Reborn as a Demonic Tree

Chapter 357: First Impressions

"Looks like I'll have to step in—"

"Hold on," Ashlock's voice echoed through her mind, "Are you about to do what I think you are going to do?"

Damn it. Stella paused with one foot in the aether and looked at the sky with an innocent smile, "Whatever do you mean, Tree?"

"You can handle the situation however you please as it involves your Disciple, but I just wanted to point out that many people from Darklight City's Academy are in attendance. While we have an information blockade around the city, there are still ways they could alert their families. I suspect many are participating in this tournament for that reason. To gather information."

"Should I kill them too, then?" Stella didn't understand the concern. If there were no witnesses, then there was no problem, right?

"Honestly, we are stronger than everyone in the region except maybe the Patriarch at this point. Anyone they send to deal with me will become my food. So you can do as you please. Just bear in mind that whatever you do will be the first impression they have of you... beside the exaggerated rumors, of course."

"First impression?" Stella grinned. Oh, this is going to be fun.

She took off her Phantom Veil Amulet and let her 7th stage of Star Core Realm pressure and bloodlust run free. If there was an impression she wanted to give to these people of the Blood Lotus Sect, it was that the Ashfallen Sect and herself were not to be messed with.

If I can make them fear me now, then hopefully, I won't get dragged into as many meetings in the future.

Stepping through the aether, Stella appeared a few steps behind Jasmine. The moment she arrived, her pressure descended on the area, causing everyone's heads to snap in her direction.

"The Princess of Slaughter," the drunkard went pale as he staggered backward. "W—What are you doing here!"

Stella ignored the drunkard and surveyed the crowd, finding the variety of reactions to her appearance interesting. Those wearing cult clothes had nothing but respect in their gazes, and some even bowed. The mortals that weren't part of the All-Seeing Eye, despite the incentive of joining to be let into the tournament realm early, all stepped back in fear as if they had done something wrong. Meanwhile, the few Soul Fire Realm cultivators who belonged to various noble families from the Blood Lotus Sect watched on in interest.

As Ashlock had warned her, this was the first time those from Darklight Academy had been allowed so deep into the Ashfallen Sect's affairs. Until now, they had been kept at arm's length and in the dark as much as possible regarding what was happening on Red Vine Peak. But with the Ashfallen Trading Company selling pills and creating Ashfallen City, there was no point in hiding anymore.

Now, all that was left to do was leave a lasting impression.

Stella stepped forward, and the crowd behind the drunkard solidified into a wall of people, preventing the man from being able to retreat any further. He glared at them with hatred before turning back to face her.

He tried and failed to form a sentence under the intensity of her glare.

"What? Cat got your tongue now that I'm here, and you can't bully my Disciple anymore?" Stella crossed her arms, "I heard everything you said, so there's no point pretending to be a mute now. Come on, say your piece to my face."

Someone from the crowd pushed the man forward, causing him to stumble a few steps. Stella reached out to steady him by the shoulder.

"You know this is a rare opportunity?" she hissed in his ear. "It's not often I have enough patience to hear people out." She pushed him back as he reeked, "Now tell me, why do I need a goal?"

The man gulped, "Because such kindness doesn't exist in the wilderness. So you must have a goal besides being nice to us! I know it—"

"There's no need to shout. We can all hear you." Stella sighed. "But yeah, you caught me red-handed. I do have a goal."

The man looked at her strangely.

"What? Did I ever say I didn't have one?" Stella snorted, "As you said, nobody is that nice. Especially me."

"See, I was right!" The man turned to the crowd. "She has ulterior motives for turning us into cultivators."

"Yeah, of course I do."

The man grinned, "What is it?"

Stella tilted her head, "Why would I tell you?"

The man's confident expression cracked, "Because... the people deserve to know!"

"They don't deserve shit

," Stella glared at everyone gathered, and they all took a step back, "The Ashfallen Sect and the cult of the All-Seeing Eye aren't a charity."

