Patriarch Gordon Eastheart maintained a perfectly practiced straight face, even after Tundra privately briefed him of his findings. He merely nodded, and shrugged. The private room was properly secured from spies and eavesdroppers, and was lushly decorated. He found it a little gaudy, but it was a common design and style. A style that he saw so much that he no longer found it irritating

“It won’t remain an issue for long.” Patriarch Gordon Eastheart said. “Right?”

Tundra nodded. There was no point fighting this battle. The materials and spirit beast cores harvested would prove useful for his disciples and family. “It won’t. We intend to move tonight.”

“Then let us have a feast before you go out and deal with our pests.”

Tundra had to give it to the Patriarch. His ability to make serious matters, at least for them, sound thoroughly routine, was superbly practiced.

***

This time, Tundra’s wives were actually seated next to him. But he noticed Marin glanced uncomfortably at the guests, and seemed to constantly frown.

“I should’ve looked at the guest list.” Marin cursed as Tundra arrived at his seat.

“Oh? Something I should know?”

Marin looked at her husband, and sighed. “Nothing. It’s just that we’re on parade.”

Tundra smiled. It was not the first time. “Oh, who are we supposed to impress?”

“That’s the thing.” Marin cursed again, stood, and immediately walked to one of the head servants. Tundra briefly overheard some words, and the head servant ran to bring a paper document over to their table. Marin began flipping through it. “Ah alright. Just the heads of the various smaller families. Not the old patriarchs.”

“Old patriarchs?” Tundra asked. He was not aware of the old patriarchs in this area.

“A few families have patriarchs that can match my father, but they are really old. I do not know whether they have passed, and these families would never speak of it.”

The regressor touched his chin. It was common for many families to hide old monsters as their secret trump card. There are various life-preservation coffins that allow a powerful monster to sleep in stasis for about 1,000 to 2,000 years.

“I see. If there are old monsters, they’d never come out just for a lunch.” Tundra said. Not that he cared. He met his own fair share of old monsters in his past life, and lived to tell the tale.

Marin stopped, looked at Tundra and realized he was right. It immediately seemed like the stress on her shoulders loosened. “I- I guess you are right.”

“I met my share of old monsters. Don’t worry about it.” Tundra assured her with a smile, and looked at the food on the table in front of him. The food was already waiting for him. Servants quickly presented the food, once again, standard cultivator menu.

It didn’t take long for some of the guests to come over and rub shoulders.

“Is this the Sect Master?” At that point, three old men approached them, flanked by the Patriarch Eastheart. Tundra stood and respectfully greeted them. Marin stood as well.

“Well met, gentlemen, I am Sect Master Tundra Fox of the Verdant Snow.” The three old men were all in the low 4th realms, likely due to poor energy conditions, or perhaps a flawed cultivation.

The three bowed. “Well met, Sect Master Fox. I’m Patriarch Lhung of the Lhung family. We’re a mining and trading family in the smaller town of Weststeel. Patriarch Jeen is the head of the Jeenstone family, further north of Weststeel, and Patriarch Zhung is the head of the Zhung family, and rules over the Groundstone mining town.”

“Well met, fellow Patriarchs.” Tundra’s hand was clasped together in a typical greeting amongst peers.

Marin smiled, and immediately greeted them. “It’s nice to see you too, Patriarch Lhung, Patriarch Jeen and Patriarch Zhung.”

The three squinted and then smiled, as if suddenly noticing she was there. “Oh! You’re Gordon’s daughter!”

“Marin.” Marin emphasized, though Tundra noticed an unusual expression on Patriarch Gordon Eastheart, and as if to emphasize her value, she held Tundra’s hand really closely. “And Tundra’s my husband.”

“Ah!” The three old men immediately bowed to Patriarch Eastheart. “Your daughter not just snagged a golden thigh, she married a dragon!”

“It’s a long time ago.” Patriarch Gordon Eastheart downplayed the matter.

Tundra noticed the subtle trembling in her fingers, even as she feigned intimacy and confidence before the old men. The wedding happened so long ago, and yet she had a need to remind them of it. Tundra decided to speak. “Yes, and so we’re in-laws.”

The three old men actually looked impressed, “No wonder the Eastheart family don’t fear the beasts of the mountains!”

Patriarch Gordon Eastheart quickly changed the topic. “Now, now, let’s go back to my table and drink. We’ll not bother my son-in-law and daughter.”

