NOVEL NEXT Chapter 45: A Peaceful Flight as well as a Possible Grave Crime
Usually if one attempted to ride a flying beast in {The Forest of Mortality} they would immediately be set upon.
With such large trees around it led to there being literal swarms of insects flying about the mid level of the forest while birds ruled the higher altitudes. These creatures weren’t going to settle peacefully and so there was always fighting in the skies from above as armies of flying beasts fought for even an extra branch. With stronger than average bodies to make up for the lack of Spirit Qi in the air their battles were quite bloody though it wasn’t always insects versus birds.
This led to them being quite territorial, even more so than the beasts below, leading to the skies above actually being far more dangerous than the ground. It wasn't uncommon for someone to be hit by a falling corpse when going through the forest during summer after the eggs had all finished hatching. Didn’t take a genius to figure out the result of anybody trying to quickly tackle the forest by flying…
It also wasn’t as if there was only an above or below where one could fly in the sky above to avoid all the enemies. These trees had grown so large the canopee even hung under where layers of clouds began to generate. For a single tree, from ground to canopee, there could be thousands of different colonies each wishing to draw a pound of flesh from anyone that approaches them. Still it took zero time to break through this layer of clouds for the fabled Stormbringer as they quickly flew higher & higher.
Yet as the group of two oni, one tortious and whatever Sohn-Tochter was flying up on the back of the titanic dragon they couldn’t find a single beast which the tortoise was quick to catch.
“Eh, where are all the beasts? When I came here on the back of a Roc they still attempted to attack yet they’ve run so far I can’t even hear their wings beating!” <Ashue>
“Comparing my mount to a mere Roc? The Vul’Tura from Munzumira’s {Birds of Prey} make way for me, let alone some mere beasts who fight over territory like rats. It would be more shocking if they or their ancestors dared to stop me in my own skies as it is a fact that facing me in the sky is a fancy way of courting certain death.” <Sohn-Tochter>
Per usual, with the majesty one would expect, she spoke without inflection yet she didn’t need to in order to get the point across. It didn’t matter when, where or why anybody who dared to get in her way during flight was destined to fall to her. The azura phoenix didn’t even turn to look at the confused woman while Violet was too busy looking over the side to pay any attention.
Luckily for Ashue there was one more person who was more than used to dealing with her questions at this point. Still Slate held her head in her hands while letting out a sigh since she was sure the hard-headed pureblood must have been dropped as a child. Then again would that even matter to a being so centred on defence?
“Ashue she’s the literal {Sovereign of Storms}! That isn’t just a dumb title like mortals like to do but quite literal - she has domain over all storms meaning she can create or control them with a mere thought. She even controls the tribulation of this whole {Mortal Realm} as {The Heavens} which likely makes her unbeaten. Even if she wasn’t a strong fighter and just relied on that she would be considered a top power in the world, let alone skies! Hell, even just the fact she’s an Imperial Phoenix with an awakened bloodline is something to fear and being birds they likely feel that while insects always have had great senses!” <Slate>
In just the time it took Slate to explain to Ashue why she was being stupid again the dragon mount named Stormbringer had already breached into the canopee bellow. In the distance it was possible to see many birds who were just nervously watching. The reason they were only seeing beasts gazing upon them now though was likely due to them not being able to see them before due to the foliage.
The oversized blue lizard they rode upon soon positioned itself to confidently stand upon the canopy without worrying about the watching eyes. They all stood upon the beautiful feathered indigo mane which Sohn-Tochter squated upon the ruffle slightly. Those draconic eyes that constantly sparks of tribulation lightning squinted in pleasure while a guttural groan/growl left its throat.
All around dragons with similar appearances to Stombringer (though far smaller as well as without the indigo colouring from the tribulation) who were previously resting rose up. Just like that they dove down to collect the rest of the party. Violet who was silently watching all this time pouted slightly since the thick leaves ruined her viewing of the world above.
With that in mind she stopped peering over the edge of the mane and instead just fell backwards to gaze at the sky while making a soft coo.
Sohn-Tochter, who was squatting down, turned her head back to look at her youngest sibling with that same cold expression. Still her eyes lingered on Violet for quite some time before she looked off into the distance once more. It almost appeared as if her eyes gazed right at their destination located deep in the {Dong Great Empire}.
