Reborn as a Demonic Tree-Novel

Ever since she'd appeared in his limited vision as a small child when he was nothing but a sapling—holding a bag containing a severed head, he knew the girl had a screw loose.

Stella was far more reckless than Diana, who was a bit more reserved. For example, Stella's crazy loyalty towards him almost got her killed when she impulsively tried to punch heaven's lightning to protect him. Ashlock believed this impulsiveness was partly due to her lack of parental guidance.

The fight with the Star Core Evergreen cultivator was another good example, as Stella had charged right in, and Diana had hung back, trying to assess the situation. Because Stella charged in, she was almost decapitated.

Her recklessness and disregard for danger were bad when she was on the back foot, but when she had the upper hand in the conflict, it turned her into a villainous foe that was impossible to read.

Ashlock almost felt bad for the Redclaw cultivators...

The pressure returned as the halo of ash orbiting Larry's crown of horns sped up. All of the cultivators struggled to resist—the veins running down their necks bulged, and blood rushed to their faces as they desperately fought the pressure.

Larry opened his maw, and a wave of ash spiders poured out. They lept forward, latching onto the cultivator's garments.

The fools tried to swing their swords, but the pressure from Larry was too much. Even their own cultivation was suppressed, so burning the spiders with their Soul Fire was difficult.

The Grand Elder attempted to bring out an escape talisman from his spatial ring, but a dome of swirling ash formed around them, blocking its capabilities. They were well and truly trapped, and unlike the last time Larry had trapped someone in his cage of ash, the spider was far stronger now.

Defeat for the group and the demise of the Redclaw Grand Elder was inevitable. A shame, but Ashlock trusted Stella's judgment on the matter. If her words were true, and there was no need to keep them around—a quick execution was for the best.

The wave of ash spiders ceased their assault as the Ashen King called them off with a grunt, but the pressure from Larry pinning the exhausted cultivators remained.

Stella strode over, placed a single finger under the man's chin, and slowly raised his weary eyes to meet hers. The sun shone from behind, casting an eerie shadow and obscuring Stella's wicked expression.

Ashlock could tell she was taking out her anger on them from having her enlightenment interrupted and enjoying every second of it.

There was a wavering resolve in the man's eyes, but he tensed up and nodded when he saw Larry crawl a step forward and loom into view.

He brought a hand to his chest and closed his eyes.

The other Redclaw family members followed their Grand Elder's movements and words, pledging their loyalty.

Ashlock watched in interest and saw the man wince as he finished the vow. Could the heavens really manage something like contracts? It seemed so alien and weird of a concept to Ashlock, but to be fair, if the heavens can bend reality, why couldn't they do something as simple as a soul contract?

A spark of hope was seen in the aging Grand Elders' weary eyes. Ashlock realized that if the man was to reach the next realm, he would become a semi-immortal as those in the Nascent Soul realm could transfer themselves into a new vessel and cultivate from scratch again—or so he had heard from Stella in the past.

But out here in the lawless wilderness, few seemed to reach the Nascent Soul realm before being killed. Even the Grand Elder of house Ravenborne had two families sent after him to dispose of him before he could consolidate his new cultivation base and prepare a body for his infant soul.

Ashlock couldn't help but feel proud of Stella. She had managed to spin a plausible story that wouldn't hold up to enough scrutiny, but making it sound so secretive would stop these Redclaw fellows from spilling the beans too soon, especially to the Patriarch.

"Larry..." Ashlock pulled on the black tether as Stella seemed unsure of what to do with these new disciples of the Ashfallen sect. He then explained his plans to the spider, and the Redclaws shivered as the spider slowly relayed Ashlock's instructions with the blood and guts of their eaten brother dripping from his fangs.

A plume of ash vacated Larry's nostrils as he snorted.

The man gave a deep bow and took off running. He then yelped as Ashlock opened a portal right before him, causing the man to stumble through the rift and instantly appear halfway across the forest. The man blinked in confusion as the view of Darklight City's wall came into view.

Ashlock kept an eye on the man for a while longer, but he didn't even pause to grab lunch or talk to anyone. Instead, he just barreled down the street like a crazed person toward the airship dock in the city center with orange fire blazing around his feet, giving him the desired speed.

"Does that loyalty thing really work?" Ashlock was skeptical. From the sounds of the oath they made, their cultivation would be crippled if they betrayed their new overlords, which was basically a death sentence for any cultivator, especially if their heart demons were unleashed, causing them to end up in a similar state to Diana.

So it wasn't so much as mind control, and they could still betray him. They would just sacrifice themselves to do so. "Not a foolproof solution then, but it works as a bandaid to keep them quiet for now." Ashlock mused as he returned his sights to the forest, "Hopefully, we can raise some actual loyal people before the whole lie gets revealed."

Ashlock now knew he was operating on borrowed time. He needed to reach Nascent Soul realm or train someone up to that level before the Patriarch left closed-door cultivation, which could be any time from now until just before the beast tide.

There was some merit in keeping the ancient language to themselves as a sort of secret language, but considering Stella could learn it in a year from public records in the library, trying to gatekeep it from others in the Ashfallen sect seemed counterproductive.

If the Redclaws learned the ancient language, Ashlock could converse directly by writing on the wall or sending Larry to talk with them. Stella deserved to not be interrupted from her cultivation whenever he needed to talk with them. There was also the bonus of him being able to order the Redclaws around to do menial tasks directly.

Stella watched the departing families' backs with her hands crossed beneath her chest. Her smile turned into a nasty scowl that sullied her face, and Ashlock could tell she was furious.

Ashlock decided making her wait around in the forest would only sour her mood further, so he opened a portal nearby.

As she stomped through the portal and popped back into existence in front of his trunk, Ashlock summoned up the {Magic Mushroom Production} menu and set many more truffles to grow.

The mushrooms in the garden courtyard also had many valuable effects that could be harnessed by turning them into pills and creams with alchemy. Some might have even been of interest to Stella...

Ashlock wanted to ask Stella to either start learning alchemy or find someone who knew, but her mood seemed far too foul to request anything of her at the moment.

Ashlock decided to wait and see. Maybe one of the Redclaws was well-versed in alchemy.

Stella ignored him and strode into the adjacent courtyard with the runic formation—grumbling and cursing to herself the entire way—and sat down in its center. The formation of grey stone engraved with silver lines lit up with a purple hue when she cycled her Qi.

Ashlock chuckled and vowed to leave her alone this time. In truth, he likely could have waited a while longer before demanding she went to meet with the Redclaws, but he hadn't known she was in the middle of enlightenment. So it was his fault, and he felt terrible for it.

While she was busy improving her spirit root—Ashlock calmed his mind, cycled his Qi, and focused on a random stick hiding amongst the purple grass of the central courtyard. It was time for him to try and self-learn telekinesis.

In fact, telekinesis was pushed even higher up his list of necessary skills with the Redclaws moving in next door. If his portals could be used wherever his roots were, then logically, so could telekinesis. If he grew a root up to the white palace mountains peak, he could talk to the Grand Elder through a stick of chalk by controlling it from afar.

Ashlock planned to maintain his elusive persona for as long as possible, as he doubted the Redclaw Grand Elder would be thrilled to learn that he was taking orders from a spirit tree of all things.