The young woman, Sirina, had indeed recognized Aksai from afar.
She raised her voice as she ran toward him.
"Expert Aksai, what... What are you doing here? Co with us! You might get killed by our enemies!"
Although she spoke out of worry for Aksai’s safety, her words had the opposite effect.
Ren’s attention snapped toward Aksai at once. His eyes narrowed as he took in Aksai’s presence. To him, it looked like Jaya had brought in outside reinforcents.
"Kill him," Ren said coldly.
He shot forward with his movent technique, his followers rushing behind him with drawn weapons, their killing intent sharp and hungry for blood.
Aksai frowned as he watched Ren’s supporters rush toward him, their weapons already drawn. Threads of Spirit energy flickered around their hands and blades, showing that they were only monts away from unleashing their Spirit spells.
The hatred between the two groups was clear. It had blinded them so much that they no longer cared who they killed. Anyone even slightly connected to the other side was seen as an enemy.
Over the years, five of Haan Di’s disciples had already died because of this internal fight. But they were not the only ones. Many low-level Spirit cultivators who had ties to either group had also been dragged into the conflict. They now attacked on sight, their minds clouded by fear, greed, and the promise of power.
Aksai could see that things had completely fallen apart.
Even though he had covered his real cultivation, he still looked like a mid-stage Foundation Establishnt Expert. That alone was enough for Ren to treat him as a threat.
If Aksai took Jaya’s side, even by accident, Ren’s chances would fall. And now, with Lord Haan Di’s life fla almost gone, the successor’s seat was more valuable than ever.
Every disciple wanted a place in the new order—positions in the elite forces, in the administration, in the inner council. That desire had turned them all into desperate wolves.
The worst part was that the chaos had the silent approval of Lord Haan Di himself. As long as he did not act, everyone believed he supported this "survival of the fittest" thod of choosing his heir.
Because of that, Ren’s order to kill Aksai the mont he appeared was not surprising. He didn’t even take ti to look carefully, to see who Aksai actually was. He simply saw a stranger who might strengthen Jaya’s side.
Aksai felt a mix of irritation and annoyance. He had t Ren once before, briefly, in the Wild Devil Lands. But Ren did not recognize him now. He didn’t care who he was.
The street echoed with heavy footsteps as the cultivators ca closer, their killing intent washing over Aksai like a wave.
’Well, I could run and hide from this problem, but it would only waste my ti. And now that I’ve beco a Core Formation Lord, why should I bother with roundabout thods to get what I want?
’Sotis a strong deterrence is enough to push away most troubles. It’s just that I hate standing out when I didn’t plan to. It makes feel like those silly protagonists who finally show their power and act like the main characters. Not that they never should. It’s the repetitiveness that I find vexing.
’Ugh. I hate that feeling of being in the spotlight. But... maybe it won’t be so bad to experience such a scene once in a while. It would save a lot of ti and effort.
Maybe I’ll even catch the attention of the dying Haan Di Lord with this little intervention. Things would go much smoother if I t a fellow Lord.’
Aksai nodded to himself. All he wanted was a suitable cultivation technique. Yet here he was, with an inheritance war between "siblings" rushing straight at him. He just shrugged his shoulders the next mont, seemingly trying to say that he couldn’t be blad for what he was about to do.
"You lot... I hope you have your insurance and wills ready back ho."
Aksai let out a quiet breath and lifted his hand. His eyes showed nothing but calm disregard, as if the five rushing cultivators were nothing more than background noise.
The street trembled.
In the next mont, thick wood-elent roots burst out from the gaps between the cobblestones. Vines twisted upward like hungry snakes, wrapping around the legs, waists, and arms of the five charging Experts before they even understood what was happening.
The vines then changed.
Flexible thorns grew along their lengths, gathering at the ends of the vine-branches. Those thorns folded and intertwined, forming shapes that looked like twisted hands—hands with long, thin, unnatural fingers and nails that glead with a strange green tint.
Before the five Experts could even circulate their Spirit energy, those thorny hands struck.
The fingers passed through their defensive Spirit layers as if they didn’t exist at all. They slid into flesh and bone with no resistance, almost gentle in how silently they moved.
Each thorn-hand pierced deep into the chest of one Expert, wrapped around their heart, and pulled it free. It all happened in a single breath.
The five n froze. Their bodies swayed. Their eyes went wide with shock as they looked down at the empty holes in their chests. They could feel nothing—no pain, no sharp tearing—just a strange numbness spreading through their limbs. The toxins within the thorns had dulled every sense, leaving only confusion behind.
The vine-hands retracted just as quickly. The hearts they held vanished into thin air the mont the vines touched the ground again, leaving no trace behind. Then the vines sank back into the street as if they had never existed.
Even the cobblestones and dug out little soil dunes arranged themselves via a simple earth-elent Spirit spell, making it seem like the path was just as it was before the appearance of the deadly vines.
It was as if Aksai’s Spirit spells were nothing but one’s fignt of imagination.
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