108 Death of a Sect

As the last of the Golden Crow's feathers fell below the horizon behind her, Dàilán stood on a large, flat branch, halfway up a large tree that grew at the side of a rough 'road' used by farmers, Jianghu wanderers, relic hunters and traders travelling one of the relatively 'safer' routes into the Wilderness of Fusou.

Leaning tiredly against the rough bark of the trunk, the young teen hung the last of a stack of reusable Essence crafted Talismans to the smaller branches around her current hiding place in a rough sphere. With a grimace, she pushed her last wisps of spare Essence into the talismans to activate the obscuring array formation.

As the talismans lit up with a soft glow, she sighed in relief and released the Veil Technique, shoulders slumping as she sagged downward onto the base of the branch and folded into a small ball of exhaustion against the trunk. For almost a Diǎn, she focused on cultivating, fighting against the urge to let her eyelids fall shut.

Finally managing a full Essence circulation cycle, she released a breath of foul air as her exhaustion lifted slightly. Stirring from her folded up position, she took a chance to examine the formation array carefully for any dim or flickering talismans that might indicate a weakness.

Dàilán let herself draw in a relaxed breath as all of the runes glowed steadily and blew it out softly, starting another circuit of Essence through her meridians as she slowly took out a small quantity of trail rations and a flask of water from her spatial pouch.

She slowly chewed and ate as she let herself sink into a very light seated meditation, circulating Essence as she let the cool evening breeze wash over her, bringing scents of plants, flowers, moist earth, animal odors and growing things with it as she listened to the sounds of Essence Beasts, insects and other less identifiable noises as the wilderness came alive with the Golden Crow no longer in the sky.

Another cultivation cycle pushed the exhaustion back far enough that she felt almost rested. Finishing off the quick meal of compressed Essence Beast meat and herbs, she reached into her spatial pouch and pulled out a comb and cloth as she started a third cycle of Essence through her meridians.

Wetting the cloth down with some of the remaining water in her flask, she began using it to scrub her face as best she could, wiping off the grime and blood of the past night and day. The wet cloth was specially treated with a special mix of Essence herbs that removed scent when damp - despite her quick necessity driven scrub in the stream earlier, she was worried her exposed skin would leave traces that could be followed.

Thankfully, the battle robes, boots and gloves had formations woven into them to mask the wearer's scent, so she only had to worry about her neck, face and hair. Once she was finished with washing her face and neck thoroughly, she wet the comb - which had the same function as the cloth - with the rest of the water and took the time to run it thoroughly through her hair, after loosening it from the plait that her bodyguard had placed it into the previous night.

As Dàilán attended to her essential care and continued cultivating, she considered her options carefully.

It appeared that the traitor had some way to track her specifically. It evidently required some effort on his part and was somewhat unreliable, but as long as he was using it, she would have to keep the Veil technique up at full power, which severely limited how far she could travel before needing to stop and recover Essence.

"I bet that bastard is going back to his camp at night for a proper meal and rest too," Dàilán murmured to herself, thinking of the earlier conversation between the four Grass Cultivators, "which means that I cannot win in a test of endurance."

After her last near encounter with Cǎo Jiàn, she had circled further eastward into true forest, out of the lighter woodlands she had been traversing and as the forest had grown thicker, she had headed toward a section of the route that had been marked on the old peddler's map as a somewhat safer, if meandering, path to the village at the edge of the 'true' wilderness, to find a relatively secure location to pass the night.

The young female Cultivator frowned in thought as a kernel of an idea came to her. She glanced at the temporary talismans - which were showing signs of dimming - bit her lip in indecision and then looked away from the 'road', deeper into the forest, directly towards the village marked on the map, nodding slowly. She could not rely on the talismans without remaining awake to continually inject Essence into them; it was unwise to sleep alone in the wilderness at night - without someone to stand watch, any formation could be overcome.

"Well, if I have to be awake regardless and the bastard is probably resting - I may as well take advantage of it," she decided to herself. Traveling at night was dangerous - and even more so off the 'commonly travelled' area of the forest - but with that dog plaster sticking to her, so was travelling on the 'road' she could reasonably be expected to use - especially during the day.

Besides, if he was resting at night, rather than chasing her - and - she took the risk of going where that coward was less likely to follow, she might make some real progress - and have a better chance of escaping pursuit.

Nodding to herself firmly, Dàilán finished combing out her hair and started replaiting it into a warrior's bian as she settled into her meditation to finish as many Essence cycles as she could before moving on.

