Hour of Goat (01:00 PM – 02:00 PM)
It had been a few hours since Aksai bid farewell to Haitin.
They were approaching a dense, vegetated region, making it inconvenient to fly close to the ground.
As they soared higher, Aksai noticed the four other Foundation Building Experts riding their own eagles, flanking him like silent guardians. Their expressions were calm and focused, their eyes scanning the horizon for any potential threats.
As they continued to fly in silence, the only sounds were the rhythmic flapping of the giant flying eagles’ wings and the soft whooshing of the wind. Suddenly, one of the Foundation Building Experts broke the silence.
“Lad, why don’t we take a break here? The eagles have been flying for over six hours. They need rest, and we could use the time to recharge ourselves,” said the bald sect elder.
His voice carried a tone of authority but was softened by age. He was the only old-looking elder among the group, and Aksai noted the slight weariness in his features.
Unlike the other three, who had just broken through to the second realm, this elder seemed stuck at the initial stage of Foundation Building. A veteran, but perhaps one whose time to advance had passed.
Aksai instinctively reached out, placing a hand on the eagle beneath him. His connection to nature, as a druid, allowed him to sense the heartbeat of the beast. He could feel its life energy—strained but not unsteady.
The eagles weren’t exhausted, though perhaps they could use a small rest.
‘They’re not tired,’ Aksai thought, eyebrows furrowing slightly. The bald elder’s words didn’t align with what he was sensing. Something felt off.
‘Hmm? Have I seen him before? He looks oddly familiar but not familiar. It’s as if I haven’t met him personally but still know him,’ Aksai wondered.
There was something familiar about the old man, though he couldn’t place it immediately. It was a nagging feeling, like some cryptic memory trying to reveal itself.
Still, Aksai pushed his suspicions aside for now. There was no reason to create unnecessary tension. He gave a calm nod and replied, “Sure. Let’s prepare to land at a safe place.”
The bald elder acknowledged with a grunt, and the group began to descend toward a clearing in the thick forest below. Aksai noticed the way the old man directed the other elders with subtle hand gestures, not needing to speak much. He had experience, and the others seemed to follow his lead.
As they slowly landed, the eagles touched down gracefully, their talons gripping the soft earth. Aksai slid off the eagle’s back. He looked around, scanning the area. The clearing was small but safe, surrounded by towering trees whose canopies swayed gently in the wind.
Lini Lowanfield, still shackled but silent, followed Aksai’s movements with her eyes. Her face remained impassive, but there was a sharpness in her gaze.
The bald elder stepped closer, giving a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Rest up, lad. We’ll need our strength for what’s ahead. We are only halfway there.”
Aksai returned the smile, though he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. He made a mental note to keep an eye on the old man, just in case.
A few minutes later.
As soon as they landed, the bald sect elder approached Aksai with a calm, almost too friendly demeanor.
“Lad, why don’t you and the girl take a break here?” he said, gesturing to Lini, who stood quietly by Aksai’s side, her movements restrained by the runic shackles.
“You both could use some food and water, rest a bit. We’ll scout the area, make sure there’s nothing lurking around that could cause trouble.”
He turned to the other three Foundation Building sect elders and instructed them, “You, check the east. You, the west. And you take the north.” His voice was firm, and the others nodded in acknowledgment before swiftly heading off in their designated directions.
Finally, he picked the south for himself, gave Aksai a quick glance, and vanished into the forest with surprising speed.
Aksai watched them go. It wasn’t long before the sounds of the forest returned—leaves rustling in the breeze, distant bird calls, the soft padding of small creatures in the undergrowth. Soon, he and Lini were alone in the clearing.
It was almost peaceful, but Aksai’s instincts told him otherwise.
That’s when Lini chose to break her silence.
“Aksai,” she said, her voice flat but laced with coldness. “You… you are a cold-blooded killer, do you know that, right? You are not different from a demonic cultivator. In fact, you are even worse.
You shouldn’t have killed Rong Zhi. I… I was just beginning to like him.”
It was as if Lini wanted some alone time with Aksai to speak her heart. At first, she had thought that Aksai would take the initiative to speak to her. But seeing that Aksai had ignored her, she had decided to do the same. However, she couldn’t take it after she was left alone with him. She had to vent out her emotions.
Of course, Lini didn’t think that she was in danger of her life. After all, she was a core disciple of the Green Glory Lord. nobody had the guts to kill her. At least that’s what she thought.
Aksai didn’t turn to look at her. Her words were like a breeze that barely registered. Instead, his focus was elsewhere, scanning the environment, senses on high alert.
He could tell from the way the young sect elders behaved earlier that at least two of them were loyal to Haitin’s sect—at least for now.
Their obedience to the bald elder was unquestionable. But something about the bald elder himself, and the remaining fourth elder, didn’t sit right with Aksai.
He felt it in the subtle shifts of their body language and the way the bald elder directed the group. They were planning something.
‘I don’t have time for this,’ Aksai thought as Lini continued staring at him, expecting a response.
He wasn’t concerned about an immediate attack—the sect elders would be cautious about engaging with him before reaching the mysterious place. He couldn’t afford to make a scene here, not now.
Ignoring Lini’s lingering gaze, he spread his Spirit Sense as far as he could, expanding his awareness to track the movements of the sect elders who had scattered.
He sensed the two young ones moving east and west as expected. But the bald elder and the fourth one—there was a slight irregularity in their life energies. They weren’t scouting; they were positioning themselves.
For what? Aksai didn’t know yet, but he intended to find out.
Lini, noticing Aksai’s lack of response, stepped closer. “Did you hear me?” she asked, her voice sharp now.
“You killed him like he was nothing, Aksai. Did that mean nothing to you? He was a member of your team. And he was a good guy. He wasn’t smart and he had a kind heart. But that got him killed. It’s because of the SPirit cultivators like you that the kind and honest Spirit cultivators die young.”
Aksai glanced at her briefly but said nothing, his face unreadable. He wasn’t interested in her feelings about Rong Zhi, not now, not when he could sense an ambush being set up.
He quietly tapped into his druidic abilities, feeling the life energy of the plants and animals around them. There was a stillness in the air that confirmed his suspicion—something was about to happen.
He caught sight of a small flock of birds perched high in the trees, suddenly scattering as if startled by an unseen threat. Aksai narrowed his eyes. The bald elder and the fourth sect elder were no longer just scouting—they were circling back. They were moving to flank him and Lini.
‘Interesting,’ he thought to himself.
Without warning, Aksai turned his back on Lini, scanning the tree line once more. “Stay quiet,” he finally said, cutting off whatever retort she had been preparing. His voice was calm but carried an unmistakable edge.
Lini, taken aback by his tone, furrowed her brow but obeyed. She had her cultivation base sealed. As such, she couldn’t make use of her Spirit Sense. But, her instincts as a Foundation Building Experts were still there.
She sensed something was off as well now, her icy attitude replaced by a growing tension in the air.
Aksai clenched his fists slightly, his Spirit Sense sharpened, tracking the subtle movements of the two suspicious sect elders. They were getting closer.
He wasn’t going to confront them directly—at least not yet. But if they thought they could take him by surprise, they were sorely mistaken.
As Aksai stood there, focused on the faint energy signatures of the sect elders, something unexpected happened.
The bald sect elder and his accomplice veered from their original positions.
Aksai thought they would circle around and attempt to strike him, but instead, they turned on their fellow sect members—the ones loyal to Haitin.