The Star bite cut through the evening sky like a silver fang, its phoenix wood hull and wind tree aglow with flight essence, as clouds slipped past in silent streaks. The vast and diverse biomes of the Beast Vein Continent stretched out before them. Wisp the wind dragon had matured, he coiled around the wind trees base lazily. Ashwin had decided that it was time to depart the capital city of Fanghua much to the disappointment of King Kenroe. But Ashwin knew that it was ultimately for the best, after all a moving target was harder to hit.
Meanwhile ever the diplomat, Ashwin sat at a desk in the captain quarters penning the terms and conditions of a ceasefire treaty and an end to all hostilities between The Beast Vein Continent and the Forgotten Continent.
Marla came sashaying up behind him, her vipers coiled in a tight bun on top of her head She leaned down smooshing her ample bosoms against his back, she wrapped her arms around him and watched as he wrote, resting her head beside his. "So," she said, voice low and edged with mischief, "you're really doing this? Marching straight into a Demonic Wind embassy?" she teethed Ashwin's neck gently.
Behind them, Faeluxe adjusted the focusing crystals that kept the ship level. Her long ears twitched as she muttered to herself. "I still don't understand why we couldn't just burn their relay tower from a distance. It's faster."
"I have a plan," Ashwin said, as he finished penning the treaty. "One that will work in Beast Veins favor and possibly end this conflict. But first I need to make sure that Imperion gets this treaty."
Snake-Man hissed a laugh from the navigation table, his forked tongue flicking. "Because Ashwin wants peace, not cinders. The Demonic Wind dogs have been spreading whispers since Fanghua—lies about the Iron Fang Clan consorting with outer fiends."
"Lies," Hammerhead rumbled, slamming a fist into his palm. "They should be grateful we didn't cave their skulls in before Ash came back from the Inheritance."
Ashwin's gaze didn't waver. "I and Marla will deliver the treaty. The Demonic Wind Clan have begun to erect embassies, gathering points for information and influence. Agents from the forgotten Continent are moving openly on Beast Vein soil, soon even the most remote clans of Beast Vein will be discovered. Free cities like fanghua. Its time for Beast Vein Continent to make a big move."
Marla straightened, her eyes narrowing. "What do you really have in mind Ash??"
Ashwin's tone was quiet, but there was something glacial in the calm—an undercurrent of fury held tightly in check. "It's quite simple really." He paused scanning the room, his eyes meeting each of them. "The Forgotten Continent ends all hostilities against The Beast Vein Continent and nullifies the blood contract he forced the clans to sign." After hearing this the room quieted until Faeluxe spoke up, "That's all well and good but what's the lever here? what's going to make them listen to you Ashwin?" Faeluxe brushed her blonde hair back behind her long fae ear.
Ashwin smiled warmly, "Don't you worry your pretty little noggin over what's going to make them listen to me." Faeluxes face blushed and she looked away, hiding her smile.
The deck grew still. Even the hum of the ship's engines seemed to soften as the air turned heavy with intent.
From the observation window, a faint black spire began to rise from the mists below—a sharp tower surrounded by wind talismans spinning in countercurrents. The sigil of the Demonic Wind Clan—a crescent storm devouring the sun—flared at its peak.
"There," Faeluxe said softly. "Their embassy. They built it right in the ruins of an old beast graveyard, morbid bastards."
Snake-Man's grin was all teeth. "You sure you don't want me to go in first, boss?"
Ashwin turned, the dying sunlight gleaming off his shoulder plates. "No, just I and Marla will go. You three keep the Star bite hovering at range. If I'm not back by dawn…" He paused. A faint smile curved his lips. "…burn the place to the ground." The Star bite's vast shadow swallowed the courtyard of the Demonic Wind Embassy.
Ashwin scattered his dantian and transformed into green glowing Necro-Flies, a side effect his co-cultivation with Marla, a wicked path cultivator. Marla threw the captains door open, she raced along the top deck laughing softly as Ashwin's Necro-flies began to land on her body. They lined her legs and wings and arms, and they clung to her bosoms, illuminating her entire frame with their new green glow. Marla exhaled under the full moon, "I love how romantic you are." Then she extended her wings and leapt from the top deck of the Star Bite.