---

By the time the glow of the concealment array was almost completely gone, Dàilán's Essence levels had reached at least half her capacity and true night had fallen, although it was softly lit by light from all three of the moons, which she was grateful for. She carefully took the hanging talismans down from the branches and stored them in her spatial pouch, keeping a careful watch for any Essence Beasts that might take notice of her now that she was not concealed.

As she tucked her newly replaited bian, or queue, back into the hood of her robes, Dàilán cautiously sent a small few Essence probes out to be absolutely sure of her nearby surroundings.

Receiving Essence impressions from only a few mid sized creatures, the young heiress took a deep breath, gathered her courage, leapt off the branch and darted deeper into the wilderness away from the 'safe road'.

Dàilán headed as directly East as she could manage, only briefly detouring around obstacles like fallen forest giants as massive as any city wall, impenetrable stands of bamboo or a strange smelling bog.

Twice she was forced to risk leaping over obstacles, in the case of a ravine and a small stream - although she did take the barest moment to fill her water flask, half expecting to be ambushed by Essence Beasts at any moment - before bearing back for the village marked on the map.

The young teen moved as fast as she dared in the light of an almost full Princess and the waxing and waning crescents that marked her attendants, even pushing Mountain Mists for more speed.

Several times during her trek, she had tripped over roots - and once she miscalculated the height of a branch - but Cultivation enhanced reflexes and using Mountain River just in time saved her from nasty falls or a head wound. Thankfully, her sky level cultivation, even at a low rank, had proven sufficient to deter Essence Beasts and other creatures, sending them darting away in alarm as she passed through.

A Gēng's worth of relatively quick travel found Dàilán much deeper in the wilderness than before. The forest closed around her, an almost tangible darkness punctuated by the barely perceptible luminescence of Essence herbs, flowers, moss and the occasional glowing insect, with only rare, faint shafts of moonlight making their way through the canopy to the forest floor.

Pausing for a moment against a large boulder, to catch her breath in the deep, humid plant and flower scented hush, she looked warily around, feeling like she was being observed as she sent out threads of Essence.

Her prickle of unease flared into concern as the Essence impressions of the nearby beasts came back larger, much more alert and aware of her presence - and much closer than before. Some of them even felt close to peak Earth rank - and she frowned as she took the time to pay attention to what she had been noticing subconsciously for at least a Diǎn.

The heavy pressure of Essence around her felt closer to what Dàilán remembered feeling back in the Clan's Essence garden - almost as high as where her Cousin had taken her the first time Dàilán brought the high level Essence herbs to her Cousin - or, well, when her Cousin insisted on taking her.

Dàilán grimaced as she checked her own Essence levels and realised she was below a quarter capacity, the pulse of exhaustion starting to crowd her thoughts again. She needed to find another place to cultivate and recover before she kept moving, especially if she was now pushing into truly dangerous territory.

The enormous forest giants now surrounding her made the tree she had stopped in earlier look like a sapling. After sending a few careful threads of Essence, she found a nearby 'average' forest giant that did not register as having any large Essence creatures using it as a home and leapt into its branches - easily finding a branch with the width of a small platform to rest on - even larger than the last tree.

Quickly placing the temporary talismans up on the surrounding branches, Dàilán activated the obscuring formation with her Essence - sighing in relief when the concealment formation on the paper talismans started glowing softly, with no sign of wear or tear yet - and that sense of being watched died away.

Settling down into a practiced meditation pose, she ran her thoughts over her plan again as she cultivated.

The talismans had a limited number of uses before the Essence paper and ink started breaking down from channeling Essence, so she could not afford to stop constantly - she might get three or four uses out of the temporary array before the talismans would rapidly become useless - she had to travel for longer stretches of time after this.

Considering the situation, Dàilán wondered if she should run with the Veil Technique again to avoid notice from stronger Essence Beasts - but conversely, hiding her strength might make her seem easier prey - and - she would be fighting difficulties with running out of Essence again. There would no longer be any benefit to risking night time travel.

Pulling out another ration bar as her Essence completed a cycle, she took the opportunity to eat again - she suspected that chances would be few and far between in the near future. As she chewed slowly, taking care to completely chew each mouthful to paste before swallowing, alternating with small sips of water from her refilled flask, she started another cultivation cycle through her meridians and diantian, noting that the higher levels of ambient Essence seemed to be increasing the speed of her cultivation cycles and Essence recovery.

"I wonder if this level of Essence is normal here," Dàilán mused to herself as her exhaustion receded, "the old Enforcer had suggested this area was considered relatively useless."

