman among their group. An Augmentation cultivator he hadnt been aware of named Ravina. Even if she was merely in the early Augmentation phase, Chidi thought he would have heard of her before. However, it seemed that she and her sect had stumbled upon some form of ancient ruins along the northern border where they dwelled. Not much news came from that area, so that was probably why Chidi hadnt heard of her before.

It was unusual for an Augmentation cultivator to spring up independently in the Scarlet Midfields, but it wasnt unheard of. She was just from a smaller sect than normally envisioned for such a thing.

But that was how cultivation worked sometimes. Chidi was aware he was very privileged to be born in the Scarlet Alliance- and to his particular parents. He had no idea how his life would have gone had he been born elsewhere. Or at least if someone quite similar to him in body and talent had been born to others, since it couldnt really be him.

Most likely, he wouldnt have learned much about cultivation- or anything. Certainly if he was entirely outside of the Scarlet Alliance he could have easily died, or been left in a state where he constantly required support instead of his current condition. He understood he had needed others to help him, and he appreciated his relative independence more because of it.

Along with a few Life Transformation cultivators from Ravinas sect, there was one other Integration cultivator, a man named Conncha. He was vaguely the same age as Chidi himself- which was far from young. Chidi sometimes felt like a baby around certain others, but even he had several centuries under his belt.

When their ship arrived in the destination system, Chidi was almost immediately able to feel a battle. That seemed to be upon the planet Gedale, a desolate rocky planet that was generally uninhabited. If there was water to freeze, it would be a frozen wasteland. But that also made it a good staging ground for the Dessicated Deep to establish a foothold in the system.

Even before they got close to the planet Alva was already outside the ship attacking. She wasnt a sniper, but they were still outside of where the atmosphere might stretch on other planets that actually had one. Chidi could likely only fight at a tenth or a hundredth of that distance, depending on how one measured things.

Still, that was about where the rest of them were able to hop down. The planets gravity was somewhat high, larger than the standard by at least half. Chidi found himself crashing down next to a battle with a couple dozen Integration cultivators on either side. Which meant their group would greatly shift the balance, even discounting the Augmentation cultivator among them.

Chidi and Aconite dove into battle, hoping to test out the enemys style. He could feel the flow of energy moving oddly, and he determined that was because they negated not only internal energy but free energy to some extent. Not that they completely eliminated any of it from their opponents. If the Desolate Deep had been capable of such a thing, then they would hardly have been limited to fighting people of similar strength. And they would have instantly won instead of being locked into battle.

Chidi drew the attention of one opponent, a slender man with a wicked curved dagger in one hand. For the moment, he was cautious to avoid the attacks of the man, specifically those from hidden needles in his other hand. He didnt want his own energy to be drained at the wrong time, after all. His opponent did manage to negate several of his attacks, ultimately stopping Chidis blade with his dagger as his power was negated.

Content with his initial sample, Chidi then cut the man down, a sudden motion the man was unprepared for. Other members had already begun fleeing as Ravina joined the battle, but there were too many remaining to comfortably pursue. Another time, perhaps.

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