The three old folk nodded, and followed Patriarch Eastheart back to their seat where they drank rice wine and various spirits like they were water.

Marin and Tundra sat back down, and Marin withdrew her hand once they were gone and out of sight. Tundra noticed this was how she usually was. Last time, he didn’t think too much of it.

It’s an act. A game. Tundra sat down, and reached for the larger bottle of rice wine.

“I’ll do it.” Elly, who was seated next to Marin, grabbed the bottle and picked up Tundra’s cup. She filled it for him. “Wouldn’t do for my husband to serve himself a drink when the three of us are present.”

Even though Marin was between Elly and Tundra, at that moment, the 5th wife was distant. She looked like she had a lot to process. So, he decided to lighten up the mood. “Will my wives drink with me?”

Celestia and Elly both poured themselves a drink, and Elly then helped pour one for Marin. That was when Marin snapped out of her thoughts, and she too, reached for her drink. They all drank a cup together.

Marin looked distant once more. He wondered whether it was his fault. Maybe some of his wives don’t want affection?

Maybe they don’t really want to be his wife?

Tundra thought about it, and thought it was unlikely. Tundra was supremely confident in himself. No one who reached 10th realm really doubted who they were, and what they were able of. They were almost living gods, and they knew their own worth.

Yet, he entertained the thought for a bit.

Marin noticed him staring, and looked away.

He thought about what Patriarch Gordon Eastheart said, and realized he had a point. He should just be direct with Marin. Maybe after this hunt.

***

Evening came, and it was time to hunt. Four Core Disciples, and Tundra’s three wives. Seven fourth realm cultivators in total.

He separated the [Earth Reduction Pill] into seven sets, each of them two. He kept one extra for himself, just in case. He likely didn’t need it, his realm meant he was far stronger than whatever they could do.

“The five of you will hide your cultivation.” Tundra gave them each a set of small cloaks. A fairly common equipment amongst assassins and thieves, the [Form Hiding Cloak] shrouded one’s cultivation, and made one appear weaker by one to two realms. It worked only on those below the fifth realm, and its effects were strongest on the third realm and below.

“Disciple Yavin, Celestia, you two will lead and wander around the marked location. I’ll be overhead to intervene if anything. The five of you stay back six fields until we lure out the Mudstone Gorilla Alpha.”

Everyone nodded. The plan was simple, all things considered. Walk around, attack spirit beasts until the alpha feels threatened, and then slay the alpha.

The Dragon Earthspine Mountains. It was called that way due to the peaks of the mountains resembling the spine of the earth dragons, of course, True Earth Dragons vanished from the world a long time ago, so no one really knew what they looked like.

But the name remains, and Tundra watched as the five waited quietly, and immediately noticed that Elly and Marin were not as skilled.

His Core Disciples were experienced. They did missions for the sect all the time, and so they had a lot of combat experience.

His two wives, less so. They grew up relatively privileged, and married to Tundra before they went into the higher levels of cultivation. So, they had limited exposure to the arts of hunting spirit beasts.

Their movements were clunky, and uncertain.

They could live longer, but that didn’t mean they were that much better or stronger. They needed the skills to match the higher raw power they now possessed. Celestia, on the other hand, was once a wanderer and so she seemed more natural in this environment.

It was something for a later time, he’ll work on it after they return to Verdant Leaf.

***

The Dragon Earthspine Mountains’ overwhelming earth energy was generally pleasant to Celestia, as wood had a controlling relationship with earth. But it wasn’t so pleasant for her teammate for their assignment.

Core Disciple Yavin Redaxe’s natural water element spirit roots was ‘drained’ by the earth, and reduced his effectiveness. Still, he seemed positive, and chatty.

They were supposed to be noticeable.

“It’s rare to see you in action, Lady Gale.” Yavin complimented her, and Celestia noticed a bracelet of [earth resistance] on his wrist. He seemed to have done his own share of preparations for this assignment.

Celestia nodded. “Well, my duties used to be more domestic in nature. I do miss going on assignments. It’s something I used to do, back in my previous sect.”

Yavin stretched, and saw a group of third realm spirit beasts, the Earthhorn Hogs. They were hogs with earth-element tusks, and hoofs, and their skin seemed reinforced by the earth-elements. His sword emerged first, and Celestia reached her own weapon. Both Yavin and Celestia were sword users, and it’s been estimated that sword users comprised almost half of all cultivators. “May I suggest that we start hunting spirit beasts?”