Looking around and noting a much higher frequency of luminescent Essence plants and flowers visible in her field of vision - compared to her last stopping place - which reminded her of the high level Essence Plants the peddler had sold, she frowned at the seeming discrepancy.

"Maybe this is why Fusou has a dangerous reputation - but I would have thought so many Essence herbs ready for harvest and the increased Essence levels would outweigh the danger in most people's minds. It is strange, I thought this area was mostly barren…"

The young woman stiffened and broke off her quiet musings as a pack of mid rank Earth Essence Beasts that she could not identify - possibly some type of wolf, although the shape was not exactly right - suddenly appeared out of the dark and casually trotted under her perch, a few younger ones clearly gamboling without concern among the older ones. Dàilán was certain she saw the glowing eyes of at least two of the adults pause slightly and glance upward in her direction, but the group never stopped and vanished into the dark as quickly as they had appeared.

"Right… dangerous," she breathed, wiping the sweat that had sprung up on her forehead with the damp scent-masking cloth, she hastily pulled out of her pouch, "Beasts like that would make it too dangerous for the average Earth level to risk their lives for lower level Essence plants..." She glanced uneasily to the east, "will I encounter Sky Level Beasts if I keep going East?"

Her Essence levels registered as full and she slowly replaced the remainder of the ration back in her pouch as she looked behind her, where she knew the others would be following - although they would be travelling a much longer, more circuitous route using the 'safe road' she had left behind.

"I must keep going," she muttered, "Father… everyone… depending on me, I will find the Sage!"

---

The Golden Crow was peeking its head over the much closer mountains that she could occasionally see through small glimpses in the forest in front of her, but Dàilán was feeling too worn to enjoy the fact that she had survived the night.

As she had pushed deeper into the forest and further East, the pressure of the rising Essence levels grew increasingly oppressive and the sensation of being watched pressed down on her; cultivating becoming more difficult as the Essence sought to overwhelm her everytime she tried to Cultivate - pushing past her skin and rushing into her meridians until they prickled with pain. She had to actually spend more time filtering and controlling the flow of Essence than drawing it in.

The constant replenishing of Essence was only barely keeping her upright against the exhaustion of being on the run for two nights and a day with barely a shi of sleep or a chance to Cultivate properly in the previous four nights before that. Even with a Sky level Cultivation, it was more than her body could cope with easily.

The closer she got to the location of the village, the stranger the forest seemed. Even through her preoccupation and exhaustion, she noticed that the Essence Beasts and other creatures were agitated; the thick forests were either mired in stifling hush or cacophony of beast cries and screams that would set of a chain reaction of challenges and screams of battle and wounded animals for Kè, only to peter off again in that unnatural silence.

Several times beasts rushed through the forest around her in a great hurry - as if fleeing something - which led to multiple close calls with Essence Beasts.

The Advancement levels of the creatures Dàilán ran into - and desperately avoided - kept rising, with True Rank Earth Essence becoming common. She even had two near encounters with Peak Rank Earth Beasts - despite her theoretically higher Cultivation she knew that wild Beasts were always much stronger than their human counterparts; only her quick retreat - and on both occasions a strange lack of interest on the part of the Beast - allowed her to escape without a fight she would have surely lost.

The whole forest felt like the frozen moments before a fight broke out. Dàilán sat on another tree branch as broad as a balcony, trying to enjoy the warmth of the first few feathers of the Golden Crow filtering through the canopy as they brushed against her skin. The crackling of her protective talismans, warning of incipient failure as Essence leaked from the now worn ink and paper was merely the cooked rice adding to a worse situation.

"This is not right," she murmured as her eyes slid half closed at the warmth and light from the Golden Crow, despite her best efforts, "something is very wrong. Have I led… my Clan… danger..."

The screams and roars of Essence beasts in the wilderness seemed to merge into the clangor of battle as she suddenly felt uncomfortably warm. Blinking, Dàilán looked around and below herself with an odd mix of confusion and complete understanding, watching the flashes and explosions of mighty Essence techniques being used as Cultivators screamed and died, exploding into bloody mists.

Spotting a familiar face, she was standing on the ground as that Knife Sect Elder - Investigative Elder Fuchen sliced a familiarly tattooed Grass Cult Cultivator. Glowing Essence knives shot out slicing against the glowing formations inked into the Cult member's skin and an economical front kick sent the doomed Cultivator - screaming as the tattoos destabilised and started shredding him - to explode violently among a squad of his charging fellow cultists, killing several outright and sending the rest violently to the ground.

