Min Lian shouted as loudly as she could, combining the informative nature of her words with a slight sense of panic, causing her to be believed immediately, especially once they realised her identity.
“What happened? Who did this?” the avatars asked the second that she had gotten closer, although their words were hardly that unified and consisted of these questions being spoken in all sorts of different ways and with many different words.
“A man with a human physique. He wielded flame and burned his corpse to the bone!”
This made them believe her even more, for they had just witnessed one of the invader being transformed partially into an ancient phoenix and thus knew that the enemy had abilities of this nature. They unconsciously ignored the Dragon’s Wrath, executed right before them by Wei Yi, as being a tool available for the potential culprit, for it was well known to all that hatred automatons, and, conversely, hatred avatars, could not cultivate physique energy at all, and that using killing intent would destroy their resonance with the group.
Since Min Lian’s, or, in their eyes, Lin Qi’s resonance remained, how could she possibly wield great power and turn against her own kind?
Before any complicated questions could be raised, Wei Yi stepped through the crowd and asked, “The physique cultivator, where did he go? Is anyone else here, or the other parts of Automaton Point, still at risk?”
“He disappeared, but I think that he might be going towards the other leaders!” Min Lian answered, before her expression turned resolute, “Everyone, we cannot let this human faction attack us without any repercussions! As Fen Fang is dead, I wish to suggest myself for his position. Thanks to Wei Yi’s abilities, I am able to speak without any difficulties, and I will be the best for communicating with others.”
“That makes sense,” some said, seeing no reason not to permit her the mostly meaningless position, but others caught the small detail in her words, “What was the human able to do?”
“I have found out how to repair your bodies and minds, as well as providing you with a constant field of killing intent that can be maintained even in places where the Beast’s energies are not present,” Wei Yi answered on her own, looking towards the avatars that had suffered during the battle and now lay on the ground, “If you grant me permission, I can show this to you on the injured, and then follow you to the other parts of Automaton Point to protect you.”
Their decision was quick and unanimous, allowing her to approach the broken hatred avatars without any obstructions, only under the careful watch of every avatar present, including Min Lian, who played her role perfectly. Wei Yi knelt in between the injured, focused her killing intent, and spread out her field of stable energy.
“This may bring you some pain or discomfort, but I recommend that no-one interferes, or else the lives of your friends may be lost,” she warned those who were more suspicious of her than the rest, then broke the pages of killing intent stored within her mental domain, flooding each avatar with them.
Unlike her first attempt with Min Lian, she was now a little more familiar with the process, and thus blocked their nerves and throats immediately, applying some minor pressure to their bodies and faces to prevent them from showing the true extent of their suffering. In addition, she used her own killing intent to negate any fluctuations within the resonance of the hatred avatars, further dis-incentivising the gathered crowd from interfering in the process.
As before, when their skin began to return and their eyes slowly changed to normal, she also found their killing intent structures appearing within their hearts, heads and, in the case of one female avatar, within her abdomen. They were varied and rather curious to witness after seeing so many using the same fifteen techniques over and over again, so she gathered everything she could about their techniques while attempting to reconnect the threads of memory within their heads. To prevent a similar situation to Min Lian occurring to them – as she still had no idea why it happened, and seeing everyone she healed suddenly bowing down to her would be rather strange – she was incredibly careful in doing this, limiting her actions to the absolute minimum.
Compared to her first attempt, which took several hours, this one only took up one, at the end of which all of the hatred injured avatars were restored to their living forms.
“How is this possible?” asked someone from the crowd, and the rest nodded.
Such a thing was comparable to bringing the dead back to life without a single flaw, with all of their memories intact, and was considered to be one of the most desired techniques of them all, for almost all had someone that they wished to resurrect. Of course, to bring a hatred avatar back to human form was less significant, but it still astounded a secluded society that knew little of cultivation to begin with.