Lightning danced in the distance—
the herald of a confrontation long overdue.
Whorls of spirit mist twisted and broke under the pressure of the ship's aura, the pixie blade master Faeluxe remained at the helm, while Hammerhead and Snake-Man watched from the top deck.
Below, cultivators in black-and-red robes spilled out from the embassy gates, their expressions a mix of outrage and alarm. Their qi signatures were sharp, dry, and whispering — like the hiss of sand blown over bone. Forgotten Continent cultivators.
The Star bite halted midair with a resounding thrum, its levitation glyphs dimming to a steady glow. The Forgotten Continents cultivators all gasped and pointed as they watched glowing Marla descend on her wings down to the square. The Moment Marla and Ashwin touched down, hundreds of forgotten continent cultivators rushed and surrounded them. Just when it looked like things were about to get sketchy Ashwin moved. The green glowing Necro-flies smoothly slid off Marla's form to her right side, converging and condensing back into Ashwin. This gave the Demonic Wind clan cultivators pause.
Ashwin wore the green and brown 'scholar set' gear. His aura was restrained yet heavy enough to make the air quiver. Marla, beside him, walked with a smile that was too serene to be comforting, still wearing her erotic black-blade armor that glimmered faintly with the umbral essence of the zombie dragon crystal she had begun to cultivate. Her arm was hooked through his, her eyes predatory.
The crowd parted.
A middle-aged man in ceremonial robes — the Elder Overseer of the Demonic Wind Embassy — hurried out, his sleeves fluttering from the speed of his movement. Four cultivators flanked him, each bearing Demonic Wind relics that generated mini twisting cyclones around their party.
The demonic wind clan elders voice cracked the tense silence: "What is the meaning of this?!"
His qi surged, scattering the loose dust of the courtyard as if to reassert dominance — but it faltered the moment Ashwin's gaze met his.
Ashwin didn't stop walking. The faint metallic scrape of his boots on the red carpet sounded deliberate, even leisurely.
He spoke calmly, yet his tone carried the weight of a verdict:
"Meaning? Elder, I'm merely here to reclaim what was stolen."
Marla's eyes glowed faintly violet. "And perhaps to remind the Forgotten Continent that the Beast Vein Continent has not forgotten its deeds."
A ripple passed through the Demonic Wind cultivators — fear, then anger. The Elder's jaw tightened. "This is neutral ground! To threaten an embassy is to defy the accords between the Continents!" Ashwin smiled politely, "Then perhaps you should have considered the accords," he said softly, "before your clan sent mystic ice assassins after me in Fanghua."
A sudden stillness settled. Even the wind stopped moving.
Behind them, Faeluxe's silhouette appeared at the Star bite's rail, bow in hand. Hammerhead's massive shadow loomed beside her, a living wall of killing intent. Snake-Man's tongue flicked out, tasting the air like a blade's edge.
The Elder's composure cracked. His four cultivators instinctively shifted into stance. But Marla only whispered — her words laced with spirit venom:
"We have come to deliver the treaty for the unconditional surrender of the Forgotten continent."
The Elder's face went white.
"Surrender…? You dare—"
The words curdled in his throat as Marla tilted her head, her smile never fading. The zombie-dragon essence within her armor pulsed, and a low hum spread through the air like the sound of a tomb cracking open.
Ashwin lifted a single hand. Instantly, the treaty appeared, pulled from his Spirit Ring. "This is a treaty of ceasefire and an end to the Forgotten continents un-provoked aggression. You will make sure that Lord Imperion himself receives it. The main term and condition being the immediately annulment of the blood phage contract, that Imperion forced the clans to sign at the edge of a sword. The second is the immediate withdrawal of all Forgotten Continent forces in Beast Vein."
From the Star bite's deck, Faeluxe's crystalline voice rang out, deceptively sweet:
"Captain says to stay polite until they resist, yes?"
Hammerhead rumbled something unintelligible, cracking his knuckles. Snake-Man hissed laughter, a sibilant sound that slid through the courtyard like oil.
Marla stepped forward, the cobblestones beneath her taloned feet blackening as her Vestigium Qi leaked out in slow, spiraling trails of decay.