She nodded. “Well, let’s go?”

The spirit beasts noticed the two, and they quickly formed up into a line. Yavin immediately commented. “My research says that the Earthhorn Hogs tend to charge straight. If they smash into a tree or a stone they are momentarily stunned. Their vulnerable parts are their belly, but hitting it can be a challenge. In groups, they charge together.”

Celestia nodded. “Thanks for the briefing, Disciple Redaxe. So up or down, not sideways.”

The spirit beasts, about four of them, grouped together, and their tusks radiated earth energy. They charged as one.

Celestia jumped upwards as the group of four charged at them, and she tried to stab one of them as they ran beneath her. But they had reinforced hides, and her sword’s blade left no visible wounds.

Yavin had better luck, as he jumped, his sword flashed with fire, and he set the ground on fire right as the four spirit beasts went over it. It immediately caused the four spirit beasts to roar in pain, and made the four spirit beasts scatter into groups of two each.

“They’ll always try to regroup.” Yavin then clarified.

Celestia nodded. The Core Disciple was certainly the more experienced one, but just as Yavin could set a momentary fire to the group with his sword, she too, could do something similar.

The Earthhorn Hogs charged, and this time, she stabbed the ground. Sharp, spear-like roots emerged from the ground, and stabbed the four spirit beasts as they ran towards them like spiked traps.

The four yelped, and two collapsed dead.

There were two left, and the two charged together. It predictably ran into a wall of fire that burned them once more, and the remaining two died.

It was this predictability that made non-intelligent spirit beasts a realistic target for those of the lower realm. With the right strategy and equipment, it should even be possible for a mortal to achieve it.

“Well. We haven’t drawn attention yet.” Yavin said, as he surveyed the dead. “Let’s pick up the core and the tusks.”

The two immediately got to work, and harvested the spirit beasts.

***

Yavin and Celestia went on to defeat four other packs of spirit beasts, and yet, the alpha was nowhere to be seen.

One of the Core Disciples, Julia Silverpearl then immediately suggested through a strand of energy. “Sect Master, may we suggest that we all hunt spirit beasts together? We’d make a bigger presence, and since all of us are in the fourth realm, it might feel that we are a legitimate hunting pack.”

Tundra pondered the question for a bit, and realized it made sense. It’s likely the Mudstone Gorilla Alpha had the beginnings of true intelligence, and sensed their presence.

A bigger party would instead be openly taunting him. It taunted the alpha’s pride.

“A good suggestion, Julia. The remaining five split into two groups. Elly and Marin, you two move together with Core Disciple Julia.”

***

With three packs of cultivators, they started to hunt more 3rd realm spirit beasts. They were not far from the mine that held the Mudstone Gorilla’s nest, and all that sound and noise should lure it out eventually.

Each of them went on to kill another three to four packs of spirit beasts each, and then their prey arrived as expected.

It roared from the top of one of the mountain peaks, it was large, the size of a building with three floors, it’s fists were coated with hardened mode and stone. Despite being a gorilla, it actually wore a cape of some kind, a cape made from the skin and hide of a spirit wolf. .

“I see. That’s how it hid its presence.” Tundra focused on the cape, and it must’ve come from either a Whitestone Wolf, or a Whitesnow Wolf, both have some kind of camouflage ability. it must’ve learned how to use a cape by mimicking cultivators. Spirit beasts that gained some intelligence often display it through mimicry of cultivators.

The Alpha roared, and charged towards Celestia and Yavin. Yavin would be at the disadvantage, because he had a partial water element, and partial fire element. Earth was strong against water, and fire ‘enhanced’ earth. He would have to play defense.

Tundra watched as the alpha charged towards Yavin. It clearly had some sense of Yavin’s abilities and decided Yavin was the weaker one.

That was a mistake, because Yavin was the better prepared of the two. The Mudstone Gorilla Alpha was probably in the last few steps of the 5th realm, but his earth energy infused punch landed on a small buckler made of wood.

The [Eternal Treewood Shield], a shield infused with strong wood energy, the earth punch rattled the wood shield, and forced Yavin back a few steps out of sheer brute strength. It just hurt him slightly, but minor.

Celestia’s sword immediately landed on the alpha’s elbow, and her wood energies sliced through the earth. But it roared, and a bubble of earth energy blasted outwards.

