[RSM] Chapter 99. Tour IV (Patreon)

The battle was as good as won once the Great Elders of the Challenger Sects made their move. The mutant wartigers could not stand up to the might of the eighth realm elders. The hunt was swift, but alas, still too slow.

The few moments when the Great Elders were distracted or occupied by other matters meant there were injuries and deaths. Unnecessary deaths. A few unfortunate disciples, a few injured scions. Some dead. 

The Sect Master called the guests to placate their emotion, but it was more of a sounding hall.

Many elders were screaming, and clearly, the White Striped Tiger had no choice but to accept such things. In the end, while deaths were sad, their sects knew that death lurked at every corner. 

That was life as a cultivator.

Tundra stood and said little, but focused his attention on the actions of the Great Challenger Sects. Someone snuck in powerful parasites into the wartigers and even created some kind of spiritual gate to send the giant mutants into the forest.

All to incite conflict.

The Bearmound Great Elder was not present. Tundra heard that the young mistress was heavily injured by the battle with the mutant wartiger, and was now under heavy, intensive care. The best healers of the White Striped Tiger were on the case, and Tundra hoped they would succeed.

There may be a war if she dies. Maybe not immediately, but relations soured and it would lead down into a spiral. 

"There are traitors in your midst, Sect Master Tugra." The same Great Elder of the Swaying Swords accused after one of the first bouts of complaints were heard. Tundra imagined that the same Great Elder wouldn't be so patient and understanding if young Master Candor Greyedge died in that Forest. 

He didn't exactly remember what happened to this tournament. It was too early on in his first life, and his attention was elsewhere. But there was a war between the Swaying Swords, the White Tiger, and also the Bearmound. 

The Bearmound's Great Elder surged in and his face was horrible. "Sect Master Tugra! I demand you take responsibility for this atrocity!"

Tundra sighed. The young mistress didn't make it. Yavin and Julia were back in their guest houses, and security was at its peak. No one knew whether there would be another incident. 

Two elders of the White Striped Tiger ran in to report. 

"We were able to save most of them, but unfortunately, young mistress didn't make it."

Sect Master Tugra stood, and did his best to look sympathetic and solemn. "Great Elder, come, let us talk privately."

"Private? PRIVATE?" He roared. "The mistress of the Bearmound Peak is dead! The only thing that needs to be given now is the blood of the perpetrators! An investigation and a public execution!!"

"Certainly." Sect Master Tugra said. "An investigation is already on the way."

"I will be a part of the investigators!" The man declared, ignoring whatever that has happened. "This concerns our prized descendants!"

It was an ugly sight, and the Bearmound Peak's elders rallied the other sects that lost disciples to the mutant attack to his side. The sects that got away mostly unscathed quickly realized it was not a good idea to stick around much longer, so they stepped back and left the meeting hall. 

Only the Great Challenger Sect's great elders, and the elders of the aggrieved sects remained. 

And Tundra Fox. 

He was not one to leave. Not when the Zuja clearly wanted this to happen. His spiritual senses were already trying to look for the Zuja amongst the visitors, and found none. 

There were also none amongst the senior elders and the Sect master of the White Striped Tiger. 

So, for once, it didn't seem like the leadership of the White Striped Tiger had been corrupted. The three large families' were present, and they looked equally as disturbed.

"I am surprised you remained to listen to the proceedings." The Swaying Sword's Great Elder came to talk to him once more. They met briefly during the banquets, and spoke a few introductory pleasantries. If Tundra recalled correctly, his name was Hayden Stonepummels.

He was a fairly decent eighth realm elder, though Tundra found his presence lacking when compared to Nord Truehaven, or to Wilber Blackpetals. "It is a matter of great significance, Elder Stonepummels. Is young master Greyedge recovering?"

"He is well, and my other elders are on duty to ensure their security. He lost a few protective talismans, but that is of little importance."

Tundra nodded. "The child is blessed by the heavens."

"Good fortune, for a protector to be at the right place and the right time." 

"A pity, what happened to the Bearmound's young mistress." 

Elder Stonepummels sighed. "Indeed, indeed. So many talents across history were lost because of such unfortunate incidents."

Tundra decided to poke the elder a little. "It is little consolation, elder. If it was young master Greyedge, the pain still cuts just as deep."

The elder only sighed again, somehow the man's sigh was deeper and longer. The man was perhaps a master at wistful sighing. "Very true. With this investigation, I believe the tournament is over." 

The White Striped Tiger placed a travel ban in order for the investigators to work through the entire city and all the potential suspects. A good four elders questioned everyone, and even Tundra was not exempt from it.

For one week, they remained to allow the investigators to do their work, and in the end, they found nothing. 

And nothing did not placate the Bearmound Peak at all. 

Tundra, however, had a gut feeling he wanted to figure out. 

"Sect Master Tugra, if it would not impose, may I have a look at the Forest of the Thousand Rainbow Wartigers again?" The Forests were cordoned off to everyone but the investigators, but now that they've found nothing, Tundra thought it was more appropriate for him to see whether he could find something.