“I think I mentioned it before but I’ll repeat myself while adding some more details. We are heading towards the {Dong Great Empire} where we will intend a party set up for who should be the youngest daughter of the {Immortal Emperor Dong} himself. To keep it brief for you they have a governing system similar to that of your Blood Demons, Violet, yet obviously it makes a lot less sense for mortals.” <Sohn-Tochter>
Ashue who was already over being lectured turned her head towards Sohn-Tocther while a finger came up to rest upon her chin as she asked with curiosity.
“What’s a Blood Demon?” <Ashue>
“I believe she is referring to the demon race with the closest ties to the {Mortal Realm} who are commonly referred to as Vampires. You should know that since we have many deals set up with them to supply various types of wildly grown blood among other stuff. I think for them being called ‘Blood Demon’ is the same as calling an Imperial Phoenix a Vermillion Bird or an oni a kijin - it isn’t wrong but it’s just a ‘enhancement’ or ‘title at the end of the day. I am curious as to why it makes sense for Vampires yet not Mortals…” <Slate>
Although she was interrupted, Sohn-Tochter didn’t seem to care much about the pair's act as she crossed her arms under her voluptuous breasts. They were her baby sister's advisors so it is only right that they should deliberate over the information they gained. Still upon hearing the question she jumped in to answer once more before continuing on.
“To keep it short since you have the avenues to learn more about it in the future; the idea of blood purity makes sense for vampires yet not for most mortals. The advantage they have always had was the ability to be diverse which was the same reason the dragons once were able to rule as well as they did. This isn’t that case for vampires who are naturally just stronger the ‘purer’ their vampiric essence is while that ‘noble blood’ concept somehow rubbed into mortals who seeked the same reverence the vampire nobles did. For most mortals this simply isn’t the case unless they truly have some impressive heritage like that of the {Four Cardinal Immortal Emperors}.
This actually is a good segway back to the party; the reason why this party is even happening is because that princess has shown extraordinary talent on par with the emperor. At an age of 12 she has already reached the peak of Qi-Consolidation Realm with signs of breakthrough - not as talented as a certain girl your Matriarch has taken but certainly impressive for a mere mortal. Well I guess if she’s truly inherited Emperor Dong’s bloodline she isn’t too weak? She’d at least offer Violet some amusement.” <Sohn-Tochter>
“I see…” <Slate>
After explaining all that, the rest of {Orchid} arrived on the back of the smaller dragons which was a signal for Stormbringer to fly into the air once more. It took little time after that for the forest which was once so big to become a mere pigment in the background while the two advisors basically couldn’t see where they were due to the sheer speed of the beast. The Jade haired Ashue couldn’t help but whistle while Violet… Remained staring intently towards the sun without blinking.
Slate didn’t mind as she continued fishing for information.
“So what are we going to do for gifts? Buy them there or-” <Slate>
“I will be nice and won’t turn Dong’s precious daughter into a fried crispy during her enhancement; only tickling her with a bit of lightning. If anybody complains it’s not a good enough gift I’ll see to it their bloodline never achieves a breakthrough past Qi-Consolidation for the rest of time. Does that seem fair?” <Sohn-Tochter>
“Doesn’t that seem too good though since that way nobody would need to ever worry about dying due to a breakthrough? Everyone goes through a tribulation of lightning when reaching any major realm after Qi-Consolidation while one reaches a Heavenly Tribulation upon reaching Pseudo-Immortal-Hood. Any of those could kill a fleshy human right?” <Ashue>
Of course {The Heavens} didn’t care about little details like a price tag considering how easy of a thing it was to do. She just shrugged her shoulders while Ashue quickly lost interest to turn to her ojou-sama only to tilt her head. For some reason Violet was still glaring right at the sun which as one could imagine confused the jade haired beauty.
“What’s Violet Ojou-sama doing?” <Ashue>
Without turning, Sohn-Tochter once again answered.
“I believe she’s entered into a staring competition with the ancestor of the [Three Legged Golden Crow] who watches from above.” <Sohn-Tochter>
“Huh…” <Ashue>
“Doesn’t that mean… With a sun…” <Slate>
“She doesn’t like to lose.” <Sohn-Tochter>
“Indeed...” <Slate>
The rest of the trip was spent in silence. Luckily for the two advisors that meant very little when the sight of large walls soon came into view. This being the {Great Wall of Dong} which showed the empire's great strength as well as wealth as it was made from precious stone generated from their very own forest - the dragon finally slowed down its speed to be somewhat reasonable. Still far faster than just about anything else in the sky yet this didn’t seem to scare a cultivator who rose from the titanic walls which were almost as tall as their own tree’s.
