Loshaar’s breaths grew shallower, his eyes glazing over as he looked up at Liana one last time.
“Liana…” he rasped. “That sword in the bastard’s hand, it is Lian’s. He… he must have killed… Li… Li… Lian–,” he said with some difficulty.
Even though Aksai had reforged the Lian Flying Sword and transformed it into a 2nd-order weapon, it still had distinct original properties. Loshaar had bought the sword from an auction for his favorite scion himself. As such, when he looked at Ruan, he identified the sword immediately.
However, that was all the old Lakir ancestor could say before dying. As soon as he died, the Blood Fiends that he was controlling also lost their operability. Three Blood Fiends turned lifeless after their owner’s death.
Aksai had prioritized killing Loshaar for this very reason. He knew that Loshaar was relatively weaker in close combat among all the other Foundation Building Experts due to his status as a puppet artist. Killing him was akin to taking care of four Foundation Building Experts.
“What?” Liana couldn’t help but open her eyes wider. She was again shocked by Loshaar’s dying words. She looked at the sword Aksai was holding and realized it indeed resembled the sword that was given to her brother.
“You… you are responsible for my brother’s death?”
Liana looked at Aksai fiercely. But before she could charge towards him, two Sentient Scarecrows appeared beside her. They prevented her from making any excessive movements.
It had only been a few seconds since Liana’s arrival on the battlefield. Everyone in the righteous and demonic faction was still processing what had just happened.
Ruan stepped over Loshaar’s lifeless form, his focus now shifting to the remaining combatants. Shen Ji and Kau Lou, despite their initial shock, moved away from Ruan. However, they too found out that their retreat was blocked by two Sentient Scarecrows.
Zeesham, Wen Lin, and Mo Jie exchanged wary glances, their plans for retreat momentarily forgotten in the face of this unexpected twist.
And before they had time to make use of Ruan’s betrayal to their advantage, three more Sentient Scarecrows appeared at the scene, preventing them from going back to Cavereach City.
“Seven 2nd-order puppets? So he was still hiding his trump cards.”
Liana smiled mirthlessly. She felt hopeless at this point. It was as if she had resigned herself to her eventual death.
With the kind of puppets Ruan had, Liana didn’t think that he needed to divide the bunch of Spirit cultivators from both factions into two to ensure his safety. He did what he did to ensure that nobody else got away from his clutches.
He had planned to kill them all when they were at their most vulnerable.
Shen Ji and Kau Lou, realizing the severity of their situation, momentarily set aside their enmity with the righteous faction cultivators, Zeesham, Mo Jie, and Wen Lin.
“Friends from the righteous sects. We need to form an alliance,” Shen Ji said, his voice strained but resolute. “If we don’t deal with this madman and his puppets together, none of us will survive.”
Zeesham nodded, his eyes narrowing with grim determination. “Agreed.”
The five cultivators formed a defensive circle, their auras flickering as they pooled their remaining strength. The Sentient Scarecrows, however, showed no sign of hesitation. They moved with eerie precision, their movements almost too smooth to be mechanical.
Unlike the regular Spirit cultivators, the Sentient Scarecrows could attack with suicidal tendencies. They had no concept of death. They could be recovered as long as Aksai had enough resources. Or Aksai could discard them directly if the repair costs more than it needs to.
As such, Aksai just ordered his puppets to launch a slaughter. He watched from a distance, his face expressionless.
With a subtle hand gesture, he commanded his Sentient Scarecrows to attack. The puppets moved in unison, each one targeting a specific cultivator with ruthless efficiency.
Heretic Talismans glowed ominously in the hands of the scarecrows, releasing waves of potent Spirit Spells.
Zeesham barely had time to react before a blast of dark energy hit him square in the chest, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Mo Jie and Wen Lin fared no better, their desperate attempts to counter the spells proving futile against the sheer power of the talismans.
Shen Ji and Kau Lou tried to mount a defense, but they were quickly overwhelmed.