"Right, exactly. We don't deserve all of these free things, as you say. So you are raising us as cultivators to fight off the beast tide, right?!" The man said triumphantly, and murmurs of agreement spread throughout the crowd.

Stella flexed a hint of her cultivation and bloodlust, making everyone fall silent at once as their eyes widened, and many collapsed to the ground. As they all groaned, Stella snorted. "What in the nine realms would you pathetic weaklings do against a beast tide? If anything, you would just be food for the monsters." Stella met the gazes of the few Soul Fire Realm cultivators from the academy that remained standing, "The Ashfallen Sect and the All-Seeing Eye will be the ones protecting the land and its people. Not the other way around. If anything, I'd rather you all stayed out of my way while I deal with the monsters."

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"Then why go through all the effort?" the man grunted from the ground as he struggled under a hint of her soul's presence. "Turning mortals into cultivators! Providing free housing and food? It doesn't make any sense!"

"It's simple, really." Stella paused as everyone strained their necks, clearly curious about the depth of her schemes. "I just wanted more money," Stella shrugged. "Running a sect is expensive, you know?"

"Wha—money?!" The drunkard's face twisted in confusion, "How is giving out free things a way to make money?"

Stella crouched before the man, looking at him like an injured puppy, "Oh, you poor soul." She placed her finger against his skull, "There's not much in here, is there? Let me spell it out for you so your empty brain can understand. What does the Ashfallen Trading Company sell?"

"Pills," the man said, gritting his teeth.

"Good," Stella smiled, "Now, who would we sell the pills to?"

"Cultivators?" The man said hesitantly.

"Sure, but there's some problems. The only cultivation family here is the Redclaws, who assist in making the pills. Okay? Are you following me? There are certainly rogue cultivators in Darklight City, but they aren't known for having the deepest pockets. Basically, they are poor. The people of Darklight City Academy were also potential clients," Stella glanced up and met the eyes of the curious students gathered around, who were all likely older than her despite being so much weaker, "But as I'm sure even they will admit they aren't the most favored children of their respective families as they are studying in this backwater city and therefore also have shallow pockets. So, I ask again. Who can the Ashfallen Trading Company sell pills to?"

Stella could see the wheel turning in the man's head as he put the dots together.

"You made us all cultivators, not for war but so you could sell pills to us?"

Stella grinned, "There we go! Why should we sell to other cultivator families when we can mass produce and sell weak pills to hundreds of thousands of mortals turned into cultivators? As you all advance, so will your need for pills, and the Ashfallen Trading Company will be there by your side to provide high-quality and affordable pills."

"But what about the free housing and food? What does that have to do with selling pills."

Stella laughed, "These stone huts were easy to make, and we purchased the food from the farmers at a fair price. The money returned to us anyway, as the farmers turned around and used those same spirit stones to buy pills from us."

"That's evil..."

"Is it?" Stella tilted her head, "We just figured the easier lives people had, the more productive they would become, and the more money they would have to purchase pills. Nobody is forcing them to buy our pills and pursue the path of a cultivator, a life many of your buddies in the crowd seem to have decided to reject. Which is fine. We sell to those who want it and leave everyone else be."

Murmurs spread throughout the crowd. Listening in, Stella concluded that revealing the truth behind Ashfallen's generosity seemed to be doing more good than harm to their public image. Such generosity, especially out here in the wilderness, was understandably met with suspicion. So, learning that their generosity came from greed for their money helped ease people's fears as it was a far better outcome than being turned into cultivators to participate in wars or act as pill furnaces.

"Bullshit," the man spat on the ground in disgust, "You expect us to believe you will be as kind to those that don't buy into your little scheme? There's no way you will let us who disagree with your evil methods go. What of the people in the mine? Why did you kill them?"

"They were pests waiting to be culled," Stella said simply.

"That's not a valid justification! What heinous acts did they commit?"