There was a strange, unnatural silence when they realized it was a mid tier sect that spoke. They all turned, and briefly looked at him as if he was a monster. 

Sect Master Tugra's eyes met his, and for a moment they both looked at each other. Then, he relented. "Sure. But with an escort. Elder Gurdra Black will accompany you."

Strangely enough, Elder Stonepummels decided to butt in. "Someone from the Great Challengers should also go. I volunteer to accompany Lord Fox."

The regressor expected escorts, and so this aligned very much to his expectation.

***

The first place he wanted to check was where he first sensed the surge in the Zuja's energies, and it was a location just slightly further away from the first explosion. 

The White Striped Tiger likely combed through the entire forest, but they didn't know the enemy. Not like he did. 

"You seem to have something you want to find, Lord Fox." Gurdra followed, with a huge dose of curiosity and amusement.

"Perhaps, it is a hunch." 

"A dangerous thing to do, based on a hunch." 

Tundra gave but a weak smile. What are cultivators if not creatures of whims and amusement? The first location was a large pool, and here, Tundra's senses spread out. There were fishes, little bugs, worms, and other critters in the pool, but he wondered whether there was something else.

No. Not in the pool. He looked elsewhere, and then, turned his attention to the rocks and little hill of water-carved stone. There was nothing. The stone itself has nothing, and he almost moved on, when he saw a simple clawmark on a set of stones. 

He has seen them before in the swamps, and his memories of that swamp came back. He remembered the giant earthdigging worms that the Zuja manipulated to dig secret tunnels underneath it all.

They were deep underground. Much, much deeper. Cultivators' senses had to work harder to penetrate the earth, though it is often easier for cultivators of earth, wood and water to do so. 

He looked around, and realized he needed to find somewhere with soft soil. Soil that felt like they were recently moved.

It didn't help that it has been a week since the incident, so the moved soil could already have some foliage.

"I may need both of you to help."

"Oh?" The two escorts asked in unison.

"I am searching for recently moved soil. As if the ground itself had movement."

Gurdra Black immediately said in defense. "Surely the investigators would have noticed."

"Maybe." Tundra said. 

As it turned out, it wasn't hard to find an area where the soil felt less compacted than the rest. Not for Gurdra Black. 

"How did the investigators miss this?" It was at the side of a small hill, surrounded by shrubs. It was covered by leaves, but the soil was clearly moved before, even if it had begun to harden. It was honestly fairly subtle, that most people would miss it. "It leads all the way underground." Lord Black declared, his earth senses going as deep as he could send them.

Elder Stonepummels was more curious. "More importantly, how did you know what to find?"

"Consider it a deduction." Tundra declared. "If the investigators found nothing, the assailants must be hidden somewhere, and I guessed they were likely underground, or there are some hidden chambers we don't know of. The alternative was that these attacks have access to spiritual realms that they could hide in, and that is something we have no way of finding."

"Fair, but the investigators must have checked."

Gurdra Black's fists moved, and the soil moved. But at the same time, the Elder activated some kind of item on his wrist. "I do not like what I'm seeing. I'm calling for reinforcements." 

Two of the Great Elders of the arrived just a fraction later. One of them was even in the eighth realm, and if Tundra guessed correctly, came from one of the other prominent families, the Bullard Clan. "Lord Black, you've called."

The two then glanced at the patch of moved soil, and Tundra felt their senses penetrate it. Their faces turned grim. "How did we miss this?"

"Let's go." Elder Black cut off that rhetorical question, and preferred to focus on moving. "We can discuss our methods later."

The party of five followed the softened soil and the tunnel eventually led them deep into the ancient stone caves hidden very, very deep beneath the city. None of them spoke a word, communicating instructions entirely through spiritual messaging. 

Tundra believed this was an ancient set of natural caverns, and as they walked, he could sense the foul presence of the bugs crawling and waffling about in the small pools of damp, stale waters. 

Lord Black was first to investigate, and when he picked up the struggling parasites from the pool, he cursed.  "Damned. Someone has been breeding these underneath our very own city." 

Elder Stonepummels and Tundra were both in the back, this was the White Striped Tiger's home ground, so it was only right, and common courtesy amongst the sects, that the three locals took the lead in investigations. It would be an insult otherwise, unless they voluntarily asked someone else to lead.

His earthen fists crushed the little parasites in the pools, but he also kept some within jars for further investigation. 

"There must be more." 

They found even more spawning pools crawling with Zuja parasites, many were still in their smallest stages. There were no more than little worms at this point, and as long as they didn't infect a host, mostly harmless. 

The three local elders scanned every nook and cranny of the caverns, and eventually dug out even more parasite spawning pools, and then, found a giant mutant wartiger asleep inside a specialized chamber. 

It woke when they approached, but the Great Elder eliminated the mutant in a single strike. 

"Preserve the chamber. The master must see this." Lord Black said. 

The Great Elder activated a special spatial artifact. The chamber, and the surrounding soil was cut out of reality and sucked within. 

But there were no traces of the mastermind. Whoever planned the attack had already fled, when they found another area where the walls turned into a tunnel. 

"Cursed!" Lord Black said. 