“Ugh.” Celestia felt some of the rock shrapnels scratch her body, arms and face.

Yavin on the other hand, took none. A small bubble of wood energy released from the item protected him, and he quickly took the chance to strike with a fire element attack.

It didn’t work. There was a difference in realm, and because fire, under some situations, enhanced earth, the attack meant the attack didn’t scratch the Alpha Mudstone Gorilla. The Gorilla retaliated almost instantly with a punch, and Yavin barely blocked with his wood shield.

“I can’t hurt it.” Yavin cursed, as three other Core Disciples, Julia Silverpearl, Sam Darkwolf and Yerra Wishstone, arrived.

Julia Silverpearl was a wood focused cultivator just like Celestia, but she was a few minor stages behind. Sam and Yerra were both Earth-element, and so the three had an advantage.

The alpha roared, as earth energies surged throughout its body. An armor of glistening black stone resembling black marble formed over its body, protecting the alpha’s body

Yavin immediately shouted, as two swirls of water appeared around his body. The jets of water were used to enhance his mobility, and he exploited it to intervene defensively, blocking and “Like we discussed, I’ll play defense. Julia, lead the attack.”

Tundra watched, as his four core disciples moved with surprisingly well coordinated attacks, while his three wives looked and wondered what to do.

Julia Silverpearl took out a wooden spear from her spatial pouch, and used it to pierce the alpha’s stone armor. Despite the Alpha being a full realm above the core disciples, his four core disciples clearly researched the location and prepared for an encounter with a higher realm earth spirit beast.

As Sect Master, he felt proud. His four Core Disciples should be able to defeat the Alpha. Perhaps with some injuries, but the four should survive the encounter and live. It’s an achievement, and they will be rewarded for it.

As a husband, he couldn’t help but feel a little torn. He watched his three wives, in the same realm, but not of the same mastery. Marin, Elly and Celestia tried to help, but they didn’t have the synchronization the four core disciples had.

He’d like to get them up to the same level.

As predicted, both Sam and Yavin suffered some injuries, but it was their victory. Julia Silverpearl’s seventh [Verdant Strike - Spear Form], a wood-element attack, that shattered the black stone armor, and pierced the Alpha’s earth-enhanced body.

The fifth realm alpha died in the hands of four well coordinated fourth realm Core Disciples.

Pride. Tundra was proud. His past training of his Core Disciples was clearly worth it.

He immediately landed next to them. “Well done, my core disciples. That was well fought and practiced. The choice of equipment was well made. A good selection of wood element weapons and armor.”

The Core Disciples saluted. Yavin and Sam were bleeding, so Tundra reached into his pouch and gave them both a healing pill.

“Let’s harvest the Alpha’s body, and we will attack the nest.”

They made good choices for this fight, and this set of equipment will help with the nest later. The attack on the nest happened almost predictably, and this time it was a slaughter. Female Mudstone Gorillas were less combat-oriented than their male counterparts, and tend to focus on defense and protecting their young.

This made them fairly easy targets once sufficiently cornered.

The same set of wood-element equipment would not be so effective on the Scorchedstone Earthworms. The fire element would offset the wood’s advantage against Earth.

Tundra wondered whether it’ll be better for him to handle the Scorchedstone Earthworms himself.

***

Celestia noticed the look on Tundra’s face as he spoke to the Core Disciples. He was proud of them. They were capable, and in the earlier battle against the Mudstone Gorilla Alpha, they showed their worth by coordinating well and whittled down the higher realm beast.

When it came to hunting spirit beasts, she thought she was pretty good, but clearly she still lacked. The Core Disciples took after Tundra’s habits. After all, before he regressed, Tundra spent a lot of time with his Core Disciples. He trained them extensively.

Now, she felt she lacked depth. A sentiment her fellow co-wives shared. She, too, noticed how inexperienced Elly and Marin were. They were both privileged, far more privileged than she was, and it showed.

“We’re a little in over our heads.” Elly said, as she realized how out of place she was. “I’ll need to join more hunts.”

Marin’s face looked absolutely torn. She was pensive, as if she was reflecting on her own faults. But Celestia thought she would agree to Elly’s statement.

After the nest of the Mudstone Gorillas was completely destroyed and corpses raided for all their valuable materials, Tundra guided the group to the nest of the Scorchedstone Earthworms.

“Disciple Yavin, are you fully healed?” Tundra asked.

“Yes, Sect Master.”

