'Lei'er… you can't really be gone… right?' he thought as tears began to gather in his eyes, 'It's not possible for you to just die… like that, it's not possible… you were supposed to outlive me, not die before me!'
Tilt, drip.
Sect Master Qin's head tilted downward as tears began to stream down his visage. At that moment it wasn't so much the loss to the Sect, nor even losing the Thunder Vein Dew, that affected him the most, but Qin Lei's fate.
And if he was honest with himself, his death!
After all, even though Sect Master Qin acted coldly and gave out tough love to Qin Lei, he was still a father, and knowing that his son was dead while his murderer would joyfully live…
It was devastating!!!
"NO!!!" A roar escaped the Sect Master's lips as his temperature exploded outward, causing the tears in his eyes to evaporate.
An aura at the Core Perfection Realm burst forth and was about to spread for numerous kilometers, but the Grand Elder's scream rang out, "Old friend! Control yourself, now is not the time to be discovered by the Azure Thundergryph!!!"
This scream was like a bucket of cold water poured over the Sect Master, and with effort from his grief-stricken mind—
"Ahhhhh!" A deep exhalation escaped the Sect Master's mouth as he forced himself to stay in control and not let the grief take over, because he knew that if he carelessly vented his rage and anger he could attract the Azure Thundergryph, and this—
'Can't happen,' he thought, a flicker of dread passing through his grief-stricken composure, because he knew that if this living calamity found him in his current state it would spell certain death, since in the demonic beast's mind they were the thieves of the Thunder Vein Dew after all…
"..."
On that note the heavy and gloomy silence returned as the only surviving Core Elder took on a deeply thoughtful expression before an idea lit up in his mind and he spoke.
"Sect Master… and if… and if we go visit Lady Divination!"
He took a small pause before continuing, "We could have her divine the identity of the one who killed the Young Masters and the others, and who also stole the Thunder Vein Dew! In this way we could both avenge the Young Master and recuperate the Thunder Vein Dew."
"Good idea…" Normally the Sect Master would have been ecstatic if somebody had proposed such a brilliant idea, but at that moment, with his only son dead, he couldn't bring himself to be enthusiastic.
Not even if it meant sending his son's murderer six feet under and reclaiming the Thunder Vein Dew… what was the point when Lei'er was already dead after all…
"Sigh… let's go find Lady Divination," gloomily murmured the Sect Master, deciding to follow his subordinate's advice.
***
Caw! Caw!
Step, step, step.
Ravens' croaking cries resounded as the group of three cultivators from the Flame Sovereign Sect made its way through a darkened forest, a forest where the trees grew unnaturally tall and close together, their twisted branches blotting out the sky.
Gnarled roots jutted from the ground like skeletal fingers, while a damp mist clung to the undergrowth, carrying with it the faint stench of decay.
Crack, whoosh.
Every gust of wind made the branches groan and creak, as though the forest itself whispered warnings best left unheard.
"Tsk, I really don't know why somebody of Lady Divination's status and power lives in a place like this one…" murmured the old Core Elder as he eyed his gloomy surroundings, which were perfectly in tune with how every cultivator in the group felt…
"Ooh? But that's simple, it's because it allows me to be more in tune with the cycle of nature—and more precisely, of death~" A woman's voice, carrying with it both a melodious and deadly feel along with a certain ethereal quality, reached them.
"Lady Divination!" Instantly the three men sharply turned toward the source of the sound, and in their line of sight an extremely beautiful woman materialized.
She had silky long black hair flowing the length of her back, while her eyes were like two dark gems absorbing all the surrounding light, her lips painted purple, with purple highlighter accentuating the allure of her gorgeous eyes.
Her nails bore the same purple tint, and she was clothed in a beautiful black dress that hugged every curve of her voluptuous body without revealing much.
Yet it wasn't so much her appearance that was eye-catching as the aura she emanated, for simply by standing there and fixing her gaze on them she radiated an aura of death, and her eyes seemed to have already seen through them and laid bare all of their secrets.
"We greet Lady Divination!" All three men, including the proud and grieving Sect Master, bowed respectfully toward the mysterious woman.
Lady Divination kept silent at their greeting until a mysterious smile graced her purple lips as she eyed them for a moment before turning on her heels and waving her hand, "Follow me."
Step, step, step.
Without further words they followed in her footsteps, and soon enough a small wooden shack entered their line of sight.
It was into this shack that Lady Divination led them; inside, the wood was cracked in places while moss grew in others, the floor was old and dust lay everywhere, giving the place an ancient and unkempt feeling.
Normally such a sight and display of 'poverty' would have made any other proud cultivator wrinkle their nose and exclaim in disgust, but neither of the three powerhouses' expressions changed, for they knew what to expect when they decided to deal with this eccentric and extremely powerful recluse.
Crack.
