Reborn as a Demonic Tree

Serena was in total shock and could hardly keep her face straight. She had heard rumors of what peak Star Core cultivators were capable of but had never witnessed it with her own eyes. The higher cultivation a person achieved, the more elusive and reserved they typically became—spending months or years in closed-door cultivation and becoming very averse to fighting. After all, it became harder to progress the closer one got to Nascent Soul Realm, and while Star Core cultivators could live for centuries, they weren't immortal.

The amount of Qi a cultivator had to accumulate in preparation to form an infant soul was staggering, and the depth of their dao comprehension had to be absurd. Time was ticking, so to waste Qi on disposing of someone in such a spectacle of power when a simple sword swing would have sufficed was insanity.

Or it should be... but this girl, the Princess of Slaughter, seemed to be an exception. Serena looked at the Princess's youthful face and felt deeply inferior. Here she was, judging how this girl used her powers so casually because she would only have centuries to gather the Qi for a Nascent Soul while she appeared near the peak of the Star Core Realm at such a young age. The Princess didn't need to be considerate about her Qi usage as, unlike the talentless Grand Elders suppressed by impassable bottlenecks, she must have laughed at the heavens for trying to hold her back.

Serena felt a chill run through her spine. It was a universal rule throughout the realm that Star Core Realm and above cultivators didn't care for the actions of those weaker than them so long as you didn't offend them or those close to them. You simply weren't worth the effort of them exiting closed-door cultivation and wasting their precious Qi. But this girl seemed free of such constraints.

I need to get out of here. Serena made the resolute decision to leave right away. Trying to stick around when such an unreasonably powerful person was in charge would only lead to death. She had held out a sliver of hope that the Grand Elders of this sect would be dismissive of those below them, and she could lurk under their elusive gazes, but this Princess proved that point wrong. She went out of her way to argue and kill a drunkard mortal simply because he spouted some nonsense claims against her. If such a gruesome fate at the hands of a Grand Elder awaited those who talked badly of the sect, what fate awaited her for killing one of their cult believers and damaging a tree?

"This is Daisy. I met her in the tavern." The Princess's Disciple introduced her with the fake name she had made up earlier by looking around and seeing a flowerbed with some daisies growing in them. "She wanted to know stories about you."

Serena snapped back to reality and wanted to strangle this dumb, grass-haired girl. Keep your mouth shut! You're going to get me killed here.

"Oh?" Stella took a single step closer, and despite her best efforts, Serena's entire body tensed. She could feel a primal fear buzz at the back of her mind from the bloodlust emanating from the Princess of Slaughter as the girl curiously encircled her as if she were a statue. Finishing her rounds and coming to a stop before her, the blonde-haired psycho had an innocent smile made all the worse by the skeleton of the mortal still in clear view behind her. "So. Do I live up to the stories?"

Absolutely, if not worse...

"You're more diplomatic than the stories suggested," Serena said instead and gulped. With people like this, she found it best to lie to their faces and tell them what they likely wanted to hear. The Princess hadn't seemed so thrilled to be called a psycho bitch despite being one by the mortal earlier, so maybe this was a better approach?

Stella glanced between her and the skeleton a few times. "You really think so?" she mused before nodding to herself. "I suppose you are right. At least I heard this guy out first."

"It is a step in the right direction," Jasmine agreed with her Master.

Wait, what? Serena was in disbelief. She could be worse?

Stella ruffled the little girl's hair, "I know, right? I'm sorry I haven't had time to spar with you over the last few days. Far more people than we thought turned up for the tournament, and let me tell you, trying to pick out talented people from a hundred-person brawl is no easy feat," Stella tilted her head and looked straight into Serena's eyes, "We have also been looking for someone."

Does she know?

"Oh, Master! Daisy here is also looking for someone—her sister. Do you think you could find her?" Jasmine looked at the ground, "I can't imagine how terrible it must be to lose family. So I hoped you could help her..."

Serena looked up at the illusory sky and silently begged the heavens to strike this girl down. How could a girl with such a heart of gold be the disciple of such a dangerous person? Was this some sick joke?

"Finding a person? That's easy enough," Stella smirked, "So Daisy, what does your sister look like? It's hard to imagine her features when you're wearing a mask."

Serena hated this feeling of being toyed with. Why was the Princess acting and speaking as if she had already figured her out yet making no moves against her? It was deeply unsettling and made her second-guess any retort she could come up with.

I don't know what the mustache man said to the investigator. What if the Princess has been informed of what I look like and goes around murdering anyone with my features without asking questions first and giving me a chance to reason with her? I have no idea how much she knows! Why did I think saying I was after my sister was a good idea? Sure, it tugged on Jasmine's heartstrings and made me seem less greedy than saying I was after my sect's treasured stone. But that was stupid...