***

The findings were presented to the Sect Master the very moment they got out of the caves, and Sect Master Tugra sat quietly. 

The revelations disturbed him. Lord Black quickly presented the jars of preserved Zuja parasites for all to see. But the Bearmound Peak still didn't buy the argument, and Tundra knew that what they found was not sufficiently strong. 

Without someone to pin the crime on, it still felt hollow to the Bearmound's Great Elder who clearly still nursed an intense pain and shame for his failure. There was no murderer. There was no faction or party they could identify. 

"These parasites, they are referred to as the Zuja." Sect Master Tugra held up a strange spear, and Tundra felt incredible power emanating from the weapon. The world seemed quieter, more calm in its presence. The winds whispered, their footsteps muffled. 

All that was silenced only amplified the only voice that was not. The Bearmound Peak frowned. "These bugs have been no more than a pesky annoyance, surely they are being utilised by someone else! Someone who wants to weaken the Bearmound Peak's next generation!" 

At this point, Elder Stonepummels of the Swaying Swords, then suggested otherwise. "I find it hard to understand what the White Striped Tiger gains from this, if the disaster wasn't stopped. Sure, we lose our younger generation, but is our real combat depth ever at risk? No. Seventh realm wartigers are nothing before our power." 

Bearmound Peak's elder glared. "All that investment! Our efforts!"

"Bearmound Peak has many young mistresses, surely someone can replace the one that was lost." A Great Elder from the Hundred Wings said.

That, unfortunately, only amplified the Bearmound Peak's elder. He responded with a sneer. "What would a sect that breeds insects by the thousands know about the value of one's progeny? In your eyes, quantity is the only thing that matters."

The two sect's great elders glared at each other, and Tundra had to take two steps back. 

Their spiritual auras flared and battled, and the room tensed. Tundra felt a bit of that energy whip around and it still took him quite a bit of energy to block it. 

"Oh? So the wounded bear still has some energy to bare your fangs?" The Hundred Wings elder said. "Is the truth so unpalatable?"

"Coming from the bugfolk, I cannot help but wonder if these parasites are one of yours!"

A tap.

It was but a tap.

But the entire room silenced and all the energy drained away by that same powerful spiritual weapon. 

"Enough. Elder Zhurma of the Hundred Wings, what do you know of these parasites?"

"It is not one of our own, and these bugs carry malice that even the greatest amongst us would not dare to face."

"Sounds like you are afraid of some worms." The Bearmound Peak's elder spoke, but then a second tap of the Sect Master's spear sucked the winds out of his words. 

"Enough of the provocations, elder. We have already lost one of our generation's greatest geniuses, there is no need to fight greater wars to lose more." Sect Master Tugra declared, and then turned back to Elder Zhurma. "Would you elaborate? Our knowledge of these bugs have been fairly limited." 

Then, Tundra realized something he wished he knew long ago. "Our Great Elder Zhanma collected these parasites about a thousand years ago and have been studying them, and within the Hundred Wings, there is a profound warning never to dabble in them at all. She once attempted to communicate with these bugs and felt a presence filled with malice within them. Even today, she could listen to their whispers and found their hate overwhelming."

"I was told by rumors that Elder Zhanma is supposedly insane." Sect Master Tugra leaned forward and said.

"The effects of communicating with the bugs drove her to madness, but she still has moments of clarity." 

But this was important, so Tundra inadvertently asked. If he could meet someone who studied the Zuja's parasite extensively, what sort of edge could they have gotten? "Can we have a look at her findings and her learnings?"

"Ah. I do not have them on hand, but if you visit us, Lord Fox, we are happy to share them. These parasitic bugs are just foul." Elder Zhurma said.

Tundra immediately decided that this was important enough to make a detour. "If I may impose, may I visit your sect immediately after this?" 

Naturally, this made everyone in the room curious. Elder Gurdra Black that asked. "Oh, Lord Fox, I'm surprised you are so invested in these bugs?"

"The more one learns about these creatures, the better prepared one can be." Tundra said, and decided to drop a not-so-cryptic hint. "After all, bugs may appear small now, but their potential for great chaos and destruction is not to be underestimated."

Elder Zhurma shrugged. "Should not be a problem. I will have a message written so that they can prepare for your arrival."

Sect Master Tugra clapped. "A fair assessment, perhaps, we too, should learn a bit more about these things."

But the Bearmound Peak's elder wasn't satisfied, and directed the conversation back to the investigation. "Sect Master, let's not stray from why we are here. It does not change that one of mine died in your lands, and my sect master will demand restitution. Even if we cannot locate an assailant."

Tugra of the White Striped Tiger let out a breath that almost felt like a sigh. "It is a most unfortunate turn of events. What was supposed to be a competition of our young generations turned into a tragedy. I will arrange for a suitable restitution to be paid, but allow us a year to gather the resources and treasures to make a worthwhile restitution."

Now all eyes were on the Bearmound Peak's elder, whether he accepted the Sect Master's terms. 

He paused, and after a long thoughtful moment, he answered. "I am not an unreasonable man, Sect Master Tugra. On behalf of Bearmound Peak, we will wait for the restitution."

 ***