“We… We’re alive again?” the one female hatred avatar muttered, noticing both her pristine, new pale skin and the return of her killing intent, but even when she understood that she was mistaken, she stood up and bowed to Wei Yi, “Thank you so much for healing us, human!”
“Yes, thank you!” the other four, all of whom were men, also bowed to her.
“Please, there’s no time for this. My work has taken a lot of time while Fen Fang’s killer is still out there, potentially heading to other settlements. We must go immediately,” Wei Yi stopped them, putting on the façade of some kind of heroic figure while simultaneously studying the bodies of the other hatred avatars to see whether it would be possible to learn of their techniques without needing to support them with her energy.
“That’s right, although the killer likely doesn’t know our passages and tunnels well, he still has an enormous lead. If we are to prevent further deaths, we should go this very second,” Min Lian nodded, turning to the other avatars, “Hurry and take different paths! I shall bring Wei Yi through them myself.”
There was no questioning of her instructions, and so the hatred avatars rushed off into the distance, leaving their new leader and Wei Yi on their own.
Once they were far enough away, Min Lian turned towards her and bowed.
“I have done as you commanded, Master. Fen Fang looks like he has been attacked by a physique cultivator, and there are no methods known to me that can distinguish between my flame and that of physique energy. Even if they are suspicious of our actions, they will have nothing but that,” she said, “Do you wish me to do this to the other leaders, or do you have different intentions?”
“For now, we shouldn’t aggravate them further. Bring me through to the other parts of Automaton Point and share the location of all of the other passages while we are travelling. Do you understand?”
“Of course, Master. Please, come with me,” the assassin nodded.
She brought her to one of the many residences within the walls of the cave, where a small tunnel was partially hidden behind a large bookcase with nothing inside it. They stepped inside and then began to sprint at the fastest speed the assassin was capable of, which was still significantly higher than the typical running speed of most ordinary people, and, by extension, the hatred avatars, who had the advantage of having infinite stamina but no particular power within their ancient muscles.
According to the memories Min Lian retained from her life as Liu Qi, there were a total of four parts to Automaton Point, each one having one speaker to coordinate things and to ensure smooth communication between them. Out of all four, the one previously led by Fen Fang was the lowest and deepest portion of the settlement, and it was connected to the other three via a complex network of underground passages dug by the amalgam automatons in such a way that no ordinary person without a map could navigate them without dying of exhaustion. Meanwhile, the hatred avatars could use their natural sensitivity to killing intent and their resonance with their peers to get a better idea of where to go and have no risk of dying due to the lacking air beneath the ground.
If the lowest part was to now be called Min Lian’s quarter, then there would also be Qi Zhou Zan’s quarter, Yawen Yazhu’s quarter and Ya’s quarter, in the ascending order of depth.
Qi Zhou Zan’s part of the settlement was slightly higher than Min Lian’s, containing roughly the same number of avatars and occupying a similar natural underground cave to the latter, but the leader was even less involved in things than Fen Fang had been. All she did was ask the most human-looking of the quarter’s avatars to occasionally serve her to capture some basic sense of nobility.
Yawen Yazhu was a man that was significantly more involved in matters than the previous two, and resided in an artificial cave dug out by countless amalgam automatons despite the fact that the population of the third quarter was lesser than the other two combined.
Finally, their current destination was the fourth quarter, managed by Ya, an ambiguous figure that, a little like the Master of Yi City, was apparently called both a man and a woman while lacking the distinctive features of both due to their state of decay leaving their outer body with few humanoid features. However, their internal organs had survived in a significantly better state, and thus they had a clear voice that made them the perfect candidate for the position of speaker. Their approach to leadership was mostly similar to Yawen Yazhu, although they only had a small team following their orders while the rest were free to live as they wanted.
The fourth quarter was close enough to the surface to occasionally catch glimpses of the sky, with parts of the cave being artificial and others being entirely natural. Unlike the other three quarters, everyone resided in proper homes and residences, which was somewhat impressive as the population of the fourth quarter was twice as high as the rest of the quarters combined.