A scarecrow lunged at Kau Lou, its talon-like fingers slicing through his defenses and delivering a fatal blow. Shen Ji, struggling to maintain his footing, was struck down by a barrage of Spirit Spells that left him lifeless on the scorched earth.
Liana stood still, watching the slaughter with resigned acceptance. She had seen enough death, enough betrayal, to know that her time was near. The two Sentient Scarecrows assigned to guard her remained motionless.
The battlefield fell silent, the only sounds being the crackle of residual Spirit energy and the labored breathing of the dying. Aksai’s Sentient Scarecrows soon finished off the remaining Spirit cultivators for good by chopping off their heads. They had executed their orders flawlessly, leaving no survivors among the combatants.
Aksai approached Liana, his expression unreadable. He looked at her, the weight of their shared history hanging heavily between them.
“Why didn’t you fight back?” Aksai asked, his voice devoid of malice.
Liana met his gaze, her eyes reflecting a mixture of helplessness and acceptance.
“What’s the point? My clan is finished. The sins of the past have caught up with us. Fighting would only delay the inevitable.”
Aksai looked at Liana and remembered his previous encounter with her. At that time, she had shown him kindness when he least expected it from someone from the Lakir clan.
“Why did your clan get involved with Kalingoot?” Aksai asked, noticing her exhausted expression.
“For survival,” Liana responded calmly. She then focused her gaze on Aksai momentarily before asking, with an even more haunting calmness, “Why did you kill my brother?”
“He attacked me first,” Aksai said honestly before bringing the Lian Flying Sword in front of him. “Do you want me to return this to you or your clan?”
Liana looked at Aksai carefully, as if trying to gauge if he was telling the truth. In the end, she could not find any flaw in his words. She sighed once again before shaking her head.
“No, keep it. The spoils of war belong to the victor. I just wanted to know the truth. Thank you for telling me.”
Aksai smiled as he looked at Liana. For some reason, he liked this young and beautiful girl in front of him. “What will you do now? Will your clan still ally itself with Kalingoot after Loshaar’s death?”
Liana looked at Aksai with a puzzled expressions. “Why are you asking me this?”
Aksai smiled before saying, “Because, after Loshaar’s death, you will obviously be the leader of the Lakir clan’s remnant forces. After all, you are the only Foundation Building Expert it has after that old devil’s death. I need to know what the new leader thinks about her clan,” he said calmly.
Liana was still puzzled. She had thought she was going to die in Aksai’s hands tonight. She would soon join Loshaar in his journey to the afterlife.
How could she be the leader of her clan after her death? However, she put those thoughts aside and imagined a hypothetical scenario. After pondering for a bit, she replied.
“I don’t think the Lakir clan has a choice. After the death of the six Foundation Building elders, the Big Five Sects will surely make a big move. Just to make a statement if nothing else.
They will investigate the battlefield and soon find that the presence of the Bloodfiend Art is strong here. That’s all the reason they need to put the blame on the Lakir clan and Kalingoot. They won’t even think about you, who orchestrated all this,” Liana looked at Aksai with bitterness as she spoke.
“What can the Lakir clan do against the combined might of the Big Five Sects? It will be forced to invest more resources into Kalingoot than its previous agreements just to avail the protection of the demonic sects.
In the end, if we don’t perish at the hands of the righteous sects, we’ll be thoroughly used by the demonic faction until we cease to exist as a cultivator clan. My clan’s fate is doomed after Grandpa Loshaar Lakir’s death,” she said matter-of-factly, trying to control her emotions.
“What if I offer you a way to survive?” Aksai asked.
“Yeah? What way is that?” Liana asked nonchalantly, not taking Aksai’s question seriously.
“The safest way– you and your remaining clan members run away from all this,” Aksai said like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
Liana looked at Aksai angrily as if he was making a sick joke at an inappropriate time.
“And where do you think my clan will run away to? Which place will be safe for us in the Dadangar subcontinent? Forget about the Dadangar Archipelago, we won’t even be able to hide in the Purple Poison Marshland like we did in the past.