“Our prey is of earth and fire, so that meant those of the wood element would be at a disadvantage.”

“Yes, Sect master. We’ve swapped equipment where we can.” Yavin answered.

In this aspect, Celestia noticed they didn’t prepare any anti-fire elements, except Yavin. Yavin’s natural fire-water roots meant he always had equipment that augmented his water aspects.

“Good, then you’ll come with me.”

Celestia watched, as Tundra went into the nest with just a Core Disciple. She couldn’t help but feel worried, especially when there were tremors and the roars of explosions from the mine.

She felt helpless, and she didn’t know why. Was it because she couldn’t contribute? Or she didn’t contribute as much as she hoped?

Marin sat in her own corner, as the rest of them made a small, makeshift camp outside of the nest.

Celestia didn’t know why the Core disciples looked absolutely relaxed. Julia was laughing happily with Sam and Yerra as if they were certain everything would be fine. Was she always such a worrywart? Was it because her husband is down there?

The sounds and tremors kept on going, and Elly seemed to share in her worries. Julia then handed a scroll to Celestia and Elly. It was a short summary of how to make the most out of Scorchedstone Earthworm corpses. They’d use the guide later to properly harvest the corpses.

“Do you think everything’s fine?” Elly asked Julia then.

Julia then nodded. “If we hear tremors and explosions, yup, everything’s okay. I’d be worried if it got quiet for a long time.”

It was obvious in hindsight. If they are alright, they’ll be fighting. If they are fighting, they’ll cause tremors. So as long as the tremors kept coming, things were thus okay.

Then, it got quiet.

Celestia was almost worried, but then they heard Tundra’s voice, transmitted through the winds. “The nest has been destroyed. Will need some help cleaning up the corpses.”

Julia smiled and gave her fellow core disciples a kick. “Alright lazy bums, Sect Master’s calling. Get moving, get moving!”

Yerra and Sam tried to dodge her kicks, but couldn’t. They were the weaker ones, by a little bit. All they could do was kowtow before their senior. “Yes, Senior Sister.”

Celestia didn’t know why the tunnel mines didn’t cave in from all the battling down below, but once she went inside she noticed the reinforced steel used at intervals along the mine.

The actual nest was an area filled with earth and fire energies, so when they arrived at the nest, they found Yavin meditating next to a spirit beast’s corpse.

“Alright, get to work.”

The Core Disciples got to work first.

The three wives followed, but they were a little clumsy. It was at this point that Elly actually said.

“I think I don’t really like hunting.”

Tundra smiled, while he cut up the main Queen. “It’s the privilege of a few to avoid doing what must be done.”

Elly’s shoulder slumped, as if protesting reality. Celestia nodded. It wasn’t pleasant, but a sect must do it for resources. Without resources, they couldn’t do more. The younger Earthworms were in the fourth realm. The earth element and fire element in them

She looked around and found Marin in a state of focus. She was covered in the slimy fluids of the Earthworm’s body, but the fifth wife clearly tried to work on her own assigned corpse.

The skin could be made into armor. The teeth and claws could be cut into weapons, its core made into cultivation pills. Some of it’s body parts, its heart, its spleen, were used to cure diseases caused by earth and fire elements misalignments.

Corpses were valuable. Even bones could be fashioned into tools. Some sects even have large spatial containers meant to store corpses in perpetual stasis, for proper processing back at their home sect.

Tundra naturally finished first. He had way more experience than anyone here, and once he was done he decided to stand back and just observe the rest of them. The Core Disciples didn’t question him.

His three wives, Celestia included, felt it was actually quite hard to properly cut out all the valuable parts of a corpse. The three took more time, and the Core Disciples worked twice as fast as they did.

Elly was the last one to finish.

With the fifth realm nests destroyed, it was time to return.

Celestia was right behind them, as Tundra approached Marin, and said.

“With this, your father will rest easier.”

Marin was tired, and pensive, so Celestia didn’t expect the response. “We shouldn’t have helped him make his life easier. He should deal with his own problems.”

Tundra did not respond, at first. Celestia suspected there was an undercurrent of frustration between Marin and her family. She wondered how Tundra would respond to Marin’s outburst.

Her husband looked at Marin, and for a moment it seemed like he had a million thoughts on his mind.

He smiled. “Marin, when we get back, let’s talk. Somewhere quiet, just the two of us.”

Marin looked at him, and then nodded. “Okay.”

***