This made things a little more complicated. If all quarters had the exact same approach to leadership as Fen Fang, then killing the leaders and simply converting someone vocal to her side would be enough to gain their support and get the ability to bring them to Beast’s Rest and convert them into permanent forces of the town and of her faction. However, when it came to the two stricter leaders, if they were to suddenly perish, even if it was believed that it was done by some intruding enemy, those who served under them would be unlikely to recruit a random individual to be their leader.
Even if Wei Yi could convert one of them to her side, the other avatars of importance might still be unlikely to follow them out of Automaton Point without the right and intense stimulus being applied.
‘In that case, I can just bring the invasion to them, can’t I? That Lustful Warlord seems to have been someone important, and I can still sense more forces coming through the field of stable killing intent that I had left behind – which I should collect now, just in case I need to heal more hatred avatars – so if they were to invade all quarters and pose a significant threat even with the various means the avatars have to protect themselves, they might be open to going to the home of the only person that has the genuine ability to fight off the physique cultivating invaders,’ Wei Yi considered once Min Lian finished her explanation, stretching a little when the third stage physique energy finally stabilised within her body, ‘Even if I cannot control the minds of most people that I heal, this Ya should still be inclined to support me if I heal their form.’
“Master, we will soon approach the others. I will return to my fake identity,” Min Lian warned.
“Go on. When we get to Ya, or whoever we will meet in their stead, appeal to the threat of the invaders and the fact that I was the only one capable of fighting them off. If you could suggest moving elsewhere, perhaps behind the walls of other capable humans, without outright saying it, then do so,” commanded Wei Yi, turning to the side and drawing a small symbol on the wall.
One of the easiest ways to explain the true extent of a threat was to lead that threat all the way to someone, and if her intuition was accurate, then they were only able to find their way here through the previous random symbols she had left behind.
Min Lian nodded and slowed down to seem more ordinary, catching up to the hatred avatars and melting into the crowd alongside Wei Yi, slowly making their way towards the front of the line as was only suitable for the leader of the group. Like this, they continued walking and traversing the tunnels, with the rare and occasional stops to confirm that they were heading in the right direction, as even the avatars didn’t have a perfect understanding of the countless tunnels.
Almost half an hour later, they finally got close enough to the fourth quarter of Automaton Point for Wei Yi to sense the various resonances of killing intent with her own spiritual perception.
There were just as many entrances to the cave, but unlike the singular guard of Min Lian’s quarter that sat by and stroked various amalgam automatons, this one had a guard for every three or four exits, with each one having one automaton by their side. Also unlike the first quarter, their automatons weren’t only of the amalgam variation, with several animalistic and humanoid ones standing by the guards.
When they emerged, these guards did not react either to Min Lian or to Wei Yi, perhaps having seen humans more commonly in this part of Automaton Point, but as more and more avatars emerged, they looked at one another in confusion before one of them ran off.
The others approached them, with one of them asking, “What is happening? Why have you all come here?”
“There has been a major invasion on our quarter. Fen Fang was killed, I have taken his position, and we nearly suffered extreme losses but were saved by this human,” Min Lian summarised things quickly to the guards before looking in the direction of the largest, most grand residence in the entire cave, “May we go to Ya and inform them about the threat?”
“How many invaders are there?” the guard asked, not providing them with an answer yet.
“We suspect that there may be more, but the first major wave that we witnessed contained around fifty powerful physique cultivators from the surface,” she answered, “I heard one of them speaking of a warlord, so it is possible that they were here under the orders of a major leader.”
“Fifty… This human was the one that defeated them?”
“I did, yes. You could just ask me, you know?” Wei Yi stepped in, pretending to be bothered by the way in which the guard refused to speak to her directly, only glancing at her in slight suspicion instead.
“Did you? Did you also lure them here when you were unable to deal with whatever it was that you did to annoy the warlord? Don’t expect a warm welcome from us just because you didn’t immediately flee the scene!”
