The last Asura Sovereign

It was early in the morning, the dew drops were starting to fall from the tree tops and the sun was already up brightening the realm. It was a peaceful scene in the dangerous Bareback mountains. The guards were just about to change their shifts. Some of them were yawning and looking sleepy. Since the Battle hall members were training rigorously, there were many new faces among the guards and patrol guards. Just then the sound of warning from the array rang. There were many such instances every day.

Some of the smaller beasts came near the outpost and the warning array would send a signal almost every hour. The members were used to this. But among the array, there were some arrays that could sense the strength of invading cultivators or beasts and according to this, the sound would be different. This time it was a different sound that showed the intruder was a foundation building realm cultivator. And it was so. Prithvi the sixth elder had arrived early in the morning riding the beast. This beast was the same Silver Fanged Wolf that had reached the middle of the second grade. Prithvi purposefully triggered the alarm to announce his arrival.

The guards took up their weapons and were ready for battle but seeing the Sixth elder riding his beast, they breathed a sigh of relief. They opened the gates and welcomed the elder. A few guards went to the residence of Radha to alert her of the Sixth elder’s presence. The Battle hall members were training for a whole night and Radha was still supervising them. The other members of the Rijal clan in the outpost were forbidden to enter the training ground without permission. The guard who had come to deliver the message stood outside and passed a message to the guard standing outside the Battle hall training ground.

The guard then engraved the message into the jade slip and sent it towards the training grounds. This was the policy, without permission, no one could enter. Radha looked at the jade slip and read the contents. She looked at the training members and asked them to stop. She wanted a few of the Battle hall members to accompany the Sixth elder during peace negotiations. She didn’t want to go there because she wasn’t sure if she could hold back and kill a few of them. Choosing about ten of the members she signaled them to follow her outside. As for the remaining ones, she asked them to rest and be ready in case things escalated.

Although a full-blown war would be unlikely, it doesn’t hurt to prepare and the Battle hall members would also get time to catch a breath. Leading the fifteen Battle hall members she went outside to greet the Sixth elder. Upon arriving near the gate Radha saw that the Sixth elder had dismounted the Silver Fanged Wolf and was walking towards the center. The center was the residence and meeting hall for the outpost commander.

She went towards him and greeted him “Welcome Sixth Elder. I hope your journey has been pleasant.” Prithvi returned the greeting “Yes it had been a smooth journey hall master.” Radha nodded and showed him towards the temporary residence. There were food and drinks available and a few arrays were added for privacy in the temporary residence. The meeting was set to begin when the sun had reached the zenith in the neutral area between the three clans. As the clan members went to their daily chores, the time for negotiation was approaching. Prithvi walked out of the temporary residence.

Fifteen Battle hall members were standing outside fully armed, waiting for Prithvi. Punya had already informed him that Radha would be sitting out of this meeting. He was planning to go there alone but since there were members of Battle hall waiting for him it would be rude to send them back. He had hidden a few beasts outside the meeting area for safety so even if they were attacked he was confident to save half of the fifteen people. He summoned the Silver Fanged Wolf and rode while the fifteen Battle hall members were on foot.

As they went outside the gate, the wolf began to pick up speed and the fifteen people followed suit. Prithvi was astonished as the speed of the wolf was a little faster than what the qi sensing realm cultivator could handle. But he threw it to the back of his mind because there were rumors the clan was making most of the skills in the Skill pavilion free for the Battle hall members to learn. So it was natural they also practiced the body movement arts.

The sun was starting to reach the zenith, the shadows of the big trees were becoming limited and the brightness in the forest was increasing. It was only at this time of the day most of the ground of Bareback mountains touched sunlight, at other times the shadows from those large trees would completely cover the ground and shrubs would survive within shades. The further they went to the neutral ground, the denser the trees became. When the sun had reached the zenith, members of the Rijal clan finally approached the meeting place.

There were already members from the other major and some minor clans present clamoring about the attitude of the Rijal clan for making them wait. When they heard the Rijal clan approach, their complaint became less. They hadn’t seen who had come from the Rijal clan but Prithvi had the wolf and himself release their cultivation pressure to make the demon beasts stay away from their path.

They had thought it was Radha that’s why they became silent but when they finally saw it was Prithvi, the clamor rose again. If it was Radha, she would have beaten whoever complained against her but since it was Prithvi, they didn’t fear him that much. Although the sixth elder was also strong and his strength lies with his beasts, without his beasts, he wouldn’t be able to beat average cultivators of his realm. But as for Radha, she was more beast than the beasts in the Bareback mountains.

“Oh, the Rijal clan is really making us wait here. Is this the way to negotiate” someone from the back complained. Although the agreed time had yet to come they just wanted the upper hand for this negotiation so making even an insignificant hit on the Rijal clan was a good start. The other people also began to complain in low voices just enough for Prithvi to hear. Although he could hear the voices it still took a few seconds to reach. Prithvi snorted and dismounted the wolf and released his pressure.