"Do I need justification?" Stella increased her spiritual pressure, smashing the man to the ground, "I'm the judge and executioner around here. My job is to eliminate inconveniences or threats to Ashfallen. There was something about them sacrificing citizens, but honestly, the most criminal thing they did was cause me to waste my entire morning in a meeting about their antics, so I slaughtered them. Is that so hard to understand?"

Stella lessened her pressure as it seemed the man was struggling to speak. He coughed violently for a moment before getting enough air in his lungs to utter a reply. "Psycho bitch."

"That's harsh," Stella pouted, "I can be quite nice and diplomatic when I want to be." White soul flames sprouted to life across her shoulders before snaking down her arms and wreathing her fingertips. "It just so happens today is not one of those days."

The man's eyes widened in horror, "You... are going to kill me?"

"Isn't that what you wanted my disciple to do earlier?" Stella asked, tilting her head innocently. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"But the witnesses! Everyone here will see your act of cruelty. A powerful cultivator killing a mortal for speaking the truth!"

"Uh huh," Stella nodded along and acted like she was thinking it over. Right as some hope had returned to the man's eyes, she paused and looked straight into his gaze. "But I don't really care, though?"

"Wha—"

"Whether you said truth or lies, your fate was already sealed," Stella said dryly as she picked at her nails, flickering with her soul flames. "You picked on my Disciple, spoke poorly of the Ashfallen Sect, but most criminal of all," Stella narrowed her eyes at him. "You're an eyesore."

Stella flicked her finger, and white flames jumped from her fingertip, impacting the man's forehead.

A pulse of white spread throughout his body along his veins. The man seemed unaware of what had happened as Stella released her pressure. He stood on wobbling legs and glared at her, "I knew you wouldn't kill me!" he smirked as if he had won, "You don't have the guts."

"Neither will you," Stella said dismissively.

The man sneered, a glint of mockery in his eyes, "The hell do you mean by tha—"

Before he could finish, white flames erupted from his body as the aether answered Stella's call and latched onto his skin from within like ghostly white claws. There was a brief expression of twisted horror on the man's face as he looked at the ghostly fingers emerging from his body before his flesh was peeled away in grotesque strips, unraveling from his bones as if the aether was obeying the command of an unseen butcher. His scream pierced the air, raw and desperate, but was cut short as the aether claimed his lungs, silencing him forever.

The white flames of the aether didn't stop there as they rapidly spread throughout the rest of his mortal body like wildfire, devouring his organs next and reducing him to a mere shell of what he once was. As quickly as everyone realized what was happening, nothing remained of the man but a pristine white skeleton, suspended for a breathless instant before gravity exerted its ever-present authority. With a hollow clatter, the skeleton fell forward onto the cobbled stone street.

A disturbed silence overcame the area as Stella casually dismissed her soul flames and snapped her fingers to close the doorway to the aether plane.

Since the man had been in the lowly Qi Realm, orchestrating such a brutal death had been child's play. His Qi was so faint that while the man thought she had spared him, Stella had effortlessly commanded her aether Qi to invade his body and mark everything but his bones for transport through the aether. By sending every part of his body to different locations, he was basically torn apart by reality itself, with only his skeleton left behind.

Against such a weakling, this gruesome technique felt like overkill—to silence him, a single swing of her sword would have been far more practical, saving both time and Qi.

But Stella did this to leave an impression, and judging by everyone's stares, she had been successful. Smirking to herself, she spun on her heel to face her Disciple.

The little girl looked understandably horrified and pale, but perhaps the person who looked the most taken aback by the whole thing was the cultivator standing next to Jasmine.

She seems to be around the second stage of the Soul Fire Realm. Not strong enough to be the one who cut Ashlock's roots, but wearing a mask is rather suspicious.

"Jasmine."

"Y-Yes Master?" Jasmine gulped.

Stella gestured to the woman standing next to her.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"