“Excu-”
“By the resonance, what are you saying? Look at her? Not only did she remain and singlehandedly handle everyone that was attacking us, but she stood directly in the line of fire of countless arrows to prevent any of us from being hurt, then healed those of us that were wounded! What kind of fucking moron would she have to be to do all of these things?” before Wei Yi could say anything, Min Lian burst out with righteous indignation, almost as if she had been there while the arrows were piercing her body and was now disgusted by her treatment, “She can restore us to our original states, and she hasn’t asked for any kind of reward!”
‘Right, I forgot about that. I could have gotten a lot out of these avatars…’
“What did you just say? Restoring your states? You…”
“Master Ya has said… that they want to see you! Stop your chatter… and come… immediately!” the other guard that had run off came back with impressive speed, interrupting the question and grabbing one of the hatred avatars by the arm, “Move!”
This was an incredibly forceful move, but it was to the benefit of Wei Yi and Min Lian, so they instantly went along with it and allowed their entire congregation to be dragged towards the large building owned by Ya, the speaker. Exactly as they had guessed, it was the largest building in the cave, with three floors that almost resembled the Ancestral Hall of the Yi District, albeit without all of the immortal gold that always decorated it.
Even the front doors to which they were led were decorated to the absolute extreme. Every single millimetre was filled to the brim with detail, all kinds of images, shapes and creatures dancing around the wooden doors, with a few small parts of it featuring rather explicit imagery of the reproductive cycle in many forms.
‘The perversion of the world extends to the hatred avatars too, then. I have to say, it would be far more pleasant if the one who owned this door wasn’t said to be a large mass of human-shaped flesh, but I suppose that isn’t their fault,’ Wei Yi commented to herself, looking away once she realised how much attention she was paying to these things as of late, ‘This isn’t necessarily a problem, but it might mean that my body and mind have decided that lust is more than a means to deal with stress to me… With two very willing subjects in Beast’s Rest, I suppose I might as well experiment…’
At the door, the guard stopped everyone but her, Min Lian and two of the fastest hatred avatars, with the rest being made to wait near the door.
They were brought towards the central staircase of the residence, then up to the third floor and back towards the front side of the structure, into a room that had an enormous window that would have lit it up entirely if there was any kind of sunlight in the prison realm.
One armchair stood in front of the window, and five more were placed around a low table in the middle of the room, with a bowl and plate of wood and stone carved to resemble fruit, vegetables and meat together in a satisfying and filling meal. There were even two cups made of incredibly thin wood that contained fake liquid made out of a particular type of stone to fake the appearance of tea or fruit juices.
Clearly, Ya missed their former life greatly, and did whatever they could to reclaim parts of it.
“Master Ya… we’ve brought them over…” the guard said, nudging them all into the room before shutting the door behind them according to some common protocol.
Based on where the guard was looking, it appeared that Ya was sitting in the armchair that had its back facing towards them, but even a few minutes of waiting did not result in any kind of acknowledgement from them.
Min Lian and Wei Yi shared a glance, then the former stepped forward, bowing slightly as she said, “Ya, I-”
“New speaker of the first quarter? Could I speak with your new human ally alone?”
“Eh… C-Certainly. I will stand outside and wait… for my turn, I guess…” Min Lian said, her voice full of genuine confusion. Of all the things that they had expected, it was not for the speaker of the fourth quarter to address Wei Yi directly.
When she and the other hatred avatars left the room, the figure sitting in the armchair finally stood up and showed themselves to her. Ya turned out to be exactly as they were described, with only the barest of human features and resemblance. They had a head, arms, hands, legs, feet and a body, but if they were to be taken apart, no-one would ever recognise what part of the body they belonged to, for even the face only had two slight indentations that might resemble eyes.
“Hello. Could we get directly to the point?”
“If you prefer. I heard your conversation outside. I need to know if you can restore my state.”
Thanks for the chapter!
Nice, oculus. You're on that grindset mindset. Just take care and try not to burn yourself out.