"Ah, sorry," Serena stuttered, realizing she was taking too long when the Princess began to frown. "My sister has black hair and blue eyes."

"That's not very helpful," Stella gestured to the crowd behind them, "Look how many people have black hair and blue eyes. That's one of the most common combinations. What's her name, affinity, and cultivation level?"

"Her name is..." Serena blanked. She hadn't thought this far. All that appeared in her mind was that darn stone. "Abyssa, yeah, that's her name. She has water affinity and is in the Soul Fire Realm."

"Right, I'll make a note of her and ask the immortal to begin keeping an eye out for her. If she's somewhere in the Blood Lotus Sect, we will likely find her soon," The Princess stared into Serena's eyes for an unsettlingly long time before turning to Jasmine, "Speaking of finding someone, have you seen a rich-looking woman with many spatial rings in the Soul Fire Realm village?"

She hasn't been told about my appearance? Serena thought and had never been so glad to have bare fingers. Her dozen spatial rings sat securely in her fur coat's inner pocket.

"No," Jasmine shook her head.

"What about you?" she asked Serena.

"Erm, no." Serena shook her head, "I've done nothing but sit inside and cultivate since I got here." Which was true.

The Princess clicked her tongue, "I've been so busy, and I can't be bothered to search every house. If you see someone like that, let me know, and I'll have the investigator do a search, too. I haven't gotten any other details thus far, but I'm sure someone would have seen her face. Once the investigator confirms what she looks like, there will be nowhere for her to run."

There was hope! For whatever reason, that strange mortal investigator had yet to inform the Princess of Slaughter about all the details regarding her. Thank the heavens. Dealing with that weak investigator shouldn't be too much hassle compared to trying to survive a single second against the Princess.

"Master, what will you do when you find this person?" Jasmine asked curiously.

"Just ask a few questions; she is merely one of many suspects right now." Stella shrugged, "Though she is the most promising one, and if she's found guilty as the person who harmed a tree," she gestured to the skeleton behind her, "It's not going to be pretty."

The mortal man's raw screams from before he was ripped apart by the white flames echoed through Serena's mind. Staying here was an absolute death sentence.

She had to run and cover her tracks by any means necessary and get far away from Stella!

"Grand Elder Stella," A tall man with sharp features and a piercing gaze said, causing Stella to turn on her heel and glare at the person who had interrupted her. The crowd of mortal onlookers had mostly dispersed, but there was now a small gathering of Soul Fire Realm cultivators behind Stella, who seemed to belong to the noble families of the Blood Lotus Sect by their demeanor. "Or would you prefer the title Princess of Slaughter?"

"Who are you?" Stella asked, looking the man up and down.

The man smiled, "My name is Evander Starweaver." He then patted the head of the short girl beside him. She was incredibly beautiful. Her eyes were like swirling galaxies, and her hair was black as night, intertwined with streaks of blue and gold running down her back to her legs. "And this is my sister, Celeste Starweaver."

Stella looked between the two, "Okay? Am I supposed to know you?"

"You don't know me, but you may remember that Celeste participated in the alchemy tournament. After winning first place in the second round, she was robbed of a spot in the top three in the final round by someone called Roselyn, who clearly cheated one way or another." Evander shook his head sadly while recalling the past, "Then there was the whole debacle with Dante's attempt at taking over Darklight City, but I digress. Celeste is planning to participate in the upcoming Soul Fire Realm duels, and we wanted to ensure those light shields would survive an attack from our cosmic affinity, as our Qi has a habit of ignoring defenses. We don't want to be responsible for any unwanted casualties, after all."

Serena didn't know either of these people, but she had heard stories about the Starweaver family during her journey through the cities of the Blood Lotus Sect. Unlike the Ashfallen Sect, which had somehow kept to the shadows of this backwater city, the Starweaver family had a reputation for being an antagonistic family openly displeased with how the Blood Lotus sect is run but was left alone by the Nightrose family as their cosmic affinity was one of, if not, the most lethal.

If someone with cosmic affinity was to go supernova, Serena doubted anyone could survive the fallout. They were like walking disasters.

"That might be a good idea to test," Stella nodded. "While the light shield is made from Qi at the peak of the Star Core Realm, I've seen the power of the cosmic affinity before."

Evander nodded, "Greatly appreciated, and I must say it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Grand Elder Stella. Your name has become quite well known, and I have been meaning to meet with you for a while now."

"Have you now..." Stella frowned, and even Serena could feel Stella's impatience growing.

Evander continued, "Since I'm in the Star Core Realm and unable to participate, I was hoping we could have a meeting to discuss some—"

"No," Stella said resolutely before vanishing in a flash of white flames.