The Elder staggered back. "You—You can't—this is absurd! We answer directly to the Viceroy of the Forgotten Continent! You, a provincial clan dares—?"
Ashwin closed his eyes and let wisps of intent flow into the Eye of Heaven. Suddenly there was a scream, panic broke out among the Demonic Wind path cultivators, they screamed at began pointing to the sky, Hammerhead smirked and laughed, "I aint falling for that old trick." But Snake-Man and Faeluxe looked up and even they were shocked!
"What is it!" Faeluxe whispered. "I don't know." Snake-Man hissed. Back down at the courtyard of the embassy the elders' eyes went wide in horror, "It's-It's the eye of heaven!" The Eye of Heaven had appeared above, completely blotting out the sky, it was a sort of stylized ancient looking eye symbol. His eyes immediately shot back to Ashwin in front of him, "You! you wield the eye!"
The embassies of the Demonic Wind cultivators in the Beast Vein Continent had heard the report of the glacial soul attack on the capital city of Fin Fang Doom.
The Elder's cry echoed across the courtyard, swallowed by the rising wind. Above them, the Eye of Heaven loomed vast and ancient, a golden iris wreathed in whorls of cosmic script. Its pupil dilated like a living sun, reflecting the trembling world below. Every cultivator — Beast Vein or Forgotten — felt their soul tremble. Even the Star bite's flight glyphs flickered.
The eye blinked once. The sky boomed.
Clouds vaporized into spirals of golden mist. The wind dragon Wisp coiled tight around the ship's mast, hissing in awe. The air itself became heavy with divine resonance — the kind of power that didn't belong to mortals.
Marla's lips parted, her smile sharpening. "You actually opened it here? Ashwin… you wicked thing."
Her tone was half thrill, half reverence. Ashwin's eyes were still closed. His hands rested at his sides, calm, deliberate. The faint green glow of his Necro-Flies gathered around him in orbit, reflecting the celestial light of the Eye above. The Eye's gaze brushed him, and for an instant, Ashwin felt as though it wasn't his will that spoke—but the will of something older, using his throat as its conduit. His voice came soft — almost a whisper — but it carried across the entire city.
"Deliver the treaty to Imperion himself. End the blood phage contract, withdraw your armies—or I'll teach your land what plague tastes like."
The Elder's knees buckled. He fell forward, slamming his hands against the stone. His qi convulsed under the oppressive majesty of the Eye. "No… no, this can't be. That eye—it froze Lord Imperions entire court!"
His cultivators screamed as their spirit seas convulsed under the intense spiritual pressure of the Eye's intent. Several collapsed outright, blood streaming from their eyes and ears.
Faeluxe whispered from the deck, trembling despite herself. "That's not human Qi… That's divine Qi." Snake-Man nodded slowly, pupils vertical slits of fear. "It's like the will of the sky itself." Just then Ashwin opened his eyes. The light of the Eye above mirrored his left eye — two golden rings of power revolving around a black sun.
"I see that we have an understanding now." Ashwin said as he raised his left eyebrow, the eye of heaven shining beneath it.
The Elder tried to stand, his aura unraveling like ripped silk. "You'll bring ruin to both continents! You'll—" Marla placed a single finger to her lips, and the Elder's voice stopped. Her vipers uncoiled from her bun, hissing softly, their eyes glowing emerald.
The Eye of Heaven flared once more — and every array, every hidden formation within the Demonic Wind Embassy lit up in ghostly gold. Transmission stones cracked. Concealment wards burned out. The false peace the embassy had projected disintegrated before everyone's eyes.
From deep within the compound, muffled screams and the sound of kidnapped citizens echoed.
Ashwin finally lowered his hand. The Eye of Heaven began to fade, its radiance dissolving into a rain of golden motes that drifted down upon the capital.
He looked at the trembling Elder.
"Of course, it is within your power to spare your homeland this fate, by cooperating with an act of good faith. Release your prisoners. Or I turn this place into a tomb."
Marla laughed softly, stepping closer, her aura brushing against his. "And that, my dear Elder, is beast vein diplomacy."
The courtyard fell silent except for the whisper of golden dust falling like snow.