Zyrith stood up, his robes of woven shadow flowing around him like liquid smoke. The air in the Core Area grew heavy as the density of Highland Energy here was so thick it might even lt the skin of a Foundation Establishnt cultivator in seconds.
Behind him, massive incubation pods suspended from the ceiling throbbed. Inside them were not humans or barbarians, but Amalgamations. Twisted fusions of Decrint flesh and local beasts, crafted to be the perfect shock troops.
"The Anchor has stabilized enough. The restriction has lifted," Zyrith murmured, his telepathic voice echoing through the chamber. "They think they have won a victory by destroying a re relay node. They think they have saved their kin."
A cruel, thin smile stretched across his face.
"Let them co. Let their ’Spirit Severing’ champions enter. I need stronger puppets. The ones before were... fragile. Broken toys. But a cultivator who has touched the edge of the Dao... their minds will be a delicacy."
He raised a hand, and the violet light of the Anchor Core flared. Then, from the glowing portal where he stepped out, several more long-eared
figures erged. They were tall, elegant, and radiated the sa pressure that distorted the air around them.
The first was female, her skin a pale white, adorned with shimring silver chains that seed to move of their own accord. Her eyes were closed, but a small gemstone glowed in the center of her forehead. This was Vespera, a Mind-Weaver like Zyrith.
The second was a male, broader than Zyrith, his upper body encased in a bio-organic armor that looked like a hardened carapace. His hands ended in long, crystalline claws. This was Xylos, a Flesh-Shaper. Sensing no danger, his claws retracted and his body gradually returned to normal.
"Hmph. You’ve managed to hold this, huh? The trash is doing a great job." Xylos mockingly said, his voice seemingly drawing the fear in the chests of the Decrints bowing around the periter.
Zyrith’s eyes twitched, the violet void within them swirling dangerously.
"And this trash is the one who noticed this Anchor’s predicant. Not soone who allowed that smaller Anchor to get reset by the natives."
"You–!" Xylos angrily stepped forward, his carapace armor shifting as serrated spikes protruded from his shoulders. The room seed crackled with his killing intent, directed solely at Zyrith.
"Silence, both of you."
The command was soft, barely a whisper in their minds, yet it carried the weight of a collapsing star.
Vespera opened her eyes. They were not eyes in the mortal sense, but swirling pools of liquid rcury that reflected the distorted reality of the Highland Realm. Or at least, that’s how it appeared at the mont.
The gemstone on her forehead pulsed once, sending a shockwave of pure psychic force that slamd Xylos back and forced Zyrith to his knees. Despite being a Mind-Weaver himself, he was far beneath the woman’s caliber.
"Do not forget. This realm is the Nine Heavens. The place where immortals thrived and divine beings ascend to transcendence," Vespera continued, her telepathic voice devoid of emotion, cold and clinical. "Underestimate your enemies and all the endeavor his Eminence the High Emperor put forth to stage this invasion. We are but one speck of dust
in the limitless space," She finished. "Do not let your petty rivalries blind you. The High Emperor and the High Ancestors demand the capture of this realm. If we fail here, the punishnt will not be death. It will be... erasure."
Xylos grunted, the spikes on his shoulders retracting with a wet, squelching sound. He crossed his massive arms and exhaled, "Fine. But if this weakling fails again, I will harvest his biomass for my creations."
"And if you act without thought, Xylos," Vespera countered, turning her silver gaze upon him, "I will unravel your mind until you are nothing but a drooling husk suitable only for feeding the incubation pods. Are we clear?"
A suffocating threat hung above his head, making Xylos frown in discomfort. Both male Dreillings bowed their heads, though the resentnt in their eyes was palpable.
"Clear," They both answered in unison.
"Good," Vespera floated towards the incubation pods. She inspected the grotesque forms floating within the nutrient fluid. Monstrosities stitched together from Decrint muscle, spirit beasts, and so twisted remains of what once was a cultivator. "These... Amalgamations. They are crude. Zyrith, your taste in aesthetics is lacking."
"They are effective," Zyrith defended. They were his masterpiece, yet in her eyes, they were a subpar product. "They will feel no pain. They will obey without question."