With the death of the six… no, seven Foundation Building Experts including Calla, even the Core Formation Lords will make a move against us. There will be no safe place for us in the Dadangar subcontinent,” she said, suppressing her anger and frustration.
“Exactly,” Aksai smiled before speaking further. “There will be no place for you to stay safe in the Dadangar subcontinent. However, what if I offer you a way to escape the Dadangar subcontinent and go to the Shinayin Empire instead?” he asked.
“Shinayin Empire?” Liana looked at Aksai as if she didn’t believe his words.
“I don’t think there’s a safe passage that my clan members can use to go there. The periphery of the Eternal Beast Dynasty itself is challenging for most Spirit Refining cultivators. Only someone in the Foundation Building realm could dare to go inside that forest.
Plus, even Core Formation Lords don’t dare to go deep inside the Eternal Beast Dynasty casually. Not to mention, it is said that it takes more than two years for a Foundation Building Expert to travel through the Eternal Beast Dynasty and reach the other side.
One is said to have officially crossed the Dadangar subcontinent if and when they come out on the other side of the Eternal Beast Dynasty. Only after successfully crossing this hurdle can one hope to reach the Shinayin Empire.
If going to the Shinayin Empire was so easy, we would have done so a long time ago instead of hiding in the Purple Poison Marshland,” Liana said and shook her head as if to show disappointment in her supposed enemy’s knowledge.
“I already know all this,” Aksai said before taking out a scroll from his storage ring.
“Here, use this route to go to the Shinayin Empire. It’s a bit of a complicated route. As such, it will take you more than three years to get there. But at least you won’t have to worry about the safety of your clan members,” Aksai said as he handed the scroll to Liana.
The scroll contained a distinctly marked route on a map of the Eternal Beast Dynasty. It was very detailed and mentioned all the known landmarks and ways to recalibrate one’s direction in case of eventual problems one would face inside the Eternal Beast Dynasty.
This was the map Aksai had obtained from Mao. Mao himself had obtained this map from the corpse of the high-level cultivator he found in the Eternal Beast Dynasty along with the legacy of the Heretic Talismanic Dao.
Liana opened the scroll and read the map carefully. She then looked at Aksai with a doubtful gaze.
“Hey, if I wanted to kill your clan, I just need to finish you off and it’ll eventually die on its own. Why would I take foolish detours? Why would I punish your clan with some extra steps?” Aksai shrugged his shoulders, not caring if Liana believed him or not.
Seeing Liana’s conflicted emotions, Aksai took a deep breath before speaking further.
“Look, staying here in the Dadangar subcontinent will only spell doom for you and your clan members. And there should be no doubt in your head regarding this fact either.
Just like you said, if you don’t die at the hands of the righteous faction, you will be squeezed for your usability to death by the demonic faction. Take this route and escape from the Dadangar subcontinent entirely. This is the only way for you.
And it’s not like I won’t gain anything by ensuring your safety. By making you quit Kalingoot, the headache I have will also be lessened to a great extent. After all, I’m sure you have more second-order Flying Blood Fiends in your clan’s repository.
Even if they are not that invincible, they sure are a pain to deal with. Your clan’s absence will weaken Kaingoot and create a void that can’t be filled anytime soon. People will start doubting each other in Kalingoot and it will take a lot of time to establish order.
In essence, by giving you this map, I’m also looking after my interests. It will still take some time for the righteous sects to finish their investigation and for the demonic sects to act in accordance.
You can use this time to get away from them. All of them,” Aksai explained.
Liana’s doubts were finally put to rest after hearing Aksai’s words. She found some truth in them. Anyway, she didn’t have much to lose by using the map. If she and her clan succeeded, they would have a new start in the Shinayin Empire.
“I can’t believe my clan received the biggest help from its worst enemy,” Liana said as she looked into Aksai’s eyes.
Aksai shook his head before speaking further. “My enmity with the Lakir clan died with Loshaar Lakir’s death. I don’t see you as my enemy. Not unless you give me a reason to,” Aksai spoke bluntly.