The Elder threw her head back and laughed, although it seemed oddly soundless and swooped in among the tumbled Grass like an Eagle in a flock of pigeons, leaving shredded bodies in her wake.

Unfortunately, the battle was going badly, Dàilán knew… somehow… She looked below her again where she hung above the Sect in mid air like a bird. Everywhere she looked, the Grass forces were pushing inward; only the innermost area of the Sect - the area around the Leader's private meeting hall and pavilion remained in Knife hands.

"Grandfather," Dàilán muttered - the scene rippled - and she was standing a short distance in front of the Sect Leader as he hurried between a set of stone tablets in a underground cavern somewhere, placing blooded hands on them. The tablets lit up with Essence, brilliant light searing through the darkness of the cave.

Her Grandfather turned and met her eyes, "Lan'er. This old man will go first. Live well!"

The light swelled into a blinding white and Dàilán suddenly felt a burning heat on her chest as a loud roaring bore through her ears. She grasped blindly at her chest in pain and grabbed onto something that felt like a hot coal as she doubled over in pain.

Dàilán's eyes flew open as she gasped in shock, jerking awake and looking around wildly at the late morning crow-light, nearly pitching herself off the broad surface of the branch. A moment later she froze, staring up at the sky through gaps in the canopy. Towards the north, back in the direction she had traveled from, a massive pillar of the same blinding white light she had seen in her 'dream' filled the horizon.

A breath later there was a crashing roar that assaulted Dàilán's senses as all the trees of the forest bent away from the direction of the light in an ever-widening circle, the sound of their branches and leaves thrashing wildly adding to the thunderous sound as smaller trees were uprooted and flung out with the shock wave, smashing violently into anything in their way.

The tree she was in also swayed wildly away and as the canopy was blown clear to give her an unobstructed view of the sky she saw the glowing thunderhead cloud of an explosion that dwarfed the explosion she saw when the Guan Compound was destroyed, reaching into the sky like a vile curse.

Dàilán clung to the trunk desperately, channeling Essence into her limbs to hang on, wincing at the stabbing pain in her right palm as the rumbling thump of the actual explosion blast hit her in the chest with the the force of a heavy punch, pushing her against the tree, which groaned in protest, along with all of the forest around her in an eerie, tortured symphony as the shockwave passed.

Silence.

Panting in shock, as the sounds of the forest suddenly resumed with pained animal screams and fearful Essence Beast roars in all directions - accompanied by the widespread sound of fleeing creatures - as everything sought to put distance between themselves and the source of the blast. Instinctively, Dàilán knew she had just seen the Knife Sect's nearest páifāng detonate with the release of energy caused by her Grandfather's forceful collapse of the Sect's secret land.

"No one, could have… survived… the others!"

Dàilán scrambled to find her soul tablet around her neck, but a stabbing pain from her right palm distracted her for a moment and she stared down Knife Sect's symbol burnt into her hand, identical in shape and size to her soul tablet jade.

She seized her soul tablet, headless of the pain and noted numbly it was still hot to the touch and gilded a sharp golden color, unlike its earlier normal silvery glow.

Somehow Dàilánknew this indicated her position as Sect Leader and she choked back a sob as she remembered the last moments of the strange dream - which she was almost positive had been the Heart of the Sect pulling her consciousness in to bear witness to the final sacrifice of the Knife Sect.

"Grandfather." Dàilán bowed her head, tears tracking down her cheeks, "You… I hope those Grass bastards died screaming," she spat viciously, raising her head to stare in the direction of the massive explosion, "I will live, Grandfather, but I will see every last one of those motherless turtles destroyed - I will - Eradicate the Grass Cult. This I swear by the Heavens and my Cultivation."

There was a soundless thrum as the Dao acknowledged her oath and she smiled coldly.

Tearing her eyes away from the devastation that clearly got worse the further north west she looked, she swallowed and welcoming the fresh stabbing of pain, gripped her Soul Tablet pushing Essence into it, headless of the fact that it would send out a beacon to any enemies watching for the remnants of the Knife Sect.

Let them come, she thought in a cold fury, she was done running. She brought the Soul Tablet up to her lips, hardly daring to hope, but needing to know regardless.

"Orchid to Knife. Status. Respond."

A heartbeat. Two. Dàilán's breath caught in a horrified choke and she fought the fear down. They had known it was coming - they had to have gotten far enough away - they had to...

"Orchid - Knife… please… respond."