"Effectiveness is the baseline. We need dominance," Xylos sneered, stepping up beside the pod. He placed a clawed hand against the glass. "You used standard flesh-weaving. Amateurish. The ridian systems are clogged. They will burn out in minutes."
Purple energy flowed from Xylos’s claws, seeping through the glass and into the fluid. The Amalgamation inside jerked violently. Its muscles bulged, tearing and knitting back together in seconds. New, darker veins spread across its skin, pulsing with a volatile mixture of Highland energy and the beast’s own qi.
"There," Xylos rumbled, a twisted pride in his voice. "I have forcefully expanded their energy channels. They will burn out even faster now, perhaps in seconds. But in those seconds... they will possess the strength to tear a Nascent Soul cultivator in half."
—
Outside the Anchor, the atmosphere in the temporary camp was a mix of jubilation and grim reality.
As Lin Mo and his team materialized from the distortion of the entrance, a cheer erupted from the waiting crowd. But the cheer died down quickly as they saw the state of the rescued hostages.
Liu Jingshan and the other Nascent Soul experts gently laid the unconscious cultivators and barbarians on the ground near the dical tents. Their bodies were intact, but their faces were pale, their expressions slack even in sleep. The trauma of having their minds hijacked, their bodies forced to move against their will, lingered like a dark cloud.
Chieftain Borok rushed forward, dropping his axe as he fell to his knees beside the prone form of Warrior Gorn. He was always a leader who valued his tribesn. If they died in battle, he would have nothing to say. But to be controlled by the enemies? That was too dishonorable.
"Gorn! Brother!" Borok shook the massive warrior gently. "Wake up! The nightmare is over!"
Gorn groaned, his eyelids fluttering. When he opened them, there was no violet light, only confusion and a deep, abiding exhaustion. "Chieftain? I... I had a dream. A voice... it told to kill... to serve..."
"It was a lie," Borok said fiercely, gripping his tribesman’s shoulder. "You are a Stormhowl. Not a puppet of the vermin."
He looked up at Lin Mo, "Shopkeeper... you brought them back. You cut the strings."
"We did," Lin Mo corrected gently, though he felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.
The backlash from severing the psychic connections was fading, but his spiritual reserves were lower than he liked. He popped an [Energy Replenishing Candy] into his mouth, the sweetness grounding him. "Get them treatnt. The store’s [Spirit-Calming Tea] should possibly help flush out the residual psychic residue. And have the healers check their ridians. That heart-thing was pumping them full of foreign energy; they might need stabilization."
He turned to the dical staff, who were already rushing forward with store-bought supplies. "Prioritize ntal recovery. Physical wounds heal. Broken minds... take longer."
As the dics took over, Lin Mo walked towards the command tent, his expression hardening. Liu Xiaoyu trailed close behind him, her repeater still in hand, her eyes scanning the periter as if expecting the Dreilling to pop out of the ground.
"That was close, Boss," She whispered. "If you hadn’t cut those strings... we would have had to wipe them out."
"Mhm. And from what I heard, they’re not even half of those who failed to return. Many were still holding onto the hope that they could be rescued. Alas... After this stint, I doubt that Dreilling will allow them to escape his control." Lin Mo replied with a frown, "Let’s return to the store. In three days, we’ll dive in again but Xiaoyu, we’re still too weak to deal with them by ourselves."
"I got it, Boss! Ti to train harder. Let’s go climb the Abyssal Forest Conduit Tower. The patrons said we can et up and join hands starting on Floor 5 but we’ll have to fight two enemies as well."
"The store still takes priority. But alright, let’s go and check that out. By the way, you still haven’t used that thing you received from clearing the Jade Hollow Conduit Tower, right?"
He rembered the Prism of Celestial Convergence, which she received from the Tower Chest. He rejected it when she tried giving it to him and told her to bind it right away.
It could grant her the state of Celestial Harmony. Although temporary, it could bring her strength up to another notch.
"Nope. I have no use for it yet, hehe." Liu Xiaoyu grinned as she opened her palm, willing the palm-sized crystal to erge.
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