Evander swallowed his words and stared at where Stella had been standing. The other nobles that had been gathered behind Evander glared at his back.

"Way to scare her off, Evander. That was a rare opportunity for us to speak with the immortal's daughter, and you blew it!" A noble from a family Serena didn't recognize sneered. But she didn't care enough to stick around and find out. With Stella gone, this was her opportunity to run.

"Sorry, Jasmine," Serena said, and the grass-haired girl looked up at her. "After witnessing your Master's impressive display of power, I feel the heaven's whispers calling to me. I must be on the cusp of enlightenment, so I will leave you for today."

Jasmine's eyes widened. "Enlightenment! Forget about me. You must hurry! Or you might miss it." She pointed toward the portal, "You should buy some pills to help, too. I know there's one that helps with enlightenment."

"Thank you, I will." Serena nodded and took advantage of the girl's naive kindness to escape. Walking swiftly but without trying to draw attention to herself, she headed through the portal.

While the Princess is distracted, I must dispose of all my tracks before the investigator begins searching around the Red Village. Stella mentioned they would be looking for a 'rich-looking' woman with many spatial rings but didn't seem to know my physical appearance. So long as I eliminate everyone who has seen my face, including that investigator, there's a slim chance I can get away from here with my life.

She was desperate, but what could she do? With the airships down, escape from the Ashfallen Sect realm of influence that appeared to cover the whole Blood Lotus Sect would take too long. She had to cover her tracks to have a chance of escaping. Anyone who had seen her face had to die.

Feeling the temperature change as she stepped through the portal into the relatively quiet lobby of the Ashfallen Trading Company, she glanced to the side. She was relieved to see the mustached man seemingly just starting his shift as he took over his same spot at the desk from an older white-haired man.

"See you later, old Mike." The mustache man called over his shoulder and laughed as he received an angry response from the white-haired man who had vanished into a backroom. Serena waited off to the side as she watched the man re-organize the items on the desk and flatten out the creases in his shirt. Since everyone was busy with the tournament and it was quiet here, he seemed to be the only one on duty.

Serena approached the counter after ensuring they were mostly alone except for a few random mortals wandering around. "Hello, I want to buy some pills," She said, putting on a slightly different accent and keeping her voice low.

Her words seemed to break the mustache man out of his wandering thoughts, "Oh, absolutely. What can I get you?"

"One of everything," she said. While her goal was to kill this man, she did want to buy some pills. Since she was never going to return here, getting her hands on such amazing pills at a fifty percent discount would never be possible again.

If only she had heeded that mortal's warning about the trees and not let her pride get in the way, causing her to kill him for lecturing her.

As she watched the mustache man excitedly bring out all the pills, she stealthily brought out two spatial rings from her inner pocket and slid them onto her fingers. There was another reason she wanted to buy so many pills at once, and that's because she needed to give this man as many spirit stones as possible to ensure his death. One of these rings contained a pile of spirit stones, while the other contained an egg of an abyssal creature from her homeland. It was of utmost importance the egg and the spirit stones were kept separately.

Serena was betting on the mustache man being unaware of this fact.

"Here are your pills," the man smiled kindly. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No, that will be all." Serena's rings flashed with silver light, and a large pile of spirit stones appeared alongside the abyssal egg. The egg looked as unassuming as a random black pebble, yet it had already begun slowly draining the Qi out of the nearby spirit stones.

The mortal worker, however, was unaware of these subtle Qi fluctuations and simply placed the pile of spirit stones onto a piece of jade. A runic formation lit up, quickly counting the number of spirit stones present and confirming their quality was of high grade. After verifying that the amount and grade of spirit stones were correct, the man waved his hand to put the pile into his own spatial ring.

Serena copied him and took all the pills into her spatial ring. All that was left was the abyssal egg. The man eyed it curiously before pushing it toward her, "I believe this is yours."

"Consider it a gift," her voice dropped low, "It's a rock said to be blessed by the All-Seeing Eye himself. I won it in the tournament." She flashed him a flirtatious smile, "You should treasure it."

The man gulped as he looked at her lips, "A-Are you sure? It seems quite valuable."

"Please," she pushed it toward him, "I would feel dishonored if you were to reject it."

The man nodded in understanding and absorbed the abyssal egg into his spatial ring. "Thank you for doing business with the Ashfallen Trading Company," the man said, giving a small bow and smile. "I hope to serve you next time, miss."

Serena wordlessly nodded and left. Except there won't be a next time unless we meet in the afterlife. Heading back through the portal, she was now on a time limit to find and kill the twerp and the investigator before the egg hatched and caused mayhem.