Aksai’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked toward the deep green glow of the Verdant Elder beneath the Aether Essence Sea.
The beast was quiet, but its presence was strong. It had just saved his life.
"Alright," Aksai said at last. "Start working on these failsafe thods. I want all possible risks covered."
[Understood, master. Beginning preparations.]
Aksai gave one last glance around his Mind Palace. Then, without another word, he pulled his consciousness out of the inner world and returned to reality—more alert, more cautious, and far more prepared than before.
A few hours later.
Hour of the Ox. (07:00 AM - 08:00 AM)
Loken’s consciousness returned slowly, like a man crawling out of deep mud. His eyelids twitched. His vision was blurry. His head felt heavy and stuffed, as if soone had poured fog into his skull.
He blinked a few tis. The sky above him was pale orange. Dawn. He was still on the cliff.
"What...?" His voice cracked. He tried to sit up, but his body refused to listen. His arms wouldn’t move. His legs felt stiff and numb.
A tight feeling rose in his chest. He looked down at himself and his heart nearly stopped. His arms were not arms anymore.
They were twisted vines and roots, thick and dark green, wrapped together like living branches. His legs were the sa—wooden, bark-like limbs that creaked gently when he tried to move them.
He looked like so kind of a bizarre tree monster.
"Wha—! What the fucK is this?" Loken scread and squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head hard. "No, no. This is a nightmare... this has to be a nightmare..."
A soft chuckle ca from behind him.
"Stop fooling around. It’s not a dream."
Loken froze when he heard that firm voice. His eyes opened slowly, fear crawling through every part of his mind. He tilted his head just enough to see the figure standing behind him.
Aksai Everwood.
Loken’s instincts exploded. Every part of him scread to run away. To get away from this man. He had no doubt who defeated him last night. He also had no doubt who had turned him into... this thing.
He tried to stand, but his legs didn’t move.
Instead, his vine-made limbs twisted on their own, turning him around and forcing him down on his knees in front of Aksai. His back locked straight, his head lowered like a puppet bowing to its master.
Fear washed over him in waves.
"Ak– Aksai Everwood... what are you doing?" Loken stamred. "Release right now if you want to protect your little territory. Otherwise, the Kalingoot will—"
In response to Loken’s threat, Aksai raised his hand slightly. In the next mont, Loken’s own wooden right hand flew up and slapped his face so hard that he felt his cheek burn bright red.
The shock shut him up completely. His breath trembled. Unlike the ghost, Loken was quick when it ca to realizing the kind of soup he was in at the point. He finally understood he was in no position to make threats.
He swallowed hard and looked up at Aksai with shaking eyes.
"I... I am willing to cooperate," Loken said quickly. "As the Third Supre of the Kalingoot, I know many secrets. I know our upcoming plans, our movents... Killing won’t give you anything. But if you ally with , I can— I can give you everything you want. Anything."
He spoke faster and faster, his fear making his words trip over themselves.
"I can take a Dao Oath. I can open my Mind Palace again. I won’t resist. You can turn into your slave if you want. Just— just let keep my cultivation and spare my life."
Aksai listened quietly, without interrupting. His calmness made Loken even more nervous.
When Loken finished, Aksai smiled.
"You’ve given a good offer," he said. "But you missed sothing important."
Loken leaned forward slightly, hope flickering in his eyes. "What... what did I miss?"
Aksai looked down at him, amused. "Don’t you know that a deal only happens when both sides are equal?" he asked.
He took a step closer. Loken’s breath stopped.
"When one side is overwhelmingly weaker... what happens is not a deal." Aksai paused. Loken felt the words push up his throat on their own.
"It... it’s a compromise."
His voice was small, defeated.
A painful déjà vu hit him. This was the sa conversation he had with Aksai’s followers yesterday. His stomach dropped as another truth hit him: what he had felt last night was real. Aksai had indeed seen his mories.
All the secrets he thought he had... were gone. Everything was laid bare. His leverage didn’t exist anymore. Aksai saw the realization spread across his face and chuckled softly.