By this point, Aksai’s puppets had finished cleaning up the battlefield. They took away the storage rings of the dead cultivators before taking their bodies inside the Everwood farm to be used as fertilizer.
When Liana came out of her contemplation and looked around, the battlefield was devoid of all the dead bodies and only the residual signs of the battle remained.
She tightened her grip on the scroll Aksai gave her before storing it in her storage ring.
“I…” Liana stuttered as she looked Aksai in the eyes.
“Even though I don’t like you, I owe you one. I promise to repay this kindness if we ever meet again in the future,” she said before taking out a Blood Jade. “Here. You can use this to contact me in the future,” she said and turned around.
Liana took a few steps forward. She was about to take her flying sword and fly away from the island. However, for some reason, she turned around and looked at Aksai once again.
“Tell me honestly, what is your name?” Liana asked. She wanted to know the name of the person who had become a topic of great contemplation in her head– the biggest mystery she couldn’t solve on her own.
Aksai smiled as he looked at Liana. He didn’t answer Liana’s question verbally. Instead, he undid his Qi-based body alteration and resumed his original form.
Soon, the Spirit farmer regained the face of a handsome and youthful cultivator who was in the prime of his life. The rays of the approaching dawn fell on Aksai’s face at the same time, making him look even more ethereal and handsome.
“Aksai Everwood!” Liana exclaimed in shock. She still remembered Aksai’s face when she had met him a few decades ago on his 18th birthday. She felt as if the man in front of her hadn’t aged at all. In fact, he looked even more youthful than before, as if he was aging backward.
“We better get going, Miss Liana. We don’t want to encounter the righteous sects’ reinforcements,” Aksai said and smiled at Liana. After her initial daze, she nodded before bidding adieu to Aksai with some conflicting emotions rising within her heart.
At this point, Liana’s hate for Aksai for killing Lian as well as Loshaar Lakir had completely diminished. Instead, it was replaced by a subconscious admiration.
Although she didn’t have any overt positive feelings for him at the moment, she had decided to not treat him as an enemy as long as she could make her clan reach the Shinayin Empire. She and her clan needed a new start. And she was willing to prioritize her future instead of dwelling in the past.
Aksai watched Liana fly off in the distance with a calm expression.
‘Like my old man used to say– an Everwood man should either be eternally grateful or eternally hateful for the favors and grievances he receives from others.
Thank you for showing me a bit of kindness when I was at my weakest. With this, my debt to you has been paid,’ Aksai said to Liana, not caring if she could listen to him or not.
“Alright. It’s about time I went on my own way as well.”
Aksai took out his Flying Lian Sword once again. For some reason, he felt that his connection with the sword had grown even stronger after Liana let him keep it.
Aksai smiled and didn’t dwell further on it. In the next moment, he was seen flying away from the island.
His next destination was the Dadangar mainland.
He needed to go to the Eternal Beast Dynasty to claim his Aether beast.
===
AN: Hello! Tbh, Aksai’s fight with Loshaar took a bit longer than I planned. It ended up being a bit of a marathon because I wanted to tie in all the references from earlier volumes.
I had to pick between a short, punchy battle or one that connects all the dots from the very start of the story. I chose the latter because it adds more depth in the long run.
Instead of breaking up the action into the usual shorter chapters, I decided to go with longer chapters to keep the flow intact as much as I could. That’s why we’ve had one big chapter instead of the usual two-chapter updates over the past few days.
Anyway. Just wanted to keep you in the loop!
With this, it’s a wrap for AFAR’s 4th Volume: Acarnis!
In the next volume, we’ll revisit Acarnis, dive back into the Martial World of Sharang, and explore more of the Dadangar subcontinent.
We’ll also check out the Everwood farm’s future upgrades and Aksai’s new abilities. In a while, I’ll upload some artwork in the comment section of this chapter. Be sure to check it out when I do.
Thanks for following Aksai’s journey. Special thanks to the top contributors. Stay tuned for more and see you in the next volume. 🙂