Elder Cultivator

Chapter 1209

Eventually people grew wise enough to not cause any more trouble for Lexia’s planetary escort, though she herself was only a small portion of the deterrent force. Of course, as an Augmentation cultivator some people feared her, but just like sect head Ratna she could only be in one place at a time. Her techniques simply weren’t suited for wide-scale combat. She could take out a significant number of individuals or vessels, but she couldn’t defend a whole planet.

Despite the scale of the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance, it was still difficult for them to perfectly cover the transported planet either. Most of their forces were needed in their territory, or they were in training.

But Prospero was entirely different. He was perfect for taking out numerous small targets with precision. Strong enough to take out more powerful individuals if they were stupid enough to try to get to him, as well.

The only reason it took so long for the trouble to stop was that he was too effective at taking out incoming groups. The Guardians focused on the more concentrated targets, and he dropped falling stars on everyone trying to slip past and dismantle bits of the planet. Even if a few ships were successful at the first part, they rarely ever got away.

Finally, they reached close enough to Veiled Brilliance territory that nobody was going to act. The potential value was fully outweighed by the consequences.

Except... those consequences were also brought upon those who had been successful early. Ratna had been handling those cases herself, with the help of others from the Veiled Brilliance and some of the delegation from the Distant Shadow Sect. Even if they hadn’t been caught immediately, the energies of any prominent sect or clan had been remembered. Once the Scarlet Alliance had been called upon, they were able to record all of the energy signatures entering the area- at least every cultivation method, if not individual cultivators.

Lexia was most excited about keeping that technology. It was a mix of vaguely familiar formations and ‘electronics’ which were simple on the surface and extremely complex underneath. The most important thing, though, was that they worked. They could do a wide variety of things, but recording was the most interesting. Cultivators had their own methods of recording, but they were usually less precise. Even if they worked, they couldn’t match energy signatures to databases of known sects.

It was a bit of a shame when the journey was over. It was a good station for a few decades. Lexia had gained many merits, and of course the value of having access to a Domination cultivator couldn’t be overstated. Even if she was careful not to be overly bothersome, over the course of the journey she had gained quite a bit of confidence. That didn’t mean she was willing to try to jump into Domination in the next decade or anything... but the idea that she actually might someday was actually quite encouraging. Even if it was in a few centuries. Or maybe a millennium.

Chances were still high that she would fail, but high wasn’t the same as nearly guaranteed. And even if she never took that step, Lexia was encouraged that she could become stronger within Augmentation, at least a little bit.

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Ratna considered the planet in front of her, having finally been settled into place in a safe orbit on one of the core systems. It was literally a planet full of valuable resources, even if the value was mainly in what was stored within the materials rather than the materials themselves. She didn’t need more lower energy to train with herself- she’d already solidified her foundation long before. It certainly would have been more difficult to reach Augmentation without, and Domination required even more specialized energy control. At some point all cultivation methods had been built on the basis of lower energy, and there was good reason for that.

None of this was for her, but for her sect. Her sects, actually. It was convenient that she had to call upon the Distant Shadow Sect, so that it was less suspicious to send them their rewards.

There were plans to send an even more valuable planet in the future- though to include plantlife that was even vaguely fresh would require much more setup and a more complicated transportation process. That also meant handling security on this end... though she did have a recently cleared route. Securing someone like Prospero Vandale again for multiple decades was a bit much to ask, though. Some aid from the Alliance wouldn’t be bad, but relying on their Domination cultivator might make her look weak.

They did sell pillows, though. They were so good that she’d seen people willing to kill for them. The Scarlet Alliance wouldn’t accept payment in the form of assassination or murder, though. Nor would they sell to people who killed their customers. It wasn’t always possible to find out, but people weren’t as good at hiding things as they thought. Ylvali had needed to ban more than a few clans and sects from sale- which ultimately meant they had to buy secondhand for extra cost, or risk violent conflict repeatedly.

It wasn’t really about the pillows, of course. Those were the most extreme examples. The journey was about the goods as a whole and people accepting their presence. Every once in a while there were bandits who thought to ambush their ship, only to find that it was far more powerful than it felt when the energy of every cultivator aboard combined. A few groups also tried to attack them, but Ylvali stayed away from anywhere she thought to be actually dangerous. And instances of violence resulted in a sale ban.

No pillows. No high end chocolate. No cultivation manuals.

The mission wouldn’t be possible with just the Starstriker, of course. It was more than just the support fleet that traveled with them, but also the various other groups. The Trigold Cluster wasn’t tiny, after all. Ylvali could only create familiarity along a few routes, a few dozen systems and their neighbors.

The ultimate goal was to work their way closer to their ally, the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. The Scarlet Alliance avoided sending actual military forces into the area- though that was mostly a matter of numbers. Eventually, though, they wanted to be able to do so without deception. If they were respected by the local sects, the border systems be reluctant to act against them. That would make it easier to reach the deeper sects, and make it harder for said sects to avoid retaliation if they caused problems.

Captain Ylvali liked her task. It was good for her cultivation to be able to travel, and it was filled with just enough risk to promote her growth and those of her crew without putting her in the same category as the battle maniacs. Even with Tauno gone the Dancing Slayer Sect lived on and spent their time hunting down monsters.

She also had a great amount of independence- which might not have made sense to others, given the way that the ship functioned. But she could make decisions and count that they would ultimately fit into the actions of the Starstriker as a whole. They had a connection, with Ylvali’s cultivation having influence from Assimilation, Confluence, and at least the inspiration of Unity even if it was far short of that threshold.

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Normally the policy was to have minimal interference in local affairs, at least as it didn’t relate to the goals of the Alliance. They weren’t trying to cause revolutions wherever they went... at least not in the short term. Long term cultural influence was a different thing entirely.

That was normally the policy... but Ylvali found herself in situations where she had to make choices frequently enough.

Like when a certain old woman approached her on one of their stops. They were on a small moon. It barely had an atmosphere, with a weak ecosystem. But cultivators being cultivators, some lived there anyway. It had decent amount of energy, at least.

The hunched old woman was extremely straightforward. “I request asylum aboard your vessel.”

Ylvali sighed internally. “What did you do?” she asked. She wasn’t expecting a complete explanation, but she had to at least know who she would be angering, even if some strange part of her had already decided to help the lady.