Deep into the Ash Lands…

  “What’s the situation?” A gruff voice sounded from a short stocky man. One that radiated immense heat simply by existing.

  “Nothing new I’m afraid. The gem is heavily guarded by the Ash Spiders, and their Queen has not moved a muscle. We have killed thousands of her spawn by now, yet she still doesn’t move even an inch.

  “To make matters worse, there seems to be no end in sight for new Ash Spiders being born, even though the Queen is no longer birthing eggs. Who knows just how many of her eggs lay unhatched even now.”

  The second voice came from an older man, but one still filled with the vigor befitting his station.

  Both of these men were the Sect Leader and Vice Leader of the High Flame Sect. The only two Immortals in the entire Sect. Regardless of how many disciples were present in the sect, the fact they had two Immortals was enough to separate them from other smalls sects.

  Having one Immortal among your ranks was enough for any power to have some level of renown, regardless of size. Immortals were revered to a point no matter where you went below a certain level.

  Of course there were certain powers out there that had hundreds or thousands of 1st and 2nd Stage Immortals in their ranks, not to mention the factions that might’ve had millions of such individuals.

  Regardless, the High Flame Sect had two Immortals, one that was at the 1st Stage, and another at the 2nd Stage. Both of whom should not be underestimated by any means, yet here they were, unable to move forward with their goals because of a spider.

  The Sect Leader took in the report with a frown. It has been far too long in his opinion that they were being held up from claiming the prize in their eyes. An Ashen Gem of the 3rd Stage.

  It is something that was unfathomable rare and one could live for thousands of years and never hear about one forming. Then even if it did form, for it to grow from the 1st Stage to the 3rd and final Stage of its existence would take nothing short of a few hundred thousand years.

  One could only imagine the level of potency a treasure like that would possess, and it is no riddle to guess why even Immortals would covet such a thing. The Sect Leader in particular felt that with this gem, he would finally be able to advance his cultivation after countless number of years passed by without a budge forward.

  Yet, a singular Ash Spider Queen had stalled progress. Even after killing the children of the Queen time and time again, something that should’ve enraged the Queen enough to act, yet there was nothing.

  One would then think that the Sect Leader or even the Vice Sect Leader would’ve long since acted to remove the Spider Queen themselves. After all, while the Queen seemed to have a never-ending supply of children to defend her, the Sect’s own disciples weren’t so numerous.

  There were two reasons holding both of them back.

  One, the Spider Queen built her nest atop the Ashen Gem, and it is part of the reason for the monstrous strength she possessed, and for all the value and benefits the gem had, it wasn’t necessarily strong enough to resist even the stray might of an Immortal.

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  Facing such a thing only grew more likely if a battle of Immortal level beings were to erupt in such close relation to the Ashen Gem.

  The other reason more so involved the greed of others.

  Immortal level battles were rare in a sense.

  Unless there was a war of some kind happening, being of such strength rarely engaged in random conflicts. There would usually always be some sort of prelude or build up to such a fight.

  This was especially true for someone in the position of a Sect Master. Any move someone like that made reflected back on the prestige and reputation of the Sect. Meaning most Sect Masters chose their battles carefully so as not to diminish any prestige they’ve managed to build.

  Now a Sect Master moving to attack a beast that didn’t seem to pose immediate threat to the sect itself…that was odd.

  Something to pay attention to in the eyes of nearby powers.

  And if the prying eyes possessed enough strength, then one of them managing to see the existence of the Ashen Gem, wasn’t a low chance.

  Something the Immortals of the High Flame Sect couldn’t allow to happen.

  “Continue the pressure, we can’t move yet. There are too many rats in the area already.”

  Before the Vice Leader could respond, he paused as he received a message from someone else not in the room with them at the moment. He frowned slightly.

  “Sect Leader there’s a small problem.”

  The man arched his brow, hinting for the Vice Sect Leader to continue speaking.

  “Our latest ‘Elder’ who had been trying his hand at being a bandit was killed recently.”

  “Did someone important kill him?”

  “We don’t know yet. It is apparently a brand new force, likely a runaway clan, around 6000 members strong, with at least one Immortal among their ranks. Our people are reporting that the recorded Immortal defers to a Core Formation child.

  “They apparently also had a run in with the Kingdom of Three. We don’t have the full details of it, all we know is that an important person as killed, but this new force simply set up a brand new compound in the Ember Fields and there has been no retaliation from the Kingdom.”

  The Sect Leader frowned once more, this time even deeper than the thought of the Ash Spider Queen did. A new power, one that popped out of out nowhere so close to one’s doorstep was rarely a good thing.

  Especially when considering the reports that it’s the remnants of a clan supposedly. It wasn’t the first time such things happened, but they usually showed up battered, bruised, and wounded beyond reason. Perhaps just a handful of them surviving.

  One with over 6000 members and at least one Immortal in their ranks? One able to push back against the Kingdom of Three? That wasn’t normal. Not in the slightest.

  “Investigate.”

  “And if they come calling for the bounty?”

  “That depends on the investigation. If they are weak, then make them pay a price for touching one of our own, if not then pay it and be done with it.”

  Word quickly passed through the ranks of the High Flame Sect, and before long a small group of disciples, adorned in robes they were extremely proud to wear, left to conduct an ‘investigation’.

  Something in the world of cultivation that was nothing more than a probe of sorts.

  They would press slightly, not enough in their opinion, and the social normals of most advanced cultivation communities to cause a problem, but enough to elicit a certain reaction from a force all for the sake of saving face.

  The politics of cultivation if you will.

  Saving face, building prestige, and forming a reputation one could be proud of.

  It was all apart of being a cultivator and playing ball with other forces in the world. Push but don’t cross certain lines, stand your ground, but don’t advance beyond necessary.

  A constant balance.

  But it was a feeble balance.

  One that stood atop a single point of failure.

  Sure…if everyone played ball, then the balance would be maintained.

  But what if you pushed an animal that cared not for your politics? What if you touched a flame that didn’t just sting, but sought to devour all that related to whosever dared to touch it?

  Then that balance…one so carefully maintained…would fail.