"Good. You understand so quickly. You might have a tendency of being full of yourself but you are at least not stupid." He crouched slightly so he could look into Loken’s eyes.
"Let’s talk about what you need to compromise."
Loken held his breath. Aksai continued in an even tone.
"It’s simple. You will return to Kalingoot and beco my eyes and ears. You will help destroy it from inside. You will also help kill the remaining two Supres."
Loken’s heart pounded loudly in his ears.
"In return," Aksai said, "I’ll give you back your borrowed Spirit Core. Cleaned. Free from all those ghost impurities your ’master’ left in it."
A cold smile grew on Aksai’s lips.
"Of course, you’ll be marked with my Slave Mark. And if you betray ..." His voice turned colder than night. "...I will make sure your ending is far worse than death."
A shiver ran down Loken’s spine. He didn’t doubt a single word.
Loken’s wooden limbs began to move on their own.
His legs twisted, his vine-covered feet dragged across the ground, and his bark-like arms swayed stiffly as if pulled by invisible strings.
His body turned away from Aksai, and he stumbled forward with jerky steps, helpless to resist the strange control Aksai had placed on him.
"W–wait! I... I still need to talk to him." Loken tried to shout, but his own limbs ignored him and continued to drag him away.
Aksai didn’t bother to look back. He simply watched him leave, calm and unreadable.
When Loken’s figure finally grew smaller in the distance, a soft breeze stirred the air. Yelia appeared at Aksai’s side, quiet as always. Beside her, the little demon snake girl clung gently to her hand.
The snake girl’s green hair danced in the morning breeze. Her slit eyes flicked from Loken’s retreating back to Aksai. Her small nose twitched, and her fangs peeked out as she hissed softly.
Then she looked at Loken again, her eyes narrowing with clear dislike. Aksai chuckled.
He understood exactly what she ant even though she couldn’t speak yet.
"You want to eat him, don’t you?" he said in a teasing tone.
The snake girl blinked, as if caught, then looked away with a pout. Her forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air.
Aksai reached out and ruffled her green hair gently.
"We can’t kill him, silly girl. Not yet."
The snake girl looked up, confused. Her tail curled slightly as she leaned closer to him.
"That man’s soul is marked with sothing that even I can’t remove without alerting a certain soone. It would also alert them if he were to die suddenly," Aksai explained. "If we kill him now, it will expose us. And we don’t want that."
He leaned back and exhaled slowly.
Yelia looked at Loken’s shrinking silhouette, then at Aksai.
"My liege," she said softly, "are you planning to use that man for a long ti? You also said you would return his Spirit Core."
Aksai shook his head.
"I lied," he said simply. "I’m just buying ti." Yelia blinked, surprised.
Aksai continued, his voice steady but serious.
"If he loses hope and kills himself, it will ruin everything I’ve planned. And after going through his mories... I know the First Supre won’t be soone I can beat with ease."
He crossed his arms, his gaze turning sharp.
"This man—Loken—I can deal with him. And the Second Supre too who is also a pseudo Core Formation Lord just like Loken. But the First Supre?" Aksai shook his head again. "He... he looks formidable from those mories alone due to his true Core Formation status. And if the First Supre has hidden trump cards that even Loken doesn’t know about, then fighting him would be risky. Very risky."
Aksai’s voice dropped further.
"And the ghost that might have possessed that First Supre... that is what worries the most. As per the guy’s mories, even the ghost inside Loken was terrified of that one. If we alert them, that ghost might do sothing unpredictable. Sothing that could ruin everything."
He sighed and knelt down a little. The snake girl stared at him with big, curious eyes. Aksai gently pinched her small nose.
She let out a tiny hiss of irritation and scrunched her face, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she leaned forward and tapped her forehead against his palm, almost like a child asking for attention. Yelia smiled faintly looking at the interaction between Aksai and his little demon pet.
Aksai looked at both girls and said calmly, "We have to be patient. One mistake now, and everything will fall apart. Even with my newly acquired Core Formation status, I am still too far away from acting nonchalantly in the Dadangar Subcontinent."
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