With a crack the mysterious beauty took a seat in a wooden chair, seemingly the only thing clean in the entire area, as she crossed one of her long legs over the other and leaned her head on her closed fist while eyeing them.
Flash.
From Sect Master Qin's storage ring a bloodied Core Disciple's Token and the torn part of a Taoist robes materialized. "We would request Lady Divination's help in finding the identity of my son Qin Lei's murderer!!!" he spat out, the last word carrying an undertone of hate.
Before long he regained his bearings and remembered who was before him, continuing in a gentler tone of voice, "If Lady Divination accepts, we would be ready to pay the price she wants…"
Whoosh.
A gust of wind howled, moving some of the dust that clung to the wooden shack, as Lady Divination mysteriously smiled at them while keeping silent for some seconds before a glint of interest passed through her eyes.
"Hoho, interesting," she murmured while rising from her seat, snatching both the token and the torn cloth as something unreadable flickered across her black eyes.
"Who would be so brave as to kill the son of somebody as 'strong' as you, I wonder?" she spoke in a tone part mocking, part condescending, while placing a finger on her chin.
Clench.
'This bitch, how dare she talk of Lei'er like that!!!' Sect Master Qin tightly clenched the fist he had left as anger welled in his still aching heart, but no matter how furious he was he didn't dare act and could only passively endure.
The beauty eyed the two things he had given her for some seconds before her attention fixed itself on the trio, she finally spoke, "You brought something rather… intriguing before me, so I'll do it—I will help find your son's murderer…"
Hearing these beautiful words, all three men were struck by a wave of joy and relief.
After all, they all knew of a commotion that had erupted a couple of centuries back when a reclusive expert at the Peak of the Core Perfection Realm had come to Lady Divination in search of help but—
She hadn't been interested in helping him and had rebuked him, and because of that the high and mighty expert erupted in a fit of rage, and then—
He was never seen again, while Lady Divination remained as well as ever!
From that, her terrifying power could be inferred, and consequently they were relieved that she had accepted to help them, because they knew that if she hadn't wanted to, there was nothing they could do to force her.
They would only have left with regrets while the killer remained unbothered, but now—
'With Lady Divination making a move we are sure of knowing who Lei'er's killer is and…' A dark glint passed in Sect Master Qin's gaze, 'I'll make him wish for death for having taken my little boy from me!' he thought, his hatred and anguish surging at his son's death.
Clank, clank, clank.
Lady Divination's footsteps echoed on the old wood as she moved away from the three men, "As for payments… you should know how it goes, right?" she asked over her shoulder.
The three men nodded before speaking one after the other, in the strange fashion that Lady Divination always demanded whenever someone requested her help.
"I owe Lady Divination a favor for the task she is to accomplish, the weight of this favor varying according to the task she completes."
This same exact sentence was repeated three times, each of the Flame Sovereign Sect cultivators giving the exact same words.
"Good, you know how it works," murmured Lady Divination, and out of their sight a mysterious smile made its way onto the beauty's visage as she heard these words that on the surface seemed to mean so little but in truth carried so much.
"Now, let me do my things and don't disturb me," she declared over her shoulder before walking to a small wooden table that at first glance didn't seem out of place with the rest of the shack, but if one used Divine Sense, what they would see would be something entirely different.
Their senses would open to what looked like a tapestry of the cosmos itself, with faint fate lines stretching everywhere to those who knew where and how to look!
Thud.
Without caring for the three cultivators anxiously waiting behind her, she leisurely placed both the bloodied Core Disciple's token and the tattered Taoist robe onto the table.
With both belonging to Qin Lei it would make her fate reading easier to accomplish.
After all, having an 'anchor' to read fate versus doing it 'blindly' was an entirely different level of difficulty, and while she would be able to do it in both cases…
There was no reason why she would complicate her own life, which was why she always requested an item that could act as an anchor to perform her fate reading.
Of course, nothing was absolute, if something was… interesting enough she could bend her own rules.
"Now let's begin… let's see what you hide." murmured Lady Divination as a glint of interest passed in her eyes while a weight seemed to fall on the room.
Author Note:
EnjoyingAscension Through the Records?
A quick Power Stone, short review, or thoughtful comment helps the novel rise in the rankings.
A few words from me below.
———
At the start I tried to write something in a way that is less of a 'good guy vs bad guy' situation and more of a grey world, I tried to show the consequences of Mikael actions in a way that he caused pains by his actions.
(Of course probably you don't have much empathy for the Sect Master and con considering the massacre of the Ancient Ruins but even then I tried to show some nuances to everybody, I don't know how I did?)
After that…Mikael is kinda fucked, Lady Divination is about to divine his identity or maybe…not? Or maybe that maybe? That's to be seen!
———
Want to read ahead? Unlock advanced chapters on Patreon—just search SDASLUMMY.
You're part of this story's ascent. Thanks for being here.
— End of Chapter —