He spoke with a bellowing voice while beginning to draw his blade.
“Wh-!” <Border Guard>
“Kowtow.” <Sohn-Tochter>
The man didn’t even get a fucking word out. That single line from Sohn-Tochter was all it took for the old monster to shake before plummeting to the wall on his knees with seemingly no resistance. Of course it happened so fast the two advisors could only blink a few times. The convoy of dragons didn’t even bother with that human jargon and just continued to fly into the strongest territory of Dong.
Beneath them were many roads showing a strong infrastructure while just about every city had its very own walls. They also all seemed to be in a very jubilant mood with decorations displaying various iterations of the phrase ‘Little Moon Has Risen!’. There were even countless snow white black striped cat mascots around.
“I forgot to mention that she happens to be one of the last descendents of that White Tiger though she is merely a beast-kin as she hasn’t awakened that bloodline. Still I imagine that would be an easy thing for my sister to do and if not your Blood Demon descendents would be more than happy to do so. She would probably end up awakening it on her own if she did truly inherit the blood of an [Immortal Emperor].” <Sohn-Tochter>
“S-shouldn’t they be in the west then?” <Slate>
“Why would that matter?” <Sohn-Tochter>
For the first time the all mighty queen turned around to look at Slate which made the oni instantly shrivel up and lower her head. Still Sohn-Tochter just shook her head before looking forward once more. The joy was able to be felt all over the empire while many carriages could be seen going to the same place as they were, even many flying beasts were seeing usage to get there in the grandest way possible. Of course, as if it was natural, their procession surpassed all of them in speed and just showing off even if Sohn-Tochter wasn’t doing it on purpose.
Those that actually were powerful enough to realise someone was on the back of the giant dragon gave a look of envy, hatred or wrath. Most simply either didn’t know what passed over them with just the wave of air telling them something had or could tell that a giant swarm of powerful dragons of unknown origins were flying to the capital. In either of these two cases they were too busy panicking to care about being shown up.
As can be imagined when moving at a speed many couldn’t even notice it took little time to arrive towards what can only be said to be a giant city filled with opulence. There were certainly many areas filled with darkness one would expect, yet a lot of residences filled with multiple pagoda’s that were made with only the finest materials. Many gardens filled with plants that grew came from far away. Then there were the shopping streets which were filled with pagoda’s filled with treasures - they could even appear a {Myriad Technique Dream Archive} appear a bit further away from the common flow of foot traffic.
The grandest residence of all was in the centre though instead of single pagoda’s or with maybe one ‘main house’ this area was filled with grand palaces. Almost as far as the eye could see to the point it may as well be another city in of itself as this was the home of the {Dong Imperial Family}. The reason for all this was to contain all the descendents as well as their families in the imperial family. This resulted in this area being nicknamed {The Dong Palace Gallery} where the most exquisite palaces existed. Though to say they were all equal or that all of them were pleasant to live in was false since many places which could be called ‘Cold Palaces’ existed where dishonoured members had died alone.
While in the centre was the biggest and grandest palace of all. A palace made from [Spirit Stones] (essentially making it literally made from money with those being the common currency) with embellishments made with the highest quality jades in the realm. This building had the highest quality of Qi available in the world of humans - very few even in the imperial family got to step foot in this palace.
For most the highest point they were allowed to step foot into was {The World Palace} which was a grand monument made from rare spirit infused marbles. Though it was far more normal than the former since it was where the current crowned prince lived as well as where state affairs were taken care of. As for {The Palace of the World}; it acted more like a wall which surrounded the former. Only the Immortal Emperor as well as his closest were allowed to step foot near the opulent palace which seemed to glow. It truly was a monument which displayed the prosperity of their empire which had stood for as long as recorded mortal history.
Because of all of this the central palace in particular got called {The Immortal Palace}.
As for what they were doing heading towards this mythical {Immortal Palace}?
Well, Sohn-Tochter just went ahead and fucking landed on it.